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Thread: The Journey TO and FROM Trikefest 2015

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
    --
    537

    The Journey TO and FROM Trikefest 2015

    Every year, we all travel to Haspin Acres for Trikefest. Most of us have a pretty usual trip, however, some of us get a story or two to tell.
    If you have a story to tell good or bad, post them up!

    I guess I can get it started. My trip this year was a white knuckle one. The trip down on Monday was fairly normal, however I am APPALLED
    at the highway condition of the I-75. I don't really know what is worst, the holes, construction or debris. The Michigan part is the worst, who ever is
    in charge of maintaining the highway should be fired and forced to clean the highway by hand.
    This year I drove into town via the road to Laurel from Connersville, man was it sketchy at night. I think I averaged 20MPH.

    After Trikefest, I headed up the 121 back to Connersville. During the daytime, the road isn't too bad, lots of tight corners when pulling a trailer.
    I stopped in to Connersville to wash the trikes down, spend 2 hours and about $40 in change. Man that sucked.
    Got back on the road an headed down the I-70. Things were good up to when the pavement changes over from the new to the old.
    I am assuming it was the transition from Indiana to Ohio. I was following a transport when all of a sudden the transport hits the brakes,
    I was following a safe distance behind it. Next thing I knew the truck's trailer popped up about 3 feet in the air and starts swerving.
    At this point I am still doing a clip with the trailer. This is when one says "OH ", there was a hole in the road, not a pothole, but a
    monster of a hole about 5 feet wide, 3 feet long and a foot deep. Almost like someone bombed the road. It's a good thing no one was beside me,
    because didn't even have time to check my mirrors. I swerved out of the way, tires squealing and all the contents of the truck shifting to one side.
    The trailer unfortunately hit the hole right on the passenger side. The jolt was so strong that it straitened out the truck and pointed it to the side of the road.
    On went the 4-way lights and pulled off the road. After a few seconds of pulling over I jumped out to check the truck and trailer.
    Cars, trucks and transports alike started to pull over, some missing tires, broken tie rods and others with flats.
    The truck seemed ok, hitch fine, however the side door broke the lower hinge. I suspect the Taurus shifted inside and
    hit the door. I broke two straps, and had to rearrange a few things. The rest of the trailer seemed ok. I don't see
    any damage to the tires, axle or frame, but I will look it over more when I get a chance.
    With all considering, I thing I was lucky, it could have been much worst.

    The rest of the trip back was rough and slow. Michigan was just as messed up as when I passed through it last.
    I just about cried tears of joy when I hit the clean, smooth and pothole free 401 in Ontario.

    Well that was my story for this year, how about yours?

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    [B]
    1973-74 Honda ATC 70 Chrome Custom

    Argo (ODG) Taurus 650, Pacesetter WR-PIII, Commuter 380, TE390, Granger, Sasquatch, John Deere AMT 600, Honda 250es & sx

    Trikefest Survivor: 2014, 2015, 2016
    Trikefest Alberta: 2017, 2020

    Trikefest 2015 A.K.A MUDFEST
    Coolpool: TURN!
    hoosierlogger: I'M TRY'N TO TURN! (Riding his ALT50)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
    --
    3,001
    That sucks Matt. 2 hours and $50 to wash our machines in Wisconsin; not fun dealing with the clay-ment. The only potential pucker we had was finding out that getting diesel in southern Saskatchewan between 10PM and 6AM is near impossible. We dumped in two 5 Gal jerry cans we had and rolled in to Saskatoon on fumes. I thought I was going to have to call roadside assistance to bring me some go go juice. Next year I'll have 20 Gal of diesel on board just to be safe.
    Trikes
    1970/71 US 90 (Aquarius Blue)
    1970/71 US 90 (Future Project)
    1972/73 US 90 Camo Project (110 Big Bore)
    1972/73 US 90 Green
    1977 ATC 90 w/83 110 motor (Fugly)
    1982 ATC 70
    1983 ATC 70 (Ladybug)
    1973 ATC 70

    1965 Marketeer 3 Wheel Golf Cart with 1986 Honda 250 drivetrain

    TF 2015

    Other
    1983 Honda Z50
    1978 Honda XL75

    Feedback http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...ck-for-coopool
    http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...k-for-coolpool

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
    --
    537
    Yea I know how that goes. Last year I rolled into Regina looking for Fuel. Down to about 3km of fuel in the tank.
    I decided to pull into ESSO and wait till they opened to buy fuel, when to my surprise all the lights turned on.
    Turns out the pumps are motion censored activated after hours.

