Today, our mission is to get haircuts. We are camping at a Corps of Engineers Campground in Hampton, Illinois. Beautiful campsites on the east side of the Mississippi River. Lock and Dam Number 14 is in view. We’ve been on the road for a few weeks to a month already. I am ok growing a pony tail and shaggy beard. Brad is new to retirement and desires a fresh haircut. After a short discussion, we both agree that fresh haircuts would be nice. We search the phone map and find some promising barber shops in Bettendorf, Iowa. The first place we visited didn’t seem busy. No-one waiting in the waiting area. We were informed that walk-ins are no longer accepted. We offered time slots for the same day. We accepted the appointments and had a couple of hours to spare, so we explored.
We ended up in The Village in Davenport. It is on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River with some picturesque views of both the river and quaint shops nestled together in the village. A railway passes by with the occasional train. There are about a dozen small shops and eateries. An ice cream shop called “Here’s the Scoop” caught our attention. So we stopped and enjoyed a few scoops of ice cream before browsing the antique store next door. We eventually got our haircuts.
Sometime while in Davenport, Brad’s motorcycle started bucking like a bronco horse. He said it first happened after leaving the Corps Of Engineers Campground and traveling across the I-80 bridge into (LeClaire) Iowa. We are now in Davenport. The worn streets of Davenport has joints where pavement sections meet. Vehicle tires make the clicking sound when rolling over these joints. A clicking noise can be heard under the tires in a rhythmic fashion when cruising down the street. Some vehicles respond by slightly bouncing over the joints. For some reason, when Brad rolled over these joints, his bike would briefly lose power causing deceleration. This causes him to lunge forward on the bike. His front forks absorbing the sudden motion. The his bike immediately regains power and accelerates. This pushed Brad back into his saddle as his iron horse rushed forward. He and I were navigating a left hand turn from a traffic light. I witnessed the front forks compress when his bike lost power! Each time this happened, Brad felt like he was riding a bucking bronco! Something was definitely haywire. We ended up at our friend Brian’s house. Brian offered the shelter of his garage and use of any tools needed. Brad was expecting the worst as he removed the seat to access the electronics of the motorcycle. Straight away, he identified the nut on the battery terminal was loose. He tightened it up, and the bucking bronco was tamed. The motorcycle ran steady and stopped bucking. Exciting story to hear Brad tell using his body to simulate the bucking bronco! Ask him about it!
