Trial by Fire 🔥
On my 1st motorcycle Caroline🏍️❤️ (2005)
I LOVE motorcycles. I got my first motorcycle in 2005, and the EPIC trip to get it certainly set the tone for the last 18 years of motorcycle adventures!
I found the motorcycle I wanted to buy on eBay. It was a 2003 blue and silver Honda Shadow cruiser. The only thing was that it was located 1,000 miles away in Chicago and I was living in Colorado Springs! 😅 Already knowing my thirst for adventure at age 19, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to not only buy my first motorcycle, but immediately have an incredible adventure to ride it all the way back to Colorado.
So, I flew to Chicago. The bike owner, Alex, a Russian immigrant, was so kind and picked me up at the airport. Back at his home, while we did all of the paperwork, his wife made us a traditional Russian dinner; such incredibly kind people.
I made plans to stay that night with distant relatives in nearby Naperville. Being so accommodating, Alex offered to ride with me to Naperville… around a 35 minute ride. Thank God he did, because that’s where the adventure began. To that point, I’ve only ever ridden a motorcycle in my safety course, which was only about 60 minutes of actual time on the bike, and in a parking lot! Alex took me on the Chicago interstates right at rush-hour.. 75 mph and cars everywhere! I was certainly on full alert in that first incredible trial by fire.
I made it safely to Naperville and hit the road the following morning. I had 1000 miles and 3 full days of riding to reach Colorado Springs. That first day, I had one of the most bizarre experiences of my life.
I stopped near LeClaire Iowa where the Mississippi river divides Illinois and Iowa. It was my first time seeing the Mississippi, so naturally I wanted to go down and check it out. I parked my motorcycle along the river and found a spot where I could jump off the banks. I plunged into the water and was amazed to see that when I came up, I was about 25 feet down river from where I entered. It was incredibly swift water underneath. A man came running out of his house yelling excitedly. “Are you crazy?! Nobody swims in the Mississippi. It’s too dangerous!” Well.. I survived it! 😀
I dried off and started to ride out of LeClaire. Another random local came running to me and said, “I need your help. I think my neighbors dead!” I was like, “Umm… ok?”.. The man said, “there’s powerlines down in his yard, and I think he got electrocuted. We don’t get along, so would you please go check on him?” It all sounded so bizarre, I just had to check it out anyway.
I got to the neighbors house, and sure enough there was a giant wooden power-line with broken wires down in his front yard, but I didn’t see anyone. I navigated around the electrical wires and up to the front door and knocked. A grizzly and intimidating-looking older man with wirey gray hair and overalls came to the front door. “Yeah? Can I help you?” he said. Stuttering, I replied, “oh.. y-you don’t know me, b-but a neighbor of yours thought you might’ve been hurt and he asked if I’d come check on you.” .. then the blather began..
“God damn government! I told ‘em not to put no damn powerline through my yard, but they did anyway… got out my chainsaw and did what any American has the right to do… damn thing fell on me.. electrocuted me I guess..I woke up layin’ on the ground.. which neighbor told you to come bother me? It wasn’t Paul was it?”…
I quickly interjected, “Look, I just wanted to make sure you’re OK. Sorry, but I gotta hit the road. BYE!” I got the hell out of there! 😂
The next day I rode all the way to stay with some family in Lincoln Nebraska. That night I was out at dinner with my aunt and uncle when tornado sirens started blaring outside of the restaurant. Our server ran to the table and said, “there’s a major tornado warning. You need to get out of here right away!” We got in the car and sped home. All evening we watched the local news telling us that there was major tornadoes touching down all around within a 60 mile radius. Eventually around midnight, thinking we were OK, we all headed for bed, but before I did, I went outside to see the sky. I remember seeing incredible debris and a piece of log probably 12 inches wide flying through the air. The following morning, we learned that the widest F5 tornado in American history had touched down only 10 miles from where I was staying. My cousin Katrina and I got in her car and drove to her high school. It was like being on the set of a disaster movie. We drove by countless sites where people were sorting through the rubble of their homes, completely laid to the ground and strewn across their farms. It was very sad to see. Katrina‘s high school was almost completely destroyed. The metal jungle gym playground near the school had been twisted into what looked like a Frank Gehry creation.
On the third day of the adventure, I rode 600 miles and 9 hours all the way home to Colorado Springs. It was a beautiful sunny day.. until I was about 20 miles from home when the sky opened up and just soaked me with rain. I made it home safely, parked my new motorcycle in the garage, and said to myself, “Man! Motorcycle trips are awesome!!” 😂😀
