Day 8 - Transit but FUN!

So, here we are at Day 8. We changed time zones yesterday so we're up at 0 dark-thirty, but since the hotel doesn't serve breakfast and there's a Huddle House across the parking lot open 24x7, at least we can take advantage of the early awake time. After a "real" breakfast (as opposed to the standard hotel "continental" breakfasts) we load up and are ready for a 6:51 AM departure. As we roll out, the temp is 68 degrees, but fells a bit warmer than that so we're wearing only windbreakers under our armored gear. The expectation is that temps will warm quickly and we'll lose the wind liners at an AM break stop.

Day 8 Route

The real surprise for me turns out to be, once again, the roads. Larry made the routes based on his previous experiences in this area and he has yet to disappoint! We only run about 50 miles or so of interstate all day, but the rest of the riding is not only secondary roads, but some of the nicest motorcycling road one could wish for! Excellent pavement conditions, rolling hills, and meandering curves one after the other with nothing too tight or technical to ever make it feel like "work". In particular is a couple of stretches of MO-32 and some stretches of MO-17 adding up to a total of ~ 150 miles of riding nirvana! So much for a boring day of transit between required segments of the Top 15 Challenge.

MO-32 and MO-17 SWEET sections ~ 150 miles

When we finally break for lunch it's almost 1:00 local time and the temps have warmed into the high 70's with our first steady sunlight of the trip so we need to stop both to eat and to remove a layer of gear. The afternoon will be very enjoyable with a full belly and light gear.

And just to make the day even better, I find my fuel mileage climbing "off the charts" for my experience with this bike. I normally see my Low Fuel Warning light (LFW) come on at between 260-280 miles, and then expect to run out of fuel between 310 and 330 miles. I have only run out of fuel once, at it was exactly at 350 miles. This day though, I sail past 280 and still have two bars showing, and the LFW light finally comes on at 312 miles - a new record for me! We fuel up in Salem MO where it takes 6.351 gallons to fill after 322 miles since last fill which calculates out to 50.571 MPG. Now here's the bonus - my following tank I expect  will be a close call to make the remaining 347 miles for the day. When 312 miles goes by and my LFW isn't even blinking. It finally comes on at 325 miles, and the computer says I have fuel for 65 more miles, yet we only have 32 to go to the destination. The fill when we get there is 6.578 gallons so for the 347 miles covered calculates out to 52.752 MPG! That's nearly 10 MPG better than my overall average. How can this be? Larry say's it's because he's breaking the wind for me (AKA I'm "drafting" him), but I say it's mainly because we're running secondary roads at very steady speeds that are somewhat lower than they would be out on straighter, longer and more major roads, and with little to no winds. Whatever it is, it's most welcome.

Today's stats: 473.9 miles covered in 9:55 elapsed time, 8:29 moving time.

Tomorrow's plan if to cover 443 miles to get to Valentine, NE. That'll place us at our next mandatory road in the Black Hills on Monday.

Added GPS Track for the day: