Episode 008 – Route Highlight: Eclipse Tour – Best Motorcycle Roads Podcast – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpWSTt2Do6o

Transcript:

(00:00) find out why a good place to meet is Between the [Music] Buns hello and welcome to best motorcycle roads I’m Tom and I’m Todd we have over 65 years of combined motorcycling experience and 30 years of planning and riding motorcycle trips we’re here to share with you everything we’ve learned over those years our goal at best motorcycle roads is simple make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be we’ll dive into technology planning packing the routes and other tips and everything in between from

(00:42) essential prep to Unforgettable routes we’ve got you covered before we Kickstart today’s Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it’s our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we’ll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit and I thought today since we’re talking about the eclipse rides Todd

(01:13) that we would uh talk about hot riding things cuz the eclipse ride in 2017 was a hot hot ride hot hot um and so one of the things for me and I know you guys have used them on the wings gold wings for a long time is is there’s there’s many different versions of this but the ones we’ve all used and really enjoyed are called Baker air wings yes and they’re really good for cold and hot but basically what Baker air wings are is accessories that you attach on the mic bike um there’s three different ver or kind of levels

(01:52) well uh yeah three different sets how we call it there’s one that’s up high there’s one that’s mid and then they steal some low for some bikes not all bikes and basically what they allow you to do is is deflect air towards or away from you depending on on how you want to do it so yeah and the high ones uh really kind for your hands right and maybe your neck area and you can either if you’re if they’re closed you really won’t get any uh wind blowing on your hands or your neck and if you if you

(02:22) angle them in toward yourself you just really going to like funnel that air right at you yeah yeah so and then depending on the bike of course you know the uppers mids and lowers on the Gold Wing the uppers are I think mostly under the mirrors aren’t they yeah um and another example on the Kawasaki conour I had they were actually above the mirrors oh but it’s just riding position and everything but it’s the same concept it was pushing air to you and and man oh man what a difference it makes um and

(02:51) also in the rain too it can stop that rain from just pounding on the kind of keeping your shoulders um dry a little more dry but but boy I I mean having Baker air wings um when it’s hot it’s a world difference you can just funnel them and so it really can grab the air and just blow it right on you it’s it’s pretty nice and it’s better it’s actually better than having n nothing I think at all there because it really like you said you can they’re very um they’re very adjustable like they’ll

(03:23) they don’t collapse there’s not like settings on those and that’s honestly like um some of the parts that I don’t like about some of the competitors I have um some on this Gold Wing now that I’m going to change out because they have basically three like click stops oh to stop MH and unfortunately where they are mounted there if you have them open there it’d be great for the cold because it’s taking the engine heat and kicking it right to you which isn’t a bad thing I mean but yeah I mean I think having

(03:54) the adjustability um on these bikes with that airflow is probably one of the things that makes longdistance riding enjoyable because it’s and when it’s cold you can stop it and it kind of it really does a good job on that yeah um and that goes all the way down you you don’t have the low I don’t have the lowers no Brad has the lowers yeah yeah those are really nice it’s can stop the um like rain when it’s getting on your boots yeah um as well so yeah so I really am I’m a big fan especially when

(04:26) you’re talking about hot hot weather writing um I I don’t think I’d want to not have something yeah no additional yeah absolutely I love having those ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips and right now we’re going to talk all about your head the upper from your from your neck up um number one sunscreen uh I’ve paid the price uh several times because you get on a motorcycle you know and yeah it’s sunny out but you know you got the wind blowing and you don’t realize for how

(05:00) long you you’re just you know heading into the sun you don’t realize how how hot it it’s burning you and you know um I remember one of the first long trips I took I was meeting uh you guys down in Memphis was Memphis yep and I took a 10hour pretty much straight ride I didn’t stop other than to fuel um didn’t put sunscreen on I had my helmet on I had my sunglasses on but I had my modular helmet open because it was hot and and didn’t put sunscreen on and I remember when I met up with you guys and

