NM Goldwing rider

August

2011-08-02T02:05:00.008-06:00

Well gang I finally completed my ride report from my NPT and Smoke Chasing ride. Check out my post, it was a lot of fun but glad to be home. Since getting home, I have been focusing on getting ready for this years LOE rally. Currently we have 27 riders signed up, I'm hoping we can get to at least 40 riders.

The Wing is in pretty good shape after the ride. It needs new tires and brakes but every thing else seems okay. I've been on several short rides in New Mexico checking out the fire damage in Los Alamos and the Caldera. I have taken my son over to the Petroglyph National Monument to collect the park stamp. We are planning to ride to a few more before school starts in a couple of weeks. My has made a run to Jemez with my wife for lunch and jumped in on a couple of rides with people I work with. Believe it or not I have 17,000 miles on my Elite-3s and they are really showing the miles. Need to change them soon.

Well I still have not done the tire but the bike is running well. I did do an oil change last week and took my son for a ride into the mountains. We took out National Park Passport and picked up the stamp for Bandelier National Monument. We then cruised to a couple of landmarks in the area before heading to lunch. We ended up meeting his mom and a friend for lunch before heading for the house. It was my sons longest ride 200 miles. Here are a couple of pictures.

Well until next time,

Ride Safe.

NPT and Smoke Chasing ride

2011-08-02T02:04:00.006-06:00

National Park Tour report:

Well we are off; I headed for my daughters place in Portales, NM to spend a couple of days with her family. It is a short ride about 250 to Portales from Rio Rancho, NM. It was a good way to get started. I also had dinner with a friend that is running in the 2011 IBR while in Portales. He came over to my daughters for Italian; we all sat around talking had a great time. I spent one more day with the family then took off the next day. Had a great visit with my daughter and grandchild, my son-in-law was working so only saw him at night.

Day 1:
Well the ride started in earnest this morning; I took off about 05:00 and almost ended my ride before getting 50 miles. There was a wild turkey in the brush beside the road that took off or tried too just as I came up on it. I had just turned onto a state road heading for TX. Man are they slow taking off, I had to duck to make sure I didn’t hit it. Once I finally got moving, I grabbed two stamps in Texas, LBJ National Historical Park in Johnson City and San Antonio Mission National Historical Park in San Antonio. I just barely made it to the Mission before the closed the visitor center. I also grabbed a BBQ (goat) sandwich in Brady before stopping at a KOA campground about 70 miles outside of Houston. I rode about 750 miles today with no major issues. Someone asked me how the goat tasted; I told them the same as dog.

Day 2:
After a good night’s sleep, I packed up camp and was on the road by 07:00. I was able to get three NP and one new BBQ place today. I had to grab the BBQ place I did in LA, it was called Eddie's BBQ. The food was good; I had to grab it because of the name. It was a little place right next to the gas station I pulled into; I didn’t even see it till I started pumping my gas. I picked up one more stamp in TX call Big Thicket National Preserve in Kountze then jumped over to LA. As I crossed over into LA I stopped for gas and snapped this picture of a fish.

For my first stamp in LA, I grabbed Cane River National Heritage Area it was in Natchitoches.
As I stopped for gas I snapped a picture of my BBq stop. I tried to grab one more but hit some road construction so it wasn't in the cards. I'm sitting in a hotel room between Monroe, LA and Vicksburg, MS. Tonight. I could not find a campground that I was comfortable staying at in a tent. Tomorrow I will grab one in MS before then head north to AR for another. They are within 150 miles of each other. The bike is running well and I'm just slightly behind my goal but no big deal, I have a couple of extra days to play with. Well since I’m off the bike it’s off to grab a beer.

Day 3:
A good night sleep and off again about 07:00, I'm sitting in a Waffle House in Vicksburg waiting on the park to open. Hope I didn't make a mistake because it is Mother's Day and I never checked to see if they are open.

What a day, I started at the Waffle House having an outstanding breakfast waiting for the Vicksburg National Military Park to opening. They did open so that was great; they have a drive through the battle field very cool. I picked up my stamp and moved on to AR where I grabbed 2 stamps the Arkansas Post National Memorial and Trail of Tears National Historical Trail in Gillett. Then after getting back on the motorcycle and traveling about 35 miles further north I ran into a wall of water. The roads were closed to everyone but local traffic and most bridges were out. The State Police set up information stations on the side of the roads. I found out all the bridges crossing the Mississippi river was closed and I would have to back track a couple hundred miles to Greenville, MS to get across the river. After I crossed the river, I headed for higher ground. The water was close to the edge of several of the roads I was on. I pushed forward but I missed the park I wanted to close the day with by 20 mins. I tried to grab a campground but they didn't like my kind. One said no way because of the motorcycle and the second said no because I was in a tent. So I grabbed a Motel 6 kicked back and washed my clothes. I didn't find a BBQ in AR or MS but hope to grab one in MS and TN tomorrow. Tomorrow should be a good day; I’m hoping to grab 2 stamps in MS, 1 in TN and 2 in AL.

Day 4:
It was a pretty productive day for stamp and BBQ collection. I was able to grab 5 stamps and 3 BBQ locations. I decided to try food at every BBQ stop but today was a challenge. I figured I would grab a rib or sandwich so I could keep moving. I started by picking up Natchez Trace Parkway and Tupelo National Battlefield stamps in Tupelo, MS. I moved on to TN for the Shiloh National Military Park in Shiloh Battlefield and Shiloh Indian Mounds NHL in Pittsburg Landing. I also picked up my first BBQ of the day in Savannah, TN a little hole in the wall place. After BBQ in TN I headed into AL and grabbed Russell Cave National Monument and another stamp of the Trail of Tears in Bridgeport. I also found a nice BBQ called Rick’s Barbeque before leaving AL. It was funny after I stopped and went in no one in the place could tell me what the address was. I ended up going next door and luckily they knew. My two last stop for the day were in GA. I grabbed the stamps for Chickamauga Battlefield in Ft. Oglethorpe and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Kennesaw. I also stopped at a BBQ place called BAR-B-Q Corral, too much sauce on the ribs hard to taste the meat. I currently have been to 7 states have 11 stamps and 5 BBQ stops. I'm planning to grab stamps in GA, SC and NC if all goes well tomorrow. I’m trying to spend at least 45-60 mins at each location but I'm not doing them justices. There is so much history that I'm just skimming the surface. The Shiloh Battlefield in TN that was one of the coolest places I have ever been. Sad to say (Stacey is going to love this line) I would normally blow right by these places going somewhere else. I found a nice little campground on the edge of the river that wasn’t over its banks from all the rain.

I did have an eye opening moment while running down a 2 lane road in MS. A car started to pass but never saw me coming from the other direction, we were probably both running 60 mph it could have been a real mess. The car finally saw me and started to swing onto my shoulder about the same time as I did. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do next so I hit the brakes. They swung back into my lane and passed me while I was on the shoulder. They were still trying to pass the car probably still around 60 mph. That was one of those moments that make you check your pants. I wasn't sure what was going to happen but it all turned out okay. I also saw some of the destruction from the tornados in MS several houses destroyed. Some missing their roofs and others with nothing left but the foundations very sad.

Day 5:
Well day five in the books, I had a good day riding at the start. I picked up 5 stamps and 1 BBQ restaurant. My first stop was Chattahoochee River NRA in Atlanta. After leaving Atlanta, I came across a forest that had a ½ mile wide section leveled by a tornado. As I passed it, you could look in either direction all the trees broken about 20 feet off the ground for as far as the eye could see. Once in SC I picked up stamps at Cowpens National Battlefield and Overmountain Victory NHT in Chesnee, Ninety Six National Historical Site in Ninety Six and Kings Mountain National Military Park in Blacksburg. I then picked up my only BBQ stop in Gaffney, SC called Daddy Joe’s Beach House BBQ & Grill. As I was getting ready to pull into the parking lot a car decided he wanted my lane. I think he saw my turn signal and figured I would be out of the way. I moved over just before the turn into the BBQ stop brushing the curb scrapping my undercarriage. No major damage but it sure woke me up. The car never even tapped on the brakes. I'm allowed to type that section now because I told Stacey once I made it to my hotel room (love you dear). As I stopped at Daddy Joe’s, I noticed the clouds rolling in and my server said they were expecting severe thunderstorms. My original plan was to head for NC but after seeing how dark the skies were after walking out the door, I decided to hide and wait out the storm. I grabbed a room at the Quality Inn in Gaffney to wait out the storm. They said 70% chance of thunderstorms tonight and 35% tomorrow so it might be a wet start. Well it had to happen sooner or later, I've been dry since I started, but I’m not afraid of a little rain. The bad part is I don't have a good way around the storm so we will see how it goes. If it stays in the area, I’ll have to ride right through it.

Day 6:
Well gang my first rain day wasn't too bad. It rained on and off all day, just enough to not take the gear off between stops. If you remember, I bailed early yesterday due to the storm and it rain only a portion of the night. When I woke, everything was damp but not raining. As soon as I started packing up the Wing the rain started. My first stop was the Blue Ridge Parkway getting the stamps for Museum of NC Minerals and Overmountain Victory Trail in NC. After grabbing those stamps, I was planning to run the Parkway for about 90 miles to my next stop. I picked up the stamp at the Museum then ended up having to turn around and back track after my first 20 miles on the road. During the storm last night a tree fell across the road and blocked everything heading north and they had a bridge under construction. The Ranger wasn’t sure how long it would take to clear the road and he told me the detour would take 2-3 hrs. I decided to back track and swing around the construction using the main roads. This added about 120 miles just to get to the next stop. So the day wasn’t starting out so well and to make matters a little worse my Garmin GPS froze up. I pulled off the 2720 and put my old 2610 on. Luckily I decided to back up my trip just in case. I finally made it to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro. I also stopped and ate at the Countryside BAR-BQ Chicken in Marion. My last stamp for the day was in Hardy, VA the Booker T Washington National Monument. It’s funny stopping at some of these places. I think at some of the more obscure stops they might only see 1-2 people all day. Anyway with all the backtracking and GPS issues, I only rode 350 miles today. I spent a lot of time off the bike and running several back roads which ate up a lot of time. I was still able to get 3 stamps and 1 BBQ stop. I found a decent campground not long after picking up my last stamp but I’m still 125 miles away from my first one tomorrow.

Day 7:
Well day 7 was a little interesting; I got a little carried away and ended up in NY 2 days early. I started out in VA then went to MD, PA and ended up in NY. I rode about 600 miles today but was only going to go about 350 oh well. I'm not sure what I was thinking, the day was going so well I just kept riding. I was able to stop and get 2 more BBQ stops. Now I'm sitting at the campground trying to figure out what I'll add to my route.
I decided to get an early start this morning since I was still 125 miles from my first stamp. I was on the road about 2 hours and getting hungry so I decided to stop at the next truck stop and grab breakfast and fuel. I pulled off the highway at the first sign for a truck stop and started laughing as soon as I stopped. The restaurant was called Smiley’s BBQ & Pizza. Their sign said they had the best BBQ sandwich in VA, so I had to get it (nothing like BBQ for breakfast). After documenting the BBQ stop and getting fuel, I was back on the road and at my first stamp location by 10:00am Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. They had a 2.5 hour guided walking tour for $75. You must have been able to fire cannon at that price. Still it was a very nice park. I then rode to Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont; it was only 50 miles from Antietam. I also came upon my second BBQ stop for the day Chubby’s Barbeque in Emmetsburg, MD. After stopping for ribs, I hit the road and was at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, PA in no time. I spent a while checking out the grounds, I should have taken the tour but it was a 2.5-3 hr open bus trip through the grounds. At the time, I didn’t think it was a good idea. In hind sight I should have taken the tour, it would have slowed me down. My last stop was Steamtown National Historical Site in Scranton, PA. That was a pretty cool stop, checking out how locomotion has changed through the years. The roads have been excellent today and I found a nice KOA in NY. Since I went so far today, I'm going to pull out the maps and see if I can add something else in CT or NH. I was planning to head for MA after NY but need to figure out something new. I’m ahead of schedule so I’m going to look at adding in both CT and NH.

Day 8:
Well it’s Friday the 13th. and I haven’t decided if I want to get on the Wing yet. I’ve decided to slow down since I have a few extra days before I meet my wife and son in Washington, DC. Once I finally decided to get going, I first stopped at a Diner I came across “84 diner”. The food was excellent and the prices were very reasonable. I grabbed 5 stamps today but they only count as two. Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, the Vanderbilt Mansion and Martin Van Buren’s home are all in Hyde Park so they count as one. They are all part of the Hudson River Valley NHA and all within a 20 mile radius of each other. I decided to grab the stamps for all of them. Eleanor’s house and the Vanderbilt Mansion were open and very nice. FDR’s home was being restored so you could only go into the FDR Presidential Library. Martin Van Buren house wasn’t open yet, it normally doesn’t open until after summer break. Most of the volunteers are college students at its visitor center. I was lucky to run into a Ranger on the property and they let me in to get the stamp. I then grabbed my next BBQ stop, Max’s Memphis BBQ MCMXCVII in Red Hook, NY. I have to omit, the BBQ was the worst of all my stops so far. My next stamp was the Springfield Armory National Historical Site in Springfield, MA. I spend a good hour and a half checking out the museum it was pretty cool. I grabbed another BBQ restaurant Bub’s Bar-Q in Sunderland, MA. They put too much sauce on the BBQ sandwich, it was dripping but the beans and slaw were awesome. They had an all you can eat on the sides, so after eating too much I waddled out the door and found a little campground just outside Deerfield, MA. It was not the best campground I’ve stayed in. I was swarmed by mosquitoes the whole time and I thought I heard banjo music from the woods close by but other than that it was okay. They had just opened for the season and didn’t have anything in their store so no bug spray. I grabbed 5 stamps and two BBQ places today. I ended up only doing 250 miles but it took all day. After getting the campsite setup, I check the computer and decided to grab 2 stamps and maybe 1-2 BBQ places, in VT and NH tomorrow. After that I'm going to decide if I'm heading to ME. Several people have pointed out there isn't a stamp in DE, so I’m lucky someone told me or I could have spent several days circling the state looking for one.

Currently I have collected 11 BBQ places and collected 36 stamps in 15 states so far with 25 counting towards my 50 need for the NPT. By the time I get to DC, I should have collected at least one stamp in 20 states.

Day 9:
After getting camp packed up, I decided against going to ME. You see I received a lovely e-mail from my wife last night and decided if I wanted to stay married I better not go without her. So off I went to get the only stamp in VT. It was the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP in Woodstock. I drove in circles for a while the visitor center was closed for remodeling and I could not find a Ranger. This site has a home on one side of the road and a farm on the other. I walked over to the farm building display and found the Ranger there with the stamp. I grabbed it and off I headed for NH and the only stamp there. On the way my GPS routed me across this covered wooded bridge. Really nice ride to the bridge but interesting that my GPS was on truck mode and it routed me this way. My second stop was Saint-Gaudens NHS in Cornish but the park doesn’t open until till May 29th. I took pictures of the visitor center building with my Wing. I rode my Wing up the sidewalks to the visitor center for that picture. The rules say you have to have a picture of your motorcycle and the visitor center. I was hoping no one would show up since I used the sidewalk as my own personal driveway. I also took several pictures of my Wing with the building in the background. I hope that is enough info to be considered a good stop. This was the only location that I didn’t get a stamp so far. My third was back in MA (I made a big loop) Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell. After getting this one I headed for Boston. I have been slowing down did about 300 miles today but 50-60 was going in circles looking for a reasonable hotel close to Boston. I was hoping to find something in the $70 range but the best I saw was $95. I decided to back track a little and found a Motel 6 a little farther out. So here I am washing clothes and having a beer. I have to say it is one of the nicest Motel 6 I have ever seen.

I’m planning to head for the navy shipyards tomorrow. I’ve been told to expect a nasty thunderstorm so we will see how it plays out. The weather might drive most of the tourist away, so it could be a pleasant ride on Sunday. I didn’t get any BBQ locations today, I thought I had one but when I arrived the sign didn’t have BBQ or a picture of a pig. So currently I’m stuck on 11 BBQ stops and won’t get one tomorrow. Before I meet up with Stacey and Nathan in DC, I should get stamps in RI, CT, NJ and WV. I’m going to try and get at least 1 or 2 more BBQ place along that route. I still want to get Famous Dave’s in Ohio and something in Indiana (have to get a BBQ stop back home) then one in Kansas and New Mexico.

Day 10:
Well I was a little slow getting started; I was in a Motel 6 next to an I-Hop. It was raining pretty hard so I decided to take my time, since I was only planning to grab one stamp today in Boston. After breakfast, I put on my rain gear and took off. It rained a good portion of last night and they were still calling for thunderstorms all day. The gear was a good idea, even though my normal gear is water proof. I’m not sure it would have stood up to the rain I was seeing. So the first 25 miles was in a heavy rain. Once I entered Boston, the rain stopped. I walked around at the Boston National Historical Park it was just over cast. I did check out the USS Constitution, it is the oldest active military vessel in the world. After grabbing the stamp, I headed for RI and my next stop. I grabbed a hotel just outside Providence, RI and called it good. I had been in the rain a good portion of the day so I decided to dry out the riding gear and wash clothes.

Day 11:
It was only 60 miles to my next stop, so I decided to go to church and grab breakfast before taking off. This almost worked out perfectly while in the Waffle House the rain subsided so the ride wasn’t too bad. This next stop looks like a city park with a small building in the corner as a visitor center. I rode in grabbed a parking spot and picked up the stamp for the Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence. I hung around for their video. The rain started again while I was in the visitor center so I decided to get out of there and ride into CT. I rode another 60-70 miles about 50 of it in the rain before for calling it good for the day. I did stop and grab another BBQ restaurant called Russell’s Ribs in Groton, CT. It was an old Pizza Hut that was converted to a BBQ restaurant. After that I rode a little longer to a town called Niantic, where I grabbed another hotel. I ended up riding about 140 miles today. My goal tomorrow is to grab my stop in CT and NJ before sliding into MD or VA. I will probably ride about 200 tomorrow, still trying to slow it down. It looks like rain again tomorrow so drying the gear out again tonight.

Day 12:
Well after grabbing a hotel early and missing the heavy rain. Today started out pretty quiet, the skies are overcast but not raining yet. Right after I started on the interstate the rain started and it rained on and off all day. Nothing too bad, most of it was a light drizzle. I grabbed my first stamp in CT, Weir Farm National Historical Site in Wilton-Ridgefield. I arrived but the visitor center was closed, I’m finding that a lot of these places are closed on Monday and Tuesday. The smaller places only open on busier days. I was lucky that I saw a Ranger and he helped me get my stamp. My next stop the same thing happened, the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in NJ was closed but I saw another Ranger and they helped me get my stamp. My last stop in NJ was in Morrisville where Washington’s troops wintered. It had been raining pretty hard there and the water was running over the roads in several places making the ride pretty fun. On a dry day this really would have been a fun road but the wet roads and leaves all over the place made for a slippery ride. I grabbed my stamp at Morristown NHP Jockey Hollow and headed out. It had been raining so bad half the building was roped off due to water running in a side door. I only road another 50 miles and called it good. I grabbed a hotel in Plainville, NJ. I didn’t get any BBQ stops today so still sitting at 12. Tomorrow I’m heading to VA and WV, trying to get away from the rain on the coast.

Day13:
Well as Bob Hall would say I wimped out today trying to outrun the thunderstorms. I rode just shy of 300 miles in the rain with no headlights. (I'll get back to the headlights.) I woke to rain and decided that running toward DC (south of my current location) was not a good idea so I decided to head a little north and west to swing around the storms. At the time, it sounded like a good idea but it sucked. I found that the storm followed me and I ran in the lighting and rain the whole way. I stopped at a town called Breezetown, PA it is a stop on the Turnpike. Now back to no lights. I was running this morning and noticed I didn't see any lights when I went through a couple tunnels. I pulled over and check and sure enough no headlights. This made the ride in the rain, fog and early morning really fun. I did manage to get one stamp the Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS in Cresson, PA. After that I high tailed it to the hotel. When I stopped to get out of the rain, I grabbed a phone book and called a close Honda shop to see if I could get in. They were willing to squeeze me in tomorrow if I got there by 09:00.

If all goes well, I'm going to get 4 stamps tomorrow. I started checking and there are 2 stops close to the shop and then back to the 2 I was already planning to grab.

Day 14:
Again this morning started out as another wet one. 300 miles in thunderstorms and a lot of lighting this time. I took off at 08:00 so I could get to the Honda store 32 miles away and believe it or no when they checked out the Wing they found both low beam blubs were burned out. I’m lucky it wasn’t the wiring and they had the bulbs in stock. I'm guessing one went and I didn't notice it and when I was running that tunnel in NY I noticed the second was out. When I started this ride, I know both were working but lost both sometime on the ride. The Honda shop was a nice one; the guys were a lot of fun to talk too. I decided to have them do the oil change while I was stopped. I was planning to do the oil change at my parent’s house but since I was in the shop. The guys in the shop treated me great and gave me suggestions on how to get the next two stamps. After getting the bike back, I grabbed the two stamps close to the shop the guys gave me great directions and saved me at least one hour. I then grabbed another in PA, I went for a fourth stamp but the road was dirt and gravel. Not much gravel and the dirt was mud, I didn't feel like doing a mile of motocross riding. It only took me a tenth of a mile before I decided to turn around. I started in the rain and finished in the rain. I did reach Harper's Ferry and grab a stamp, then grabbed a hotel in Hillside Station, MD not sure if it's a town just outside Harper's Ferry. I honestly believe I head banjo music at night. I locked my door as soon as I walked into the room and didn't come out till it was light out again. The hotel was one of the single store places on the side to the road. I'm planning to head to Shenandoah Valley tomorrow. Well it's off to bed with one eye open.

Day 15:
Lost track of what day of the week it was, that is so much fun. I really think it is so much fun when you lose track of the days. That tells me no stress and don't care. I know what the date is due to the watch but I honestly thought it was Tuesday and I found out it was Thursday. Well something new, I woke to no rain and I survive the night. I ride the Valley and that ended up being a great ride. I first started by grabbing a breakfast in a small town truck stop (excellent food) and jumped on the skyway. I picked up a couple of stamps in the Shenandoah National Park; Big Meadows and Dickey Ridge. I rode about 70 miles on the skyway and found a sign, stating highest point on the skyway 3680 feet. I had to take a picture. Once I took off again, I stopped almost immediately due to a black bear foraging on the side of the road. The bear could not have been more than 20 yards away. I watched it for several minutes; it even stood up and leaned on a tree scratching its back. Once I took off a little farther down the road I saw wild turkey in a meadow and two deer on the edge of the road. After I left the skyway, I am heading to Harrisburg, VA. I just jumped on to the interstate and had to dodge a stupid turkey vulture. The idiot was sitting in the passing lane and didn't want to move. I had to slow down and slide over to the other lane so I didn't hit it. I stopped to grab a campground but no Internet service or cell phone so I decided ride the rest of the way into Harrisburg. I grabbed a Motel 6 what a nice hotel, no carpet in the room they have the synthetic wood floors. I'm probably going to stay in Harrisburg for two days, so tomorrow will probably be a down day kicking back floating in the pool. I'm planning on getting to DC on the 23rd to meet up with Stacey and Nathan.

Day 16-18:
I’ve been just kicking back in Harrisburg since I was ahead of schedule, waiting to meet up with Stacey and Nathan. I’m sitting at the Motel 6 watching the thunderstorms roll through. Monday my departure day finally came and after breakfast at Waffle House. I decided to grab Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, VA before riding into Arlington. Manassas was an excellent site with plenty to see and I was able to get a great shot of the Pepsi truck as it pulled up.. I made it to the Holiday Inn just in time to miss the traffic. My goal was to miss the morning rush hour and slide in before lunch time traffic. After a couple of close calls with cars, I made it to the hotel by 11:30. I checked into my room and headed to the bar waiting on Stacey and Nathan to come in. They were scheduled in at 15:00 but didn’t get to the hotel until 20:00. They were delayed in Dallas due to weather then diverted to Pittsburg waiting on a front to clear Dulles. After getting them settled in we went upstairs to the restaurant for dinner and to plan our site seeing. While waiting on them, I did go to the metro station and pick up our passes for the week.

Day19-24:
After a good night’s sleep we grabbed breakfast and jumped on the train to the National Mall. We started at the National History museum, and then went to the castle, the Boy Scout memorial, White House, Washington Memorial, Freer museum then back to the hotel. The next day we went back to the Washington memorial and bought Nathan a passport book. After collecting a stamp there, we went to WW II, Korean, Vietnam, Lincoln, James Madison, John Ericsson, FDR, Jefferson, George Mason memorial then back to the hotel. We ended up walking about 10 miles around the Tidal Basin. We were a little disappointed the Reflecting Pool is all tore up; they are repairing it but still a great day. National Park service has a Hugh project going on. They are currently working on the Reflecting pool and Jefferson Memorial. They have plans for the Tidal Basin and the National Mall grass. Nathan and I picked up 12 stamps in DC so far but will probably get 3-5 more before we leave in 3 days. What a great stop I ended up getting Vietnam, World War II, Korean War, George Mason, FDR, Thomas Jefferson, DC World War, Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln, John Ericsson Memorials, National Mall, Washington Monument, National Mall & Memorial Parks and Constitution Gardens. Our last night we found this little restaurant called Santa Fe café and decided since it was busy to give it a try. Stacey was looking for a green chili fix. We walked in and the place it had all kinds of posters from New Mexico and Lobo junk. We decided to give it a try. We asked the waiter if anyone was from NM because of all the junk they had on the walls, they said the owner was from NY and the staff was all from Honduras. All we could do was laugh. When the food came we almost cried. Oh well, live and learn. Stacey took all the pictures while in DC, I think close to 800 in total. Tomorrow I’ll leave for my parent’s house, Stacey and Nathan will jump on Amtrak and meet me there.

Day 25:
Even though it was Sunday, I took off early trying to get out of DC before the traffic picked up. I had about 550 miles to ride. I cut through VA, PA traveling some of the same roads I was on earlier in the trip. Once in OH, I headed north and picked up a couple of stamps Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Ohio & Erie Canalway before heading to Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que in North Olmsted just outside Cleveland. After lunch I jumped on the Turnpike and heading for IN. I’m not a big fan of turnpikes but it is a straight shot to my parent’s lake cottage on Lake James. Nothing exciting was happening as I shot down the turnpike except paying tolls. I think it cost me about $9.00 from Cleveland to the Indiana border. Just as I hit the pay station it started to rain a little and as I sat under the awning I was deciding if I should pull out the rain gear. I sat there a second and decided the heck with it, I only had 30 miles more how bad could it get. Well I have to omit that was the dumbest decision I made on this trip. I didn’t get a half a mile and the skies opened up. It started hailing; raining and the wind really started blowing. It was so bad everyone was pulling off the road. I decided to head for the next overpass and hide under it. I could hardly see 100 feet in front of me due to the rain and the wind so blowing so bad I could barely keep the bike in my lane. I was only going about 25 MPH but I didn’t want to stop due to the hail coming down. So I carried on and found an overpass about 2 miles down the road. I pulled onto the shoulder but could not get under the bridge because the cars would not move forward, so I was stuck just behind the bridge. I could not get off the bike the wind was so strong I was worried the Wing might fall over. So there I sat but it worked out the wind was blowing so hard the rain/hail was coming almost horizontal and I was close enough to the cars that the bridge and cars were taking most of the hits. I was laughing when the car in front of me tried to back up so he could get out of the hail. I hit my horn several times and he stopped, even though I wasn’t under the bridge I was staying pretty dry. After sitting on the side of the interstate for 30 minutes, the hail stopped and the rain slowdown enough for me to get going again. The wind was still pretty strong 25-35 MPH, so I was only running around 60. Once I arrived at my parent’s cottage the rain had stopped. I looked like a wet dog as I unpacked the Wing.

Day 26-30:
Stacey and Nathan arrived the next day and we had a great time just relaxing with family. We stayed 5 days visiting and Nathan was able to spend time with his cousins. We only get back about once a year, so every time the adults go out to dinner at least once and everyone gets together for a BBQ at my parents. While there I also grabbed a stamp and 1 BBQ restaurant. I shot over to Porter, IN and grabbed the stamp for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and when we went to my parent’s house in Fort Wayne, I stopped at Moosewood BBQ Company.

