Days 3, 4, and 5

8-11 and 12, and 13/11  Today’s post is a threefer post; I’m going to cover three days in one post. 

We left our motel and headed southwest to San Antonio.  We left the Interstate and got on the secondary roads in Texas.  I like the roads in Texas!  Many of the secondary roads have speed limits of 70mph, and a wide shoulder wide enough for a vehicle to drive on.  The roads have driveways, businesses, and other things opening onto the roads, but still the speed limits are high.

Our destination was the Alamo in downtown San Antonio, and we found it okay.  I had been forewarned that it was a very small building, sorta nondescript, in the middle of San Antonio.  We got there, found parking in an expensive lot ($10 for 2 hours!), and walked to the Alamo. 

In truth, it was better than I expected; larger and had some pretty gardens around it.  We got there too late to do a tour, so we just walked around to see what we could see.  It was interesting, and I’m glad we did it, but I don’t need to see it again.

As we left the Alamo, we went looking for our host in San Antonio.  I had posted a question on the BMW ST forum, asking where the good roads were in the Texas hill country.  Whip answered that he’d be happy to take us out to the good roads.  When I asked where he recommended us to stay, he insisted that we stay with he and his wife, Mrs. Whip.  So we agreed.  When I talked with him the day before, he told me that he had 3 stores in San Antonio, and he’d be in the store across the street from the Alamo.

So, we stopped in one store and told the people we were looking for Whip, and they immediately knew him and where his store was.  Arriving at his store, we asked one of the sales people if Whip was there, and we were asked if we rode with him.  I guess this happens a lot with Whip.  In a few minutes, we met Whip and went to his office with him to talk a bit.  The plans for the night were laid out, along with some discussion of the ride the following morning.

After a bit, we left and started walking back to the bikes.  Along the way, we crossed over the river walk and decided to go down to the water and have a drink before going to Whip’s house.  The Margarita was great!  It was pretty hot outside, so a cool drink was very good.

Then back to the bikes and riding about 20 miles to his house.

His house is very unique, almost 50 years old, one story, and rambling.  But very nice.  It sits on a big lot (wide and very deep) that is completely fenced in.  Mrs Whip opened the gate and showed us where to park the bikes (in a big building in the back yard).  Inside the building were 4 bikes that he uses.

We met Mrs. Whip and talked awhile.  Each of us had a separate bedroom and a shared bath.  Very, very nice!  We showered and put on fresh clothes and then talked with her, while meeting their 5 dogs. 

Because Whip had to work late, we had an easy evening of resting and getting to know Mrs. Whip.

Later in the evening, she cooked a wonderful meal of grilled pork chop and a spinach casserole. Very tasty.

We ate and talked about bikes and adventures and had a very good evening.

The next morning, we got up, had a bite to eat and got on the bikes.  We rode about 40 miles northwest and met his buddy, Phil, who was guiding the ride.

Phil is from England, and is a very good rider.  He was very considerate of our riding abilities and checked in with us to see that we were going at an acceptable pace.  He’s a nice guy.

We rode for about 4 hours on some amazing roads.  Twisty, undulating, fast sweepers, and straightaways.  Great roads.  On one straightaway, I hit 107mph; it felt good and felt safe.  We had some parts of roads that were just like being on a roller coaster; steep downs and steep rises, with you almost coming off the seat at the top.  Lots of turns, some tight, some not so tight.  I worked on my cornering techniques and believe I made some improvements as the ride progressed.  Speed limits were generally 65 or 70mph, so it was a hoot to ride in the area.

Finally at around noon, Phil had to peel off to head back home.  We bid him goodbye after thanking him for his help, and he went on his way.  We continued the ride a while more and then went to eat.

We had lunch at the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum and  the Ace Café in Vanderpool TX.  In the museum there were many old bikes in very good condition.  I didn’t count, but guess there were maybe 50 or so restored bikes.  And a good burger.   A neat place for lunch.