    Glad to know you made it ok, I can just imagine the conversations you must have been having with yourself while
    watching the estimated fuel/mileage was ticking down to zero. Been there :P

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
    --
    997
    I saw you washing your trikes in connorsville, we pulled up at the same stop you were at And Michigan roads do suck!

    1984 ATC 200XR
    1984 ATC 300R
    1983 ATC 88


    Feedback for Mike Pargiello

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Central PA
    --
    2,362
    I had quite a fun time on the road home. If my girlfriend didn't want to get home in time to get stuff done I would of been stopping at tons of cool places.

    Stopped at this huge flea market. Picked up a few neat things. Got some more open face vintage helmets which come in handy camp cruising at TF and various other events that involve drinking a beer and stuffing your face.

    Picked up some fireworks, if your from PA, all you can buy legally is anything that does not go up in the air or go bang. Which is boring. But it's not like it's hard to get good fireworks here anyways.

    Hit construction though on I-80. 5 miles took about 1 hour. Watched a truck driver behind me dump out 3 one GALLON jugs of pee. Was more amazed than disgusted.

    I wanted to stop at a amusement park too but nooooooooo.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Michigan
    --
    1,144
    Yes, most roads in Michigan are terrible. There was a survey on the internet on what each state was known for and Michigan was known for its bad roads. I-75 is terrible.
    85 Big Red
    83 Big Red
    84 125m
    85 TRX 125
    73 ATC 70

  7. #7
    fabiodriven's Avatar
    fabiodriven is offline Aspiring romance novel cover model, and the Official 3WW slayer of thieves and swindlers. Catch me if you can
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    The woods
    --
    10,515
    We hauled there and back with my big new toy hauler on my one ton truck. It's like driving a tractor trailer, which I love because that's what I do and what I know. What an amazing rig, I've never had that truck fully laden before this. It's amazing how it pulls and drives. We cruised on the flats at 75. Hill ascension was slow but faster than the tractor trailers. My truck makes enough power to melt the turbo so speed is actually determined by the EGT gauge if any of you can understand that. I need a bigger exhaust.

    Craig and I pulled off in Pennsylvania somewhere for fuel and our big food stockup. It just so happened to be at an exit with a Dunkin Donuts that I got the number of a girl from in 2012. She no longer works there. We asked Craig's phone where the store was and it brought us to some bizarre place, "JR's Food Warehouse" or something. We got fuel across the street and decided we weren't food shopping there. So we asked Craig's phone where the next grocery store was and it wanted us to go to Walmart up the street. We came to a bridge that was 12' 6" or something and I knew it was close, so Craig jumped out to put an eyeball on it. It was too close, so we'd have to back up a quarter mile or so, which is no problem for me. However, people are so mind numbingly stupid these days that they would sit and watch their fate come for them at a snail's pace and not even flinch as it hit them at 10mph. I had to back the trailer out, there was no choice, but whenever a car would come up behind me they would drive straight for the trailer and stop instead of going around. I had the hazard lights on obviously, but I can't even remember how many times I had to stop and wait for people to figure out that I wasn't going forward. I got spun around and a nice local lady had us follow her on a detour around the bridge.

    On the way home we passed BigDaddyVW and he kept up for a bit but then peeled off. Not long after that we hit that ridiculous dead stop traffic that I'm sure some of you got to experience. Luckily we had a freezer full of ice cream so Craig and I were able to pull through OK. We drove straight through both ways this year, first time ever for that. It takes us about 18 hours give or take.
    85 Tri-Zinger 60
    85 ATC250SX
    86 ATC250SX
    87 ATC250SX
    02 XR650L conversion
    84 ATC 480R

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Manitoba Canada
    --
    98
    As some of you know this was my very first Trikefest. And after packing my trikes and gear, headed out. No problems at the border. Fueled up in Grand Forks. And for whatever reason I decided to pull into Clearwater MN to check my load and get a bite to eat. It was dark by then and I couldn't see my load. As I pulled off the interstate and slowed for the lights I felt a strange but very hard bump. Felt like someone hit me from behind with an air bag bumper?? So it was dark so I had a bad feeling about my flat, no sides trailer. Turns out my Ultimate Big Red had somehow unhooked itself from the rear and the ratchet strap was completely gone and when I slowed for the lights it rolled straight up my hitch and bounced into my tailgate! I don't know how long it was sitting it was sitting back there loose?? But it's pretty crazy that it rolled ahead so strait up my hitch to hit my truck without falling off either side! If it had dropped off either side if definaly would have been the end for my Ultimate Red.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
    --
    3,001
    Hey Fabio it's funny how the obvious escapes some people. At least you know how to back a trailer, it's worse when some one with a regular licence and owning a Smart Car purchase the biggest RV they can and hit the open road with no experience.

