Friday, July 23, 2010

BMW Rally 2010 - Day 15

This was our last day, by the end of the day we'd be home. It was sort of a sad time when you realize the end of an odyssey is quickly approaching. But none the less, we had some fun places to go so I got out of bed and got ready to go. The breakfast at Best Western is a little higher class than the offerings in Tucumcari so I opted to eat breakfast before we left. Reagan wasn't as impressed with the fare but she knew apple pie was on the horizon.

We left the hotel just after 8:15, gassed up and headed north out of town on Hwy 16 toward the Willow City loop. Once on the loop, I let Reagan lead so she'd get to see more wildlife. Being in the second position I still saw a lot of wildlife and one large 8 point buck still in velvet. He was really amazing to look at, I even stopped briefly to get a better look but didn't have my camera to take a picture.

We continued around the loop at a very leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery and wildlife. It was fun to imagine living in such a place. And I noticed they seem to have power, phones and cable TV so it wouldn't be too rough to live out there. Finally the loop the ended and we were back at Hwy 16 so we headed to our next stop, Luckenbach.

When we arrived in Luckenbach it was still early and the motorcycle parking area was empty. So we parked the bikes, acquired a patch for Reagan and enjoyed some water and coffee while sitting under the trees. Since we had arrived so early there weren't any local musicians playing yet. But we did have fun checking out some of the great license plates posted around the stage.

After leaving Luckenbach, we headed back into Fredericksburg to pick up Hwy 16 south toward Kerrville. We were heading down to Medina for some Apple pie before leaving the area. About 20 miles north of Kerrville it started raining on us and I really considered re-routing us toward home since Hwy 16 just isn't as fun in the rain. But it seemed like it was going to pass so we rode on through Kerrville. The rain did pass, until we got south of town. It's probably the slowest I've ever ridden that stretch of road between Kerrville and Medina but I still managed to have fun. And we even found some property for sale along the way. I don't know anything about it, other than there was a for sale sign on the gate.

As we rolled into Medina the rain was done (figures) and parking at the Apple store was easy to find. We had apple pie and apple ice cream. Reagan bought some apple strudel coffee and then we left. We now had to get home.

The plan was to take Hwy 16 over to 1604 around San Antonio. We stopped for gas in Helotes and I briefly considered just dropping down to Hwy 90 and going through town. But the GPS was adamant about going around San Antonio to the north. Next time I'm going through town. The mess on 1604 at the I-35 interchange was ridiculous. But after we made it to I-10 things seemed to settle down.

We took the Kingsbury exit and jumped down to Hwy 90A and took that home. The final gas stop of the day was in Eagle Lake at the Buc-ees. As always, people wanted to talk to Reagan about her bike. Meanwhile I was left to my own devices. It's probably for the best, since my mic had broken I probably would have talked a poor fella's ear off if he had asked me about my bike. Reagan had a little problem with the gas valve on her pump so she got to wear cologne d'gasoline for the rest of the trip home.

We arrived home at 5:30pm. We had travelled 5,400 miles over the course of 15 days. It was a great trip. The fact that Reagan wasn't ready to come home made it an especially good trip. Hopefully next summer we can stay out longer, there are definitely many other rallies we could attend along the way.

Technical challenges on this trip included:
- J&M wiring on my bike on the first morning, just used the co-rider cable instead. Need to pin it out and find out where the short/break is.
- Reagan's GPS lost itself a few days into the trip. I suspect the antenna wires are broken inside. Unfortunately the extended warranty expired on June 5th. So a new GPS is on her wish list, I don't she'll be happy with my Zumo 550 hand-me-down.
- My JRC gloves turned out to be too small. They are great gloves, but I realized after about 2000 miles that the thumb was just a little too short and started causing pain.
- My J&M 8pin helmet connector assembly failed. This problem had been randomly present on prior trips but it finally exacerbated it to the point that I ended up also breaking the microphone wire. I have to either fix the solder connections or purchase a replacement for $35.
- Reagan's lost rear reflector. Even after getting new hardware in Vernal, UT she lost the assembly the next day. So we're going to fabricate something to replace it.
- Reagan's antenna mount. Besides loosing an antenna on the way up, the weight of the antenna assembly seems to have cracked her rear fender struts so I'm going to have to relocate the antenna assembly to another location and repair the struts. Most likely I'll attached the antenna to the top case mount like I've done with mine. Repairing the struts will just take a little TIG welding and paint.
- And of course, my transmission seal leak. That was more of a needless stress factor than anything. After a few days of worrying, I realized the leak wasn't severe and enjoyed the rest of the trip. But it's going to the dealership immediately.

More trips to come!!!

2 comments:

ChrisW said...

Brian

I enjoyed your account of this trip.

Looking forward to the next one!

Vlvtelvs said...

Ready to go again.......