Then back to the house to rest for the day.  We had time to do laundry (using their machines instead of sinks), fix a boot sole problem, and take it easy for a while.  Very nice to kick back and just relax.

Whip had to go to work when we got to the house, so he got home late last night.  Mrs. Whip prepared another wonderful meal of grilled chicken, pasta salad, and watermelon.  She’s an excellent cook and says she loves to cook.  I love to eat, and she loves to cook, so it was a good match!

Today, we got up and ate breakfast, packed the bikes and headed out for Marathon TX.  Whip and Phil strongly recommended that we go to Big Ben National Park, on the Mexican Border and the Rio Grand River about 300 miles west of San Diego.  US 90 is a major east-west road that runs to Marathon, so we went on the back roads to US 90. 

What a road.  It’s a 2, 3, and 4-lane road that runs across Texas.  Speed limit is 75 mph most of the way!  So, we could make great time running at 80-90 mph.  The road is very straight, and sight distances are very good, so running fast is safe.  We ran fast!!

Along the way, we discovered the little town of Langtry, where Judge Joe Bean held court at the turn of the 19^th century.  He was quite a guy, never hanging anyone, but fining everyone that came to his court. And he pocketed the money.  I don’t think he was a real judge, but in the day, no one really challenged him, so he acted as one.

It was time for lunch, so we asked about places to eat, and were told that the service station had barbecue sandwiches.  Since it was only a half mile away, we decided to try it.  The Depot was an unusual place.  We walked inside and it didn’t look like a place for food, with the exception that it had a long table with about 8 chairs.  A guy was sitting at one chair, eating fried chicken.  We stood near the table, waiting for someone to come out to greet us, but no one came.  After several minutes, the guy eating chicken suddenly said “You boys want something?”  We told him we were there to eat, and he went to the back.  After a few minutes, he came out with 2 barbecue sandwiches. 

They were actually pretty good!  We ate, paid, and got back on the bikes.  Westward ho!

About 20 miles east of Marathon, we could see a good storm brewing towards Marathon.  We pulled off the highway at a picnic area so we could decide whether to wait out the storm or to move on.  After a bit of watching the numerous lightning flashes, we decided it was safe to head on.  About a mile later, we ran into the storm.  It rained pretty hard, lightning was flashing around, and the wind blew some.  But we kept moving and got to our hotel at around 4pm.

Checked in, walked to town (1/2 mile away), bought some beer and breakfast stuff and walked back.  Then the rain came!  We missed it at the hotel.

As we were sitting on the porch drinking beer and bloggng, a couple checked into a room in the building across from us.  A few minutes later, the guy offered to trade us hot beer for cold beer.  Since we didn’t need the cold beer right then, we traded.  Later, they returned the favor by letting us ride to dinner with them.  From San Francisco, they were on their way home and happened to need a room here.  They were nice, and we enjoyed having dinner with them.

Tomorrow—Big Bend National Park, the river road to Presidio (supposedly the best road in Texas), and on to Carlsbad.

Day 2

8/10/11  Did I Say it Was HOT?  Good grief it gets hot out here!

The day started fairly nice, about 75 degrees before breakfast.  We decided to stay on the Interstate to Shreveport, LA and then head southwest on smaller roads towards San Antonio.

As the miles went by, the heat built higher and higher.  By noon, we were over 100 degrees on the bike.  We stopped a lot for water and fluids, in addition to gas stops, so we stayed well hydrated and safe.  The hot spot of the day was in Henderson TX when the thermometer hit 113 degrees at around 6pm.  It felt pretty hot, but not unbearable.

We used the Sahara vests from about 11am until we stopped, re-wetting them at each stop.  While it's a bit weird feeling at first, the evaporative effect does help make it a little cooler.  At the humidity we're facing and temperatures we have, the vests dry out in about an hour.  So, frequent stops are essential.

There's really not much to report except the ride so far has been unremarkable except for the intense heat.