I'm going to be heading for the house starting tomorrow hoping to get home on the 6th or 7th of June. I'm hoping to get one stamp in IL, two in MO, one or two in KA and one in CO. I'm also planning to grab two or three BBQ stops on the way.

Day 31:
The night before Stacey and I picked up a rental car for her she was driving the next day to Indianapolis, IN to grab a flight home. I was planning to leave around 05:00 and she had to leave around 09:00. After a great stay with my family, I took off early looking to grab 3 stamps before calling it good for the day. I rode about 550 miles and stopped in Springfield, IL at Lincoln Home NHS. I picked up stamps for Lincoln’s home and the Underground RR Freedom Network This was pretty cool stop, they had about 2 square blocks as part of the site and you could walk the area. They had a Ranger at every corner and they would answer your questions. I walked around for about 30 minutes before I decided I better get back on the road. The temperature was just under 100 and it looked like it was only getting worse. Full riding gear and 100 is no fun. Off I went for St. Louis, MO and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Arch). As I came into St. Louis my temperature gauge on the Wing 102 and it felt every bit of it. I stopped as soon as I could and almost ran into the visitor center under the arch to grab the stamp. It is kind of funny that I’ve been to the Arch several times but never stopped into the visitor center. I’ve been to the top once but back then they had a little building next to the arch to buy your ticket to ride to the top. The new center is underground under the Arch and it’s really well done. I need to bring the family back again and spend the time to take Nathan to the top. After the Arch I headed west again and stopped at a hotel in Kingdom City, MO. I decided I was going to try and get another 550-600 miles tomorrow and 2-3 stamps.

Day 32:
Off again early, I was able to get a stamp at Harry Truman NHS in Independence and a BBQ stop called Jon El’s BBQ in Boonville, MO. I had to grab the BBQ because the sign was hand painted in the window and they had a second sign that said open till BBQ is gone. My next stamp was Brown V. Board of Education NHS; I had to stop at a police station in Topeka, KS to ask directions. It was the only stop that I didn’t have accurate coordinates. I then stopped in Great Bend and found 4 Leg’s up BBQ & Steakhouse for my last BBQ restaurant stop for this trip. I then decided to continue pushing on and picked up Fort Lamed National Historical Site. This Fort was pretty cool no walls, the buildings were built in a rectangle with about 20 feet between them. I called it good for the night; I ended up going 600 miles. I called home letting Stacey know I would be in tomorrow and told her the sky was pretty haze here in KS. She told me about the wallow fire in AZ and how the winds were blowing it northeast so that was probably what I was seeing.

Day 33:
I made it home today grabbing one last stamp in the last 550 miles. I stopped in La Junta, CO at Bent’s Old Fort NHS. This Fort was pretty rundown but still was nice to see. All the rooms were furnished with furniture from the period and the staff was also dressed in the period’s clothes. They were very friendly and explained the importance of the Fort. After leaving the Fort I was heading west to jump on I-25 at Trinidad. I never expected to have to dodge sheep that looked like they had dread locks, on this trip but I had three cross right in front of me. I had to hit the brakes pretty hard but all came out well. They scurried across the road and I stayed on the road. About 20 miles more I was in Trinidad and back on I-25. The last 250 miles went pretty quick and I was soon home to a smoky house, that fire in AZ is unbelievable.

So 33 days, 8400 miles, 2 head light bulbs and 1 oil change later; I made it home. I was able to grab 16 BBQ stops in 16 states. I still have not gone to my favorite in NM. I figured it would be better to grab them from different states. Out of the 16 stops the best is a tough call. I liked Famous Dave’s in Cleveland, Hard 8 BBQ in Brady and Daddy Joe’s Beach House BBQ & Grill in Gaffney. My least favorite was Max’s Memphis BBQ MCMXCVII in Red Hook Twn. I was able to get 93 stamps from 27 states. Out of the 93, 62 will count towards my 25 states NPT. I don’t have any from NM or AZ currently. I am planning to get 7-8 before turning in my documentation. I’ll have about 70 stamps and 29 states when I turn it in. I’m planning to give them more than they need in case they reject some.

It was a fun trip and would do it again in a heartbeat. I met several nice people and almost everyone I talked to wanted to know more about the ride and the place I had been.

May

2011-05-01T04:48:00.003-06:00

Well the Wing is packed and ready and I take off in a couple of day for my NPT/Smoke Chasing adventure. 25 states getting 50 national park or mounment stamps and get a picture of 15 BBQ places in 15 states. Should be a fun trip, hoping to end up with about 7000-8000 miles when all done.

Double checked everything and I should be ready to go, the bike is repacked. Checked everything over did have to take it back into the shop the steering headset nut must have backed out a little started getting a shake at 35-40 mph. They tightened it up so I should be ready to go tomorrow. I'm planning to take off around noon for Portales, NM should only take 3.5 hours. I'm planning on hanging out there for a couple of days (grandson's birthday.

Well until next time ride safe.

March/April

2011-04-18T03:58:00.005-06:00

Not much to talk about again, I really haven't been riding. I have added a couple of things to the Wing but nothing major. I have been getting it ready for my National Park Tour (NPT) that starts in May. I do need to get it into the shop for the valve check before I leave in a few weeks.

I have done a couple of short rides with friends but nothing to speak of, I've been planning for my NPT and have the first leg done. If I stay on track by the time I get home I'll hit the 25 states and have well over 70 stamps.

Well since I have not been riding I was able to get the Wing into the shop for its 32,000 mile service. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had the shop do all the work since I still has a little time left on the warranty. I'm planning to take the Wing out this Friday for a shake down and make sure everything is okay.

What a wonderful thing when you actually get to go for a ride. Took off running through the mountains with some friends and ended up getting a 200 mile ride in. Good shake down for the Wing after getting the 32K service. Did find a front-end shake around 35-40 mph. Dropped it off at the shop they tightened up the steering headset and ready to go. I started loading up the Wing getting the saddle bags filled and topbox. I have my tent and sleeping bag packed so I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm planning to take off in a couple of days stopping in Portales to see my grandson and spending his birthday with him. After the visit, I'm off on my NPT and Smoke Chasing adventure. I'm planning to hit 18 states before I meet my wife in DC.

Until next time ride safe.

February

2011-02-22T00:42:00.003-07:00

Man here I am first comments on February and it is almost over. That will tell you how my month has been going.

Well here goes, I have finally installed the running lights and belly pan I received for Christmas (little slow). I also picked up a booster for my MP3 player, a battery tender jr and wind deflectors. I installed everything over the last couple of weeks and all seems good. The lighting I think is a little disappointing! The running lights really don't put out enough light to really make a difference in my opinion. I was hoping to get good ditch coverage but it isn't going to happen with these lights, my guess they are there to just make You more visible in traffic. I'll probably look for another set and put them higher on the bike.

I have been working on my NPT ride and have the first nine states mapped out. In theses states I mapped out 25 National parks or Monuments. That doesn't include Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I'm planning to hit those 5 before meeting up with my wife and son in DC. Those extra 5 will give me at least 10 more Parks or Monuments. At that point once I start my trip home I'll only need 15 more Parks/Monuments in at least 11 states. All theses numbers still do not include New Mexico, Arizona and Utah that I'm planning to swing through after I get back.

Now believe or not, with all that going on I was able to get out for a few rides. I did travel to Grants tot he Uranium museum in Grants and then over to the WOW diner. That was fun, I met several riders from my Lunch with Dave group. This group is all LD Riders, most are capable of jumping on a bike and riding 1000 miles no problem. I had never been to WOW diner it is a nice dinner built like the old 50's dinner with a great menu. Next time I go I'm going to try the meatloaf, it looked awesome.

I also did a ride last week cruising by myself running the mountain roads, Running to the crest ran into a little ice not to bad a couple of slippery spots. Just enough to make you pucker a little. The weather was perfect and lunch was awesome. I've ridden about 600 miles this month. I'm well below my normal mileage for this time of year. I'm hoping to continue to increase as the months warm up. During the month of May I should get about at least 5000-6000 miles in. Eight months on the Goldwing and I have put 6000 miles on it. I'm not having a great year so far.

I'm also getting geared up for the 2011 LOE, I have moved the site to a new host server and working on building a new site. I'm running the old site while I'm building the new one. I figure I will be starting to accept applications by the end of March.
Well until next time ride safe.

January

2011-01-04T03:34:00.004-07:00

WOW 2011 already, and the weather here has turned pretty cold. We have been hovering around teens and twenties for the last few weeks. That's kind of unusual for us.

Well Santa has come and gone and he has been pretty good to me this go around. I received new lights, belly pan, rear rim and tire and a gift certificate to Wingstuff. I'm planning to hook up the lighting and install the belly pan this weekend. Right now I'm hoping the Wing doesn't have to go back into the shop. I just had all the hoses replaced but still smelling that burning anti-freeze odor. I have put about 150 miles on it since the work and I would think the odor should be gone by now.

I did get out this weekend for a little riding, I met some friends for a New Year's day breakfast and then a ride around town. When I took off from the house, the temp gauge stopped registering wasn't sure what was up until I found out it stops working at 12 degrees. I guess they figure no one is crazy enough to ride if the temp drops that low.

Since getting the bike out of the shop, I have been trying to get out everyday for a little saddle time. I think I set my personal record for low temps, I have hit several days around 3-4 degrees. Coming home from work in the morning it has been single digits.

Hopefully I'll get out this weekend for a little ride, the wife has several things coming up so, I'll try and sneak out while she's busy.

Well this week was as bad as the last, I'm getting the Goldwing ready for a ride and I'm smelling that same anti-freeze odor again, so off to theshop we go. Another weekend shot, still not getting any riding in. I did get the bike back right as my work week starts so hopefully we'll get out next week. This has not been a great start to the year.

I'm still planning to get away sometime in May and June, I still have about 5-6 weeks to go and goof off. Planning to try and squeeze in a National Parks Tour (NPT) while I'm out. I'll need to hit 50 National Parks or Monuments in at least 25 states. I'm still trying to see what is the right path to optimize the trip. I received my NPT Passport and have started planning my trip. It will be broken into two trips, going out to Washington DC then travel back home via Indiana to see my parents. I'm probably going to spend about 3 weeks riding and the rest of the time sightseeing.

I did get out last weekend, nice ride with a few friends out to Los Ojo's for a burger. We then hit the Winery on the way home. I picked up a couple of bottles for my wife. The ride was nothing special just a quick lunch ride then back home. I still haven't installed the new lights, need to start that project this week. Someone told me it is a pretty easy job, hopefully I can get it turned around in a day.

Well until next week ride safe

December

2010-12-13T00:02:00.004-07:00

Well here we are in December and not much happening on the riding front. The Goldwing is in the shop again for a antifreeze leak. This time coming from the bottom hose on the radiator. Since this is warranty work, I'm stuck waiting on the Honda dealer. They are trying to get mother Honda to allow all the hoses replaced this time. We can only hope.

On the parts news I purchased another rear wheel. On the Goldwing forum there is a trike company trying to get rid of their rear tire/rims after they have converted a bike to a trike. They were selling the rear tires for $50.00. Someone on the forum stood up and said they would go get them and ship them for an extra $5.00 over cost of wheel and shipping. So I have a rim/tire coming in the next week or so. I also know Santa is sending me a belly pan for my Wing and a set of fog lights to go in the cowling from Wingstuff. I also found out Jack a friend knows quite a bit about the Wing maintenance so I'm going to get him to help me with changing out rear shock and air-filter.

Since the November saddle sore ride I really have only put about 350 miles on my bike but hopefully I'll start getting more time on the bike. I'm hoping Honda will warranty the hoses so I'll stop having this problem. I'm also still planning my summer ride during my sabbatical. Will will start in May and last probably 4 weeks.

Well here we sit the day after Christmas and the Wing is still in the shop. Honda gave the approval for the hose replacement just waiting on them to put my bike back together. Hoping to get it back in acouple of days. Christmas was good to me, Santa gave me a set of running lights, belly pan and a gift certificate to Wingstuff. I'll have to figure out what else I just cannot live without. As I said above hopefully I'll get the Wing back in a couple of days then I'll work on installing my new toys.

Well until next time ride safe

November

2010-11-08T04:31:00.009-07:00

What a great start to the month, I was able to get the cabling done for the GPS and MP3 for the Gold Wing. I also completed getting the drive train oil changed, what a mess that is on the Wing. Whoever set up the fill location on the drive oil, failed engineering in my book. The plug is at the same level as the exhaust so you cannot just pour it in, I had to use a syringe to get it in, then waited for it to spill out to make sure it was full. Now that I have done it once I'll be better prepared.

Well the "Bit Nippy 1000" happened this past weekend, it was my wife's first 1000 mile ride, we took off at 05:45 rode to Chandler, Arizona for lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then returned home by 22:15. There were 5 motorcycles going it was funny to see my Gold Wing in with the four BMW's (three GS and one RT). We saw temperatures from a low 33 to 88 degrees. The group wanted to document a SS1000 and I thought it would be a great time for my wife to get her first Saddle Sore 1000. We talked about it and she decided to go for it so off we went Saturday morning. We headed South hoping that it would warm up and get the longest part of the ride done. Things didn't start out so great as we headed south on I-25 the temperatures were dropping. Before the sun came up the temp dropped to 33 degrees. This was a problem because my wife's gear is not the best and even though I told her to layer up she was so cold by our first fuel stop in Hatch, New Mexico she almost quit. We spent an extra 20 minutes getting her warmed up. Once we took off again, the sun was up and temp had increased by 12 degrees. So off we went heading for Deming, New Mexico and I-10. We arrived no issues and jumped on the interstate. We were traveling about 200 miles between fuel stops (this was due to the range on the Wing). Our next stop was in Arizona. We stopped at Dragoon and were back on the road in 15 minutes. At this stop, everyone was stripping off a few layers the temperatures had been rising. Our ride into Chandler went well and we actually arrived at the Heart Attack Grill right on schedule. So far we completed 550 miles in 8 hours 15 minutes. So we were averaging 67 mph including stops. The temperature was now 88 degrees, so we had seen our low around 33 and now our high of 88 degrees. The place wasn't packed and we were able to get seated right away. The first thing they do is give you a hospital gown and explain how things work. Everyone talked about how they were going to get a triple by-pass burger when we started but they all wimped out and ordered singles except Bob and I who ordered a double by-pass burger and fries.

After lunch we waddled to the bikes geared up and headed for home, we decided we would head north through Flagstaff and run I-40 back to Albuquerque. The return route was only 490 miles so we figured if we could maintain the same 67 mph we would be home in 7.5 hours. we grabbed a quick fuel stop and headed for Flagstaff knowing we would have to get fuel there; for the SS1000 you have to document your corners so Flagstaff was a good spot for fuel and to get geared up as the sun set. It took us a little under 2.5 hours to get to Flagstaff and the temperatures weren't bad, it was still around 50 degrees. I helped get my wife bundled up and she also put on the rain gear to help break the wind. This really helped because she never complained about being cold the rest of the ride. The rain gear over her riding gear really helped. As we left the Flagstaff area the temps started to rise and pretty soon it was around 54 degrees. It was miserable to start but we knew it would cool off as soon as the sun set. I wasn't leading the group now and the pace quickened once we started down I-40.
I already knew I wasn't going to try and keep up so the group started to break apart. Two of the riders were running about 5 mph faster then I cared too, so I let them go. To me running at night is hard enough so I set the cruise control at 77 mph and motored down the interstate. That speed must have been ok because the other two riders stayed with us. Everyone knew we planned to stop in Gallup for fuel, so we thought there might be a chance to meet back up. We ended up not seeing the other riders till the end, we stopped just past Gallup for fuel at a truck stop. After a few minutes of deciding where to finish at we took off. We ended the ride as we started in Albuquerque closed to where we started. After getting our last fuel receipt, we rode to a Village Inn close by to meet up with the other riders. Bob's wife showed up and signed our documents and we sat around drinking coffee and talking about the ride and when we were going again. After sitting around for 40 minutes we decided to head for the house, we thanked everyone for coming out and supporting our first 2-up SS1000 and my wife's first 1000 miler. Once home, I unpacked the bike and asked my wife if she had taken our paperwork into the house she said no so I knew instantly that we left it sitting on the table at the Village Inn. She called and the manager picked it up and put it in their office for me to pick it up the next day.

The next morning, I ran over picked up our paperwork and started to organize it for mailing. We ended up riding 1040 miles (per my GPS) in 16.5 hours. We averaged 63 mph for the whole tripped that included the 1 hour stop for lunch. Being my wife's first 1000 mile day, this was an excellent ride specially 2-up.

It has been a couple of day since the ride and my wife isn't sure she would want to do that again. I told her to remember that doing the SS1000 would not be fun, it is boring just sitting there pounding out the miles. Doing a rally is where the real fun is, you get on and off the bike more looking for specific things and making adjustments on the fly. We are still planning to attend the Utah 1088 rally next year. Steve has set up what I think is a great event, he is having three rallies in one event. There is a 3-day, 1 day and 12 hour rally all going on at the same time. The 12 hours he is recommending for riders that haven't been in a rally before, great way to get your feet wet. The 12 hours rally isn't that long and gives you a great feel for what a longer rally is about, you plan your route collect bonii and only have to ride around 500 miles to be a finisher. I think this will be a great rally for us to try, I'm not sure if I even want to do the 2-up thing so this is an inexpense way to get started. Hey if we don't like it, I can always go back to riding solo and we can just enjoy weekend rides in New Mexico.

It's been pretty quite since the SS1000, trying to organize a ride this week. Hopefully we can get out for a short ride before it gets too cold. We have been hovering around 30-40 degrees during the day.

Looks like I'm getting a couple of tos for the Goldwing for Christmas, so should be installing new running lights and a belly pan next month.

Well until next time ride safe.

October

2010-10-16T23:52:00.013-06:00

Man October is half over and not a lot has changed. We completed the NM LOE Rally and all went well. The 60 riders had to endure Sun, Rain, Hail, Snow, and Wind. All the makings of a wonderful day in New Mexico. The weather was some of the most interesting I have seen in many years, some riders were reporting hail the size of golf balls and as deep as 5-6 inches on the roads. I'm pleased to report everyone made it home safe we did have a few riders drop out but no accidents and everyone seemed to have a great time in spite of the weather. We ended with 46 riders reaching finisher status and Jim Owen won the 2010 LOE. He did an excellent job figuring out the route. This rally is made so that a new person to Rallying can finish but usually it take a lot to finish in the top ten. Here are I snapped several pictures at the start and at the banquet afterwards.

October is also balloon fiesta time in Albuquerque and every year my son and I head out to the balloon park on the bike and watch them launch. Once they are up, we will chase them for a while. It's fun to watch them take off and land, they sometimes switch passengers and take off again if the winds cooperate. My son and I arrived at the field around 07:00 just as the first way of balloons were taking off. We walked around the field and watched several crews inflating balloons getting ready to take off. Here are a few pictures from the field.

Since the rally is done, I have been back putting a few miles on the Wing. I went for a ride with a friend in from Portland last weekend. I met him for breakfast a couple of weeks ago and we talked about getting together on a Friday for a ride. I called up a few friends and we all met for coffee and took off on a loop that stopped at my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo's. We laughed talked about what we had been doing. It had been so long since I had been out with them it was nice to catch up. The ride was pretty interesting, I'm still trying to get use to the Goldwing and how low it sits to the ground compared to the FJR1300. When I was on the FJR I really had to lean the bike to scrape in the corners but with the wing I seem to always be rubbing off some metal. You know its bad when the guy behind you is saying he has to back off because the sparks are hitting his windscreen and causing pitting. I'm sure it's not that bad but if the forest was in extreme fire danger, I might get stopped by the rangers. I really tried to keep the speed down I didn't want to run that hard but I still scrapped in several corners. We stopped in White Rock about 90 miles into the ride for gas and give everyone a rest. One of the riders is just getting back on the bike after a long illness so we didn't want to push too hard. After White Rock we stopped at the caldera, on the way I did have a close encounters with a couple of deer. I came into the corner as they just jumped out of the road. I can tell I'm still a little nervous since the Javelina incident. We also had several close calls with cars and one truck that seemed to like our lane more. This was the worse traffic I had seen on this stretch of road. You can usually wind it out and might see a car or two for the whole ride. Even with the close encounters, the ride to the caldera went will and I snapped a few pictures before we headed on the Los Ojo's for lunch.
Lunch was good as always and we took our time heading for home. It worked out to be a great ride and everyone seemed to have fun. We only saw a couple of law enforcement vehicles and they seem more interested in the people cutting wood in the forest.

When I returned home, my wife wasn't to happy (I didn't bring her home a burger from Los Ojo's). I figured the only way to get out of the dog house was to take her the next day. So off I went the next day back to Los Ojo's. What a bummer but you have to make the wife happy. Ended up to be a great ride, we ran into some friends out riding and had lunch with them. It made for a nice day. I ended up getting in 340 miles this weekend. Next week I'm going to wire in the GPS and replace the drive oil before heading out camping. We are taking off for Villanuevue State Park for a 4 day weekend, should be fun to get away and just relax.

Well a none riding week outside of back and forth to work. This weekend we grabbed the fifth wheel and headed camping with a few friends. It was great to kick back and do a little fly fishing with my son. A big win for him is that he completed his requirements for First Class in the Boy scouts and will have his Court of Honors in December. He is still focused on getting his Eagle rank and now the next step on his journey Star.

Well I'm still hoping to get the final drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS this week. I have been working this week on setting up a group ride to Chandler, Arizona. It looks like 5 bikes 6 riders, we are planning to have lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then turning and burning home. My wife is planning to attend so it will be her first SS1000, it should be interesting.

Well I was able to get the drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS, so now I'm ready for the SS1000 next Saturday. We lost one of the riders so we are down to four bikes. The weather seems to be holding up so we should be fairly decent. I think the low is only going to be in the low 40's, so that shouldn't be too bad. I have my wife packing for cold weather so I would rather she be to hot than to cold. I never been to the Heart Attack Grill so it should be fun.

Well until next week ride safe.

September

2010-09-01T00:05:00.004-06:00

Well first day in September and the Goldwing is supposed to be done today. I also need to check on the last two parts I'm waiting from my last order. It is the mounting bar and bracket for my GPS.

I also received my invitation to register for the 2011 IBR. They moved the dates up it used to be August/September time frame but this time they moved it to June. Not sure why the change and I haven't seen anything explaining why. I would really like to apply but I would only have a little over nine months to get the Goldwing ready. I really don't think I could get it ready and I would hate to be picked and have to drop out. Nine months seems like a lot of time but it is really hard to get everything ready to go and get the funds set aside for the event. All told last time I probably spent around 8-9K. I think I'm going to have to wait till 2013 if I want to give it one more shot. This next time I really want to give it my best effort and scrambling right from the start isn't the way to do it. I'll wait and slowly work on the Goldwing and hopefully get selected for 2013.

It would really be cool if my wife would do the 2-up thing with me. I'm trying to get her interested in a rally and if she liked it, I might get her interested in the big one. We are still thinking of doing a SS1000 this month so who knows.

I really haven't been doing much this month outside of a few rides. Since getting the Goldwing 10 weeks ago, I have put 3200 miles on it. It looks like my wife is going to do the SS1000 with me this weekend. We are probably going to shoot over to Tucson and loop back home. I'm hoping I can get the GPS mounted and the oil changed before we take off. The weather looks to be a little iffy but should be okay. Right now the plan is to take off at 05:00 and hopefully be home before mid-night, we will be running interstate most of the time so it shouldn't be an issue. The loop will be around 1070 miles.

Well until next time ride safe.

August

2010-08-08T03:59:00.011-06:00

Well I have made it another Month and I'm finally getting some riding in. The ankle is healing nicely since the accident. I was able to take off the air cast in mid July and stopped wearing the brace the second week in August. The ankle seems to be holding up pretty well.

Since picking up the Goldwing last month, I have been able to get 1200 miles on the wing so far. I took my wife on a couple of rides and I have been working on making the bike more comfortable for her. I added additional padding to the passenger seat for her, replaced her helmet added headsets and purchased her some new riding gear. We are getting ready to ride to Denver this week to attend the IBA National meet. We plan to ride about 300 miles the first day so that we can ride in early Wednesday. If all goes well we should be at our hotel by noon and get settled in before the meet starts that evening. We will be there for 5 day attending several seminars and I'm attending training on scoring for a rally. We have a several friends that will be there so it will be great to see them. I of the couples will be coming in from New York and we are planning to take in a dinner and just kicking back. Before heading out, I did get the rear tire replaced, added some electrical wiring and hooked up the intercom system for our headsets. I also took the bike in to the Honda dealer and had the once over done, since the bike is used (just wanted to make sure all was good to go for our road trip). It was probably a good thing, I complained of a low speed woobble. They found my headset bearing was only finger tight.

I'm scheduled to attend three seminars at the meet one is on riding two-up, another on nutrition and the third on tire repairs on the road. It should be an interesting meet up. I'm also looking to see what others have done to their Goldwings to modify them for long distant riding.

Well the Denver trip ended up being a great time. My wife and I took off Tuesday around noon and rode to Pueblo, CO. where we spent the night. This was my wifes longest ride about a 330 miles, it took us just under 5 hours. We grabbed a hotel, had dinner and called it a night. The next day we didn't hurry but did take off around 09:30 and arrived at our hotel in Denver just after 11:00. We were not able to check in until 13:00 so we kicked back in the lounge had lunch and chatted with friends. Once we settled into our hotel room we registered for the meet and kicked back with friends from Denver and New York prepping for a fun weekend.

The next day my wife went a on shopping and SPA trip while I went for a ride with a couple of guys. One of the guys lives in Denver, so he took the lead. We started out running Boulder Canyon then Golden Gate Canyon then to Golden, CO and back to Denver. We ended up riding about 180 miles round trip. It was a blast, the Goldwing was scrapping in several of the corners and I did have one corner that I almost crossed the double yellow. I was leaned over so much that my boot touched the road and came off the peg. That woke me right up. Once we return to the hotel I ran and changed as quick as I could, I was attending the scoring certification training held by one of the IBA staff. After getting out of the training, I hooked up with the guys I rode with and we met our wivies at a resturant called the Buckhorn Exchange. The resturant was the oldest in Denver and had a great menu. My wife and I had Osterage and Elk steaks and we shared a bottle of wine. It was a get dinner and even better since we took the commuter train. Once back at the hotel we headed for the lougne. We spent time talking to other riders just getting in from the Spank Rally.

The next day was more seminars and kicking tires with the participants of the IBA 5000 Rally. It was starting in Denver and ending 5 days later in Spartanburg, SC. The next day my wife surprised me with a new jacket, my old one was all torn up from the get off I had back in May. It is an nice Olympia jacket with two liners. We ended our last night with a great banquet and drinks with friend. The next morning we loaded up the Goldwing and headed for home. We attended a 2-up seminar by 2 great couples, they talked about their partnership and my wife decide she was willing to do a saddle sore 1000 and possible a rally.

That morning as we were setting to leave, we decide that we would extend her longest ride from 330 miles to 450 miles, this meant riding straight home. We took off at 09:30 and the ride was going well we arrived in Raton, NM for our first fuel stop at 13:00. We grabbed gas and a quick bite and were back on the road. About half way to Las Vegas, NM it threatened to rain, I skirted the edge of the storm but finally decided to stop at a rest stop and get the rain gear out. Just as we stopped the rain started, we dashed for the shelter taking our rain gear with us. We put on the gear and decided to take off instead of waiting it out. The rain was coming down pretty hard but I thought we could be through it in 15-20 minutes. It was a good decision becasue we did clear the clouds and ended up between two fronts. About 40 miles from Santa Fe, NM the rain started again but this time we also had dime size hail. We decided to push through again. The hail only lasted about five miles and the rain slowed to a light drizzle the rest of the way into Santa Fe. We arrived back home 450 miles at 17:00, we completed the ride in 7.5 hours with an two extra stops once in Colorado Springs and at a rest stop to put on rain gear. I was really pleased with how my wife hung in even with the rain and hail she was okay. We ended up averaging 60mph so not bad for her longest ride. I explained that at that pace we would have completed a 1K in 16.5 hours roughly.

So if all goes well, we might attempt a Saddle Sore 1000 next month, hopefully we can get the weather to cooporate a little better. Until then I'm planning to ride a couple of more times this month and start to think about doing some additional wiring and mounts for my GPS and MP3 player.

Well I ordered a mount and some wiring harnesses for the Goldwing this week should be in before next week. I have a little over 3000 miles since I picked it up in July and I'm ready for my first oil change. The oil change and the wiring will make a nice project for a down day. I'm hoping I can set up the GPS mount and wiring next week.

