Big Bend Freeze Out 2008 in Review

We left out early on Friday morning before dark and I pulled into my driveway on Monday evening after dark having added another 1,837 miles to the odometer. What happened between that time is what I've written below.

First off, it was my plan to use the audio blog feature of Utterz to blog about the trip verbally instead of with written text. I also didn't expect to have Internet access when I got out to Ft. Davis. It turns out I type a little better than I talk so I don't think I'll be using Utterz in this manner again.

Friday:
I got over to John's about 4:10am, and we left promptly at 4:15. Once headed down 90A I realized I had forgotten my wallet so I radio to Fred and John and turned around. I'd catch up with them in Brookshire. A quick dash into the house and I had my wallet, then back on the bike and through the yard I went (I would hear about driving through the yard later). I pulled into the Flyin' J about 40 minutes later with plenty of time before we had to depart. On the way over it was misting and I had on my Lee Parks Design PCI gloves. Since I had coated them the night before with mink oil I wasn't worried about them in a light mist (big mistake).

We got on the road just after 5:30 with 5 of us on bikes and 3 bikes on trailers. As we were leaving I thought about putting on my Aerostitch covers but decides against it. Ooops! Riding west on I-10 from Brookshire isn't terribly exciting but it was the beginning of the trip, it was raining, it was cold, my electrics were working, and I was headed to west Texas.

By the time we reached Lulling my hands seemed really cold and I thought the left heated grip had malfunctioned. Great, I'd have to ride the entire weekend without my heated grips. When we reached Seguin we filled up at the Exxon next to the Kettle grill. My left hand was so cold it felt like someone had smashed my fingers. When I took my hand out of the glove and touched the grip I realized my grips were working but the gloves had failed me miserably.

Breakfast at the Kettle grill was interesting. The food was good but my plate came out last as asking for eggs over hard, really hard, was a challenge for the cook. But I had time to warm up while I was inside and my hands began to feel normal again. When I examined my fancy gloves I realized they were completely soaked and would not be of any use to me for the rest of the day. Luckily I had brought extra pairs of gloves. So I used my Joe Rocket Drytech gloves that I had bought 2 years ago on a special closeout for $30. These ended up being my cold weather gloves for the weekend.

Once we got through San Antonio the rain seemed to disappear and we were left with cloudy skies and cool temps (in the low 40s). With the electric gear on and dry gloves I was comfortable and enjoying the ride. We rode west from San Antonio stopping every 100 miles or so. Just taking it easy and enjoying the scenery. When we stopped in Sanderson to fill up there was some concern about getting up the road quickly and getting to our motel before dark. We were in serious deer country now.

We arrived in Fort Davis before dark and checked into our motel rooms. Once everybody arrived (some stopped along the way for stuff) it was time to find dinner which we did at the local drug store. Food was good.

Saturday:
"Side stands up at 7:30am" that was the plan decided upon the night before. Well by 7am, everyone was out at their bikes getting ready. The plan was simple, ride down 118 to Study Butte, ride the river road (FM 170) up to Presidio, eat lunch and then continue on 170 to Candelaria, turn around and ride back to Presidio, then head up 67 through Marfa and take just outside of Ft. Davis we'd take Hiway 166 west to do the Davis Mountain loop. According to Mapsource, this would be a 419 mile trip. I was pumped.

We ate breakfast at the Drugstore in Ft. Davis but it didn't open until 8am so we stood around for awhile. After breakfast we took off on 118 as we had planned. I don't think we got 10 miles out of town before a deer jumped out in front of Gary who was in the lead. Hello! I was awake now.

When we got to Alpine, we caught up with Fred who had left ahead of us to fuel up in Alpine. We got caught by a train and Fred was asking where Doug was. Apparently Doug was the last one out of breakfast and he hadn't caught up. Later in the day we'd discover that he had started to run the planned route backwards heading toward Marfa. Doug would catch up with us down the road in Study Butte.

Since Fred and Gary didn't know where Doug was they decided to turn around and go look for him along the route. The rest of us continued on down 118. We stopped in Study Butte to gas up, as Presidio was the next gas stop 70 miles away. This is where we met up with Doug. Once everyone had gassed we took off on FM 170. Wow! what a road. Of course in the back of my mind I heard Fred's warning, "if you crash on the river road we won't call an ambulance, we'll just call for a body bag because it's gonna take a while to get help." With that warning in mind, I set my speed accordingly. My decision was to limit myself to no more than "double over" warning signs and not over the posted speed limit.

Along the river road we stopped at a scenic over look to take pictures. Mike convinced me to walk down the hill a little ways to get a picture on the other side. He said "I'll give you your money back if you aren't happy". Well the picture was nice but the walk back up the hill SUCKED! After everyone got finished with pictures and the group had collected from Study Butte we suited up and continued on the River Road toward Presidio. Just a couple miles down the road we caught up with Gary and Fred who were coming from Presidio. So everyone turned around and we met back up at the scenic overlook. After some discussion it was decided that we'd continue along FM170 to Presidio for lunch, but Fred and Gary were heading to Lajitas for lunch.

Wow! The river road was fun. Once we got going after leaving the over look Randy and I ended up riding together. We kept the pace at my predetermined speeds and had a good time. Only once did a corner give me a little "pucker factor" when it started decreasing it's radius and seemed to go on forever.

We fueled up in Presidio and then went over to El Alamo for mexican food. It was after 2pm when we all finished and paid the bill. Fred and Gary had shone up as there wasn't any food in Lajitas. John, Fred, Gary and Doug decided they were done for the day and were heading back to the motel. Randy and I weren't really ready to call it quits and neither was Andy on his K1200GT. So the 3 of us decided we'd take our own route back. Since it was already after 2pm and it was a good 45 minutes in each direction to get to Candelaria and back, we opted to do that another day. The plan was to ride up 67 through Marfa and go to Ft. Davis, then we'd do the Davis mountain loop. We made good time going up Hiway 67.

Once in Ft. Davis we took 118 west and headed into the Davis mountains. Andy in front, then Randy and me in the rear. A few miles up the way, and many turns into the ride, we came upon 5 deer in the road. Actually 3 in the road and 2 in the ditch alongside. Once we stopped they got out of the way, but this was our reminder that deer were present! We continued on and took a break at the McDonald Observatory to check it out briefly.

After a quick stop we decided to continue along the loop and hoped to return to the observatory that even for an astronomy program. Heading west on 118 the road got narrower and rougher but it was still fun. We saw some turkeys off to the right. Once we turned left onto 166 we saw more wildlife and we enjoyed wide open spaces. First we saw antelope, then we saw javelinas, then we saw more javelinas. I was just glad that they would run away as we approached. When we got to 17, we headed north back to the motel. It was a great day of riding and another 340 miles on the odometer. Randy had a smile on his face that he couldn't wipe off.

Dinner was had at the Ft. Davis drugstore. That place was pretty good.

Sunday:
It was decided that we'd eat at the drugstore again so we weren't in such a hurry to leave since they didn't open until 8am. Another tasty breakfast and then we were off. Some of the group was headed for Black Gap, while Randy and I were headed to Big Bend National Park since we were the rookies and had never been. The plan was to ride down 118 again through Study Butte and enter the park on the west side. We passed the Black Gap group just before Alpine and lost sight of them as we continued on 118 out of Alpine. Riding 118 for the third time was great, I knew some of the curves better and could have a little more fun. A short gas stop in Study Butte and we were headed for the park. It was about 11 am when we left Study Butte.

