Update sudo ride report:
Goal reach 4 corners for SCMA 4 corners ride in 21 days. Reach 48 states in 10 days and Alaska within the 10 days as well.
The trip started out rough with riding partners showing up almost 4 hours later than expected. It ended up being a good thing as I noticed what appeared to be at first fuel runoff from overfilling the bike, so I thought. When I went downstairs from the hotel to meet my riding partners I noticed what had been a small puddle was now a significant amount of fuel on the ground. I traced it to the quick disconnect for the aux tank. Off I went to auto parts store and bought some new 5/16" fuel line and removed the quick disconnect (there went the plan to be able to help someone refuel other than my bike).
We left at 1:45 am on 5/21 according to the first fuel receipt, next stop Savannah, Georgia for state number two. We had a planned to collect a few Tour of Honor sites along the way and collected the one in Savannah. We pushed onto South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia with almost no issues. The FJR developed some weird electrical issues on day one where the flashers would stay on but not flash that later turned to the ABS light flashing as well. Someone recommended spraying contact cleaner down the key hole and sometime just before Baltimore the lights started working properly just before darkness fell. Mayland, Delaware, and New Jersey went off with little fanfare, as we approached New York City to route onto Connecticut we have too many navigators and a lack of communication. My two GPS both routed (without warning) off the 95 (apparently 95 was completely at a stop. One of my riding partners had his own agenda and had planned to meet up with a fellow club member somewhere on the 95 so they keep going without exiting. I was already off the exit and be routed on a tour of at least 4 of the boroughs of New York to another route to CT. I stopped in a decent neighborhood to change gear, review maps, and re-route to meet up with riding partners at our planned CT spot. This is when my great day turned for the worse. Why stopped, I dropped my helmet breaking of the mount for the Contour camera and scratching the face shield (the face shield was an issue for the rest of the ride).
I finally gave into the GPS and let them route me on a very nice highway I believe the 15 to CT. My riding partners did meet up with their club brother and evidently took the same route I did.
In CT we all decided we reached our day one goal and was time to get some sleep. The problem was no hotels in the area and locals said be careful around the area we were at about sleeping outside, it was also raining. I talked to the front desk at the Hilton Garden Inn and asked if we could sleep in her lobby for a few hours, she agreed and gave us bottled water and asked about our ride. The next thing we knew she had called her manager and let us have a room that they could not rent out due to broken TV and AC. We opened the window and sleep for 3 hours. Awesome.
Day 2: Goal to push onto Madawaska and back into NH and VT. Man is Maine huge!. We were making good time until my gpss both of them directed us towards Madawaska via Canada instead of Madawaska vis the US. We stopped short of Canada but only way back was through US border/customs which was very curious of our actions and we got to spend the next 2 hours explaining ourselves while our backgrounds were run and the bikes were searched. We had wanted to make it to Madawaska before dark to visit the 4 corners area and take in this area. We did not make it before dark and the Moose were large and plenty. One of the three riders wanted to call it a night which killed our ride plan. We agreed and took too long to find a hotel as the local hotels do not necessarily have staff at them after dark. We got lucky and drove up to one and knocked and was able to get a room. Grabbed a shower and about 4 hours sleep and away we went. We agreed to go point to point and all switched to using Waze as the common navigational GPS as everyone had this available to them. We also gave up collecting TOH sites due to fallign behind our schedule.
Day 3: Fuel pump dies. I had just replaced a functioning fuel pump on my aux tank and it quit working sometime in Maine. I pulled off with the other two at when they needed fuel and told them to go on and I would catch up. They waiting while I re-plumbed my fuel cell to gravity feed versus fuel pump. Too many gremlins for me at this point. Away we went and I knew I could match their fuel range with or without the aux tank.
Gravity feed worked ok just had to figure out timing.
Around Strugis Michigan I picked up a metal shard in my rear tire, one of the riders had his bike's oil changed and looked at in Sturgis, It was hot and I could not rest. I was going to grab us some food when my TPMS system told me I had a low pressure. I found the shard and removed it. The local Harley shop wouldn't touch the tire for two reasons: I had a Car Tire and it was a Yamaha..... I checked to see if they had a tire that would fit and they did not. I plugged the tire and they did let me use some are and was able to get it to hold. We left there to meet up with the Indian in our group who had gone on to have his bike serviced about 30 miles into our route.
The tire was holding and all bikes were good to go..... We grabbed a bite at as local chain and while in the bathroom my glasses walked away after too much time and energy spent looking for my glasses we pushed on. Somewhere in the middle of the night It was on day 3/4 that my energy plummeted near the end of the night. I pulled off as I was having trouble seeing out my scratched visor and I needed to rest my eyes. We stopped at a Denny's and I got a quick meal and about 30 minutes of a nap. My ride partners were not happy about the stop and didn't like the pace I ride (8 mph over speed limit). I agreed to lower my speed but I could not stay behind the pack and listen to v-twins groan for hours on end and they did not use cruise as they couldn't stay with me when I locked in my cruise and did not vary. I let the others know I would proceed on our route but I was not going to ride with them as I needed more rest than they did and was willing to ride faster to gain the time to sleep. We parted ways for awhile. I road through Wisconsin, ND, SD, Iowa, NE, Kansas, and MO before getting a room and a good nights sleep.