I was able to get out for a ride again this week, I met a friend in Las Vegas, NM for lunch. He is a LD Rider too and likes to tell people where he will be for lunch and if anyone wants to join him swing over. I did a straight shot out and back ended up getting in 260 miles not an exciting ride but still fun to clear the head. Lunch was excellent and we chatted about setting up some additional rides in the up coming months. If we can make them happen they should be fun.

Well not much to report for the last week of the month. The Goldwing sprung a leak on a hose that runs from the radiator to the rear of the motor. The dealer said 4-5 hours for labor and $15.00 for the hose. Luckily the extended warranty will cover the cost. One of the few times that having the extended warranty paid off. So I'm bikeless for at least 6 days.

I'm still waiting for the mount for the GPS, not sure why it's taking so long for them to ship it. I firgured I would give them till the weekend before I start calling.

Well until next time ride safe.

July (picking up the Wing)

2010-07-05T02:18:00.007-06:00

Well, July finally made it and on the first I was flying to Tucson, AZ to pick up the Goldwing. I took off from Albuquerque at 06:15 and arrived in Tucson at 09:50. I brought one bag on hte plane carrying all my riding gear. The guy selling the Goldwing picked me up at the airport and we went to his house to check out the bike. He walked me through all the different things on the Goldwing and how everything worked. We then went through his maintenance records and tested the bike. It was just as he described in the ad, so we completed the transaction and I was out of there by noon his time. I gave my wife a call to let her know I was on the way.

When I took off, it was 104 degrees and by the time I reached Tucson and I-10 (15 miles) it was 109. The temp didn't drop below 100, until I was in New Mexico. My first Stop was in Lordsburg where I filled up with gas then went inside the Flying J and dunked my shirt into the sink filled with cool water. When I put that back on it really made a difference so off I went again. The Goldwing was running really nice and I really didn't have any complaints. I was running 75-80 mph most of the time, so I was making good time. I turned at Deming and took Hwy 26 to I-25 and stopped in T or C to fill up one more time and grab I bite to eat. I called my wife and said I would be home around 20:30-21:00. After I grabbed a sandwich, off I went again shooting straight up I-25. The ride was really uneventful and I arrived home 21:00 my time. So overall it took me 8 hours to travel the 533 miles averaging 66 mph. The bike ran perfect no real issues and I'm really happy with how it performed. I was surprised how easy it was to maneuver even though it weighs 200 more than my old FJR.

As I pulled it into the Garage, the first thing the wife said was it's purple. So now she has nicknamed it the "Purple People Eater".

That weekend we took a nice ride to Jemez Springs and one our favorite stops the Los Ojo's for lunch. We sat at the bar had lunch and a beer then headed for the house. The road to Los Ojo's is a winding road through a pueblo and the mountains. As we took off you could see the rain in the distance, so I ask my wife if she would like to stop at the Poderosa Winery on the way home and try to dodge the rain. The answer was immediate and clear so I stopped. We hung out had a glass of wine and purchased five bottles. we always have fun when we stop at the winery, great place to kick back and you never know who's going to stop in. I was sitting on the patio watching the clouds roll through and decided we had a chance of getting home dry, so we said our goodbyes and off we went. We were so close about 15 miles from the house our luck ran out and the rain started, we rode the last part in the rain but it wasn't that bad since the temps were in the mid 90's. The rain cooled us down and we really need the rain.

I have set up a meet with some friends for breakfast this week, they all know I picked up the Goldwing but noone has seen it yet. Since they have never seen me on anything but a Sport Touring bike this should be fun.

Well I hooked up with several friends they met me at the Range Cafe for breakfast. It was fun sitting around shooting the shit we had not been together for quite a while. Everyone had a lot going on and little time to hook up. After breakfast I went to Rick's house, (he has a Wing too) he loaned me his shops manual to look at. He also walked me through a couple of things on my wing I wasn't sure about. Once I worked my way back home and parked to Wing I noticed my rear tire was sliced. I must have hit something coming back from Tucson or the last couple of days. The next day I ran to the shop and purchased a rear tire and set up an appointment to get it changed this week. I'm heading out o town next week and want to get the tire fixed before I leave.

Well until next time ride safe.

June

2010-06-07T01:14:00.003-06:00

Well as I said May, was a bust not really much to talk about the first half of the month. My last week was filled with a little excitement along with the start of June. My friend Greg came in from Indiana on his FJR on the 23rd. I was really impressed when I saw the set up for the short time he had Greg really did a nice job getting the bike ready. He purchased the bike about a month ago so he did a lot of scrambling to get all the farkling done.

I decided to meet him on Sunday in Moriarty, NM. It is a little town just east of Albuquerque along I-40. He called me once he was at Tucumcari and I took off from my house. I ended up getting to the truck stop in Moriarty about 45 minutes ahead of him. I sat around just watching the wind blow; it always blows in Moriarty. After he arrived, we talked for a little bit while he filled up for the ride to Rio Rancho. I called my wife to let her know we would be at the house by 16:30. Stacey pulled her SUV out of the garage so that Greg and I could get the bikes in. Once we arrived at my house, we gave Greg a few minutes to relax then headed for dinner. Since Greg was from Indiana, we decide to go to a Mexican restaurant in Corrales. After dinner, we sat around and talked about his ride in and what the plan was for Monday.

Monday morning we took off early starting out at the Mule Barn for breakfast. This is an old truck stop that I usually start most of my rides from. After it warm up a little Greg and I headed for the Crest. Since Greg didn’t know the roads, I led most of the time. The Crest is a winding road that dead ends at the top of the mountain close to 10,600 feet. We were running the road at what I would say was a decent clip without incident. I did knock my foot off the pegs a couple of times and did scrape a little off the bottom of the pegs. After we passed the half way point the temperature started to drop into the thirties. As long as I have lived here, I should have known better but we weren’t dress for the temps. We also ran into some road construction on the way up, the highway department was working on the edge of the road. As I came up on them the pickup truck decided to pull onto the road without looking. A quick blast of my horn and evasive maneuver I just missed his front bumper, at least he stopped after he heard my horn giving me just enough room to squeeze by. Greg had to swing out a little but we made it safely by. After that the rest of the 6 miles to the top were pretty uneventful. There was little traffic on the road, probably due to the low temps. Once at the top we parked and as we were getting our gear off this couple came up. The girl was wearing shorts, tank top and flip flops. I took a picture of Greg and her by Greg’s FJR, you could tell she was cold. We then headed inside the gift and proceeded to purchase long sleeve t-shirts and get something warm to drink. Once we warmed up we headed to the overlook and took some pictures, we hung out about 10 minutes then headed for the bikes and the bottom of the mountain. On the road down we ran into a truck hauling hay up, it looked like he had dropped a bail and parked in the middle of the road to pick it up. As I came around the corner there he was but luckily I was not running that fast. My tires were cold so I was taking my time going back down the mountain. Once we hit the bottom of the mountain, we headed to Madrid where we stopped so that Greg could take a few pictures of Maggie’s dinner. It was the restaurant in the movie Wild Hogs. It was built for the movie and is not open to the public, it is a prop only. After Madrid Greg and I headed for Los Alamos and Jemez Springs, we stopped for another photo op at the Caldera. Afterwards we headed for my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo’s tavern, we grab lunch and ran home overall it was a nice 250 mile run. That night we talked over the rest of the trip.

Tuesday morning we took off for what was supposed to be a 5 day trip. We started by heading for Quemado, Pie Town, Datil then stopping at the VLA (very large array). It is 27 radio telescopes connected together in a Y shape. Each leg can span 13 miles; the telescopes are moved by rail cars. We walked out to the telescopes and while we were taking pictures they repositioned the telescopes, it was cool watching them all move together. We also toured the museum before taking off. Afterwards we headed for the Buckhorn in San Antonio, we stopped for lunch. The Buckhorn is noted for its Green Chili Cheeseburgers. We pounded down a couple of burgers and washed them down with a cold beer. Needless to say we were miserable all the way to Truth or Consequences and the end of our first day. After getting our room and parking the bikes, I ran across the street for a six pack of beer and we settle in for the night. We were so stuffed all we did was kick back, drink beer and watch a little TV before hitting the sack.

Wednesday morning we were on the road by 08:00. Our plan was to run highway 152 then state roads 35 and 15 up to the Gila Cliff Dwelling. These are excellent roads a lot of tight and sweeping turns. After the Cliff Dwellings we were heading to Silver City then over to Devils highway and our stop for the night in Springerville. We had a blast on highway 152 the road was in excellent shape with almost no traffic. We stopped for pictures a couple of times. As we turned off 152 to state road 35, I stopped at a small station to check and see if Greg wanted to lead for a while. I told him I had never been on 35 before but he said he like the pace I was setting and didn’t mind bringing up the rear. So off we went about 5 miles down the road we passed a Sheriff sitting on the side of the road talking with a highway worker. We were running the speed limit (45 mph), so I wasn’t worried about him. The only time we were above the speed limit was in the corners. We weren’t in a big hurry so when we were on straight roads we ran close to the posted limits. About 4 or 5 miles down the road is when the real fun started. We had just came out of a corner and heading down a straight way when out of the weeds on my left a Javelina darted out in front of me. To be honest I didn’t even see him till he crossed the centerline, by that time it was too late and I braced for the impact. I hit it dead center and it jerked my FJR right I tried to correct it but it was too late. When I tried to straighten it out, the rear end slid out from under me and I low sided. The FJR and I slid a short distance and then started to tumble. I was lucky no one was coming from the other direction because I crossed the centerline and ended up on the shoulder. I laid in the dirt for what seemed an eternity assessing the damage. Greg ran up as quickly as he could to help. After a few seconds I told him, I thought I broke my ankle and my left hip hurt but was okay and needed help getting up. Greg helped me stand up after a few minutes and I hobbled over to see the FJR. We talked and I told him I needed to get checked out, so he tried to call for help but didn’t have phone service. He was getting ready to go for help when the postman pulled up. He went down the road to call for help. While we were waiting, Greg and I pulled off a few things from the FJR and grabbed my saddle bags. He also snapped a few picture of my bike and the Javelina I hit. I told him to be careful if that thing was still alive it was going to be pissed off. About 30 minutes later the same Sheriff we saw earlier showed up right with the ambulance. We explained what happened and he asked how fast we were running, I told him 45 maybe 50 mph max. He said good answer and Greg showed him the Javelina on the side of the road. The ambulance workers put me on a gurney and removed my boot. The second they took it off, my ankle swelled to twice its normal size. They loaded me up and Greg followed me to the medical center in Silver City. On the way I called my wife to let her know, I was on the way to the hospital but okay. I wanted her to come down to Silver City to pick me up, I was going to have Greg get me a hotel and we would spend the night. While I was waiting at the hospital to get checked out, I told Greg to keep going. No reason for him to hang around, Stacey would be here soon and he still needed to be in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday. So he finally agreed and took off and I was expecting to be discharged anytime. Well that went to heck too, when they made me pee in a cup and found blood. I ended up getting a CT scan and they found I had a small laceration of the spleen. I quickly received a helicopter flight to Albuquerque and UNM hospital; they are the only trauma 1 hospital in the area. So I called Stacey to tell her to turn around and head back home because I was getting a ride to UNM and I would meet her there. I ended up spending the night at UNM but the good news no surgery on the spleen. They also put me in an air-cast for the ankle and hopefully I will get it removed in four weeks.

Greg completed the ride picking up his buddy in Tucson. They took another 4 days to get back home. They cruised to the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Colorado before heading home.

So right now I sitting at home trying to recoup and talk my wife into another bike.

Well the talking wasn’t as bad as I thought; I just asked if we get another Bike which one would you want. She told me the FJR was uncomfortable and when she sat on the Connie she didn’t like the feel. So we talked and decided that if I was going to get another bike it would be a Goldwing. I started looking about three weeks after the accident and found several in NM, AZ, and CO. All were priced right at book value so it did look like I was going to find a kick-ass deal.

Well my next visit to the doctor resulted in getting rid of the air-cast and switching to an ankle brace. Since I had done a lot of looking at Goldwings and hitting the forums, I pretty much knew what I was looking for. I decided on a 2003 Goldwing I found in Tucson, AZ. I talked with the owner and we came to an agreement on the price and I pick it up this Thursday. I’m flying in Thursday morning and hope to be on the road by 13:00. It’s about 500 miles to Tucson so I figure about 8 hours to get it home. I’m probably going to head north out of Tucson and cut across AZ to NM and jump on I-40 for a straight shot home. The weather reports are calling for thunder storms in NM so I’m bringing my rain gear with me.

Well that’s about it for now until next time ride safe and remember “Javelina the other white meat”.

May

2010-05-04T03:31:00.002-06:00

Well here we are again, another month has passed with not much to show for it. We have been having some interesting weather lately. Two days ago I woke to a white yard, still snowing and we are talking May. Our mountains are still covered and the run-off this year should be great.

I'm still heavily involved in my sons little league and boyscout activities. But I have been getting the FJR for my May ride. It looks like we are planning a six day ride nothing really tough most of the riding is twisties. We are going to average about 300-400 a day so I should get somewhere between 1800-2400 miles in. It will feel good to finally get some miles in.

I think the bike is ready to go, I have the Starcom installed and verified that the MP3 works this weekend I'm going to test the the GPS and cell phone. I still need to check to make sure my wife's helmet is also set up. We are still planning the run to Denver in August.

Well until next time ride safe.

April (March was a dude)

2010-04-03T23:52:00.009-06:00

Well here it is April and nothing to share. I have been off the bike for all of March but I'm hoping to get back on in April. My son's little league is starting up and about the only thing I have been doing in March has been prepping for the NM LOE 2010 rally. I'm helping organize it this year and have been busy getting hotel, banquet facilitates and getting the web site set up. I have been working with the previous organizer so I don't screw things up.

I replaced the tires and finally had to replace the front fork seals on the FJR, I think the incident with the antelope caused the leak. I put the Road Smarts on the bike, that I used to get out to Spartanburg last year. They are still in pretty good shape I'm planning to use them on the ride in May.

WOW I cannot believe it but I finally made it back out on the road. Ended up going out with a few friends and doing any easy 280 mile ride. We hooked up for breakfast then the seven of us took off. Before we left we talked about stopping locations and speed, was expecting a quick pace but nothing out of control. The group decided that I needed to lead since I just installed my new radar detector and they thought this would be a great time to check it out. Two of the guys, I'd never ridden with and wasn't sure about the speed they would be comfortable with. So as we started out, I never really cranked it up I was running 75-80 on the highway. Once we hit the back roads I did pick up the pace, which really broke the group apart. There was three of us running together than two others about 1/4 mile behind us and I'm not sure how far back were the last two. Five of us stopped at the overlook for the Abiquiu Dam, waiting on the others. As we were kicking back they blew right by, they never saw us waving at them.

We decided to take off about 15 minutes later, we figured we would meet up with them at the designated lunch stop Los Ojo in Jemez Springs (my favorite lunch stop). Well after getting back on the road again we had an unexpected delay when the ST1100 in the group decided to do a electrical melt down. As we made a wide sweeper he all of a sudden disappeared in my mirrors, the only one behind me was the Gold Wing. We pulled off the road and sat for about 2-3 minutes and decided to head back. We went back and found him a 1/4 mile back, he was on the shoulder with the other two riders. It was funny watching the Harley guys all grabbing cameras to take pictures. It only took us about 30 minutes to jumper around the burnt wiring. Lucky we had extra wire, fuses and tools to get the Honda back on the road. Once back on the road, we were flying on the back roads again running a pretty technical section. Then about 200 miles into the ride, starving and I think everyone focused on lunch. One of the riders slips off the road onto the shoulder that is nothing but gravel and ciders. After the wake up call, the rider kept the bike running forward and slowly brought it back up on the road. He really did an excellent job getting it back under control. Only bad thing was I was directly behind him and when he went off he pelted me with cider and gravel. (Small price to pay for his safe return to the road).

Well with all the excitement done we finally made it to the Los Ojo for an excellent lunch. While we were sitting there, one of the lost riders showed up. They decided to stop for lunch is Los Alamos and were on their way home when they saw our bikes. One kept going while the other stopped. After about an hour of ribbing the owner of the ST1100, we decided it was time to head for home.

It was a great ride the weather was excellent and the company was great. Met a couple of new riders that was good. I'm usually very picky with whom I ride, I have been on too many rides with people that exceed their ability and that never works out well.

Once I made it home, I was pleasantly surprised that my Digital Starcom1 arrived. I wasn't expecting it for another week, so now I have next weeks project all set up to go. I'm planning to wire the FJR for MP3, cell phone, GPS, rider to pillion communication and radar detector. I'm planning to cut a couple of holes in my plastic for jacks for the helmet plugs. I'm setting this up for our trip to Denver, CO. to the IBA national meet in August.

Well another week goes by and not much to report, I have installed the Starcom1 and the headsets. I have not had an opportunity to try out the new system yet, I'm still reading up on all the options. I still need to run wires under the tank for my GPS and phone. Once done my wife will be able to make a phone call if she wants while we are riding and the GPS will be plumbed into my headset.

My son's little league team is doing well they are 5-1 and I'm spending all extra time umpiring games, so little time to get any riding in right now. I did get a call from the guy I'm going on the ride with in May and it looks like we have firmed up most of the ride. Looks like we are taking off May 24th and I'll return home on the 29th. Four days before my daughters due date. Fingers crossed for an on schedule delivery.

Only a few days left in April and still haven't gotten out for another ride. I completed the wiring for the Starcom1, now my cell phone, GPS and MP3 all are connected to my helmet headset. I'm hoping to take it for a ride and check it out. I also disconnected the auto-retract on my windshield, man is that a pain to get to the connector but I finally took care of that.

Well until next month Ride safe.

February

2010-02-21T04:06:00.009-07:00

WOW February has been flying by and I don't think I have much to show for it as far as riding. The weather hasn't been that good on my weekends, I have only been able to get out for a couple of small rides. To be honest I have been camping with my son most of the time. Since we have been having such bad weather for riding, I have been camping with the Boy Scouts. We went to a great little box canyon last weekend. We ended up hiking (doing some map and compass training).

I took a nice little ride this week with several riders, I posted a ride saying lets figure where we were going after we look at the weather report that morning. I only had one reply that someone was going to show up, so I thought it was going to be a quiet day. No one was at the coffee shop when I showed up, so I kicked back drinking coffee and reading the paper. All of a sudden everyone started to ride up. By the time KSU came, we had 8 riders and we decided to head to Mountainair, NM. Mountainair is an old town not much to it but it has a great little stop for Green Chili Cheese Burgers called "Grab and Go".

So off we went me leading the pack. We were taking a nice winding road and I told everyone I wasn't going to go for a land speed record, so if they wanted to bust loose go for it. I must have been running faster than anyone else wanted to do because only a couple of guys turned on the after bunners. I was running 70-75 mph only slowing for the little towns along the way. Once we arrived in Mountainair, one of the guys pointed to the Grab and Go. It was the first time I had been to the Grab and Go what a great little place. It can only hold about 10 people but the burgers are excellent. I think they are a limited meat market mostly. They have 3 different burgers a 1 lbs, 3 lbs then a monster 9 lbs burger. One of the guys ordered a double which is the 3 lbs burger, it was brutal to watch but I was in awe cause he finished it. The green chili was hot and several were wiping back the tears. We ended up heading back the same way we came, the road is better and we were able to wind it out a little. I ended up leading the pack back to town again. I was cruising around 70-75 the whole way, never really backed off the throttle unless we came up to a town. There are a few turns that are a little tight but nothing that caused me to slow down, I just leaned a little more. If I wanted to push I could have probably turn it up another 10 mph and felt comfortable. We have been having quite a bit of snow and the roads were a little dirty so I didn't feel like pushing it any harder.

Traffic was light and there was three of us that pulled away on the way home. When we got back to town we pulled off waiting on the others as they trickled in I figured I must have been pushing a little harder on the way back. I guess not riding for a while and having Mark and Lou (blackbird and busa) on my rear tire pushing me kept my speed up.

This was the first ride since replacing the tires, I'm back on the Dunlops again and they seem to be holding up, I do have a little vibration but I think it is due to the wear more than anything else. I did find a leaking front fork seal and I need to get that fixed in the next couple of weeks. All in all it was a great ride and fun to get back on the FJR. I ended up riding round trip 175 miles and the temps were 30's to 50's so not too bad.

On a side note I do have some riding planned for May. This should be 4/5 days of hard riding, I'm hoping 400-500 a day. A good friend of my brother that passed away 4 years ago is crusing through New Mexico and wants to ride. He just bought an 2008 FJR with only 635 miles on it. I'm planning to meet up with him in late May and show him some of the roads in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It should be a blast, he is a better rider so I'm hoping not to slow him down to much. Right now we are e-mailing and setting up plans on things to see.

Well until next week ride safe.

January

2010-01-10T03:46:00.013-07:00

Well here we go again, it's 2010 and I'm hoping to have another great year riding. I will not have the opportunities to ride as much this year but still have a few rides planned. I'm also going to help host this years NMLOE in October, which should be great. I'm already trying to come up with a theme for this year rally.

I started the year right, getting out on the motorcycle for a New Year's ride with friends. We met for breakfast then went for a short ride, the weather was a bit nippy (below 20 degrees) when we started. There was about 20 riders and a few of us broke off and took a different route stopping at Route 66 casino for a quick drink. I'm not real comfortable riding in larger groups, I tend to do my own thing. I have a few riding friends that feel the same way so we might start with a group but tend to brake out early.

I also got out the next week with four friends we met for coffee and sat around for an hour or so waiting for it to warm up a little. When we arrived it was 14 degrees, a little cold even for the toughest of us. Once we cleared 20 degrees we headed out looking for snow. I wanted to get a few pictures of us in the snow for the IBA magazine. I was hoping to get our picture in the next addition. We planned to grab lunch in a little town called Jemez Springs, they have a bar there called Los Ojo's that has great food. I know that I have talked about this location many times and if you ever get to New Mexico it is a get little stop. We ended up stopping a little earlier than expected, one of the guys hands were frozen, he said he could not feel his fingers. We stopped at this little corner store for him to thaw out. Once he was up to it we started heading for a nice place to take a few pictures.

After snapping a few pictures, we headed for Los Ojo's and lunch. We had a blast, I think everyone thought we were nuts, riding in this weather. After a great lunch and a drink, we were back on the bikes heading for home. It warmed up a little and by the time we made it home the temp was up to 34 degrees, seemed like a heat wave. We talked about getting together again next week so we will see, so far I have about 200 miles for the year.

Well not much has been happening, the weather has made a turn for the worst. It seems as soon as it is the weekend for me, a weather front moves in to rain or snow. So on my off days the FJR has been sitting in the garage, I was able to get the oil changed and it looks like I finally have shop time set up for that tire change I have been talking about. I have been able to put a few miles on but as the month ends I will be lucky to get 400 miles in.

Well until next time ride safe.

A Year in Review

2009-12-28T02:55:00.002-07:00

Well I have to omit it has been an interesting year. I have been very busy with a lot of family and motorcycle activities.

As I left 2008, I set a few goals for 2009. I changed a couple because I knew that they were unrealistic based on funds and time. "As I go into 2009 I have set a few goals, I'm planning to attend three rallies with a goal of no DNF's. I'm planning to attend the IBA Pizza Party in Jacksonville, FL., complete a couple of long 2-3 day rides building up my seat time and being a finisher in the 2009 IBR." So I made a couple minor changes back in January and started the year with motorcycle goals of hitting the 30,000 mile mark on the FJR, making finisher status in the IBR, top 10 in the NMLOE and getting in a couple of multi day rides.

My family goals were my son getting his first hit in little league and completing his first level in the Boy Scouts (tenderfoot). Since he is home schooled we are really trying to get him more involved in group activities. For my wife everything has been on hold but as she put it "this is the year of the wife". Focus will be on spending time with the family; a long vacation, some work around the house and a couple of minor rides together but nothing big this year.

So the place to start of course is the family goals, we spent a lot of time working with our son on his baseball skills and I'm happy to say he completed his year in the majors a hitting maniac. He also accomplished his tenderfoot and had his court of honors the first week of January. So I would say we hit the mark for my son. As I said, for my wife we are now in the year of the wife so I'm doing a lot of stuff around the house.

Ok now that I have bored you with my non riding stuff, lets start talking about the motorcycle year in review.

Well I did start 2009 better than 2008. This year I was healthy and had a new motorcycle. This was the year for the IBR and I wanted the FJR ready as early as possible. So I started by getting the fuel tank hooked up and an elbow welded onto the main tank. The FJR was now capable of traveling 400-500 miles under normal riding conditions. With the added cell, I now can carry 10.8 gallons of fuel. My wife surprised me with a new GPS and lighting for the FJR, so I spent a lot of time wiring in an extra fuse block to handle the load. I was planning to have the capability to have 2 GPS running, XM Radio, Radar Detector and Auxiliary lights. I also had a recall on my ignition switch which I was thankful for, since I heard a lot of people talk about being stranded when it failed. My wife also surprised me with a new Netbook with a solid state drive for the motorcycle. So by May I pretty much had the FJR ready, at least equipment wise for the IBR.

Before the IBR I really didn't ride in a single rally, I was hoping to get into the Utah 1088 and maybe do the March meet-up in Jacksonville but money was tight with the cost of getting the bike ready for the Rally and the fees. I decided to focus on riding in my area. I'm sad to say I did have to make a run to Indiana in April, for a funeral. My mom's brother passed away, I decided to jump on the FJR and make a run home 1450 miles. Jumped on the bike early one morning and the next day I was having breakfast with a really pissed off mom. I didn't tell her I was coming becase I knew she would freak out if she knew I was riding straight in. I had my wife call when I was about 300 miles out. On the way back, I decided to take my time and make it a two day ride which was good saddle time.

Most of the riding prior to the IBR was single day rides 200-400 miles with some friend. I was lucky that I was able to get out at least once a week for a ride. As August came around, I was lucky to find a forum member living close to Spartanburg, SC that was willing to help me with a tire change before the start of the rally. I shipped a set of tires to his place a week before I headed out.

When I started out for Spartanburg, I decide to take two days to get there just a nice easy ride. Once there I settle into my hotel, I hooked up with several friends that were also riding in the Rally. We all sat around itching to get going. My rally could not have gone much better, I made a couple of mistakes that cost me a lot of points but I still achieved all my goals; 1st come home safely, 2nd finish and 3rd have fun. It was such a great feeling coming into both checkpoints with peers cheering for you and then getting to the finish line. I arrived about 3 hours before the finish opened 2am but there was still a couple of people out there clapping when I came in. When I got in the hotel, the fist thing was I ran into a good friend that arrived around mid-night. He was sitting in the lobby talking to several other riders that had came in earlier. It was great to see the family and some friends from New York that surprised us by coming to the finish in Spokane. I ended up getting a bronze metal finisher status and a new three digit IBA number. Once you have reached finisher status you are given a new IBA number.

We had a few riders that had accidents in the rally, with most being minor injuries. We did have one fatality this year. A rider from Australia was coming out of Canada and hit a deer. He lost control of his motorcycle and went down, there were several other riders that came up on the accident and tried to help but there was nothing anyone could do they air lifted him but he passed away later that day. We were at the awards banquet and afterwards the word circulated that he passed away, very sad time for everyone. Several of us went outside and toasted the individual and called it a night.

The only other rally I did was the New Mexico LOE in October. I had a goal of a top ten finish but that went to the way side when I hit an antelope about 2/3 of the way through. I actually was the second person to hit the animal. The antelope ran out in front of a truck and then the truck threw it at me. The damage was minimal and I was able to limp in grabbing a couple of more bonuses on the way. I ended up 12th place, so I really wasn't that disappointed. If I could have completed my scheduled route, I would have placed probably 2nd or 3rd. Afterwards the rally master asked me if I would like to start helping with the rally, so starting 2010, I will be helping host the New Mexico Land of Enchantment Rally.

As I closed out the year, I received some bad news Eddie James passed away (motorcycle accident). I did not know Eddie well, we met a couple of times he seemed like good guy and a great rallymaster. Times like this always reminds me Ride Defensively!

So looking back at 2009 I have a lot to be thankful for, my family and friends that helped and supported while I was getting ready for the IBR. I had a great year of riding, over 30,000 miles with little issues and no DNF's this year. I'm looking forward to a great 2010. I have a new grandson due in June, I'm planning to attend the IBA meet-up in Denver in August and I will be co-rally master this year for the NMLOE.

