Road Trippin'
I stayed on Route 2 through Minnesota until I reached Wisconsin and had to make a choice about whether to head south and hook up with the interstates or stay on Route 2 through the Upper Peninsula. Well, I know I'm gonna catch plenty of shit for this, but I headed south and abandoned the northern ride.
Yeah, I know what you're saying: "Matt, how could you? Why would you choose the superslab over the road less traveled?" In a word, time. While you can make pretty decent time on Route 2, it is nothing like on I-80. Plus, every time you come to a town/village/hamlet/gas station & post office combination, the speed limit drops from 65 mph to 50, then from 50 to 40, then from 40 to 30, and sometimes even down to 15 or 20. That really slows down your progress across the country. No, I really wanted to see the Upper Peninsula, but I needed to get home even more. Besides, that area is close enough that I can see it whenever I want - a four or five day weekend would be plenty to get there and back and do some righteous riding while there. No need to rush the trip now and still not make good time - I'll head back there when the circumstances are a little better.
I ended up stopping in Solon Springs, Wisconsin for the night and planned on making it as far east of Chicago the next day as I could go. I even managed to get up and on the road long before check-out time (a rarity for me). I was making great time heading south on Route 53 towards I-94 when I started to sneeze madly. Not wanting to waste time, I pulled over and took some allergy medicine (Claritin-D). In general, I try not to take stuff like that when I'm riding, but I had taken this stuff a few times before without getting too drowsy or otherwise impaired. The stuff worked great, and my allergies seemed totally under control within a short while.
Once I hooked up with I-94, I stopped for some lunch and gas and then hit the road again. A little while after that, I started feeling pretty speedy from the pseudoephedrine in the Claritin (probably from having a Coke with lunch). However, that feeling was soon accompanied by intense drowsiness, almost like a nice, warm blanket had been placed on top of me. That was a weird combination, simultaneously feeling wired and drowsy, but it didn't last long - within a few minutes I was just sleepy. I decided that I was going to have to pull off at the next rest stop, since I was rapidly becoming too fucked up to ride safely anymore.
I am sooo glad I pulled over when I did - I was barely able to keep my eyes open anymore. I parked the bike, got off, stumbled about 20 feet to a nice grassy area, laid down flat on my back (still wearing my full riding gear, including helmet, gloves, etc), and passed out almost instantly. I was met by some of the trippiest dreams I've ever had. Beautiful, ethereal aliens descended from the heavens and lifted me off the grass, explaining to me that it was good that I had pulled over, since they were getting ready to destroy that part of the Earth in a few minutes (note: I had read something about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie the day before, so at least I know where that came from!). I then flew with them through a psychedelic kaleidoscope of clouds into the sky and just kept flying, surrounded by wild colors and shapes. I was tripping.
After a little while, I awoke and opened my eyes. The clouds were flying across the sky (like in time lapse photography) and were tinged with all sorts of trippy colors. Just to be sure I was tripping, I removed my sunglasses and the clouds were still psychedelic. Satisfied that it wasn't my sunglasses causing the hallucinations (like I said, I was tripping), I put them back on and passed out again (still lying flat on my back at a rest area wearing my full riding gear). No sense getting up trying to do anything, I reasoned - might as well just ride this out, since I clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
A little while after that, I woke up again and the clouds were pretty much back to normal. I sat up and noticed that there was a State Trooper parked about 50 feet away who was looking at me with some interest. Rather than have what was sure to be an unpleasant conversation with Mr. Johnny Law by staying put, I got up and stumbled over to the DL. Almost one hour had passed since I arrived at the rest area and started tripping. I finally took off my helmet, gloves, and sunglasses and sipped at my water bottle. I was still a little drowsy, but all the other weird side effects had gone away (I checked a couple of places online, and apparently hallucinations are actually one of the possible side effects of Claritin-D - I kinda wish I'd known that before starting a day of riding on it!). I shuffled over to the vending machines under the watchful eye of Mr. Law and got a Mountain Dew to help kick-start my central nervous system so I could ride some more. I needed a few more minutes, but once the Mountain Dew started working its magic, I was ready to ride again. Naturally, I was extra cautious, but thankfully the only effect the Claritin seemed to have on me after that was to keep my nose happy.
