My Grand Tour of Italy pt 2 of 3

[MrHondamatic]

Leg Four

Later in the season, a childhood friend passed away unexpectedly. I rode the bike up to my wife’s apartment in Speedway. (she works in Indy and stays there through the week) and we drove her car to the funeral in Pendleton. We came back to the apartment and spent the night there. When I had learned of his death, I was quite shocked. So while preparing to head up to Speedway, I decided that life was too damn short, and I would take the following day off and do some riding in his memory. I grabbed the list of destinations, my GPS, and a map for backup. I packed them along with some “funeral clothes” and headed east. The next morning, I used Speedway as my starting point and headed east again, this time on the bike.

 

My first stop was another Buena Vista, the one in Randolph County IN. It was a tad better than the previous one, as I found a church with the name on it.

 

 

Next up was Como IN. According to Google it means chest of drawers. There is a lake Como near the Guzzi factory in Italy also. But I was in for an interesting detour through the countryside thanks to some bridge construction. The Lowrance saved the day, and a lot of miles!

 

 

After that it was on to the crown jewel of the tour for everything Italian, Fiat IN.

 

 

From there I headed back southeast to Aroma IN. Another church sign saved the day, as there were no city limit signs again.

 

 

Heading east again, I found Arcadia IN, and that town had a nice sign.

 

 

While I was leaving Arcadia, I thought the bike steered a little sluggish, but it seemed OK once I was up to speed. Hmmmm??? I left Arcadia heading north to Alto IN, which is on the outskirts of Kokomo. That turned out to be a good thing. When I stopped for the picture, I realized the front tire had a distinct lack of air.

 

 

After the pic, I went up the road a very short way to a C store. I looked in their phone book for a MC shop, but did not find anything close. I asked a couple of guys picking up pizza, and they sent me to the nearby Kokomo Honda shop. Why it wasn’t in the book is a mystery to me. A quick shot of $.75 air, and I was on my way.

 

The folks at Kokomo Honda were great. They got me in as son as the tech finished up the tire repair he already had underway. One new tube and rim strip later, I was on my way. Sixty some dollars lighter, but I was not complaining. They could have bent me over, but they didn’t. Nice folks at Kokomo Honda.

 

After the tire delay, I was out of time and needed to hurry back home. I missed a couple of destinations within a short distance, but they were in the wrong direction.