Today is one week until my USA Midwest 2023 trip begins. It has been three years since I have done a long distance trip. I did a regional trip from Atlanta (Douglasville, GA) to Charlotte of 685 miles and a regional from Atlanta (Douglasville, GA) to Myrtle Beach of 793 miles in 2021. I did not do any riding in 2022 at all due to working a second job that I quit in December 2022 (one year part time warehouse work) – have to pay for my toys (and never-ending home projects) somehow.

Final Preperations

Still doing some minor wrenching on Dexter, discovered a loose exhaust pipe hanger that I am not even sure is actively used. Exhaust was replaced three years ago by a shop in Ramona, California that we will just say does less than acceptable work. Possible it was just left in place from old exhaust. Regardless, I will torque it down just because. Also in process of cleaning Dexter up some so that it can get filthy during the trip, have to start clean though LOL.

This weekend and week coming up will pack and arrange load on bike. Plan to have everything ready to roll by Thursday night and roll out Friday morning, September 1st.

Apprehension and Pain Killers

So far for 2023, I have only logged maybe 100 miles of ride time. So I am excited and a bit apprehensive for my trip. I am a little apprehensive because I think I may have lost some saddle endurance…AKA Butt Conditioning LOL. For my real job, I work in IT and do sit in my less than ideal office chair for 10+ hours daily, and because I am a computer geek often spend another 4 or more hours in said chair doing my own IT nerd stuff, like making YouTube videos, or a blog post (there is also Madden on the computer….sigh). So, maybe my rear end is indeed more than ready for 16 days in the saddle. I am packing plenty of old man vitamins, Ibuprofen, Bayer Aspirin, and Naproxen Sodium (Aleve) just in case my body starts to protest against our brain LOL.

Trip Planned Route (Generally Speaking)

Below is the trip route (more or less), the trip will be adjusted as needed on the fly. One change already is that I will not be going to Sioux City, IA as the railroad museum that I was planning on visiting will be closed the day that I will be in the area. So instead, I will roll from Whiting, IA down to Omaha, NE and get some video on the GoPro of downtown and head down to Kenefick Park to take some photos of two locomotives they have on display there. (Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 X4023 Steam locomotive and Union Pacific EMD DD440X 6900).

There has also been minor route changes for planned fuel and rest stops.