Both Randy and I had heard the warnings, "it's 45mph in the park" so we kept the speed right at 45 or less for the first hour or 2 in the park. Our first destination in the park was Santa Elena Canyon, so we could dip a toe in the Rio Grande River. We passed up lots of beautiful sites along the way but since I knew we were coming back via the same 30 mile long road I asked Randy if it would be OK to stop at the sites on the way back. He was good with that. By noon we were at the Santa Elena canyon and I had ridden my bike out on to the river bed and parked it just a few feet from the water. Randy decided to keep his RT on the dirt road but still in plain site. I was content to hang out at the river and b.s. until Randy started talking about the tubers who had been shot from the cliffs. Considering we were both in hi-viz jackets it was time to leave!

We headed up the road and stopped at several scenic exhibits along the way. The most beautiful was Sotol Vista Overlook. My camera just couldn't take in the entire view but it was incredible. After some photos we moved on and checked out other attractions along the way. Some we were able to pull up along side, in those cases I snapped a picture without even getting off the bike.

Once back on the main road we headed east to go to the Chisos Basin to hopefully get a look at "the window" from the lodge area. I'm not sure we actually saw "the window" but it was amazing riding up to the lodge. As you got closer you went from an arid desert into an almost tropical forest. Once we got to the lodge it was quiet and peaceful. I could have stayed there for awhile but by now I was starting to watch the time as I wanted to be heading out of the park by 4pm so we'd be back before dark.

Time management was on my side. and at 3:25 we were heading north on 385 out of the park. The only thing is that you have to ride through the desert in the park, at 45 mph for about 30 miles. That had to be the most boring part of the ride, it was straight, flat and slow. At least off in the distance you had plenty of mountains to look at and I wondered if we'd get to ride some twisties when we came out of the desert and out of the park with it's 45 mph limit. Indeed we found a few twisites upon leaving the park, and then more straight roads. This allowed a little time for creative pictures.

Once out of the park we continued north on 385. I saw the sign for Black Gap but knew the other group had been long gone from there and we'd be hard pressed to go scouting in Black Gap and make it home by night fall. So onward we went. When we pulled into Marathon Randy reminded me about the local law enforcement that liked to watch 90 and 385 so we took it nice and slow. By now Randy and I both were a little nervous about the deer as we had seen a few along the way and at a check point the border patrol officer asked Randy if he'd seen that deer along the road beneath the tree. He hadn't.

We took 90 into Alpine and then headed north on 118. Alright so this was the fourth time on 118 but it was getting late and was prime deer time. So I took it a little easy but still had fun. We rolled into the motel parking lot at 5:32pm with another 326 miles on the odometer. Randy had a smile from ear to ear again. It was another great day.

Dinner was another story altogether. Sunday night in Ft. Davis you don't have much of a choice as the only thing that is open is Hotel Limpia and you'd better call them if you plan to eat after 4pm because they just close up after the last guests leave. So we called them and told them we would be having 10 people show up at 7pm. They seemed a little excited and said they'd stay open.

We arrived just a few minutes before 7 and was seated promptly. I was one of the last ones in as I was fiddling with stuff on my bike. At my table there were 7 of us. The waitress introduced herself as Kara and proceeded to take our drink orders. Tea, tea, tea, water, tea, tea w/ lemons, lots of lemons. Off she went and we all looked at the menu. Fred wanted an appetizer but there were none on the menu. The menu is some what pretentious with fancy dishes and high prices. The Fried Beef Tenderloin caught my eye as I was in the mood for a steak and thought that a fried tenderloin might be interesting.

Well the dinner took a definite down turn when Kara brought out the salad. She brought out one little bowl and said that was for everyone. We told her we'd need more and she said it was served family style. So after about 3 people got their helpings of salad we had to wait for more. She could have changed the entire mood of the meal if she had started by bringing at least 2 bowls of salad, I mean there were 7 healthy men sitting at the table.

Next came the main course, I wish I had my camera when Doug's Lemon Parmesan Chicken was placed before him. To say it was smaller than he expected would be an understatement. Kara served the rest of the meals and when Doug saw Gary's chicken fried chicken I thought he might cry. It was at least twice the size. He asked Kara about the size different, her excuse "It's because it's fried, that makes it larger". OK, now I knew we were in trouble.

Everybody got a serving of the cream cheese mashed potatoes. I don't think anybody was interested in the squash. Everybody started commenting about how hot (spicy) the potatoes were. Then promptly all the drinking glasses were emptied. And they remained that way for several minutes. Finally Fred asked the manager for some tea as our waitress had forgotten us.

As for my Fried Beef Tenderloin. If that was in fact a tenderloin it had to be the worst cut of tenderloin ever. I've had poorly cooked brisket that wasn't that tough and dry. And the batter? It was caked on there in far too much abundance. And there was at least 1/2 the gravy served with the meal as should have been. Both Gary and I asked for more gravy when we received our plates, Kara acknowledged our requests but never brought us gravy.

After picking off most of the battered crust and finishing the leather tough tenderloin I proceeded to check out the fresh snap peas. They were cold and soggy. They had been boiled to death in the back. The potatoes were good although drowned with black pepper so it was impossible to taste anything but the pepper.

After everyone had stopped eating Kara returned to offer desert. She had blackberry pie but no icecream, she was out of several deserts, had 1 slice of coconut pie, and mainly pushed the chocolate cake and a combination chocolate cake/french silk concoction. I figured I had endured enough of this chef's disasters.

In summary about Hotel Limpia's restaurant, STAY OUT!!! I honestly believe the chef would be fired from even the worst short order cook position in a greasy spoon. I saw him once when he came out of the kitchen and he looked as though he truly did not know what he was doing and didn't look like the type of person who should be cooking the type of expensive cuisine this place was trying to sell. Read my words,

STAY AWAY FROM HOTEL LIMPIA'S RESTAURANT, IT'S HORRIBLE!

I'd nominate it for the worst restaurant in Texas if I could find a link.

Monday:
Today's ride would be long and boring but my philosophy is any day on two wheels is a good day. Not everyone shared my thoughts. From the weather forecast I figured I'd be shedding some layers early but that I had strong winds to content with. Well with just the eletrics on I was able to easily regulate the temps until we got almost to San Antonio. The biggest challenge between Balmorhea and Kerville had to be the wind. It was coming out of the south and it was blowing hard. I was thankful I had the GS and not a lighter bike like a GSX-R or K1200GT. We stopped every 100 miles or so to take a break. We weren't in a hurry.

Breakfast was had in Ft. Stockton at the Burger King inside the Shell station. This was the first time we'd eaten at a fast food place all weekend long. It was also nice to take a break from the relentless wind. We decided we would push for Schulenburg to have a late lunch/early supper.

By 4:30 we arrived in Schulenburg at the Oak Ridge smoke house. I had always known this place for it's home cooking buffet and jerky. It didn't even dawn on me they had Bar-B-Que. Well now I know, THEY DON'T!!!! Sure they call it BBQ but I had to cut my brisket with a knife that I darn near broke. It was so tough you couldn't even just bite off a piece, you had to cut it into smaller chunks. And yes my beef tenderloin was tougher than this poorly cooked brisket. John took pity on me and brought me some pulled pork from the buffet. It wasn't any better. Those folks in Schulenburg should be ashamed of the crap they call bar-b-q. It's an insult to those of us who know how to cook good 'Q.

