Along the El Camino Corridor

We left Andulsia, AL at dawn and headed down a wonderful stretch of road. US Route 84, named the El Camino Corridor. In Alabama, it's a wonderful two lane road with few cars, or at least when we rode on it. The weather was cloudy, but warm. The road had some water on it, but overall pretty easy going. In Mississippi, the road turns into four lanes and unlike our jaunt on I-10 heading the opposite direction, we encountered very little traffic, road construction or crazy cagers taking themselves out (i.e. car accidents). Now, I won't lie to you, this stretch wasn't without some intrepidness on our part. The forecast had some very nasty looking showers in it, and while we darted through Alabama and Mississippi without any real rain (we did have a few showers, but nothing major), Louisiana was suppose to be a very different story. Teri wasn't looking forward to riding in the rain. Not because she didn't want to get wet, but because she wasn't sure how her bike would handle in the rain and honestly didn't want to find out.

As we crossed the muddy Mississippi into Louisiana, the sky was getting a bit darker, but seemed fine for the time being. However, as we got closer to Alexandria, the sky was black off to the west. I made the decision to skip the secondary roads I planned and jump on I-49 and head north to Natchitoches, LA. Now typically I don't like riding on interstates, but the brooding storm on the horizon won out. As we cruised along I-49, we got some light rain, but nothing major, and we were able to crank the speeds up to 70+ MPH.

We made it to our hotel in Natchitoches, grabbed our bags and headed to our room. We had maybe 10 minutes to spare before the day turned into night and the skies opened up. It was one of those rain storms where you hold out your hand in front of your face and you can't see it because of all the rain. Boy, was I ever glad I changed my mind and cut out 10 miles from trip and rerouted us up the interstate. Of course this did present one problem, what were we going to do for dinner? There was a Huddle House outside our hotel, and while not a great place to eat, there were very limited choices, so we walked across the parking lot and had dinner. The storm had passed, and ushered in a nice cold front. The temperature dropped a good 15 degrees from when we got into town. In the back of my mind, I knew that tomorrow's journey would be a cool one.

I wasn't wrong about the temperature. The next morning all three of us donned our flannel lined jeans and winter gloves. But there wasn't a cloud a sky, so it looked like the perfect ride back into Austin. We hopped back onto US 84 and headed towards the Texas border. About 60 miles outside Natchitoches, my intercom started acting weird and I during our gas up I decided to take a look at it. Ah, seems the solder joint to the power had come loose. No problem I thought. I had just the tool, a battery operated soldering iron I brought along for just that purpose. After a couple of minutes, I determined that a fresh set of batteries were in order, so Teri went into the gas station and after a fleecing, walked out of the store with a fresh set of batteries. Yep, that was the problem, well sort of... I had never used this soldering iron before. Seems it gets hot enough to melt solder, but not hot enough to really flow solder, and not nearly hot enough to solder wires together. I gave up and decided I could go without the intercom. Back to old school for me. No music, no passengers chattering. Just me with wind and nature surrounding me. One small issue, seems my GPS is also on that power circuit, and that means I had to run it on just the batteries. Fine, I'm in Texas, I should be home in a few hours. Except that GPS won't run on batteries that long. Bummer... As we made our way into Crockett, TX (named after the Tennessee hero Davy Crockett who died at the Alamo), the sun disappeared behind a wall of clouds and we encountered some of the coldest temperatures on the trip. I stopped in Crockett to warm up with a cup of coffee, it was nearly noon and we were still over 200 miles away from home. After drinking our coffee and hot chocolate, Taylor decided she wanted a granola bar. While she was eating, I decided to take another stab at getting at least the GPS power. After several tries, I was finally able to get a temporary fix in place for the GPS. Now initially our plan was to spend some time in Crockett and look around the town. I had gone through it previously in the spring and it seemed a nice place to look around. But with the cold overcast skies, we opted to skip Crockett and just head home.

