Yellowstone ride – August 13, 2018

I had a really good night sleep. I guess the heat from yesterday made me tired. I hit the road about 9:30 in the morning.

Riding a motorcycle with a lot of gear can be a little awkward at times. When you stop for gas or for anything for that matter, there is a routine that you fall into. It takes a day or two sometimes more to get a good rhythm. I could feel the awkwardness yesterday but I am experienced and so my learning curve is quite Steep and so today I felt a lot more efficient. Just to give an example, I have a fanny pack which contains liquid to keep me hydrated and I also have my action camera hanging from my neck. What I would get off the bike I had all these things hanging off of me. I realized that I could just keep my hydration pack wrapped around my tank bag and still have access to it while riding and not have to carry it in. Also, I would tuck my action camera in my jacket pocket so it wasn’t swinging around. I felt much more efficient and not as awkward. It’s bad enough looking like an astronaut when walking into a gas station or restaurant and having people look at you in wonderment, having all these things swinging around just makes it worse.

Anyway, I was actually hoping to get on the road earlier because of the heat. It was already 91 degrees at 9:30 in the morning but my cool vest get my body temperature down and I was okay. Whenever I gained altitude, I could feel the coolness which was welcome relief. I got into St George and it was still warm there. That was pretty much the last place where it was quite warm. After St George the terrain Rises. Several times I got over 6,000 ft which was great. It was like air conditioning.

The scenery in Utah is surprisingly beautiful. The rocks have a red color to them and they just look very interesting. As I got near the Great Salt Lake, I could feel the humidity in the air which was also nice.

I stopped for gas in Evanston Wyoming at about 7 in the evening. After I filled up I got on my bike to pull it out of the gas pump area to try to examine what I was going to do. I changed my mind after a moment and started to set the motorcycle on the kickstand. The problem was I had kicked up the kickstand and so the bike started to tip over. With all my might I pulled the other direction and stopped it from falling over. I think if I literally had tipped it over one more millimeter the bike would have fallen to the ground. It took me a few moments to recover from the adrenaline rush of saving the bike. I pulled over to a shaded area to examine where I was going to go from there. I saw that Ken was in Casper Wyoming. He said that he was going to be there for the night. When I ran the calculations I saw that we were both about the same distance from Yellowstone. After a quick phone call, I decided to just spend the night there in Evanston. I found a Motel 6 nearby and grab something to eat. This will be the last night in a hotel for a few days so I will enjoy it.

On the way to have dinner, I took advantage of the lack of motorcycle helmet laws here in Wyoming as you can see in the picture below.

Tomorrow I will ride up into Grand Teton National Park and possibly stop there for a short time and then head up to Yellowstone where I should meet Ken probably in the mid-afternoon. See you all tomorrow

Yellowstone Ride – Aug 11, 2018

Ken has a family reunion in Kansas in August every other year. Earlier this year he suggested that he rides to the family reunions and then would meet me in Yellowstone National Park where we would camp out for a few days and then ride home together.

Unfortunately his wife became ill with lung cancer a few months ago and really unfortunately passed away.

Everytime Ken and I would plan a trip, his wife Deb would sit in a chair near us and sip some wine and roll her eyes as we planned these crazy trips. She really didn’t like Ken going on these trips but he did anyway. I think somewhere deep inside she kind of like that we did this but it was always funny to see her rolling her eyes at us.

The trip got temporarily cancelled as Ken grieved the loss of his wife. After a few weeks, he came to me and said that he would like to do the trip if I would go. I asked if he was sure and he said he was. Life Goes On and we still grieve our Departed. Hopefully she is looking down on us and rolling your eyes.

Ken and I have been doing these long-distance trips a while now and we did not need a lot of planning that we did need some. We got together a few times and discuss the trip and worked on our bikes.

Ken left for Kansas a few days ago and made it for his reunion. In the meantime I have been preparing my bike and getting everything ready. It’s still a lot of work even though a lot of the work is already done. We plan to do some dirt riding so I put the dual sport tires on the wheels of my Suzuki vstrom. I also put the large side cases on. I rode it around today to make sure everything was okay and that the wheels did not fall off. Everything was okay and the wheels did not fall off.

I just have a bit more packing to do and then I plan to leave tomorrow in the early evening and shoot for St George Utah. This is primarily to avoid the heat of Las Vegas.

48 State motorcycle tour – epilogue

I had another dream. I was in a vast wondrous land…it was a land where different people lived but altogether as one.  They had different accents, different food, different building architecture, different customs….but they all lived in this one great big place.  There was no Hillary, and Trump and Russian emails.  It was just a place with warm friendly people who enjoyed a nice chat.

There was the Southwest region.  Dry, hot….yet in it lay the Grand Canyon, a gem of a place in the middle of the sand (even though I didnt see it this time).

And there was the South….country music, greenery, southern drawls, and the Civil War is still going on even though its been 150 years.   Southern hospitality is like no other, yet confederate flags fly.  The Mississippi with its wide flowing waters, ending in muggy New Orleans.  French quarters – interesting, but, well…just interesting.

Tennessee rains…boy did it rain there.  Just drink a bottle of Dr Enuf and you are good.  Watch out for the roads in West Virginia – dont want to end up in the drink!

