Please keep searching for the stolen Cannonball Bikes and reposting the alert. In the meantime, I will try to wrap up with my coverage. Just a couple of days to go. Stage 15 (part 1) of the Motorcycle Cannonball from Lewiston, ID to Yakima, WA (244 miles). We left Lewiston as the sun was just coming up. I was struck with the look of the very wide XXX River. It bore a strage resemblence to the Nile River in upper Egypt with the dry landscape beyond its reflective surface. Maybe it was that I was following the Brough Superior (Lawrence of Arabia!) with Paul D’Orleans in the saddle? Shinya looked like he was running into trouble early in the day as we started the long climb up away from the river (a premonition of what was to come?). Frank Westfall continued to ride his 1928 Henderson Deluxe steady as she went, usually with no hands on the handlebars in his “HenderZEN” style (Thanks Dave Prz for the great name.) Overall, it was a long hot day riding through the apple and grape growing country of eastern Washington with lots and lots of lefts and rights on the ride sheet to keep the riders on their toes. I thought the best idea of the day was from the Merry Pranksters (Doug Feinsod and friends) who saw opportunity in the heat of the late afternoon as they went by a fast flowing river. I wonder what those pants and boots would have been worth at auction?! After encountering Shinya in the late afternoon, we rode along with him to the days finish and hosted stop at Owens Cycle in Yakima, WA. It wasn’t until we arrived that he showed me why he was running a bit rought - he lost his complete front rocker assembly somewhere on the road and had been running all afternoon on just the rear cylinder. WOW - what else can happen to this bike! Then again, seeing a 100 year old bike (happy anniversary) ride through highway and in-town traffic is inspiring. Fancy cars that cost 1,000 times the Indian sped by while beat up 10-year old cars sat in used lots hopeful for a new owner. That old Indian certainly puts a new perspective on life! We are getting close. Many machines that were down are coming to life to make a finish attempt. While they only mimssed a couple of days for mechanicals, it was great to see Claudia and Sante from Rimini, Italy made it through the day on their Moto Freras after two days working on the bikes to get them running again. They are the most wonderful couple to watch interact with each other.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:43:45 +0000
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