From: Mark Hughes
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:40:32 -0500
Subject: [BARGE] Prelude to BARGE 2011 Trip Report (BARGE 2010 Trip Report
	Part II)


Oldbear Comes Home From BARGE 2010 (Part II, a continuation from 2010) Last year's trip to BARGE 2010 by motorcycle with Grizz (who drove out of Wisconsin) was a blast. I 
had traveled 4750 miles by the time it was kickstand down at 2 AM of the 4th day on my way back home.  
I almost made it back within 3 days which was my original goal.  The return trip from BARGE 2010 began late Sunday afternoon/night after a wonderful visit to the After-BARGE 
Party at the Goldman's house. The company was outstanding.  I spent a couple of hours learning and playing 
Chinese Poker and felt fortunate to be up a few dollars before I left.  Good thing JP and Omaholic 
weren't there to give me lessons. I might have been stranded in Vegas :).  Grizz and I traveled to the state line casinos just before reaching Arizona and spent the night.  I was too 
tired to go any further.  After Grizz and I found our room, I backed out of my initial parking place and tried 
to move to a new one on the other side of the corner of the building.  As I tried to stop on the down incline 
while backing, my Goldwing just kept going over although I did everything I could to keep from dropping the 
1000 lb bike on the asphalt.  It was like a slow motion nightmare because I couldn't keep the bike up as it slowly rolled over.  As I lay in the street with my bike on its side I realized how comfortable I felt to just lie there.  I could 
have slept. But, Grizz and a passerby wouldn't hear of it and helped me up and we rotated my bike
back to vertical. A check the next morning revealed no damage whatsoever.  What luck!!The bike had been lying on the rear crashbar and sitting about 30 degrees off horizontal as I lay on the ground with my legs still in the saddle. The crashbar did its job and I lost no paint nor did I acquire any new dents.  The next day Grizz and I rode about 18 hours back to Joe Long's house in Castlerock, CO arriving in 
the wee hours of the morning.  The trip crossed northern Arizona, Utah, and a good portion of Colorado.
Grizz and I stopped at one of the rest stops in Utah where we found several Navajo Indians selling jewelry
and other tourist trap "stuff" on blankets on the ground.  Needless to say, my wife got a nice Navajo necklace whichI have yet to see her wear...Maybe my selection was less than stellar. Anyway, the Utah lanscape was absolutelybreathtaking and we enjoyed it immensely as we drove across the state. As I mentioned earlier we arrived quite late but Joe and his wonderful wife Kat were very gracious hosts. I cannot begin to tell you how welcome they made us feel. The steaks they grilled for breakfast didn't hurt our feelings one bit.   After breakfast Grizz and I headed for Kansas...We saw Dorothy's house again but didn't get a glimpse 
of Toto.  Late that day, Grizz and I parted company at a truckstop outside Salina, KS. The truckstop fare we had 
was almost edible.  Grizz traveled north and I traveled south to a town 30 miles north of Oklahoma City before I stopped at a Sleep Inn for the night.  There, I met a guy coming back from the bike rally in Sturgis, SD.  I'm gonna have to make that trip one day!  It sounded like a pretty wild time.
 
The final day of my trip home covered Arkansas, Tennessee, and finally Mississippi with home at the other end 
of the state. In Arkansas, the temperature was over 100 degrees across the whole state and sometimes reached 104 degrees.
That water absorbing jacket saved my life.  When I was just past Little Rock, I needed gas and pulled off the interstate
into a very busy service station. Filled up again, I got a wild hair and decided to get a hotel room so I could get a 
shower and then look for a little something to eat.  I found something cheap and ended up at a place which looked 
strangely like the Bates Motel. After going into my room, I was attacked by about 50,000 mosquitos which had gotten inside 
through the crack above the door.  You get what you pay for.... It took a bit but I killed almost all of the sons of bitches andfinally got that shower I was craving. Later, the pizza place next door got me back to an even keel and I packed up and continuedmy trip.  In the early evening I crossed through Memphis and reached the state of Mississippi. As I passed Tunica, I had an urge to stop and spend the night.  I really enjoyed the ARG event called SARGE (Southern Area Recreational Gambler's Excursion) which 
Schmengie and Steve Jewett organized for about 3 years. At last I reached home and dragged my stuff inside.  IT had been a real adventure and a wonderful trip.  This country is such a 
beautiful place. One day I'll make another bike trip to BARGE but maybe next time it will be across the southern portion of the U.S.  
Then again it may be by way of Wisconsin.   Trip Report for BARGE 2011 to Follow