Prepping for MN

Historically, I've always waited until the last moment.   It seems like the day before I leave, I'm washing the bike, packing my bags, getting the jackets and rain gear out.   I swear, whether its the Ozarks, Sturgis, MN, you name it... I wait until the last day. Hell, we did Durango last month and there I was the night before changing the oil and washing the bike.   Nuts!

Not this year. This weekend, I'll begin the preparations. I'll get it washed, check the tire pressures and tires themselves ( now there's a thought!), and .... park it. Off in the corner with a battery tender on it.   And then, begin the packing process. Leather jacket, rain gear, various misc tools.   Get the GPS mounted and put in some way points. Print the maps and get them in the map pouch , in place. All pretty obvious, but when you do all this the day before, one ALWAYS forgets something. Always. Not this time.   And this time, I have one extra thing to do. I'm going to do an official Saddle Sore 1000 for the Iron Butt Association (IBA). So, I've got to add about 75 miles to the trip to get it over 1000 miles and give myself a little buffer. So, a little planning is in order

As I look back over the last six years, I've got so many mixed feelings. My first time rolling up was in August of 2012. I'd become acquainted with a dealer up in MN who had an annual Sunday charity ride, and I'd been invited. I wasn't enthused about it, but when he decided to do an "Only Indian" ride on the day before the Sunday ride, I perked up. I was in.   And I was excited. This was back in the days when you rarely saw Gilroys, unless you were part of an organization like the Iron Indian Riders Association..   Kings Mountain Indians were far and few between. At this point, probably less than 600 were built and sold. So, to me this was huge. I'd just been to my first IRIP event ( barely; just rolled in for a single day) and I had the bug. I wanted to hang with my 'kind!" This was before Polaris had come out with the new generation bikes. Before you could find 25 guys at an IMRG meeting to go ride with , at many of today's dealership. This was a rarity and it had my attention. So, I made the plans, some of which was to see close friends and family there locally, and planned to ride a few days in the event. ....

Day 1 headed to MN

The trip up took an interesting twist for me. This was my 2009 Indian Chief Vintage I'd had for three years. I'd put some V/H Long shots on it, but no changes to fuel controller. So, I was running lean. When I was coming you knew it, because anytime I came off the throttle this sucker would decel and have some LOUD backfiring going on. Well, on this trip, all the lean running, bit me. I noticed a noise by the time I'd hit Oklahoma , but pressed on. By the time I was closing in on Kansas City it was starting to concern me. I was started to hear a loud exhaust leak. I could tell it was going to be a problem, so pulled in SW of KC for the night. The next day I located a place in NE KC that works on the Gilroys and was willing to take a look.

My Savior!

Nothing is Free

Basically, the pipe off the rear jug was cracked about 2" back. He couldn't get me a replacement set of pipes, so he spent the day welding it. In retrospect , I wish I'd had him tape them up, and I might have made it all the way . But, after 5 hours and a few hundred bucks, I was headed North again. After that five + hour delay, I was behind schedule and tired. I made it to the MN border and decided to pull the plug, which it turns out was a bad idea. When I got up in the morning, it was chilly .... guessing high 30s .. My pipes had cooled down and now were heating up again; the welds cracked. So now I'm rolling North, and it sounds worse than ever. I pulled into a rest stop on I35, buzzed the IMTC dealer I was headed to , and spoke to my contact. I wanted to know " will this hurt the bike if I ride it in?". I was then told "we'll come get you! " It was about 80 miles out and I'm feeling 'saved'. Of course it took 2 hours for my taxi to show up, we had to strap the bike in, and .. headed to our destination. I'm feeling good, no stress and thinking 'now what'. Well, there turns out to be an upside in the big picture but first I've got to deal with the downside. The Service manager wants to charge me for the tow. Now, I've got towing via my Insurance. Hell, I've got AAA and I've got towing via the IIRA.