(05:35) took my helmet off and you were just all laughing like looking at me laughing I’m like what what’s up and uh I mean nose it looked like a clown face I had drawn it was just bright red but it was just like this just this just this much you know but you’d wore sunglasses I had sunglasses so my eyes were still white so I just had like this you know this part right here was burnt I mean burnt yeah well I know that you we’re talking about head up but if I remember correctly oh yeah that’s right I had

(06:04) some gloves on and the gloves had holes you know like holes and I had these polka dots on my hands too so um I tell you what sunscreen absolutely and you know be careful when you’re choosing here’s another kind of funny story um it was one of the more recent trips and we were like going to Nashville where you know heading down to Tennessee and uh we stopped to get fuel and it was still kind of early in the ride you know a couple hours in and um before I left my wife has a a bin uh in the closet that’s all sunscreens and and

(06:39) allows and that kind of stuff and just as I was walking out the door I remembered oh I need to grab some so I just went into that bin and just grabbed a couple of bottles didn’t pay attention threw them in my bag well we stopped at to get fuel and uh I sunscreen up a better sunscreen up everybody else will so I go into my bag and I I start wiping it on my face you know and and one of the guys standing next to me he says you better keep rubbing I’m like I am I am he’s like no you got to keep rubbing get

(07:04) it’s not rubbing in I’m like just give me a second you know leave me alone he’s goes no it’s not rubbing in at all and I’m like what are you talking about and I looked into the side view or the you know rear view mirror of the bike and sure enough it was I was using zinc oxide you know like the lifeguards put on their nose it just white I had my whole face smeared with those white crap and I couldn’t get rid of it well it’s like oil based oh so I just left it yeah it looked like I had white clown

(07:31) makeup great great oh I know they took pictures of me too uh oh and then the other thing too is uh just hydration um that’s the other thing when you’re riding in the wind you know it’s just evaporating you know the moisture off your body you might feel cool because you know you’re doing 60 M an hour um and don’t notice it but you’re you’re really drying yourself out so uh you know I keep at least one water bottle on the bike that I can can grab while we’re riding and I’ve got a second

(08:01) one um in the passenger water bottle holder that I can just reach back and grab um but yeah yeah just make sure you’re hydrate all the time and I’ll generally bring like some solar cane because it’s no I mean even just to remoisturize like you said the skin aloe like at night and then one more thing in that head up area too is I tend to carry some like baby wipe type stuff because my my um when I sweat gets really like acidic oh yeah and so if I don’t wear um like a beanie then my head will break

(08:37) out right up here where my um where the foam sure yeah yeah so like by three day three I start to get like a rash yeah and I’ll bet it starts to eat the foam out of your helmet pretty quick too yeah it’s it’s it does it’s not comfortable and so that’s when I started wearing the beanies and the beanies must Wick away that enough um or keep puts the little space that I need between and so that’s that’s why I always I wear the beanies always too Under The Helmet yeah so I mean really just anything that’s going

(09:05) to be exposed to Sun um you know if you have a helmet on you don’t have a whole lot of exposure other than just your face but if you’ve got short sleeves on get your arms and you know uh don’t forget about your hands the back of your hands will burn up um yeah just you’re going to be uncomfortable if you don’t well we’ talked about this before too it’s just anything that makes the trip uncom that’s just not fun you know and so it makes it tough to take a shower too with soon as the water starts

(09:30) hitting you in the morning absolutely and you got sunburn wo the next segment is what we call the mile marker it’s our story segment and this is the root highlight of this episode is our Eclipse tour 2017 um we did this I went back and looked and it expl explain Eclipse tour what does that mean sure so in 2017 good point Thank you in 2017 was first for a long time of a full solar eclipse where the Moon is going in front of the sun yeah um so that was we did that back that would have been in August of 2017