Back on road, we ran into light showers again, but they were light, and by the time US 6 turned into 21 going into Bryan, TX the rain had stopped and the road were dry as a bone. We made our final fuel stop we were less than a hundred miles from home now and I was very familiar with the remaining roads. Taylor was in a great mood, and despite not having any music or anybody to chat with, was in very good spirits. As we approached Austin, I was impressed with both Taylor and Teri. I wasn't sure what to expect out of this trip, it's different taking your family with you on a trip of this length, than doing it solo or with a bunch of guys. If guys start whining, you simply make fun of them and tell them to suck it up. With your family, you can't quite do that, well do it and live to tell about it. ;-)

As we made our final approach into the driveway, I was impressed by everybody on this trip. We had no issues with the bikes, weather, or attitudes. There were certainly some issues out the gate, but the return trip home was perfect.

The final numbers for those keeping track were:

Miles: 2501
Gas: 107.5 Gallons
Cost of Fuel: $189.19
Average cost: $1.75 Gal
MPG Averages:
Teri's 2004 BMW R : 43.5 MPG
My 2004 BMW RT : 40.9 MPG (two people on the bike)

I guess when I consider the extra weight I had, 2 MPG difference isn't too bad.
I put all the photos up on flickr they are in the following group.

Now, I'm already in the planning stages of a very short ride next weekend with the Buell group.

Going, Going, Gone...

So we started our Disney gorge feast at Magic Kingdom, then we moved onto Epcot Center, and then onto Animal Kingdom. If you go online and read the reviews, people tend to dislike Epcot and Animal Kingdom, most claim you can see them in half a day. We didn't feel this way, we all really liked Animal Kingdom. But then we really like zoo's and animals, so maybe that has something to do with it. On Christmas Day, we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom. Now, we've made some mistakes on this trip, starting with my route around Houston that caused us to bed down in Beaumont instead of Baton Rouge. But I think deciding to go back to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day was as big of a mistake, maybe bigger.

The park was crazy! Maybe it's me, but I really can't understand what makes people want to stand in a line for over 70 minutes for a ride that takes two to three minutes tops. I couldn't believe how many people were at the park. I hate to think what the park looks like during a busy day during the summer. Nearly everything had at least an hour wait until you get on the ride. Thankfully we finally figured out the fastpass thing and we were able ride a couple of the rides that we missed on Monday. We purchased the five day tickets, but after four days of Disney, we were spent. Teri and I made the decision to pass on day five of Disney. The fact is, we were only going to go to a park for a few hours since we had planned to ride 400 miles to Andalusia, Alabama.

We got an early start today, a first for us on this trip. After eating at what had become our regular breakfast spot, we left the local Waffle House aboard our BMW motorcycles. This is what people don't understand about motorcycles, you don't have to wait in a line for 90 minutes and the ride can be as long as you want. Today that ride was eight hours long, not two to three minutes and it was, at least for me, every bit as thrilling as a Disney ride.

When I think Florida, I think beach, surf, waves. Everything related to beaches, and part of that is how Florida itself promotes itself in advertisements about Florida. However, today as we passed through Central Florida, I saw a part of Florida that reminded me of Virginia, complete with horse farms and hay bales. As I passed through the area, I couldn't help but think that the tourism bureau of Florida needs to promote that part of Florida. One thing has impressed me about Florida and that's the amount of parks. Seems you can't throw a rock without hitting a park, makes me kind of wish we had done a tour of those types of parks instead of Disney's parks. Oh well, we have bikes and know how to travel. Maybe next time. :-)

Let the fun begin!

I'm a bit behind on updating this blog, sorry. I'll fill in the gaps. 

After a rough start, things got better on day 3. Our hotel in Panama City Beach, FL was right on the beach. We got in late (as usual, but we did make up 200+ miles too), so we didn't see much of anything when we rode in the night before. However, we awoke to the sounds of the beach. Seagulls, waves crashing along the sandy beaches, and occasional voices. The sky was clear and things looked good, but somewhere between looking out the window, getting dressed, and grabbing some breakfast downstairs in the hotel, the sky changed and the ground had a layer of wetness on it. Strange. 

After breakfast, we hopped on US 98 out of Panama City Beach and what a wonderful road that was. It travels along the shoreline and I mean, right along the shoreline. There are times the water from the bay, comes right up to the roadside. It was cooler than I expected, and about 20 miles into the trip, we stopped, add a layer of clothing and continue on our way. All day we tended to dance around with the rain. We missed 99 % of the rain, hitting on the occasional sprinkle and wet pavement. Today's ride was how I had planned the ride, or so I thought.  Having gotten a late start (are you noticing a pattern?), we arrived in Orlando.

