Well I had to take advantage of nice long holiday weekend last week, so I took an extra day off work and made a little trip north to central Illinois. Had to visit my sister and her twins, and my mom drove down from Chicago, and my dad just moved up there to the same town as my sister about 3 weeks ago from south Florida. Kinda cool we all finally got to get together in one spot... that almost never happens anymore

Anyways... on with the pics

6:55 am Saturday morning.... bike is all packed, doggie is fed and hugged before I go (she gave me the whole guilt trip thing), and I'm ready to roll out for 700 miles of superslab fun


Always an odometer shot at the beginning of every roadtrip


Made my first gas stop up near Ringold, Georgia... finally starting to wake up a little


Hey don't hate, it's the breakfast of champions!


Stopped again for gas and some lunch at BK in Antioch, Tennessee... about 15 miles south of Nashville


Finally made it to the Illinois state line around 3:00 CST


Had to pull over once I got off the highway to get directions to my dads house... Looks like the same place I remember








Made it to my dads house around 6:30 or so. He just moved here about 3 weeks ago


He had a little parking spot already cleared out for me in the garage


731.2 miles according to my trip odo.... it reads a little high though with my gear change, so it's probably closer to 700 actual


After grabbing a quick shower, it was over to my sisters house..... finally got to see her twin boys Garrett and Clinton (which one is which, I have no clue). They just turned 5 months old on the 4th. VERY well behaved little guys... they're cool!


Yours truly with one of them


And the other....


Next night.... nothing beats a good old fashioned BBQ on the grill


Bath time.... she was filthy with bugs!


Now Illinois roads suck huge balls, but I must say the part of Decatur that still has the original brick streets.... it takes the cake! It'll damn near bounce you right off the bike


I had to snap a few nature shots while I was sitting on the front porch, lol (hey I was kinda bored)




Then I tamed a ferocious guard dog






Make that 2 ferocious guard dogs




Future stunnas for sure!! I can't wait to get them a fiddy!




Then my dad and I drove up to Bloomington, IL to his sisters house to visit with her for awhile. I had to take a picture of this on the way up, as I think Illinois is worse than Florida as far as squids. Pretty sad out of all the bikes I saw out and about the entire time I was in Illinois, both cruisers and sportbikes, I could almost count the number of helmets I saw on one hand (not counting any other gear... jackets, hell even jeans, or gloves.... JUST helmets). Had to take a pic of these 2 cuz they actually had both helmets and jackets on (I'm a bit of a gear nazi, if you can't tell, lol)


Crappy pic but.... ever wonder just how big those propellers are on those big windmills they use for generating electricity?? This place along Rt. 51 has all the parts they use to make those, and a place farther down the road makes the big towers they sit on. This pic shows 1 blade (goes from the left to the 'do not enter' sign.... sorry for bad pic!).... there's 3 of them total. Freakin HUGE!!

__________________
-Jared

Black/Red '04 CBR 600 F4i - 178,600 miles and counting quick
Black '89 Accord LX-i sedan - 400,800 miles still going strong

Got to my dads sisters house.... really cool sunset right as we got there


Got back home later that night.... time to lube up the chain before I head back the next morning


Uh oh!


Really didn't want to, but didn't have much of a choice. It was leaking a small bit around the nail


Good to go


6:15 am Tuesday morning.... dad had to leave for work at 6:30 (first day at his new job), so I got up and moved the bike out at the same time. Looks like it'll be a beautiful day for more superslab fun!


Checked the oil and coolant levels, and both were A-OK.... so I got her all packed up and ready to go


Got myself all geared up and ready to roll. The forecast said 90+ degrees for that day, so I figured I'd go ahread and make a rotisserie out of myself, lol




Yup, definitely not much has changed here, lol








I was looking for a Bob Evans to stop at for breakfast since their breakfast kicks ass, but couldn't find one along the highway. So I stopped here in Effingham, IL instead


I must say they have a damn good french toast breakfast!