(10:06) and so that was a like it was a six day trip for us I think we left on a Sunday came back um on a wed a Thursday um so the first day we that’s not six days isn’t it 20 21 22 23 24 25 well you said Sunday and Thursday I don’t know it was 20th through the 25th all right how about that all right that works uh so we left I know we left on a Sunday because I think the eclipse was on Monday yeah um so we rode together the the full let’s see there was was there one two three there’s six of us yeah we rode

(10:43) down from Iowa to Spring just south of Springfield uh Missouri uh Ozark is where we stayed the first night and in episode six we talked about salvator is one of our favorite fun nights and you can go back and listen to that but uh we do have a correction to make because I think we said it was in in St Joseph’s no ST uh no uh what did we say St Charles it’s not in St Charles not St Charles that’s right there is a salvator in St Charles but not the one we went to not the one we went to correction it was

(11:15) Ozark Missouri we’ve checked it since on our timeline from Google so so yeah so we that was a good ride that day I think um and then the second day you guys split off and headed east and we headed actually down to Arkansas do you want to talk yeah well we went over yeah so three of us went over to Carbondale Illinois and the reason you went there is because you know the solar eclipse could be seen everywhere in the US but there’s a there was a stripe yeah that was the like the full solar eclipse you

(11:46) it was the complete coverage and it was kind of like the you know the dead center right uh it was going to be the longest um duration I duration you know seeing it from that so we wanted to get over to Carbondale um and as an EXT bonus one of our favorite bands was playing right after the uh right after the the eclipse occurred so we wanted to stay there but it was super hot that day we rode um I remember going through like Cape Gerardo Reynoldsville uh we rode through the Shaunie National Forest um and and that’s a good ride

(12:20) really good can’t remember those Road numbers um well you’re cutting through it’s it’s partially right around Roots the old Route 66 and you’re kind of cutting through the those Forest but you’re you get to that river between Illinois and Missouri and Kentucky and you really get a um it’s just a lot of nice Hills because it’s a river valley and all that yeah yeah it was good riding great riding yeah and then you went to carale yep and then we went to Carbondale um the one of the best things was that eclipse and and

(12:51) I’ll talk about it later uh but when we after going to to see that Eclipse we swore that we were going to go see another one which is this is the this year yeah is and then it’s not I don’t think you and I see another one it’ll be 20 more years I I don’t think I’ll well maybe yeah God willing um so yeah so you guys did that Y and uh when you guys went that way we I don’t know why we didn’t go see the clips with you but we headed kind of the other direction in south from Missouri down to Arkansas and

(13:24) uh we went through Branson and then we went to Arkansas it’s it’s Highway 14 and Lead Hill is kind of this area it’s very it’s very unbelievable roads they’re just cutbacks and switchbacks it’s great riding um very roll I would call it um interesting um we hit some highlights of Arkansas of nail Arkansas deer Arkansas as well as snowball and raspberry Arkansas um and then we ended up staying there over night weirdly we stayed in o ozar AR Missouri the night before we stayed in Ozark Arkansas which if you think about where

(14:04) Ozark Arkansas is it’s probably about 35 miles from um from like the border of Oklahoma okay so that’s kind of the neighborhood and the next we took the next day while you guys were you guys stayed overnight somewhere over there and then you headed back and we headed back um up 27 which is kind of that area um and then Mountain Home and then it’s there’s two Lakes really cool lakes down there bullsh Lake and Norfolk Lake um which is where we were at and then we met up in Calico Rock Arkansas

(14:38) at a how would you describe it it was a a small little M quaint quaint quaint little yeah little mom and pop kind of Diner yeah we had Burgers and Shakes I think yeah there was a lot of fried food there was a lot of fried food but it was called Between the Buns Between the Buns it was it was fun though I mean it was a good experience if you can imagine a very small town with a barely paved Road parked it was a little creek back there it was kind of a cool place where but it it was fun but we always joke cuz we met

