Monday midday report

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - My XM Roady2 satellite radio crapped out a few days ago because I didn’t get the rain cover on it in time.

Both Roady radios I’ve had have gotten wet before and revived when they dried out, but this time the soaking was terminal.

Fortunately, I had a spare at home and I thought to bring it along. Unfortunately, after several hours of trying to get it to link with the SiriusXM network, it’s still not getting it.

I came to that conclusion somewhere in the middle of Illinois and it was almost a deal-breaker on whether to continue my trip to Colorado or abort and go home.

I stopped at an AutoZone at Springfield to see if they had any replacement XM receivers that would work on my bike. They didn’t but then I realized I could use my iPod without fear of running out of battery if I had a splitter that could power my iPod and my GPS from the same outlet.

They did and that’s what you see in my tank bag at the top of this entry.

I got off to a slow start because of all of the fiddling with the XM radio, stopping several times to call SiriusXM and get them to resend the activation signal. I’m stopped for lunch at a Quiznos in Jacksonville, Ill. that advertised free Wifi. I’ve covered less than 200 miles so far today and it looks like this will be a three-day ride to the Colorado high country.

I passed a delightful evening last night at the home of Lauri and Jim south of Crawfordsville. Good food, good friends, laundry facilities, a hot shower, a soft bed and power outlets to recharge all of my stuff. What more could a road worrier ask for?

The MotoGP was spectacular – way more fun than I had expected and I see how it could be habit-forming. The weather was very nearly perfect for the races, but it clouded over and got a bit chilly as Charlie and I made our way through the goofy traffic labyrinth that finally dumped us off onto I-465 at 38th Street after winding through miles of quiet neighborhood streets.

At my present rate of travel, I’ll be lucky to make Kansas before nightfall, much less get as far as Smith Center – my original target.