So until next year everyone ride safe and I hope you have a great holiday.

Dave

December

2009-12-06T18:16:00.001-07:00

Well here we go again last Month of the year and would really like to turn around this bad trend on riding I have seen since October. So the first thing I did was e-mail some friends on getting out and riding December 4th. I was getting good responses and it looked like 4-5 of us were going to get out for a little ride. I was hoping for a 150-200 mile ride maybe getting a beer afterwards. Well Friday rolled around and so did the weather, a cold front rolled in and when we met up at my favorite starting location "Mule Barn" it was single digits and no one really wanted to ride. We all just hung out had breakfast swapped stories and finally headed our own way. I decided to ride to the motorcycle shop and pick up a oil and K&N air filter, I figured I would at least get a few miles in and hope for better weather for next weekend.

This ended up being a good weekend to decorate the house for Christmas, we hung lights outside and put up the tree.

I have to omit that this has been the first day in many that I didn't ride the FJR to work, they are calling for rain and snow and I just don't want to deal with it. I have been checking forecast and the weather looks like it is turning bad, might not see any riding for a couple of weeks.

WOW this week just keeps on getting better, the weather has took a turn for the worse a little snow and rain mix but hey looking on the bright side my son completed his first level in the boy scouts and has completed his review and will be moving up. Ok maybe not motorcycle relevent but much more important. I also received some bad news Eddie James passed away (motorcycle accident)I personally did not know Eddie just met him around good guy and a great rallymaster. Times like this always reminds me ride defensively. Everyone enjoy the ride but be safe.

Well until next week Ride safe

November

2009-11-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well here it is November and it seems to be starting same as October ended not much riding happening. I have been out with a few friends and I have put a few miles on but nothing really substantial. I have made the commitment to the NM LOE for 2010, and have started working on next years rally. My first job is coming up with a theme/logo for the rally.

I'm finally taking the FJR in to get the tires replaced, I need to do a little maintenance on the bike. I dropped it in the garage (the dreaded kick stand got me). For those that do not know the kick stand on the FJR is a little flaky and you have to be careful it will give if you do not lock it in. Well I made the mistake when I pulled into the garage and parked I didn't give it that finally check and after I got off it just fell over. When it went it broke the plastic mount for the top box. This weekend I purchased a different top box similar to a pelican case. I have to make up a new mount for the case this weekend.

Really a slow time for me but I hope to get back on the road soon, would like to end the year around 30-32K miles, right now I'm at 28.8K. I have only put 350 miles on in the last 6 weeks really weak.

Well I finally got out and did a little riding, I did a loop and hooked up with a couple of buddies. Ended up doing a 150 mile ride and lunch, it was nice to get out and stretch the legs a little bit. I also jumped in and did the Rio Rancho toy run, that is always an interesting ride. About 7000-8000 riders with 10-20% of the riders going out for the first time or new riders. It is also a defensive ride, usually 1-2 accidents with a rider hitting the back of another bike. Still a good ride for a great cause.

I just replaced my top box, the mount broke a while back. I bought a sea horse box it is similar to a pelican box. I had to make up a mount system but it all works. I still need to make up a back rest. I'll probably sell the old top box once I'm sure I like this new setup.

I hook up with my old motorcycle group AMRG and picked up a couple of contact numbers so I can get out with then occasionally. I was able to ride with my son, we went out on a cold morning for breakfast and made a run together. Just a short hope but fun to get out and ride with him and talk.

Well this month was another bust on the riding front. I really haven't been getting out lately. I don't think I rode more than 400 miles this month. Well I hope to turn that around in December.

Well until next time ride safe.

October

2009-10-12T04:25:00.000-06:00

Well it's October I can hardly believe that it has been a month since the IBR. I have been focusing on getting back to a semi-normal life again. The riding group (AMRG)I belonged to has been changing resently and I've decided it was time to resign as an assistant organizer and to drop from the group. I have met some very nice people but the group seems to have splintered and they have closed their calendar to outsiders, so I decided to step out for a while. Not sure if I'll go back but it has been nice to step out and do my own thing.

I did run in the Land of Enchantment Rally last week placing 12th out of 54 entrances. After the rally, I was asked if I would like to get involved in putting on next years event. I told the rally masters I was interested as long as someone helped me. This is a wonderful rally and a lot of work so I wanted to make sure nothing changed. I also was introduced to Bob Hall the 2001 IBR winner, he was a member of the staff for the LOE and lives just outside Albuquerque. We talked about setting up a web site for LD Riders in New Mexico, a place were we could post rides meeting up for lunch/dinner sometimes doing over night rides. This would not be a meet up ride together but ride somewhere and meet at a specific time. Most of the riding I do is alone so I was interested, so Bob and I plan to get together and talk about what the web site would look like.

Here it is second week in October, it's a big week for me. I just hit 21 years at work and I turned 52 this week. I've pulled off my extra fuel cell I'm planning on make a short birthday run this weekend but I still need to replace my tires, I'm still running on the ones from the IBR. I have somewhere around 12,700 miles on them and the front is getting cupped (they need replaced).

Things are slowing down for me, I haven't been on a long ride in quite a while. I'm still dinking around on the same tires and man I can feel it every time I turn a corner, quite a bit of vibration. Bike seems naked without a fuel cell. Tried to hook up with some friends this weekend but no one showed at the usual starting location, so I called it good for the week. I don't think I have put on 200 miles since the NM LOE a couple of weeks ago.

Well for now ride safe.

Dave

New Mexico LOE 2009 Ride Report

2009-10-07T00:12:00.000-06:00

Well here we are another LOE completed and again not 100% happy with my performance in this years rally. I ended up placing 12th out of 54 starters. We had 49 finishers this year and a two-up couple won the rally for the first time. Tom and Rosie Sperry are an excellent team and always tough competitors when it comes to rallying.

I started this rally similar to how I have in the past, they set the start of this years rally in Albuquerque, NM and I again grabbed a hotel room even though I live 15 miles from the start. I arrived at the hotel on Friday checking in with the rally staff. I flew through tech inspection and odometer check with no issues. Once done I settled into my room and prepped for our riders meeting at 8pm. I group of us went to the neighborhood Applebee's for a quick dinner. It was nice to hook up with Dennis who I ran the IBR with and Doug who was at the finish in Spokane, WA. We talked about all the things that happened and Dennis was picking on me about my bad decisions on Leg 2 and how he couldn't believe I missed a 4000 point bonus location that I rode right by. I didn't want to agree with Dennis but he was right, major screw-up on my part.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and attended the riders meeting. We received our rider placards, shirts and bonus packages. When allowed I opened my package reviewed the bonus location, made sure I didn't have any questions and retired to my room. Once back to my room, I fired up the netbook and pulled out both of my GPSs.

After my initial review of the bonus pack, I decided to head North first and run in the mountains during the daylight then I would turn South for my night riding. I always hate running in the North at night, the wildlife seems thicker in the Northern part of the state at night. We had five bonus locations that were time sensitive all worth 50 points. Trinity site, Lordsburg, Carlsbad, Shiprock and Raton. I was working different routes but could not come up with one that I thought I could get to two of the bonuses in the allotted time. So I decide to head for Raton because it seemed that there were more bonus locations clustered together in the North. After that I would head East towards Santa Rosa then turn South and swing back to I-25 and Albuquerque for the finish.

My goal in the first portion of the rides was collect the Alb Balloon bonus then Raton, NRA Whittington Center, St James Hotel, Philmont Boyscout Center, Chicosa Lake State Park, Lamy train station, four bonuses in Santa Fe, Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, and Sandia Peak before heading for the hotel and the rest bonus.

The second part of the ride I was going to head for Moriarty and Memorial of tears, Santa Rosa and the Hot Rod on a stick, then House, Ft Sumner, Vaughn, Roswell and Bottomless lakes, Smokey the bears grave site, Harvey House Museum, Rattle snake museum, Atomic museum and lastly the Unser Museum before heading back to the finish.

It was now approaching 11:00pm and I needed to quickly download my route into my GPS and get to bed. I finally hit the pillow about 00:30 am and I needed to have the FJR in the parking lot for final odometer check at 06:00 am. 05:30 came quickly, and I gathered up my things, loaded the bike and moved it into the starting position. I sat around kicking back waiting for the 07:00 start. We had our last meeting prior to the start and we were asked to be safe and to saddle up. 07:00 the flag went up and off we went in groups of two.

My first stop was a quick photo of four balloons at the Albuquerque balloon site, then I was off to Raton for a gas receipt before the time lock out at 11:00. I ended up making it to Raton by 10:00 where I saw several other riders. When you are doing these rides it's nice to see several peers, it tells you that you might have selected the correct directions. After Raton, I went to the NRA Whittington Center to take a picture of the entrance sign. I then headed for Cimmeron and the St. James hotel to get the info off the corner stone, next the Philmont Boyscout training center for a photo of the entrance sign. I actually stopped at the administrations office but decided after reading the bonus location info I was at the wrong location. I continued down the road another quarter of a mile to the correct entrance sign. I ran into Karl and Mark at the hotel and Philmont stops. Karl and I left Philmont at the same time with Mark heading for the Veitnam War Memorial and Karl and I heading South. Karl and I pulled off at the Springer exit but Karl turned right and I was going left. At the time he confused me, because he was heading back to the interstate. I was heading for the Chicosa Lake State Park and I found out Karl was heading for the Raspberry farm, he missed his turn and was back tracking. I could not find the State Park my GPS, it kept routing me down dirt roads that dead ended into locked gates. When I arrived at Wagonwheel, I decided to give up on the Chicosa State Park. I later found out the lake dried up and the state park closed. That's why the dirt roads had gates closed off and there was only one way in. I should have asked a local where the park was, I later found out I was only 5 miles from it when I decided to skip it.

So after missing that bonus I headed straight for the Lamy train station for a quick picture of the station. I then headed for Santa Fe to grab four bonus stops. The first was San Miguel Mission. I actually found a guy willing to hold my placard while I took the photo from the street. My next stop was the Cathedral at the square that was never completed. Again I found a person to hold my placard and off I went to grab the third bonus location. I was going to grab the hotel photo bonus but could not find it, I circled the square twice. This was very discouraging because it was the second bonus that I missed and I decide to give up on the fourth bonus in Santa Fe it was geting tough to navigate with the tourist. I had to keep going so off to Madrid and the tavern. I had to stop for fuel since I had about 70-80 miles to go before I would see another gas station. I arrived at Madrid and a quick stop were I took a photo of the Mine Shaft Tavern sign. Then off to Sandia Peak and a photo of the city of Albuquerque. The road to the crest is a fun twisting road but not great for rallying. I made it to the top as fast as I could took my picture and headed for my next bonus the rest stop at the start. I arrived at the hotel just after the bonus opened at 17:00 right behind Karl. I was planning to go for the one hour stop then start my second leg.

I kicked back in my room, rechecked my next destination and went to check out with the rally staff. After that I headed for the Memorial of tear in Moriarty to take a photo of the tombstones, I've ridden past this memorial several times but this was the first time I stopped. It is a nice memorial for the DWI victims. I then headed further East on I-40 and Santa Rosa for the Route 66 Museum and a photo of the Hot Rod on a stick. This is the first time I have stopped for a picture and the car was lite up. They were having some sort of meeting at the museum. I snapped a quick picture then off for Fort Sumner and a gas fuel receipt.

As I started down Hwy 84 I came up on truck running about 60mph in a 65. I decide to pass and as I was coming up on the cab of the truck, he hit something. I'm not 100% sure what it was but I think it was an antelope based on the part it threw at me. After the truck hit the animal it split in half and threw a chunk straight at me, it hit the front tire and slid up the fairing and over the windscreen. I pulled over to the shoulder and started checking out the bike, all I could see was a lot of blood on the front and my left running light bracket was bent shinning my light 20 feet into the sky. I decide to keep going but did notice a slight vibration in the front end as started to exceed 40 mph and it increased as my speed went up. I ran 60-65 mph to Fort Sumner and when I arrived I gave the bike a better looking at. The gas station attendant let me use his water hose, so I washed off the front of the bike looking for damage but I really didn't see anything wrong outside of the light bracket. I called the rally staff told them what happened and that I was going to alter my route. I decided to make a run back to the hotel making sure I hit enough miles to be a finisher but I was essentially done. I took House, Roswell, Bottomless Lake and Capitan from my bonus lists giving up on those four bonuses.

I sat around Fort Sumner for about 30 minutes after talking to the rally staff drinking a cup of coffee talking to the attendant that had seen a couple of other riders earlier in the day. He was asking about the rally and where was I going next. I told him Vaughn then back to Albuquerque due to the antelope strike I was cutting the rally short. So I thanked him for the use of the hose, the cup of coffee and off I went.

I was able to reach Vaughn about 23:00 where I had to take a photo of the city limit sign. Normally this is easy you attach your placard to the sign snap a picture at an angle so you don't get a reflection but of course the wind was blowwing about 20-25 mph making it almost impossible to keep the placard from moving. After about 9 attenpts, I finally was able to get the picture. I decided that since I was heading back, I would stop at the truck stop in Vaughn and get another cup of coffee. I wasn't in any hurry. After the coffee, I headed back North on Hwy 285 to I-40, this is only about 45 miles but I continued to keep the speed around 60 mph due to the vibration. I made it to I-40 no problems and started back for Albuquerque. I decided to go for the Harvey House photo bonus in Belen, it was only 30 miles and I needed about 75 more miles to make sure I exceeded 1000. The ride to Belen was straight down I-25 but the speed limit is 75 and I tried to run as fast as I could about 65, this made me a little nervous due to the cars passing me like I was standing still. I found the Harvey House no problem took my photo and off to downtown Albuquerque for three more bonuses.

I stopped and took photos of the Rattlesnake, Atomic and Unser Museums then headed for the finish at the hotel. I was a little concerned about the photo I took of the Atomic museum, the direction took me to the old location so I took a photo of the sign stating it moved. I arrived around 02:30 called my wife to let her know I was in then sat around waiting for the check-in to open at 06:00. It was kind of discouraging knowing that I gave up on four bonuses that I had plenty of time to get but I didn't want to chance it with the bike not running 100%. After 06:00 I checked in and went to scoring where I didn't miss anything and received 270 points. So all toll I missed 7 bonuses worth 70 points, three on the first half and four on the second half. The best I would have done was 340 points and that would have put me either in 2-4 place. I ended up 12th out of 54 starters which I was happy with considering, I expected to end up somewhere in the middle.

After the banquet, I hung around talking to the Rally Masters and accepted a position on the staff to help coordindate the LOE for 2010. So this is my last LOE to ride in for a while. Switching from rider to rally support will be different but I'm hoping fun. One of the guys is stepping down and I'm taking his place.

The NM LOE is a great rally and going forward I hope to continue that tradition.

September I'm home

2009-09-20T01:14:00.000-06:00

Well the IBR is completed and I'm home safely. I ended up accomplishing my goals of getting home safely and being a finisher in the 2009 IBR. I ended up finishing reaching medalist status. I have a new IBA number #389.

I have added ride reports under my September link. I ended up traveling a total of 13,000 miles, this included travel to Spartanburg and coming home from Spokane. I rode just under 10,000 miles during the rally. I took my time getting to Spartanburg (3 days), I used the time to string 3 days of riding together and on the way home from Spokane I tool 2 days to just relax.

Since I have been home, I've changed the gear oil, and oil filter ( holding off changing the oil until after the NM LOE rally). I had to redo my wiring for my GPS, lights and XM-Radio. The shop accidently re-routed my wiring under the engine heat shield causing some electrical issues. That took me about 2.5 hours, I also re-wired the GPS and xm-radio together so now I get the voice notifications when I need to turn with my music in the background.

I have left the fuel cell on the FJR and the bike is pretty much ready with the exception of tires for the New Mexico Land of Enchantment rally that starts the first week in October. This is a 1000 mile 24 hour rally. Once done with this rally, I'l be done for 09 and looking to what I might consider for 2010. I have been thinking about the NPT (National Park Tour) or possibly a 48-10 (48 states in 10 days). I'm still deciding if I want to change out the tires before or after the LOE. The Pilot Road II on the bike have been wonderful, not sure if I can squeeze another 1500-1800 miles out of them. They are getting close to the wear bars on the front tires. If I don't change the tires I will have approximately 12,700 miles on the set (not sure I want to chance it).

Well until next week Ride Safe

Dave

IBR 09 Ride report Leg 3

2009-09-20T00:44:00.001-06:00

2009 IBR Report by David Porter

Leg 3
August 31-Day 8 Here we go again up at 03:30 and a quick shower before our 04:00 riders meeting. A quick communication from the Rally Mistress, then bonus packets were handed out for leg 3 and off to the room to plan my route. This time I was determined to not leave early. I wanted to spend time setting up a good route to hit the 76,000 needed total to be a finisher. That went out the window at 07:00 seeing that I needed to be at my first time-restricted bonus to make my second one. So again here we go three of five days figured out this time. I left Santa Ana knowing there was going to be traffic and that my route was taking me through Nevada and Utah (not just hot but damn hot). When I hit my first fuel stop in Mesquite, NV it was 104 and 108 when I hit Vegas. I was at least correct on the time; I made my first bonus Mountain Meadows Memorial early giving me plenty of time to get the Overland Hotel and Saloon but I knew I would not make my next daylight bonus the southern most point in Zion National Park on time so I adjusted my route and picked up the Hotel Nevada (picking up a poker chip) and Gunnison Massacre Site before sundown. I also set myself up for Zion if I really wanted it. That night I decided to give up on Zion’s big points because felt I would lose too much time in the park and have trouble getting to my other time restricted bonuses that day.

September 1-Day 9 I headed for Colorado for Linwood Cemetery and Doc Holliday’s grave site (this was an interesting one a half mile moderate to extreme hike to the top of a hill and boy did they mean it) and then a picture of the Police Car in Rand, CO. The police car was cool it was parked next to Rand Yacht club (out in the middle of nowhere) and it had a dummy in the driver seat with another dummy with it’s head in the officer’s lap (my guess kids did that). I then headed for Wyoming where I bagged JJ’s Bar and the Goshen County Courthouse then off to South Dakota for Crazy Horse Mountain (I ran into Dennis again and Jeff and Carol) and Old Style #10 Saloon in Deadwood. I pulled up and there was a no parking sign but the door man waved me in saying it was ok so naturally I had to get him to hold my rally flag for me. After getting the saloon bonus, I rode close to Devils tower setting up Day 10. I ended up riding to Sundance about 20-25 miles from Devils Tower. I pulled into the hotel right behind Jeff and Carol, they had the same idea of setting up for a short run to Devil's tower in the morning.

September 2-Day 10 I woke and took my time getting going knowing that the next bonus was not available until 09:00, so I didn’t leave the hotel until 08:00. I arrived at Devils tower and was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the 09:00 start time. I noticed several riders leaving the site before the designated time as I rode up. I decided to call the rally mistress becasue the visitors center was open, I found out the bonus opened at 08:00 so our paperwork was wrong. I bagged the bonus then headed off for Summit Hotel in Big Sky, Montana and Frontline Processing. I then headed for Idaho and a Post Office. I rode for a few more hours then calling it a night stopping in a rest stop in Oregon. I figured this was my last rest before Spokane and I had a big day planned so I didn’t want to take any extra time with a hotel. I found a shelter grabbed my tank bag for a pillow and set the screamin meanie for a 2.5 hour nap. If you have never heard on of these things it is light a car alarm going off and you are only a foot away.

September 3/4-Day 11 I woke up after a 2.5 hour nap, washed my face and grabbed a snack bar to get me going. I picked up the Young Life Christian Farm what a bonus about 10 miles of gravel. At one point on the road, I saw a sign that said Emergency phone 1.2 miles; I remember laughing to myself thinking that was silly. About a half a mile later I remember seeing a speed limit sign that said, “Speed Limit 5 MPH and we Really Really mean it”. I could do nothing but laugh as I was going about 25-30 MPH on this gravel road thinking how much worse could it really get. Boy was I surprised, I crested the top of the hill and all I saw was blue sky. The road completely dropped off and I felt like I was on a ski slope. The road was a downhill straight away for what seemed like a half a mile with a 90-degree turn at the bottom. I immediately hit the rear brake and started sliding down; I slowed just enough to make the corner. Once I turned the corner there was a Goldwing heading right for me. We both hit the breaks stopping about 20 feet apart, I wasn’t sure who it was at first, then he flipped up his visor and it was Jerry. He had just grabbed the bonus and was heading out. (I later found out only a few of us made it all the way to the water tower for the picture.) I asked Jerry if the road got any better. He said, “no but it doesn’t get any worse”. So I continued on to the bottom getting a picture of the water tower. As I'm filling out my bonus sheet a car goes flying by with kids hanging out the windows screaming, so I figured it was time to head out. My next stop was in Portland and I was thinking, I was going to hit the area perfectly, I was trying to get in and out before the traffic got bad (boy was that a bad plan). It took me 3.5 hours to get Pleasure Acres Thoroughbred Farm and the Home Depot bonus. My next stop was Skamania County EMS across the gorge bridge in Washington. I saw Joe another rider at this bonus. We were heading for the same bonus but I was planning to stop and grab a bite to eat before pushing on. This would give me time to decide if I wanted to continue hunting bonuses or call it good after the next one (I was concerned that I lost too much time in Portland). We took off together from the EMS bonus and it wasn’t soon before it was apparent that he needed to stop. He was tired and it showed he was having a problem maintaining his speed, so I signaled that we should pulled off the highway, he agreed so we stopped grabbed some gas and coffee. I talked to him and asked if he wanted me to wait for him or push on. He said to go he was going to take his time stopping every 30 minutes till he got in (he decided right then and there he was done). I told him not to push and take his time and I would see him in Spokane, I went ahead and he stayed back relaxing for a little bit. I decided to push on to my next bonus then I would stop and decided if I wanted to continue hunting bonuses or call it good. I grabbed the ZZ Streetrod Sign bonus and headed for the highway and Spokane. I pulled into the first truck stop, reviewed the map and bonus locations and decided to skip the Western State Hospital, it was worth over 1000 points but it would be a 200 mile trip. I figured I could head to the hotel and then decide if I want to go for Zip’s Drive In. I grabbed a cup of coffee, verified my receipts and points knowing I easily had enough to be considered a finisher. I arrived at the hotel parking lot a little after 02:00 to a woman clapping and waving and congratulating me. It might have only been one person but it was nice to have that cheer as I showed up. There must have been 40 bikes already in and I’m sure I was one of the last for the night. I pulled the gear off the bike and saw a good friend Jeff Bakker talking to a few other riders. I asked him if he was going to cruise up and get the time-restricted bonus Zip’s Drive In. He told me he and Milinda were done I was thinking of making the run but felt I had enough points and as long as I didn’t make a mistake at the scorers table I had plenty of points to be a finisher so I decided I was done. I went upstairs and woke my wife to let her know I was here and going to head back downstairs and get ready for rider check in and scoring. At 04:00 they opened scoring and I was the third in line (wanted to get it over). I went into the scorer’s room and found Heidi not scoring anyone so I sat down with her (she scored me in leg 2). I walked away from the scoring table not missing a thing. I was feeling pretty good knowing I had completed the rally and had enough points to be considered a finisher. As I was walking out of the room Ira congratulated me on finishing. Tell me I did New Mexico proud. I hung around waiting for Jeff and Milinda to complete their scoring; afterwards we all went to breakfast. We sat talking about our rides the positives and negitives, where we screwed up and what we would do if we had a second chance. We talked about would we do this again and I think yes was the answer.

After a 3-hour nap, I went to a beautiful park next to the hotel walked around with my wife and son and stopped at an Irish pub for a light lunch and a beer. That evening we attended the cocktail party and banquet sitting with friends we had made at the National Meet in Tulsa. Wayne and Robin came to the finish to congradulate me on my finish. It was cool to sit with them and talk, they were very interested in my ride and the places I went. After the banquet and awards ceremony, we went out to the hallway drinking and laughing seeing friends that I had made on the ride talking about our experience. As the night wore on, we heard that Davo had passed away from his injuries from his accident, which put a dampener on our ending. Davo was on the ride of his life he told me at the start. He hit a deer after leaving Canada that morning heading for Spokane, so close to the finish. He was with a group that was hunting bonuses in Canada. They came up on him after the accident but there wasn't much anyone could do from what I heard.

The next day I hung around waving goodbye to other riders heading out that morning. I spent time talking with Bob, he hit a deer in South Dakota and busted up his FJR pretty bad. The good thing he was able to keep it up-right, to keep going he duct taped his plastic fairing back together. I also took in the sites of Spokane, WA with my family, we went walking in the park; swimming in the pool and that night went to a nice restaurant over looking the river. My family took off the next morning, they were flying home. I took my time getting out of the hotel, I really didn't have a set time that I had to be back home so I was in no hurry. It was raining so I put on my wet gear, saddled up and headed for home. That day I rode just past Salt Lake City about 750 miles. It rained about four hours of the ride but was kind of a nice change. The majority of my rally was in the heat, so the rain was a pleasent distraction. It was raining enough to keep everything wet but not so hard that you couldn't run highway speeds. The next day I had a quick breakfast, jumped on the bike early and was home by 15:00. I didn't push hard, I took my time doing the last 600 miles. The ride was quiet with no pressure to be at a bonus location or document a stop, so it was a nice time to reflect on what had transpired during the rally.

So far, I have been having a hard time explaining why I did the ride. I’m still thinking about what ifs or how I could’ve improved. I’m also thinking about what’s next, I have the New Mexico Land of Enchantment rally coming up in October but have not thought much on what I want to do next year.

Below is a listing of the bonuses I reached and points per leg of the rally. I ended up 51st out of 101 riders that started reaching bronze medal status.

David Porter Yamaha FJR1300

Leg Bonus Description Points Penalty 3 Finish, Spokane, WA
3 Arrival Points - Leg 3 100
3 Gas - Leg 3 3000
3 Police car Rand 4568
3 Linwood Cemetery (a/k/a Pioneer Cemetery) 1464
3 Post office Midvale 402
3 Summit at Big Sky Ski & Summer Resort 1818
3 Frontline Processing 246
3 Hotel Nevada 1216
3 Overland Hotel & Saloon 201
3 Young Life Christian farm 3874
3 Pleasure Acres Thoroughbred Farm 3576
3 Home Depot 429
3 Crazy Horse Mountain 4980
3 Old Style #10 Saloon 218
3 Gunnison massacre site 387
3 Mountain Meadows memorial 4835
3 ZZ Streetrods sign 1079
3 Skamania County EMS 171
3 JJ’s Bar 267
3 Goshen county courthouse 288
3 Visitor's Center Devil's Tower 5837
3 Rest Bonus - Leg 3 6003
3 Call-In Bonus 1 9-1-09 - Leg 3 749
3 Call-In Bonus 2 9-3-09 - Leg 3 751
Totals for leg 3: 46459

leg 1: 9,349
leg 2: 28,671
leg 3: 46,549
My total was 84,479

Below is a map of my route, the green is my leg 3.

IBR 09 Ride report Leg 2

2009-09-20T00:28:00.001-06:00

2009 IBR ride report by David Porter

Leg 2
August 27-Day 4 up at 03:30 for a quick shower then off to the 04:00 riders meeting. It started raining sometime in the night and looked like it was going to rain all day. After a quick riders meeting, they handed out the leg 2 bonus packets. Once they were handed out, everyone headed for their hotel room to plan their route. I worked on my route until 09:00 still not finished with day three or four but I knew I had to get going if I wanted to make my first two bonuses (both had time restrictions). I knew to make them I would have to average about 62 mph (doable). I was within 30 miles of my first bonus location when I hit a road close sign; several bridges were being worked on so I had to detour. I saw a fellow rider taking a picture of the road closed sign and reminded him that if there was away around the closed sign picture would not be accepted. I ended up getting to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Visitor Center 45 minutes later than I wanted too so I knew I had about 30 minutes to spare to get the Hobo Museum my second bonus. I picked up my receipt at the gift shop and off I went. I arrived at the Hobo Museum with 15 minutes to spare but they closed early. So I took a picture of the front of the building and went to the nearest gas station to get a receipt for my time stamp proving I was at the museum on time. After grabbing this bonus, it was off to the Horseshoe Casino and then set up for the barb wire museum in Kansas another time restricted bonus.

