This was a trip to Virginia to get a Used Motorcycle   I turned to the Internet when I decided to buy a used motorcycle.  I wanted the Honda ST1100 after a friend recommended one to me.  I settled on a Honda Pacific Coast. I consider it a sister bike to the ST1100.  Some ST1100 riders might take exception to that, but it is very similar in appearance and is a good bike although it has some shortcomings. The PC is an 800cc V-twin.  Very quiet and futuristic looking.  Not a rocket, but very pleasant to ride on a long trip and it has very good handling.  They are very cheap as they don't hold resale value very well.  You can get a modern high tech bike for little money if you are willing to put up with some shortcomings.  Some of the complaints about the bike are that it is under powered when riding two up, and that the gas tank is too small, it has unique tire sizes, and parts are hard to come by.  I found it to be a bit underpowered and slow for my style as I like to cruise at about 80 to 90 mph.  That's pushing it for the PC which has a top speed of 107 mph. 

I'm glad I had the PC and enjoyed it for two years before selling it at the end of the trip to LA. I had looked into getting a Honda ST1100, but I found they hold their resale value as they do everything so well in fact that a  ST1100 costs three times the money.  I found a Pacific Coast for $3000 and bought it sight unseen except for a polaroid that the owner sent me.  A similar year ST1100 cost about $9000 for one without ABS brakes.      I actually got some prospective sellers to auction a best price in a chat room for motorcycling.  The one and only time I had ever been to a chat on the Internet.  Not a bad way to find a very hard to find bike.  I only have seen two others licensed in Montana     I felt I saved enough by finding one via the Internet to pay for an airline ticket to Richmond, VA.

DAY 1 71 miles map

Boarding the plane at Denver International Airport, I will stop in Detroit and Washington (Dulles) then Richmond, VA. via commuter plane.  I think the picture is Detroit.     I meet the present owners at the airport, sign the papers, look at the bike, it looks OK, give them a check and head west.  I had asked him to get a temporary plate for me.  Instead he has given me a bill-of-sale written on Martha Washington College Campus Police letterhead.  He is a campus cop and he figures that'll be good enough.  I don't.  I hope I don't get stopped by the cops. It's Sunday and Virginia is a small state.  I figured to be out of the state by nightfall so I head out anyway. No Insurance papers, no temp tags, feeling a little outlawish. The bike looks good and runs really well.  The only thing that worries me is I can hardly see through the tall windshield.  He has used something to clean it that has damaged the plastic and the thing is nearly opaque.  I can see over it if I sit up in the saddle. Richmond has a lot of traffic and I can't wait to try out the new bike so I get on Interstate 64 and ride.  I usually don't ride on the Interstate but a canyon of trees makes it impossible to see anything anyway.  It's well after dark when I get to Charlottesville, VA, find a motel near the college and spend the night.    

DAY 2

I continued this morning west on I-64 until near Beckley, WV.  I encounter a toll road.  Now an Interstate is bad enough, but a toll road? I stop a a gas station ask about the sites, not much info forthcoming from the clerk.  I go outside to get ready to leave for the Ohio valley via a Toll Road when a couple of motorcycles pull up for gas.  The guys look OK, one on a Harley the other on an older Gold Wing. I ask them about alternate routes.  They just grin and say follow us if you're not in a hurry to get where you are going we'll take you through some beautiful country and great motorcycle roads.  Sounds good to me. I wait for them to get gas and all 3 of us head out toward the New River Bridge through the Gauley Recreation Area   I follow them at a good pace as we take the long winding roadway via state highway 41 and I get to view some of the most beautiful countryside.  We stop at an old mill and waterfall then head out toward the New River via 41 until it meets US 60 (map) then we go west. This area is so green that the train ran right behind me when I was down in the gorge at the base of the New River bridge and I didn't even know there were tracks right behind me less than 300 ft. away.  Lush vegetation waterfalls and cliffs along the road, perfect weather so far add to the day. This is a good area for white water rafting and the rafters got out of the river right under the New River Bridge.  I had ridden over 650 miles in the state of West Virginia.  A prettier place I have never seen.   After living out in the west all my life the amount of vegetation is amazing to me.