(15:11) at the Between the Buns meet me Between the Bun It was kind of a small like they had maybe 10 it was an old gas station for sure yeah converted like when you think of old gas station where small room you know and then the shop next to it yeah yeah it was cool but um yeah no that was fun and then the the last night so then that’s um we we ended up going the last night and staying in a really cool place uh an old Route 66 hotel um called The Wagon Wheel yeah and that’s cool because it has um individual I hate

(15:45) to call it a cabin cuz it’s it was it’s a little cottage really right little Cott Stone Cottages 10 maybe they had there yeah um just like a hotel room but separated as a Stone Cottage yeah just way cool it was really cool it it was right on the old Route 66 cool old um sign out front you know um and then one of the neatest things too I I think one of the most enjoyable things is in the back they had almost like car ports where we could park the bikes and a picnic table where we we played cards and stuff that was that was really cool

(16:19) that was a lot of fun it was a beautiful night we sat out there played cards yeah yeah the bikes were covered underneath the car port it was neat yeah very vehicle motorcycle friendly for sure yeah I’d recommend to anybody stop at the Wagon Wheel go historic I don’t remember the history the history is online you but there’s pictures from the 50s you know with you know yep it’s one of the Staples still is if you look up the Route 66 um some information so that was fun um you know riding the whole

(16:51) Route 66 would be amazing but it’s so long that it’s kind of cool sometimes to find those places along the way and and really get to them so yeah and then we Ed home on the 25th whatever day of the week it was right the podcast can be found on best motorcycleroads.com podcast all the information you need will be there uh but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music apple pocketcast and YouTube this is the interactive segment we will be looking for input from you uh we want you to send us your questions and suggestions for roads

(17:25) topics and anything else you have on your mind and uh this one comes from a guy named Travis and he’s asking us about the different types of motorcycles uh that we’ve taken in trips on and especially asking about the pros and cons of the Gold Wings Over other types of bikes uh currently uh three of us in the group the two of us and one other guy uh were riding gold wings yeah of all different years but um but we’ve each owned quite a few different bikes and styles of bikes and um like our our friend Chris he rides um he’s currently

(18:01) riding like the I think they call it the ultra Glide Harley Ultra guide it’s full bagger it’s got all the the bells and whistles on it it’s like a Gold Wing touring I’d say like yeah the Harley TS yeah for sure and then uh Mike um is driving a like a cruiser right um windshield he’s got sidebags no trunk right um he’s the one that doesn’t have a throttle lock or anything he has to to fix that before the next Tri um I know I started with a cruiser I had a couple different Cruisers and um and now I have

(18:36) the Gold Wing and I I don’t know why I ever had anything but a Gold Wing to be quite honest it’s so amazing it’s it’s fantastic and I always used to think of them as kind of the old man’s bike but no way they’ve got all kinds of Power they handle great I really wish I’d had one for much longer um but I know both you and Brad have had sport touring bikes and um Adventure bikes and cruisers and yeah Mark and I have had a couple different Adventure bikes yeah yeah yeah um yeah so I mean we can

(19:10) probably get into this as we go on but I mean the longer the miles that you’re putting on the more Touring bike I think that you’re going to want Mark loves riding his advs you know like his Adventure bikes um and you can definitely do it you just eat a lot more wind and you know like I rode his adventure bike on the last tour we took and I think we were 5 days I think we had three days of rain and it sucks I mean you get wet I mean yeah I was wearing rain gear and all that jazz but I mean it just gets tiring after a while

(19:42) you know so I think just from a straight out of the gate and we can kind of talk about each of the different types as we in future podcast but I’d say St the gate you’re just getting so much more wind protection on the touring bikes you know adjustable windshields now on like my newer Gold Wing um you’re just getting all the bells and the whistles nice big seats um you’re getting you know wind protection hand protection heated grips I got heated seats now I mean it’s just really it’s comfortable uh you know I

