Franks Diner and Road America Vintage days

One place I have been meaning to stop at has been Franks Diner. So as we made our way up north to Road America, we made sure to make a stop there. Nice place and fills up quick...and I mean it! We got there early at 6:30AM and some locals were waiting before us. Twenty five minuets after opening the diner was filled.  The food was good and the waiter was quick-witted with sarcastic comments; I had to hold coffee back from coming out of my nose.

Gas and water stop before getting to the track. Water at the gas station is way cheaper here.  BTW: I love these old road signs for stores/restaurants, nothing generic about old school.

We stopped by our friends at flatlandcycles. He also does great Triumph restorations.

Funny thing is when it's 90 degrees and sunny outside, I lost interest  it taking pictures of old honda's running around the track with no mufflers. The races were poor with a lot of junk bikes and low turnout. Really not worth the effort and thirty bucks to get in. My hope was to see an old GP two stroke v-4 running around the big track, but no luck. I think I will have to go over to Mid-Ohio to see a high dollar GP bike alive and smoking.

The BRP had the spider demo rides going and my buddy and I went for a escorted ride around Elk Hart Lake. It's interesting to ride, but like they said multiple time during the intro, "it's NOT a motorcycle" and that it is definitely correct. To each his own.

Arkansas ride

 

 Arkansas Has been pushing motorcycle tourism for a few years now and have  routes that loop out of the town of Harrison.<---link for the free maps!! So we headed down and cheated by dragging the bikes down.

 First days view and warming up the brain to the speed of the ninja always takes some time since the KLR gets triple the miles a year. It didn't help either that we were only 20 miles into the ride then me and Jim both found spilled diesel and slipped the tires. Just a little wake up to keep the speed in check and not let the fun stop in a bad way.

We had no clue but Harrison was hosting a Goldwing riders gathering and most of them were trikes. Nice folks but I don't know about a purple fuzzy seat covers and a fake dog on a leash but to each his/her own!!

 My fork seals decided to give up during the trip. The bike kept handling well even with this leaking at a heavy rate. It was so bad after three days it was running back on the lower faring. :O Every 50- 70 miles I would wipe off the tubes and lower fork.

                                                                        Me
Best thing about riding down in AR, it's not endless curves. meaning you get a break with some good straights. Compared to TN or NC you get endless curves and by the end of a trip I would be begging to get back to IL for a half mile of straight road. 

 

HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!!!!

Not really but a cool state trooper that played up for a good picture. I posted this on facebook and about a hour later I did a check-in at the state trooper HQ. My facebook friends were falling for it and I remembered to call the wife to tell her it was fake.

 This little place was great break since we were told about the lost valley down the road. We felt bad for them since the income for them is the river and that was bone dry. For March and April they only got a 1/4 inch of rain, plus a dry winter. 

                                      Do I need to tell you he's from Wisconsin!!??

                                                         Can you say toilet bowl tree.

                                        Yep, we went up and through it and up to more caves.

 If you ever are shooing down RT 7 the Cliff House Inn is a must stop. Great food and a view to boot. While you eat the humming birds come and go to the feeders on the deck.

                                                    Jim's bike drank too much!

Helmets on ice in the 95 degree heat and it feels soooooo good plopping them on after a little gas break. Looking forward to heading back down this way but it might be on the KLR as I pass through on my way to Many LA in September.

Forking the ZX was a little pricy at $340 bucks for seals and fresh oil. I would of done it myself but the investment of the tools would of been a waste. Well it's already back together and feels good.

Next up is vintage races at Road America. I just want to hear a V4 two stroke scream down the front straight!!

I'll never forget this guy

This street name always gets my head messed up and angry how little time the man that hit Jon got in jail. Jon was a porter at the time I knew him and he was loud and a funny kid; you knew he was a good person. He found and sold me a CB750 for $125 I think. When he got older, Jon went on to work at a police department by my house and I didn't see him for a while. The bike was rough, but looked like it might be a runner. I put a lot of money into the bike to make it presentable and it ran nice. I made it look like a drag bike - if you were rolling at about 15mph and dropped the clutch, it would spin and smoke the tire for forty five feet and then run out of gear. It was a trip to hold onto and look back to see the burnout.
I rode the bike for a few months and ran into Jon. He was taking a cop car home and saw me. He flipped the lights on and scared the crap out of me. I was on the CB750 when he did this and he loved what I did with it. He decided to buy it back, but not for $125 bucks! LOL.......

                                 Layout and quality is poor since these are scanned

One night I was watching the news and they said his name - I almost fell off the couch. They showed his picture and it was real. Here's the story on Jon:

Officer Jonathan Walsh was killed when his patrol car was involved in an accident with a hit-and-run driver. He was responding to a burglar alarm at the Pilcher Park Nature Center.

Officer Walsh was pronounced dead at Silver Cross Hospital. He suffered massive injuries when he collided with a Chevrolet Blazer and then crashed into an unoccupied lift crane parked on the side of Maple Road just east of Briggs Street.

Police located the Blazer abandoned near McKay Street and Garland Court. Following a five hour manhunt, the driver was arrested and charged as was his spouse, for her involvement in reporting the vehicle stolen.

Officer Walsh was a three and one-half year veteran of the Joliet Police Department beginning his career in February, 2001. He was a certified member of the Bicycle Patrol and also served on the Gang Violence Suppression Unit. He was a founder and member of the Joliet Police Department Softball Team, and a member of the International Police Mountain Bike Association.

During his career with the Joliet Police Department, he was the recipient of numerous commendations and awards of merit. Officer Walsh was a very enthusiastic, compassionate, and friendly individual. Prior to joining the Joliet Police Department, Jonathan Walsh served with the Burr Ridge, Palos Heights, and Chicago Ridge Police Departments.

On Wednesday, July 27, 2005, the offender entered a guilty plea on charges of failure to stop after an accident and driving on a revoked license.

On Wednesday, December 21, 2005, the driver was sentenced to six months in jail and was taken into custody after sentencing. The sentence also included 48 months of probation.

Officer Walsh is survived by his father, a retired Worth police officer, his mother and two sisters.

Read more: http://www.odmp.org/officer/17425-police-officer-jonathan-edward-walsh#ixzz1uiq3UrVM

Big women scares me

The other day I was looking through some tweets and saw that Fuzzygalore.com said a Marilyn Monroe statue was leaving Chicago Monday morning and Fuzzy is a leader of roadside giant figures. So I talked my buddy to wake up early and go check out the lady.

my plan was to ride the bike up to the base of her feet and take a shot but we got to park curbside and worked out great.

Nice lady offered to take a shot of us and then she wanted to keep talking to us. I figured it won't hurt to give her some conversation to repay for taking our picture.

                           Right about now in this shot is when I felt a little like a pervert.

                                                 Sex and bikes ---------- it always sells.

             I was giggling at all the shoe marks on her legs from people trying to climb up and wonder how many perverted pictures are on cellphones.

The girls gonna be around for some time since shes a metal, I was expecting fiberglass

At one point we were the attraction and people were taking shots with our bike.

Second stop of the day was down RT66 in the town of Wilmington IL at the Gemini Giant. The restaurant that the giant sits buy has been closed for a few years and the town was talking about buying the Gemini form the old owners of the restaurant. He's kind of like the symbol of the town and in every Route 66 book I have ever picked up.  This picture came out really strange. The wheels on the Ninja look huge and especially the front.

                           Some quarterback tossed one in the mask of the giant. LOL..