What a weird experience that was. I'm never gonna just take something like an over-the-counter allergy pill without wondering hmm, what exactly is THIS gonna do to me?
I did still make it past Chicago that day (even after tripping my balls off), and ended up stopping for the night in Portage, Indiana. Now, I understand that on a Friday night with hotel rooms being scarce, the price of a room might go up. But something is fishy when every hotel and motel starts quoting the same inflated price to you. I stopped at four different places, and they all wanted the same amount. FUCK YOU, I thought, and noticed a little independent place down the road. It was clean (well, sorta), quiet (well, once the couple upstairs got tired), and they even offered remote controls for the TVs in some of the rooms (alas, I wasn't in one of those, but there were only about 5 channels anyway).
The clerk at the front desk recommended a place a couple of hundred yards down the road for some late dinner. When I walked in, I saw that it had two sections: a restaurant to the right and a bar/nightclub to the left. I ordered a sandwich and sat down to read a local newspaper in the entrance while I waited for my sandwich to go. Well, it took me a couple of minutes, but I soon realized that Friday night was apparently karaoke night there! What a treat that was to listen to while they made my sandwich! While some guy ungracefully belted out a random country song, I saw a 10 year old kid come into the place looking frustrated and pissed off. He walked into the bar area and disappeared for a few minutes, reappearing with a sheepish, glassy-eyed drunk trailing behind him. Awwe, that's so sweet - family time together, I thought as they walked out the door. My sandwich was ready before I was able to discover Indiana's next great singing sensation, however, and I headed back to the hotel to enjoy some of Portage's finest take-out cuisine. Frankly, I'm surprised that didn't give me hallucinations!
The next day I was out the door earlier than I actually woke up on most days on this trip. I fully intended to make it back to NYC in one day, damnit, even if it meant riding until midnight to make it all 760 miles. With a belly full of No-Doz, aspirin, and chocolate milk, I was ready to ride all day.
Ride On!
Yeah, I know what you're saying: "Matt, how could you? Why would you choose the superslab over the road less traveled?" In a word, time. While you can make pretty decent time on Route 2, it is nothing like on I-80. Plus, every time you come to a town/village/hamlet/gas station & post office combination, the speed limit drops from 65 mph to 50, then from 50 to 40, then from 40 to 30, and sometimes even down to 15 or 20. That really slows down your progress across the country. No, I really wanted to see the Upper Peninsula, but I needed to get home even more. Besides, that area is close enough that I can see it whenever I want - a four or five day weekend would be plenty to get there and back and do some righteous riding while there. No need to rush the trip now and still not make good time - I'll head back there when the circumstances are a little better.
I ended up stopping in Solon Springs, Wisconsin for the night and planned on making it as far east of Chicago the next day as I could go. I even managed to get up and on the road long before check-out time (a rarity for me). I was making great time heading south on Route 53 towards I-94 when I started to sneeze madly. Not wanting to waste time, I pulled over and took some allergy medicine (Claritin-D). In general, I try not to take stuff like that when I'm riding, but I had taken this stuff a few times before without getting too drowsy or otherwise impaired. The stuff worked great, and my allergies seemed totally under control within a short while.
Once I hooked up with I-94, I stopped for some lunch and gas and then hit the road again. A little while after that, I started feeling pretty speedy from the pseudoephedrine in the Claritin (probably from having a Coke with lunch). However, that feeling was soon accompanied by intense drowsiness, almost like a nice, warm blanket had been placed on top of me. That was a weird combination, simultaneously feeling wired and drowsy, but it didn't last long - within a few minutes I was just sleepy. I decided that I was going to have to pull off at the next rest stop, since I was rapidly becoming too fucked up to ride safely anymore.