Photos from day 3: Here

The next morning we hit Disney World. The reason Teri and Taylor made the trip. I made it for the ride. The Disney company has done a wonderful job of staying on message and making sure everything pleases you. It was wonderful, I even enjoyed it. Tom Sawyer island was a big hit with Taylor, we got to explore the island and have fun. 

Photo from Disney day 1: Here

We went to Epcot center the next day. It's interesting because I've seen and heard mixed reviews about Epcot. I'm not sure what people expect, but a lot of people say it's at most a 1/2 day event. I have not idea what they do there, but we were about an hour late in getting to the park, and left at closing and still didn't see everything.

Photos from Epcot (day 2): Here

Today we're off to the Animal Kingdom... See ya soon

Delays, Delays, Delays

Off we roared onto 290 East headed to Florida. GPS devices are wonderful tools, but they can be a bit dangerous too as we were to find out. I decided to try and skip Houston and skirt it by getting off 290 and taking 2920 through Tomball. Great plan on paper, but the reality is, the traffic and traffic lights are horrible going that way. We were in stop and go traffic and really starting to frustrate us as we both realized my error in just looking at the maps.

We finally got on a roll after dinner (and nearly an hour behind schedule) as we rode on US 90. Then we came to a screeching halt. We were near Liberty Texas and according to a couple of folks who got out of their cars to come talk to us, there was a pedestrian/car accident and the pedestrian had died. As we sat there for over an hour in traffic, Teri and I decided that our plan on making it to Baton Rouge was nowhere in the plans now. It would be nearly 1130 PM if we tried. Our best option was to stop in Beaumont, and try and make up the time tomorrow. The sad part is we had made reservations online, which to get the discount required a non-refundable prepayment. Oh well, we're on vacation right? 

We got started late the next day, well late for me. Typically, I'm on the road by No later than 6 AM. That wasn't happening on this trip more like 9-10 AM. I rerouted our trip to hit I-10/I-12 to cut down our miles. What I didn't realize was that I-10 was just as frustrating at times. Construction, traffic accidents, and who knows what forced us to a crawl on I-1o multiple times the next day. The pay off was once we hit the Florida state line (much later than anticipated), the traffic was nearly non-existent and we flew down I-10 till we finally go off the major road and onto state highways. We rolled off the road and into our motel room about 9:30 PM. Only about 7 hours later than originally planned. 

Photos (not too many so far 1-10 doesn't really inspire me to take photos): http://flickr.com/photos/82683679@N00/collections/72157611407160309/

The day has arrived

What a week. Starting last Sunday, we’ve had a ton of activities centered around music activities Taylor has been involved in. Cello recitals, Christmas practices and concert for the school band. But, now we finally get to relax. Today is more of a play day for Taylor, while Teri and I try to get things in order at work, for the week off. We’ll work 1/2 day, and Taylor is released at 11:30, the plan is to have the motorcycles packed and on the road no later than 13:00, so that we can make it to Baton Rouge, LA by 19:00 or so... we’ll have to see how that plan goes.

“we’re off to see the wizard...”

The Planning Goes on

It’s final, my wife, daughter and I are getting ready to journey on the bikes in a couple of weeks, weather permitting. We gave our daughter a choice of going to Disney World for Christmas or spring break. She chose Christmas. My wife thought why should I have all the fun, and decided she wanted to go on a long motorcycle ride. Of course this means we had to get approval from my daughter to take the bikes, since she would be stuck with me for the trip. She reluctantly agreed to take the bikes. However, now that I have two new long distance people, I’m going to have to shorten our daily rides. I simply don’t see either one agreeing to do 800 miles in a day, like I did on my trip out to California recently.

The entire trip is about 1200 miles each way. The plan is to do 2 1/2 days for the trip, I haven’t planned the route yet, but I suspect Day 1 will be a day where we just put the miles on the bike, that will be our 1/2 day. The remaining two days, we’ll take our time, stop along the way, and as is my usual way, find some smaller out of the way roads. The advantage of only doing 400 miles, is we’ll have plenty of time to stop and see the sights and then continue moving on at our pace. If it takes us 12 hours to do 400, so be it.