The capital of this land was stately and proud.  Iconic structures abound…tall pointy Washington monument, bright capital building and White house separated by a huge green gassy land. Museums…solemn War Memorial.

And then..in the middle of it all…was home.  A home that was such a joy to come home to, only to be torn away once again….yet the highlight of this journey.  Did I ever really leave?

 

This land had this beautiful city – called New York City – the king of cities.  Tall buildings, brassy, honest people, pizza on the sidewalk at 11 at night, quiet 9/11 memorials, and a gritty subway.

Then there was the Northeast….colonial, parking ticket (really? ticketing a MOTOCYCLE??), cool, Boston accents, beer and cobblestones.   You can almost hear the horse hooves clicking down the street.  Beautiful countryside and old buildings.

There was a place called Niagara Falls…..water spilling over the edge of the land..so hard it sent mist flying skyward.  Into Canada, more Tim Hortons…

In the Midwest, the accents changed….newer buildings….more tall buildings…the end of route 66.  The land flattened.. many farms…country roads….faces carved in stone, and a vast endless sky.

Entering the Northwest, the land started rolling and then becoming mountainous and cold.  Beautiful scenery in every direction.  And then…

…its over.  I wake up.  I yearn to be home where I cannot be…its far away now.  But what a journey.

 

 

 

48 state motorcycle tour- Thank you for the picture

Today at work I received a package. And I opened up the package I gasped as I saw what was inside. It was one of my favorite pictures of the trip and it had been mounted professionally on some wood and was absolutely beautiful.

It reminds me of a story my friend Rod told me once. He told me the time of someone who went to a very nice hotel. She was given a tour of some of the shops by the concierge. She happened to make an innocuous comment about a beautiful watch that she liked. Sometime later when she returned to her room that watch was sitting in her room.

Someone, who only must have read my blog, saw that one of my favorite pictures was of the bikes parked on the highway in Wyoming.  

Rod, if that was you who sent me that, thank you. If if it wasnt you, whoever sent me that picture, thank you. Its very beautiful and what a kind gesture.

Its now on my bedroom wall.

I remember the exact moment I took that picture. We were near the end of our trip in Northeastern Wyoming. We just needed to cross into Wyoming to get a picture and then turn around and head back into South Dakota before we tackled the nasty winds heading north on Highway 85.

The highway was raised up above the ground and the Welcome to Wyoming sign was off the highway by about 15 or 20 feet and we had to walk down a little bit to get to the base of the sign to get our picture.

After we snapped our pictures I was walking up the embankment partly and I looked up at the bikes and looked in the background and it looked like a painting because the sky was so beautiful and the scenery was spectacular. Interesting Lee they weren’t any mountains or anything but it was just the vast distance that we could see plus the beautiful sky and the bikes are parked together nicely and the picture composed itself right before me. I just literally lifted the camera to my eye and snapped.

I didn’t realize how beautiful it looked until I went back to the hotel later that night and look to the pictures to see what I could put on the blog. It became one of my top pictures of the trip and one that I would put on a photo album if I made one, which I plan to do. 

They say a picture is worth more than a thousand words .  This is one of those pictures .  It may be worth ten thousand words . When I look at that picture it represents several things. In the center of the picture are two well-packed motorcycles. The land is completely flat. The sky with the beautiful clouds look like a tapestry. There is a road next to the bikes. We were nearly done with our Tour, having put about 7,000 miles behind us.

It represents two machines that carried two men all around the country in a rather short span of time. We came across many many beautiful sceneries and this was one of them. Unfortunately we were only in Wyoming a very short time and a short distance as well, perhaps a few miles. But that’s all that was needed to capture this incredibly beautiful scene.

Here, once again, is the original picture for all to enjoy:

48 State Motorcycle tour – after the ride

I have been home a couple of days now and I have just been catching up a little bit on things to do around the house. Blending back into my regular life is a little difficult but getting done. Spending a few days with my sister helped a lot.

I did a couple of things to the bike today. On the ride I was at a few BMW dealers and I had a chance to look at the successor to my bike called the K 1600 GTL. BMW updated The Styling among other things and I kind of want to update my bike a little bit to look a bit more modern. I noticed BMW did not put logos on the back of the rear cases on any of its bikes after 2005. My bike has a K1200 logo on the left case and an LT logo on the right case.

I decided to remove those logos to give it a little more modern look and to give the bike a cleaner look as well. After a few minutes here is the result:

I never liked the front factory decals. I decided to design my own in conformance with the modern looking decals/badges of the more recent bikes. The GTL has a chrome logo on the front so perhaps taking my rear chrome Badges and putting them on the front that might give it a better cleaner look….something like this:

Far away shot:

Above is the fugly factory decal.

I also installed the rear passenger floorboards and rear top box.

At some point I may paint it a more attractive color. Mechanically there is a looseness in the front end that I need to diagnose so I will be taking the bike apart again to find that. Since I put so many miles on it I will need to change the oil and do some other servicing.

I will be writing an Epilogue in the next few days which will summarize my ride and philosophize or pontificate a little bit., Until then,  be safe out there. See you soon.