    Holy crap TG you needed to buy a lottery ticket after a gift like that.
    Trikes
    1970/71 US 90 (Aquarius Blue)
    1970/71 US 90 (Future Project)
    1972/73 US 90 Camo Project (110 Big Bore)
    1972/73 US 90 Green
    1977 ATC 90 w/83 110 motor (Fugly)
    1982 ATC 70
    1983 ATC 70 (Ladybug)
    1973 ATC 70

    1965 Marketeer 3 Wheel Golf Cart with 1986 Honda 250 drivetrain

    TF 2015

    Other
    1983 Honda Z50
    1978 Honda XL75

    Feedback http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...ck-for-coopool
    http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...k-for-coolpool

  10. #10
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
    Billy Golightly is offline Always finding new and exciting ways to not give a hoot in hell Catch me if you can
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Live Oak, FL
    --
    15,066
    Blog Entries
    14
    The actual journey there was relatively uneventful - the build up to the trip was pretty hellacious with my truck. I had front brakes that had been dragging after changing new pads, ended up buying new calipers, new wheel bearing hub assemblies, brake hoses, all individually over the course of about 3 days between work, pulled and reinstalled everything about 3 times to try and figure out the issue, only to put the old original brake pads back on (new ones were too thick I guess and were making drag that would then heat up and almost lock up the front wheels after driving about 15 miles, I couldn't even turn them by hand once the front end was jacked up). Finally got all that resolvd Saturday about 5:00PM after jacking with it all day in the sun the final time, loaded up all the bikes, stuff, packed, went to walmart and get some supplies and ice, came back to the house, and then left at about 1130pm to drive up. Literally did not know if I had a truck that would make the trip until about 5-6 hours before I pulled out for the 14 hour drive. I was glad to get there. Big thanks to Garry Crum, Curt Smith and others for chatting with me on the phone between the hours of 1-5am to help keep me awake.

    Trip back was smooth sailing other than there seemed to be a gazillion people on the road and 50% of the places Curt and I would pull into for fuel, had no places open and no where to park our rigs at to wait. It was ridiculous the amount of traffic and people on the road and in the truck stop/fueling places, never saw anything quite like before, would have thought it was like a mass exodus for zombie apocalypse or something.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Paulding County, GA
    --
    91
    My truck got new 1" larger front rotors a d hawk pads about a week prior to leaving for TF. Pads didn't fit in the stock holders/spring plate whatever's so well so it took a little trimming with some dikes and some bending with needle nose, but they seem to be working fine. Trailer was definitely a little heavier than I expected all loaded up, and I'm pretty sure by several state's laws I should have had a trailer brake. My trailer has them, and I'm definitely going to be investing in a controller soon to utilize them. On the way up we had the strap that was looped over the 4 wheeler's hitch get cut up by the hook end, the 4-5' of strap started blowing in the wind and right as me and my cousin inlaw both noticed it in the mirror it went under the trailer tire and the trailer jerked as it ripped the strap off. Pulled off the road a few miles later to get gas and check it, it had ripped the strap out right where it goes into the ratchet. We had the hook still hanging on the front loop and the ratchet still hanging in the rear. Got really lucky because my cousin inlaw had tied the loose tail of that strap to the grab bar if his 70 to keep in from flapping in the wind, and the 70 was just nestled between two bigger bikes and the trailer fender, if the whole ratchet had come off and gone under the tire it could have gotten ugly quick!

    Filled up three 5 gallon gas cans, one didn't have a cap so every time we'd go over a bridge or a rough spot in the road and the trailer would bounce it would spit out a little cloud of gas which I thought was the funniest thing ever cause it would make me laugh every time. Cousin inlaw was like "wtf do you keep laughing about over there?"

    Drive home was uneventful, I kept dumping the remainder of our gas cans in my truck when we'd stop for drinks or bathrooms, made it all the way to south of Knox before I had to buy gas.

    -Connor

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