Laura Klock: October 2010

Friday, October 1, 2010

Day 16 - Motorcycle Cannonball Run

LAURA ON THE ROAD WITH TEAM EFFIE – “The End or New Beginnings” (Day 16)

Ninety five years ago a young woman named Effie Hotchkiss decided she wanted to travel coast to coast. With an “anything is possible” attitude she and her mother Avis set out to do just that on a 1915 Harley Davidson. On the bike they carried a jar of water from the Atlantic Ocean, and intended to dump it into the Pacific when they arrived. They did.

At approximately 3:30 in the afternoon, on Sunday, September 26, 2010, Cris Sommer Simmons, pilot of a 1915 Harley named Effie dumped water from that Atlantic Ocean collected in a glass jar in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on September 10, into the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California.

I am humbled and honored to have been part of the crew that helped her get there.
A journey never really ends does it? I mean you carry with you the friendships you made along the way, the lessons you learned, and when you tell the stories, doesn’t it help it all live on? I don’t know. I don’t like saying “the end” because it’s really a new beginning in some ways. I know that I’ve changed for the better because of this journey. I know it’s the START of some things. So, let’s say maybe it’s the end of this chapter in the book, because we know there’s so much more to come. We were part of a history making event. This will live on in so many ways, many we may never even know of. Effie probably had no idea that she’d inspire us to repeat her journey. That we would think of her and what it must have been like back then when SHE faced some of the challenges we did, without many of the modern tools and conveniences we had. We had that to keep us going on tough days. Her journey was different in some ways...they took 3 months, we took 16 days. They had things we didn't, and vice versa. But wow, what a cool way that we got to think about it. What would Effie do? :) How could she have known she'd affect us? And is that why you take on a challenge in the first place - trying to think that far into the future? I don’t know that we think about it like that. We just do it!

I will direct you to http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/ for all of the final statistics, winners, prizes, and really cool video that’s posted already. Please note in the videos and photos that Team Effie is carrying a checkered flag, so you can pick us out. Finishing is winning to us and it was from the very beginning. I could say at this point that ATTEMPTING this run is winning because it was an endurance run in every sense of the word – mechanically, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Consistency was key as it is in so many things in life. I learned so much. About myself, others, teams, old bikes, the human spirit. It’s still hard even though I’m home today, back at my desk, to even try to put it into words.

So, with that being said, I will stop for now. I'm sure there's more to come. And as I step back into my life, I'm reminded that I haven't even marveled in our Bonneville efforts this year. In the fact that BOTH my daughters, AND my husband had birthdays while I was gone. That my puppy looks like she grew a years worth, and I haven't seen my horse in weeks. I will cherish my time on the road with Team Effie, that is for sure....even though I missed my home while I was gone. Whenever I return from a vacation or an adventure, the challenge is to hold onto what was learned out there and apply it to life here, because there are no coincidences, and we are taught things in God's perfect timing. The timing of this trip in our lives was impeccable in more ways than I can describe, and we are all richer for it. Funny how that works out.

I would like to end by thanking all of the organizers of the Motorcycle Cannonball, all of the crews, riders, new friends, people out there that welcomed us, the Motor Maids, the sponsors, and Cris, Athena, Toast and Pat for allowing me to be part of Team Effie. Also thanks for my family and Klock Werks Team for allowing me the time to go and taking care of things back home.

DAY 16 - The LAST DAY!!! This is how we have sent Effie off every day. I hug her around the tank..Athena gives her love. Brian is here with us today, so he captured our send off

DAY 16 - Pete Young in period attire for the final day of riding. See you at the Pier!

DAY 16

Day 15 - Motorcycle Cannonball Run

LAURA ON THE ROAD WITH TEAM EFFIE – “Down to the Wire” (Day 15)

DAY 15 - The start of the second to the last day! Go Team Effie!

Today I was noticing something. I’m noticing more wire, beer cans, pop cans, crescent wrenches, tape, just miscellaneous stuff holding these bikes together. Bent rims, bent forks, broken fender tabs and motor mounts, missing bolts, back aches and tired spirits marked today, but there were still SMILES. The finish line is near and while you can feel and sense the exhaustion, you can still feel the excitement as well. Wow. It’s SO INSPIRING! I’m just not good enough with words to describe this.

So, I’m using pictures. Take a peek so you can see what I mean.

DAY 15 - "Down to the wire" is the theme of this day. Bent forks, dented rims, lost bolts, sore backs and tired spirits - along with parts held together by wire and other creative ways - marked day 15. One more day before we ride into Santa Monica! And these riders are doing whatever it takes to get there!