I am sooo glad I pulled over when I did - I was barely able to keep my eyes open anymore. I parked the bike, got off, stumbled about 20 feet to a nice grassy area, laid down flat on my back (still wearing my full riding gear, including helmet, gloves, etc), and passed out almost instantly. I was met by some of the trippiest dreams I've ever had. Beautiful, ethereal aliens descended from the heavens and lifted me off the grass, explaining to me that it was good that I had pulled over, since they were getting ready to destroy that part of the Earth in a few minutes (note: I had read something about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie the day before, so at least I know where that came from!). I then flew with them through a psychedelic kaleidoscope of clouds into the sky and just kept flying, surrounded by wild colors and shapes. I was tripping.
After a little while, I awoke and opened my eyes. The clouds were flying across the sky (like in time lapse photography) and were tinged with all sorts of trippy colors. Just to be sure I was tripping, I removed my sunglasses and the clouds were still psychedelic. Satisfied that it wasn't my sunglasses causing the hallucinations (like I said, I was tripping), I put them back on and passed out again (still lying flat on my back at a rest area wearing my full riding gear). No sense getting up trying to do anything, I reasoned - might as well just ride this out, since I clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
A little while after that, I woke up again and the clouds were pretty much back to normal. I sat up and noticed that there was a State Trooper parked about 50 feet away who was looking at me with some interest. Rather than have what was sure to be an unpleasant conversation with Mr. Johnny Law by staying put, I got up and stumbled over to the DL. Almost one hour had passed since I arrived at the rest area and started tripping. I finally took off my helmet, gloves, and sunglasses and sipped at my water bottle. I was still a little drowsy, but all the other weird side effects had gone away (I checked a couple of places online, and apparently hallucinations are actually one of the possible side effects of Claritin-D - I kinda wish I'd known that before starting a day of riding on it!). I shuffled over to the vending machines under the watchful eye of Mr. Law and got a Mountain Dew to help kick-start my central nervous system so I could ride some more. I needed a few more minutes, but once the Mountain Dew started working its magic, I was ready to ride again. Naturally, I was extra cautious, but thankfully the only effect the Claritin seemed to have on me after that was to keep my nose happy.
What a weird experience that was. I'm never gonna just take something like an over-the-counter allergy pill without wondering hmm, what exactly is THIS gonna do to me?
I did still make it past Chicago that day (even after tripping my balls off), and ended up stopping for the night in Portage, Indiana. Now, I understand that on a Friday night with hotel rooms being scarce, the price of a room might go up. But something is fishy when every hotel and motel starts quoting the same inflated price to you. I stopped at four different places, and they all wanted the same amount. FUCK YOU, I thought, and noticed a little independent place down the road. It was clean (well, sorta), quiet (well, once the couple upstairs got tired), and they even offered remote controls for the TVs in some of the rooms (alas, I wasn't in one of those, but there were only about 5 channels anyway).
The clerk at the front desk recommended a place a couple of hundred yards down the road for some late dinner. When I walked in, I saw that it had two sections: a restaurant to the right and a bar/nightclub to the left. I ordered a sandwich and sat down to read a local newspaper in the entrance while I waited for my sandwich to go. Well, it took me a couple of minutes, but I soon realized that Friday night was apparently karaoke night there! What a treat that was to listen to while they made my sandwich! While some guy ungracefully belted out a random country song, I saw a 10 year old kid come into the place looking frustrated and pissed off. He walked into the bar area and disappeared for a few minutes, reappearing with a sheepish, glassy-eyed drunk trailing behind him. Awwe, that's so sweet - family time together, I thought as they walked out the door. My sandwich was ready before I was able to discover Indiana's next great singing sensation, however, and I headed back to the hotel to enjoy some of Portage's finest take-out cuisine. Frankly, I'm surprised that didn't give me hallucinations!
The next day I was out the door earlier than I actually woke up on most days on this trip. I fully intended to make it back to NYC in one day, damnit, even if it meant riding until midnight to make it all 760 miles. With a belly full of No-Doz, aspirin, and chocolate milk, I was ready to ride all day.
Ride On!
posted by Mathew Elsner at 11:37 PM
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