The GRAND Adventures Sidecar Duo

I met Austin in passing at the Annual National Sidecar Rally in Rising Sun, Indiana. He was taking shots of the other rigs and hacks that were parked along the pavilion. I asked if he had seen the matching sidecars that my grandfather and I ride-he had not. I talked with him about the bike while he took a few shots. I gave him one of my cards, we exchanged instagrams to share pictures and information with, and here we are. So. If you are looking for a great photographer and one that has a passion for things with wheels and engines, this is your guy. You can check out more of his work on his Instagram (notyouravgcowboy) or his Facebook (Whiskey City Photography). Last I checked, he's willing to travel as far as you're willing to pay him to go, but you can occasionally catch him lurking around some motorcycle rallies. Feel free to reach out and Get some incredible shots of you with your bike, as well!

Day 4: Saturday: This is pretty much the last day of the rally, tomorrow morning, everyone will pack up and head home. Today was going to be a long and busy day. Sidecar games. Catered dinner. Door prizes, 50/50 raffle, awards from the sidecar judging, the sidecar games, and the sign-up sheets (longest distance, youngest/oldest, etc). After a quick breakfast, we wandered over to Walmart to buy Opa a fancy crank radio, so that he could listen to his news stations on the radio. We went to the field around the corner from the camp to participate in the sidecar games. Opa said it was too hot for him to stand out and play. Luckily, a wonderful lady named Cathy with a dark green Ural asked to be my partner and vice versa. Game 1: Sidecar passenger had to play cornhole from the sidecar while never stopping and maintaining the line in the grass. Game 2: Sidecar passenger tries to make the basketball go through the hoop while the driver never stops the bike, while driving on the line. Game...

Day 2: Thursday. We woke up drenched in sweat at 6:45 and it was already 80 degrees in our tents. We crawled out to sit at the picnic table in hopes of catching a light breeze. The energetic rabbits kept up entertained and distracted from the heat and baking sun. A delightful polite woman came over the hill while we were finishing our breakfast and debating a cold shower to wash off the sweat before 7:30, she was the one we were supposed to speak with in the hopes of getting a better spot (according to the not so pleasant one from the night before). I finished and left Opa to finish his coffee and to clean up his breakfast stuff; meanwhile, I went up to speak to the woman about possibly moving to a different site. It took all of 15 minutes to rearrange some sites and discuss the removal or a rental trailer. When they realized that the trailer was of no interest or interference to us, they gave us the spot. We barely packed, I didn't fully deflate my sleeping mat, let my sleeping b...

This past week, I went to Rising Sun, Indiana for the National Sidecar Association's 40th Annual Rally. The rally was roughly 6 hours away and the drive was almost unbearably warm. I have finally cooled down enough to sit and bang all of this onto a keyboard for the total of (maybe) 5 readers might possibly get a kick out of. True to history and tradition, when we were 3/4 of the way there, we (of course, you know by now what is coming) stopped for Dairy Queen Blizzards. And just like that our sweet relief was done and gone, then it was back on the road, to melt some more. As we made it closer to the small town I heard this little "doo-doo-doo *low battery*".   Now normally, most would pull over and attach the charging cord or pull over to exchange the information. Nope. Not us. There's no point in dealing with all of that mess when you are less than 10 miles from camp! He had his GPS set for the city and I had mine set for the rally site. So, when I had the chance to...

Everyone jokes that you should never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly. This month has been sprinkled with a few unfortunate incidences and passings. I had a friend who dropped his bike in a wobble on the freeway, luckily it was the dead of night on an empty highway and slid into the oversized median. He was able to call emergency services to help him. He will be fine once he gets a new bike and a new set of gear. An acquaintance who has been battling cancer, unfortunately had finally met his match. He rode his bike/sidecar until his last few days. When I met him almost 2 years ago, he apologized profusely and went to cover part of his face that had been taken by cancer. After telling him that was only necessary if he wanted to of his own accord, he whole demeanor changed. He wasn't so hesitant or cautious; he was bright, loud, he filled the garage, the yard, the whole neighborhood. He would ask about me every time he spoke with my grandfather. When we got the call, it s...

