WOW only 5 months to go, I can hardly believe it. I still have several things to do but the FJR is pretty much ready to go. My wife bought me a new Garmin 2730, and I have been testing it out and she is talking of getting me a netbook for this ride, so she can get me off her laptop.
What a start to April, on a sad note I had a death in the family my uncle passed away in Indiana. After looking at the cost of airfare or driving the car, I talked to my wife about getting on the FJR and running out for the funeral. She helped me map the weather and we planned the ride. So on March 30th at 05:00 MDT, I took off for Indiana 1480 miles and 22.5 hours later, I was sitting at my parents house having breakfast with my mom. The ride out was uneventful, the longest riding section was 350 miles with everything else around 250-300 miles until the last 250 miles to go. The first 1000 miles went real smooth with a slight tail wind I was averaging 52-58 MPG and it took me 15 hours. I was thinking the last 480 would take me 7 hours to complete and I was pretty close at 7.5 hours. I slowed down quite a bit the last 250 miles, my stop with 250 miles left took about 30 mins, and I stopped with 100 miles left, I was feeling the effects of the lack of sleep. So I spent time getting coffee and stretching. Before I jumped on the FJR of the home stretch, I called my parents and let them know I would be in around 05:30 EST. So I averaged 65.77 MPH for the first leg. When I pulled into the driveway at my parents house my mom met me with a finger shaking at me for running all night but after she calmed down she was in the kitchen making me breakfast and drinking coffee with me.
The rest of the time the FJR just sat in the garage while in Indiana. While there I met with family and attended the funeral two days later. After the funeral, my family went out for dinner and we sat around catching up (this was my first trip back in three years). The next morning I was back on the FJR heading for home trying to dodge the weather (rain and wind). It was raining and 46 degrees as I left Indiana at 06:00 EST. I rode the first 250 miles in rain gear. It rained the first 200 miles then stopped and I waited another 50 miles to make sure it was going to stay that way before taking it off at my first fuel stop. That was about 100 miles before St. Louis, MO. The ride went pretty well until I reached Joplin, MO when the wind picked up. Once in Oklohoma the wind progressively got worse and I finally called it good for the day in Elk City, OK. at 9:30 I completed 1020 miles in 15.5 hours averaging about 64 MPH. I found a Holiday Inn grabbed a room, called my wife to let her know where I was and that all was well. She had been tracking me on my SPOT and figured I wouldn't make Texas tonight as I planned. She also said the winds were picking up and expect that the rest of the ride I would be fighting the wind. So after that great news I grabbed a couple of drinks from the bar and settled in for the night.
Man does 04:00 come quick and as my wife said, once I stepped out of the hotel I was hit by the wind. It wasn't as bad as she predicted at the start. So off I went 05:00 with 460 more miles till home. As I hit the Texas border, the winds really picked up blowing in the 30-40 MPH range but not real bad because they were coming out of the NNW, so it was almost a head wind. As I passed into New Mexico the winds were really moving now 40-50 MPH with gusts much higher. I was getting pushed around pretty hard. As I came up on Tucumcari, NM I decided it was time to get off the FJR and get something to eat. I had been riding for 270 miles and I was worn out. After eating I was back on the FJR and fighting the wind. I stopped for fuel in Moriarty, NM about 150 miles away. The wind was so bad that I only got 24 MPG that leg. There was one point around Clines Corners, NM I thought I might go airborne. When I stopped in Moriarty, I had to keep one foot on my kick stand I was afraid the FJR might fall over. The wind was pushing so hard the bike was moving. After fueling up I pushed on into Albuquerque, NM and then home. It took me 8.5 hours to do the last 460 miles running an average of 54.6 MPH.
So after 3000 miles my year is now up to 7800 miles to date with 9300 miles on the Pilot-2's that I'm testing. They seem to be wearing well, I'm starting to see a little uneven wear but nothing too bad. I think I can push these tires at least another 2000 miles. Well we will see how that works out.
As I wrote last month, I'm only riding every other week right now. I'm trying to get my honey-do list worked down and getting my first training ride in for the year really helped me test the FJR. After the ride, I found out several things that I need to fix/change before my next training ride.
My plans for tomorrow are to clean the bike (it really needs it), change the rear diff oil, air, oil filters, and change the spark plugs. All standard maintainance.
Big week again and the FJR sat in the garage collecting dust, The weather took a turn for the worse on the weekend so I sat around replacing my diff oil and filter. Still need to do the plugs and blow out the air filter. My anniversary was also this weekend so it was kind of nice to chill out, go to dinner and a movie. My wife bought me a Netbook for the motorcycle ride coming up in August, it is a cool laptop. The only issue it doesn't have a CD/DVD so no way to download programs. I'm looking at portables now. This weekend the weather is looking pretty good so I should get a few miles on the bike.
Well until next week ride safe.
