Me and 5 buddies left a week ago today and I returned home on Saturday evening however the rest of the guys got back Sunday afternoon. Why you might ask?

I’m still not exactly sure what happened to me but we pulled out of Memphis, headed over the Mississippi River to Arkansas and stopped for fuel within a few miles after entering the state. I topped off the tank, chugged a Gatorade and when I pulled back out on the interstate I got dizzy, shaky and sick to my stomach. So I told the others I need to stop again and we did ASAP. I walked into a gas station that was barely air conditioned and just sat, sipping water and keeping a cool rag on my head & neck. Whatever was wrong wasn’t sitting well with me because I kept thinking about what if we’re cruising along at 80 mph (which was slow on this trip) and I fainted or if we left and got out in the middle of nowhere and I felt like crap again with no shade or help nearby. Long story shortened, I called home for help. My cousin and his wife were so gracious to bring my truck/trailer down to pick me up in which they drove through the night to do so.

The only thing I can think of it was a combination of these variables;

1.) 110° with a 115° heat index
2.) Just ate a half rack of dry rub ribs (spicy) along with a bowl of red beans & rice, cole slaw (you get the idea, I was stuffed)
3.) chugged a 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade

I’ve been pretty bummed and am being hard on myself but ultimately I know I made the right decision to come home on a trailer.

As for the rest of the trip;

We left out around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon and up until then our area hasn’t seen any measurable rain for weeks. Well, we weren’t 15 minutes from home and the skies opened up, soaking us to the bone. We stopped as soon as we could to put our rain suits on and kept on going. Most of that day was riding in the rain. We made it to Lexington, KY our first night. After we checked in to our hotel we got cleaned up, went to dinner and went to a local strip club. This was the first one I’ve been to in over 10 years I know. I told my wife we might go to one and she chuckled and said “you have a $5.00 limit” in which I spent $2.00, that’s right, I got out of there only tipping the girls $2.00. I told my wife about it the next morning and she says “so I guess you’ve got a $3.00 credit if you go to another one…lol…” which we didn’t, so I still have that credit. I have an awesome wife and love her to death.

Got back on the road around 10:00 on Thursday and headed to the Lexington HD dealership. The ladies working there were flipping awesome funny and called us the Wild Hogs. After an hour or so we left out and weren’t maybe 5 miles from there and one of the guys right side mufflers broke, the front flange broke clean off and was dragging. So we pulled over, went to AutoZone to get the parts to rig it good enough to get us to the Bowling Green, KY HD dealer where he decided to buy new mufflers and have them installed. They had just finished up his bike and I went out to mine to get something and I look at one of my other buddies bike and saw that he had a flat rear tire. So I went in and told him about it. He just had a new one put on before the trip and the techs at the HD dealership said the tube was pinched. They had just finished up with his tire and I looked outside and the skies were black. I turned the weather band on my bike radio and they were calling for a nasty storm which included hail with winds in excess of 60-65 mph. Yeah, we waited that out alright, it was crazy nasty… So after our 4 hour pit stop we headed out. Only to get stuck in a massive traffic delay just west of Nashville on I-40. After we got through that mess we were looking at 10:00 pm or so and decided to stop for the night. Pretty much checked in, ate a little something and went to bed.

Got up Friday morning and finished our trip to Memphis. We got there around noon and had a great time while we were there. After we ate at the Rendezvous we walked over to Beale St. to check it out and also to the Gibson guitar factory another block over.

Shortly after that was when the above B.S. happened to me so that was pretty much the trip for me. The others continued on to St. Louis to take a picture of the arch and go to the St. Louis HD dealer, then started to head for home however they stopped in Richmond, In for their last night on the road.

Sorry if my story bored you but this was something I’d longed to do only to have gotten sick (or whatever the heck was wrong). Anyway, I’m ready to try it again, next time hopefully to a cooler climate.

The attached picture was taken by a buddy using his Blackberry going 85 mph. on I-40 in southwest Kentucky.

BTW, it was Elvis week in Memphis. Do you realize how many Elvis' we saw?

 

One thing I learned a long time ago on long hot rides was to eat light and drink lots of fluids. Sorry it screwed up the last of your trip.

 

Ditto.

 

When I'm on the road and get ill....I always blame it on someone I ate.

 

Great that you had sinse enough to call "no joy," and live to ride the next one.

Beav

 

"The attached picture was taken by a buddy using his Blackberry going 85 mph. on I-40 in southwest Kentucky"

You're lucky you only got sick doing those kinds of stunts..... Why is everyone is such a hurry? Just to prove they can be?!

I just got back from an 11 day, 4400 mile trip to New Mexico and Sturgis and I'll bet we never went over 70. It's much easier on the bikes and the riders. We did a couple of 600 mile days in there as well. Oh well, I guess I just like watching the scenery instead of having to hold on tighter and concentrate even harder when a group is riding that FAST!

(BTW, I-40 doesn't go through Kentucky - small point, I know...)

Glad it wasn't anything serious. [Let the flaming begin.]

 

At my age I know better but good BBQ was just too hard to resist. Next time I will though.


LMAO @ twodollarbill

RodeDawg,

I agree. I would have been perfectly happy cruising 70-75 but I wanted to keep up with the others. Sometimes it was tough.

And you're right, it was I-65 out of Bowling Green we were on.

 

Last time I felt like that I went to the doc and found out I was diabetic..hope thats not your case..

 

That kind of heat can really mess with your mind and body. As stated above easy on the food and hard on the drink.

 

Shouldn't be. I just had a physical a few weeks ago (including a stress test) and I was good to go.


I was good on fluids. Every stop we made I drank water or gatorade. I drank so much I made the guys stop so I could pee more often than they probably would have liked to.