As soon as I started leaving St. Louis I hit some construction on Interstate 70 and promptly broke the weld on my exhaust pipe. I knew something was up when the sound grew louder from the left side. At the next gas stop I bought some hose clamps and with a piece of flat metal out of a mirror clamp kit I jury rigged the pipe back up. There wasn’t much to choose from for repairs at the gas store. That lasted for about 50 miles and fell off. I pulled off again and wired the pipe backup in place with some wire I had for such emergencies and that held. At the next town I bought some clamps at Wal-Mart to give it more support. They didn’t have any muffler clamps so I used some U-clamps.

The best part is when I stopped at a rest stop to put the clamps on and some guy with a blower was blowing grass from the edges of grass and when he got down toward me he kept walking toward me as I’m laying on the ground putting the clamps on. He’s blowing all the grass right on me! I looked at him and he mumbled something about needing to clean the grass and proceeded to aim it at me again. I wasn’t in the mood for that and reacted with a few words back to him about the where the sun’s not shining and where he may find the blower if he continues. He headed in the other direction. The clamps are still holding after 550 miles but it set me back time wise. Instead of making it to Colorado Springs for the night, I’m sitting in Hays Kansas where I stopped a few years back for a new rear tire.

Well it’s off to Pikes Peak and hopefully a few good pictures!