The highlight for me personally was at the end of today. A couple things. 1. Willa and Cassidy Rodencal joined our girl crew tonight for Effie’s Maintenance and a little 101 on wrenching. But they didn’t really need a lot of teaching because these girls knew more than we expected. How could they not though? Their dad is #33 Bill Rodencal. His whole family has been with this entire trip. Bill has ridden as much as possible but he also shared this journey with his family, taking a day off riding to explore the Grand Canyon for instance. It was so cool to watch, and these girls are precious! 2. My husband Brian arrived tonight. He flew in to be at the finish with us. Brian has followed the journey by reading the daily blogs along with everyone else, because honestly, we haven’t had a lot of time to talk on the phone during this trip. At all. He was back at home taking care of our business and family, pets, and everything else we do together to run our lives, and I’ve been busy as part of Team Effie, which most nights went until way too late to talk on the phone. It was good to see him, and so cool to watch as he got to realize and feel, see firsthand, all of the things I’ve been writing about.

DAY 15 - End of day Effie maintenance. As we got ready for the final day 16, Willa and Cassidy Rodencal came to assist Athena and I. I have to say that having these young girls around wanting to learn and getting in there to be hands on was one of my best memories of this trip. Anytime I can share something I've learned with a young person, especially a young woman, it's such a blessing. These girls truly blessed us with their helping hands. Effie got SO MUCH love during this whole trip, and an extra special dose of it as we prepared her for her LAST DAY!

I didn’t see Brian arrive, so he got to stand back in the shadow of the lights we were working under and just observe. And tonight was special because those young ladies were right in there with us helping and getting full of oil. It was really a cool moment.

Effie’s been having trouble holding her tranny chain adjustments. Usually it gets real loose and we’ve been adjusting for that each night. The last 2 days something was different. It was getting tighter, and that told us that something else wasn’t right. After some time investigating we consulted with Dale Walksler and together we found a bad spot in the chain near the master link and it was causing the problem. We fixed it, and after the end of day 16…wouldn’t you know, it held.

Tonight is the last night that we will service Effie on this trip. Along with the extra special moments tonight, it’s also very bittersweet. Very bittersweet. What is next? What will we do and what could compare to this trip?

DAY 15 - Laura on Route 66

DAY 15 - #38, Rick...at the Ludlow cafe. I had to laugh at this photo...read the title of the book next to him. I'm only laughing because Rick is the oldest of the Ruffians, so he wouldn't get mad at me if I was amused at the geezer comment

Day 14 - Motorcycle Cannonball Run

LAURA ON THE ROAD WITH TEAM EFFIE – “Signs Along the Road” (Day 14)

Way back in 1925 young Allan Odell pitched this great sales idea to his father, Clinton. Use small, wooden roadside signs to pitch their product, Burma-Shave, a brushless shaving cream. Dad wasn't wild about the idea but eventually gave Allan $200 to give it a try.

Didn't take long for sales to soar. Soon Allan and his brother Leonard were putting up signs all over the dang place. At first the signs were pure sales pitch but as the years passed they found their sense of humor extending to safety tips and pure fun. And some good old-fashioned down home wisdom.

At their height of popularity there were 7,000 Burma-Shave signs stretching across America. The familiar white on red signs, grouped by four, fives and sixes, were as much a part of a family trip as irritating your kid brother in the back seat of the car. You'd read first one, then another, anticipating the punch line on number five and the familiar Burma-Shave on the sixth.

The signs cheered many during the Depression and the dark days of World War II. But things began to change in the late Fifties. Cars got faster and superhighways got built to accommodate them. The fun little signs were being replaced by huge billboards.

I copied the information above from a website: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma.htm because I wanted to share a little history on an American Icon that I got to see. The Burma-Shave signs. The site reported that “1963 was the last year for new Burma-Shave signs. No more red and white nuggets of roadside wisdom to ease the journey.” But I’m here to tell you that there are some out there along a long stretch of asphalt on Route 66, somewhere in Arizona. Unless I was hallucinating from the sheer number of miles we’ve driven to this point on Day 14, this is what we saw:

It’d be more fun
To go by air
If we could put
These signs up there!
Burma-Shave

He tried to cross
As the fast train neared
But it was for his death
He volunteered.
Burma-Shave

One who drives
When he’s been drinking
Depends on you
To do his thinking
Burma-Shave

If Daisies are
Your favorite flower
Keep pushin up
Those miles per hour
Burma Shave

Cattle crossing
Means go slow
That old bull
Is some cow’s beau
Burma-Shave

You can drive
A mile a minute
But there is
No future in it
Burma-Shave

I’d heard about these signs. It was really cool to see them in person, and it sure broke up that long stretch of road for us. Little pearls of wisdom along the roadway. Besides the Burma-Shave signs, the signs in general along Route 66 were pretty cool…from “Hippies Must Use Side Door” to cool old Greyhound signs, Mobil gas signs from days gone by.

DAY 14 - Pat was bummed when he saw the sign...HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR!