After dinner we headed home. John and I decided to stay on I-10 and head for 99. We were taking the faster route home. While Fred, Gary and Doug were taking 102 into Eagle Lake and enjoying a few local roads on the way home. Well shortly after getting on 99 we got hung up in a huge traffic jam for almost 30 minutes. So much for the fast way home. We turned onto Morton road and took back roads into Sugar Land. I arrived in my driveway at 7pm with a total of 1.837 new miles on the odometer. I wheeled the bike in the garage and went inside, I was home.


Gear - What worked and didn't:
I had purchased a few items for this trip as this was really my first winter trip to take. Items included Gerbing liners (pants, jacket & sockets), a heat-troller from Warm & Safe, Lee Parks Design PCI gloves, and a Technik mount for my camera. And I borrowed some Aerostitch Tank Panniers from Gray.

The electric liners and controller worked great! They made the entire weekend comfortable. When it was cold and wet on Friday morning, my body was warm and dry. I did learn that you have to really crank up the pants though to get the socks right. That may be due to the wind being blocked by the tank panniers but I think I'll try to get another controller just for the socks.

The Lee Parks Design Phase Change gloves with Outlast were probably the biggest disappointment for me. All of my gear is water proof so I don't worry about rain. But with the gloves I had to worry about the rain, so I wiped them down with mink oil to give them a little water resistance. Well they were soaked through by the time I got to Seguin on Friday. So I had to fall back to my $30 cheapie winter gloves which worked great. I tried the gloves again on Sunday morning on the way to breakfast. Just 2 miles down the road my finger tips were cold and the gloves were dry. Motorcycle Consumer News has raved about these gloves in the past, but for me they seemed to be money wasted. I think they'll be up for sale by the end of the week. I plan to replace them with electric gloves or at least electric liners for my $30 pair of cheap winter gloves.

I had hoped to use the Technik mount with my camera to take some videos while I was riding. Well that didn't work well at all. There's just too much vibration transmitted through the mount to record a good picture. Of course I have to consider that I'm using a Sony DSC-H9 camera that has some video capabilities and not a real video camera. None the less the purchase of the mount isn't wasted, I'll use it for my radar detector which has been on my farkle list for some time now.

The Aerostitch Tank Panniers had to be one of the better things I took on the trip. They allowed me to carry my camelback bladder on one side along with an adult beverage for the motel room. And I was able to carry lots of other things that normally got carried in my top case. On the return trip they were invaluable as I was not wearing as many layers as I had going out and I was able to find enough space to pack everything with those panniers. These are definitely on my farkle list, before the radar detector for sure.

Some gear that I've had for a while that worked as expected:
Olympia AST Hi-Viz Jacket (water proof)
Olympia Ranger Pants (water proof)
Setup Riding Boots (water proof)
UnderArmor Cold gear, best long underwear ever!
Shoei Pin-lock visor system (no visor fogging)

And the one thing that is high on my list to fix:

My gosh awful Rick Mayer custom seat. I've sent it back once already for adjustments and I don't think Rick actually listened to my complaints. I had 2 problems with the original stock seat, I felt like I was sliding forward and it caused a pain across my tail bone that made it painful to sit for days after. Well the RMC seat did the same things. After sending it back the sliding forward problem is mostly gone but even 2 days after the trip, it still hurts to sit down. It's going back for another adjustment just as soon as I can fine a temporary seat as it takes 2 weeks to get adjusted. If he can't get it right this next time around I think I'll look seriously at the Russell Day Long.

Getting gas in Presidio

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Big Bend Freeze Out 2008

"We'll likely start out in rain", that's what Fred said a few weekends ago. It looks like he was right.

I ran out of time yesterday before I could make a post, but the bike is ready, the important gear is tested. I'm hoping to make audio posts to blog through out the weekend provided my bluetooth functions on the phone and zumo. I also have a camera mount I'm going to try, hopefully I can get some video footage while I'm riding.

3:56am, time to mount up!

A Sunday Ride

Today was pretty cool, with a temperature of 30 degrees when I got on the bike to go to breakfast. Since the Sunday meeting place is only about 2 miles down the road and since I wasn't planning to go riding after breakfast I dressed more for breakfast and wrenching than riding in the cold. This would have been a great morning to use some of my electric gear but since I'm still waiting on the Warm & Safe controller I didn't bother hooking up the cable directly. Remember, I was only going to breakfast.

Brrr!!! When I got onto Hiway 6 taking the new over pass over 90A I realized how cold it was. Thank goodness I was halfway there. Turn on the heated grips! On High!!

You see the reason why I wasn't going riding following breakfast is because I was planning to help my buddy John put his Goldwing back together. After our last trip he had started working on the front end, changing fork oil, replacing steering head bearings and other stuff. With the holidays and a cold he sort of got delayed on putting it all back together. So the plan was to work on that following breakfast.

After breakfast Fred and I headed to John's house. Lucky for me John's garage is insulated and had a little space heater running. It took the chill off the air and made it such that your hands didn't hurt when you scraped or banged them. Once we got started, things were going pretty well. We managed to get the forks set, front tire on, brakes and fender attached. Pretty much everything at the bottom end of the forks. Then we went to the top end. It took three tries before we got all the cables routed correctly from the handlebars. Those pesky throttle cables. After that we put the instrument cluster end and decided to call it a day.

Since it was just before 2pm and Reagan was out and about, I decided to take the long way home. So I headed west on 90A to FM359 where I turned right. A few miles down the road I caught up with some Harley riders doing the double nickel. Everybody had their gear on and seemed to be riding safely so I just stayed behind them. I figured when we got to Winner Foster road I'd go which ever direction they didn't. As I expected they stayed on 359 heading north so I turned left and took off down Winner Foster Road. It was a great day, very little traffic, clear skies and the temperature was just right.

I turned right onto Bois D Arc and headed north. This road takes you into Fulshear with a few sharp turns along the way. When I got into Fulshear my Fuel light came on. What? only 160 miles on the trip meter and I need gas? What gives. I decide to push on into Brookshire for gas. I stay on FM1093 heading west out of Fulshear. When I get to Simonton I turn right onto Simonton road toward Brookshire. There's an Exxon there and I like using my speed pass. Since I was a little concerned about my fuel economy I decided to keep the pace steady (but enjoyable) so I could see if my fuel usage was on par. My guage said I had 38 miles of fuel left and it was 10 miles to Brookshire. So if things were OK, I should roll into town with 27 miles left. And that's what happened. While refilling the tank, it dawned on me that last weekend I was riding around the motorcycle range practicing on "the bean" which is a small oval-ish track used in the MSF Experienced Rider course. That was mostly first and second gear with some hard acceleration which explains the poor fuel economy.

With a full tank of gas I headed north to Pattison to ride Racers Road. It's got some nice sweeping curves and is fun to ride. Racers Road is FM1489 out of Pattison. When I crossed the Brazos river I slowed to 45mph so as to avoid the need to make any donations to the San Felipe police department. I continued south crossing over I-10. Just as I got to FM 1093 I decided to turn right instead of left and head toward Wallis. I had a plan...

Once I got to Wallis I turned left on Hiway 36 and headed south east toward Rosenberg. I was planning to stay on 36 until I got to spur 10 which would cut over to Hiway 59. When I got a few miles down the road to Orchard I decided to head south to Taverner and pick up 90A. Once I got to 90A I turned left heading toward Rosenberg again. Glancing down at the GPS I noticed a road up ahead on my right that eventually went to Hiway 59. So when I got to it, I turned right onto FM1875 and headed south toward Beasley. They've been doing some construction on 59 around Beasley and I wasn't sure about the best way to get onto 59 heading back to the house. A short detour and I manged to get myself going northbound on Hiway 59.

