Ride West: Day 5 to Wichita

Today’s ride was a short one–less than 300 miles. Started at 7 though to avoid the afternoon heat.

Hadn’t gone far when I met an Oklahoma state trooper. Officer Jeremy Tolman. Nice young man. Turns out he rides an ’05 Road King. We talked briefly about motorcycles and the joy of the open road. He asked if I was aware that I was exceeding the posted speed limit by 10 mph in a construction zone. I admitted, candidly that I suspected I was going faster than the traffic laws of Oklahoma allowed but wasn’t aware of my exact speed. He showed me on the control panel inside his patrol car that I had, in fact, been riding faster than the traffic engineers deemed safe and appropriate for the conditions. He asked if I would go slower, at least until I got to Kansas. I assured him that I would. He provided me with an official report of our encounter and we went our separate ways. As I pulled SLOWLY back on to the highway, I could almost swear I heard him humming “on the road again.” I put Foghat’s “Slow Ride” on the CD player and cruised uneventfully to Wichita.

Spent a relaxing afternoon with mom and brother Jon. I did, however, see that all Frobishes seem to be afflicted by a malady that causes all 15 minute home repair jobs to take at least an hour. We had to move a refrigerator out of his house. Jon carefully measured the appliance in question but despite his best measuring effort the unit would not go through the door he had chosen for egress. So then both doors of the refrigerator had to be taken off and the water line and wiring to the freezer had to be disconnected. Eventually the job got done, but not before my brother completely wasted 60 minutes of my 28-day road trip. Oh well. That’s what family is for.

Tomorrow: final preparation for ride to Sturgis.

“I can’t wait to get on the road again.”