Stayed at Larry's place in Maplewood

But now, they want me to pay. I honestly thought it was a friendly gesture to come get me; hell, I could have rode it in the rest of the way. But, shame on me for not asking the right questions and assuming this wasn't all about business in the end. Now the upside. One of the shop's customers had just got in some Freedom Performance Fishtails for his KM. I'd been trying to get a set for months but they were on back order. The owner of the dealership asked the customer (Shane McGuire) if I could purchase these for my bike since I was in dire straights. To Shane's credit , he let me have them . I felt relieved and blessed on that day. Now that being said, I had a 'backup plan' in mind. If the answer was no, I was going to beg for his OEM takeoff pipes!

Riding the "beast"

Carolyn, George and Mike Tomas

But Shane came through; I'll always remember that. He's truly a stand up guy and someone I've come to respect and consider a friend. Also, the dealership got great footage for a video they put together; they setup Shane on the spot with the question for the pipes, while video was rolling. I got a kick out of it all; I believe he did as well. Last piece of good news was I had the shop put a manual cruise control on the bike . I was dying on the way up had no desire to repeat that scenario! Even though it was a POS contraption and failed a few months later , it got me home and made the ride easier on the wrist. Final piece to this trip. The Indian Only ride.

Shane in the background on his KM

Lets say it was 'interesting'. Why? Well, the negative. We had some seriously old bikes in the mix ( think early 1900s), which was really cool (and the only time they ever showed since ) and our speed for most of the ride was only about 30mph. Additionally, we made a bee line directly to the dealership owner's home for the destination. That was it. Ride over. We got to check each others bikes out, etc. So, had a few beers, bite to eat. Done.

Going through my pics I came across this sweet heart. We bought it in laste August of 2012; 2013 Chief Vintage Limited Edition. I bought it from a dealer up North since my options were shrinking. The crazy part of this one is the dealer really didn't want to send it out of the state of MN which is sort of humorous. I ended up paying top dollar for it with no discounts, and paid to have it shipped to TX. First 25' I rode it, the oil dipstick shot out like a missile. I thought "WTF?". Cleaned it off,

scratched my head and made a second attempt. I made it exactly one mile before we had a repeat. So much for my trip to Stokers on my brand new LE that day. I caught a ride back to the house, grabbed a trailer, got it home switched bikes, and we headed out. I called the dealer and they had no idea what was up. I was concerned I had some blockage in one of the oil passage ways. Well, long story short I discovered the Oil was overfilled. The checklist they sent with the bike said everything had been checked and verified. One thing I remember this well, was the dealer told me they would do a 20 miles test ride on it before shipping it. I was like " no f***ing way." Especially after one of the employees made wise cracks about smoking the rear tire on a test ride. They followed with a 'we always do this for new bikes' ( the ride, not smoking the tire). Really? I call bullshit. Now, the kicker is .. had they ridden it, I wouldn't have had to deal with this, but I still call bullshit. The final kicker was I called with the info that the oil was overfilled and got nothing but crickets. No apologies. No concerns they don't follow correct guidelines. Nothing. The only thing crazier than that is, the following year I'd buy another bike from them ( 2014 Chieftain). Somebody smack me.

It's year #2. But first, I'm headed to Sturgis! Four of us are riding up, and I'm psyched! Ladies are flying into Rapid City, SD and it's a first for all , except myself. Hell, I was stationed in the area in the early 80s, and I know it well. But, I'm rolling up on my '11 HD FLTRX. It's got cruise, hard bags, and the rest of the gang is on their HDs, so made sense. Five days of heaven, 2 on the road each way; nine days later I'm back home. Time to clean up the '09 Chief for MN and I am NOT riding up. Sturgis wore my ass out so roll the Indian into the trailer and off I go. Turns out, this was a stroke of luck for me. After I'm in MN , the bike is acting up a little. Turns out to the a starter issues AND and ECU issue. Both ended up getting replaced, but not before I have to head back. So, I left it up there , hooked up the empty trailer and headed back to TX. About a month later I had it shipped back via a commercial trucking company, where a friend worked and oversaw it all. That's when I got the phone call. My bike was damaged before it arrived at the shipping facility. I'm thinking "WTF?"

