Utah Road Run with the Atomic Shovel: Day 5

Posted byKaran AndreaPosted inUncategorized

Day 5

Joplin, MO to Amarillo, TX

…for realz this time….
Holy cats! I made it… Went to sleep sooooo early last night after an exhausting day doing nothing but resting and watching bad TV. Got up early this morning and was on the road by 7 a.m. The bike still lurched a bit going into 1st this morning, but I rode the shit out of the clutch up the street, and after that, it was fine.
Bike was good today. It was cool out – 50 when I left – so I wore my heated jacket, but I didn’t mind the cool air. I had a 500-mile day, and a carbureted bike, so cool air means a happy motor.
To everyone who sent the universe a no-rain prayer for me… THANK YOU!! I managed to avoid rain the entire day. I did choose a southern route through Tulsa (thought of you Greg Lew !) because the other, slightly quicker route (by 15 minutes) went through Kansas, and when I checked the weather there for today, it said RAIN. I was ok riding an extra 15 minutes to avoid yet another day of rain.
All in all, it was a beautiful ride. Oklahoma has more hardwoods and green stuff than I expected – sad how stereotypes of regions make an East Coast girl think that basically the entire southwest is dust and iguanas! On balance, most people think the entire state of NY is paved. So there’s that.
Regardless, beautiful ride thru OK, and the Texas panhandle was also beautiful. The first part was hilly and colorful. The speed limit on the 2 lane road was 75 tho, so I had to keep an eye behind me to make sure no one was going to flatten me! I was doing 60-65 at most. The Atomic Shovel is not a hurry up bike.
About 100 miles from Amarillo, I ran into high winds as expected. Again, checking the weather last night, it showed high winds, and thunderstorms in the area. Thankfully, I did not get both. I wasn’t in the mood for another power washing! But the winds were brutal. It started as a head wind, which screwed with my ability to accelerate.
Then it became a cross wind from my left. I was wearing ear plugs, but my left ear was getting buffeted so hard that my eardrum hurt. I ended up pulling over and putting a different earplug in that ear. That helped a lot. My ears are ringing now though. But I have landed for the evening… Albuquerque tomorrow!

Published by Karan Andrea

I ride motorcycles, I live motorcycles, and I write about motorcycles. Both of my blogs are written for motorcyclists: atomicshovel.blog tells the never-ending story of my 1974 Harley-Davidson FLH, which I have named the Atomic Shovel. My other blog coachk.home.blog is written for riders of all skill levels, but is primarily aimed toward the rider who is transitioning from the riding range where they learned basic skills, to the open road. This blog address the most common questions I see in the online groups and forums: dealing with anxiety - yes, that is the number one question, navigating traffic, parking, holding your bike on an incline, just to mention a few. Much of what I write is simply drawn from my own experiences - successes, failures, do-overs. Nothing in either blog should be construed as the absolute one and only approach; rather, look at them as a starting point for your own discovery process.

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