By 4pm I was in my driveway, talking to my neighbor. It was a nice ride home and I wasn't too cold. The odometer has another 106 miles on it from today's trip and I think my adjustments to the backrest are going to work well. Before I leave for Ft. Davis on Friday, I hope to take another 100 miler without the beadrider pad on the seat. Hopefully I've adjusted the bike to the point that I can enjoy my Rick Mayer custom seat which to this point has been a pain in my butt.

Getting ready for a cold ride weekend

So next weekend I'm heading to the Big Bend area for the Big Bend Freeze Out ride. Since I didn't have the electric gear that makes such a ride comfy, I decided to splurge and get it. In typical fashion I started by upgrading my gloves, getting electric liners and socks, and of course the electric controller. The smart thing to do would have been to start getting all of this stuff earlier in the year. That would have been the smart thing to do.

None the less, I started last month which should have been plenty of time. Around December 18th, I had found a dealer on e-bay that was interested in helping me get the right size of Gerbing liners. So I paid her for the liners and socks. Instead of electric gloves from Gerbing, I decided to go with the PCI Gauntlets from Lee Parks Design. Using their sizing chart I discovered I needed a size small which was odd since most other gloves are medium or large. But I followed their sizing tool and ordered the small. I got a call the next day from Steve and he was sending the gloves out so I'd have them before Christmas. Fantastic!

Christmas eve comes and so does my gloves, jacket liner and socks. I knew the pants liner would be coming later since it was coming direct from Gerbing. I tried everything on and most of it fit. The gloves were too small. With the holiday it took a couple of days to get in touch with Steve at Lee Parks Design to talk about the fit. When we finally talked he felt that what I needed was a larger small but that a medium would be too big. Ok, I'd send them back via FedEx so they'd be there on January 2nd and he could send me out a slightly larger pair.

Meanwhile, since I had the Gerbing jacket I now knew what type of power connector was needed so I could order the Heat-troller from Warm & Safe. I was impressed with the Warm & Safe controller over the Gerbing because it appeared as though they stood behind their product and I was supporting a "little guy". I was also intrigued by the option of getting the controller with remote knobs so you could mount them on the handlebars. So December 26, I place my order on-line and receive an email from PayPal showing the payment. So then I wait...

January 2nd comes around and the holidays are over. Time to get to work! I still have gloves and a heat controller I'm waiting on. I check FedEx and the gloves arrived. Then I contact the Warm&Safe folks via IM. I was impressed at how fast they responded on IM. I inquired about my order and they said they had to build the remote style controller and that it would be a few weeks. Oooops! I mentioned that I was going on a trip at the end of the month and before I could turn around I had a PayPal refund. I continued the IM conversation to see if the regular dual controllers were available and when they might ship. I was told, order today and you'll have it by the end of next week. Ok, so I jumped online and ordered the dual controller and a few extra accessories to make the money I was going to spend about equal to what it was originally. Again I get a PayPal invoice showing my payment but nothing else. So I wait...

Since I didn't get the controller last week or the gloves I started sending emails on Monday(1/14/8). Monday afternoon I decided to call Steve to follow up. I catch him as he's heading out the door. He tells me he just sent me an email, which he did, and that he had been waiting on a new shipment of small gloves to arrive which they had. The new larger small gloves were going out that day and I should have them on Wednesday.

Meanwhile on Monday I inquire about my controller. In an email I asked about my order status and mention that on January 2nd I was told I'd have the controller the following week. The next thing I know I get a PayPal shipping notice saying they are shipping everything via USPS when I specifically asked for UPS Ground. I'm not a fan of our postal service's poor tracking abilities. So I send an email pointing out that I had requested UPS Ground and that I was concerned about the arrival of my package before my trip next week...

Almost instantly I get an email back from Mike at Warm & Safe acknowledging USPS poor tracking for faster speed. He even says that if I don't have it in 3 days, they'll overnight one to me. Then the email sort of takes a turn. He starts whining about how difficult it is to compete against the Chinese product and that he can't afford to keep them on the shelve because they are so expensive. Tne email gets worse as he talks about customers understanding realities of production and that a lot of orders came in before mine including big dealers. Huh????? Then he says I could by his product at any dealer that sales First Gear product. He does admit that they could do a better job on getting stuff out the door and they are working on that. Then he goes off about focusing on designing and inventing instead of copying and that they focus on riding motorcycles and not just buying them for photo shoots. Huh???????

So I wait...

Wednesday the gloves arrive. Hooray! I open the package and try them on. Snug, but maybe they'll work. I take them off and on several times and wear them for a little while as I sit at my computer. I try simple tasks like picking up my phone, moving the trackball and such. Hmmmm, they are still too small. So I try to call. All I get is an answering machine. I'll try again later.

Today (Thursday) I check on the USPS site and the controller package is here in town. Fantastic! I work on some computer projects while I wait for the package. Around 11am the package arrives. I open it and find every but the controller. WTF!!! I try to call and get their voice mail. Hmmmm, it's about as pleasant as the email I got from Mike. I leave a message and follow it up with an email saying that I didn't get the controller in my shipment.

Also today, I tried calling Steve @ Lee Parks Design. All I get is an answering machine so I leave a message, and I send an email asking for a return and a pair of mediums. And I ask for cross shipping as time is running out.

So I'm 1 week and 1 day away from leaving for my Big Bend Freeze Out ride. I don't have my fancy gloves or the controller I ordered. I could understand if I had procrastinated and waited until now to order this stuff, but I started last month. Well, there's still time and the "little guys" can be pretty amazing when it's crunch time. So I wait...

On a positive note, I am now officially an Iron Butt member, IBA #31171. I received certification for my SaddleSore 1000 (1,072 miles in 24 hours) and my BunBurner 1500 (1,635 miles in 36 hours). There was a letter from the president, Michael Kneebone, asking for forgiveness with the long delay in getting the rides certified. Both of these rides are in my blog, just look in May and June of 2007.


Update - Thursday Evening: Received an email from Mike at Warm & Safe just saying he'd check it out and have it shipped to me.

Update - Friday Morning: A call from Steve at Lee Parks Design. He's going through the glove inventory to find a size medium that are narrow but with longer fingers. Wow what service! I'm probably going to have to give up the Black and Tan color scheme to get the right size but I'll have the gloves for the trip. The "little guy" comes through again!

Update - Saturday: I got another PayPal shipping notice from Warm & Safe. It looks like they are shipping out my controller via US Priority Mail. Sure glad they finally got around to taking care of a mistake that I reported on Thursday.

Update - Tuesday: The controller from Warm & Safe arrived today. Thank goodness! I found it to be iron that Mike is so wrapped up about his stuff being made in the US but yet he has his controller puches made in Thailand.

Update - Tuesday: Got a call from Steve at Lee Parks Design today. He was just following up to see how my gloves fit. The only problem, my gloves haven't arrived yet. He seemed worried, hopefully they'll be here tomorrow.

Update - Tuesday evening: Steve sent an email expressing his frustration with USPS Priority mail. Apparently he was so concerned about it he also called me around 9:30pm to let me know he was getting me another pair ready to go out FedEx overnight. That's commitment!

Update - Wednesday morning: I looked up the tracking number on the gloves, they've scanned through North Houston, they should be here today. Before I could finish typing an email to Steve, I got an email from him showing he had seen the same thing.

This Friday's lunch in Fulshear

So today is Friday, it's gorgeous outside and I needed to run by the dealership to pick up a check and then make some deposits at the bank. Since it was so beautiful and I was hungry, I figured it'd be a great time to sneak a little riding in, so after leaving the bank (which is about 3 miles from the house) I took a detour going home.