August 28-Day 5 started out getting to the barbed wire museum where I had to purchase a shorty barbed wire. After that it was off to Colorado for another time bonus, on the other side of Denver at the Coors Brewery Wellness Center. I made it with plenty of time so I picked up another daylight bonus the Public Safety Center close by and then I grabbed the Coachlight Motel and RV Park and Old Homestead House Museum. After bagging this bonus my GPS sent me out of town on a dirt road to my next bonus location. I stopped before turning on the dirt road and decided no way! I back tracked out because it was dark and no way to really see where I was going. My next bonus was the courthouse in Colorado Springs. After bagging that bonus, I want to get as close to Trinidad and the next bonus as possible. I was getting tired and decided to call it good at Pueblo, CO but just my luck the County Fair was going on and there wasn’t a room to be found. I ended up riding another 20 miles to Colorado City, CO.

August 29-Day 6 I made an adjustment on the fly to my route, I decided I needed to pick up more bonus point. I knew that I would come in right at the finisher level 27,000 using my current route. I grabbed the Ludlow Massacre Memorial outside of Trinidad, CO and instead of heading to Santa Fe; I turned for Fort Sumner and Billy the Kid’s grave site. I grab my picture and headed for Lincoln County Courthouse snapped a quick picture and headed for Los Lunas and the Burger King for a receipt. This is where I made one of my mistakes of the rally. If I would have headed south I could have picked up about 2500-3000 extra points, but didn’t realize until it was too late. After getting the Burger King bonus, I headed for my last daylight bonus Window Rock in AZ. I made it with 2 hours to spare, did my call in bonus and headed for Prescott, AZ and the Hastings Book, Music and Video store. I arrived just before mid-night took my picture and found a hotel asking for a 04:30 wake up call. Once in the hotel room, I was trying to see how I could add a few extra bonuses (tombstone OK corral, Geronimo Memorial and two others around Phoenix, AZ) before heading for the Salton Sea and Santa Ana, CA the second checkpoint.

August 30-Day 7 I jump out of bed I over slept by 30 minutes and decided that the extra bonuses were out. I was going to grab the Salton Sea bonus and head for the second checkpoint. This was going to make the last day a low point count but probably the right thing to do. So off I went heading for I-10 the back way. This was a great road for tearing up the tires but not for rallying. Early in the morning on mountain roads you eventually see deer and boy did I get an up close look at a few. After getting out of the mountains, I finally made my way back to I-10 and heading for CA. I remember laughing to myself about how I was going to get an early start and beating the heat, it was 108 degrees on I-10 and I still had to get the last bonus before heading for Santa Ana. So off I went to Salton Sea (the weirdest place I visited) It was supposed to be a big resort place that collapsed (not sure why). I snapped my picture of the sign “Welcome to Bombay Beach”. I remember thinking as I left who would ever live here? As I was on my way out, I saw Jeff and Milinda pass me. I arrived around 15:00, an hour before the checkpoint opened and 4 hours before penalty points started, so I checked into my room and verified all my data. I also went down to the bike worked on my electrical short in my running lights and called it good. I went to the scoring table at 18:00 and this time I didn’t miss anything and walked away a little disappointed only getting 28,683 points but at least this time I didn’t leave anything at the table. I did make that mistake in my route when I was in New Mexico but I was still over the minimum for finisher status.

So I went down double checked the bike, helped a friend with a tire change and headed for bed. I knew the next day would come quick.

Below is my bonis locations for Leg 2 and a map of my route the Blue is the Leg 2 bonus stops.

Leg Bonus Description Points Penalty
2 Checkpoint #2, Santa Ana, CA
2 Rest Bonus - Leg 2 4001
2 Hastings Books Music & Video 2211
2 Window Rock, Arizona 342
2 State Recreation Area 752
2 Ludlow Massacre Memorial 641
2 Old Homestead House Museum 3464
2 Public Safety Center 405
2 Wellness Center, Coors Brewery 1389
2 Coachlight Motel & RV Park 329
2 Courthouse Castle Rock 188
2 Horseshoe Casino 354
2 National Hobo Museum 4013
2 Barbed wire museum 4306
2 Austin Post Office 507
2 Calvary Cemetery 485
2 Historic Courthouse Lincoln 615
2 Billy the Kid grave 872
2 Burger King 206
2 Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center 991
2 Call-In Bonus 1 8-28-09 - Leg 2 499
2 Call-In Bonus 2 8-29-09 - Leg 2 501
2 Arrival Points - Leg 2 100
2 Gas - Leg 2 1500
Totals for leg 2: 28671

IBR 09 Ride report Leg 1

2009-09-19T23:59:00.006-06:00

2009 IBR ride report by David Porter

My ride started with me taking off August 18th for Spartanburg, SC. I had the FJR all packed up the night before and my wife and son waved as I took off, they were flying to the finish to see me in. When arriving on the 20th, I met up with FJRod from the FJR Riders forum. Rod helped me replace my Roadsmart tires with fresh Pilot Road II's that I shipped to him a week earlier. After changing the tires, I invited Rod and his wife to come to the hotel for dinner. Rod’s wife could not make it but Rod showed up and we had a nice dinner talking about people on the forum and the riders in the 09 rally. After dinner Rod and I went to the lounge, where we met up with several riders kicking back having drinks and talking about the rally. It was a great time hooking up with everyone in what was the last relaxing environment before we started.

The next day was an off day we all sat around checking on our bikes talking with friends and relaxing. At a riders meeting, we received all info need for the next day. I went to tech inspect and breezed through with no problems after that I did my odometer check again without an issue. I ran the odometer check with Davo a rider from Australia that I’m sad to say died the last day of the ride. He had an accident hitting a deer that he never recovered from. I didn’t really know Davo outside of a few conversations at Spartanburg and e-mails on the IBA forum but he seemed to be a real friendly guy.

After tech inspect and odometer check, we had to do camera check, video interview and packet pick up. Later we had two seminars to attend then we were free. I went to dinner with friends riding 2-up. We talked about how the stress levels seemed to be rising and people were starting to put their game faces on.

The next morning we attended another riders meeting were we received our flash drives with our leg 1 bonus waypoints. They basically wanted everyone to test and see if you could read the waypoints. Later that evening we had our opening banquet and received our bonus packets and flag. They told us that to track as a finisher we would need 9000 point for the first leg. After the banquet, rookies were allowed to stay and get additional help/questions answered. I stayed for 30 minutes listening then headed for my room at 20:30. First thing I did was put my clips on my flag and pack it away. I then started playing with the waypoints trying to work on getting a decent route for my first leg. I was focusing on making sure I would get at least 9000 points. I wrote off the big bonuses right off the bat, going for a more conservative route. My goal on leg 1 was to not blow my chances of finishing, I knew the points would go up and there would be time to push harder later. I ended up working until 01:30 designing my route before heading to bed.

Leg 1
August 24-Day 1 I jumped out of bed at 06:00 for a quick shower then downstairs for breakfast. I then packed up the bike, we had to have our bikes in the line up by 08:00 for the 10:00 start out front. At 09:30 one last riders meeting were Warchild was telling everyone how we were exiting the parking lot and if anyone dropped their bike they might as well go home. Once we hit 10:00 Warchild directed the two rotary RE5 to lead the pack out of the parking lot for the first bonus location which everyone was expected to go to the BMW factory in Spartanburg. It only took a couple of minutes to get to the factory so we had to wait until 10:30 for this bonus to open. Several riders forgot about the bonus not opening till 10:30 and they snapped pictures and ran. I ended up getting 5 more bonuses the first day, I hit McCray’s tavern (I had to stop and rewire my GPS at this bonus, my wire for my GPS shorted out but lucky I had brought a spare so 20 minutes later and I was back on the road.), O’Kelly Memorial Library (a police officer was called to the library, a librarian was getting nervous with all the people running up taking pictures of the front of the library), 16th Street Baptist Church (a guy was hanging around so he held my flag for me), Floyd/Chattanooga County Line and Jackson County Courthouse. I ran into Bob Collins at the courthouse location and we rode together for a couple hours and ended up about 40 miles from our next bonus before grabbing a hotel room. I told Bob I was going to ride as close as I could get to my next bonus and he happened to be heading to the same one so he tagged along. Nancy walk in to the hotel lobby as I was walking out, I asked how she was doing? Nancy never said a word, you could tell she was pissed so I didn't press. I found out later a woman had just hit her turning a corner, luckily she was not injured. As I was unpacking the bike I saw a familiar Goldwing, Dennis must have checked in right before me. As I was hitting the bed I was thinking my route must not have been too bad, I saw a lot of other riders.

August 25-Day 2 I’m off like a shot out of the hotel before anyone else and arrive at the Meriwether Lewis National Monument for my picture as I’m leaving Bob and Dennis show up. I cruised into Kentucky grabbing a bonus at the Brushy Mountain Prison, that’s where I first noticed I had the wrong flag (I couldn't figure out why my lettering was backwards but the numbers were correct). My stomach sank thinking that I would be disqualified. After thinking and checking my pictures, I realized that the flag must have been given to me at the banquet by mistake. I called the rally mistress "Lisa", she told me rider 99 had already called and explained to whole thing. She told me to continue collecting bonuses and they would sort it out at the checkpoint. I have to omit she had the perfect time to yank my chain, which I did deserve but she let me off the hook easily. So after a big sigh of relief, off I went to grab the Harlin County Courthouse, Hatfield and McCoy’s historical marker, the strikebreaker historical marker bonus 6 miles away in West Virginia (That section of the ride is not a speed run, the rodes are really twisty. ), Moose Family Center Lodge and Child Enrichment Center (I ran into Dennis again, the guy always has a smile on his face). It was getting pretty late so I waved goodbye to Dennis and off I went, I decided to ride a little longer then grab a hotel close to my next bonus setting up day 3.

August 26-Day 3 I’m on the last day of our leg 1 and feeling pretty good, as I'm walking out of the hotel I saw a couple of other riders bikes. I wanted to get a good start and grab a couple of bonuses before getting to the time bonus at the Sturgis House which was close to the Pennsylvania border this bonus didn’t open until 09:00. I was still having GPS issues but was able to get the first two bonuses Total Waste Logistic Las LLC and the Historical Marker where Pretty Boy Floyd was killed before getting to the Sturgis house. I left the Waste Logistic bonus about the same time as another rider and we happened to both be heading to the Pretty Boy Floyd bonus. I arrived there about the same time as you guessed it Dennis. We were laughing pretty hard while taking our pictures. I again waved and off I went knowing I would see him at Sturgis house. This was a cool stop because there was about 30 riders here (big bonus points) before we started for the checkpoint in St. Charles, IL. I went in purchased my key chain and took my picture of Bob Dillinger’s death mask hanging above the washer in the basement. I talked to Dean who was doing the video for a couple of seconds then I was out of there heading for my last three bonuses before St. Charles. As I was flying down the turnpike across the top of Indiana, I honked as I passed by parents lake cottage. I knew they were up there but just didn't have the time to stop. I bagged the Municipal Airport in La Porte, Drifter’s Restaurant and Lounge and Dillinger’s Museum all in the rain. It started raining as I reached the La Porte and didn’t stop until after I arrived in St. Charles. I arrived in St. Charles about 16:00 three hours before the penalty points were going to start. I was feeling pretty good that I had collected over the 9000 points needed to be on track for finisher status. So when I sat down at the scorers table and presented my pictures and receipts that I collect. I was disappointed that I missed a time stamp on one of my gas receipts costing 50 points. After signing everything, my total for leg 1 was 9349 points 349 points above the finisher level. I decided to double-check everything next time, even though I check my gas receipts as I document them on my log, I somehow missed the time on that receipt. Lesson learned costing 50 points for leg 1. I wasn't even close to the top riders which was ok, my goal was to get the first leg under my belt. I kept telling myself focus on finishing not chasing them.

I then went and doubled checked the bike and the wiring job, I did early to make sure it would hold up for leg 2. It was now about 21:00 so off to bed, we were not going to get our leg 2 bonus packets until 04:00.

Below is the bonus listing for leg1 with a map of my route. The Red locations are the bonus for Leg1.

Leg Bonus Description Points
1 Checkpoint #1, St. Charles, IL
Call-In Bonus 8-25-09 - Leg 1 250
Gas - Leg 1 1000
1 16th St Baptist Church 457
1 Jackson County Courthouse 195
1 O'Kelly Memorial Library 209
1 McCray's Tavern 208
1 Floyd/Chattanooga county line 646
1 Dillinger Museum 144
1 Drifters Restaurant & Lounge 137
1 Municipal airport 141
1 Historical marker 2066 606
1 Harlan County Courthouse 517
1 Sturgis House 1031
1 Total Waste Logistics Las LLC 149
1 Historical marker Calcutta 589
1 BMW Visitor's Center 666
1 Meriwether Lewis National Monument 1014
1 Brushy Mountain Prison 124
1 Moose Family Center Lodge 159
1 Historical marker Matawan 845
1 Child Enrichment Center 162
1 Penalty - Missing odo reading on a fuel log 0 50
1 Arrival Points - Leg 1 100
Totals for leg 1: 9349

August (Less than a month to go)

2009-08-05T02:26:00.000-06:00

Well here it is August and I'll be heading out for South Carolina on the 18th. The Rally starts on the 24th at 10:00 and ends on the September 4th at 09:00. I think I have everything ready to go and the bike is about as ready as I can make it.

Like I talked in July I think I need one more long ride so I set up a 1000 mile ride for the 7th. I'm going to do an in state Saddle Sore 1000, mixing the riding up with interstate and back roads.

When I get to Spartanburg, SC, I have a friend from the FJR forum that is going to help me do a tire change. I shipped a set of tires to his house a week ago and he has a No-Mar tire changer and balancer. My plan is to take off the morning of the 18th and ride to somewhere between Oklahoma City, OK and the Arkansas border. The second day, I hope to get at least to Knoxville, TN, so that on the 20th I only have a couple of hundred miles to go. My goal is to arrive at my hotel in Spartanburg, SC around noon, drop off my stuff and head of to my buddy for the tire change. After I get the tires changed I'm going to try and minimize my riding so that I start the rally with tires that are as fresh as possible. The plan is to try and run the whole rally on one set.

Well here it is the 5th of August and I changed the engine and drive oil so all I have left is changing out the plugs. I check ed the brake pads and they look good, so we are getting close. I have registered my SPOT and set up a shared page for friends to go checkout how I'm doing in the rally.

I'm going to do the long ride this week, My plan is to do 950 miles in 15-16 hours. I will start will full tanks so I hopefully will only need two fuel stops and maybe a couple of stops to stretch. If everything goes well I should average 60-63 mph and that will be enough to hit my goal for 15-16 hours. I start around 04:00 and should be home by 20:00. This will be my last ride before heading for Spartanburg on the 18th.

I have also ben packing and re-packing trying to squeeze every inch of space out of my saddle bag as possible. My plan is to ship 5 days worth of clothes to Santa Ana, CA and take 7 days worth of clothes to start and throw away what I'm wearing each day, this should help save space. Then once I get to Santa Ana, CA I will restock and be good to go for Spokane, WA.

Well another great weekend, I was able to get out and do the 1000 miles without any real issues. I did have a small electronic issue, my speakers in my helimet were giving me trouble and I had to stop and try and fix them. On the side of the interstate at 04:30, I gave up and yanked them out of my helimet and put in earbuds. I cannot do that kind of miles without my tunes. So off I went 960 miles in 15 hours. I averaged right at 64 mph. I did have one section about 90 miles with a nasty crosswind (it also did a number on my Road Smarts, I have never seen a set of tires get so torn up by being pushed like that). I knew that stretch would be bad and when I came to the bail out point (shorter ride home) all I had to say to myself was I needed the miles and off I went. One important factor I found out was that the beaded seat cover had to go, I had to pull it off with 100 miles to go. I just couldn't take it any longer. It was nice allowing better airflow but I have a hard seat to begin with so the cover just made it harder. I ended up doing three fuel stops and one break to stretch my legs, I was pretty pleased since I have not been over 600 miles since March.

All I have left for the bike is to change the plugs and it should be good to go. I still need to do a little work on my hydration system, on my last ride the temps hit 96 degrees and with full riding gear it felt like 110. It was a little cumbersome to grab the hose for my hydration pack.

Well thought I would slide in a little ride today that was almost a big mistake. I running 50-55 on a State Hwy when I guy ran a red light turned right in front of me. I hit the brakes hard and started sliding (thought I was going down for sure). Luck for me the car accelerated and we missed, I then hit the shoulder and the gas and went around him. Should have seen his face when he saw me speeding by him on the shoulder of the road. He gave me a dirty look like I was at fault.

The bike is going to be parked for the most part, just a little ride here or there nothing big, just need to do final checks before I take off on the 18th. My plan is to take off arond 10:00 ride abot 700 miles and call it good for the first night. I will then take off and ride about the same amount and leave myself about a 100 miles on teh 20th.

Well here we go it is the 17th, I leave tomorrow morning for Spartanburg. I completed the final checkouts and replaced the spark plugs. The bike is as ready as it is going to be, no it's up to me. I'm really struggling right now, I'm really not feeling the pressure/stress I thought I would this close to go time. I have to work tonight till 03:00 then I still plan to take off at 10:00.

Once I get to Spartanburg, I'm planning on making one/two more entries on my blog before the rally starts. Once we start I will be on the road for 11 days and probably won't make an entry until September.

Well I made it safe and sound, the ride was really uneventful which was nice. I do have a problem with my GPS, it seems to be losing power every once in a while so I need to do a little wire management and see if I can find the problem. I took off Tuesday like I planned running to a little town East of Oklahoma City then just past Alanta the second day. I arrived in Spartanburg on the 20th about 09:00 just in time to sit down for breakfast with some friends from Colorado.

Right now I'm sitting in the hotel kicking back watching riders come and go. Several are making their last run to pick up fresh tires. I was lucky, I met someone on the FJR forum that lives close to Spartanburg that helped me replace my ires so all is good. I'm planning to make a short run today to break them in a little before the start on the 24th.

Well until next time ride safe.

July (2 Months to go)

2009-07-01T02:38:00.000-06:00

Well here we are again, a little less than 2 months left and all is well. The FJR looks to be in pretty good shape and I'm working on setting up a tire change before the start of the IBR. I'm planning to put the bike in the shop in the next couple of weeks to get the valve check done. The shop said it would take 2-3 days to complete. Sounds like a good time to go camping and do a little fly fishing. I have found my water jug container at Target and I'm planning to mount it this weekend. I'm going to put it on the right side passenger peg.

Last weekend I took a trip up to Santa Fe to meet a friend that has competed in the IBR back in the 90's and has been part of the staff ever since. We talked over lunch about mental prep and bike setup. We also talked abou the NM LOE in October that he runs. I told him about the practice run a few friends of mine are going to do in a couple of weeks.

Right now my sons off at boy scout camp and next week we are going camping as a family so I don't have much planned for the next couple of weeks. I'm really focusing on making sure I have all my paperwork and all the stuff I'm planning to take with me.

I'll probably drop the bike off to the shop right before I head off to camp next week.

Well the real countdown is starting, I'm 6 weeks from heading for Spartanburg, SC and the start of the IBR. The FJR goes into the shop this week for a valve check, after I get it back I'm plannig to change the air cleaner, plugs, oil and drive fluid. Once those items are done the bike is ready to go. I'm spending more time right now making sure I have all my paperwork in order and making sure I have everything I want to take ready to go.

Well here it is 4 weeks left before I take off for Spartanburg. I pick up the FJR tomorrow after the valve check. I have lined up my tire change in Spartanburg and I'm doing a night run the 22nd to get back into shape. I have some friends that want to do the NM LOE in October so I told them lets get out and ride like a rally. I'm not worried about them slowing me down, they are both experienced riders that I have been out with several times so it will be nice to have the company. We are planning to take off at 9 pm and run till 4am. We will stop take pictures and document just like in a rally. Once done we will sitdown and practice doing the scoring. It should be a hoot. Another nice thing is that it is supposed to rain Wednesday night so this will be excellent practice. I'm hoping to get in about 6 bonus location and two fuel stops. That will be great practice for getting on and off the bike and documenting the stops. I think we can get in about 300 miles, but that is cutting it close.

It looks like I have all the paperwork ready to go, so all I have to do is get the bike and myself ready to go.

Well I picked up the bike after the valve check this week and went for a short ride to test out the bike. All seem well so tonight I should be ready for the practice run. Should be interesting the weather has been taking a turn for the worst.

Well the practice run went off without a hitch, There was 2 of us, we did a routing exercise from 9:00-10:00 pm, then mapped out the route. Once we had the route choosen, we took off. We ended up riding till 03:20 am so just under 6 hours and went 290 miles. We averaged just under 54 MPH. Not bad considering I made us do 2 fuel stops and we did 5 bonii stops. I think we averaged about 10 minutes per stop. So if you calculate out the stops we averaged 68.7 MPH.

In the first part of the ride, we hit quite a lot of road construction and after we cleared the construction we were zooming down the interstate (that's when we starting seeing a lot of deer) man that was a little nerve racking. I know I saw at least 6 in a 15 mile stretch on I-40 East of Albuquerque, NM. Once we cleared that stretch I really didn't see anymore critters. To be honest that is the most deer I've seen along I-40 in a long time. The only thing I can figure out is that we have been getting a lot of rain and the sides of the interstate had just been cut. We ended up missing all the rain which made the riding nice but I was hoping to get a little rain. When practicing it is nice to get hit with bad weather I think so you can checkout your gear.

Once we hit our last stop, we headed for a Denny's close by for breakfast. After breakfast, we split up heading home. I found out a couple of days later my buddy left his riding gloves on his saddle bag at the last stop he thinks. There went a good $75 bucks. This was a nice little practice run, it told me I have a few issues with my setup on the bike and will need to make a couple of adjustments.

I'm thinking I need to do one more big ride before heading for Spartanburg August 18th. Not sure what I'm going to do something close to 1000 miles should be good.

Well until next time ride safe.

Dave

June (3 Months to Go)

2009-06-22T04:28:00.000-06:00

Man it's already June, I’m less than three months away from the IBR. Well this has been a busy month.

I completed my 2-up ride/vacation with my wife to Durango, CO. What a fun time we had we ended up riding to Mesa Verde and doing the Million Dollar highway. I forgot about all the curves into Mesa Verde. My wife wasn’t all that thrilled on some of the roads and the Ranger that clocked me 25 over in the park didn’t seem to pleased either. After a short conversation, we parted ways with me promising to keep it no more than 5 over. I think he was taking pity on me since my wife was giving me feedback as he walked up to me. Riding in the park was great and hiking to the cliff dwellings was fun. We took a lot of pictures. The next day we met some friends coming in from a Utah ride, it was their last night on the road before heading home. After they took off, we headed for the Million Dollar Highway. We arrived in Silverton, CO. early enough to have breakfast and check out the shops. Once done shopping we decided to skip going to Ouray and head back to Durango due to the weather. As we rode to Durango we saw a mixture of rain, snow, sleat and sun. It was an interesting ride back. wAll told we ended up riding a little over 700 miles, so I now have 11.2K on the PR2. Once we got home, I noticed we had hit the wear bars on the front tire and decided it was time for a new set. So off to the shop we go, I found a great deal on the Dunlop Roadsmart 2 and decided to give them a try. I honestly think I could have gotten another 1000-1500 miles out of the PR-2 but decided to go ahead and change them out. The RS-2 has a different feel then the Pilot Road 2, not bad but different so not sure yet. I need to give them a good run to test them out.

Well the next weekend a few friends and I hit the road doing the enchanted circle again. We went through the Jemez mountains and of course I had the opportunity to see those big flashing lights in my mirrors again. The ranger asked if we knew how fast we were going, I said “a little over the speed limit.” He said he was running 40 when we passed him and he clocked us 25 mph faster (See a theme developing). We ended up getting a lecture on how dangerous the roads were in the Jemez and that we needed to slowdown. But hey no ticket again, we did slow down and made it to Taos with any issues. We also took a side trip over to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge just outside Taos. One of the members of the group had never been so it was a great stop. After that we rode to Red River and had lunch. We talked about possibly doing the New Mexico LOE this year. This is a 24 hour rally in October. After lunch, we continued around the loop and turned for home. We ended up getting a 370 mile ride in, dodged all the rain and had a great time. These road have plenty of curves and I did push a little on the way back. The RS-2 seemed to hold up fine and the longer we went the more comfortable I felt on them.

This week my wife and son went to visit family, so I decided to make run to visit my daughter who lives in Portales, NM. I called and we set up a lunch date. I figured this would be a great ride to put the fuel cell back on the FJR and make sure everything is in good working order. So I took off at 05:00 and arrived in Clovis, NM to meet my daughter and son-in-law for BBQ. I took the long way adding an extra 100 miles to the ride stopping in Roswell, NM for coffee. You can meet some of the most interesting people in Roswell. There was a group of kids at the coffee shop that I think could have passed as aliens in the 50's (it was one of those times I wish I had the camera). I arrived in Clovis at noon and had a great time at lunch, we were able to talk a little. It was nice to chat, even though time was short. They had to get back to work and I had to head home. As I said, I took the long way 360 miles to get there but decided to run straight back home. On the way home I decided to stop and fill my main tank from the fuel cell. I opened the valve and nothing happened. I check out the tank and found that the quick disconnect wasn’t completely opening. I grabbed a strap I carry with me and tightened the connection and it started working again. I ended up riding 620 miles with no real issues. I have about 1100 miles on the RS-2 and they seem to be wearing well.

So I know what my next project for the FJR will be. I will be replacing the quick disconnect for the fuel cell. I’m still feeling pretty good about my set up for the 2009 IBR. I wish I could get in more multiple day rides but I just don’t think it’s going to happen with all the things happening at work. My boss has already approved my vacation for the IBR, so I don’t want to push it.

So things on my to do list before the IBR are more memory for the netbook (on order), getting software upgrade for my Map Source, I will need to do one more oil and drive oil change and replace the spark plugs. After that I should be ready to go. I already picked up my med-jet insurance (required for IBR) but still need to get the umbrella policy required.

With only one week left in June, I’m going to end up around 22K on the FJR and only 4K from a valve check. I’m not looking forward to spending 500.00 dollars to do this check, but I don’t want anything to happen during my ride in August. I think I'm giving my wife sticker shock with all the nickel and dime stuff we are have to do.

Well here is is the end of June, didn't ride much this week just focused on getting all the little things done. I added more memory to my new Netbook, downloaded new software for my GPS and starting to get everything picked out that I'll be taking with me. I replaced the quick disconnect and the fuel system is working again. I'm planning to do some rides that will test the tank. I have set up a meeting with a friend that has done the IBR before, I'm going to probe him for tips on the ride.

My riding group is planning to do the NM LOE in October it is a 24 hour rally, so I have been helping several friends get their bikes ready for the LOE. I'm also going to take them on an all night practice run, hopefully everyone will decided after that on go-no-go.

Well until next week ride safe.

May (4 months to go)

2009-05-05T02:01:00.000-06:00

WOW time is really flying by now. Only four months to go before the 2009 IBR. My FJR is about as ready as I can get it sorry to say I'm not as prepared as I would like to be.

I still have a couple of things to complete but she is ready to go. I did have my auxiliary light switch fail (should have known better than to use a non-water proof toogle switch). I'm still struggling with the location of my hydration system, I'm thinking of mounting it to the fuel cell mount. Then I could get a duffle bag to cover both. I have bottomed out on tires and decided to go with the pilot 2's. I have 9500 miles on them now and they look like I could go another 2000-2500 miles nore. They are starting to show a litle uneven wear but nothing to bad.

Last weekend I went for a nice ride 200 miles the weather was great and this weekend I'm planning a 250-350 miles ride just depends on which direction North or South I decide to go. Weather looks great for this weekend so it should be a great ride.

I'm still trying to get my mapping software loaded on my new Netbook I received for my aniversary. Since it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive I have to get an external drive that is compatible with my Asus Eee Netbook.

Well I went for the lower mileage ride this week, me and a couple of buddies did about 270 miles. Our loop took us through some great twisties. I did have one corner that I took a little faster than I normally do and I ended up catching my boot and dragging my peg. I'm normally not that agressive in the corners but decided to push a little harder than I normally do. When we sat down for lunch my buddy behind me asked if my foot was ok. He said I was shaking it for two turns before I left it on the peg. Our stop was a little hole in the wall place in Jemez, New Mexico (Los Ojo's bar and grill). If you ever get to New Mexico you need to stop in at Jemez and have the Ojo's special trust me.