UPDATE….June 3, 2017

I’ve been working on the motorcycle putting it back together. Front end is fixed and feels much better. I wish I got to do that before the ride but that’s the way it is.

Ken came over today and brought his cooking stuff and the beef stew that we were going to eat when we were camping.

.

48 state motorcycle tour – the ride home

This morning, I head due south for home. After several days of r and r,  Im back on the road. Ken is already back to work. I wanted to ease back into reality.

I will shoot for Sacramento on highway 5. The weather is cloudy but not much chance of rain. Time to get packing and get on the road.

The weather was beautiful by the time I got onto Highway 5. The plan was to ride as far as I was able and then pull over and get a hotel. Sometimes things don’t go as planned.

The first stop was in Ashland which is just North of California. I gassed up, had a snack, and headed back on the road and within a few minutes crossed into California.

Next stop was just north of Sacramento. More gas and snacks and back on the road.

Third stop was Santa Nella Village near Los Banos.  I was feeling pretty good at this point with no fatigue at all. I started to think about trying for home.

I was still riding strong when I got to the Grapevine so I gassed up one last time and decided to go for it.

 The temperature dropped as I climb the hill and it got very windy. As if that wasn’t bad enough the fog rolled in at the top. I guess it was one last challenge for me. It was well after midnight and I was starting to get tired.

But I pressed on and got through the wind and the fog and the dark and the fatigue. When I exited the freeway there was a detour and I had to go a different route home.

Home at last…..for now.

48 state motorcycle tour – After the tour

I have had two days to relax with my sister and family here in Corvallis. Yesterday evening, Sunday, I took a 20-minute ride around the area on my motorcycle after washing and waxing the bike. It’s very beautiful up here and it’s nice to be able to relax and not have the pressure of packing and leaving the next morning.

Today, Monday, I came up to Portland with my sister to spend a couple of days here at her flat. On the way up I stop by my nephew’s house and visited with my two great-nephews and nephew and his wife.

Here is my older great nephew Peyton:

 When we got to Portland, the sky cleared and it got warmer. My sister and I at her flat:

We had lunch Kenny and Zukes, a jewish deli in Portland. Then we got some Blue Star Donuts

A bit more walking around the Pearl District and we headed back to the flat to eat and relax. We will head out to walk around Portland some more.

Today, Tuesday morning, it’s raining lightly here in Portland. We went around the corner to a local Diner and grabbed an excellent breakfast.

Heading out for more walking in the city. Did some shopping.

Here is a picture of a Benson bubbler.  They are unique to Portland and have been around since at least the 1950s.

Ninth District Appellate Court in Portland. In the foreground is a signpost which indicates the distance of a couple dozen or so Random places in the world.

Portland Synagogue.

Dicks Kitchen where Ken and I had our last meal.

After being in Portland for 2 days, my sis and I went back to her Corvallis house. From there, I will be heading home tomorrow morning. See you then.

48 State Motorcycle tour – day 22, May 27th 2017

A stunningly beautiful blue sky presented itself upon parting the hotel curtains. A further look of my Doppler radar showed no rain in the western US. 

The stage was set for our final leg of the 48 state tour. Kens bike is seemingly fixed. The weather is perfect. We have a 7 hour ride to get to my sister’s house…437 miles left.

Ken got his bike together and his  bags back on. I hope that fuse doesnt blow again. We never figured out what caused it to blow.

We left the hotel  after a big Denny’s breakfast and headed down the road towards the Oregon border. We stopped in downtown Spokane for the Washington state picture.

When we gassed up towards the southern part of Washington I caught a picture of a crop duster airplane in action

The border of Oregon and Washington is the Columbia River.  When we crossed the Columbia River,  the 48th state tour was technically complete.

I now let myself feel the amazing feeling of having traveled around the entire lower 48 United States and visited every single state in three weeks. I felt amazing.

 In reality, the ride is not finished because the plan was to State my sister’s for a few days and then bay area for a day or two and then come home.

 Ken and I rode down Highway 84 which parallels the Columbia River and the Washington border. It is an extremely beautiful area with big pointy white Mount Hood poking up like a big giant tooth in the background.

We stopped in Portland for lunch at Dick’s kitchen and then rode to the Burnside bridge for a picture of our final state of Oregon

Ww rode south towards Corvallis and stopped at a gas station so Ken could gas up his bike. This is where we parted ways. After thousands of miles and over 3 weeks, we went our separate ways… I stayed in Oregon and Ken headed home.  We said our goodbyes.. ..

I drank 2 oregon beers….

Hangin with my older niece…  

And my younger niece….

Ken made it to Yreka, CA

We did it.. .48 states in 3 weeks.

Next up…..chilling with family and then the ride home.

48 State Motorcycle tour – day 21 May 26, 2017

This morning we woke up to and absolutely beautiful sky. It was a bit chilly but very refreshing the. We had breakfast at the hotel and then we checked our oil level. I needed some oil so I topped it off period I knew we had a long day of riding ahead of us because we had to ride through the entire state of Montana through Idaho and into Washington State.

We stopped off at Famous Dave’s barbecue. I had barbecue chicken and can head barbecue ribs. A check of the weather showed some scattered showers. That’s exactly what we saw that afternoon.