I stopped off at the Exxon station at 59 and Sweetwater. Used my speedpass and filled up. Hmmm, $3.24 per gallon, I wonder how much more expensive premium is going to get.

With a full tank of gas I head south on 59 to Rosenberg. I turn north onto hwy 36 into Rosenberg. Traffic was light for a Friday afternoon. Probably because everyone was at Schultz Bar-B-Q. I had another favorite in mind though. Once out of Rosenberg I settled in and enjoyed my XM radio while taking in the clear sky. Just as I left Rosenberg there was a train running alongside me but once the speed limit went up to 65mph he quickly fell behind.

Just past Orchard, I turned right onto FM1489 toward Simonton. Five miles later I was rolling into Simonton. It's such a little town, but something about it just intrigues when I come into on this road. I make a right onto FM1093 heading toward Fulshear. I've decided where I'm going to eat lunch, Doziers.

I get to Doziers just a little past one and the parking lot is full. Since it's such a nice day, I decide to get my brisket and beans to go and eat out at one of the picnic tables under the trees. Judging from all the motorcycles that passed by, other people had similar ideas. It was just too pretty of a day to be couped up inside. After eating and checking voicemail, it's time to head home for real.

I leave Fulshear on FM1093 and turn right onto Bois D Arc Lane. There are some fun curves along this way and the scenery is nice to boot. Just as I'm coming up on a nice left hander a farmer pulls out in front of me in his big pickup truck, grinning from ear to ear. I guess he thinks he showed me, but the joke was on him as I had already slowed down expecting he would do just what he did. Once past the intersection I pick up the pace and enjoy the rest of the curves.

I eventually end up on FM359 where I make a right and head towards Richmond. A quick left by the Swingin' Door Bar-B-Q and I'm traveling more favorite roads, McCrary Rd and Precinct Line Rd. I finally come out on TX99 and decide to turn right and head towards 90A and home.

I make it home a little after 2pm with 62 miles on the odometer since I filled up at the Exxon. Not too bad for a quick trip to the bank :)

New blog to post on

OK, so if you look in the archives there's already posts but those are from my other general blog. This blog is going to just be about motorcycling. Sources of inspiration will be the motorcycle itself, magazines, forums and people I meet along the way. So as always, if I come across something that inspires me to write about it, I will.

Doubling the odometer

Quick note on the finger: Since my doctor visit on December 5th I've been working the finger and as of December 6th I was back on the motorcycle. At first with a large left glove to cover the splint but now I don't worry about the splint when riding because I can easily wrap my hand around the handgrip.

So about the title. You may remember the post about my purchase of a 2005 BMW R1200GS and the fun filled ride home while completing my Iron Butt Bun Burner 1500. Well I still haven't gotten my patch or certificate from the Iron Butt Association for the ride but today I did manage to double the odometer reading. When I got the bike it had 11,744 miles put on it in the first 2 years of it's life. Well in the last 7 months I've put another 11,744 miles on it and today the odometer read 23,488. Since I'm on a 3 day ride right now and have another 600+ miles to go before I'm home the bike will roll back into the garage with just over 24,000 miles. I already have another new set of tires to spoon on, the oil filter and crush washers are waiting on the shelf, I still need to order the alternator belt and spark plugs though. Then a quick trip to the auto parts store for some dino lube and brake fluid and the 24K service can begin. Wow 2 major services on the bike in 1 year, it might not know what to do with itself.

The bike isn't going to get much of a rest in the coming months either. January has a 4 day trip out to Big Bend and back with plenty of riding while out there. Yes in January, Yes I know it'll be cold. Maybe that's why they call it the Big Bend Freeze Out.

In May the bike will head to Memphis for a Riders Edge training conference. No I will not be going the most direct route, this would be a great time to head further east and ride the dragon don't cha thing? With me at the routing helm I might just end up seeing Montana on my way home to Texas. :)

October has a ride out to Washington DC and back planned for the DC 3 Day breast cancer walk.

And in one of the months that doesn't have anything in it I hope to knock out 1 or more of my LD certifications like the Saddlesore 2000, Coast to Coast 50, or Border to Border rides. Oh and if I win the lottery maybe I can do the Florida to Alaska ride, the four corners ride, and all 48 states.

When I bought the bike I said I wanted to put 20,000 miles on it a year and keep it until it had at least 100,000 miles. Well I'm off to a great start this year and it's not over yet. Next year already has several high mileage trips planned and that's even before I slip in an LD event or two. This is a great bike and I love riding it!

Now if I can just get my seat to not hurt so much, butt that's another story.

Bringing home the new bike

The "short" ride home, an iron butt tale

As my motorcycling trips have evolved into longer and longer adventures so have my tastes in motorcycles. Several months ago I started getting the bug for another bike. Something that didn't have such a hunched over riding position and something that could go more that 160 miles before running out of gas.

The cure for this bug was a used 2005 BMW R1200GS that I found on e-bay. The price was right, the accessories were right and Tampa, FL seemed like a reason place to go get the bike. This is a tale of that adventure.


Thursday - 5/31
I got the email saying the seller had the title. Now the scuttle started. I had to find a Southwest Airlines flight into Tampa asap. Booking an early flight wasn´t an option so I had the choice of getting in late on Friday and getting a hotel or flying out early Saturday. I decided to go with the Friday evening option.


Friday - 6/1
The day was spent trying to pack everything I'd need for the ride back. WOW I sure carry a lot when I travel. I had pretty much everything you could imagine. Tools to do just about anything. Air compressor, tire repair kit, a new tank bag, my Zumo GPS. And of course I had to pack all of my riding gear.

6:00PM
OK, so I'm about to leave for the airport and I'm checking flight status and the weather. It seems that some time between Thursday and Friday a little tropical storm popped up named Barry. There was concern in the house as to the intelligence of going to Tampa at the very time that a tropical storm was heading straight towards Tampa. Of course after a little pondering, my enthusiasm for getting the new bike over rode any actual logic and I took off for the airport.

8:00PM
Despite the fact the web site had told me the flight was delayed by an hour we were boarded up and ready to go only 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time of 7:55pm.

11:30PM
We touched down 30 minutes ago but it seems our luggage didn't feel like getting off the plane. It finally comes out on the conveyor belt and I'm out the door hoping that I haven't missed the shuttle that I slyly called the moment we got off the plane since their response time was supposed to be 30 minutes.


11:55PM
Checked into the hotel room and getting to sleep, 6am will come too soon!

Saturday - 6/2
My internal alarm got me up a few minutes before my 6AM alarm which I had set. Unfortunately when I turned on the weather things weren't looking good. Tropical storm Barry had slowed down a little and was expected to make land fall just north of Tampa around 11AM. They were talking about 55mph winds inland from the storm. I was a little worried.

7:00AM
Met Kevin out front and went to breakfast. When I discovered he was in the Telecom business we had all sorts of things to talk about besides just motorcycles. After a tasty breakfast at IHOP we travelled to his house and he showed me the bike. It looked every bit as good as the pictures on ebay had shown. It was perfect! He gave me an incredible tour of everything he had added, along with the BMW personality features of the GS. Like the servo assisted brakes. It's a little unnerving the first time you hear a little pump motor kick in when you squeeze the brakes.