I was able to track the other riders with their spotwalla pages and they were about two hours ahead of me in the morning. The day before my weird electrical issues resurfaced with the turn signals going to hazard flashers versus turn signals. This told me there was a short somewhere. Before grabbing sleep I looked and realized my Admore light wasn't working. I was able to find where the CT had rubbed against the wires I routed via the fender and shorted out. I I disconnected the Admore lights and retaped the other aux lights and everything electrical worked the remainder of the trip. YES!
I rode onto St Louis to Kentucky, TN, AL, MS, Lousiana, and Arkansas and by the end of the night was well ahead of my riding partners. I grabbed some sleep outside of Conway and was off to the West in the morning.
Oklahoma was in the mid to upper 90s and it hit me hard, I was getting sleepy when I normally do not. I keep stopping and icing down to continue. Onward I pushed through Texas and New Mexico. I stopped and tried to sleep in NM before finally getting a hotel somewhere along route66 at what could pass as a Bates Hotel. It sufficed, showered and sleep. I got a call from my ride partners who were way ahead me by this time and were already in California they advised I take another route to save time as they felt the route they took was longer than needed. I did take their suggestion and rode some fantastic roads into Nevada and California. The only problem is I had to back track 30 miles to get a gas station or an electronic receipt. It was somewhere between here and Colorado we lost communication via spot. I continued our planned path and they stopped in Western Colorado for the night. I rode through the night and into Cheyenne, WY. I honestly cannot remember about the last hour of Colorado (not good)! I stopped in Cheyenne because one I was tired and two it was cold and raining. I sleep a few hours and away I went. My ride partners came up with a route that had them backtrack back into Utah up to Idaho and dart into Wyoming back into Idaho and then into Montana. I was already on the other side of the world and keep moving.
We meet up in Butte, MT and agreed to keep pace with one another for the remainder of the ride. Albeit we had plenty of time to make the 48/10 we were running short on time to make Hyder in 10 days. The Indian started coughing and having fuel problems. I agreed to keep moving and if I got to Oregon before them stop and rest while I waited for them to catch up. Well... one caught up almost 2 hours later and was too tired to continue and the Indian stayed in Spokane to see the doctor for its cough.
We made the collective agreement that Hyder in 10 days was not going to happen as a group and I frankly knew I did not have enough sleep to push it to get there in time from Umatilla, OR. We got a hotel near by and sleep for more than a few hours for the first time during the trip. I was on a very tight timeline with work pending on Monday, so I left to continue to Blaine, WA and start a Border to Border ride. I took my time and reached Blain in miserable weather. I crossed into Surrey and got my receipt and headed back. It was at Castle Rock, WA that I decided sleep was more important than the Border to Border Insanity and I could still do the Border to Border Challenge. I also stopped in Northern Cal and grabbed a little sleep and a shower at a friends house.
The next day I became very ill around Bakersfield, CA and stopped to rest to only find out that no restaurants were open due to a planned water outage. I knew getting a hotel would be useless as well. I bought a bag of ice and a gallon of water and cooled myself down but was stopping frequently to use the bathroom as my stomach was not agreeing with something along the way. I continued on to San Ysidro to collect my 4th corner. i did not feel like crossing to border and had long missed the time window for the ride. I went by my friends house to pick up some items I had shipped ahead and moved to the East to start my way home.
I had a set of tires waiting on me east of San Diego, I almost canceled as the front still had enough tread to make it home and the CT with plug had lasted 9,000 with the plug. Good thing I stopped. I had noticed the rear brake was not feeling right. There were 2 problems. I had the brake fluid changed at the dealer before the ride and now was empty.... and 2nd there was a missing bolt to the plate that holds the brake pedal and footpeg causing the pedal to move in ways it was not suppose to. Added fluid and found a bolt that held it together all the way home.
In West Texas I hit heavy down pours and pushed water at the foot pegs, I was very glad I had new rubber for this.
It took longer to get home than I wanted but I did stop and see a good friend on the way home.
The odometer increased just over 13,700 miles from May 21st. I had ridden 860 miles the weekend before to collect Key West prior to the start of the 48/10 and rode up to my daughter's graduation and to the start point of Jacksonville, FL for a total mileage just above 15,000 for this trip.
Missed the 49th state in one ride. I have been to Alaska just 2 years ago so not a total loss. I was able to ride to all 4 corners according to SCMA for the lower 48 in 21 days or less and was able to ride to 48 states under 10 days (9days 1hr).
This write may seem like I was a little frustrated and I can say yes and no. I have never been a fan of group rides and this reconfirmed it for me. I did have an awesome experience and made lifetime friends and memories.
Let's see next year: Key West to Prudhoe Bay....
