CMIII day one

*****OK DUDES, I THINK ALL THE LINKS ARE FIXED NOW TO THE FULL SIZE PICS. CLICK AND ENJOY!!!!****

so there were a lot of different factors surrounding this trip and my decision as to whether i was going to go or not. emotions told me no. the need for the road told me go. the wallet said no. the mind needed the time to figure out a lot of things in life. on thursday i sent a few text messages out informing everyone that i couldn't make it cause it came down to not having the money to go. Eugene wasn't having it- he told me to get to chicago and he would cover my gas. Everyone volunteered to make sure i was covered. I was floored. I checked with Harlow to see what kinda money i would need for camping and food- nothing he replies. sweet. 4 cans of beans, 6 cans of tuna, and a boda bag full of water would be my steady diet for the trip. I put a 20dollar bill in my wallet and left the plastic at home. Warren, Cody, and Kurpius met up at my place and we split for chicago to get a buzz on and meet up with everyone that would be going.

friday morning, rolling the bikes out into the sunrise. 15 bikes total would be on the trip. all rigids beside the softail and an ironhead sportster. the softail was the newest bike on the trip.

you know this bike.

shawn.

Lake Shore drive. this road is so cool and goes right along the lakefront. especially gorgeous at nite!

ok, so 15 bikes, you might as well get to see each one and get a brief rundown. This is Eugene a.k.a. Eugenius, Mean Eugene, Eugene the Machine, Eu-asshole... without him, you would be looking at pictures of me sitting on my couch right now. the seat on that ironhead was a straight-up recliner.

Rob "you got a friend in Metal" Hulz on Shawn's softail. At every stop, the amount of shrubbery hanging off his bike continued to grow for some unknow reason.

Shawn on his shovel. this bike looks indestructable and it pretty much is... until you tag a cone with the footpeg at 70mph.

Brad on probably my favorite bike of the trip. check out that front drum! Brad rode up from kentucky and was headed to colorado then vegas after the mile. his ultimate goal was to end up in Canada where he will be staying from here on out.

Johnny Ratchet on his pan. open to the in the wind section of any Easyrider circa 1984 and you will see this exact dude and this bike. he kept dropping so much stuff off the bike that by the end of the trip we we're calling him Yard Sale.

Mitch Codie and his evo. Joe said it best: "Mitch's bike looks like it eats people and doesn't even care." solid, reliable, and quick- this bike does what he needs it to do and does it well.

Harlan on his McQueen Machine. this bike didn't miss a beat the entire trip and neither did her rider. solid bike, solid dude. see him if you are in chicago and need a tattoo.

Joe on the only japanese bike of the trip. He rides the crap out of this bike all over the country. he built it to be fast and travel, and thats just what he does with it.

Alex on the first Triumph that has ever finished the Country Mile. its his first bike and he bought it from a dude that set it up for 2-up long distance rides.... and thats exactly what the bike did. 80mph like it was a slow tuesday.

Hot Rod on his shovel. The only other bike besides Harlan's that didn't have lick of problems. Rod owns his own shop in Dubois, Il called Stripped Down Cycles and this bike is a testament to him knowing what he's doing. He's run The Stampede twice on this bike.

like you don't know who this guy and this bike is. I heard he rides it like a champ, but didn't believe it till i saw it. I got pictures of him taking shots that will blow you away. his ironhead went through all 10quarts of oil he brought with him by the end of the trip.

Warren Jr of Jr's Cycle Products. what more can you say about this bike. Warren preps for a trip too. spare belts, regulators, stators, tubes, you name it. I thought i brought everything... Warren had me beat.

Cody got t-boned on his shovel earlier in the summer and didn't think he was gonna make this ride. luckily he got the bike back together in time to go and she ran really good the whole way.

Brian was the one that asked me if i wanted to come along on this run. Thanks man. i knew this ride was going to be fun, but i didn't have a clue how much fun.

So now that you know the bikes, the rest of the pics are mostly them in motion. I didn't take a lot of photos of breakdowns and hang out times, mostly just riding. here's the rest of what i got for day one. enjoy and stay tuned for day two and all the fun!

Eugene lovingly called Josh's ironhead the missing bike from the "Wheelie and the chopper bunch" cartoon. It quivered and bounced down the highway, all the while huffing smoke like a cartoon chopper would.

80mph on the freeway.....

.....ten minutes later. Johnnys clutch plates glazed over. The chopper Gods were smiling when a dude rolls up in a dakota and says he was in the process of re-building his 4speed and has the plates out if we needed them. hour later, we were back on the road.

yea, we ended up in some dirt and sand for sure.

my favorite photo from the entire trip.

Stay tuned.