Trip To Toledo By Bashan (Read 2,042 times)

[Bashan]

The wife and I are leaving Thursday morning at 6:30 to head up I-65 to Toledo. We're going to try to make it to Elizabethtown Kentucky the first day. Then we head over to I-71 to get to I-75. Here's some shots of the trailer and Pacifica loaded up. I'll add more as the trip progresses if I can get to a computer:

[wolfhound]

Rich, where did you get that great trailer and what size is it. I am looking for one
myself.
Have a safe and pleasant trip.

[Bashan]

Tractor Supply, it's 5' X 8' and has a nice loading ramp. You can walk them right onto it without starting them. It was $599.00 I think and we bought a spare for $99.00. It was expensive because it has 13" wheels, the cheap spares are $59.00 but they're 12". I'd recommend it, it rides really nice.It's getting the 1,400 mile acid test starting Thursday. Rich

[mthomas]

Please have a safe trip and enjoy. I am so jealous your wife rides with you. Mine tells me to @$#* off.

[scooterran]

Have a safe trip Bashan, and take a windbreaker with you. We just had a weather front move through and everything has cooled down . It's really nice and we can breath, leave the windows cracked with the wholehouse fan on. ZZZZZZZZZZ! Yep, by the time you get to Toledo it should be nice weather. Have fun== Scooterran

[ccprof]

Rich - have a great and safe trip.

Note on Harbor Freight vs Tractor Supply. Here in PA, if you buy a HF trailer, they treat it as "homemade" because you put it together. You have to have a safety inspection and fill out a bunch of extra papers to get a plate. TS trailers are pre-assembled and are ok in the PennDot database. Buy it and get the plate right away. The HF guy told me before I bought one. I bought mine at TS and then got a side kit from HF.

[kiwiscoot]

;D - Is the trailer holding the scoots or is the scoots holding the trailer? ---so many tie-downs I could not see properly. LOL ;D ;D
Kiwiscoot
PS - hey enjoy the rides & just to remind you our shortest day here in the south is past - summer is coming!!! Yahooo- -1degC/30degF ride this morning

[Bashan]

Hilarious as usual Kiwi........... . Thanks for the metric conversion, not really necessary, I know it's winter there.. ;D. Honestly, have you ever tried to secure a scooter without taking panels off to get to the frame? The photos say it all, plus I'm OCD......did I spell OCD right? DCO......CDO........COD......DOC! No....not DOC, that's the forum, yeah...it's OCD, I'm sure of it now...O....C.....D! This is a first, never hauled scooters 666 miles before (yep, 666, that's what the Tom Tom says....that bodes well doesn't it?). So I tied every exposed piece of metal I could find until I ran out of ratchet ties. I'm not even gonna look in the mirrrors.....just head north! Triple latte, Rich

[wolfhound]

Prof, so far as I know that is not a problem here in GA.. I will look into it before I buy.
I have a HF 20 miles away to the south, and a TS 30 miles north so i will check both out
when the time comes. Thanks for the input.

[wolfhound]

Rich, according to the Bible 666 is the mark of the Devil!!! However recent studies have shown
that the figure has been translated wrong from the original Hebrew so you should be safe. 8^)
Safe trip and God Speed.

[Bashan]

Well we made it to Dayton Ohio before we pooped out at 5:30 PM. We have about three hours to go in the morning. We thought we'd get a motel near her folk's house tomorrow and ride the scooters over and surprise them. Anyway, here's a picture of the scoots parked in front of the Comfort Inn we found....$65. They have 24/7 coffee, free breakfast, and wi-fi. We were also allowed to bring Cleo with us into the room. THAT would have been a deal breaiker!! Rich

Scooters in front of Comfort Inn, they hardly moved on the trailer...surprised Kiwi?

Here's Cleo, she goes everwhere with us! Even a 666 mile trip to Toedo:

[Bashan]

Finally got back to 'Bama, the wife and I are both pretty burnt from the trip so I'll make a short synopsis of the rest of our trip. I'll move this over to pics in a week or so. We got there Friday and ended up staying at the La Quinta in Perrysburg Ohio. We rode our scooters over to her folks place and visited all day. Here's a picture of my wife's folks, Mae and Dale, Dale is 80 if you can believe it:

Saturday we went on a long ride with the wife's sister Darlene and her husband Steve. Steve is a new member of Scooter Doc and his handle is Stevo; there, you've been outed Steve. Steve built his own scooter trailer with a clever winch system that slides back and forth from one scooter to the other.

Tilting trailer showing Darlene's Wildfire 150cc:

Sliding winch:

Unloading Steve's Roketa Bali Touring 150cc, 2+ gallon tank with vacuum fuel pump:

The four intrepid scooterists about to set out; from left to right, Steve with Roketa 150cc, Rich with Amore 150cc, Sue with Bashan 150cc, and Darlene with Wildfire 150cc:

Of course this was a Sino-scoot outing so we had to have a mechanical problem. Darlene's Wildfire lost spark so Steve zip tied a spare coil I brought into place and we were off for about a 60 mile jaunt, (that's Darlene helping out in the background):

We ended up after some beautiful twisting country riding at Mary Jane Thurstin State Park in Grand Rapids, Ohio. Here's the Maumee River and a very old lock:

And here's a picture of a bald eagle a guy brought to the park to get some air, I have no explanation other than that:

We headed back with the scooters running great, hung out with the family, then is was time to load 'em up and end a long day:

[ccprof]

Great pix Rich - looks like a great trip.

About that bird. We had one once. Got it from the wife's hairdresser. Not a love bird - a hate bird. The only time it didn't bite as when we turned the faucet on so it could take a shower.

[wolfhound]

Rich, thanks for all the pix. A great trip to be remembered. I have an Eclectus Parrot, female,
the Black Widow of all parrots. Good talker when she chooses. Can handle her if I am very
careful and she is in a rare good mood. Usually get serious bites however.
That tilting trailer is a work of art. Glad you are now back south with a sucessful trip behind
you.

[Bashan]

I have never seen an Eclectus that wasn't mean as hell, I think it's in their personality. Love birds can be sweet, but they're devilish if they can get away with it. Once a bird is programmed to act a certain way they're really tough to change. So if you get one from another owner it may be toast already. Steve's trailer worked great, but I found just walking mine up onto my trailer was easier and quicker. What I need to do is get some wheel chocks together for the front tires and I'll be all set. However, with Steve's Touring 150, or a 250, walking it up on the trailer could be problematic. Rich