While Kevin fills out his end of the paperwork I go ahead and start outfitting the bike with my important traveling things like the Tank Bag and GPS. I asked about the extra accessory outlet which he had shown me connected to the battery. I asked if it turned off with the key which he said it did so I didn't worry much when my Garmin didn't register power initially. Tank bag mounted without a hitch. Tucking the wires behind the windscreen for the GPS and XM radio wasn't a problem either. With the sale of the bike compete I asked him to be my start witness for the ride and then I backed the bike out of the drive way and took off.

9:44AM
I'm stopping for my official start receipt for the Bun Burner 1500 (1500 miles in 36 hours) just a few miles down the street from Kevin's house. I figure this is a great way to get to know the bike and bag a long distance riding goal. It's raining a little but nothing terrible. When I took off I noticed I didn't have audio in my ear plugs which told me I didn't have a good power connection. So before filling up and starting the clock I messed with the power so I'd have tunes. I assumed something was wrong with the front accessory plug so I just moved my cable to the rear outlet underneath the seat.

Oh crap!!!! Smoke is coming up from behind the GPS. Aaagggggh! What do I do. Instead of pulling out the plug I reach for the Zumo to pull it from the cradle. The only problem was that I had the security screw locked down so I couldn't get it out. Finally I thought to pull the plug but it was too late. I get out my meter and start measuring things, wondering if these darn Germans haven't wired the electrical system backwards or something. Nope the outlet beneath the seat reads 12 volts with the proper polarity. However the outlet in front reads -12 volts which means the outlet was wired backwards. Hmmm that sucks. I figured I have to talk to Kevin about that later but I wanted to get on the road as the clouds looked to be moving in. Besides the actual GPS was working and I could listen to the 300+ mp3s I had on the SD Card. I just wouldn't have XM Radio or XM Traffic/Weather.

I take off and I'm headed north on I-75. No problems other than the rain. I knew my hands would get wet as I was riding in summer gloves but I thought my water proof shoes would keep my feet dry. They had on the GSX-R. Well I don't know if it's the upright seating position or the front fender (mostly lack there of) or what. But within 30 minutes of the trip I had water standing in my boots. I thought as soon as I get out of the rain (in an hour or two) I'd change into some dry socks at least.

12:53PM
I'm within a few miles of the Georgia state line in Jennings, Florida but I'm wet, I'm cold and I'm hungry. It's still raining so I drain my shoes, squeeze out my socks and dry my hands. One problem I had not planned on was my shirt getting wet underneath my Olympia all season jacket. Turns out you need gauntlet style gloves to keep the rain from coming in through your sleeves at the wrists. Sure wish I'd realized that before now!

1:14PM
Hmmm, traffic seems to coming to a dead stop. Oh boy it's looking bad as I can't see the problem up ahead. It's so much of a stop that I turn off the engine and put the side stand down. Nothing like sitting in the rain on a motorcycle and not going any where. At least I got a few complements about the bike so that made me feel good.

2:16PM
OK for the past hour it's been raining and I've continued to sit there waiting for traffic to move. Occasionally we'd move up a little but most of the time I just turned the bike off. Now we get up to the scene of the wreck and they've open the shoulder to let traffic by. At last, I'm going again!


4:01PM
The rain is still falling and I've only gone 88 miles since my last fill up. Thanks to the heated grips I'm not as cold as I was but I'm still wet. And the power connector was acting up on my GPS so my tunes kept turning on and off. I decided it was a good time to pull over and take a look so I stopped in Sycamore, Georgia where there was a Shell station with a big covered area. I reverse the leads going to the front accessory outlet, check it's polarity, take my plug a part and dry it out and then put everything together. That fixed the power issues for the rest of the trip. Now I just had to make it to Atlanta to get out of the rain. At least that's what a trucker had told me while we were stuck on I75 for an hour.


7:08PM
I rode out of the rain an hour ago and rode through Atlanta without much incident. I really used those heated grips to keep me warm while in the rain. I stop in Cartersville, Georgia to get some gas. After filling up I move the bike to a near by parking spot so I can change clothes, eat a power bar and fuel up on Monster. A lady pulls up in an old "beater" pickup truck which seems to keep running for a little while after she gets out of it. She apologizes to me for her truck and then goes inside.

Dry socks, not so dry shoes, dry shirt and my gloves are dried out. I'm ready to go. At this point I've traveled 513 miles so I'm not even 1/3 of the way through the trip yet and I'm getting tired as I've been on the road for 9.5 hours. I'm behind schedule no doubt but it's not like I won't make it.

9:52PM
I had a wonderful ride going up through Chattanooga and into Nashville. It was really beautiful around sun set. I'm now on the west side of Nashville and refueling. The bike is doing fine, the GPS is doing fine but I'm ready for a little sleep. Problem is I'm only 724 miles into the ride. I'd really like to get past 800 before calling it quits so tomorrow isn't so bad.

10:30PM
That's it. I'm cruising down I-40 and I'm tired. I don't have extra driving lights on the bike yet and I hate blinding people with my high beams so I stop in Hurricane Mills, TN at a Days Inn. I figure the name is sort of appropriate as this being the second day of hurricane season and tropical storm Barry getting me thoroughly soaked. I set the alarm for 6am, knowing full well that I will probably be up before then and on the road.

Sunday

5:18AM
Sure enough my internal alarm clock woke me up just a little after 4AM so I got up, got a shower, dried out my clothes with a hair dryer and gassed up. At the point I had stopped the night before I had ridden 779 miles. According to the GPS that left 854 miles to go and I had basically 16 hours to get there. No problem except for the mental hurdle of knowing I wasn't even half way done. On the brighter side weather radar showed clear riding all the way to Memphis.

As I leaned into the turn of the on ramp and rolled on the throttle the sun was starting to lighten things up and there was a lite fog in the air. This was a great morning to be on a motorcycle.


8:10AM
The great thing about this bike is that I can basically go 200 miles on a tank before needing to fuel up. That translates into about 3 hours of saddle time between stops. This time I stopped in Forrest City, Arkansas to fill up at an Exxon. Next door was a nice little country diner but I knew I shouldn't stop to eat such a big meal so I treated myself to a chocolate milk instead. Then it was back out on the road while the temps were cool and the sky was clear.

11:09AM
Hope, Arkansas, the birthplace of Bill Clinton. And a nice little Exxon station not too far from the highway. I was just 20 miles from the Texas border but I decided to stop because I was already into the reserve of my tank and didn't want to find out if I really had 39 miles left like the bike's computer said. The air is getting warmer but it's dry.

2:04PM
I'm in Texas. And I found rain along I-30. It was a short little shower to cool things off but then it seemed like it was even hotter than before. I'm about 10 miles east of I-635 around Dallas so I decide to get gas while it's easier to get off and on again. I end up stopping at an old run down Exxon where I have to go in to pay since their card reader didn't like my card. I get my gas, get another Monster and visit the restroom. I'm back on the road in 10 minutes, this was a quick stop. I know the next stop will be Woody's Smoke House in Centerville where I'm hoping to get some good Bar-B-Q since I didn't get any in Tennessee.


4:17PM
Hooray! I've made it to Woody's. The GPS tells me I've done 1497 which means I'm less than 3 hours from the house. I fill up and learn a quick lesson. When you park this big bike do so in a spot that you won't drop it getting on or off of it. I didn't drop it but I did a little dance. The lines were too long inside to get any bar-b-q so it'll have to wait until next time. In the restroom I meet someone who was following me on the road and asked me how many miles was on the bike. I didn't understand the question at first and said I had put 1500 miles on it and had another 130 to go to get home. He looked at me a little perplexed and then said he had 4000 on his HD that he'd had for 2 years. I said that cool and mentioned how great my bike had been these 1500 miles from Tampa, Florida. Then he realized that I was riding those 1500 miles as we spoke. After that conversation I ran into a mom and her child. They too had been following me and said they were worried I was going to crash when I had my legs stretched out so close to the ground. I assured her it was OK and that I just wore out my shoes a little quicker.

