Dudley and Jennifer's 10,000 Mile Journey Blog

[Dudley]

Well, the kids are settled in Tucson for their vacation, we're back home getting things together, Spyder is shining, the skies are cloudless, it's a perfect day! The Spyder has new oil, the tires are with proper air, no noticeable leaks anywhere, the coolant is to the full mark, I have a few tools for what I hope is not needed, and we are as jittery as all heck! We will be glad to get this rolling tomorrow morning (6-21) to see if we can complete the journey. We plan on daily postings unless we can't get WiFi at a motel. The pictures will be in our Journey album (Dudley and Jennifer's 10,000 Mile Journey) with captions to help everyone know a little about the pictures.
We wish all of you going to LA a safe and fun-filled trip. We will be checking SpyderLovers daily to check on everyone's LA Blog and enjoy your trip as we do ours.
We hope to complete our Journey, but if something prevents us from doing so, we will have tried. God Bless all of you and always remember to Ryde Safe.

[Dudley]

We plan on getting to Tucson, AZ about noon on 6-21. So far we have one contact from the area. If anyone else would like to sign our banner and have picture taken, please message us or post here. We hope to sleep in Willcox, AZ tomorrow night.

[glynnk]

Hope you guys have a safe start. Look forward to seeing you folks when you get to the Houston area. Suggest taking the Fry Road exit off of I-10. Take a right onto Fry Road heading south. Wendy's down a short distance on your left. I'm not in that area that much and for some reason that's the only place I can think of to meet. So give me a call on my cell (281-686-5433) when you think you might arrive and I'll try and be there. I teach a class from 2:45 to 4:50 on MTWTH, but I may let them go early when you know your arrival schedule.

Glynn K.

[Tom in NM]

Dudley, it would help knowing your route and if you used States when you mention a town.
Probably too late to catch you in NM, I am in the Albuquerque area.

Tom

[Dudley]

Dudley, it would help knowing your route and if you used States when you mention a town.
Probably too late to catch you in NM, I am in the Albuquerque area.

Tom

Thanks. I tend to take too much for granted sometimes. Forget that not everyone knows the places I know. The one day delay kind of put a little set-back on our start, but was necessary to help the kids. Son-in-Law is a junior soldier, so money is very tight. We had hoped to pass near Albuquerque, but now we will just go I-10 East until Houston, TX. Only one date that has to be met is the 27th of June (in Lake Arthur, LA) for a Family Reunion, so I rather be there a day or so early than get there late. Thank you for inquiring. Hope to meet one day on another ride. We hope to be riding through Las Cruces, NM near noon on Monday, 6-22 (I-10) East.

[jimclarkf1]

I know your excitied, and I live in Omaha Ne, if you come N up I-29, we have a extra bed, shower and some grub, and its all clean not sure if it is out of your way, take care and GOD BLESS

[Lamonster]

Get some sleep Bro

[dryheat]

Heard from Dudley this AM and plan on meeting at Starbucks (SW corner of Ina and Oracle) between 12 and 1PM. Anyone around, come on by!

[dryheat]

Well, Dudley and Jennifer made the 1st leg of their 10K adventure. And a balmy 97 degrees to greet them! (At least it's not raining!) Happy trails, guys and be safe.

[tatt2r]

great visit with two awesome people hope you can stop by on your way back,,,

[tatt2r]

heck of a trip i know i speak for a lot of spyder lovers when i say we envy you two for your push to get to where you want to go ....

[Kjen]

Good thing I had no access to the computer after we started off this morning because I had only BLACK thoughts........and if voiced would have made me appear to be an awful person, SIGH.

Drizzle and mist and trees and more trees and sometimes a meadow with a few buildings with trees in the background. I couldn't take any pictures (sure and we've all seen enough pics of trees maybe?) due to the moisture in the air so I tucked away the camera in my jacket pocket. Still was a 2 jacket day until 1 came off to enable wearing the Froggs since the sky looked so promising. Wouldn't want to get soaked and embarrassedly having to say "yeah, we have rain gear, it's in the bike". At times I wonder about our sanity, then we crossed a couple of BICYCLE riders!! , now that's seriously demented-in the green hills full of mist, double yuck.

Didn't see any moose, aside from the one on the tee shirt at the welcome center, I refused to buy that.

Aside from the green stuff and the wet stuff it really wasn't a bad day; it didn't pour on us. Kind of cool on th country roads before we turned in for the day. Kind of strange to stop so early, but it kind of refuses to get dark and the body has had enough. Can see a stretch of the end of one of the channels or whatever the proper term is for the Bay of Fundy. There is some water of course but lots of exposed mud and river bank. Think tide rushes in around 10:30 tonight-not that we can see it but know its there, will check in the morning. Maybe a picture.