The first shower we saw ahead of time so we pulled over to grab a snack and gas up the bikes and we waited out the storm. We rode through to other rainstorms.

Montana is a very beautiful state and as we traveled Westward it got more and more beautiful.

Towards the west side we Rose in altitude. As we got into Idaho trouble began.

We were gassing up and Ken’s bike would not start. We jump started the bike with my bike and we were under way. Ken’s tail light was not working and he had some dash lights on. We went to a local Walmart and Ken bought a battery charger.

We figured that we would try to make the 60 mile ride to Spokane Washington. Fortunately the bike was running well even though there was clearly an electrical problem.

We checked into a Motel 6 and pulled the bags off the bike to see what the problem was. I found a blown fuse to the brake light. We examine some of the wiring and all seem to be ok. We walked over to a local auto parts store and picked up some fuses and plugged in the new fuse and everything seem to work okay. The bike even started up without a jump start.

So the good news was that it was an easy fix the bad news was that we don’t know why the fuse blew and there was certainly a reason why it blew.

We then went to a Panda Express and had some dinner. There we struck up a nice conversation with Washington State Trooper Sergeant Scott Lasher. Sgt Lasher was originally from San Diego when he moved to Coeur d’Alene Idaho. He was having dinner there with some other associates from his Department. It was a pleasure to speak with him.

Ken and I were in good spirits as we walk back to the motel. The electrical problems seem to be solved even though the reason was still up in the air. The bike was functioning and we were looking forward to the last leg of our trip.

Tomorrow we ride from Spokane to Corvallis Oregon where my sister lives. We are starting to realize the magnitude of our ride as we look at a map of the United States and realize that we’ve been to the whole thing. Not only to the whole thing but we did it all in three weeks.

I’ll save more pontification for my epilogue when we complete the ride.

 For now, one more day and the 48 state motorcycle tour is over.  See you tomorrow for our last state……Oregon!

48 state motorcycle tour – day 20 may 25, 2017

This morning we were headed to Mount Rushmore. First we had breakfast across the street and then we headed south west into the black hills of South Dakota. It was about half an hour of winding roads and was a very pleasant motorcycle ride. Around one of the corners we saw the four faces for the first time.

At first I thought we would only spend a minute or two there but the faces are pretty spectacular. We found ourselves in the parking lot and walked to the viewing area.

When we turned around after looking at the faces a beautiful view of the South Dakota Plains lay before us

Mount Rushmore was built between 1927 and 1941 and took about four hundred workers to complete the project.

Rapid City and the surrounding area is fairly touristy because of Mount Rushmore and Sturgis which is where the annual motorcycle rally happens in early August each year. Of course Sturgis was our next stop after Mount Rushmore. We spend a bit more time there than I was hoping but it was nice to see.

After Sturgis we bopped into Wyoming and grabbed a picture there. Although the land was quite flat it was still beautiful nonetheless. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of the bikes with a beautiful backdrop:

After Wyoming we went back into South Dakota and headed north on Highway 85 to Bowman North Dakota.

Fairly quickly after we got on Highway 85 we realized we had our hands full. The winds were coming from the north west gusting to probably 40 miles an hour. For those who have never been on a motorcycle in the wind let me tell you it’s not for the faint of heart. When it’s raining you can at least see the rain. You cannot see wind.

The other problem was that large 18 wheelers were coming from the other direction and each time they went past us they sent a tremendous wind blast our direction which was very jolting.

It’s very tiring to fight the wind. At one point we stopped and gassed up the bikes and rested are aching tired arms. My right arm in particular was tired from maintaining the throttle and holding on to the bike at the same time. Both of us didn’t really want to go back out there but we knew we needed to get going. However the worst was yet to come.

Writing in the wind is extremely unpleasant. Riding in the rain can be unpleasant as experienced in Johnson City Tennessee. Riding in the wind and rain …..well there’s really no words for that. It just totally sucks. That’s what we got to deal with.

Fortunately we did Brave through it and we got into North Dakota and at that point Ken had been in all 50 United States.

We got to Bowman and had dinner at a little diner there. We signed our names in the guest book and headed back out on the road towards Montana. I was a bit tired from the wind and rain.

After dinner I peeked out the window of the cafe and the sky had cleared up

We did the short ride to Montana and at that point I had been in all 50 United States.

We rode from the border to Miles City and then down to Forsyth Montana where we spent the night.

48 state motorcycle tour – day 19, May 24, 2017

The sky was grey and cloudy when I peeked out the window this morning. Also, the air was cool. However, the forecast on the route said no rain. I kept my rain gear off, but wore a heated jacket liner.

We had breakfast at Subway near the hotel, which was a fair distance from the freeway. Our goal was a lofty one…  make it to Rapid City SD from Waterloo, Iowa. I figured we would get to Chamberlain SD, about 100 miles shy of Rapid City. Near Rapid City is Mt Rushmore which we plan to see.

We made our way through the farm roads of Iowa. They were very……um…interesting. 

You see, the roads are being worked on and road closures are common and undocumented. We blasted through two closures….1 unsuccesfully, the other successfully. When unsuccessful, uou do lots of extra riding to backtrack, something we didnt need today.

