Author: Chris Tribbey

Today we rode from Dayton, OH to Charleston, WV. Weather was very hot and sunny. Total official mileage was 209, and I completed all miles in time. Also moved up two spots to 32 place. We are now at an official 899 miles. My 1923 Harley J model is running flawless. I change the oil at every gas stop, as I did with the 1911 Excelsior. This helps ensure I am metering the oil correctly and provides fresh oil to the engine components.

As each day begins we receive the route sheet 30 min prior to our scheduled departure time.

Along the way some people are sharing photos taken of me. Nice of them to send my way.

Here was Stage one leaving today. These are the oldest and most primitive bikes in the event.

We have also had some excellent roads to ride on.

We ended the day at the HD dealer here and they provided a nice spaghetti dinner with a salad and soft drinks. A nice crowd welcomed us in.

After leaving their we received a police escort to out hotel; how cool was that!

Back at the hotel Dan and JR preformed the normal maintenance and added a fuel filter for good measure.

Done by 7:30 and off for a good nights sleep. Up at 5am tomorrow to start the day traveling g to Danville (268 miles). Thanks again for following!

We rode today from Battle Creek, MI to Dayton, OH. It was a beautiful day that started out with warm overcast weather. Departure time for my group was 7:45. Retrieved my route instructions and began loading into the map scroll holder.

We had a great ride to Napoleon Harley-Davidson for lunch. A tremendous crowd was there to greet us. How wonderful!

They served all riders “walking tacos” which I had not heard of before. It was a dish of first pouring Fritos in and cover them with ground beef, lettuce, shredded cheese, and salsa. It was actually pretty good.

We had a great route to Dayton. Very hot and bright sun all afternoon. It was a brutal day for many bikes. Both Grim Reaper trailers were full.

A shame to see these bikes on the trailers. Some will not be able to return to the event. As I departed the parking lot tonight there were most teams working on their bikes. Dan and I preformed all my maintenance in quick order then JR helped us load the bike in and pack up out parking lot workshop.

Tomorrow is 209 miles to South Charleston, WV.

And after the Prologue and three stages I have moved up from 44th place to 34th place. I’m looking forward to a great ride tomorrow. Weather will be sunny and high 80’s.

Over and out. Thanks for following along.

10:15pm local time. I’m beat for a number of reasons I won’t get into here.

Today starts at alarm at 5 am, and out to the bike at 5:30. A very peaceful time for me each day.

My departure time was 8:00 so that means I can pick up my route map at 7:30. Here is the first page.

This page gives an overview of the day ahead. Then the next pages include turn by turn instructions by the mileage intervals.

Today we had 95 instructions which meant a turn or important route instruction. The may was about 10 feet long today.

JR had the truck all ready for another day.

Lunch was a gas station sandwich which was perfect. which was perfect.

Bike ran great until the first gas stop. And as fast as I was adding fuel to the tank it was pouring out of the carb. SH!T I mumbled. So we (another ride Bill Page offered to help) pulled the carb off and I took the bowl off to clean the needle and seat. There was an amount of “gunk” on the needle which explains why the fuel was leaking. 20 minutes later bike was all back together for trouble free riding.

Lunch was a gas station sandwich which was perfect. Peeled the jacket off for the afternoon ride.

We also did oil changes at lunch. Here is Billy Page doing his.

Back on the road, 140 miles to go yet. I passed by Dan Emerson who rides an Excelsior single and he was on the road side. I had to stop to see if I could help. I was able to supply him with safety wire to make his clutch mechanism operate again. YAY!!

Happy to say Dan made it in with all the miles, as did I.

We finished at Battle Creek Harley-Davidson for the hosted dinner. The public turnout was unbelievable! Wow! And they had an excellent grilled chicken dinner for all the riders and support crews.

After dinner back to the trailers to do the daily maintenance. All good. The Grim Sweepers trailer then rolled in. Not too many on tonight.

Tomorrow we have this to look forward to.

Also big news my one other crew member Dan Rognsvoog arrived tonight to assist JR in the support truck. Happy to have him here now.

Thanks again for following along. Talk tomorrow night.

Whew what a great day! 190 miles and yes I made all the miles. That is the question we all ask each other each evening. We all want each other to finish with all the miles. Our first stop was at the Valley Camp museum. After assembling we all left by stages.

The weather was cool (52 degrees) and very foggy as we left I rode with a bunch of Indians. Great ride to the lunch stop. We were on our own today. Some days there are hosted stops where lunch is provided.