I have to be honest though, I’m not quite sure how all of this is going to work out. My wife has never ridden her motorcycle that far in one stretch, but we have been taking a few trips recently that are shorter, and should help. Likewise, my daughter has never been a pillion for that long. For her, life is going to be very different than riding in a car where she can watch DVDs, play video games, and sleep. On the motorcycle she can’t do any of those. With my Starcom intercom she will be able to talk with me, and we can listen to music, but I find that I really enjoy the peace and quiet when I’m riding. Having a passenger for this long will be a challenge for me.

My checklist
        ❑        Put new tire on Teri’s motorcycle
        ❑        Plan route - both ways. Find interesting things to do along the way.
        ❑        Watch the long range forecasts
        ❑        Buy additional tire plugs for trip
        
I’m sure I’m missing something, but right now this is pretty much the list of things I have to complete in the next week.

Back Home

After nearly 3700 miles on this trip, I’m back home. It was nice finally getting out of the desert. While the desert has a beauty of it’s own, once I entered into the Texas Hillcountry, I could tell it was fall. There were hints of color changes in the leaves. It was also nice finally getting off I-10 since all my riding from Deming, NM to Junction, TX was on that highway. Of course there are added benefits of taking I-10, one of them being a posted 80 MPH, which means traffic tends to flow at about 85 MPH most of the way. With the exception the “metro” sections (Fort Stockton, Van Horn, and Ozona), there were no signs of police enforcement anywhere. Then again, when it’s hundreds of miles between metro areas, it makes sense. For somebody who has never been on I-10 in West Texas, it’s hard to really explain how vast the area is. When I ride that area, I have to think, not in miles, but in tanks of gas.

One other thing about West Texas is the wind. Going to California, I went in the morning and we had a cold front move in, this seemed to settle the cross winds down a bit. However, coming back, the winds were an issue. Because of these winds, combined with much faster speed limits, I noticed a marked reduction in fuel economy. Going from around 46 MPG to 40 MPG. Similar to the drop I saw in the Bay Area when I was stuck in traffic.

It was nice finally rolling into Austin, although the time change hurts since it was already dark at 6 PM when I got to the outskirts of Austin. It was nice enjoying dinner with the family and catching up on what happened during the week.

Final Numbers....

Miles: 3887
Gallons of fuel: 89
Avg. Cost: $2.97
High: $4.09 (Needles, CA)
Low: $2.20 (Ozona, TX)
Avg MPG: 44.5
High MPG: 49.9
Low MPG: 35.8


Photos from the bike: photos

Desert to Desert

As I pulled out of LSI's parking space on Friday, I began my trek back home. My plan was to break the ride up a bit more equally than what I did on the way out, so my first stop was Yucca Valley, CA. I spent a lot of time in Yucca Valley in 1985. In fact, that was about the only place to see first run movies other than the occasional one that was shown on the Marine Base in Twentynine Palms. For some reason, Yucca Valley was the larger of the two towns, with Joshua Tree, another sleepy town, stuck between the two. 

I planned my route and loaded them into the GPS on Thursday night. My original route back had me following a large part of my route coming out to California. However, a brief chat with a co-worker had my change my route and try some different roads. It added a couple of extra miles onto the trip, but not enough to make me not take his advice and route. I still had to go through Bakersfield and Barstow, but then I would follow small roads into Yucca Valley. I arrived in Bakersfield just as the sun was setting. I'm not sure what it is about Bakersfield, but as I type this, I have close to 3,000 miles on my bike on this trip, and twice I've had idiots do stupid things that required me to be on my toes. Both times, in Bakersfield... Go figure. 

The ride to Yucca Valley was interesting. The desert has two times of the day that really showcase the beauty of the southwest deserts. When the sun rises above the mountain tops and paints the sky with orange hues. Likewise in the evening as the sun begins to set colors seem to pop out in front of you. Maybe it's the lack of color, or maybe the lack of any real light other than the one the bike provides, but the night smothers all beauty, and light. Between Barstow and Yucca Valley, there is a town during the day, I'm sure it's nothing more than a sleepy little town, but at night it looks like Las Vegas at night from the distance. Funny how near total darkness makes things look larger than like at night. 