I was asked by a friend to make a post on our group's facebook page: Motorcycle Tourer's Forum- I figured that I should probably put it here too. Luckily he has not read my sappy posting. My grandfather made a monster. Like Frankenstein but it was out of a well ridden motorcycle, passion, and the curves of the lower Appalachian mountains. My first ride was on the back of his bike in the long and winding gravel driveway. He told me that it would be bumpy, like a dragon’s back. I was scared but after more than 200 yards and stopping at the mailbox, all I wanted was to fly down the mountain. I was still too young to camp or go on longer drives. So my regular rides started with me riding to his friend’s motorcycle shop and the ever constant Dairy Queen. Before long I was able to leave school during recess to go ride and camp. I did not ride much as a teen. However, the desire never faded. I had gone to rallies and seen that he had hundreds, thousands, tons of friends. He knew e...

I have received plenty of questions about my favorite places or memories of the trip. I have noticed that many of these involve bad weather or sticky situations. I guess that says a lot about me. -The night in Mena, Arkansas. It rained so hard and while I never had rain leaking into my tent, the floor felt like a water bed. That was an interesting night, I was waking up every 2-3 hours to check it. I would occasionally hear Opa ask how I was holding up or joke that he was standing up to hold his tent poles. -The night in Elk City, Oklahoma. The third day of the trip! We settle in just before a thunderstorm hits. I'm bracing myself against the wall of the tent and luckily I have my tent pointed in the direction that proved to be more aerodynamic in the storm. Opa and his 4 man tent, however, did not have the same luck. He was standing up for about an hour, holding his tent before the poles just snapped. He collected his things and slept in the bathroom. -The night in Alamosa, Colo...

Day 48: August 17, 2017: Chattanooga, TN I did not go back to the garage to unload the bike, I was going to enjoy a day without driving, a day in my bed or on my couch. Day 49: August 18, 2017: Chattanooga, TN Went back to the garage and unpacked the bikes, aired the tents, and started to wash the bikes. There was a lot to be done and not enough energy to do it. We both ended up taking a nap in the office of the garage. Day 50: August 19, 2017: Chattanooga, TN Both bikes have been washed, everything is put away where it belongs. The 47th day was the end of the trip, but it took three days for the trip to be officially over for us.

Day 47: August 16, 2017: Chattanooga, TN: 750m/1,207km We packed away our belongings. Opa and Claude sipped coffee waiting for Angie to come in, so Opa could show her just the last few tips and tricks that he had left. We were on the road before 10 A.M. and started to make our way back. Opa joked that when he is less than 1,000 miles from home, he is like a mule at the end of the day. We rode and rode and rode. We rode for what felt like forever, using our shadows like sundials. We watched as the sun slowly sank behind the mountains. We were still miles from home. 9 P.M. turned into 10 P.M., which turned to 11:30 P.M. and a stop at the closest Waffle House in Knoxville. He had coffee, I had a waffle. We were in the home stretch. Opa was ready to race it at 80-85, but didn't for the fear of deers being near the freeway. It was just time to sleep in our own beds. I had to keep him awake and talking the whole way home, he would get a into a drift or a sway going down the road but we...

Day 46: August 15, 2017: Middleburg, PA We spent all day playing with sidecars after breakfast at the Pepper Tree. Opa was teaching Angie how to wire up the sidecar lights and spare battery. I spent the afternoon helping rearrange the motorcycles and sidecars in a variety of ways in the parking lot like a version of Tetris or the game where you have the sliding pieces and one open square-whatever that's called. We are planning to head out in the morning. Knowing Opa, we will probably drive the entire way home in one shot.

Day 45: August 14, 2017: Middleburg, PA: 448m/720km Opa finally got some Bob Evans, which is a must for every trip. The Garmin rerouted us again adding another hour to the trip. We rode through every small town on the way to Claude's. We pulled up to his shop in the late afternoon. After unpacking and setting up, we rode down the road to get dinner and ice cream, of course. Once back at the shop, we looked over all of the current projects. and then we moved the bikes and the truck to block some of the light and noise from the road while we were sleeping in his parking lot. I even had a weird way of trying to stretch the fly out to catch a breeze. It didn't work all that well.

Day 44: August 13, 2017: Dayton, OH: 377m/607km We spent hours running 2 different detours and constantly being rerouted by the Garmin. I finally convinced him to use Waze. It was an uneventful day with little to no scenery. We went to Dairy Queen for dinner and saw a Bob Evan's for breakfast tomorrow. I am so exhausted from all of the reroutes and running around in the heat.

Day 43: August 12, 2017: Galesburg, IL: 232m/373km We didn't get too far down the road because we spent forever running around Des Moines trying to change my new tire onto my wheel. So many places said yes, until we showed up. It was an utter drag of a day. Until we found a tire store that would. They were so great that I brag about their service. Tires Plus on University/28th. It took all of 10 minutes and they refused to charge us anything for the 10 minutes that it took us to change it, they even offered to recycle the used tire. And the 2018 rally will be in Des Moines, I am going to send everyone to that tire shop. We found Rex again at the camp.

