Kentucky Rally

BillyIndiana · Aug 18, 2017

Great times ahead. I belong to a group (Bonnevilleamerica.com) that has a Kentucky Rally every year. We are gathering next Thursday, August 28th, in Adairville Kentucky at the Trailer of Sin for 4 days of freedom. I went last year on the America alone and did 1526 miles in 5 days.

We are heading to Nashville Tennessee on August 27th to spend a day with my Cousin and her husband.

I have had the seat rebuilt and have a sheepskin cover.
I got a XL tourmaster Cruise bag for the sissy bar.
I have highway pegs installed
I have leather wraps on my grips which I love and a Go Cruise.
A phone mount on the handlebars.

This weekend I am going to check the tires and oil. Clean and wax the bike and set the second trip meter to 0. I expect the Rocket to perform flawlessly.

Ema my wife is going with me.

I have two questions.

1. What setting should I set the stock shocks on for a fully loaded 2 up ride?
2. Is there any other tools I should take with me other than the standard tool kit?

I promise I will have stories to tell and pictures when I get back.

MIG · Aug 19, 2017

I'm probably overly cautious, but I have a chrome cigarette lighter on my bike which of course doubles as a standard 12v power supply. This allows me to not only power my phone but a very small air compressor (in a zippered pouch) along with a tire plug kit. Granted, I've never needed it... but it's always there. Don't forget some hydration and energy fluids. If you can stand it, pickle juice will restore you in hot weather when you are feeling drained. As for the suspension preload, the R3 manual states a setting of 4 for 2-up and a setting of 5 for 2-up plus luggage. That said, I would recommend you increase the preload by 1-2 settings from what you have normally. The key is too soft of a suspension setting will allow the bike to "float" in turns at speed causing instability as the bike suspension responds too slowly due to the increased weight. Of Course, you want Ema to be comfortable too...

I hope you have a GREAT ride and I look forward to the stories and photos...

-MIG

BillyIndiana · Aug 27, 2017

Ema and I left for Nashville Tennessee on August the 23d at 9:30 am.

Our first stop was the Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green Kentucky. This was my second time there. Nice place to stretch our legs. They have an F111F which I worked on in the Air Force. We arrived at my cousins home in Mt. Juliet Tennessee at 6 pm. Had a great visit. We logged 398 miles that day.

On Thursday we met up with a few of our group at Thomas Drug in Cross Plains Tennessee. We then headed to Adairville Kentucky to meet up with everyone at JR's Trailer of Sin. We then headed out towards Frankfort Kentucky. We logged 201 miles this day.

On Friday we visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery and downtown Frankfort Kentucky. We then headed to Louisville Kentucky. We logged 172 miles.

On Saturday the group wanted to Zip Line through Mega Cavern in Louisville. Ema cannot zip line so she and I looked for something else to do. We ended up going to Cave Hill Cemetery. What a great place. There are a number of famous people there, but the most moving area was the Civil War area. Row after row of little white headstones. There are areas for both north and south there. If you love history this is a great place to visit.

We met up with the group. They were heading to London Kentucky which was 2 hours south. Ema and I decided to head home at this point. We had a great time, but adding another 2 hours for our ride home just was not what we wanted to do.

We took the back roads home and ran across the longest covered bridge in the US so we stopped and took a look around. Then it was back on the road. We stopped in Seymour Indiana for a quick bite to eat and saw the birthplace of John Mellencamp. It just happened to be next door to the drive in restaurant we stopped at.

We pulled into the house at 7 pm road wary, but what an enjoyable trip. Good friends, great roads, and fantastic weather. God had blessed us with safe travels and memories for a life time. If you want to see pics I have them in a media album 2017 Kentucky Rally.

Total miles 1018. Not too bad with all the stops we made.