Summer Ride 2009

One of the problems with technology is I want one device that does everything. My iPhone is close but no cigar. I could blog while on the road with my iPhone but I could not upload pictures. Enough digital ranting.

The ride. A little over 8500 miles, 21 states and 1 Canadian providence.
In an effort to fit in family commitments the beginning of the ride was a little broken up. I left home on a Wednesday. My goal was to be in Amarillo, TX two and a half days later. We had a wedding commitment that weekend so I rode to Amarillo, flew back to San Jose for a day and a half, then flew back to Amarillo and picked up the bike and kept heading East.
This is where the ride really began. One of my goals was to ride the in the three states in which I had not ridden in yet. Arkansas was first on that list. By this time it is mid July. I'm riding across Oklahoma. So I know I'm going to be hot. As I near the Oklahoma / Arkansas border it is 108. Within 30 min of entering Arkansas it is raining and 78 degrees. I didn't bother putting on rain gear as I figured the showers would end fairly soon and I would be dry by the time I reached my hotel. An hour and a half later I rolled into my hotel. Dry as a bone and quite refreshed.
My next stop was Natchez,MS. I wanted to ride some or all of the Natchez Trace. I had ridden the Blue Ridge Pkwy from South to North a few years ago and thought that the Trace would be similar.
The Trace is a beautiful ride. Long stretches of well maintained roads. Lots of places to stop and read about the history of the Trace. If you are a history buff then you will want to stop and visit the various monuments.



Here is an example of the scenery.






A quick stop in Nashville. I had promised my wife that I would see Nashville with her so I just looked around town to get a feel for where we might visit and stay when we come back. I did however visit Outdoor World near the Grand Ole Opry.
One of the destinations for this ride was the BMW Rally in Johnson City, TN. So I headed that direction. It just so happens that Deals Gap, The Dragon was on the way to the rally so I made a little detour and rode the Dragon once again. New bike and it needed a dragon decal.
Unfortunately it was raining that morning so the dragon was not rider friendly. It is still a fun ride.
I was reminded of the hazards of the dragon several miles later when I saw flashing lights up ahead, a motorcycle stuffed in the guard rail, EMT's tending to a down rider and his friends standing around looking worried. If you don't treat the dragon with respect he might just bite you.
It was time to actually head for the rally so I continued my ride into TN and got to the rally. I had feared that the rally would be poorly attended due to the economy but it was a good turnout. I had a great time.

I have to say that the coolest thing I saw at the rally was a custom bike trailer. Very cool.
The vendors at the rally were less than normal but I was able to talk with everyone that I was interested in speaking with for as long as I wanted.








Next stop was the Corvette museum in Bowling Green,KY. The museum was pretty good but smaller than I would have thought.
After that I did a little Roots trip up through West Virginia to "Hacker Valley". I don't have a lot of history on my dads side of the family but this is where the ancestors supposedly settled when they first came to America.

Day 5 BMW Rally ride

Short side trip to SJ for a wedding. Waiting for my flight back to pick up my bike and keep heading East. Should be in MIssissippi by tomorrow night.

More to follow...

Day 2 BMW Rally ride

Had my morning tea & muffin at a local coffe shop. Met some local riders that frequent the shop. Motorcyclists are the same everywhere. They want to know how you like your bike, where you are going or where you have been.
Pretty straight shot from Flagstaff to Tucumcari. The landscape was not outstanding but the skies were beautiful.

BMW Rally ride day 1

I made it to Flagstaff. First day down. It was 106 degrees coming through Blythe.

More to follow...

Yosemite Trip...w/o motorcycle

We just got back from a great hiking trip in Yosemite. I admit that I am not a big hiking fan but Yosemite is worth the trouble.
Now it is time to finish preparing for my ride to the BMW Rally in Johnson City, TN. I leave Wed morning and head for Flagstaff that night. I can't wait.

Getting ready for the BMW rally

The new bike is ready. It has enough miles on it to not worry about break in problems and I am ready to go. First stop Flagstaff, AZ. Well maybe second stop as I will need gas somewhere along the way.