There's a nasty looking storm cell to the south and I've got to ride through it. Better get going. That is if I can get my bike off it's side stand. Turns out it's on an incline. A little tugging and I get it. Also learned the bike will roll forward on the side stand if it's in neutral which is a problem since the silly Germans decided you can't start the bike at all unless it's in neutral. Regardless of the clutch. Which also means if I stall in traffic I'd better find neutral in a hurry to start it back up.

6:30PM
Oh glory days! I pull into the Shell station 2 miles from the house and get my ending receipt. 1633 miles on the trip meter and time to spare. I fill up and ride home.

6:40PM
I pull in the drive way and honk the horn. The automated garage door opener, a.k.a. Reagan, opens the door and cheers. Then promptly tells me the bike sounds funny and I look funny riding it. That's a confidence booster, LOL! I did a quick tour of the bike for her and tried to put it up on it's center stand but that was going to happen at another time because I'm too short to do it while on the bike and I hadn't figured out where to grab the bike for the most effective leverage.


Post ride thoughts:

The Gear
The gear I used was pretty much the same as for the SS1000 on Monday. I definitely need to get some gauntlet water proof gloves for summer rain riding. I also need to do something about my boots. Either new boots are needed or something cool like gators. One thing I did try out was the longer style of Under Armor underwear. A plus! These will now be standard gear on anything longer than a commute. No dreaded "monkey butt" or anything. The firmness in them also seemed help circulation and temperature too. Think biker shorts made of Under Armor material.

The Garmin
Garmin surprised the heck out of me. I called them on Monday to see what I needed to do since the cradle and XM receiver had both fried thanks to the reversed polarity issue. They told me it was not my fault that the unit got damaged and offered to replace everything free of charge. They told me I shouldn't suffer for this failure and that I should be able to enjoy my unit. Garmin has a customer for life as long as they keep that attitude. Don't even talk to me about another manufacturer.

Texas Inspection and Registration
The plan was to take the bike to my favorite Harley shop to get an inspection and then go to the tax office to get the registration and title stuff done. One snafu, the bike failed inspection for lack of sufficient tread on the rear tire. The inspector also pointed out that the rear tire was on backwards. Nice..... So I ordered 2 new tires which will hopefully be in by Wednesday. I found out that mounting and balancing the new tires would cost $42.... EACH! OK the other place I got tires for my GSX-R charged $20 if you bought the tires from them and $30 if you got the tires else where. Problem is they are farther from the house but $84 to mount and balance tires? I don't think so.

Time for action. I get on-line and order Marc Parnes wheel balancer. Since I only have 14 days to get it reinspected without paying another $14.50 I call him to verify he has the tool in stock. He sure does and he's even a GS owner himself. I ask him a few more questions about tires and the GS and then let him go. He tells me the balancer should be here by Wednesday, the same day the tires will be here hopefully. Next I look up to find where Harbor Freight Tool is. Lucky for me there's one up off of 290 not too far from where I'd be for Reagan's eye exam. So while she's getting her eyes checked out I dash up there and pick up a tire changer rig with motorcycle adapter. Both pieces were on sale for $39.99 each.

So now I've got the tools to mount and balance all future sets of tires for motorcycles and it only cost me $220. WOW!!! I sure saved a bunch of money compared to paying $82 at the dealership. OK, ok, after I mount 2 more sets of tires I'll be ahead.

My New Bike
Last but not least, how do I feel about the new bike? Well it's going to suck having to ride the GSX-R for a day or 2 while I wait on the tires for it. I'm definitely pleased with the transaction. Some people are scared of ebay but I found an honest seller in Kevin and the bike is in great shape (despite the tire issue). I probably need to do something about the seat as it's a little wide in the front which takes away from me flat footing both feet simultaneously. I also need to figure out what to do about ventilation. With the Givi windshield and the little winglets there is virtually no air to cause buffeting or cool you off.

I can't wait for the next big ride. Todd and I are starting to talk about big adventure rides like going to the Grand Canyon or to Alaska. That would be a great time to bag the SS2000 (2000 miles in 48hrs). This is going to be a fun bike to own.

Ft. Stockton for Lunch

There and Back, an Iron Butt tale

Our goal was simple, hop on our motorcycles and ride 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. No problem between Todd and I we would definitely have this all planned out. It would be a cake walk! For me personally it's a goal I wanted to accomplish while I still had my GSX-R 600 since people think that bike really isn't made for long distance riding.

During the week leading up to our grand journey we both had our challenges. I discovered a cut in my rear tire from a shard of glass and Todd had to get new tires because they were worn out. Saturday I get an email from him saying he got his new tires but a collar is missing for the back wheel. Oh oh! That could cancel the whole trip. Luckily he found the collar on Sunday and we were ready to ride on Monday provided the weather forecasters were at least a little incorrect.

For the past several days the weather forecast was looking worse and worse and worse. I don't mind a little rain but severe flooding isn't the sort of thing I want to go out in. At least not on the bike. I've got the Jeep to go romping around in when the waters start climbing.

So finally Monday morning arrives and the weather looks good enough to at least meet up with Todd. I get dressed and collect my stuff that I've been packing for the past 24 hours. One check of the rules and I'm out the door. Reagan comes out give me a good-bye kiss and witness my departure.

4:29am - 0 miles
I get over to the Shell gas station to fill up and get my starting receipt. On the way over I discover my first problem. It seems when I exported the route from Microsoft Streets and Trips into Garmin's MapSource and then downloaded it to my Zumo things got a little confusing. I had my house as both the start and end points so it happily tried to route me right back to the house. Deleting the last half of the route seemed to fix the problem.

OK fueled up ready to go!

5:06am - 31.7 miles
I pull into the Shell station and don't see Todd. I'm wondering where he is and then I see that he's part at the other end of the station and he seems to be ready to go. I top off my tank so I can grab a receipt for documentational purposes. Arrrgh! My credit card won't read in the card reader. Walk over to the store, give them the card (they don't understand why I don't just swipe it), go back to the pump and fill up, walk back to the store and get my card a reciept. Sure hope it's not like this at every stop.

We are on our way. While merging onto I-45 from the feeder road I hit 103mph on the GPS max speed. Oh boy! this is going to be long trip better slow it down to something a little more legal. 10 over is the goal and we should do alright with that for the most part.

6:33am - 136.1 miles
Todd has been in the lead. We've been through some pretty wet stuff and I found the holes in my jacket. I guess those water proof zippers don't work so well if you don't zip them up. Todd managed to show me that it is possible to hydroplane on a motorcycle. We pull into the Exxon in Weimar, Tx and Todd is concerned with his front wheel and the brakes. The front brake seems "grabby". "Oh oh! Will we actually make this trip", I wonder to myself. Both of us inspect the front wheel and don't see anything wrong and the break rotors aren't hot to the touch. Gas, bathroom break, clean the visors and we're back out on the road!

Burrrr! It's cold and it's the end of May. What gives. A quick check of the weather on the GPS shows the local temp to be 63 degrees. Hmmm, a wet jacket with no liner, 80 mph, yup! that's a pretty cold wind chill.

Note to self. Don't leave home without the jacket liner, no matter what time of the year it is!