Tomorrow we start the adventure.  We'll get up and head to San Antonio.  The Alamo is waiting for us!  So, we'll see it and then meet our host for the next couple of nights.  A guy from the BMWST website volunteered to show us around the Hill country, so we're taking him up on it.  I believe it will be great to have someone from the area who knows what's there and where to show us around.  I'm looking forward to it.

We did 545 miles today, staying in Palestine TX.

More tomorrow.

Day One; Tuscaloosa AL

9/9/11  Well, we hit the road today.  I was sorta dreading the ride today, concerned about the heat that is plaguing the country.  Yesterday riding to Garys, the temperatures stayed at 100 or above almost the whole way there.  Thankfully, about 10 miles south of his house, a thunderstorm brewed up and lowered the temperatures down to about 88.  Very little rain fell, but it cooled off and felt so good.

Waking up this morning, the temperature was 70 degrees outside.  Terrific!  I don't know when it's been that cool at home, so it was really great to be cooler.

We got underway at around 8:45 am after leaving Gary's family and granddaughter in the driveway.  We headed west on I-40 to I-77 towards Charlotte.  Then the by-pass around the western side of town and then to I-85 south.  We stayed on it to Atlanta, where we veered west on I-20.  Then southwest to Tuscaloosa AL.

Traffic was okay; never really heavy at all.  No stopping on the Interstate like happens at home.  Not really much to talk about; everything went fine and we did about 525 miles before stopping for the night.

After checking into the hotel, we walked, looking for an interesting place to eat.  However, we couldn't find anything within walking distance, so we had dinner at Cracker Barrell; each of us having pancakes.  They were very good!

Tomorrow, we plan to get an early start, stay on I-20 to Shreveport, LA, and then get on some smaller roads towards San Antonio.  Will try to take some pics to post tomorrow.

Trip's Eve

This is my last post before leaving town.  I think I've done all that I can do to be ready.

The final drive fluid change was done on Friday, making the bike 100% ready to roll.  The only other things I've done to the bike were to put the sheepskin seat cover on the seat; it helps keep me from slipping forward, and it makes the seat a bit cooler.  And I installed some soft foam grip covers on the handgrips.  They remove vibration and are a little cooler.  I can't think of anything more to do to the bike.

I've packed my clothes and have the left side case full of clean clothes.  I have found that I like to put each type of clothing (socks, short sleeved shirts, undies, etc.) in ziploc bags to make it easier to find them.  The bags also keep some of the odor of dirty clothes away from clean ones.  I pretty much exclusively use convertible pants, the kind that zip off at the knees.  They have extra pockets and can be worn short or long.  They will be short while on the bike, unless we find cool somewhere along the way.  I bought 2 new polyester short sleeved shirts for the trip; they help wick moisture away from the body--no cotton while riding.  Same with undies and socks.

I'll be wearing my Olympia Phantom mesh one-piece riding suit most of the time.  It's the coolest thing I have, and will work well with the Sahara vest.  Hopefully I'll get enough air flow to stay safe, temperature-wise.  We'll stop for breaks and hydration as needed.

Electronics are ready to be packed on the bike.  Charging the Kindle, but the computer is ready to go.  Extra batteries for the phone and camera (yes, I'm anal).  New batteries for the Spot locator.  Maps to help us plan some of the routes.

Meds and personal gear.  I counted out 24 days of each of my meds and put them in ziploc bags marked "AM" and "PM", so I can take them when I should.

Bumblebee, a lightweight jacket, and a sweatshirt are packed in a watertight bag placed on the passenger seat of the bike.  I hope we need them somewhere along the way.

We're moteling this trip, so no packing of tent and other paraphernalia needed to camp.  If we were traveling later in the year, I'd been up for camping, but I'm expecting it to be too hot to camp.  After a hard day's riding, I need cool and a bed in which I can rest.  Maybe next time...

Who would think a 3 week trip takes so much planning and preparation?  It seems that there's a thousand little details that have to be handled to be fully prepared for 3 weeks.  Getting the bike ready is the biggie, but the packing and details of going all have to be handled as well.