DAY 3 MAP

I camped last night just east of Charleston and arrive there about 9 am this morning.  Back on the Interstate again I see a Honda shop from I-64 in Charleston.  I spin in hoping to get a new windshield. I'm sore from sitting up so much to look over the top of it.  Parts guy just stares at me when I say Pacific Coast. The only part they have for a Pacific Coast is an oil filter and that's because if fits about eleventeen other Hondas.  The rear drive seems to be making a growling sound, so I have the gear oil changed.  Oil looks real clean, so I quit worrying.  I go to the auto parts store next door and buy a couple of hacksaw blades.  Using a rag wrapped around the blade I commence sawing the windshield in half.  It cuts pretty quick.  Much better but now the wind noise is pretty bad.  Wish I had a better helmet.  I remember earplugs I always keep in my ditty bag when I run the locomotive, put them in and now I am comfortable. I leave West Virginia at Huntington.  I had planned to ride along the Ohio river but it is flooding so bad that I stay on US 60 veering north of Lexington and south of Louisville.  This is thoroughbred horse country.  The farms are huge with very expensive horses out in the paddock areas.  There are hundreds of acres all in lawn.  Kentucky bluegrass I'd bet.  I stop an take a photo.  There is a county owned lawnmower mowing the shoulder of the road.  He stops and I ask him "How in the world do they water all this grass?" he laughs and says, "It rains everyday 'til noon."  Like I couldn't figure that out for myself. I've been in a drizzle the entire trip.. He mows this section of highway every few days!  I run across the bridge (one of the few open) into Evansville, ID, look around, come back and ride all the way to the little town of Morganfield, KY. on US 60. I end up in Murphysboro, IL. for the night.  This is my wife's parents hometown..    

DAY 4 MAP

It's sprinkling still.  I run out to the cemetery to find my wife's fathers grave.  There is no cemetery map.  I find a gravedigger having a coffee break in his pickup.  He has me call the city.  No luck.  They don't keep records.  The city clerk suggests I call the Catholic Church.  I call the Catholic Church.  They tell me to call the Funeral home.  I call the Funeral home.  The gal asks me where I am.  I tell her I'm in the middle of the cemetery talking on a cell phone.  She says, "I'll be right there."  2 or 3 minutes later a black Astrovan shows up and a woman steps out all business.  I tell her the grave I'm looking for is William Danner.  She spreads a cloth map out on the windshield of the Astrovan and finds it shortly.  Right next to the road about two rows from where we are standing. He is in the Catholic Cemetery.  The City and Catholic Cemeteries are right together with no sign of Separation.  We had a report that the graves had been vandalized, but the marker looks fine.  I had her go back to town and bring out some flowers for the grave.  I didn't feel right just leaving.  I've never been one for funerals but I found this experience strangely satisfying.  I take a few pictures and go back to town, eat a BBQ beef sandwich at the depot converted restaurant.  This is the same train station where my mother in law caught the train many a time I'm sure. I head out of town to the west.  Rolling farm country here.  There's a bridge across the Mississippi on the map at Chester, IL.  I don't even make it into town.  The whole place is under water.  I have to double back all the way to Murphysboro.  They didn't post any signs about the flooding.  I get back, get gas and comment to the clerk at the gas station about no signs.  She shrugs it off and says, "Well everybody knows the road is closed"  Doesn't even crack a smile.  I can tell she thinks it's funny.  I've been riding in the rain for about a hour for nothing.  Ride north out of town this time.  About 7 pm I get into the St. Louis area.  Find my uncle Jack's place in Afton and eat a bite., talk and go to bed.    

DAY 5 THE DAY IN ST.LOUIS

Jack and I get in the car and he proceeds to show me the sights.  He took me over to Jefferson Barracks Nat'l Cemetery.  We went to the old train shed where the passenger trains used to come in behind the old Union Station.  It is the largest train shed in the world covering 24 passenger trains at a time.  Not used anymore it is now a covered parking lot for the mall.  They remodeled the old station. Put in Hotels, restaurant, shops escalators and did a fabulous job.  Jack tells me there was a lot of opposition to the project and no one expected it to make a profit.  They were all wrong.  This place is jammed with people.  I bought a blue Irish style golf cap and we leave.We go over to Fairview Heights, IL. and see my Granddad.  I have never been to his place.  Pretty nice.  It is an assisted living complex with a common area and a cafeteria.  We go to lunch at Denny's and come back.  When we get back to his room, I notice he has a VCR. Then I notice he has a Nintendo game!  We talk about it and he shows me his electronic address book.  I guess I'm gadget freak genetically.  Enjoyable day.