Had a TV dinner again. Forgot to mention it wasn't in English and Spanish like back in the states. This one was in English and French, kind of cool. Lots of that accent going on around here so I don't think I stick out like a sore thumb anymore. Time to go, by.

[tatt2r]

dee got to meet jenn and dudley

[tatt2r]

you both will be talking about this trip for a long time after its over .... so you coming back next year or are you going to shoot for japan

[Dudley]

you both will be talking about this trip for a long time after its over .... so you coming back next year or are you going to shoot for japan

Build the bridge!

[tatt2r]

Build the bridge!

im on it....

[Dudley]

Well, today was a real grinder. 269 miles of twists, turns, and hundreds of Harleys, if not in the thousands! Saw at least 5 Spyders, but they were either going opposite directions, or parked (2). Another wonder...we met 3 HD riders from the Bronx, NY at a rest stop in MN. Saw them the next day at a gas station in SD. Saw them again today in Sturgis, twice! We also met a couple at the same rest area and saw them again at a Mt Rushmore scenic overview and again at Deadwood.
Here is the summary of roads driven today: We left the motel about 830 AM and headed north on US-385, turned north on SD-87, which led us to the Custer State Park, which has a "Wildlife Loop". HA! We saw five different kinds of "wild" life, which just stood there so we could take pictures, probably thinking, "Stupid humans!" They were bison, burros, prairie dogs, antelope, and 2 deer. The scenery was beautiful, thankfully. To people from the city, this is something to see, so don't get discouraged if you ever do this. After the park, we took US-16A north (Iron Mountain Road) to Mt Rushmore. I can now positively state that the steering undate has made a big difference in the power steering...all for the good. Mt Rushmore is really awesome! Motorcycles all over the place! We didn't park in their lot ($10) to get any information we can easily get on the internet. From Mt Rushmore we traveled SD-244 to US-385 south to the Crazy Horse Monument. We could see it well from a short distance without paying to go closer, so we took pictures and left. We turned around on US-385 and headed north. We stayed on that highway until we reached Deadwood, SD, passing through Silver City, SD. Silver City had part of their town blocked off just for motorcycle travel. A lot of bikes there. But Deadwood looked like Sturgis...bikes all over the place. Casinos in almost every building on the main drag! Quite a let down for us, but that's progress. We saw the Deadwood TV series, so at least some buildings had history. From Deadwood we rode US-14A to Sturgis. We rode around Sturgis a bit, did the Main Street Drag twice. The traffic on it was moving well. The road off the interstate was a mess...stop-and-go nightmare. We saw where the BRP van will open tomorrow, so we will go back for that, on our way out. NMN is in Rapid City and we will drop in to see him also. So that was the day...a fast moving time, but we did take time to see things. Haven't decided on tomorrow's route yet.

[Kjen]

I've discovered that by the end of the day I'm almost too tired and crabby to sit here and type and make sense or be nice. The wildlife loop we started with today was nice. Rolling hills and green meadows along with the bison, prairie dogs, antelope, mules/donkeys and whatnots. Peaceful and serene and could be addictive.
Then it was Mt Rushmore and that was cool. Surprise when I first spotted it in a clearing long before we got there. Hard to capture on the camera. Didn't feel like paying to park (had alread given $12 for the wildlife loop which was nice but have seen lots of such on this trip) so took shots as Dudley drove the parking lot. Some shots were good, you have to check the album. Lots of bikes wherever we went. Lots of noise and fumes and people, SIGH. Crazy Horse was another park to pay so forget that, lots of us turned and just took pictures from the road; onward. Was other stuff but just nice and peaceful.
Deadwood was SUCH a disappointment to me. Nothing like the series; I should be so naive. The buildings were OK, but just gambling joints when you go inside. Of course the interiors are modern so you can't get the feel of old. I only went into a few because of all the noise of music blaring, bikes revving, people talking, noise noise noise. Didn't spend much time there because it was just so frustrating. Hawkers every where of course.
On to Sturgis. Bikers coming and going the whole route; the poor people who came to just enjoy the park area. I know we are here at this present time accidentally; sure didn't do this on purpose. Actually the sheer vending/buying things going on is amazing; how much do we need? Maybe I would feel different if I had room to store any of it? LOL. I did envy the ladies who were nicely (used loosely) dressed and fresh looking; I was feeling unfeminine and frumpy and grumpy. We did the main street strip gauntlet for a couple of times. That was kind of fun. Got to see LOTS of various bikes and hear comments about the spyder; yes, we even talked to people about spyder and performance. One lady stopped us and said "flat out, how much?" Saw the CanAm truck and should be stopping by to see it tomorrow if we can get through. Thought of going and looking up Magic Man in Rapid City, not sure cause it will be a circus out there starting tomorrow.
Tired here. OH, it was HOT today.

