The temperature this morning was at least 10 degrees warmer in Campwood compared to Alpine yesterday. I opted not to put on so much cold gear and figured I'd be fine with just my Gerbing gear as a liner under my Olympia 1-pc suite. I wasn't even going to plug in. So after enjoying breakfast across the street with everyone, we packed our bikes and I left with the group heading north.
We left Campwood via FM 337. As it was still early we kept the pace moderate just in case there were any deer out for a morning stroll. After we passed through Leakey I decided to move up 1 position behind the leader to better enjoy the pace through the twisties. In Medina we turned North onto Hwy 16 toward Kerrville. I absolutely love this road as it has lots of tight curves where the GS just rocks!
Once in Kerrville the group of 5 bikes gathered back up and we continued north to Fredericksburg. The only problem with Hwy 16 between Kerrville and Fredericksburg is that it's a 2 lane road. So when you get stuck behind a slow moving truck you are sort of stuck there until they turn or you get into town. We were far enough back in the line of vehicles we really didn't have a choice but to sit back and enjoy the scenery at a speed of 55mph. Once we arrived in Fredericksburg we turned east onto Hwy 290 and headed out of town with a fuel stop at the Shell at the corner of FM1623.
I opted to plug in my electrics at this point. The temperature had stayed around 50 degrees which made it a little cold when riding down the road at 70 mph. Once back on the road I was nice and cozy with just a little bit of juice flowing into my Gerbings. The ride on 290 over to Austin was uneventful although the closer we got to town, the more I had to contend with traffic. In Austin we headed south on Hwy 71 to Bastrop. There I waived goodbye to 3 riders of the group. The 2 of us who were left stayed on 71 heading south toward Columbus.
At LaGrange, Jeff pointed his old airhead toward the gas station and we waived good bye to each other. I was now back to riding solo, just me and my thoughts and the occasional car on the road. I picked up I-10E at Columbus and "slabbed it" over to Sealy where I took Hwy 36 just as I had done on Friday morning. Getting home via Hwy 36 isn't the quickest way but it avoids miles of suburbia and soccer moms so it's worth an extra few miles.
When I rolled up into my driveway I was glad to be home but I was a little sad to see the end of the trip. Over the course of the 4 days I added 1607 miles to the odometer which now reads 98,011. I'm really happy with the seat adjustments I made a few weeks ago. I don't get the same pain from pressure points that I used to get. I still get some back pain but I expect that to diminish over the next month as my workouts at the gym strengthen those muscles.
I had 3 technical difficulties on this trip. First was the broken right hand mirror. It didn't happen on the trip but 2 days before when I was moving the bike around in the garage. I just didn't find out about the problem until I left the driveway and it fell off. Oooops! The second issue was a carry over from my last trip. I'm having all sorts of problems with the XM radio audio from my Garmin going through the J&M CB. I think it's some broken solder joints inside the J&M so I'll have to take that apart to investigate. And there's the fact that I need to replace the Zumo integrator module for the J&M which is going to run me about $400. Yikes! The last problem happened on Saturday morning at breakfast. I broke the key of my Givi topcase. Luckily it broke inside the lock so I was able to stick the nub of the key into the lock and turn it. I've got spare keys so it won't take long to disassemble the lock and get the broken key out.
I've got 59 days until I ride in the April Fools 30 hour rally on March 31 and 191 days until the Butt Lite 6IX. The GS needs some attention before I make my next LD ride but overall it's doing well and should serve me nicely as my rally bike for this year after I add the auxiliary fuel cell to raise my fuel volume to 11.5 gallons.
We left Campwood via FM 337. As it was still early we kept the pace moderate just in case there were any deer out for a morning stroll. After we passed through Leakey I decided to move up 1 position behind the leader to better enjoy the pace through the twisties. In Medina we turned North onto Hwy 16 toward Kerrville. I absolutely love this road as it has lots of tight curves where the GS just rocks!
Once in Kerrville the group of 5 bikes gathered back up and we continued north to Fredericksburg. The only problem with Hwy 16 between Kerrville and Fredericksburg is that it's a 2 lane road. So when you get stuck behind a slow moving truck you are sort of stuck there until they turn or you get into town. We were far enough back in the line of vehicles we really didn't have a choice but to sit back and enjoy the scenery at a speed of 55mph. Once we arrived in Fredericksburg we turned east onto Hwy 290 and headed out of town with a fuel stop at the Shell at the corner of FM1623.
I opted to plug in my electrics at this point. The temperature had stayed around 50 degrees which made it a little cold when riding down the road at 70 mph. Once back on the road I was nice and cozy with just a little bit of juice flowing into my Gerbings. The ride on 290 over to Austin was uneventful although the closer we got to town, the more I had to contend with traffic. In Austin we headed south on Hwy 71 to Bastrop. There I waived goodbye to 3 riders of the group. The 2 of us who were left stayed on 71 heading south toward Columbus.
At LaGrange, Jeff pointed his old airhead toward the gas station and we waived good bye to each other. I was now back to riding solo, just me and my thoughts and the occasional car on the road. I picked up I-10E at Columbus and "slabbed it" over to Sealy where I took Hwy 36 just as I had done on Friday morning. Getting home via Hwy 36 isn't the quickest way but it avoids miles of suburbia and soccer moms so it's worth an extra few miles.
When I rolled up into my driveway I was glad to be home but I was a little sad to see the end of the trip. Over the course of the 4 days I added 1607 miles to the odometer which now reads 98,011. I'm really happy with the seat adjustments I made a few weeks ago. I don't get the same pain from pressure points that I used to get. I still get some back pain but I expect that to diminish over the next month as my workouts at the gym strengthen those muscles.
I had 3 technical difficulties on this trip. First was the broken right hand mirror. It didn't happen on the trip but 2 days before when I was moving the bike around in the garage. I just didn't find out about the problem until I left the driveway and it fell off. Oooops! The second issue was a carry over from my last trip. I'm having all sorts of problems with the XM radio audio from my Garmin going through the J&M CB. I think it's some broken solder joints inside the J&M so I'll have to take that apart to investigate. And there's the fact that I need to replace the Zumo integrator module for the J&M which is going to run me about $400. Yikes! The last problem happened on Saturday morning at breakfast. I broke the key of my Givi topcase. Luckily it broke inside the lock so I was able to stick the nub of the key into the lock and turn it. I've got spare keys so it won't take long to disassemble the lock and get the broken key out.
I've got 59 days until I ride in the April Fools 30 hour rally on March 31 and 191 days until the Butt Lite 6IX. The GS needs some attention before I make my next LD ride but overall it's doing well and should serve me nicely as my rally bike for this year after I add the auxiliary fuel cell to raise my fuel volume to 11.5 gallons.
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