Route--I don't know.  I think it makes sense to leave Gary's home and head south on I-85 to Atlanta.  Then take I-20 towards San Antonio.  Probably stay on the Interstates all day on day 1 and most, if not all of day 2.   The sequence of travels is different from what was planned last year.  We're now planning to go to the Texas hill country (near and just west of the Austin/San Antonio area of Texas.  Then on west to Carlsbad Caverns.  Although I was there in May, they are so spectacular that I'm looking forward to doing them again. Then west to San Diego.  Ride the good roads in southern California en route to San Francisco.  Then head west towards home, with a stop in Denver and, finally, ending up in Indianapolis for the Moto GP race the last weekend in August.

We have an offer of a guide and a place to stay while doing the Texas hill country.  A guy from a forum I belong to made the offer, and we intend to take him up on it.  He'll know the roads and the places, so it will be a great way to see the area.  We also have an offer to stay a night with a friend in Denver, so we plan to do that on the way back east.

So, I'll be leaving home tomorrow and end up at Gary's for the night.  I'm hoping we're headed southwest by 8am on Tuesday.

Bike is READY!

Hallelujah!!  The bike is ready.  Most everything I needed to do worked out as planned, but there are always unsuspected surprises along the way.  Tires were installed on Tuesday; this is the first time I've had two new tires on a bike at the same time!  So, the rubber is good to go.  Other than spilling about half of the old transmission oil on the walkway, making a mess, the fluid changes and filter changes worked as it should.

Just after I put the fairings back on the bike and had it ready to check out, I noted that the Motolights and Hyperlites were not burning when the switch was on.  Damn!  So, I started diagnosing what was wrong.  A test lamp finally showed that the fuse block had no power.  Since there was no in-line fuse, it had to be the relay that had gone bad.  Simple to remove, and surely I could pick one up in an automotive store.

Went to Autozone and Advance Auto.  They checked every relay in stock, and the terminals on those did not line up with my plug.  Double damn!  I could replace the entire wiring harness for the fuse block, but I had done such a neat job installing it that I didn't want to undo and start over.

To the Internet to search for the relay.  Google is good!  Found the relay I needed, but it's offered by only one distributor in the USA, and, of course, it was located in California.  Went to order one, and immediately got an error message telling me that their minimum order was $15.  So, I ordered two.  Since it was Monday when I discovered the problem, and I'm leaving town this coming Monday, I had to do 3 day delivery to get it in time.  Shipping cost more than the relays!  Oh well, it's only money.

The relays were delivered today, as promised, and I installed a new one.  Voila, lights again!  I did an autopsy on the old one and found that water had seeped into it and shorted it out.  So, I installed the new relay in a different orientation to help keep moisture out.

Checked out the radio (which is what I had planned to do on Monday when I discovered the power issue), and it's working as it should.  If this stays true, I'll be able to talk to Gary, and he'll be able to talk to me as we travel.

We don't talk a lot, but it's important to know that one of us needs to stop, or if one sights something newsworthy along the road, it's great to be able to talk about it as we ride.  Most of the time, we're each listening to mp3 players or GPS.  Sometimes I'm talking on the phone.  So, we have lots of audio entertainment along the way.

Tomorrow morning the bike goes back to the dealer to have the final drive oil changed.  They like to change it after 600 miles of initial travel, but the bike was at the BMW rally in Pennsylvania when 600 miles came up.  Now it has about 1,300 miles.  Just a bit late...

The final preparation is to get packed.  I've started a packing list, and have begun making piles of stuff to pack.  From electronics (computer and Kindle) to clothes washing detergent, it all has to be identified and put somewhere on the bike.  I usually dedicate one side case to tools and bike things, the other to clothes, and the top case for electronics.  I also carry my Roadcrafter riding suit (aka Bumblebee) in a waterproof duffel bag in the seat behind me, for rain or cool weather.  Looking at weather forecasts, I'll never open the bag to get the bumblebee out!

Well, that's it for tonight.  Maybe one last post before heading out next Monday.  Maybe not.  Only way to know is to come back and look!