[jeuchler]

...we met 3 HD riders from the Bronx, NY at a rest stop ...

I used to work in the Bronx--Yep, I know the three guys you're talking about.

...Mt Rushmore...

Lincoln's nose is eleven feet long!

[Smylinacha]

So how does it feel to do all those miles! I totally envy you guys! And thank you so much for sharing your journey with us - we got to go for part of the ride and we got to see some real cool pics of everywhere you've been and we can only hope we can do this some day.

Welcome home you guys! You ever come back east, you got a place to crash here - k?

[Kjen]

So how does it feel to do all those miles! I totally envy you guys! And thank you so much for sharing your journey with us - we got to go for part of the ride and we got to see some real cool pics of everywhere you've been and we can only hope we can do this some day.

Welcome home you guys! You ever come back east, you got a place to crash here - k?

Thanks Kim, it was awesome that ya'll invited us into your home in the first place-really appreciated the offer. Food and ocean was good too. People were outstanding..
As to the miles, I think we feel accomplished. Didn't have anything to proove other than seeing the country and seeing how spyder would perform. All was great and pretty uneventful as far as the bike itself goes. Hope the spyder lag goes away quickly. We have energy but then it's zapped quickly.
Enjoy yourselves while it's still summer.
Hugs.

[Dudley]

Well, now that I am about over Spyder lag, I have a couple of stats from the trip:

13,624 trip miles, 273 engine hours = 50 MPH rounded off

24,631 Spyder miles, 511 total engine hours = 48 MPH rounded off

I have had the break-in service, GPS and parking brake service, and steering update done. I had the rear tire replaced with an OEM during the journey, in Easton, MA. I change my own oil every 5000 miles and use Royal Purple Max-Cycle Synthetic 10W40. During this trip, I started out with a fresh oil change and did not change oil during the trip. I added 2 quarts in the 13,624 miles and still show oil on the dip stick. My only issues with the Spyder have been the parking brake "fix" (it was working perfectly) that had to be re"fixed" and the steering program update, that I regret doing.

[Don in E Texas]

My only issues with the Spyder have been the parking brake "fix" (it was working perfectly) that had to be re"fixed" and the steering program update, that I regret doing.

Welcome home! and thanks for your trip reports and great photo's!!

You mentioned regrets over having the steering recall done. I took our bike in for that and I was allowed to borrow their current demo bike, a '09 SE5 fully decked out with all Corbin "goodies" What a sweet ride!!!! I returned the bike - picked up my bike and it is terrible!!! Returned to the dealer this morning to give him a report -- he invited me to try the demo bike as the update has been installed on it. All I can say is "what a shame to do that to what was a great ride".. and only 400 or so miles on it. Dealer will be calling BRP.

don

[Dudley]

Welcome home! and thanks for your trip reports and great photo's!!

You mentioned regrets over having the steering recall done. I took our bike in for that and I was allowed to borrow their current demo bike, a '09 SE5 fully decked out with all Corbin "goodies" What a sweet ride!!!! I returned the bike - picked up my bike and it is terrible!!! Returned to the dealer this morning to give him a report -- he invited me to try the demo bike as the update has been installed on it. All I can say is "what a shame to do that to what was a great ride".. and only 400 or so miles on it. Dealer will be calling BRP.

don

My steering is a lot better. But what they did was like going to the doctor for a broken finger, and while he fixes that, he breaks a leg because he thinks it will make you walk better. Like a bill in Congress, says one thing, but all the porks under the cover change it for the worse. Yea, a bunch of us Spyder Ryders are a bit annoyed.

[Smylinacha]

Thanks Kim, it was awesome that ya'll invited us into your home in the first place-really appreciated the offer. Food and ocean was good too. People were outstanding..
As to the miles, I think we feel accomplished. Didn't have anything to proove other than seeing the country and seeing how spyder would perform. All was great and pretty uneventful as far as the bike itself goes. Hope the spyder lag goes away quickly. We have energy but then it's zapped quickly.
Enjoy yourselves while it's still summer.
Hugs.

We finally got summer but I hate it already - way too hot and humid for me. If I wanted the humidity I would live in Florida. I am looking forward to a New England Fall. Next time you guys come, pick a time where you'll get here for leave peeping!