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My son in law took his bike out, got my grandson dressed in his gear, and the two of them rode the Buel, while I rode the Sportster. The skies were clear, temps were startin' to cook, and this was to be my grandson's first "long distance" ride!
We headed north out of KC up towards Leavenworth into KS. But as we rode further north...the clouds became dark and menacing, lots of lighting and just wasn't one of those great "cool us down and go away" type of showers. Fact is, the front of the system coming towards us had high headers....and it was black as coal and was moving very quickly.
We got to Leavenworth, pulled over to discuss our course of action and my grandson is watching the storm system come at us...he's not real happy with the prospect of getting wet...and was starting to get real unhappy about us sitting there discussing the weather instead of trying to get out ahead of it. Could see, there would be no out running it, and suggested we at least wait till the front passed over...I, am not a fond lover of the high winds that I experienced coming into KC when I got here a week ago. Turns out to have been a very good and wise choice. The winds were very turbulent...and even after waiting front of the clouds to pass, going back over the MO. River still sucked...cross winds were heavy, and the rain was coming down large as marbles.
Now of course, every one else had jackets and full helmets with face shields. Me with my pipes not heat shielded elected not to bring rain gear, I don't wear but a 1/2 helmet...actually less than a 1/2...and I didn't wear a jacket because it got blown off the bike somewhere in Indiana, and got picked up by a semi that was on my ass...I let him keep it on his grill...figured he would need it in case he hit freezing weather once he got to ID. or something....
So these huge arsed rain drops are bustin down around me, I have my t shirt up around my nose and cheeks, my son in law on his fricken Buel is riding at sixty mph on these two lane roads with pot holes as large as a taxi....and I am lost as hell...no idea of what direction I'm heading in as the sun is obliterated by the storm....I just keep on keepin on...
It was a really good ride for my grandson to experience the kind of weather and what to expect or not expect when it comes to the elements and motorcycle riding...we got around the worst of the weather...and pulled into the garage at the home twenty just as the heavy stuff started coming down...we all were laughing and having a great time...pulling off our clothes in the garage...as my son in law is a real pain in the ass about allowing drippage and such on his carpets...LOL anyway...it was a good ride all the same...didn't get the couple of hours in as we wanted...but my grandson got to experience motorcycling at it's finest...and he loved it!