Color the World Tour Summary

[Mr442]

What a season this has been.  I started out doing two tours, Color the World, and Roadside Oddities, but ended up just completing the Color tour.  The Roadside Oddities tour required me to spend the night in three different KOA's, and I dislike camping.  The amount of photos you could send in was unlimited, so seeing how my riding time was restricted, I finally gave up on that tour.  I did see some interesting things along the way, so all was not lost.  In the Color the World tour, I was limited to submitting 30 photos, no more, no less.  The sponsoring club will draw cards and assign point values to the colors in December.  It is a random assignment, so I tried to send a balanced representation of pics and hope for the best.  Since KOA photos receive an extra point each, I submitted 3 of those.  The color names range anywhere from one picture to as many as 4, due to my ability to find and ride to these locations.    Since I didn't have the time or money to ride across the USA, I did what I could within Indiana and three of the adjoining states.  I only had a couple of dead end runs, where there was no town any longer, so I did pretty good this year.

Early in the season we got underway on the BMW where we travelled to Redmon, IL among other places.



A week or so later we headed to nearby Silverwood IN



Then clear across the state to Greenfield



Later we took another trip and picked up Brownsburg


We also found Goldsmith



Blackford County



Redkey, IN



The third time out, I went solo and headed into Ohio, just the other side of Dayton.  One of the yellows I had located on the map was there, so off I went.  It was a long haul, but worth it.  Yellow Springs is a different kind of town.  Kind of an artsy-fartsy place with a lot of old hippies setting up shop in the downtown.  It reminded me of Nashville IN, but slightly off center.  It will be worth a trip back some weekend when it warms up again.



On my way to Yellow Springs, I swung in by the Indy KOA



And the Richmond KOA



On the way back west, I stumbled upon Brownsville.  I didn't have it on my original list, but since it was right there, I stopped for a photo.  It is one of many small towns that do not have any city limit signs, but as usual there was a church with the town's name.  As it turned out, it was a good thing I grabbed it.



From that point I was GPS dependent across the county roads finding Orange.  Another very small town, but someone paid for signs.  Not the state, maybe the county, or even the residents, but no matter, I am grateful.



From Orange I headed to Blue Ridge, where a church came in handy, since it had no signs.



My next trip out was solo, and I picked up Whitesville and Whitestown.  Not much else to say, other than I need to get them, they were reasonably close, so I did a quick ride to get them.



I did park in the "Police Only" spot while I grabbed the shot.  As luck would have it "Barney" was on duty as I was finishing up, so I waved, he waved, and all was well.



Our next trip out would be our last on the BMW.  We didn't know it at the time, but that's how it turned out.  First up was the Terre Haute KOA. 



The it was on to Blackhawk .  There were city limit signs, but posing near them for a photo was downright dangerous.  I eventually found a church sign, and it wasn't much better.



From there we headed to Whitehall. It's off the beaten path, and on one fun road.  There were other whites I could have chosen, but the ride made this one a must.



We then head to Silverville.  It is on a dead end highway, thanks to the Crane Naval Weapons Depot just to the west.  It seems the government is funny about folks driving through such a facility, so they closed the road going through.  If you belong inside, you can go clear through, but otherwise you have to go around.



On our way home we passed through Greene County



We managed to ride around what appeared to be one hell of a thunderstorm to the west.  As we worked our way back west and north, we finally got out from under the nasty looking clouds.  We wanted to stop at a good smelling pizza place, but decided to keep going.  We did not want the storm to catch us.  I have that pizza shop embedded in my memory.

After that trip, we decided we needed to do something about the bike.  We were cramped two up, and the wife had complaints of engine vibration in her seat.  My seat was fine, but hers shook like a paint shaker.  We also had experimented with a pad for her back rest.  We started out with a bare piece of foam velcroed to the box.  It worked fine until I upholstered it.  ????  Turns out, the bare foam absorbed the vibration coming from the box.  Once I covered it, the entire pad shook and rubbed a hot spot on her back. 

After 4 test rides on 4 different bikes, we bought a Goldwing.  The passenger seat is longer, giving us the room we needed.  It sucks not being 30 and thin, but that's just the way it is. 

Not long after buying the Goldwing, I headed back to Blue Mound Illinois.  I had stopped there earlier on the BMW, but forgot to get my "official sign" in the picture.  Going over there this time was a breeze.   Not only was the weather milder, but the bike rode so much better.



Shortly thereafter the wife and I loaded up for a short ride.  We ended up passing through Bowling Green IN where they have this big sign with a short history on it.



After that life got busy, and I didn't get close to any of my remaining color locations.  Eventually October rolled around and it was time for our little trip south.  We had originally planned on going down to Destin Florida, but the new bike purchase had altered those plans.  We ended up making a loop through Kentucky to pick up some colors there, and do a little genealogy along the way.