Well I'm at 9900 miles on the PR2 and they still look good, I'm starting to see alittle uneven wear on the front tire but nothing that bad. The bike is still handling well in the corners (as this past weekend ride showed me).

Well this week was a bust I really didn't do to much of anything. I did get the new switch installed and found a duffle bag that will cover the fuel cell. So I guess the weekend wasn't a total waste. I'm planning to make a run up to Red River this weekend for the Memorial weekend. They have a good size rally there and the enchanted circle is a great ride from home.

I do have an interesting last week on the month coming. My wife and I will be taking a trip up to Durango, CO. This will be a four day trip, we will home camp in Durango and do several loops checking out the sites. My wife has never been on a motorcycle road trip so it should be entertaining. I haven't showed her the rides I'm planning but we will be doing the million dollar highway and a few other interesting rides. IT should be interesting to see if she is still talking to me after we get back home.

What a great ride last weekend. I made a run to Red River and the enchanted circle in New Mexico. This is the weekend for the Memorial Day Rally in Red River. They start on Thursday and run through Monday closing the rally with a parade to Angel Fire and the Vietnam War Memorial. This a great weekend and they usually have 3-5K motorcycles in town. We only went up for the day so round trip works out to 350 miles. I went with a couple of friend the weather couldn't have been better. It was overcast so the temps stayed in the low to mid 70's. Did have one scarey moment when a pick-up truck was passing and didn't do a good job of getting out of my lane, I had to swing out as he crossed back over into his lane. It diffiently casued a little pucker factor. We stopped in Red River for lunch checking out the bikes and the vendors. The place really starts to pick up Friday afternoon and only gets crazier. Once we left Red River we did what they call the enchanted circle a great little ride that hits the major ski town in Northern New Mexico. The road twists through the mountains with several 180 degree turns. Once you drop out of the mountians the road switches to big sweepers that you can really wind it up.

On the trip home one of the guys dropped off to see family in Taos and the other at Embuido Station so I high tailed it the rest of the way by myself. The roads were in excellent shape so I turned it up a notch on the way home. We ran with the threat of rain all day and I only saw maybe 15 minutes of rain.

Well the bike is ready for this weekends 2-up ride, the wife and I are heading for Durango, CO for a 4 day vacation. We are planning to run the million dollar highway, check out Mesa Verde National Park and hang around Durango taking in the sites. This will be her longest road trip, so I decided to head to somewhere we both enjoy.

I'm still running the same PR2, I now have a little over 10.5K on the tires and the still look pretty good. Afer the Durango trip which I think will end up adding around 1000 miles I'll change them out. They are cupping a little up front but not bad, this 2-up trip should be no problem since my wife doesn't like agressive riding we will be taking it easy.

Well this wil be my last post for May, we will not be back from Durango until June.

Well until next week ride safe.

April (5 months to go)

2009-04-06T00:52:00.000-06:00

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.

March (6 months to go)

2009-03-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

WOW only six months to go. I think the FJR is about as ready as I can get it. I have my GPS, XM-Radio, Spot, Cell Phone, Driving lights, helmet speakers and the fuel cell installed. Right now I have been focusing on the check point locations, seeing which way is the easiest in and out and if there will be any times that there might be traffic concerns. Right now all I can say is we are starting in South Carolina on August 24th, our first check point will be in Illinois, then California with the finish September 4th in Washington. I have all my hotel reservations set up and my wife is still undecided on which checkpoints she will be at. I would like to see her at the beginning and end but not sure she wants to travel across the country in that short of time.

The first Friday of March will be my biggest ride of the new year. I'm planning a 450-500 mile ride. I'm hoping to really see how far I can go with the new fuel-cell. Right now the furtherers I have gone was 400 miles with the last 50 in the city. I really want to see what I can do using Interstate and State roads. The route has a good combination Hwy and St Rds, this should be a good test of how far I can really go. Only a couple of my friends are planning to attend because of the distance and I only want to have two stops so anyone that wants to go needs to be able to go at least 200 miles between stops.

Well the 450-500 mile ride turned out to be a 380 mile ride in the wind. Just a couple of us decided to test the wind and to be honest I think the wind won. We did the first 270 miles with crosswinds gusting up to 50 mph, so you can guess we had a pretty good lean on. At times I felt like I was trying to keep a 45 degree lean on just to keep it straight. We ended up stopping for fuel and decided to bag the last 200 mile portion for a 110 mile straight shot. The ride was still great but I need to wash the ride it has dirt everywhere from the blowing wind.

From here on out I'm only planning a ride every other week, need to get things done around the house.

Well things started slowing down I'm only riding once every two weeks now and my last ride for March was a short ride only a 200 miler with a couple of friends. Nothing much to talk about just a quick out and back. So far I have 4800 miles in for the first 3 months of the year. Not great but ok, I still haven't started my training runs for the 2009 IBR.

Side note my tire test has been going well the Pilot-2's have been doing well, so far I have 6300 miles on the set and they still look really good.

Well until next week, ride safe

February (7 months to go)

2009-02-02T03:24:00.000-07:00

Here it is February 1st and I'm looking at the new toys that arrived in the mail this weekend. I just received a new set of speakers for my XM-Radio, they velcro into my helmet, they have a volume control and a quick disconnect. This will be nice because I could not control the volume so once I had my helmet on I could not hear anyone talking to me (I'm not sure that was a bad thing though, will have to wait and see). I also recieved the hardwire kit and mount for my Garmin 2610, so this weekend I will probably do a little wiring and set up the new craddle for my GPS. The last new toy I recieved was a beaded cover for my seat. This company wanted to give out 20 of these for riders in the 09 IBR and I was selected. The only thing they want is for you to ride the IBR with it and give feedback on how it works. I installed (very easy you just take your seat off and set it on and tighten two straps) this weekend and will test on my 360 mile ride. So far the only thing I have noticed is that the beads set you up enough that in the winter you can get a draft.

With only 7 months to go, I'm starting to really get geared up. I was going to try and attend the March IBA pizza party in Jacksonville, FL but family obligations are going to prevent that from happening. That was supposed to be my first big ride, it would have been about 4500 miles. I have been working on my wife to go visit friends in Reno, NV in May. If that goes through, I'm planning to do the Nevada 1099, it starts in Sparks, NV very close to Reno. This would be great we can visit are friends for a few days and I can get into a rally that I will desperately need as prep for the IBR in August. This might be the only rally I do before the IBR.

The rest of my prep will probably be long rides, just taking off and returning home after a two day ride. Either doing a SS2000 or maybe BBG3000. I also have to really start looking at what I really need to pack, I'm planning to do some sleeping on the ground so should I take a sleeping pad? I have started trying to figure out how everything will fit in my saddle bags.

This weekend should be a good test for the fuel cell, we are planning a 360 mile ride. I have yet to do anything past the 260 miles so I'll set the bike on its center stand fill both tanks and see how much fuel I have left when I get back. This should be an interesting test since the longest I've gone is 340 miles and I probably had another 40-50 miles left.

I also just recieved a pre-invite to a 2010 rally it's a 10n10 (10,000 miles in 10 days). Right now, I'm focused on this August and the IBR but Steve's 10n10 would be a nice addition to add in 2010.

Well instead of doing the 360 mile ride the FJR went into the shop for a recall on the ignition switch. While in the shop I asked them to check out the vibration I was seeing around 25-30 mph. It ended up the vibrations was the head set was loose and they had to replace the bearings. They really did a good job in the shop and I got the bike back after one day. So missed out on the long ride but have been able to get two rides in since. The first was a 200 mile ride and the second was a 270 miles ride that ended at my house for a BBQ. The ride was excellent pushing a lot of twisties, with the weather in the 40's. The roads were clear for the most part, we did hit a section of patchy ice coming out of the mountains. It was just enough to keep you on your toes.

The fuel cell is working well, I still need to replace the quick disconnect and put a better strap on to secure the cell but other than that all is well. I have noticed even on the center stand I can only put about 3.5 gallons in the aux-cell, even though it is a 4 gallon tank. I think I have about 10.5 gallons if the cell only holds 3.5 gallons. So far the longest I have gone has been 400 miles on one tank, I'm thinking I can get between 400-450 between tanks if I keep the speed around 75mph. My guess is I will probably make sure I fill up around 400 that way I have a cushion of margin.

This week I took the FJR for a 280 mile ride with a few friends and afterwards invited everyone over for a BBQ and cold beer. We did a run up into the mountains, it was wonderful snow everywhere but the roads were clear. The temps were cold in the morning but by the time we arrived at my house everyone had their jackets off it was a balmy 62 degrees. We all kicked back eating and drinking and just enjoying the day.

Well the last week of February was a bust. My lovely wife kind of put the clamp down and I'm grounded every other Friday. So last Friday I was spending time doing a few things around the house. I was able to rewire the FJR again for my new Garmin 2720. I now have a the 2610 and 2720. I'm not sure I will mount both for the rally but just want to have the option if I think I need it.

I also received a e-mail message from the organizers of the rally with the check point locations this week. My goal starting April will be to ride to each one, checking out the area. I'm planning to spend 2-3 days on these rides to help get more saddle time. I'll practice my fuel stops and setting up sleping arragements. I'm hoping to practive my Iron Butt Motel.

So far I have put 3275 miles on since January 1st. At the current pace, I will hit about 19,500 miles this year not including the miles the 2009 IBR will add and the additional training rides to the Rally check points. I was also hoping to start those rides late April early May.

Well until next week ride safe.

January (8 months to go)

2009-01-07T02:27:00.000-07:00

Well here we are in 2009 and the year is really starting out well. By January 4th I had already put in a couple of rides. I have 400 miles in for the year so far, with hopefully a ride coming up this weekend. The motorcycle riding group I belong too did a January 1st ride about 120 miles. Then the next day my Friday riding group went out and we covered about 280 miles. What an adventure that was 200 miles into the ride one bike broke down, we had to call a friend with a pickup and we followed the Viffer back home to put it to rest.

Right now the fuel tank is in the shop getting the elbow welded on and if all goes well, I'll get it back by the 8th and have it all ready to go for the weekend. I would love to see how far I can go without filling up. I believe once the auxiliary fuel cell is plumbed in I'll have 10.8 gallons, so I should be able to travel just shy of 450 miles easily without filling up. Like most people that ask "how can you ride that far without stopping"? I try to explain it is not traveling that far it is just know that you can if you need too. The extra fuel is like a security blanket, it's comforting to know that it is there if you need it.

When I'm riding I usually get fuel arount 225-250 miles and the longest I've gone is 320 when I exited for fuel to find the station shutdown and had to run to the next. My goal will be running 300-350 between stops leaving me a safety margin of 100 miles.

Well I picked up the tank this past week right on schedule, hooked everything back up and was ready to ride Friday. Three of us went for a short ride 140 miles but I was able to test the auxiliary fuel cell. That morning I fill my tank and put 2.5 gallons in the cell. Once we hit about 120 miles into the ride I opened my manual valve and started to fill my tank. It was cool flying down the road and watching the fuel gauge go up. It was interesting that I could only put in 2.5 gallons on the side stand. I need to put the bike on the center stand and fill one of these times and see how much fuel I can really get in it.

Well I've put in 2 rides since the fuel cell was installed and I can say that not everything went as well as it should have. The riding has been great here in New Mexico. The weather has been in the low to mid 50's in the afternoon. So the weather and the temps have been good but it looks like I will be doing a little more work on the cell in the near future. On my last ride I decide to start out with half a tank of fuel and about 2.5 gallons in the Fuel cell (again on the side stand). With my main tank and cell, that should have been plenty since we were only going about 200 miles. There was only three of us and since all were Sport Touring bikes we all had a decent range we decide no stops until lunch back in town. As we started to come back to town, I was starting to get the low fuel light flashing, so I reached down and switched the valve to dump my fuel cell into the main tank and what do you know, nothing is happening. I have been running all morning pretty hard and I'm still 40 miles from a gas station and the fuel light is flashing. Well I backed out of the throttle and limped in to the nearest station. After an interesting ride, I got the FJR back home and started troubleshooting my fuel transfer problems. Well to make a long story short, I found the quick disconnect was not working properly. I put a strap around the two ends and pull it tight and that fixed the problem. Looks like the connection isn't completely open when connected and needs forced together. So I'll be replacing it soon. Friday's continue to be my big ride days, the last two Fridays we have been out doing 200-250 mile rides. I seem to be watching the weather every Friday and deciding which way to go.

Well our last ride was nothing special, the weather was pretty bad. Just a short loop around northern New Mexico. We took off around 09:00 and did a 240 mile stopping for lunch. We saw the whole spectrum of weather on this ride, we started in the sun shine and about half way through it was raining, sleeting and snowing. The mileage was also enough that I was able to test my aux-fuel cell again. I still have a strap tightened around the quick disconnect to make sure it doesn't slip. I was 200 miles into the ride when I opened the shut-off valve and it worked perfectly again. So I know for sure that the quick disconnect is the issue and I will have to replace it.

This week in between rides I have been opening the shut-off and still seeing the fuel gauge on the FJR go up, so I also know that I will need to do this every once in a while to make sure I get all the fuel out of the fuel cell. It looks like I need to be 2/3's empty before I open the shut-off to make sure the tank will completely empty.

I have been able to get 1190 miles in not a bad month with one Friday left. Janurary and February should be pretty quiet riding in New Mexico for the most part. In March, I'm thinking of doing a 3000 BBG (that is back to back 1500 mile days. I know of a rider that is tring to do three back to back 1500 BBG's before the IBA pizza party in Jacksonville, Florida and he asked if I would like to join in. I'm thinking of meeting him in Van Horn, Texas and doing the last two BBG's with him back to Jacksonville and the IBA pizza party.

The IBA puts on this party every year during Bike Week. They head up to Jacksonville do a one day event where they recognize riders that do a IBA ride to get their. This would be a great way to get some practice in for the IBR in September.

Well last ride for the month and it was a real interesting ride. My Friday group wanted to do a short ride about 150 miles to a little bar for lunch. I decided it would be a great morning to test out my cold weather gear, so I took off at 07:00 it was 19 degrees and did a little 120 miles ride. I met the group for breakfast at 09:30 and we took off at 10:30. Two of the Friday regulars just purchased new bikes and wanted to do a short ride. We all headed out for the Los Ojo's tavern at Jemez, NM. Along the way we were stopped by a local Sheriff, the new bikes were testing a little too fast. They were lucky he was in a good mood and they only received warnings. They were caught in a corner 71 in a 55 (thank goodness they were not tagged in the straight-a-way moments earlier). So after the performance coaching, we headed up to a turn out at a little place and headed for Los Ojo's. While at the traffic stop we lost one rider and did a little search and hopefully no rescue, we never did find him. He took off and went a different way back home without telling anyone. We spent about 30 minutes checking a section of the road but luckily never found him, so we headed for the lunch stop. We hung out laughing about the traffic stop and how one of the riders stopped were legal for the first time. They never had a legal plate on their bike and the first time they are legal an officer stops them. After lunch we head for home, but decide to make one more stop and I called our lost rider, he was sitting at home with a beer. After a mild lashing for not letting us know he was bailing, we all headed for home.

So I closed out the month at 1450 miles. Not a bad start for 09.

Well till my next post ride safe.

Year in Review

2008-12-28T02:20:00.001-07:00

Well it sure has been an interesting 2008. I was accepted into the 2009 IBR on my first try. I submitted my application and was drawn, that's when all the fun has started.

I started the year with a cane after a hip injury keeping me off the motorcycle for 2 months. Then as I really got started again, I joined a new riding group and helped them set up there first IBA ride a saddle sore 1000. The team started with 7 riders and 5 finished. I rode out and met them at the finish 1111 miles in 23.5 hours.

Then as the year progressed and it looked like I was really getting into a groove; I had my motorcycle accident. I broke my left collar bone, 5 ribs, partially collapsed my left lung and reinjuried my right hip what a fun time. There I was most of July laid up. Well this time, I was only off the motorcycle for 5 weeks of course it was a new motorcycle. That's when I made the change from an ST1300 to a FJR1300. I have to omit it was fun checking out motorcycles 2 weeks after the accident. Every shop I went into the sales people just looked at me weird when I asked them to hold the bike because I could put both hands on the grips.

So here I sat no motorcycle and injuried with the IBA national meet coming up and my biggest LD ride coming up in September(RWYB). With a lot of work and help from my family, I was able to attend the National meet in Tulsa and get my FJR ready for the RWYB. I completed the 5 Days 5000 Mile rally and was pleasently surprised by coming in 9th place.

Things were starting to look up after finishing the RWYB I had 9000 miles on the new FJR and I was starting to feel like my old self. The next rally was the NMLOE in October. Again trouble headed my way with my first DNF, I was half way through the ride when the FJR started acting up. I called in letting them know I was out but that I would be at the finish line, to wave at everyone coming in. It was kind of sad to not complete the ride but like Brian said better to make it home safely then not at all. The frustraiting point was once everyone was in I found out from one of the other FJR riders that my bike probably missed a recall on the ECU and the issues I was having could have been easlily fixed by shuting off the FJR then turning it back on.

I also started setting up the FJR for the 2009 IBR. I received my new fuel cell, wiring in a fuse block and hard wiring my Garmin, XM-Radio and a future for a radar detector. I built the fuel cell mount with a friends help and plumbed the tank. After the New Year, I will make the connection into my exsisting fuel tank and start testing the new setup.

In 2008 I met some new friends Jeff and Milinda, Brian, Matt, Dale, Steve, and Bob and Sylivia, they all have been very helpful and encouraging.

As I go into 2009 I have set a few goals, I'm planning to attend three rallies with a goal of no DNF's. I'm planning to attend the IBA Pizza Party in Jacksonville, FL., complete a couple of long 2-3 day rides building up my seat time and being a finisher in the IBR.

Take care for now hope to see you on the road in 2009.

December (9 Months to go)

2008-12-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

Well December is upon us and my riding has been slowing down. I'm still able to ride to work but that is only about 20 miles a week. I'm still getting out on Fridays for rides but nothing too long.

This week I grabbed a few friends and we did a 220 mile ride to a little bar and grill in San Antonio, NM called the Owl Cafe. They are famous for their Green Chilli Cheese Burgers. So about 11 of us meet for breakfast a place called Mule Barn (you would have to see the place it is hard to discribe but they make a mean breakfast). From there we took a leisurely ride down and a sprited ride back. The burgers at the Owl Cafe were not up to par for a resturant toted as having one of the best chilli cheese burgers in the country. But the ride and company made up for the food. It was a great day.

Saturday I spent the morning with a friend finally building the fuel cell mount. Here is a picture of it prior to cleaning up the wields and painting it. As you can see it's looking pretty rough but I don't want to put a lot of effort until the design has been approved for the IBR 09. So I sent a few pictures off to the chief technicial inspector for his blessing.

Well the design recieved mix reviews and it was suggested that I lower the mount. So I lowered it by two inches and cleaned it up. Since then the mount has been painted (black) and I purchased all the fitting. I'm already to have the tank drilled and welded with the fitting to connect my new tank. I'm planning to take off the tank send it over to be welded. This should happen the week after New Years.

Until that happens, I'm planning to get in a few more rides before the end of the year. Since the run to the Owl cafe, I have been out a couple of times and have one more planned before I take the tank off. I think I'm going to be close to 18,000 miles for the year. Not bad considering I hardly rode in April and May (200 miles) due to an injury and the 0 miles for the month of July due to totalling my ST1300. So the 17,500 was done in a little over 9 months. Well as the year is coming to an end I was able to get out for a ride the day after Christmas. A few friend and I went for a 190 mile ride seeing all kinds of weather. We started in 45 degree weather hit 54 degrees at the mid-point of the ride then finished in 34 degree weather. We saw sun, clouds, rain, snow and wind. Oh did I mention WIND!!! gusts up to 50 mph, what a fun last ride for the year. Here's hoping 2009 brings more miles.

November (10 Months to go)

2008-11-05T03:40:00.000-07:00

WOW has time been flying, here we are in November already. Well the FJR hasn't seen much road time since mid October. I have been working on wiring and mocking up a mounting system for the new Aux-fuel cell. The design has been completed for a week or two and I'm planning to build it out of cardboard to see how it fits before I start fabrication.

I was able to get the ECU recall taken care of and I'm planning to test the new ECU this weekend with a 350 mile ride into the mountains. This will probably be the last mountain trip until spring. I'm setting at little over 15.5K for the year, so it looks like I'm going to fall a little short of the 20K mark I was hoping to hit this year.

The month has been flying along one week away from Thanksgiving and I'm at the 16.5K mark. Have been doing a few small rides nothing over 370 miles for the last two weeks. I just had the recall completed on my top box and I was able to do our cities toy run this Sunday. I took my son on his first toy run, we probably had 7000 riders. He had a blast waving and checking out all the bikes.

Well I have not been doing very well this month on completing modifications to the FJR, I still do not have the mocked up mount for the fuel cell and I'm still playing with the wiring. I still have a ways to go before I'm ready for the 2009 IBR. About the only thing that is completed is sending the final payment on my entry fees, now I'm all in.

Well I cannot believe it but it looks like I have my cardboard mock up done and I have scheduled time with my buddy to build the mount up. I've still been getting in a couple of more rides and things are looking like I just might install the aux-fuel cell by January.

I had to try one more run through the mountains so last weekend, I conned seven friends into riding and we did a 250 mile loop with the temp around 28 degrees mid-day. A little chilly but everyone made it back with no frost bite. One of the guys was riding a brand new Yamaha Raider with no windshield and jeans. It was wild running through the twisties and seeing snow and ice on the edges of the road.

Take care, till next month ride safe.

Dave

October (11 months to go)

2008-10-13T00:11:00.000-06:00

October is starting out to be very hectic, It is balloon fiesta time here in New Mexico and we have a house full of guests. I'm getting the bike ready for the NM LOE which starts October 4th it is a 24 hour rally with a minimum mileage of 1K and points (unsure what that number is yet)to be considered a finisher.

The FJR is as ready as it is going to be, after this rally I'll be done for the year so I'll have time to complete the other modifications. My goal for October is to put 2200 miles on the FJR, I should get about 1200-1400 of those miles in this weekends rally.

Well October has continued to be interesting. We just completed the NM LOE and I'm sadden to report I was a DNF (did not finish). About 500 miles into the ride, my FJR started having surging problems and I thought I had a plugged fuel filter or possibly picked up some bad fuel. I completed about 600 miles when I decided I would abandon the rally and limp the bike home. This was very disappointing because this was the first time I have not completd an IBA ride or rally.

I did get the bike home having completed 850 miles, after resting for a few hours I drove down to the finish line and watched my friends finish. Afterwards I found out from a couple of other riders that there was a recall on my FJR for surging at altitude. So when I went to my dealer, I did find out that my bike has a recall on it for the ECU and this might have been the cause of my DNF in the NM LOE, so the part has been ordered and should be in next week.

Since I'm done rallying for the rest of the year, I'm starting to work on the modification I have been putting off. I just completed installing my aux-lighting and completed a re-wiring for my GPS and XM-Radio. I'm now starting to mock up a mounting system for my auxiliary fuel cell.

Nothing but short rides happening right now. Just did some mountain riding trying to clean off the chicken strips with some friends. I have been doing a little re-wiring as I get ready for the tank to go off to the shop to get drilled and tapped for the new fuel line. I have started mocking up the mount for the aux-tank, it's starting to look like something. I was able to get the bike in and the dealer did the re-call on my ECU, so I'm off this week to do 200-300 mile ride in the mountains, still waiting on the top box mount (back ordered).

September (12 months to go)

2008-09-21T23:55:00.001-06:00

Well here we are in September and it has been a big month for me. It actually started August 30th and by September 8th I had added 6000 miles to the FJR. I have just completed the “Run What Ya Brung” rally starting in Salt Lake City on the 2nd and returning on the 7th. I completed the rally placing 9th, I was very pleased with my performance since this was my first multi-day rally, on a new motorcycle with little farkling and just coming off my accident (that’s why the new FJR). If you would like to know more about the rally check my RWYB rally report, it is under the September reports.

This month was also my first ouchy for the FJR, I dropped it loading on to a trailer after the RWYB. My guess it was unhappy about being put on a trailer so it chose to fall over. I tried to explain to it, that its tires were shot and the family came to the finish so we could all go on a 3 day vacation but it didn’t help. What really happened, I was loading the FJR on a new trailer; I put my foot down to balance it after driving up onto trailer but found no floor board on the left side well I’m sure you can guess what happened next. After my adventure, I picked up the FJR and checked out the damage. I did scratch up my left saddle bag, scratched the left mirror and put a ¼ inch scratch in the tank. I have already picked up some touch up paint and covered my shame marks on the mirror and tank. The saddle bag is going to take a lot of work.

Still scratches and all, I’m really pleased with how the FJR has performed so far. I have just less than 9000 miles on it, in less than 8 weeks. I did try adding an auxiliary power plug to run multiple toys for the rally but that was a bust. First sign of rain and I blew the fuse due to my temporary wiring. I really need to get an auxiliary fuse block installed under my seat for my toys. I also found the new V-Strom hand guards that I installed right before the RWYB great; they really helped keep my hands warmer. I don’t run any heated gear or grips so wind protection is important.

This month lessons learned are many after the RWYB.
1. Need to find a better set of tires for 09 IBR. The Bridgestone’s cannot get the mileage I need so I'm switching to Pilot Road 2’s and hoping I can get 10-11K out of a set. The Bridgestone’s were in pretty bad shape with only 8900 on them.Testing now
2. Need to get a fuse block installed for electronics. Completed
3. Need to get a radar detector installed. Even though I rarely exceed 5 over the speed limit, to many small towns and side roads that I could get nailed on. I don’t need it for the interstate, speed limit plus 5 is plenty!
4. Fuel cell is a must and I’m going to need help with install, to make sure it is done correctly. I need to make sure it can pass technical inspection for rallies. Purchased
5. A camel back really doesn’t work; I need a better setup for hydration. Done needs installed
6. I need to work on my routing and adjusting my times based on road conditions. For example, if heading east coast need to take into account traffic and higher traffic loads.
7. Need to add auxiliary lighting to the motorcycle, the current set up isn't bad but would like the extra light for night riding and critter watching. Purchased brackets
8. Lastly for now I need to pack better, I was completely packed and never opened the left saddle bag because I didn’t need the stuff.

I have just installed a set of Pilot Road 2 tires on the FJR; they are a dual compound softer on the sides and harder down the center, so I’m hoping for better life. At this time, I am getting ready for the New Mexico Land of Enchantment rally in October. It is a 24 hour, 1000 mile adventure in New Mexico; I competed in last year’s event (what a great time, Ira and Jeff put on a great event).

This weekend my goal is to build a fuse box for my toys, I'm setting up for GPS, XM-Radio, Radar Detector, and auxi-lighting. I have a set of brackets coming and I'm shopping for a new set of lights.

Well the fuse box is in but ran into a snag the XM-Radio needs to take the 12 volt and reduce to 5 Volts so I've ordered a black box to take care of that. The GPS was hardwired in no problems and I have futures for radar detector and lights. My brackets came in but have not been installed. My wife also surprised me with a four gallon Fuel cell for the FJR, so nowI'm looking at a mounting system and plumbing.

This weekend is the NM LOE so the FJR is beginning to take shape, I'm not going to have the extra lighting, fuel cell, or radar detector installed but I should be ready. I have the XM-Radio, GPS, hydration system, and throttle spring modification completed. I took the bike for a 300 plus mile ride last weekend (made a chilli Cheeseburger run) to check out the changes I made and everything worked well. So as September closes out I have 9350 miles on the new FJR and 14,120 on for the year. I'm slowly creeping up on the 20K mark.

RWYB Rally

2008-09-21T23:50:00.000-06:00

Run What Ya Brung

I originally was going to take off at mid-night on the 30th and ride straight through to Salt Lake City but instead August 30th, I hooked up with some friends heading for Durango, Co and bummed a little floor space at their hotel that night. I woke the next morning around 5am, took a quick shower and loaded the motorcycle. As I was loading, one of the guys got up too help. We talked how the weather looked pretty bad and I was probably going to be riding in the rain most of the way. We shook hands and he wished me well as I took off in the rain.

I had my wet weather gear on so the ride wasn’t too bad. I rode all the way to Moab, Ut. in the rain. Once I got to Moab, I decided to get something to eat. I hit up a MacDonald for a quick breakfast then off to get gas. As I was getting gas, my auxiliary plug blew the fuse and I ended riding to Salt Lake City (SLC) without my GPS and XM-radio. I arrived in SLC about 14:00. There were several others that had already arrived so I checked in and stated talking to others about the blown fuse. One of the guys knew exactly what happened and told me were the fuse was located. After completing the repair, I went to the Rally Masters room for a beer. I hooked up with some friends at Steve’s room and kicked back talking about the rally and differences between multi day rides compared to 24 hr rallies.