The shipper wanted to ensure I knew it wasn't them. Quick call to the dealership that did the work on it, and the finger pointing begins. Now, I saw the way these bikes were parked every night. The squeezed them all into the garage , almost on top of each other so I'm not shocked. What did surprise me what the conversation that ensued. They didn't take the blame for it. Told me it must have already been that way. Well, I know it wasn't for several reasons. First is I detailed it before leaving, and I washed daily when up there, when it was in my possession. They argued that it was less than $200.00 damage, I said it was about $700.00. It may have been a small dent, but the cost of that chrome tip alone is a chunk. Then, you have to pay the body shop to take the fender off, paint it correctly. Then reinstall. And now, it's MY problem. It should have been taken care of before ever coming to TX. Well, here was the twist that made me sick to my stomach. The
dealership wouldn't take direct responsibility. The Service manager and two other service folks were blamed for it, and the three of them , had to cough up the funds. I have to tell you, it pissed me off. Felt wrong. I'm pretty sure most dealerships , automotive or bike, don't do this. But, I got the funds and I pressed on. Adequate solution from my perspective, but I didn't want the funds from the guys that were just trying to pay their bills. Hell, maybe someone else there caused it? Either way, it happened while in the dealerships possession. Overall, a good time as always. This year, got the chance to meet the Kiwis, Carolyn and Mike Tomas from Kiwi Indian Motorcycle. That was the highlight of my trip. The downside of the event for more than a few was the Spirit Lake trip on the last day. We get to the Factory and we can't get it. There is a full blown Victory Motorcycle Event going on , and we're there with 50+ folks. Pissed off folks that are NOT happy. A lot of them left with a bad taste in their mouth. Me? I headed across the street for a bite to eat and a cool lemonade to quench my thirst. About that time, my phone lights up and I've got a text to hurry up back over; a small group of us go to the tour after all. Shitty planning on someone's part, but I got to see the new bikes so Ricky was happy.

My new Fav' Dealer!

Danny ain't so big

2014. My give a shit factor has been slowly changing. I've found a local dealer that I really like and I'm leaning on him for bike fixes and upgrades. Met Rob Gregory at IRIP and he's the read deal. No BS drama, etc. And, he's kicking out some beautiful paint jobs on the Indians. But, I got my arm twisted to head back up North, so rode up on the Chieftain. Rode with Jim; He's on his FLTR.. We head out towards Rogers AR to stop in for lunch with Jesse Davis; greasy burger and we're back on the road. And, I'm in a food coma. I don't know what I was thinking ... we've got 300+ miles to go and I slammed down a half pound of beef and followed it down with greasy fries. I swear, the next 100 miles I feel like I'm going to fall asleep rolling down the road at 70mph. At our next gas stop and slam two 5-hour energies and an Energy Drink. BAM! We're rolling! The next day after a night's rest we roll into Maplewood, MN to Larry's place and the weeks' begun. While people are meandering like sheep over at the dealer, Jim and I are riding around Wisconsin, hitting a few bar and grills, and visiting with Larry. The highlight of the trip was probably the Spirit Lake tour. This is when I saw my first Roadmaster. I also remember one moment , seeing one being built, I saw what looked to be a Chieftain rolling by and I asked the product manager about the 'mustache bars' on it. He had no idea what I was talking about. I pointed them out and he sort of just stared and told me he hadn't really noticed them before. Really? Well, turns out , they are the new bars for the RM, that the lowers mount on. I realize that guy is a friggin' moron, and I've found a new upgrade for my Chieftain upon return to Texas! Unlike the previous year, I'm not headed back to the Cities after the tour. We point the bikes South and head to KC.

Jesse , Dad and I

Over the Spring of '15, I've got a new bike I bought from Gregory Polaris. I was debating on whether to buy it from them or the dealer up North, but when I pinged both for interest, Rob Gregory was on his game while the other was out of the country fucking off and the sales guy of his I was talking to never called me back. And I'm so glad it went down that way because Gregory Polaris knocked it out of the ball park with my DH. My original plan was to recreate a KM Silver Bomber but at the last second I changed my mind. I didn't think we could do it justice so we took another direction and I told myself if the opportunity ever arose, I'd buy a Sliver Bomber.