After lunch the sun came out and the temps crept up to the point where I took my jacket off. Made a stop to hang out and relax before the end stop. The staff motorcycles this year are new BMWs. Gorgeous bikes.

At the ending stop (Hagerty Ins offices) a great friend (Skeeter who I worked with at House of Harley) met us there. Great to see him at the stop and in the hotel parking lot.

A cool surprise I received today was this great photo taken in the SOO.

It has been really great this Cannonball (so far) being able to cruise along at 50 MPH and not get anxiety attacks when I see a hill in front of me. Bike is running strong. All good.

Here is something no one wants to end up on; the sweep truck nicknamed the Grim Reaper. Today had two trailers full of motorcycles that broke down today, some will not be able to be repaired.

Tomorrow will be about 260 miles ending at Battle Creek Harley-Davidson. Miles of Smiles as my buddy HD Ray used to say. Over and out for now.

Well the official start has begun. We had the riders meeting this morning to review the course and all the rules.

Also received a list of all the riders in my class (class five: 1921-1929, 601-1000cc).

We had an easy day with the prologue ride to a local park. We mingled with the public and had a long photo session. It was a great day with many photo opportunities.

After the short ride back and following all the rules, I received all miles today. A perfect score so far.

Thanks for following. Tomorrow 185 miles to Traverse City. I’m so lucky to be living the dream!

Woke up to rain this morning. After a quick breakfast we headed up to register for the event. Got my badge so I’m now official.

After this I went through the motorcycle inspection process. It was quite thorough this year. Which was good to see they were so particular. A couple of issues were discovered. It’s a good!

One of the items the inspection team notices was my floorboard mounting stud was loose. I knew this might be an issue so I had some extras with me to replace.

We had the option to do a practice ride to familiarize yourself with the paper route map navigation system. I did this in the light rain. Was good to see how the brakes operate when wet. All good!

Had a nice 20 mile ride. After that was hanging out in the parking lot meeting and greeting old and new friends. A lot of work on motorcycles is still taking place one day before the official start. Tomorrow there may be a few who do not finish the 20 mile prologue.

Loaded the bike back into the awesome support truck JR is supplying. Dinner and a good rest.

More updates tomorrow! Thanks for following.

JR and I left at 6:30 this morning for the SOO (Sault St. Marie, MI) on the Canadian border. JR’s truck ran excellent.

Out Hawaiian hula dancer kept us safe along the route.

Overall we had good weather coming up, but ran into rain several times.

Had time to re1read my original Riders Handbook for my 1923 HD J model. While reading this I remembered I did not pack any spare wheel hub parts. Spoke with Dan Rognsvoog, another member of Team Effort, and he will bring spare parts to meet us in Battle Creek, MI. Cool.

We rolled into the hotel around 4:00 to set up our area and “meet & greet”.

We met up with John Bartman’s team for some good conversations. Then off to dinner.

Tomorrow will be registration and bike inspection. Also some practice miles in the area. More or less a relaxing day. Thursday it begins.

Thanks for following along. More each day.

Today was load in day. Bike, parts, tools, and riding gear loaded.

Everything fit like a glove!

We (me and JR) are all set. 6am departure time on Sept 7. Let’s get the show on the road!

All set. So Labor Day will be a free day to get ready. If anything was forgotten Tuesday will be the day to get all set.

Thanks it for now! The ZEN moment is slipping over me. ❤️🇺🇸

I just arrived back from the Davenport swap meet. Two days before we depart for Sault St. Marie, MI. A nice calming aura is slowly creeping into my soul. In a few hours all that matters will be the Cannonball.

JR will be coming over with his awesome Team Effort truck to load up everything: bike, parts, equipment, consumables, riding gear, and my clothes.

This truck is truly a work of art. JR and his partner have hundreds of hours in this project. High tech frame, engine, transmission, ABS brakes, and computer controlled systems. An awesome vehicle. I’m thrilled JR will be transporting us to the UP as well as back from Texas after the event.

I have completed compiling the tools and parts I will carry with me.

Not too many tools. And the parts will be minimal as well I have faith!

Checklists are completed.

Tonight I’m working on ideas to water proof the wooden tour box. Looks like we will have a few days of rain when we start. Cat box liners look like a nice solution.

Thanks for following and make sure you click the “email me with future posts” option here. I will be posting every day from now on for the entire event.

I REALLY appreciate the outstanding support from all of you. You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you.

Talk to you tomorrow.