That night about 15-20 motorcycles showed up in the rain, as we sat in the restaurant having dinner. After dinner, we all headed to the bar for an adult beverage watching the weather channel and the rain outside.

On September 1st we woke to pouring rain that continued until late afternoon. We started the technical inspection and odometer check at noon. To be a finisher on this ride you have to complete 5000 miles in five days. So the rally master has to verify your ODO is correct. As I was setting up to run the route, I ran into another guy in the rally setting up to do his check so we took off together. We headed for the starting line, document our ODO reading and took off into the rain. We came up to one of the on-ramps at a good clip when his motorcycle started sliding in the corner. I saw his motorcycle slide so I let off the gas then reaccelerated to allow me to enter the corner at a lower speed. I still slipped a little but nothing to write home about. After that we took the ODO check at a slower speed and had no issues. As we pulled up to the ending line we checked and saw that my ODO was reading 15.8 and his was 15.6 miles with his GPS reading 15.4. So I kind of knew that I would have to do extra miles to meet the 5000 mile minimum need to be a finisher what a bummer.

After the ODO check, we were free until 20:00 for the pre-banquet and meeting to get our last information from the Rally Master. I was hanging out front talking to other riders about the miles on my tires and several were saying I could not make it back on those tire and I would have to change them out somewhere along the route. Most of the other riders went to their rooms checking on the weather moving in from hurricane Gustav. I would have too turn in my route tonight along with my driver license. The driver’s license is placed in an envelope that if unopened at the end of the ride you get extra points. After talking to the other riders hanging out front of the hotel I headed for my room thinking about my tires and what if I need to change them out. Sitting in the room I decided to take out my Louisiana bonus locations out of my route. I still had enough miles so dropping these two locations wasn’t a tough decision. When I saw they had a curfew sent up in Baton Rouge and New Roads I decided to skip them plus the extra 400 miles was really going to be pushing the tires. Most of my peers said I couldn’t get 9000 miles out of the OEM tires on the FJR. By removing these locations, I was going to drop to 5300 miles so I would come in just under 9000 miles on the ODO. I also came up with a couple of Yamaha dealerships along the route that if I had to I could stop in for fresh tires. I took down the information and decided to call on the road tomorrow about tire availability.

At the banquet I received my rally towel, special instructions; driver license sealed and gave the Rally Master my route. After the meeting, we retired to the bar for a going away drink then I headed for the room to get some needed sleep.

Day 1
On September 2nd, I woke up at 05:00 and was out of the room by 05:30 to set up the motorcycle. Several trips from the room to the front entrance bring down my top box, tank bag and electronics for the FJR. There were already 10 motorcycles lined up at the start, so I pulled mine in line and started getting it ready. This time there wasn’t an issue with powering on the electronics like I had at the NM LOE last year. By 06:00 the Rally Master was walking around getting our starting ODO, mine read 3564 miles so I knew I would have to go 8564 plus the correction factor of 134 miles at least to be considered a finisher. I thought I better finish with at least 8750 on the ODO just to be safe. Once my ODO check was completed, I headed for the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast and one last time to check the weather. I sat with one of my fellow competitors talking strategy and he was giving me advice on how to ride my first couple of day of the rally. We talked about our routes and the direction of Gustavo and how it would affect my plans. That was great to bounce ideas off someone and how to reroute on the fly if needed because of Gustavo. Right now Gustavo looked like it was going to hit Louisiana head on then track in a west direction. This was prefect for me because I was heading north to avoid Gustavo and would swing around behind the hurricane. I thought I might get wet the last day in Kansas and Nebraska (little did I know about 3 hours after the start, Gustavo turn eastward and I would be riding most of my ride smack in the middle of the monsoon rains. After breakfast was done, we wish each other good luck and headed for the motorcycles. I got back to my FJR about 20 minutes before the start time. The Rally Master was doing a countdown and when we hit 07:00 he waived us to go.

So here I go hoping to get back to SLC by September 7th at 07:00. I found myself getting caught up in the start of the rally staying with everyone else. I kept telling myself this is a five day event and don’t get a ticket in the first hour. I finally let a group of riders about 12 of them go. I settled in at what I would call a reasonable speed five-seven over and started motoring. About 100 miles outside of SLC, I caught up with a couple of fellow riders that I knew were heading in the same direction to start but would eventually veer off toward San Antonio, Texas. As we were riding together one of our peers passed us running 10-15 miles faster then us. It was the Harley Road King, he must be between his first and second stop of fuel. I remember talking to him yesterday and how he said he can only go about 100-120 miles on a tank. I did the quick math and realized he would have to do about 50 stops to make it. Well the three of us continued on for several miles then they pulled off for what I thought was their first gas stop. I looked down at my gauge and saw I was getting close too, we had traveled 220 miles and I figured 240 would be max distance I would go. We were just passing a town and the next one was 30 miles out so I was getting a little worried but around the corner was another exit so off the interstate I went and pulled in for fuel 227 miles. After I checked the distance, I told myself never cut it that close again. I figured I would have around 25-30 stops for fuel based on state lines. Each state you stopped in for fuel and documented it was worth 10 points, so I wanted to make sure I hit all the states those are easy points. This stop was about 10 minutes long and on the road I was again. I never saw another rider until my first bonus location Douglas, Wyoming where I needed to take a picture of a 13 foot tall Jackalope.

As I jumped off the interstate into Douglas I came to my first obstacle a bridge that was out. I knew by my GPS the bonus location was four blocks on the other side of the bridge so I followed the detour and as I came out on the other side of the bridge there was one of the two up riders flagging me down. They asked if I knew where the bonus was and I said follow me. I went to the direct location my GPS told me it was and nothing. I told them it was in the city park and we just passed one so I was going to head in that direction, as we closed in on the park I saw the Jackalope sitting in the corner of the park. We both jumped off our motorcycles and took our pictures talked for a few monuments and off we went, they were heading for Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska and I was off for Sturgis, South Dakota. As I started out of town, I saw the two guys I rode with heading for the Jackalope. Little did I know that would be the last time I saw anyone until the last day. I got to Sturgis about three and a half hours later for my second bonus a computerized fuel receipt. I stopped at the second station, fueled the FJR and boom printer failure. I went inside to get my receipt, when I went in and asked for a computerized receipt the attendant wanted to give me a hand written one. I explained I needed a computerized and she reluctantly pulled one from the cash register. Two down and 18 to go, so off I went for Mobridge, South Dakota to get a picture of Sitting Bull Monument.

As I was flying through South Dakota’s, state roads and highways I was on the constant lookout for wild life. I knew that during the day the odds of seeing anything was pretty slim but as the sun was setting they would be coming out in force. I honestly felt like my head was on a swivel scanning both sides of the road. I also thought to myself that the next modification to the FJR would be added lights. The lighting on the FJR is pretty good but there is no substitution for added lights that can be pointed a little out for checking the sides of the road. There was one stretch of road 15 miles that I counted eight deer and decided that even though the speed limit was 70 MPH I slowed to 60-65 hoping for a better reaction time if one decided to cross the road. One more hour and I arrived in Mobridge with about one bar left on the fuel gauge so I knew I could go about 40 miles before needing fuel and my GPS gave me directions for about a 16 mile round trip to the Monument. So off I went on a side road following my GPS but still concerned since it was pitch black and no lights. The GPS gives me a turn left in one mile and when I get to the turn left now I see a dirt road that looks pretty daunting. I told myself at the beginning, I would not do dirt roads to find bonus. So I stopped with my FJR pointing straight down this dirt road high beams on trying to decide go or no go. The GPS was saying .3 miles to the Monument how bad could it be but I decided to stick to my original agreement and no dirt. I felt this was a big miss on my part, I lost time coming here and knew trying to find this Monument was going to be tough in the dark. It was supposed to be on a cliff overlooking the river. Even though I thought I was really screwing up my chances for a good finish I decided to head for Mobridge and get fuel (now I can say that was one of the smartest things I have done so far). I found an all night station fueled up, completed my fuel log and decided to get a cup of coffee because the next bonus location was in Darwin, Minnesota. I struck up a conversation with the clerk asking if she had seen others swing through she said no. I explained what I was doing and how I could not find Sitting Bull’s Monument. She said I was on the wrong side of the road and that the Monument was behind the Casino somewhere, she couldn’t remember the exact location but thought the other clerk might know. The other clerk was an elderly American Native woman who thought I was silly going to the Monument in the dark since there were no lights and little chance of finding it. I asked her for directions and they were interesting at best but she was sure of how to get there so I thought I would give it a try. So I thanked the ladies for the information and off I went backtracking 10 miles, thinking this was a long shot at best since the directions were turn left before the Casino veer left around campground follow road until dirt do a U-turn till you see a Monument for Sacagawea. Once you see the Monument for Sacagawea take the first right loop around parking area and you will see a road on the right follow it till it dead ends into another parking area. Park and walk about 300 feet and you should see the Monument for Sitting Bull. I followed the directions to a tee and she was right on I ended in a parking area on the bluff and there it was right were she said.

I also understand why I had to go to the end of the road and turn around the Monument for Sacagawea was blocked from view by brush. I ran down took the picture and as I’m walking back to my FJR I saw headlights heading this way. Not sure what was going on I decided to get on the motorcycle and get out of there as quick as possible. Two cars stopped by the Sacagawea Monument that I had to ride right by. I decided to put on some extra steam and motor right by, looking at the area no lighting, no one else around I didn’t want to get stopped. As I went by they waved and I in return as I swung past them I noticed it was some kids indulging in a couple of adult beverages. So back to the US highway I went signing a big relief and thinking of Darwin next for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine. I was also puzzled why my GPS was so far off, did I make a mistake or was something wrong?

As I blew through Mobridge, I felt bad about not stopping and thanking the ladies again but I was way behind schedule. My goal for the first day was 1200 miles and I was still under a 1000 and it was after 22:00. The ride to Darwin was almost straight with a couple of jogs. I was reenergized by the coffee earlier and felt pretty good. About one hour in the ride to Darwin as I crested a hill all my fear came to fruition. In the middle of the road was a fawn with a buck and doe on the left and another doe on the right side of the road. Thanks goodness for ABS brakes on the FJR, I was traveling about 65 when I saw the deer, I immediately started braking I wasn’t sure how much I slowed down. My only thought was fawn make a decision which way. I hit the horn and the fawn moved right, I went left and the two deer on the left side of the road dove into the brush as I went by. After that little encounter, I decided 60 was a better speed and slowing down for hills was also a good idea. This slowed me down considerable but did help me avoid a possum and raccoon later that night. About midnight I decided it was time to get a room, I wasn’t going to be able to get the 1200 miles in, so why push any harder. 25 miles up the road was a town with a truck stop so I figured they would have a hotel. I rode into the truck stop for fuel and right next door was a Super 8, bingo we have sleep. I pulled under their canopy asked if I could leave the bike there and got a room. So at 00:30 I was in my room drawing a hot bath and thinking about my errors today. All in all not a bad day, 1088 miles three bonuses worth 1000 points and I didn’t hit anything on what I thought would be the hardest night riding. I decided to keep myself on Mountain Time no matter where I was so 00:30 was really 01:30 and I set the alarm for 04:00.

Day 2
04:00 came quick but I felt pretty good as I got out of bed. This was my biggest concern on this ride. I haven’t done a 1000 mile ride since last year and since totaling the ST1300 I was concerned; I would not be healthy enough to do multiple days.
So off to the shower I went, which felt great and really got me going. As I packed up the FJR for day two, I decided to grab a cup of coffee in the lobby and look at the day’s adventure. It started raining sometime while I was sleeping so on went the wet gear. I still had 200 miles to go to Darwin to take a picture of the World’s Largest Ball of Twine and I wanted to get the Jolly Green Giant and the Six Pack of Beer today before heading to Chicago for a hotdog. So off I went at 05:00 with 200 miles to get to Darwin. The first 100 was easy but the last 100 miles went slow it was done behind a law officer hell bent on keeping me at 55 mph. So I arrived in Darwin around 9:45 in the morning the positive point was the rain stopped around 09:00. I found the Ball of Twine quickly, my GPS coordinates were only off by two buildings. I proceeded to take my pictures but was having problems getting the ball of twine to show up due to the glare off the glass enclosure.
After four attempts, I was able to get the outline of the ball of twine so off for gas and then head for Blue Earth, Minnesota for a picture of the Jolly Green Giant. Here is when the real GPS fun began; the Garmin decided I wanted to take the scenic route. There was a straight shot from Darwin to Blue Earth about 90 miles long that I thought would take around two hours due to small towns but the Garmin sent me way out of the way about 45 extra miles going through several extra small towns. It ended up taking me about one extra hour to get to the Jolly Green Giant statue but hey I made it. So after taking several pictures of the statue, I called home talked to the wife for a few minutes and let her know I was behind schedule but heading for La Crosse, Wisconsin it was 14:00.
On the way to La Crosse, it started raining again so off the FJR gear up and off again, it was almost all interstate and La Crosse is just inside the Wisconsin boarder. I was hoping to make up a little of the time I lost earlier today. I had a pretty clean run into La Crosse where I headed straight for the brewery and my picture of the World’s largest six pack of beer. A couple of quick pictures and off to Chicago for a Hot Dog. I made a quick fuel stop and was out of La Crosse by 17:00 about five hours behind my original schedule.
So about 290 miles to Chicago here we go. It was interstate most of the way so I cranked it up trying to make up more time. As I was getting to Madison, Wisconsin it was still raining. I stopped for fuel and made a decision to skip Chicago due to the time it would take to get through town, get the hotdog and get out of there in the rain.
I figured if I stopped it might cause me to miss the next two bonus locations because they had a time window. At the time, I thought great on the fly decision trying to get myself back on track. So I deleted the Chicago stop out of the route and recalculated. Off I go into the rain for Atlanta, Georgia and a picture of Stone Mountain. I ended up getting to Mount Vernon, Illinois another 400 miles for a total of 925 miles for day two. I found another Super 8 so off to bed again 01:00 this time. I was hoping to be 2200 miles into the ride at this time but was a little over 2000.

Day 3
The alarm came really quick and it was a little harder to get out of bed. 04:30 I grabbed a shower and headed for the lobby to grab a quick coffee and back on the road. I decided to review my route again because I felt I could not get to the locations in Georgia and still make the three time based bonuses. I check the math and everything said bail from the Georgia bonuses and add something in later to make up for the miles I’m removing. So back to the FJR again in full rain gear (starting to see a theme) to delete my Georgia bonus locations and recalculate my route.

Here we go again 05:30 and 460 miles to Birmingham, Alabama. As I was shooting through Illinois, I had my second interesting moment on the road. I found out that wicker chairs cannot withstand a 75 mph impact with the interstate. I was shooting down the interstate when out of the back of a pickup comes a wicker chair about 10 feet in the air. When it finally came down, it busted into a hundred pieces, cars were swerving all over the place which allowed me a clear view of the debris. I slowed down swerved a couple of times and was clear and moving forward. I decided this would be a good time to get off the road and do my check-in with the Rally Master. I stopped in Metropolis, Illinois for fuel then called the Rally Master. When we did our call-in, we needed to let him know where we were, where we were going next, say something nice and get a computerized receipt within 10 minutes. This was worth 50,000 points, so missing wasn’t an option. My next goal was to get to Barber Motorsports Vintage Museum before it closed at 18:00. It looked pretty good, I hit Birmingham about 15:30 then things started going down hill. The traffic came to a complete stand still on the interstate due to a car flipped on its side and they were diverting us off the highway. I was just about to get to the off ramp an hour later when the police officer waved to everyone the highway was open. So I moved back off the ramp and started to follow the officer past the accident. There was a car on its side that looked like they had to tear the roof off to get someone out of it. I had 1.5 hours before closing and I’m only three miles from the bonus location (at least that is what I thought). I get to the location of where Barber Motorsports was supposed to be and nothing but warehouses. As you can guess I’m getting a little frustrated, I found someone and they explain this is where it used to be but it has since moved about 20 miles away (tick tock tick tock). The gentleman gave me directions and off I went again with an hour and 15 minutes to go. This time I arrived at the correct location 45 minutes before they closed took a few pictures and talked to a couple of other riders explaining what I was doing. I walked up to the doors and looked in thinking I needed to come back here again, cool looking motorcycles just in the lobby area alone. I rode out, hit a fuel station and was back on the road now heading for Tupelo, Mississippi.

I really didn’t have an issue getting to Tupelo, it’s 140 miles of interstate so I cranked it up again and was there by 19:45 I found Elvis’s birth home snapped a couple of pictures hit a gas station and was back on the road by 20:15. I still needed to get to Memphis, Tennessee 100 miles away before 22:00 to get BBQ.

All interstate again so I cranked it up to 80 mph and shot for Memphis. I hit Memphis about 21:30 decided the location I inputted into the GPS was to far, so I stopped at the first convenience store to ask directions to the closest BBQ restaurant. There was a Memphis police officer sitting in the parking lot, so I decide to get his picture as a bonus and ask directions to the closest BBQ place. He allowed me to take his picture and gave me directions (three blocks away). I arrived at Top’s Barbeque at 21:45; 15 minutes to spare, I rushed in and noticed at that moment I might be on the wrong side of town.
The two ladies behind the counter said as I walked in “Boy what are you doing here”. I reply, “I’m here for BBQ. I was told you have the best BBQ and your sign says Best BBQ in Memphis." She again reply, “Yes we have the best BBQ but boy what are you doing here?” So after explaining what I was doing, I asked what do they recommended they suggested the special so I ordered one (not sure what I would get). The food came I sat down and since the place was closing they came and sat with me asking questions about my ride and where I had been and where I was going next. After eating I grabbed the camera and rally towel and asked them to hold it for me so I could take a picture of them and the towel. After a couple of pictures, we returned to the table and I finished my meal. Notice this is the first time I talked about sitting down and eating, I had been on the rode for three days eating energy bars only(not a smart thing). I sat talking with them for another 10 minutes when one of them said, "I might want to get outside quick". I turned and looked and there were four guys around my FJR and a pickup truck backing up to it. I jumped up ran outside and said, “Hey guys what’s up?” They responded “your bike soon.” I replied that I was just leaving; “I had to get on the rode, I was in a rally and late for my next stop.” They didn’t respond but then one of the ladies from the restaurant came out and told them to get away from that boy’s bike and leave him alone. They gave her a smart-ass response and she started yelling at then, telling them she was going to whoop their butts if they didn’t get out of there. At that point, they decide she meant it because they took off. I walked over gave her a hug and thanked her for saving me from a butt kicking which I surly would have gotten. She then told me “Boy you better get on your bike and get out of here and I suggest you don’t stop at any red lights.” I said, “Yes mama and thanks again.” So I got on my FJR and high tailed it out of Memphis, here it is 22:45 and 360 miles to my next stop Lincoln, Arkansas. I rode another 265 miles to Alma, Arkansas in the rain to another Super 8 and hit the sack by 02:00. Day three in the books and another bad day only 960 miles completed. I remember thinking I was behind the 1000 miles a day average for the first time and I had to make up the odometer difference too.

Day 4
The alarm went off at 05:00; I jumped in the shower then back to the lobby for coffee. I was thinking another big day coming up with 5 bonus location due up today. I put my rain gear on and jumped on the FJR and was out of there by 05:45. My first stop Lincoln, Arkansas about 90 miles away, I pulled in at Lincoln a little after 07:00 with the sun just starting to come up. I snap a couple of shots got back on the FJR and headed for Oologah, Oklahoma for a picture of a statue of Will Rodgers and his horse 110 miles away. As I entered Oklahoma, the toll roads started a buck here and a buck there and I was in Tulsa turning North for Oologah.
I found the statue right where my GPS said it was in the middle of town. I clipped my rally towel on the chain around the statue took a couple of picture, grabbed some gas and off I went for Wichita, Kansas my third bonus stop for the day 250 miles away. I arrived in Wichita around 14:00 but spent about 15 minutes going in circles due to one way streets and road closures. I finally figured a way to the park and took a picture of the drinking fountain and off I went again now making a run to the interstate and Olathe, Kansas 270 miles away to take a picture of Garmin International building (this was my add in to make up mileage missed by not going to Georgia).
So good news back to the interstate running at 80 mph, bad news I hit Olathe at 17:30 with rush hour traffic and road construction the last 25 miles. It took another one and a half hours to get to Garmin. As I pull in the sun had just set, so I ran over placed my towel on their door snapped a couple of pictures and head back to the interstate. It is now 19:15 and I’m heading for my last stop for the night Lincoln, Kansas 265 miles away. I started down the interstate traveling 120 miles before I started getting really tired, I decided to stop at a rest stop and take a quick nap. I parked the FJR crawled onto a picnic table and fell asleep for one hour. I woke at 23:00 feeling better and headed out again. I went another 100 miles and decided I was done for the night. I found another Super 8 grabbed their last room and was in bed by 00:30. Day four and another low mileage day 950 miles with only the last day left tomorrow I was gong to need a big day to get the 5000 miles in.

Day 5
After coming up 45 miles short of Lincoln, Kansas I knew this needed to be a big day. I was up again by 04:30 no shower grabbed a cup of coffee in the lobby and headed out the door. Rain gear on again, I was on the road by 05:00. By 06:00 I had gotten my picture of the city limit sign in Lincoln and on my way to Cawker City, Kansas to get a picture of another World’s Largest Ball of Twine 65 miles away. I arrived in Cawker City at 07:00 grab a quick picture of the ball of twine and off again for Lebanon, Kansas for a picture of the lower 48 state central location 31 miles away. So 40 minutes later I found Lebanon but again the GPS led me to a bad location. I found someone opening their store and ask if they knew how to get to the monument. They did and gave me directions that led me right to the monument. I snapped a couple of pictures and headed for my last bonus stop in Alliance, Nebraska to get a picture of Carhenge 390 miles away it was now 08:00 but the rain stopped. Riding to Alliance was very uneventful and I was able to find Carhenge with no issues. I took a couple of pictures and was getting ready to take off when a fellow rider showed up. I took his picture for him and we decided to ride together at least part of the way. He still needed 200 more miles than I did. We stopped back in Alliance for fuel and food (notice only second time I talked about getting food not good). We talked while eating about where we had been and also about what he was doing to make up the extra 200 miles he needed. We decided to ride to Rawlins, Wyoming together where he would turn north and I would continue west. After we left, it was apparent he wanted to go faster than I was willing so I waved him on and rode alone. As he pulled away you could see a wall of rain clouds heading our way again. I pulled over put on my gear and just as I started moving again the rain hit. It was a driving rain for the next 40 miles making me run about 15 under the speed limit. Once out of the rain, I was able to increase the speed and when I hit the interstate I was flying but no sight of my fellow rider. I pulled into Cheyenne, Wyoming for fuel at a Flying J and there he was just pulling away from the pumps. He saw me come in and parked to talk. We talked for about 15 minutes and found out he was only about 5 minutes ahead of me (he was slowed by the rain too). It was now about 17:00 and I still had 550 miles to go. We talked and he said he was going to run 15-20 mph over the speed limit the rest of the way, so I told him good luck, I’m going to head for the hotel and I would see him when he got in. He was fiddling with his gear as I was taking off; I figured he would catch me around Laramie. I was motoring right along but never saw him again, Laramie passed and no sight of him. I was getting worried once I hit Rawlings I knew he should have passed me by then. I decided to stop for fuel in Rawlings and call the Rally Master to see if he had heard from him. I was figuring I might turn around and go look for him. I found out he had lost his paperwork and stayed at Cheyenne looking for it. He contacted the Rally Master explained what happened he told him to get on the road because if he completed the 5000 miles he would still be considered a finisher. I was told he spent about one hour at the flying J, so that’s why I hadn’t seen him. 290 miles to go and it was just past 21:00 plenty of time. I was thinking of adding an extra stop it would have been an extra 90 miles round trip to Promontory, Utah. As I was cruising down the interstate, I decided against Promontory because my tires were past the wear bars and I still had 200 plus miles to go. I did decide not to kill myself heading for the hotel so I was stopping every 100 miles for coffee and a rest. As I came into Utah one of my peers passed me and I decided to pick up the speed and follow them in. We rode together the last 75 miles to a fuel stop and then to the hotel. I made it to the hotel and finish line at 02:30. So the last day was just over 1200 miles in 21.5 hours to bring my overall mileage to 5200 miles but it would be adjusted down to 5065 due to correction factor.

After I arrived, I call my wife she was waiting at the hotel and told me to call her when I got in so I did. I asked her to start a bath and I was on my way up. Once I got to the room she was ready for me, I dropped all my gear jumped in the bath soaked for 30 minutes and then got redressed to be ready for the opening of the finish line at 05:00. My wife went to bed and I headed down stairs to get ready to check in.

At 05:00 on the dot, the Rally Master started checking final ODO readings and he explained how final scoring was going to happen. We were going first-in first-out and needed to hand in paperwork before 07:00. I pulled my SD card out of my camera and dropped it in my envelope with my receipts and fuel log then I dropped off the package at the scorers table. Once done I joined my fellow competitors out front to welcome the riders back in. As everyone started showing up, it was apparent not many were going to finish. To be exact 19 riders made it back to the finish on schedule. Several of us hung out front until 07:00 enjoying an adult beverage waiting for the scoring to begin. After the scoring was completed, this was a verification of which bonuses I went too. I headed for breakfast. I sat around in the restaurant for about an hour eating and talking with peers when I called it a night and headed for the room.

I woke around 14:30 and surprisingly seemed well rested, I went down stairs to see several peers talking outside, and I joined them for a little bit then headed for the bar where the group was forming before the banquet. At six o’clock Stacey, Nathan and I went to the banquet room, had dinner and listened as the Rally Master reviewed the results. As he passed the tenth position, I was surprised he hadn’t called my name and was wondering if maybe I, DNF’d due to an error on my paperwork. I didn’t have to wait long in Ninth place completing his first multi-day rally David Porter. The cheering was deafening or at least in my mine with my 10 year old yelling and my wife clapping. I was pretty stoked with a top ten finish on my first multi-day rally. I was also impressed no accidents during the event and everyone that finished still had their license sealed in the envelope. After the banquet, several retired to the bar again with the Rally Master buying several rounds of drinks. We toasted our winners and congratulated the Rally Master on an excellent time. I talked to several that I would see at the NM LOE in October saying we should get together for dinner the first night and talk about doing the Beast of the East next year in July as prep for the IBR 09 in August. Most thought this was a great way to get some east coast experience next year.

Rally Over
Stacey, Nathan and I were slow getting up on the 7th and most riders had already left the hotel, we were heading to Ouray, Colorado for a little goofing off. After getting everyone out of bed I went down loaded the car and set the trailer up we borrowed from friends. So after 6000 miles getting to SLC and completing the rally I could not believe it when I dropped the motorcycle while loading on the trailer. “” I pulled the FJR up onto the trailer as I did on my old trailer and went to put my foot down but there wasn’t any floor on the left side and the FJR in all its glory rolled off the edge. I quick moment of “oh shit” then I grabbed the motorcycle picked it up and rolled it back down the ramp. Once back off the trailer I assessed the damage. I scratched the front fender, not bad; one scratch on tank ¼ inch long, not bad but the left saddle bag took the brunt. It slid on the asphalt and scratched the whole cover. I decided to get some help loading this time, so I walked into the hotel ask a couple of the guys to help with loading the trailer. We walked it up slick as a whistle, one of the guys held it while I tied it down. I thanked the guys while we laughed at my expense, which I didn’t mind considering how it happened. I think the hardest part was explaining what happened to my wife when she came out of the hotel.

Once all loaded up, we (Stacey, Nathan and I) were off to Ouray, Co. for a well deserved three day vacation.

August (13 months to go)

2008-08-11T03:36:00.000-06:00

Well I was able to get the last miles in to get the first service done on the new FJR. What a great break in they have for the FJR first 600 miles keep it under 4500rpm and vary speed occationally. Well under 4500rpm will let you go 85mph. After you have completed the first 600, then you can bump up to 5400rpm until you get to 1000 miles. That will let you go 105mph.

I have been on a couple of ride since the first service and now have 1100 miles on the FJR and I have to say, I'm really impressed with the handling and get up and go. The bike is very comfortable and doesn't have the heat issues that my ST1300 had.