I pulled into Yucca Valley and settled in for a few hours of sleep. I didn't really get a chance to see much of the town, it was after all dark. In the morning, as I pulled out of the motel, I looked around and didn't recognize the place. It has a home depot,  Walmart, and a new shopping center. Holy cow, I don't know what's spurred the growth, but it has grown a lot in 20 years. The big surprise was how little Twentynine Palms had grown, there are a few new fast food places, but that's to be expected in any town. With all the Marines on the base and living around the base in 29 Palms, I really don't understand why that town didn't grow more, but now twice this summer I've taken a step back into my past and it's felt very strange. 

Ironically, my younger sister has also been around a lot recently. Her son graduated from Marine Corps basic, so I had to go welcome him into the brotherhood. But this trip put her in my path twice. Originally, I was planning to see her only on the way back, but some road closure outside Phoenix put me blocks from her house, so I decided to stop in on the way out too. Today, I stopped in and had lunch with her and her family. I have probably seen her more this summer than I have in the past 20 years. 

I wanted to go through Globe, AZ again since it was such an awesome  ride. It didn't disappoint the second time out either. Unfortunately as I rode US 60/US 70 out of Globe, it heads into an Apache reservation. I passed through here on my way out, but it was a Sunday morning and maybe I wasn't looking around enough, but this time I noticed something I hadn't before; the poverty and living conditions.

As the sun set and I crossed into New Mexico, I knew it would be the last time I would see two lane roads for a while. It was back to the giant slab known as I-10. This trip seems to be made up of one desert after another. 

Photos here: From the Bike

Off the slab and through the deserts

OK, I have to admit I have slacked off a bit when it came to updating this blog. I was fine the first day, but then I arrived around 3 PM in the afternoon in New Mexico. But after my trip from New Mexico to Bakersfield, CA, I was a bit tired and didn't want to update my blog that night. Once I arrived in San Jose, I found that I didn't want to update my blog either. Shame on me. 

So, looking backwards at my trip segment from Deming, New Mexico to Bakersfield, California, there were a few things that really stuck out as highlights. One was the breath taking view I had along the New Mexico, Arizona border. It really was an awesome sight. My route took my off I-10 for the first time since leaving Kerrville, Texas. I turned onto US 70 in Lordsburg, NM and while I saw very few vehicles (mostly semi-trailers) on I-10, I saw no vehicles on US 70. It was me, my BMW RT, and the desert landscape. There is something very therapeutic about riding alone on a motorcycle in the desert. Maybe it's because you're alone with your own thoughts, and feel the wind, and elements around you, but it's very different than being in a car. 

As I crossed Arizona, I switched to US 60 and went through a wonderful little town called Globe, AZ. What a joy it was to go through that area of the country. I'll try to take some pictures of it on my way back since I plan to take US 60 again going home. Riding through the Phoenix area, I was forced off US 60 since the road was closed. I had my sister's address in the GPS and found that I was only a few blocks from their house, so I stopped in and had a short but nice visit with them. But I knew I couldn't stay long since I had to press on, I was trying to make it to Bakersfield and had a lot of miles still ahead of me. 

I ended up back on I-10 for a bit as I headed out of Phoenix, and then headed up through some smaller AZ county roads where I crossed into California. This was an area of California that seemed very familiar to me, and it was. I had spent some time in the high desert of California, when I was stationed in Twenty-nine Palms. I wasn't all that far from the "stumps" as we called it. I pressed northward and ended up in Needles, CA. With gas prices falling, I was averaging about $3.20 a gallon for gas. However, Needles (and Barstow) still haven't heard that oil prices have fallen recently and I ended up paying slightly more than $4.00 a gallon. In Needles I got back on the giant slab called I-40 and headed towards Barstow. Night was falling as I entered Barstow, so I opted to stop for dinner. They have a kind of neat little train style building that houses several fast food restaurants and the bus station. It was a very busy place, and I ordered the healthiest thing in the building at the Panda Express. 

I finished up dinner and headed out to Bakersfield. Along the way, I couldn't get that Dwight Yoakum/Buck Owens tune out of head, so I dialed it in on my iPod and listened to The Streets of Bakersfield. Ironically my hotel was only a mile from Buck Owens Palace (whatever that is) in Bakersfield. I rode from Barstow to Bakersfield in the dark and it's a little more than a hundred miles. It really felt more like 200 hundred. Maybe it was the dark, or maybe just the extra miles, or simply that I was ready for a warm shower and shut eye, but I was ready to call it a night. 