Day 42: August 11, 2017: Des Moines, IA: 422m/679km We went on a wild goose chase to find a sidecar tire. Called everywhere, with little to no luck. We asked one guy at Wally World if there was a 12 inch tire and all hell breaks loose. "Do you have a 12 inch tire?" "No." - Opa walks in to get a new headlight, and guess what he finds. "What in the hell is this, you said you didn't have these." "Well, sir, that is a 12 inch trailer tire." "Right. But I asked you about a 12 inch tire." "But it's for a trailer." He just stormed off. they wouldn't put the tire on the wheel for us, because "The tire is too small for the machine. We will just have to strap it and find another place. Also. There is an RT at camp, his name is Rex AKA the Pug.

Day 41: August 10, 2017: Oacoma, SD: 518m/833km We started out like most people do for breakfast, cereal. Well, not quite. Crushed up Chips Ahoy does not really qualify as cereal. Opa kept chuckling that it was the "breakfast of champions." We decided to skip the Devil's Tower and skip the stamps in Wyoming, the heat just would not allow a comfortable ride. We decided that we would just have to brave the roads and ride through Sturgis, during the annual Sturgis Rally. Oddly enough, I've noticed that the Harley riders almost never wave. I got both stamps for South Dakota and we are heading towards Iowa. Opa said that we have roughly another 10-14 days on the trip.

Day 40: August 9, 2017: Sheridan, WY: 407m/655km After looking over the maps, we decided to head towards Little Big Horn. We stopped at a gas station, and had the unfortunate luck of being forced to listen to "the best & favorite country hits of the '80's and '90's" at a blaring and mind numbing volume. Even Opa was annoyed and he is hard of hearing. We could not get out of there fast enough. We pulled up to the gates to go into the Little Big Horn National Monument. The man at the gates was kind enough to let Opa in for free because I had an annual pass. We walked around the museum and got my second stamp for Montana. While walking around we decided to cancel touring the Dakotas completely because it would be so hot in and around the Black Hills. We had our usual ice cream while finding a place to camp. Laundry day. After pulling into camp and setting everything up, I take the clothes to wash. I go back to the tent to set up the electrical. I find Opa e...

Day 39: August 8, 2017: Great Falls, MT: 226m/363km Probably our last breakfast at A&W. The tragedy!!  The rest of the ride through Canada was uneventful. Crossed the border from Carway into St. Mary/Glacier National Park. We chose to go back to Great Falls, so we could do laundry. After setting up camp, we drove around to find dinner. Opa chose Golden Corral. It was all fine until the toddler tornado blew in. Three children all under the age of 5, they lived by the dessert bar, screaming, and eating straight from the bar and "double dipping." There was utter destruction left behind. Opa was beyond annoyed and chuckled when I made a comment about my desire to be permanently child-free. We got back to the campground, and settled in. We spotted the rabbits running around and one laying perfectly still, even Opa got concerned and went to check on it. No worries, the bunny was just calm and napping in the sun.

Day 38: August 7, 2017: Granum, AB: 254m/409km No one was at the Office when we were up and ready, I don't know if open even left an envelope of cash in the little box. I doubt he would. I couldn't do much about it, I never carry cash. Opa and I backtracked a bit to make sure that I had stamps in the passport for each province in Canada. Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta, all covered. We finally found the spot with forest fires and making all of the smoke. We could see some of the fires near the freeway and the helicopters dropping water over the fires. We found a lovely campground in Granum. Camping along the pond or lake and settled in for bed before the rain started.

Day 36: August 5, 2017: Dawson Creek, BC: 399m/641km Today, we will make our way to Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway in Dawson Creek. Stopped in for gas and a quick coffee/hot cocoa at the Purple Door Cafe in Fort Nelson. About 2 hours after Fort Nelson, we get stuck at this construction site. Opa starts pointing out the clouds and how it looks like bad weather rolling in, "the worst part is that we shouldn't put rain gear on. It's too muddy!" As we get out of the construction zone, we drive straight into a hellish downpour. We were stuck behind a semi, going up a steep hill, in 1st gear, and it was absolutely pouring. I couldn't see anything in front of me. I could barely hear him through the headset. Then, off to the right, we spot some relief. We pull into this little store, grab all of our gear and race under the roofed porch. We waited about 30-45 minutes for the weather to clear. Our clothes were damp. We head off down the road again. Opa starts laughing half...