DAY 6 MAP

Still sprinkling.  I head west out of the St. Louis area and catch highway 61 on the Missouri side.  After about an hour the rain starts to get serious so I pull off and start getting into the rain suit.  A couple of hours later when I'm just south of Hannibal, MO. a Missouri State Trooper pulls up behind me.  Uh Oh.... I have Virginia plates (that aren't mine) no insurance (it isn't required for motorcycles in Montana, but I'm in Missouri) a Montana Drivers license.  He asked me if I was having trouble.  I say, "No, just getting on the rain suit."  He looks at the Virginia plate and says, "You're long way from home."  I smile and agree.  He says' "Where ya headed?"  I say, "Montana"  He says, "Well drive safe and have a nice trip."  I say "Thanks"  He turns, gets back in his patrol car waits for me to start riding, follows for about 1/4 mile then turns a U and leaves.  Never asked for any paperwork at all!  It's raining like mad now. Head down, visor all taped up so it doesn't leak (but now it wants to fog up) I make good time despite it all.   I wish the windshield was taller now.  I've given up on finding one.  A huge Honda shop behind a huge Honda Automobile Dealership in St. Louis didn't have one. I'm beginning to see one of the drawbacks of a Pacific Coast.  No Parts.  The Bike goes through the water without missing a beat.  It's a little squirrily cause the front tire is pretty worn and I'm wishing the Honda shop had one. I'm wishing it would stop raining.  I cut a diagonal path across Iowa.  I've never been to Iowa.  It's wet!  The wind kicks up.  The PC is about a hundred pounds lighter than my old Gold Wing.  If I ride north the wind is threatening to knock me off, so I ride due west.  I make it just inside South Dakota at Canton.  It's been poring rain and windy for hours.  I get a motel.  Take a shower, get into bed, watch the 3 channel TV.  I find out from the news that the 3 counties I have just traveled through have 7 tornados sighted on the ground.  I didn't see one. Went right through there.  Maybe I was just too darn close.

DAY 7 MAP

I get on the Rainmaker ( the new name I dubbed the bike) and head out due west again.  Right directly into the wind.  It's OK, it's not raining for the first time since Kentucky, I planned to hook up with I-90 eventually anyway. I go state (SD) Hwy. 44 through the town of Winner, SD.  (it isn't), and the town of Senic (it ain't) up through the north tip of the badlands.  I run into the Interstate at Wall, SD.  I'm sick of the Wall Drug signs already, knowing I'll have just as many leaving. I have a few days of Vacation time left so when I get to Rapid City fairly early I decide to see some of the Black Hills.  A lot of good roads to ride here and not much traffic.  I do the Mount Rushmore thing, including the very patriotic night show with the fireworks and the national anthem and everything. I had run into a Harley rider and we hung out together waiting for the evening show. At the show we sat above a family from New York with 2 figgity boys. When the show ended we talked for quite awhile. The lights were turned out on us and we tried to find our way out to the parking lot. We took the wrong trail and ended up walking up the trail with the New York family. It was clear moonless night. The boys had never seen the milky way, so we had an astronomy lesson then returned to Keystone.  I got a postcard from the folks in New York after I got home!

DAY 8   MAP

Went to check out the Needles Highway and make a loop of the Black Hills area, I just rode around the area for hours. I got a room in Lead, went downtown ate at a casino with a good Blues Band.  Stuck a 20 dollar bill in a slot machine, played it down to 8 credits (2 bucks) hit the jackpot and won $192.50!

DAY 9 MAP

Rode around some more and must of left a bit late cause I stopped in Sheridan, WY.  after dark.  Only 2 hours from home.  The lady at the motel turns out to be related to a co-worker of mine so I get a break on the room and go to sleep.

DAY 10 MAP

I arrive home after a 2 hour ride..

 

Photos

The Plane

Mill near New River Bridge

3 Bikes

New River Bridge Base

Rafters

Kentucky Fog

St. Louis Union Station

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery