Home Again!

We got home yesterday after a long week in the saddle. Some quick notes about our trip. From door to door, 2810 miles over 8 days. Longest day was Friday, which was 590 miles which included the Cherohala Skyway and took us 13.5 hours on the road. The shortest day, well there was no short days! Something in the 300's I guess. Although, Thursday, when we did the Tail of the Dragon may have been under 300.



Including Texas, we rode through 9 states, and we rode in 3 we have not ridden before, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Our furthest point east was Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. We swam in the Atlantic Ocean at Isle of Palms beach, just east of Charleston, SC. The water was incredibly warm. I was very pleasantly surprised.



It rained 7 of the first 8 days.... We rode in some torrential rains, and for extended periods of time, I'm guessing 4 hours in a row day 1 and 5 hours in a row day 2. We ended cutting day 2 short. One day we had a brief 4 minute downpour, it was one of the few days we didn't wear rain gear. We even rode the Dragon in wet conditions, which is much less than favorable. On Friday coming home Darlene and I took a more southerly route and had a couple of light sprinkles, which we didn't even acknowledge, the northern group apparently had a lot more rain, and it couldn't be ignored.

Carla and Tee are still on the road as I write this, but they should have sun and heat today, and they have a long day planned.

No significant bike issues but a host of minor ones. Daryl - problem with lock which was rectified with some lubricant. Judy had a bad CB cord. Lois lost the rear shifter. My bike wouldn't start when we stopped for gas. We tried to bump start it, eventually determined it wasn't getting any gas, thanks to Daryl we disconnected the gas line, and in doing so must have dislodged a small piece of dirt, that did the trick as it started right up and worked fine after that. Carla needed a minor clutch cable adjustment. Darlene had the most significant problems, constantly blowing signal lights as we rode several times with flashers on in the rain. Some water seepage I guess. But the most significant issue was when Darlene snapped a post for one of her side bags. Fortunately we were touring Hilton Head and driving relatively slowly so we were able to stop before the bag fell completely off. Some creative sharing of luggage and we were back on the road, and ended up fedexing the bags home with some clothes the next day.



All in all a great trip with great friends.

More postings, trip details and pictures to follow.

Inspiration!

Preparing for our trip east. All the way to the ocean. Some time in the mountains and hopefully Deals Gap should we appease the weather gods.

Inspiration

Riding Season preperations

Technically its always riding season in Texas, except for those few days a year that there might be possibility of snow. But this year, once spring hit, the rains started and that has limited the riding a bit, we cancelled one long weekend trip and have only had a few short rides. I still ride regularly, usually taking my bike to work over my truck.

I have been doing my own basic maintenance for some time now and keep my service manual up to date with dates, but I generally take lousy records and the space to write notes is minimal. Besides if I write an extensive note, I'm likely not be be able to read it cause I have a tendency to write messy at times.

So since this is the spring, let me make a record of recent services so I can keep track and refer as needed.

Tires - both tires, front and rear - 44,800
Replaced leaking shock - approx 47,000
Battery - outlived its useful life - 47,500
Oil - all three holes - 48,130

This service also lubed steering head bearings and shifter shaft. A couple of weeks ago I lubed cables. What a difference that made, especially my clutch cable, like I put in a new easy pull clutch!

I still need to get it safety inspected this week. Also should probably check the cable routing, may have a disturbed something when I replaced the battery.

Targetting about 2700 miles week after next so good to have my bike ready to go and feeling comfortable about it.

Also did hurt to have my helpers working on my bike with me....

Bikes, Babes and Rods

This past weekend was our chapter meeting and the dealerships 7th anniversary. So in typical fashion they have a bit of a party and bike show. They expanded it this year to include a car show and there were some pretty amazing cars that showed up. Considering the weather, cool and cloudy with chance of rain or storms, there was a very good turnout. I even feel a bit for the Sun-Bru girls who were doing the bike wash in barely there bikinis in 70F weather.

So in honor of the event here is a bit of a picture dump of the festivities.

Bikes












Babes - Limited selection 8^)








Rods
















Miscellaneous

Mckinney Scenes

Guitar pratice for Corey again, so time to kill in Mckinney. Had my camera went down to some of the old mill facilities. Got these shots.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down...

Not really. Although sometimes Monday's do.

You know that other saying as well, it never rains but it pours. Well in Texas you can take that quite literally. Typical Texas, much of the state is in a drought. Heading into April we are a bit below the norm. Well for a big chunk of the state, we ended April with a bit of a surplus. And May is starting off with a bang.

Here in Mckinney, we ended April with 5.8 inches of rain, and yesterday, we got 1.55 inches. All around us other communities received varying amounts of rainfall. One community a bit north of us received over 8 inches in a two day period over near the end of April.

But even so, there is beauty in all this rainfall. Everything is incredibly green, and quite lush.

Need to dry to get out and take a few photos as there is a lot of water out there.

Get on your bikes and ride!

Sorry girls, I didn't know

International Women Riders Day

Unfortunately my bike is not going anywhere fast. I wanted to ride to work today, backed it out of the garage and hit the start button, click click then nothing. Oh well, it was a long time coming, I have been worried about my battery for several months, occasionally putting on the trickle charger, but I think it has finally given up the ghost. I ride all year long, and as such don't normally have to keep the charge up. Bless me Mr Davidson, but it has been almost 2 weeks since my last ride and my battery has finally failed me.

Actually, it may be a bit of a blessing as I have been waiting for this to happen for a while, and its prior to our Carolina's trip. So I picked up my fluids the other day, will pick up a batter this weekend, tires are good, I should be good to go!

I was such a skinny lad
never knew no good from bad
but I knew life before I left my nursery -