(20:12) think Travis maybe in his notes said I call those the Cadillac you know we used to call it the couch and it is you know I mean it’s definitely that and I don’t know it just depends on what you’re into Everyone likes their thing and all bikes work I know that turkall road a single cylinder uh you know like a little tiny thing for one time and you know there’s advantages there they get great mileage you know the big bikes they’re you know lucky to be in the 30s and 40s you know like and those little bikes get great

(20:43) fuel mileage and if you’re keeping slow and you’re on the two lanes they’re not terrible they’re just you know if you ever have to get on the interstate that’s when it just it just beats you up a little bit more you know just a wind pounding on you yeah but it’s still a still a preference right it is and when you’re young it’s you know we used to get beat up by the wind forever and and I think the older we’ve gotten the more it takes it out of us you know and at the end of the day we don’t want to feel

(21:05) all beat up and worn out so um it’s kind of nice to have all the extra protection and I’ve never rode two up on any one of those other bikes locally but like when you you and you know you and your wife ride two up boy you the the size and the extra is really not just from the luggage perspective right but just from the comfort you know like CR Ed up leg you know legs aren’t up by someone’s ears and this kind of business yeah my wife falls asleep sometimes on the back of the Gold Wing and now it’s the last

(21:36) mile our way to kind of close the episode with our reflection so Todd what what do you want to talk about for this this episode well for for me the the full solar eclipse is something I’ll never forget um I I know the three of us who went we all you know said we’re absolutely going to do this again in 2024 um it was that dramatic it was that impressive impressive and I remember going home afterwards and telling friends and relatives if you weren’t there you really did miss out and don’t miss it in 2024 so uh it was

(22:09) exhilarating it was thrilling it it was just so memorable um what was extra cool too about where we stopped you know and and I think we were just behind a gas station if I remember right like in a big parking lot and we were standing there and we had our glasses on and there was a a guy with a group sitting behind us a little ways and he started narrating all the different phases uh that you know the sun and moon were going through and he would call them out and yell to the group and it was just so cool that you know he was

(22:39) yelling out you know here comes the diamond ring and then you know sure enough you’d see that that shape appear and um that was it just made it extra special so um that’s why this coming April 8th we’re going to take another motorcycle trip to go see the the next solar eclipse I hope the weather is good that’s right have you rode in the snow before not yet I really don’t want to yeah um how about with you Tom well first of all I want to say like I was I was frustrated I would I mean I’m kind

(23:11) of sorry that I missed out on the the eclipse so I’m excited to go to that this year too so we’re planning on being somewhere in the Missouri Illinois area too like if people want to if if you’re interested in meeting us there we’re not exactly sure yet where you know jump on the website uh B motorcyc roads.

(23:30) com fill out the contact form there we’ll we’ll send some information out too if if that’s of interest to you so um for me for this trip um you know I’ll always remember salvatories it was just like we’ve talked about so many times it’s so much more about just it was that local place we had a good time didn’t have any expectations and it was just fun so I mean that is one huge memory for me that I love the second one really is um you you’ve talked about like where I really dig in to find like the two-lane roads

(24:02) and the two-lane roads that we found in Arkansas I mean it was yeah it was unbelievable like um you know so you you got to lick clips and you got me on that but what we did see was I mean amazing like um like what you would expect stereotype Arkansas rule it was all of that and it was it was really cool so between those two things yeah I just uh really enjoyed that yeah I think it’s always been worth the effort that you put in to find absolutely amazing two-lane roads that just wind through hillsides and beautiful scenery and

(24:36) along rivers and around Lakes yeah it’s it’s awesome which leads us to the next episode which in episode number nine we’ll be talking about our 2024 trip planning the things that we do um to kind of make a season successful and each trip successful so I’m excited about that one yeah me too if this episode revved up your day don’t keep it to yourself like subscribe and share it with your crew we’re all about the thrill of the ride and the bond it creates keep the spirit of Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and

(25:09) endless roads the stories ride forever take [Music] care