We made it to S. Sioux City, Nebraska had lunch at a non descript bar and then turned north to Minnesota. 

In Minnesota, we rode into the south west corner, snapped a pic, then turned west to S. Dakota.

S. Dakota was close by so we stopped and got the pic.

Then we streaked across utilizing the 80 mph speed limit. Also, the time zone changed in the middle, so we got an extra hour of riding.

The scenery changed from farmland to flat unused land. The sunset was very pretty and some single dark clouds hung in the distance.

The sky became clear and made for a great ride into Rapid City. We got lots of miles today……..683 miles!!!

Tomorrow is a momemtous day for is. When we get to N Dakota, Ken will have been in all 50 states. When we get to Montana, a few minutes later, I will have been in all 50 states. After that we woll have 3 states to go on the trip to complete the lower 48. EXCITING!!!

My accessory of the day is not really an accessory. Its a feature of my bike….the driveshaft. Most bikes are chain driven or belt driven. Only a few are shaft driven similar to a car. The good news is….no chain maintenance. The bad news…..it can be VERY costly to repair. Kens rear bearing failed in Arkansas for example.

Shaft drive also takes more power from the engine, but it can be smoother riding. Both of our bikes are shaft driven. We dont need to lube a chain every 500 miles or clean it every 1500 miles. 

See you all tomorrow on an exciting day when we get our 50th!!

48 state motorcycle tour – day 18, May 23, 2017

I could hear the sound of rain as I awoke this morning. My doppler radar showed a mild front passing through…..not much to worry about.

This morning will be a waiting game until the Hall Effect Sensor arrives at the dealer and gets installed. 

Ken just went for a run in the rain while I kickback in the room.  We needed to be out by 11 so I packed up to get ready to leave.

Ken and I headed to Country Cup restaurant again….I was on my bike and Ken was on foot. Country Cup is inside a bowling alley. Out waitress was Denise, a lovely lady who had been there 32 years. Her and her husband are motorcyclists too so we swapped some stories.

We are still waiting….we are done with breakfast…..we are in a bowling alley….. so….you know whats next……right?

Its 1 pm….bike is fixed and runs. Heading to dealer to get on the road!!

The cause of our troubles…..

Hall Effect sensor…grrrrrr

On the road soon….2 20 pm now. Rest stop 106 in Wisconsin is next. 

Stopped in Rockford near Wisconsin. Driving rain slowed us down. Cell phones arent waterproof so its hard to navigate.

We will wait out the storm some….5:20 pm

We waited in a Burger King for about an hour until the storm passed. That was a good move because it made riding the rest of the night much easier. We rode on some beautiful country roads that went through the farmland and some Rolling Hills of Wisconsin and Iowa.

After we took our picture in Dubuque Iowa we went to F word..  I mean Epworth. Ken went to college here and we visited his old Seminary College called Divine Word.

We were greeted by two priests one of whom Ken knew when he was at the college.  They gave us a tour of the building and they were reminiscing about the old days. Then Ken and I walked around the campus and got on our bikes and headed for Waterloo Iowa where we had a late dinner at IHOP and then went to a Motel 6 for the night.

Tomorrow we will shoot for Rapid City South Dakota via Nebraska and Minnesota.

The accessory of the day is my BMW cup holder. The BMW cup holder clamps onto the handlebar and is able to hold cups or bottles for drinking. Typically I have worn a Camelbak but I find that it gets in the way when I’m trying to lean back. The cup holder allows me to drink from a cup rather than having to carry a Camelbak and keeps me hydrated. unfortunately I had to remove my sun shield off of my GPS in order to have the cup holder work so I have to make a choice. I can either use the cup holder and give up the sun shield or vice versa.

See ya’ll tomorrow…hoping for 3 more states  and a long day of riding.

48 state motorcycle tour – day 17, May 22, 2017.

The sky was clear and blue this morning.  It made it harder on us, knowing it would have been a great riding day. We packed our bags and I put mine on my bike while Ken stored his at the hotel office. 

At 8 30 am we pushed Ken’s bike to the dealer, about 9/10 of a mile…..mostly downhill….but not all downhill. We needed to get to dealer by 9 am, when they opened.  I pushed Ken to the top of the slope so he could coast and then I walked back to get my bike and ride to the dealer.

We were hoping to be seen immediately like in Bentonville, but this was Chicago, and being seen right away was not the case. We asked if we could have some priority but its 1 pm now and we aee lounging.

At 11 am we got deep dish pizza.

 Now we feel the food coma…

By the way, our hotel is on Juliet Ave. which is……….. the famous Route 66! At the end is downtown Chicago.

At 2 pm, still waiting. I saw Kens bike was gone so maybe they were looking at it FINALLY.. 😡

I grabbed my shorts and walked to LAFitness near the dealer. Need to burn off excess frustration.

I walked back to the dealer just in time to find that the diagnosis of the problem is the hall effect sensor. This is a sensor that senses when the engine is at top dead center or 180 degrees off of top dead center and it sends a message to the computer to provide fuel and Spark for the engine.

BMW will overnight the part to the dealer so it should arrive by tomorrow afternoon which means we will be spending another night here. Unfortunately, Ken’s wallet will also be quite a bit lighter as it is a fairly expensive part and it takes 3 hours to install it.