Now here was the weird part... right after I got up to Illinois I get a PM on cbrforum.com from one of the guys on there. He says "dude I think I saw you on I-24 in Clarksville, TN yesterday! I saw the Hindle high mount and full leathers and thought it was you". Well, turns out it was indeed me.... as weird at the timing was, as I was going past exit 4 just before the TN/KY border, he was just getting on the highway going from exit 4 to exit 1. He wasn't on his bike, but in his father in laws car, literally on the ramp getting on the highway as I went past. So I chatted with him for a bit, then on the way back I stopped in Clarksville, Tennessee and met up with him and his wife. I hung out there for a bit and we went and got something to eat. He had just moved here 4 days prior.... talk about timing! He has the white '07 CBR 600RR buried back there in the garage, lol




What's even weirder.... we got to talking, and it turns out one of my buddies from Orlando, had moved to Richmond, KY for a little bit a few months ago. This guy used to live in Richmond, and turns out my buddy sold his '03 600RR to this guys roomate in Richmond. Small world!

Almost home... made my last gas stop just north of Atlanta, Georgia


Made it home safe n' sound about 11:30 pm


1,507.6 according to the trip odo, but as I mentioned before it reads a little high. Probably closer to 1400-ish



And that's all I've got. Trip went very well.... had a great time! Bike ran absolutely flawless, as always. Kinda sucked I was on time constrains so I had to superslab the whole way.... I could have taken a kick ass route if i had the time! Oh well... next time! Nice being able to spend some time with the family though... it was long overdue. I hadn't even seen the twins yet except for in a few pics!

__________________
-Jared

Black/Red '04 CBR 600 F4i - 178,600 miles and counting quick
Black '89 Accord LX-i sedan - 400,800 miles still going strong

wow man looks like an awesome ride. good to see that the bike is still running strong with that many miles on it. most of us will only dream of seeing our bikes with that kind of miles. thanks for sharing the pics,

You stopped about five miles from my house when you stopped in Ringgold, Ga to get gas for the first time. It is a small world indeed...

Nice pics...reminds me of home...Oquawka Illinois..just east of burlington Iowa...I've been through Bloomington many times.

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2007 CBR 600RR Two bros. C/F slip on--Dynojet usb P/C--Custom mapped--Vortex sprocket -1 front+2 rear--DID X-ring chain--hh pads --Pilot power rubber--competition werkes F/E. Oem blue solo seat cowl and no rear bitch pegs!(no offense to any bitches meant)

sweet pics bro. Looks like a awsome trip. Im jealous.

wow i gotta say, saskatchewan isnt even that flat and barren. well some palces it is, but the feilds in those pics actually fall out of view with the curvature of the earth... yeesh! here theres a lot of valleys, lakes, dry riverbeds and treeline, not to mention the coniferous belt and the rock belt, but thats all north, up by saskatoon where i just moved from.

blah blah blah blah

nice pics man, looks like a good trip. not a wild memorable trip, but usually some wacky misfortune is what makes trips hard to forget, in this case bored = safe and sound.

Hey where in Saskatchewan are you? Im in prince albert

better get him out of that can!


Just Kidding, sounds, and looks like it was a fun ride! Thanks for sharing. The wife and I are planning a trip to Washington DC in the late spring, probably hit the Dragon for a day either on the way there, or back. Will have stills, and with a little luck, some video footage of the trip. We plan on taking two weeks, and just "lollygaggin" our way..stop where we want for the night, etc. (yes, we are taking a tent, however, my wife's idea of camping is a 42' Vogue motorhome complete with wetbar, ice maker, microwave, sat tv...etc..you get the idea.) We'll post pics up when we actually get going

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2000 CBR929RR- Cams, Micron cf pipe and headers, Power commander 3 (custom mapped), heads, decked, ported, polished, zero gravity shield, Frame sliders, polished frame and swingarm, remote controlled red neons, Stainless Braided front and rear brake lines. RK 520 race chain and -1/0 Vortex sprockets, bitch pegs and rear seat removed, OEM rear seat cowl, Pirelli Diablo Rubber.