The morning ride to San Jose from Bakersfield was fairly uneventful. And then began my work week, which pretty much kept me occupied. In finishing up this post, I do have to say that I did split lanes in the bay area, maybe I'll talk more about that later. It's not nearly as dangerous as one would think, but I suspect that has to do with CA drivers expecting it, and the lanes being wider. But having a motorcycle out here makes a lot of sense. 

Photos from this 800 mile leg are here: Photos

On the road

Well, day 2 is done. Day one was pretty straight forward. Today was a bit tougher. I left Kerrville, TX around 5:30 AM and it was in the 40's when I left. It didn't warm up until around 10:30.  I was pretty chilly until after lunch. 

Ironically I didn't see any law enforcement folks until I got around Van Horn, TX. Then suddenly they were all over the place. At one point, the Texas DPS (highway patrol), had one car pulled over on the west side of the highway, and one person pulled over on the east side. The guy going west was having the worst day though, or at least I would assume so since they had him in cuffs standing next to the cruiser. 

I tend to get around 230 or so miles per tank on my bike. About 48 miles outside of Ft. Stockton my low fuel light came one. As luck would have it, I had just past a gas station. I looked at the GPS and had to get 47 miles before I would hit another gas station. As I watched the last fuel bar disappear from the display (I never knew it went away), I really began to worry. I made it to the gas station on fumes I'm sure. But you don't want to run out of gas in West Texas. 

I did pass the large wind farm that was built in West Texas. It was a bit too cold for me to have on my summer gloves, so I didn't take any photos, but it's pretty cool to see active wind farms again. When I lived in 29 Palms, CA, we use to watch the wind farm outside Palm Springs, CA going full tilt. 

Here are photos from todays ride: 2008-10-25. 

Almost There

The packing is done... Well almost, I still have my work laptop and things to pack from work that I’ll need when I’m out there. My route isn’t exactly how I would normally do it, but I’m leaving late on Friday (dinner time), so I can stop by my mom’s house for the night. That puts me at a short 123 miles for the day.

Day 1 Map

Day 2 is a little better, as I go from Kerrville, TX to Deming NM, and log 585 miles.

Day 2 Map



Day 3 is the hard day. It’ll see me go from New Mexico, through the state of Arizona, finally stopping in Bakersfield, CA 782 miles away.

Day 3 Map


Day 4 is a very short day since that will be Monday and I have to be at work. I hope to be there by 10 AM, going from Bakersfield to Milpitas California.

Day 4 map

        ✓        Route done
        ✓        Packing done
        ✓        Bike serviced
        ❑        emergency cards updated
        
OK, one more thing to do before I leave tomorrow afternoon.

The Planning Goes On

The California trip planning goes on. I think I finally have a route that seems to be OK. I’m going to try to figure out how to post it here later.

Initially my route included stopping in Phoenix to visit my sister. But my brother-in-law has somebody in his family who has a big celebration going on when I'll be in town, so I'll catch them on the return trip. 

• Day 1 (Friday) - I'm going to ride to my mom's house and have dinner with her. That will give me a two hour leg up on the trip with 124 miles. 
  
• Day 2 (Saturday) - one of the short days. I'll go from Kerrville, TX to Deming, NM a mere 580 miles.  
  
• Day 3 (Sunday) - this will be the long day. Deming NM to Bakersfield CA. This is the 800 mile day. 
  
• Day 4 (Monday) - another short day with a short 250 miles to Milpitas, CA. After Sunday, I'm sure I'll want a short day.

I did get an appointment to get my tires replaced before I left. I thought about riding on them until I got there, but then thought better about it, or should I say, my wife talked me out of doing that. Something about being safe. Go Figure. 

Update: The BMW now has new shoes, so now the bike is really ready for the trip. 

San Jose Trip

Today is day one of getting prepared to go to San Jose on my 2004 BMW R1150RT Motocycle.

List of things to do:

• Plan Route (I have a route planned, but I want to make sure there aren’t better ways to get there)


• Check Tires (I have some miles left on them, but I really should replace them before my trip)


• Watch the weather for the next several days.