Our first stop was Gold City, KY.  A literal bump in the road, south of Bowling Green Ky.



We travelled on to Glasgow and spent the night.  The next morning we headed east to Gold Bug KY. That took us across the heart of southern KY, and through some beautiful countryside.

Gold Bug turned out to be miniscule, but they did have one church with the town name on the sign. Not an easy thing to find in snake handling country, as many churches have some rather involved/interesting names.



We spent the rest of that day searching for an obscure graveyard that we never did find.  We will be back!   We also searched out, and found, what was left of Blue Hole KY.  Nothing to get a picture of, so we scratched that one.

After spending a sleepless night in London KY, too close to the interstate, we headed towards home.  We took the scenic route, and came back on mostly two lane highways.  I had a couple places I could have easily picked off, but didn't.  The wife wasn't feeling too well, so we just headed home.

The wife went to the doctor after returning home, and was diagnosed with a magnesium deficiency, causing her to feel run down.    She started on a regimen of a magnesium supplement and a vitamin, and is feeling better, so that may have done the trick.

So while she is recuperating, I had one last loop to take.  Knowing she was not quite yet up to speed, and that I can cover more miles solo, off I went.  First stop was Greencastle, IN



From there I took a detour to Speedway and our apartment, where I spent a night with the wife.  She stays up there through the week, working in Indy, so once in a while I join her.

The next morning I head to Brown County and this shot.



Leaving there I head east to Reddington, IN



From Reddington I headed southwest to Brownstown.



At that point I headed south to a long shot called Blue River.  I found it, there were houses, a store, and even a church, but nothing saying Blue River.  Another wasted side trip. 

I pointed the Honda northwest to Orangeville, in Orange County.  Not the one on the TV show, but the one on southern Indiana.



After the last disappointment I wasn't expecting much, but I hit pay dirt!  Someone had saved an old city limit sign.



And that my friends, is the end of our Color the World tour.  We had a good time, especially after upgrading to the Goldwing.  It makes the riding all that more pleasurable, especially two up with my favorite passenger.  It turned 5000 miles yesterday, after slightly more than two month of ownership, and I have no regrets.  I love it, the wife loves it, so all is well.  We are looking forward to next year's tour, and an out of state vacation on it.

[me]

From the sounds you had a great time and seen some beautiful country.  Thanks for sharing.   

[Palehorse]

Man I never get tired of seeing and reading about your adventures. I need to try to do my rides in a similar fashion next year.

Great to see the transition of bikes within the pics too. Knowing how you had made that purchase and then seeing it in your posting here was cool. Kind of made us feel like we had insider knowledge on the whole experience.

Question: Did you keep the nav system that was on the BMW ad transfer it to the Honda? If so, what unit do you use and how do you like it, etc. It's a purchase I am considering in the future for my bike. I have one for the truck, but it is too bulky to use on the bike. . . And I have to admit I miss it when I set off into the great unknown on the steel horse sometimes. Kind of like a security blanket or something I guess. . .

[Mr442]

I used a Lowrance XOG on the beemer.  I still have and use it from time to time.  It is made for cars and boats, so it is somewhat weather proof.  I say somewhat, due to the way the power cord plugs in, although that could be easily sealed if I desired.  XOG's are under $200 and you get pretty good bang for the buck.  The touch screen is a PITA to use at times, but the eraser on a #2 pencil helps when typing in an address.

The wing came with a built in system from Garmin, but it is very limited compared to the Lowrance in spite of costing 5 times as much.  It was part of the option package.  I'll be adding a Ram mount to the wing so I can use both when I need to.

I was always a map guy, and still am, but the convenience of the GPS is great on the bike.

[Palehorse]

HD sells one that is specifically made for mc's; but it is a small handlebar mount (RAM mount I am guessing) and I'm not too sure these old eyes wouldn't have a very hard time with it. I'm going to go check it out to see before buying though.

I am also a map kind of guy, but carrying them on the mc is just painful at times, and I like the convenience that gps has to offer. I have it on my cell too, but when you get out in the deep weeds signal reliability is dicey at best. (Sprint of course!  )

[Mr442]

If you, or anyone else is interested, join the AMA and support your motorcycling rights.  They are the ones who put on the tours I have been doing.  They do add some interest to my riding around.

http://www.ama-cycle.org/

[Mr442]

The results are in, I finshed with 183 points, in about 18th spot overall, not counting a few tie scores.  Due to the luck of the cards, I ended up where I did.  The top scorer had 300 points, and my hat is off to him.  Had a couple of cards been drawn differently, my score cold have gone up much higher, or even lower.  There were 34 finishers, and about as many who did not finish the tour.  As it turned out, a couple of the colors I didn't get two or more of, would not have made much difference.  A couple that  I did get three or more of, were the ones that made or broke me.

I wish this snow would go away, so I can get back out on the road and start on next year's tours.