So it's year #4 for me. I'm dragging my feet once again, debating on whether to head north or not. I get the annual arm twisting and a few other folks have reached out to me, so I ask my local guys if they want to go and two bite; Jesse Davis and my dad! Dad's bike it at my house so I make the decision to grab a trailer roll his in , my DH and head to Rogers AR to get Jesse. We had a good trip overall since the three of us took the opportunity to head out on our own up north of Stillwater for a great day of riding, across the river into Wisconsin and riding until we found refreshments. We stayed at Larry's house again; he's the ultimate Host and its always a great time visiting. And the best part is, my butt was comfortable in that truck with A/C!

Chieftain/DH safely tucked away

Kidna' like this pic

Unbeknownst to me , it's my final year to head up to the dealer event. This is becoming the norm. I don't want to go. Dealer bugs me to go. Others ask me to go. Wife questions why I'm going if I'm not really up for it. And like clockwork, I'm headed up again. The plan this year was to ride to Rogers AR , connect up with Jesse and will knock it out in one day ( 950 miles ). Except there is a crazy weather pattern just to the East of me and it's headed our way. So the morning of the trip, I changed my mind and rolled it into the trailer, and headed to Rogers. Our lodging ideas were changed up a notch this time though. Larry asked us to stay with him again, but I wanted to be more in the mix so we stayed closer to the Dealer at the same place dozens of others were. Truly glad we did this because we ended up in the 'Gazebo' just about every night and had a blast throwing back cold ones, getting to know a lot of other folks , and simply creating great memories. Another twist to this week was we headed out for more riding than before.

On Thursday, we'd headed to Duluth for lunch and back to Stillwater for dinner / drinks. I've got two vivid memories of that ride. The dealer pinging some of our folks trying to get us back for some dinner somewhere that I never had an intention of going to, and we had a bike with a problem on the way back; how that was handled would create waves throughout the group for some time, and for me a lessons learned for future rides. I won't go into it here, but its always difficult when a bike has problems, you have a large group and how we as a group ensure that bike and rider and taken care. Then you have to take into consideration the rest of the group and how to continue on best. Again, it was a lesson learned for some, especially for me.

Our Duluth ride group

One nice thing about the Duluth ride is , it was the first time folks actually got together at this event and actually , RODE. I mean there were some led rides to a vineyard ever year, and a few other short rides, but this one stretched it out a notch. The only reason it happened at all is Rick Dittel and I had been talking well before the event, he planned it all and just a few of us were going to head out. Well, once others caught wind of it , it more than quadrupled in size. Hell, I can't blame them! Overall, it was a great week. I spent a few nights over at the Dittels around a camp fire sipping adult beverages, smoking stogies, and telling war stories. All of us there had served, and we had a great deal in common. Good times

So, it's late June 2017 as I write this. Sort of a bittersweet moment. I'm totally psyched about the upcoming ride with friends in MN, but at the same time I've moved away from the annual event. I don't wish that event any harm, only success. At the same time, I've lost the faith in the event. I don't believe in the reasons that it's held. Others do, and I guess that's what matters. It's definitely had some growing pains. I doubt the promoter ever thought it'd get as large as it did last year. New Indian owners are clamoring for an event, any event, to meet other Indian riders. Hell, that's what got me up there the first two years. I've met so many people over the last six years that I've got pretty much nothing but good memories and that's what has me headed back up this year. Not for the event, but to ride with friends I've made over the years up there. And adding to that bitter sweetness, I know it's the last trip I'll take up there, at least during this time frame. But this trip, we'll create future opportunities with a lot of IIRA folks out of that area and other IIRA folks traveling from afar for the event, that we'll connect up with as well.

Two weeks to go. Plenty of time to prep the bike, pack the gear, and prepare to qualify for the IBA Saddlesore 1000. Few more weeks and I'll be riding in the land of 10,000 lakes enjoying cool mornings and evenings. Few more weeks and I'll connect back up with the Gazebo crew. Few more weeks and we'll make some new memories.

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