Well, basically I’ve decided that I have to make some decisions on life. And traveling is one of those decisions. On March 26, 2010 I’d like to embark on a journey. The only things I have worked out so far is that it will be on a bike, and it will be away from here. I haven’t decided if I’m selling my house or what to do with Karma and Pookie, or what it means for the rest of things. What it does mean is that I have until that countdown timer on the right ticks down until zero to figure it out

Currently I’m reading a book on Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Its interesting so far. I’ve got a stack of books at my house to go through over the next few months. But in general I want to take the time now when I am still fairly young and generally able to see what I can. Wish me luck!

So, rumors have been around for a while that BMW was going to make a F800GS. Well, pictures have finally arrived. For a while I figured they were photoshopped, but this one basically sealed it for me as a reality.

Total Miles: 2847 – Through California, Arizona, Nevada & Utah

Wednesday – October 10, 2007

Meeting with Chanderjeet

My ride started out with meeting a fellow named Chanderjeet (CJ) who has come all the way over from India to ride the United States. It all started with a post by a local celebrity to the Adventure Rider crowd who goes by the moniker of StrikingViking (SV). As a result, donations were made, a bike was found, and Chanderjeet has come over for adventure. If you’re interested in how things are going you can read up on him here. On Wednesday I aimed my front wheel north towards Barstow California. I picked up Pete along the way and we motored on up to meet CJ. I told CJ and Bob to meet us at the In-n-Out in Barstow. Mainly because its easy to find, but as CJ is Indian he doesn’t eat cows. Pete and I pulled in to In-n-Out and I realized, “Crap, this isn’t Barstow.” I started to look in my GPS to make sure there wasn’t another In-n-Out in Barstow proper and CJ and Bob showed up. We crossed the parking lot to Panda Express and got some quick chinese food before hitting the road. Our goal was to get to Palm Springs to meet up with SV around 4 PM.

We took the 247 to the 62 down around the backside of Big Bear and through Yucca Valley. Pretty nice road, way better than motoring down the Interstate. It was pretty uneventful and pleasant until we came down the 62 into Palm Springs, then we hit the crosswinds. There’s a reason those big ass windmills are there. The winds were definitely 30 mph +. (I’d venture to guess closer to 50 as it got really quiet once we were on the 10 eastbound) We met up with SV at his close friends custom motorcycle shop. Very cool stuff. I have to admit, Glen AKA StrikingViking is a fricken giant. Even with that, his smile is infectious and he’s a super likeable guy. Afterwards we all headed over to another rider’s house for a BBQ.

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I just can’t wait to get back on the road again

Heading up to Utah today by way of Palm Springs.   I’m going to meet up with a guy that has come from the other side of the planet to ride in the United States.   I’m really looking forward to seeing him.   He’s having a blast and is planning to get across the US to New York before his vacation is over.

I’ve added a new widget on the right ‘As it happens’ which I can update via my cell phone while I’m roaming around.   Figured I’d try it out and see how it goes.   Its powered by Twitter, looked like something that could be useful.

Next trip is all planned. Going to take off on Wednesday night October 10th and return on Sunday October 14th. Its gonna be a blast of a ride. I’ll be meeting Kevin and his Dad in Payson, then we’ll ride from there and check out Utah. We’ll stay off the dirt this time since his Dad is riding a BMW R1200RT (I could be wrong on that)

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Next time I want to hit this road. Utah State 279 There are some dirt sections but the views look awesome!!! Then on to planning the Tour of Mexico in Spring of 08. Anyone want to come?

I got to take a ride around the Southwest US last week, visit the family, and see some cool places. The highlights were the Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Zion. This is the first mostly solo ride I’ve done. There are some nice things about running solo, but there is something to be said about having a companion on these trips. So, most of what I experience, I’ll just have myself to talk to about it. But I’ll share what I can with you all! So here we go!

Stats:
8 days – 9/1/07-9/8/07
1743 Miles
Photo Album: Southwest Tour 07
The Route:

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Heading East – 9/1/07
I woke up around 3:30 AM with the intent to be on the road by 4 AM. I didn’t roll out of bed until 4:15, DOH! No worries, I had no real agenda heading up to Williams Arizona other than to be there before dark. My greatest desire was to beat the desert heat which was getting up to around 110 Fahrenheit. I hit the road around 4:30, double checking all my gear was strapped down, running through my checklist in my head. It was still dark, but warm so I didn’t have to bundle up. It was kind of nice being on the road that early, hardly a vehicle on the road, it was all MINE! My route took me through El Centro, Glamis (Which I had never been to before), Blythe, Prescott and then on to Williams. The ride was pretty uneventful, at one points I found I was Beyond Hope! Before going beyond Hope I stopped at the Kofa Cafe. Excellent breakfast! They made fresh squeezed OJ right in front of me. The road up into the mountains around Prescott is very nice. Twisty and a ton of fun. I passed several cruisers and notice a few ‘interesting’ parking jobs by sport bike jockeys. DOH! There was a big festival going on in Prescott and some Classic Porche club in town as well. I made it to Williams around 2:30, about 30 minutes after my parents. We were staying at some campground that was marginal, no table, no firepit, and hardly any level ground. We had great burgers, and crashed out pretty early. I had a 7 AM flight the next morning. Read More »