We walked around for a while. I considered buying a selfie stick for a few minutes and then change my mind but I did buy a selfie light so our pictures come out better when the light is not good.

We walked back to the dealer and I picked up my bike and rode back to the hotel while Ken walked back. We are back in the same room we were in the last couple days.

This evening was spent lounging and then had late dinner at the Pizzeria we went to for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun…yummmmy.

Ken and I talked about how far we could get in the next few days. We are hoping to get to my sister’s house by this weekend, weather dependent.

Keep your fingers cross that the sensor gets to the dealer early  tomorrow!

The accessory of the day is my all-important helmet. I wear a Shark Evoliine 3 modular helmet. It is special because the front raises up and pivots to the back, one of very few helmets to do that. Almost all modular helmets pivot up but not back, preventing the rider from wearing the helmet up while riding because the wind catches it. 

The helmet keeps me warm when the temperature drops but stays cool in the heat due to its vents. It also has built-in sunglasses.

Helmet down

Helmet up

Built in sunglasses.
Looking to get lots of miles in good weather tomorrow! See you then. 

48 state motorcycle tour – day 16, May 21, 2017

We got up in the morning and walked to Breakfast Cup, a local diner. It was hidden inside a bowling alley near the hotel. It was small and noisey, but good food and mostly locals eating there. The waitress had been there  32 years.

After breakfast, we worked on our Sena communicators. I discovered that ear buds plug in and work VERY well. I also figured out how to hear my GPS navigation as well as music.

We relaxed in the hotel room. 

Here I am testing my communicator.

Here we are lounging in the room. 

Later we walked to Walmart for supplies and had lunch at White Castle, a midwest slider joint. Sliders are mini hamburgers. White Castle has been around since 1931.

We walked back to the hotel from Walmart.  Each time we walk, we pass these car dealers. In one lot, there is a Lexus with the most besutiful color, Radiant Red. 

My bike would look great in that color, dont u think? 😉

I lubed my bike’s side case locks and other places. They open much easier now. I polished the windscreen and defogged the helmet faceshield. I bought a bottle for my cupholder. 😀

In the evening, I found an Argentine Tango club in downtown Chicago’s west loop. The building was beautiful inside. 

There was a class beforehand but it just had beginner students. The teacher introduced me to a nice lady named Katie. We had a nice chat and good dancing.

I didnt stay long since I had to get up early to get Ken’s bike to the dealer.

When I walked out of the club, it was foggy, windy and freeeeeeezing. My heated jacket liner kept me warm on the 30 minute drive back to the hotel.

Sears tower in downtown Chicago.

Since I worked on my Sena communicator, Ill talk about that in my accessory of the day. The Sena attaches to my helmet and allows Ken and I to talk while riding. We can also link to our phone and hear music, or navigation voice directions.  It also has an FM radio.

Tonorrow we push the bike to the dealer. Cant wait for that!!!

48 state motorcycle tour – day 15, May 20th, 2017

We left our Michigan hotel with fairly clear skies but cold temperatures. We were bundled up because we knew we were headed to go through a large other friend which was going to drop a lot of rain.

As we headed down to Toledo Ohio we could see the weather front coming in.

With all of our rain gear on we felt ready for the rain. Has really getting through some heavy showers, Ken’s bike quit. 

We were stuck under an underpass for several hours waiting for Triple-A tuto his bike. Finally they came and they picked up the bike in headed toward Chicago to drop it off so we can work on it tomorrow. In case we couldn’t find the problem there was a BMW motorcycle dealer nearby

Ken got to the hotel just before I did as he was riding with the tow truck driver. He had just unloaded the bike when I pulled up. Had just ridden through a severe rainstorm and I was pretty beat. I change clothes and we want to to a hub and had some solid Irish food. Ken also had a local beer from Chicago.

Tomorrow will tear the  bike apart and see what went wrong.

My accessory of the day is my Air Hawk air seat cushion. The seat cushion has an adjustable air valve so that it raises me up off the seat a little bit and reduces pressure points. This allows me to ride much longer than normal. Surprisingly my heated seat actually heats up the air cushion to my heated seat function still works.

48 state motorcycle tour – day 14 May 19, 2017

After sitting out the rainstorm from yesterday we awoke to beautiful Skies and nice cool temperatures. The hotel let us Park the motorcycles under cover so the bikes did not get wet, not that the bikes cannot get wet but it’s just better that way.

We pulled the bikes around the building and loaded them up for our next leg of the trip. Then we walked into town in search of a local place for breakfast. As we were walking we came across the Remington firearms Factory.

We found a nice little place for breakfast.

They even had a breakfast menu item that was named after me except it was misspelled

When we got back to the motel several people were looking at our bikes and ask questions about the bikes and our trip. I guess there aren’t too many motorcycles with California plates on them in New York.

We headed out towards Niagara Falls. It was a few hours away and we got there early afternoon. We decided to park on the New York side and walk over to check it out and then walk back from Canada back into New York and get her motorcycles and then drive through.