I'm planning this week to head to the IBA national meet in Tulsa. I'm trying to get the new bike set up for the trip. I have my mounts in place for the GPS, xm-radio and SPOT so I think I'm ready to go. I'm hoping to get more ideas on how/where to set up a fuse block for the FJR. They have a seminar on electrical wiring that is being lead by another FJR owner so I'm hoping to get ideas from him.

Just returned from the National Meeting what a great time. I took off Weds. 8/13/08 and rode to Mustang, OK to pick up my wife from there we completed the ride to Tulsa, OK. The bike ran great and we missed the ran a few sprinkles but nothing to talk about. When we arrived, we were met in the parking lot by several other LD riders (would guess 150 motorcycles were there). We unpacked the bike went in and registered and put our bags in our room. We went back down stairs and joined in on the opening events. I went to a special meeting for the riders selected for the IBR 2009 rally. Great opportunity to meet most of the riders and talk about past riding experiences. After that I spent most of my time in seminars on different topics from rallying to electronics. I had several opportunities to talk to several other FJR owners on how they set their bikes up. I picked up several tips on modifications for my bike that will start this winter.

We departed on Sunday morning, I dropped my wife off in Mustang and I continued to Portales, NM to visit by grandson. I spent 200 milesof the trip in the rain. I only stayed overnight but it was a great visit. Anytime you get to see the grand kids it's a great time. I took off Monday morning for home. At this time the bikeis still running great it has 2700 miles on it. I do need to do several modification on the bike to get it ready for the Run What Ya Brung in 10 days.

Well this year has been a little different but I'm starting to get the riding in full swing. Before my accident I only had 4700 miles on my old bike since the accident I have 2700 on the new bike in only 3.5 weeks. By the start of September I'll have around 8200 miles in this year.

My plan is to complete a couple of modifications to the bike then at mid-night on the 30th head for Salt Lake City and the start of the RWYB.

July (14 Months to go)

2008-07-14T04:49:00.001-06:00

Well here it is the first of July and no motorcycle (totaled ST1300 in June) and a lot of rides coming up in August. I started to do a lot of comparison shopping, after I found out my ST1300 was being totaled. I checked out the Yamaha FJR and Kawasaki Concours forums asking what they liked and disliked about their motorcycles. I really liked my ST1300 but wanted to see what else was out there. I finally decided against the Concours seemed big and the fuel capacity was low for a touring bike (5.8 gallons). I couldn’t see a hugh difference between the FJR and ST so decided to let the salesperson’s deal make my choice for me.
The Yamaha dealership gave me the best deal on a new 2007 FJR1300A so I purchased a 2007 Black Cherry FJR. I'm planning to pick it up July 24th and hopefully get 500 miles on it before I head to the IBA National Meeting in August. I need to get those miles on so I can get the first oil change and the break in period completed before I shoot straight down the interstate to Tulsa, OK. I also have the Ride What Ya Brung (RWYB) the first of September. I'm going to let the ride to Tulsa tell me if I have recovered enough from the accident to make the RWYB.

Well I picked up my 07 FJR1300A July 24th. My wife dropped me off at the dealer and a few friends came over and we went to lunch in the mountains. My first experience on the bike was a 110 mile trip stopping for lunch. The bike performed well and the break in directions are easy. Keep the bike below 4500 rpm and vary the speed. At 4500 rpm that's like 85 mph. After completing the ride, I was a little sore from my injuries but overall the ride went well.

I also went on a 275 mile ride Saturday and all went well, these short rides really gave me a better idea on what I need to do to set the bike up for LD Riding. A few of the items I'm in the process of adding will be 3 different RAM mounts (Garmin, SPOT and XM Radio), handlebar risers, vista cruise throttle lock and sliders. Can't wait until my wife sees all these boxes show up in the mail. At this time, I have another 175 miles to go till the first service that I'm going to let the dealer do. After that I'll do my own work (hard to give the dealer that money).

Looks like I'm still on schedule to make the IBA national meeting in Tulsa, OK in August. I'll use that ride to see how I'm doing and decide if I can make the RWYB in September.

Month by Month leading up to the 2009 IBR

2008-06-15T04:33:00.000-06:00

Can you say 2009 IBR

April (16 Months to go)
Well on April 14th I received the good news that I was selected to take part in the 2009 IBR. Now that it is a week later I’m still amazed that I made it and of course still trying to talk my wife into letting me do it.

For those that have not heard of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally (IBR), it is an 11 day motorcycle ride that roughly 100 motorcyclists are selected for. The riders will traverse US and Canada hopefully collecting enough bonus points to qualify as a finisher. This ride is not about speed but route planning, conserving energy and a lot of luck.

Well here we are end of April and the wife has said yes and the entry form and 800.00 dollar deposit have been sent. I also signed up for the National Meet in Tulsa, OK. in August. I’m hoping to get insight into what I will need to have a successful ride. Whether it is route planning, farkling or mental preparedness, this is going to be a great check for me since two weeks later I’m doing the Run What Ya Brung (RWYB) starting in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 2nd. It’s a five day 5000 mile ride. The RWYB considers you a finisher if you complete 5000 miles in the allotted time. I’m hoping to not only hit the 5000 miles but to also accumulate enough points to get into the top 20 riders.

May (15 months to go)
Well it’s now May and I have been working on the motorcycle getting it ready for the National meet and RWYB later this year. I have added driving lights to help with night driving and critter avoidance. My son and I have also been practicing my route planning with maps using past IBR waypoints. I call out the cities or locations and he puts a push pin in the map and then we design a route based on highest points and time allotted. Once we have completed the route we then download into our computer and transfer to my GPS for practice. I’m also designing a ledge for all my electronics that will sit between my handlebars. For our anniversary my wife bought me a SPOT it’s a GPS tracker. It will allow someone to follow your progress and it will allow you to send a signal out saying you’re fine or asking for help. The system updates your location on goggle earth every ten minutes.

In June or July, I’m planning to do a BBG1500. That’s another IBA ride that requires you to travel 1500 miles in 24 hours. I have been working out a route that will take me no more than an extra 50 miles starting at home and circling back. I’m planning to take a camera and practice taking pictures at my fuel stops for documentation like I would for waypoints for the IBR. I’m going to work on quick stops (fuel, food, picture) hopefully 15 minutes max with the exception of one longer food stop. To complete the 1500 miles in 24 hours I will have to average 62.5 mph for the time, so running mostly interstate will have to be must.

August will be a big month for me. My wife and I will be heading for the IBA National meet in Tulsa, OK. My wife and son will take off in the car for Mustang, OK a couple of days earlier to spend time with her parents. I’m going to ride to Mustang, OK. pick her up and head for Tulsa. We are planning to stay for four days checking out the seminars and spending time with past IBR riders talking about motorcycle set-ups and equipment.

June (14 months to go)
Well here it is June and I only have 4100 miles on for the year (weak) I started slow this year and I’m really behind the curve. I was hoping to get at least 20K on this year. I did a nice 240 mile ride turning it in four hours. It felt pretty good since I had to stop once to put on rain gear and I stopped for fuel and strip the rain gear back off. It was great to get out in the rain averaging 60 mph with to stops and good practice for the up-coming BBG1500. I’m still working out the route for the BBG1500 attempt and I have a couple of friends that want to make the run with me. I’m still debating if I want to take the chance and let them come or not. I really want to focus on good stops and photographing when I make the stops just like I would in a rally. I also set up my SPOT (given to me by my wife for our anniversary). I used it yesterday on a 370 mile ride. System worked well but I did feel that a negative to the system is that if you want to share your ride with someone you have to give them access to your account.

Well I’m up to 4700 and hope to have 5000 miles by July. I have been slowly increasing the miles each month and stand an outside chance to get to the 20K mark by end of year.

What an end to the month of June. I totaled my ST1300 on June 27th; I was heading south to umpire a little league all-star game when I was hit by a garbage truck. The truck was in the middle lane and I was in the right lane. We were both going just about the speed limit when he started to come in my lane. I hit my brakes trying to avoid him but we touched and I went down. The truck kept on going, I don’t even think he knew I was there or that we hit. The bike traveled across three lanes of traffic, the median and came to rest in the north bound lane. I went skipping, sliding, and tumbling straight forward. I came to rest about 75 feet from where the accident happened. I was extremely lucky that several people stopped and I was well taken care of until the ambulance arrived. I was also luck that the semi-truck driver right behind me stopped and gave an account of what happened to the officer at the scene.

I ended up staying one night in the hospital with a broken clavicle, four cracked ribs and a partially collapsed left lung. The motorcycle sustained a considerable more damage and was totaled by my insurance company.

WOW what a month!

50CC and the Dragon's Tail

2008-03-26T01:53:00.000-06:00

My 50CC and ride report.

I started in Rio Ranch, NM on June 14, 2007 at 03:00 arriving in Ocean Beach, CA at 16:00 for the beginning of my 50CC staying at the Premier Inn.

Before I tool off I packed the motorcycle around 21:00, as I was packing I went to pick up one of the bags off the floor and pulled a muscle in my back. I could hardly stand up. I finished packing and went to bed trying to sleep it off. When I got up 01:45, I was felling sore and a little tight but ready to go (it’s amazing what 800ml IBP can do.

So I locked up the house and I took off at 03:00 the temp was high 40’s by the time I reached Gallup, NM it was 34 degrees, so I decided to stop for breakfast and let it warm up before heading for Phoenix, AZ. The bad part was I knew it would be cold through that stretch of road but because of limited cargo space I decided not to carry extra gear so I had to tough it out. The ride went well to Phoenix with no incident. I reached Phoenix around noon and the temperature was 100 degrees. Once I stopped for gas I peeled off gear, then as I reached the turn for San Diego on Interstate 8 it was 104 degrees and that was the lowest temperature I saw until I cleared the mountains dropping into San Diego. With the high being Yuma 112 degrees. So for 300 miles the temperature was between 104-112 degrees. You talk about the roughest stretch of road I have traveled. I’m talking hot but not just hot but damn hot. I was stopping every 75 miles for water, Gatorade and to put on more sun screen. At each stop I was drinking about 32 ounces of water and 20 ounces of Gatorade.

Once I reached Ocean Beach just outside San Diego, I set up my hotel room and found the nearest lounge and sat and drank until happy hour was over (I was trying to replenish my liquid levels).

The next day June 15th I met up with Leslie and Jamie an awesome couple that met me at the ocean beach pier and we had lunch and relax talking about our LD rides and the BMW forum Leslie is the administrator of. After lunch they signed my paperwork and took some pictures for me. We then parted ways and I headed for the hotel to rest up for my mid-night departure.

I took off June 16, 2007 at 00:00 to try and get to Dallas, TX as my break for the ride. I was a little concerned about my back it was still a little sore, so I popped another 800 ml IBP got on the bike and headed for my first fuel stop for my start receipt. Wouldn’t you know it the pump didn’t have paper and I had to go inside to get a duplicate. I went to the door but it was locked so I asked the attendant for a receipt through the bullet proof glass (something told me I should not linger). I was hoping to miss the heat through El Paso and the thunderstorms that were happening in Texas. All was going well, temps were low and no rain and I was on schedule as I passed El Paso. I hit mid point in New Mexico on I-10 and feeling pretty good and as I turned onto I-20 I could see my luck was not going to hold. I hit rain around Pecos, TX, so about the first 750 miles went almost perfect. I pulled over just before Pecos and put on my rain gear and rode the next 520 miles in the rain. I didn’t make Dallas weather was bad enough that I ended up staying in Abilene, TX. I was hoping to do 1500 miles the first day but had to settle for 1270. I got into my hotel room around 9:30 dumped my bags into my room walked across the street for a beer at a really interesting place. The bar looked like an old metal warehouse building that they hung Christmas tree lights in with a concrete floor and a bar that was three ice chests and two 2x12 10 feet long sitting on five cinder blocks at each end. The bar wasn’t much to look at but the people real friendly. I drank my beer and headed back to my room for a shower (not sure the people at the bar were saying good bye being nice or because I stunk so badly). I showered, checked in with home, looked at my map for a couple of minutes then hit the sack for a three hour power nap. I woke to sound of the neighbors parting at 02:00 and decided it was time to go so I was out of there by 03:00 heading for Dallas. When I hit Dallas I stopped to fuel, after getting my receipt the skies opened up and all heck let loose. I started to put my rain gear on when the lighting started at that point I decided this would be a great time to get breakfast and wait the storm out. I was sitting in the restaurant and the waitress was telling me to expect the rain and lighting to last most of the morning. I was getting nervous because I was debating if I would have to call it quits, I really did not want to run through a lighting storm. After breakfast I asked the waitress where I could find a TV so I could watch the weather channel. She directed me to the truck driver’s lounge to see what the news was saying. I sat with a couple of drivers and talked about the weather, the reporter was saying rain and lighting all day. I was sinking pretty low when another driver said he just came from the East side of Dallas and the sun was shinning. I struck up a conversation with him and he said 15 miles east was blue skies. I thanked him for the weather report, and decided to get out of Dallas. I geared back up and jumped on the bike went 15 miles in a torrential storm then pop blue skies. I lost about 2 hours but man I love those truckers.

After leaving Dallas in the rain, I headed for Savannah to meet Bob. I met Bob like Leslie and Jamie on the IBA site looking for witnesses; all three were great helps with local information and support. I rode 740 miles and through several states with clear skies until I hit rain in Georgia. It rained on and off just enough for me to stop and put on my rain gear, then I would ride 20 minutes and it would stop and then the sun would bake me enough that I would stop and strip off the gear long enough for the rain to come again. This happen three times before I said the heck with the gear. I called Bob when I hit Atlanta and let him know I would be getting into Savannah around 23:30. He told me to call him from Macon and he would meet me at exit 172 on I-16. I met Bob for the first time at a restaurant outside of Savannah about 23:45. We talked for a little bit then headed to Tybee Island. Bob directed me through Savannah to Tybee Island weaving through town so quickly I can’t even recall seeing one street sign. When we did make Tybee Island, the first order of business was to get a gas receipt to complete the ride. We tried two gas stations but both were closed and the pumps were shutoff so he took me to the police station to get witness signatures. We arrived at the police station about 01:00 and you could tell they don’t see many people around that time. The sergeant on duty gave me the once over but once we explained what I was doing he was more than happy to help me. He and Bob signed my paperwork. Bob then guided me to the next available gas station that was open and I was able to get me receipt. Done check in the box what a relief. By this time it was 02:01 and Bob guided me to the hotel La Quinta Inn midtown, it was 02:20 when we pulled into the parking lot

I started at 00:00 on the 14th PDT and completed the gas stop at 02:01 on the 17th EDT that means I complete the ride in 46 hours and one minute with a four hour time difference. I rode about 2480 miles in just over 46 hours.

The next day after I woke up and did the laundry (trust me I needed too). I called Bob asking if he could do lunch but we could not hook up together so I rode to Tybee Island again to take pictures and get water from the ocean. I found a nice couple willing to take some pictures for me, after thanking them I headed to the bar on the beach. I kicked back and watched the people and had a beer, afterwards I went back to my room to get out of the heat and set up my trip to meet my brother Dan at Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge. I set up my route and decided it was time for an adult beverage so I walked over to the closest bar and grill. Met a group at a convention for Snap-On tools, they were trying to drink the bar dry and from the way they were conversing I would have to say they were doing a fine job of it.

The next day I left Savannah and headed for NC stopping in Woodstock, GA at a Comfort Inn. Right after I set up my room I ran to get some food and as soon as I covered the bike the skies opened up and it poured for 3 hours. So I kicked back and at 10:00 pm I got on line and had a meeting with my boss using net-meeting (during the 2 hour meeting he kept asking what was that (beer bottles opening)). The next day I grabbed breakfast at the hotel and started the last 180 miles to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge getting in around noon. I sat around for about 30 minutes then decided to head for lunch. After I got done with lunch Dan called me asked to meet him at the Dragon’s Tail. I headed to Deals Gap waiting for him but he never showed, I sat there 2.5 hours talking to a guy that runs the Dragon all the time. While we where sitting there talking, I saw Dan ride by. I started to get up but decided to sit back down and finish my conversation. After about 5 minutes, I told everyone good-bye and chased him down. I caught up with him about 12 miles down the road. I pulled up behind him and honked and realized he hadn’t seen the new bike so I pulled up beside him to give him shit for not stopping. After giving him grief for a couple of second I pulled in front and he followed me into Robbinsville, NC. We stopped to get adult beverages, that’s when we found out we were in a dry county. We decided to go to the Lodge and drop off his clothes and make a run for drinks and diner. We ended up going about 15 miles to a little resort for dinner and a couple of drinks, then on the way back we stopped and picked up some mixer for him and beer for me. When we got back to the lodge we were kicking back when a couple of guys showed up from New York talking about how long they had been on the road I smiled to myself and went out side. The smile was gone when I noticed both bike didn’t have windshield. I shook my head went back in and gave them a beer (they desired it 800 miles with no windshield).

The next day we had breakfast at the Lodge, set up our route then head out to Deals Gap where we hung out for a few minutes getting gifts before running the Dragon Tail. I told Dan to go first and pick a pace he was comfortable with and off we went. We had one close call when Dan slowed down so much in a corner I almost rear ended him. I slid to the side and just missed his tailpipe. Afterwards we stopped at the top for the Dragon hanging out then headed for Gatlinburg, TN. We rode along the edge of the Smoky Mountain’s on the way to Gatlinburg. Once in Gatlinburg we did lunch and chatted with locals. We then headed back stopping at several places along the way. We got back to the Lodge around 17:00 and kicked back at the lodge watching a movie and drank adult beverages with everyone else. While at the lodge we also decided our ride back to Indiana stopping in Knoxville, TN for breakfast with an overnight stop in Cincinnati, OH. When we made Cincinnati we headed over to a local pub next door where we sat drank and played a board game with several locals.
The next morning we took off early and got to the parents house around 12:30. We skirted a storm front the whole way getting hit with occasional rain drops. The ride was great 4500 miles no real incidents and saw a lot of pretty country. It was a lot of fun riding with Dan, I hadn’t seen him since our brothers funeral.

LOE1000

2008-02-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

Gang,

I don't think my write up will compare to others but here goes. This is what I posted to my friends on another site.

I did a great ride last Saturday/Sunday (October, 6/7) called “Land of Enchantment 1000” (LOE1000). It's a long distance rally; if you are not familiar it's a 24 hour rally. You have 24 hours to complete 1000 miles and collect enough bonus sites/points throughout the state to be considered a finisher. This is not a race but a well planned route. They give you a packet Friday night with bonus sites and you have to plan your route to collect enough sites/points and still travel 1000 miles. The longer you plan the less sleep you get. Well here is a little taste of the adventure.

I arrived Friday afternoon to do my odometer check and complete my pre-ride check in. The check in is to verify that the motorcycle is in good working order from a safety perspective and the odometer check is to make sure they can accurately document your miles traveled. After completing my check in, I wondered around meeting the other riders and looking at all the bikes and added farkles. After a while I checked in to the hotel and headed for dinner. That night we had an 8pm riders meeting for instructions and packet handouts (a lot of information in a few minutes). By 8:30 we were allowed to open our packets and start to plan our route. Some hung around to review the list of bonus sites and asking questions, I decided to head back to my room. When I opened the packet, I started to glance at the bonuses and smile. I was so full of myself all apprehension went away and I decided to plan an aggressive route doing about 1250 miles. (Hey I’m a New Mexican how tough could it be?) I plotted my site locations on a map then pulled out my laptop and punched in the locations on my mapping software then I downloaded it into my GPS all that was left was to hit the sack (it was about 1am).

Wow 5:15am came quick, it seemed like I just went to bed. I drug myself out of bed and got ready to get my bike in the 6am line up. I got the bike uncovered and put it in line. I brought all my gear down from the room and when I plugged in my GPS it blew the fuse for my auxiliary plug there went my route We had to have the bikes lined up for odometer check; they came by and checked our mileage for our start. While they were checking my mileage, I was trying to figure out why I didn’t have power for my plug. I finally figured out I blew the fuse under my Tupperware so I knew then I just lost the GPS. So I winged it for the ride using a map and the site directions given (thank goodness everything was in New Mexico). I decided to go to the locations that I knew and try to pick enough points/sites to be a finisher. I went from trying to win to survive in the span of 1 minute. You should have heard me talking to the rider next to me. I think I switched my first site five times while talking to him. Since I was making up my route on the fly, I was trying to decide should I go South or North first or should I go West or East. I finally decided to head North to Albuquerque to get a picture of the hot air balloons then head to the Trinity site to get a combo bonus. So when they started us, I naturally changed my mind and headed south to the VLA.

Then 7am we took off from the Western Skies Inn & Suites in Los Lunas, NM. I think there were 44 of us traveling in every which direction, I headed South for the VLA an easy stop that I‘ve been to several times. I stopped with another rider and we took turns taking each others pictures we chatted for a couple of minutes then jumped back on the bikes and we both headed for Pie Town for a quick picture. Once completed, I found out he was also heading for Reserve so we got back on the bikes and started in that direction. We made the turn at Datil, NM but he bailed for gas, so a quick wave and twist of the throttle and I was gone. I got to Reserve in about an hour, with the warning light on for my gas gauge flashing (should have stopped at Datil too). I stopped at the city sign and snapped my picture. I decided that gas was the next stop, so I stopped at the only gas station and filled up. Next stop Gila Monument but of course staying true to form, I once again changed my mind and backtracked all the way to the VLA and headed for the Trinity Site to pick up 1000 points. I got at the gate 30 minutes before they were closing, so I sped down ran up took my picture and got out of there. As I left the gate, I saw a fellow rider stuck at the gate trying to get in (he didn’t look like he was doing to well with the soldiers holding the M-16’s). Next stop the Salinas Pueblo Mission for my fifth bonus stop. After positioning my bike 3 times to get the gate sign, my flag and bike in the picture, I finally got the picture that you could tell where I was at. From there I jumped on the bike and headed in to Belen to snag another bonus at the Harvey House. This one I wasn’t going to miss, I met a lady that was part of the original Harvey girls and she used to talk about running up and down the rails and what an adventure for the young ladies. Six down on my way to my last stop before checking in, I grab a quick bonus in Los Lunas than picked up fuel and headed for the hotel for a 30 minute rest stop bonus. As I pulled into the Hotel parking lot there was Ira grinning, as I got off the bike he asked how I was doing and how long I was planning to stop. I told him 30 minutes then I was out of here. He asked where I was heading next, I thought to myself I was planning to head North up to Bandelier National Monument. So of course I told him I haven’t been east in a while so I thought I would head to Santa Rosa. So after 8 bonus stops, 570 miles and 13.5 hours to go I took off again for Santa Rosa. So naturally as I was starting down I-40 I decided to head for Sandia Crest instead. I flew up the mountain taking the turns 10-20 MPH above the speed limit as the sun was setting (what a beautiful site). This is a great ride winding up the mountain. I reached the crest ran up to take my picture and boom I’m out of film so back to the bike to reload the Polaroid then back to the crest for my picture. By this time, the wind had picked on the crest and the sun had set so I ask a couple if they could hold my flag as I took my picture. I thanked them and explained what I was doing as I walked back the parking lot with them. They were laughing and shaking their heads (honestly I don’t blame them). As I’m getting on my bike, I’m thinking now down to the Sandia Ski resort for a picture of the building with a lift in the background. So as quick as I went up the mountain I was at least 5 under the speed limit on the way down to the entrance to the ski resort. It was dark now and I cannot see 50 yards in front of me. I get there and the gate is locked so I grab my camera and hop the gate run up to the building snap my picture knowing full well that there is no way the lift will show up in the dark. Oh well I’ll plead my case at the scoring table and hope for the best. Feeling pretty good, I fly down to the bottom of the hill and pull in the exit for Tinker Town to grab the last site for a triple combo bonus (my first combo completed). I’m getting off my bike blazing my lights on their building so I can get enough light to get my picture with my flag on their sign. Got it an extra 367 points for nabbing all three now off I go for Santa Rosa with 11 sites attended and it’s just 8pm. One thing I have learned about riding at night the mind can wonder really ease, so I’m focusing on the next location a Antique Car place called Route 66 to snap a picture of a car on a stick. As I approached Santa Rosa doing 80 mph, I was thinking how am I going to find this place. Then out of nowhere on my left I see this old car sitting on a pole, a quick two lane move and I’m on the off ramp downshifting fast. I swing into the parking lot trying to figure how I am going to get my flag and the car in the picture. I finally decided to park my bike under the car, put my flag on my fuel tank and lay on the ground below my bike taking the picture upward. After that accomplishment I decided I deserved a snack, so I started munching on a power bar when a cop drives by going about 10 mph checking me out. About a minute later he comes back in the opposite direction, I wave but he keeps going. I’m thinking I better get out of here before he stops and I have to explain what I’m doing. Just as I start the bike another rider pulled in with a cop hot on his heals. As the bike slowed to turn the cop made a quick left to avoid him and sped off behind the buildings. I talked to the rider for a couple of minutes and decided to get out of there, as I left two more riders came swooping in the parking lot with cops coming from both directions (I think they were tired of seeing riders standing under the car taking pictures). I remember thinking how weird we all decide to hit this same spot at the same time. That was the last time I saw another rider till the hotel. I decided I would head back to Albuquerque, NM and grab the second of three automobile combo bonuses to get and additional points. So off I go to Unser Car showroom. I snapped my picture about midnight and decide to call a couple of buddies working and ask if they want to meet me for breakfast in Rio Rancho after I pick up the last Automobile bonus. They agree and off I go to L&R Antique Car showroom at the Stagecoach campground in Rio Rancho. A quick picture and boom another combo bonus worth 490 additional points and I’m only 10 miles from the I-Hop. I get to the restaurant at 01:00 and meet my buddies for what was supposed to be a quick stop. But of course the restaurant is busy and to add insult to injury the service is slow. But this was a good time to break and spend time with my friends to talk about how the ride has been going and to look at the bonus sites on the map. I’m to close to the end point and I only have about 900 mile well short of the 1000 miles I needed. So after what seemed like an eternity, I’m waving goodbye to my friends and heading back to Albuquerque to grab a couple of bonuses downtown (note to self if I do a food stop like that again get them to order ahead of time so food is their when I get there). Once I hit downtown, I swung by the Atomic Museum took a picture of the front door then off to what ended up being my last bonus stop Old Town. I pulled out my map and spent about 15 minutes to try and find at least one more stop close enough that I could get back to the hotel by 6am (the finish time), but there was nothing less than 200 miles round trip so I decided to head back to the hotel. As I left Albuquerque, I knew I was still about 60 miles short so I decide to drive right by the hotel, run down to Lemitar, NM for fuel. After getting fuel and talking to the attended for a few minutes while drinking coffee I decided to head for the hotel about 35 miles away. I arrived back at the hotel at 4am wasting 2 hours so I headed up to my room to grab a quick shower and a few minutes sleep. At 6am Sunday, I checked in and then went to the scorer's table 7:30 am to turn in my route info and proof of visiting the sites (pictures). I received great feedback on picture taking from the person reviewing my info; he showed me what was considered good and questionable as far as my pictures for future reference. After completing my check in, I headed to my room to get another quick nap before I met everyone at the Luna Mansion in Los Lunas for the lunch banquet. My wife came down from home to meet me at the banquet and we sat with several other riders swapping stories about our rides. We talked about all the weird things that happened too us. It was great to hear I wasn’t the only one that had problems and it was great meeting riders from all over. One of the couples was from Canada another from Minnesota, and the other person sitting at our table to my surprise was a neighbor of mine. He lives two blocks from us in Rio Rancho. After Lunch Ira communicated the results and people were taking pictures of everyone. This was my first time doing one of these organized rallies but it will not be the last. I ended up placing 24th with 1023 miles and 2747 points. Even though I didn’t finish too high I was very pleased with my performance especially after loosing my GPS at the start. Next years goal is a top 10 finish.

As I wrote above, I did complete the ride hitting 16 bonus sites and traveling 1023 miles to be considered a finisher. I returned back to the starting point around 4am, riding for 21 hours. I knew I wasn't close to the top riders in the rally when I finished. Our packets had several sites that were combos (2-3 sites) that you could go to for extra points and I only hit two combos so I knew I wasn't close but I was happy since I did finish. But note to self next time carry extra fuses for the auxiliary plug . Take care everyone and ride safe.

NMdcporter
06 ST1300
IBA #22390
SS1000, BB1500, B2B, SS2000, 50CC and LOE1000