Day 14 found a few of the normal breakdowns. We left from Flagstaff this morning in COLD weather, but it didn’t last long as we made the continual descent down into the warmer part of Arizona and headed across to Laughlin, Nevada. 221 miles today. We had the pleasure giving Jeff Decker a ride in the Team Effie van for a while. We got him to the lunch stop at Mother Lode Harley Davidson in Kingman, Arizona, where he met his crew and continued on. We came up on Bill Nugent with a flat rear tire on his replacement bike. He wasn’t on the Sears today. Effie and Cris were doing fine, just trying to stay cool after the some 50 degree temperature swing as they headed into the desert. Many of the riders have the cool vest that you soak in water and wear to keep cool while riding. Cris borrowed one, and reported it helped a lot.

Toast met back up with us in Kingman today. It was great to have her back on board! We missed her!

The next challenge was Sitgreaves Pass, which is considered the most dangerous part of Route 66. Riders were offered the opportunity to not ride the pass, but everyone gave it a shot. The pass was really twisty and steep – so of course you worry about the braking power on the old bikes coming down the back side of the pass. We started up the pass following some of the bikes, and it seemed like they were enjoying the challenge. For us in the van, the challenge was feeling really big on small roads with no guard rails (we decided this pass would be way more fun on a bike!), and Athena’s fear of no guard rails, along with her motion sickness problem. She gets car sick real easy. So I watched the edges and she just drove. This was a HUGE accomplishment for her. She conquered some fears for sure. And she called her husband Don when we arrived today to tell him how proud he would have been to see her maneuver the van through that pass.

DAY 14 - Athena and I at the top of Sitgreaves Pass. What a ride that was! Athena gets motion sick and has a fear of roads with no guardrails...and conquered ALL of that and then some on this stretch of road. I was really proud of her. A lot of this whole trip was about challenging ourselves and conquering fears.

At the bottom of the pass is Oatman, Arizona. Oatman is a fun place to visit - an authentic old western town with burros roaming the streets and gunfights staged on weekends. The burros are tame and can be hand fed. As the story goes, Oatman's "Wild" Burros are the descendants of burros brought there by the miners in the late 1800’s. When the miners no longer needed them, they were turned loose. Each morning they come into town looking for food. They wander the streets and greet the tourists. Burro pellets and carrots are for sale at many of the shops. Shortly before the sunset they will wander back to the hills for the night. We didn’t get to stay there long enough to feed the burros, but definitely they were roaming the streets and climbing the steps into the shops, and greeting the visitors. Strange site really.

DAY 14 - Look at the ASS in this picture. Hahaha. I mean the donkey in the background! I had heard about how the donkeys roam the streets in Oatman, Arizona, but I'd never been there. They do! And they even climb the stairs and go into the stores. It was a crazy thing to see.

About 20 miles out of Laughlin we found Rick McMaken, one of the Ruffians, changing his front tire roadside. Thankfully he kept the bike up when the tire deflated, and thankfully he had a spare. That night all of the Ruffians checked and many changed their tires for the last few days of this journey. It was the only time that there was stress and chaos at the Ruffians camp. These guys have been calm, cool, and confident this entire trip, but with a few snags and not the best equipment to get those tires changed in a parking lot, I really felt for them. I walked through camp and offered a good word. Actually I was praying silently over their camp as well. They’ve done so good, I didn’t want to see anything bad happen now.

DAY 14 - #38, Rick of the Ruffians, had a flat front tire right outside of Laughlin. But the Ruffians were ready and were able to change it roadside. Rick finished with perfect score!

We did the regular maintenance on Effie, and got to eat together as a team tonight. Got to bed by midnight and slept tight, until about 4 AM when some partiers were playing with the fire alarms. Oh well. I was exhausted so it didn’t take too long to get back to sleep, and added to the adventure of it all!

Couple more days left! Santa Monica, here we come! I haven’t wanted to say much to this point, so as not to jinx us, but I think we will make it across the finish line!

DAY 14 - SOMEWHERE ON HISTORIC ROUTE 66

DAY 14 - STOPPING FOR A REST ALONG HISTORIC ROUTE 66

DAY 14 - "YOU ARE HERE" the sign said even though I wasn't really sure where HERE was, but it was a cool place with a cool sign. Somewhere along Route 66 on day 14.

DAY 14 - Just in case you needed to catch a bus out here in the middle of nowhere, somewhere along Route 66

DAY 14 - Down through Oatman Arizona on Route 66

DAY 14 - Just getting into Laughlin after a long HOT day. If you were on a new bike and it was smoking like this, you'd be panicked. But on these 95-100 year old bikes, this is a pretty normal scene. Michael Lichter was there to capture the moment also.

DAY 14 - Effie crosses the finish line at the end of Day 14 in Laughlin, NV after a long hot ride. No major problems today for Team Effie though, so we were pretty thankful for that. Off to get her ready for day 15!