Gettin' Ready

Well, I'm in the midst of getting ready for the trip.  The first order of business is to get the bike ready.  With 24,000 miles on the bike, it was time for a major service to be done.  Oil and oil filter change, air filter, transmission oil change, check brake pads, and several small things to be lubricated.  So, yesterday and today I spent most of the day doing those things.  The fairings had to be removed to get to some of the things needing attention, so the bike became pretty naked to do what had to be done.

All of that went pretty well.  Oil and filter change is easy.  Transmission oil change is a little more involved, but not difficult.  Air filter was not difficult.  So, all in all, the service went well.

The tires on the bike needed to be checked to see if there was enough tread to get us out west and back.  I looked at service records and found that the front tire has 11,000 miles on it.  My records show that front tires have lasted from 15,000-17,000 miles, using a different brand of tire.  The tread looks pretty good on the tire on the bike.  But I think we'll probably ride about 7,000 miles out and back.  If that's true, I'll need a front tire before I get home.  The rear tire has about 8,000 miles on it.  I never get more than 13,000 miles on a rear tire, so it's clear that I will need a rear tire installed.

After considerable thought, I decided to replace both tires.  I had ordered new tires a couple of months ago, so they are available to be installed.  Tomorrow I'll go to Wilson and have the new rubber installed.  Then back home to reinstall the wheels and put the rest of the bike back together.

That will have most of the work done.  However I have two additional things to do.  On Friday I take the bike to the dealer to have the final drive oil changed.  The new final drive's oil needs to be changed to flush out the metal filings created when the drive was manufactured.

The final thing to be done was not anticipated.  Today I started to check out an issue with the walkie-talkie and found that the main fuse panel was not being supplied with electricity.  Checking with a tester, I decided that the relay that serves the fuse panel had gone bad.  And, of course, it's not a relay that fits in normal cars.  Google found the only distributer in USA that handles this particular relay in California.  So, a new relay has been ordered with 3 day shipping.  Hopefully it will arrive on Friday so I can install it and check things out.  Seems to always be something to do.

Next item to deal with is a packing list.  I find anymore that if I don't have a list, I forget things that I'll need.  So, I'll work on a list that I'll use on Sunday.

That's it for this post.  We're getting down to the short rows and plan to leave town a week from tomorrow (August 9).

Try Again

Well, it's a year later, and we're going to try it again.  To do the trip that didn't happen last year.  I still feel bad about the way it turned out, but even after a year to think back over it, I don't know anything I could do differently, given the circumstances.

I sold the 05 bike about 6 weeks ago.  Took a hit, financially, due to the repairs and high mileage.  But that's done now and there's nothing I could do differently.  I ended up fixing everything that was broken (driveshaft), using used parts.  Turns out the transmission was not leaking; I don't know where the fresh oil came from, but it was not the transmission or the final drive (could have been excess oil from filling the final drive, I guess).  A russian guy bought it, and I think he planned to export it to Europe.

The new bike is not quite ready to go yet.  The fuel pump controller started failing and was replaced about 2 weeks ago.  In checking out the bike after the repair, they discovered the final drive was beginning to fail.  So, it has a new final drive now.  The fluid in the drive has to be changed for the trip.  So much for BMW reliability!  I doubt that I'll buy another BMW when the 09 is gone.

Need to do the 24K maintenance too (oil and filter, air filter, trans oil change, valves).  Planning to do it Sunday or Monday.  New tires to be installed; hope to do that on Tuesday.  Flush final drive on Friday morning.

We plan to leave on the trip on or about August 9 for 3 weeks, and plan to take in the Moto GP in Indiannapolis on the way home.  So, it's about the same trip as last year's trip, but done earlier.

I decided to add on to last year's blog rather than to start a new one, thinking that bringing back some of last year's thoughts would be good (and I'm lazy; didn't want to repeat some of it).  So, this is a twofer blog, but this time two years in one blog!  Hope you enjoy it.