From Niagara Falls we rode through Ontario to the town of Hamilton which is just south of Ontario. We were in search of a Jewish delicatessen but the one we were looking for was closed. Unfortunately we just had to settle for Tim Hortons darn it. And of course I had to have several Donuts there with my meal.

When we return to our motorcycles we saw hey mother with her very young boys looking at the motorcycles. I offered to have them sit on my bike which they gladly did.

We arrive back in the United States through Detroit Michigan. It was raining a little bit on the way to our hotel in Dearborn.

We had a very late dinner at a bar and grill near the hotel.

The accessory of the day is my Dash table. I bike came equipped with an aftermarket shelf or table that goes on top of the dash that can be used for a variety of purposes. I mounted my RAM mount so that my cell phone sits on the Shelf. I use my cell phone for turn-by-turn navigation.

48 State motorcycle tour – day 13, May 18, 2017

I slept ok in the tent…..not long enough really. Temperature was cool. Birds were chirping. Ken had been up a while. He found a shower. It was a bit late so I didnt get my shower. We broke down camp and packed our bikes.  Today was going to be very hot.

We went to downtown Brattlesboro Vermont, another beautiful old New England town.

We walked in town and found a nice diner and had a nice breakfast with a very friendly waitress.

We walked to an outdoors/csmping type store and got a couple of things. I need 3 batteries for my headlamp.

We then got on our bikes and headed out of town towards upstate New York. We were on some country roads but then finally got on the highway. It was going to take quite a while to get to Niagara Falls because we had to ride through some small towns where the speed limits are slower.

At the gas station we put on our cool vests which you soak in water and then put on in order to keep your body cool in hot weather.

We passed Max BMW motorcycle dealer and just had to stop. Ken wanted to look for some O-rings that were causing a slight oil leak. I was looking at some Gore-Tex gloves because my rain gloves seem to get wetter then I thought they should have.

Ken also talk to one of the service guys also named Ken about trying to get his motorcycle on the center stand because he was having some difficulty. It turns out his bike has a lower suspension which makes it more difficult to lift on the center stand.

I bought the Gore tex gloves….kinda pricey but worth it….. and Ken installed the O-rings which fixed the oil leak.

We got to Herkimer, NY for lunch at a cool old diner. The waiter was from Burbank  so we chatted about So Cal. We were checking weather reports and we saw a nasty front coming in. 

Also, I was feeling run down. We decided to stay in town. Good move….check this picture out.. .

POURING rain with lightning and thunder. It would have been terrible to ride in that. We relaxed in the hotel room. I needed a funnel with a tube in order to add oil to my bike. I found a funnel with a tube on it and cut the funnel down and the tube down to a smaller size in order to make it fit into one of my bags.

Ken and I also did much-needed laundry by getting some laundry soap from the front desk of the hotel and hand washing our clothes in the bathroom sink. And drying them…….well…….

I felt better as we relaxed in the room. Tomorrow we look forward to reaching Canada and Niagara Falls and Beyond.
My motorcycle accessory of the day is my added mirrors. My motorcycle came with built in mirrors that unfortunately have a terrible view of the lane next to me but to really good view of my hands and whatever is behind me.

Fortunately a different model BMW has handlebar mirrors that mount perfectly on my bike. I found some used mirrors Honey Bay and bought them and they were absolutely wonderful and as how the bike should have been delivered from the factory. It looks a bit strange having for mirrors on the bike but they are very functional and I am keeping them. Also the factory mirrors seem to deflect a lot of the Wind from my hands which keep my hands warm or cool weather.

The extra mirrors are the black ones above the chrome mirrors. I like that they are a BMW product and they fit perfectly on the bike and they greatly assist visibility when Lane changing.

Have a good night…..canada tomorrow, eh?

48th state motorcycle tour – day 12, May 17, 2017

We woke up fairly early in New York City. The weather was just beautiful. It was nice and cool but temperatures were going to rise quickly. We  retrieved our bikes from the hundred and First Avenue garage. Read the walk from 94th to 101st so it was a good way to start the day with a 7 block walk. We got our bikes from the bottom of the garage and they almond on an elevator to the next floor. We rode back to the hotel and packed up the bikes.

We had breakfast across the street at the same place that we had pizza a couple of nights before. He then got on the bikes and said goodbye to New York City and headed north towards New England.

After a short time we came to Connecticut and then continued up to Rhode Island and then into Massachusetts.

 Now, what does 95 degrees, Sam Adams beer, and $75 have in common? The answer is below.

We pulled over in Boston  and found a lunch place in what looked like the original section of town. The place was called the point and we had a nice lunch which of course included a Sam Adams beer.

We walked through the original section of town on the Frontier Trail and found the North Church which is where Paul Revere hung the lanterns following the designation of one if by land two if by sea. We then found Paul Revere’s house where he lived from 1770 to 1800. 90% of the interior was original.

When we got back to our bikes we found a $75 surprise.

Giving motorcycles a parking ticket is just really chickenshit. We take it very little space and usually it is a courtesy to cars for us to park elsewhere so they have parking spots. Needless to say the city of Boston is going to get an unhappy letter from me when I pay the fine.

After Boston we headed north towards New Hampshire and then into Maine.

