The trip home

The next day after reaching the coast, we had a cold windy ride up to Salem, Oregon. Part way there, at a gas stop, I decided to repair the wiring to my grip-warmers as my hands were getting numb from the cold. Once we got to Salem, Ben checked out and purchased our method of transportation back east, a 1989 Toyota pickup with 325,000 miles. I was a little skeptical that it would make it back but I kept my fingers crossed and hoped for the best. After picking up the truck, we went straight to a U-Haul rental center and I rented a trailer. We loaded up one bike in the back of the truck and the other two in the trailer and were on our way. We drove about 27 hours straight to get to Nebraska, where Ben has family. We didn’t expect every gas station along the way to be closed though, and ran out of gas three times during the night. Luckily each of the bikes had a gallon or so left in the tanks, so when we ran out we would take the tank off one of the bikes and, using a juice bottle funnel, get some gas in the tank. Once we arrived in Nebraska, we got a good meal, showers, and slept a few hours in a camper before motoring on. We reached Illinois early the next morning. I grabbed a few more hours of sleep, rejetted my bike for the lower altitude, said my goodbyes and got back on the road. I was planning on riding to Dayton, Oh where my brother lives. Unfortunately I couldn’t reach him when I got there, so I continued on to my parents place in Morgan County, Oh. I got in around 8:30 pm. The next day I drove the bike and myself back to Pittsburgh in my pickup truck. I’m still unpacking. I’m hoping to get the first days video put together and posted tomorrow.