Julian for Lunch...the long way

We headed out this morning from Encinitas around 7:30am. I wanted to put some miles on the new K bike. We headed north on I15 to Temecula. Turned east on Hwy 79 to 371 to 74 and down into Palm Desert. The bike did fine averaging around 40 mpg on its second tank of gas. Filled up in Palm Desert and headed for Salton Sea on Hwy 86. The temp leaving home was around 60F. Somewhere around Salton Sea it was 95F. We turned back west onto Hwy 78 with intentions of finding something to eat in Ocotillo Wells. No go. Julian was only another 30 miles so we headed there for lunch. We rolled into Julian a few minutes after noon. Had a nice lunch at Margaritas then headed home. I was home by 2pm with about 280 miles on the clock.
The bike was great. I am going to consider a Sargent seat and a bigger windscreen. The seat is mainly a preference thing but the windscreen is pretty much a necessity.

More to follow...

New bike. Time to ride.

Finally got the new bike. Now it is time to do some riding. I have put about 300 miles on it riding around San Diego county but now it is time for a little longer ride. Going to head out to Palm Springs then down past Salton Sea up through Julian and back home. Looks like about 300 miles. Nice day ride. My brother and one or two others said they would like to join me on this little jaunt. The bike should be ready for the 600 mile check up after the ride. Once that is completed I can take a loop of California ride in preparation for heading back to the BMW Rally in July. There are still 3 states in the union that I have not ridden in and I want to pick them off this summer.

More to follow...

Planning, planning, planning

Riding is the ultimate but when I can't ride I love planning that next ride. All I have to do is type "Road Trip" in the heading of an email and I start getting messages back from other addicts. The first big trip this year is a visit to the BMW Rallye in Johnson City, TN. Along the way I intend to ride the Natchez Trace, visit Nashville and maybe take in the Corvette factory. After the rally I plan on wondering around West Virginia looking at where the family supposedly spent their first years in the US. Hacker Valley, WV. Then I will spend some time with the relatives in Illinois. The route home has yet to be determined but I am sure that I will think of somewhere I haven't ridden yet and go there.
Hopefully I will be doing all this on a new K1300GT. Uncle Sam was nice enough to loan me some of my money due to "Harvesting Loses" from 2008. I say loan because if I actually make some money this year he will want it back and more. The K13GT seems like the perfect cement slab burner for me. I love the back roads and twisties also and this bike will probably handle them as well.

Change of plans

Due to circumstances beyond my belief I guess I am going to have to ride the good old GS for another couple of years. I put in for some of the TARP money but have not seen it as yet.
The wife said that I could sell the toy car and buy a bike with that money but I decided that that plan was not worth getting a new bike. The car is holding its value much better than most of the other investments.
Now the question is where to go. At this time of year it is either head up the coast toward Monterey or southeast into the desert. With the rain that we have had over the past few weeks I think the desert might be the way to go. The desert in spring is pretty spectacular. I checked the California Poppy web site and they say it is still a couple of weeks early. The ride to see the poppys can be on the way to either the coast or the desert so I don't really have to choose until I start riding. Now things are looking up. That is the way life should be. Just take off in a direction until you feel like turning.



more to follow....

Need to ride...

I know that it is winter but I live in San Diego so riding all year long is usually not a problem. Have ridden most of the rideable roads in California this time of year but I need to get out and ride something. Does anyone know if any of the good roads have been resurfaced recently? The good California roads are always fun to ride but when they are fresh they are some of the greatest rides in the world. Maybe there is a web site that gives info on recently resurfaced roads.
If I can't find one I might figure out how to get the info and include the info in my blog. At least for California. The rest of the states are going to have to help me out a little. I depend upon motorcycleroads.com when I am going out of the western states. They do a really good job of chronicling good riding roads all over the country.


More to follow...

Back from the great frozen South

Like everyone we traveled over the Christmas and New Years holidays. OK so not everyone goes to Antarctica for the holidays.
I have now crossed both polar circles. Unfortunately I could not ride to this one. We did meet a group of six riders from Brazil who had ridden their KTM Adventure bikes down to Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is about as far south as you can ride. You actually have to take a ferry boat across the Beagle Channel to get there but it is the furthest south that you can ride to a city.