Well, heading out Saturday at 4 AM to beat the heat on the way to Flagstaff. I’ll probably post a ride report up here afterwards. Its going to be a fun trip I think. Ride up to Williams AZ and camp a night with the family, hop a plane Sunday AM to fly to Kevin & Karen’s wedding up in Banff. Get back Tuesday with my niece landing 2 hours behind me, hop on the bike and head on up to the Grand Canyon! Just something to share with all of you. I was surfing the advrider forums and came across this.

From Tombstone: Wyatt: All I ever wanted was to live a normal life. Doc: When will you wake up? You wouldn’t know a normal life if it bit you in the ass. Wyatt: That’s great coming from you. Doc: I played the cards I was dealt, Wyatt. Your problem is you’re always trying to play someone else’s. Allow me to tell you the truth and thus set you free: There is no happiness, Wyatt there is no normal life. There’s only life, that’s all. Just life. The rest is relative. Wyatt: Then what do I do? Doc: First you can grab that black-haired woman and make her your own. Wyatt: All right. Then what? Doc: Run. Take that girl and start running. Run and don’t look back. All your life you been running and looking back and just barely existing and calling it getting by. This time run and don’t look back and call it living. Live every second, live it right up to the hilt. Live, Wyatt – Live for me.

See you all again in 10 days!

So, GP Motorcycles called me Tuesday with an update on my Husqvarna. They said “The valves are cupping, and it will be about $1400 to fix her.” Gah! Granted, I’ve got a lot of miles on this bike. But I’ve had several failures now. Cracked the case due to a defect in the kick starter, Horrible flat spot causing erratic throttle behavior, battery crapping out, bike won’t start, so on and so on. So, for now I’m going to park it and decide if I’m going to do the work myself. On another note, I got to ride the Ducati Hypermotard. OMG! I haven’t smiled that big in a long time. That thing is a fricken blast. Its light, handles like a dirt bike, but has street suspension on it. I can’t even explain how fun this bike is. Its like you’re flying with no fairing, and the fact its so small unless you really look down you can’t even see the bike under you. This will be my next former motorcycle. I figure come spring time I’ll get me one. While the BMW is fun, this is a rush.

Well, this last weekend started out rough. Friday I had a fuel spill on the side of my house. So much gas on the concrete it reflected. Not safe, and not fun to clean up. Then I had to figure out what to do with 15-20 gallons of bad gas. The dump will take it with an appointment, but you can only drop off 5 gallons at a time. What to do? Craigslist to the rescue! Within five minutes of posting ‘Free Old gas’ I had 8 calls about it. I wouldn’t run the gas in my car or my bikes but it runs great in the lawn equipment. That put me behind schedule loading up for Mexico. I should have seen it as a sign. We got down to Puerto Nuevo around 9 PM but had some excellent food. Crashed out at Bill’s place and got up the next morning early. We left Puerto Nuevo and went south to Santo Tomas. Nice little town renowned for its wineries. There’s a campground there that charges $10 per day to park your vehicle. Not a bad deal, they have showers and a really nice swimming pool.
The ride started out with my Husky not wanting to start. Tried to crank with with the electric start, battery finally got low so then I started kicking. It ran ok but as we got further it started running rougher. Stuttering at low speed and backfiring at high revs. It would blow black smoke like a diesel on the top end. This erratic engine problem made it pretty difficult to navigate rough terran as the bike would wheelie then dive in the whoops. About 45 miles into the ride we hit Erindira and filled up with gas. I checked my air filter, made sure I didn’t have anything loose, and it all looked fine. Started the bike up and it ran even worse. I let Bill know that I was gonna bail out to the road and down to San Quintin as it would be easier to retrieve me on the road than down the beach somewhere. I spent the next two hours limping it down Highway 1 to San Quintin, then another hour trying to find La Pinta. Once I got to La Pinta I pulled the bike apart to see if I could get into the carbs. No luck. I was missing a 3mm allen wrench and a 17mm allen wrench. So, I took a nap in the grass for about 4 hours until the chase truck arrived. When the chase truck arrived I started pulling my carbs apart and they were a bit gunky, and one of the jets was nearly plugged. I figured “AHA! This has got to be it!” I put it all back together, no dice. The bike started once, blew black smoke all over the place and died. Bill finally said “You’re missing Margerita Ville! Its done, have a drink!” Had a few drinks, got a shower, and had a decent dinner. Read More »

Ok, I want to find one of these and restore it.