In Maine, we reached the corner of our trip. This was the farthest east we would travel because at this point we literally turned around and headed home. We took pictures at the Kittery Maine fire department and got on our bikes and headed back south and West towards home.

Copy and paste the link for a video.

We headed back through New Hampshire and Massachusetts and then back into New Hampshire and found a campsite near Brattleboro Vermont but on the other side of the river in New Hampshire.

Today we went through five new states which is the most we will do on the tour. We got to Hinsdale Campground at about 10:30 at night. We rode on a gravel and dirt road part of the way and eventually settled in on a campsite and Pitch our tents and hopped in and went to sleep.
And now for the accessory of the day. My motorcycle is equipped with built-in hard cases. They tuck in and under the bike to keep the center of gravity in a better position. They are theoretically waterproof and they locked to keep all my items secure. I also have bags that I keep inside the cases so that I can grab the bag and go to a motel or campsite. The bike also comes with a top box but because it weighs almost 40 pounds I decided to remove it. If I was traveling with a companion I would keep the top box on the bike because it also has a backrest and armrest. The top box also has rear speakers for the benefit of the rear passenger.

See you all tomorrow as we head towards Canada and Niagara Falls.

48 state motorcycle tour – day 11 May 16th 2017

We woke up to a beautiful day in New York…..hazy sky with nice cool temperatures. After a nice breakfast at a local Diner we walked to the subway station and get on the subway and headed down to 42nd Street Times Square.

After sipping hot chocolate i n a nice little park, we continued our walk around Manhattan. We saw a Radio City Music Hall, Empire State Bldg, and Time Square.

We then grab some lunch at a little New York deli called Speedy Deli. We checked out Macys and the wooden escalators.

 Then we hopped back on the subway and got off at the Battery Park.  this is where all the ferries go to Staten Island and Ellis Island. In the distance was the Statue of Liberty.

We walked back towards midtown and checked out the new World Trade Center and the 911 Memorial.

We took the subway back up to 96th Street where our hotel was. Then strolled in Central Park.

We came back to the hotel and napped for a bit and then walked out to a Japanese restaurant for a light dinner. Now back in the room for the night.

Tomorrow…..Boston and Maine…then……heading home.

Noq for the accessory of the day.  My bike comes with a built in GPS called the Motorrad Navigator III made by Garmin. It sits above the radio display screen. It hadmultiple functions including altimeter, compass, speedometer, clock, and location coordinates. 

I use this for general location and  my phone for turn-by-turn directions. This helps me if Im not clear where I am.

See you tomorrow!

48th state motorcycle tour – day 10 May 15, 2017 part 2

We rode out of the neighborhood and down the highway. I saw more familiar sights. We pulled into the local TV station and took some pictures. Surprisingly that had not changed a bit. Next to the TV station was one of my favorite neighborhoods. It was a neighborhood of large homes that I always enjoyed looking at. The houses were still big in the neighborhood were still beautiful.

We were heading to lunch in an Amish area called smokeville. The restaurant was Good and Plenty and I went there as a kid.

We got to the restaurant and sat down. It was family style which meant that people set together that didn’t know each other. Everything that was served was wonderful. The chicken the potatoes the vegetables homemade bread. A group of people were sat next to us. The gentleman next to me was quite friendly and was from Long Island. We had a conversation about New York since we were headed there. The other people were not particularly friendly.

And then they serve the desserts. And the dessert I was waiting for was shoo fly pie. This is a molasses-based pie with a lot of sugar in it and appropriately named. I told Ken that if he doesn’t do anything else  he must try the shoo fly pie. He tried it and loved it. Unfortunately I did not. However the apple pie was to die for but at this point we were both so stuffed that we were done.

We sat back and looked for hotels to stay at in New York. Can also had some business to take care of. I was in a food coma so I excused myself and went outside and stretched across a bench and fell asleep.

I awoke and stared up at the sky. I saw the clouds moving very rapidly and it reminded me of the times I used to lay in my front yard near the oak tree that was no longer there and look up at the sky and see the clouds as they change shape.

We found a hotel that was less outrageously priced than the others and headed to New York. We went down one of the most beautiful roads on the trip. It was a windy Country Road with Amish Farmers on either side and an occasional horse and buggy.

Delaware was not far away and we found the welcoming sign and snapped a picture.

After Wilmington Delaware we rode a short distance and cross the river into New Jersey. Since we’re on the New Jersey Turnpike there was not going to be many opportunities to get a picture there so we pulled over on the turnpike in front of the welcoming sign and snapped a picture there in the very bright sunlight.

As we headed north towards New York the sun went down and traffic got heavier. We got a little bit lost but found our way and crossed over the George Washington Bridge into New York City. The intense energy was very obvious immediately. This is a pretty exciting place to be.

We checked into the hotel but had difficulty finding motorcycle parking. Eventually we found some parking about 6 blocks away. They put the motorcycles onto an elevator and we went down one floor and park the bikes until Wednesday morning.

We then walk back to the hotel and stuffed off along the way for some pizza period we ate on the sidewalk at a table and enjoyed the Ambiance and bustling City reminding ourselves that it was after 11 o’clock at night. This is truly a city that never sleeps.

We have ever needed to sleep after a long and exciting day. See you tomorrow.