As we get past Columbus the sky starts looking better and better. As the sun is rising in my mirror it looks like we've gotten past the rain. Rolling into San Antonio things are looking good and we see other riders out for a morning ride oblivious to the nasty weather back east.

8:22am - 266.5 miles
The fuel light came on a little ways back so I thought it'd be a good time to tell Todd I wanted to pull over and dump in the extra 2 gallons of gas I was carrying. Instead he decided to stop at the Chevron in Boerne so we could gas up, hit the bathroom and stuff.

After that stop I'm starting to see the benefits of signs that say "Clean Restrooms"

During this leg of the trip we stop at a rest stop to dump a little fuel.

10:49am - 441.5 miles
We pull into the Chevron in Ozona. There's a car museum with a Nascar truck in it but it looks to be closed. Turns out you can just look through the glass, they don't let you inside. The gas station is having problems with their phone lines or something because they have signs up saying no credit cards. Hmmm, cash that's something I don't normally use to by gas. We take a little extra time at this stop. We both get a snack and drinks. I can tell by looking at the GPS though that we'll be in Ft. Stockton pretty soon so.

Back out on the road and as we get moving the arrival time drops from 1pm to 12:30. Yee haw, less than 2 hours and we'll be there. And there's no need to make another stop along the way.

That is unless someone needs to make a pit stop. We pull into a rest area and I end up talking to a fellow motorcyclist who was heading to the Grand Canyon the next day. He just had to make it to El Paso today. No problem. Well except he was worried about running out of gas because he had been on reserve for the past 25 miles. He had an extra gallon of gallon gas that he was going to dump in. I was waiting for him to ask if he could borrow/buy some of my extra gas. Since he didn't waive at me earlier on the trip I was going to let him ask for it instead of just offering it to him. (Note, always waive to fellow riders). We left him there filling up his tank. I told if we saw him on the side of the road we'd stop on our way back since we were just running up to Ft. Stockton for lunch and then heading back to Houston.

15 miles down the road, in the middle of nowhere is a little town called Bakersfield, Tx. The only thing that makes it a town is the Exxon gas station. I figure the fellow biker was smart and stopped there for fuel since I didn't see him on our return trip.

12:28pm - 553 miles
We roll into Ft. Stockton. Wooo hooo! We fill up and then take off to find the giant Road Runner and look for a place to eat. We don't find the Road Runner and head into town from the west on 285. Wanting something quick and easy we grab Subway for lunch and take a breather. The young lady behind the counter was way too happy but pretty stingy on the mustard. I ask directions to the Road Runner which she promptly informs me is just down the street a ways. She's not really sure how far but it only takes 10 minutes to go from one end of town to the other. How hard can it be to find.

Thanks to Todd's eagle eye, we find it. I had driven right past it in the lead...

1:45pm - back on the road!

3:28pm - 712.6 miles
We stop in Sonora at the Chevron. I think Todd has a thing for Chevrons. The bugs seem exceptionally prevalent today so we've been sure to clean our visors at every stop. This is a typical stop, gas, bathroom, drinks. Since it's getting warmer we take a few extra minutes to admire the scenery before jumping back out on the road.

4:31pm - Roadside hospitality
Kimble County's finest decide to welcome us to their fine county. The corvette patrol comes by us chasing a pickup truck but manages to slow down enough to tell us to pull over. What??? What's he talking about. Then another deputy in a Crown Vic pulls up along side and signals us to stop. This has got to be a joke.

The deputy to walks up to us before we can get our helmets off and informs us we were doing 88 in an 80mph zone. Huh? 8 over and he's stopping us. What gives. We give him our stuff and he promptly gives us tickets for speeding and a nice pamphlet that tells us how to pay our $145. Interestingly the pamphlet tells you not to call to discuss the ticket but to only call if you need to set up a payment plan. Interesting!

The best part to the 10 minute ordeal was when the deputy thanked us for being courteous and understanding. Like we had a choice. Thanks officer Bart.

We get back on the road and ride into Junction to stop at the Mc Donalds for a bathroom break. For some reason Todd didn't think it was a good idea to go to the bathroom on the side of the road while we were pulled over. Who knows maybe we would have gotten a ticket for that instead of speeding. Really? 8mph over. While at the stop I dump in the 2 gallons of gas so we can make it past San Antonio.

6:52pm - 915 miles
Are we there yet? After the speeding tickets things slowed down to the speed limit +/- 5mph. Let me tell you when we are going those speeds it seems that you are at odds with the cagers more frequently. We stop at the Tiger Tote in Seguin to hit the bathrooms and fill up for the last time. According to the GPS I've got 155 miles to the house. No problem I can make that and if I run out of gas before I get back to the Shell station I've got 2 gallons to spare. Again, my credit card gives me trouble but after explaining to the clerk that the card was good and I even had a $50 bill to back up my purchase he could go ahead and turn on the pump for $20. $17.76 and I'm fueled up. I fill up my Camelback and grab a snack bar.

Back out on the road...

OK, when we passed Luling I realised the one flaw in our master plan. Holiday traffic. At some points were doing 55 mph in the left lane and it was obvious that everyone was anxious to get home. Driving seemed to progressively get worse the later it got. I was just hoping that it wouldn't rain before I got home.

8:53pm - 1050 miles, Exiting TX-99
Almost home now. Just 20 miles left. No problem. Just want to take it easy on the Grand Parkway. It's just too easy to crank up the speed when it's only 60mph along there.

9:17pm - 1070.7 miles
I fill up the tank and get my ending receipt. I've done it 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. Actually it was never any doubt that I could make the distance in less than 24 hours. The real question was whether I'd get home before bedtime or before sunrise.

9:30pm - Home again
I pull into the driveway and Reagan is kind enough to open the garage door for me. As I'm taking off my gear and putting the bike up there's so much to tell her. And of course I have to tell her about the speeding ticket and the Corvette patrol car. She too is surprised. "8 over, really?"

Mission accomplished. And it was surprisingly easy.

Here's a list of the gear I used:

• Olympia AST Jacket - OK but needed the liner in the harshest rain
• Olympia Ranger Pants - Worked great!
• UnderArmor underwear - VERY important!
  
• Shoei RF-1000 - had an annoying air leak which whistles
• TourMaster Road Boots - very comfortable
• Olympia summer gloves - no good in the rain and turned my palms black from the dye
• E.A.R. Inc custom ear buds - good sound but could have blocked out more wind noise
• Garmin Zumo 550 w/ XM Radio - This made the trip fun. I was jamming to tunes the whole time
• Suzuki Gel Seat - don't ride without one
• Cycle Venture Bike Pack - worked great to carry everything even my 2 gal. gas can
• 1 liter Camelback bladder - I kept it in my tank bag, I won't ride without it now
  

Luckily we didn't have any mechanical problems along the way so I didn't have to pull out the tools but I was ready. Air pump, tire repair kit, wrenches, tie wraps, etc... I was ready just in case.

Next I think I'll bag the Bun Burner 1500 (1,500 miles in 36 hours). Maybe later in the week when I go pickup the BMW R1200GS in Tamp, FL. Before the "hospitality" stop in Kimble county I was thinking the Bun Burner Gold (1,500 in 24 hours) would be fun. It would be simple, just ride out to El Paso and turn around. It's not out of the question but it seems a little harder to do staying within +/- 5mph of the speed limit. At least in Kimble county.

One thing I've learned on this adventure. If you need to go 1000 miles and it's along interstate you don't have to take 2 days to get there. It can be done in a day and you still have time to make it to happy hour at your destination.

More tales from the road to come, I'm sure.