bgross
Recusant Infidel
Or "Stupid is as stupid does".
I became aware of the Moonshine Lunch Run a few years ago and tucked it away in my "must do" file.
This year the stars aligned: the piggy bank was available, the time was available - and the weather forecast looked like a big change from the usual "wimps need not apply". Yippee, I'm in.
Perfect opportunity for a SS2k on the way to Illinois. I booked a night at the Blue Swallow Motel (you simply MUST stay here!) in Tucumcari, NM, giving 1010 miles the first day. From there it would be another 1010 miles to Casey, IL., so I booked two nights in Effingham.
For the trip home I planned to split the distance into 900/700/450, so I booked a hotel in Amarillo, TX and planned to stay with family in Phoenix the last night.
In keeping with my wimpy tendencies, I decided that I should take the Hondapotamus instead of the FJR. Having done SS rides on Her Immenseness before, she was set up for comfort. Not as fun, but comfortable - an acceptable trade off for a 4000+ mile! could get T-storms in OKC coming home, I want my blankie ride.
On Wednesday I changed the oil, packed everything on the bike, filled the hydration system, printed the IBA forms, and plotted all the fuel stops for both legs of the SS2k.
I 'saved' the addresses in my lowly Garmin 2595lm and used the unit's resident 'app' to create a two-part trip.
Then the Garmin died.
No problem, I have paper maps packed - and I always have index cards for each leg as a backup. I'll just navigate like in the "olden days".
To bed early, up at 0130, coffee & oatmeal while making my peanut butter sandwiches for the road.
Filled the tank and "started the clock" at 0255.
Made great time. Those AZ & NM speed limits (75) really make the miles fly by. Even with my 15-minute fuel & restroom breaks, I was over an hour ahead of schedule at the halfway mark. Rolled off the freeway in Tucumcari just as the sun was slipping behind the hills.
And then it all started to unravel.
At the end of the off ramp I had to wait for a couple truckers before I could make my left turn. When it was my turn to go, the bike felt... Sluggish. Like I was driving in 3 inches of sand through the turn.
The right turn into the Love's fuel depot was only slightly better.
I fueled and headed out - again having to 'work' through the corners.
Was my rear tire low?
I got to the Blue Swallow Motel (did I mention that you MUST stay there?) I parked near the front door on the concrete.
Nancy greeted me and walked me back to show me my room. Every room has a garage, complete with dirt floor (the place was built in 1939 and was a new concept), and the room was really nice.
We went back to the office, I paid & told them that I'd be quiet when I rolled out at 0400 the next morning) and I went out to move my bike to the garage. It was almost dark as I began duck-walking the bike backwards... With great difficulty. I fired it up and drove it back to the garage and began to process the predicament.
Part of my thought about a low rear tire involved the fact that Her Immenseness is shod with a Michelin Alpin runflat (gasp!) car tire... wait for it... that I put a plug in about six months ago.
Had the plug failed?
If so, when?
For how many miles had I been riding at 80mph on a tire with low pressure?
Why had I not (yet) followed the advise of my fellow Darksiders and installed a TPMS?
Was there any point in rolling the bike out before bedtime and checking?
Clearly my plans for an 0400 departure were in the toilet and, upon further calculation - when & where to get a new tire to replace the one that is now ready to die a cruel death from its recent abuse - so was the possibility of getting to Moonshine before lunch, or dinner.
I thanked the gods that I was still alive, sat down, picked up my iPhone, and called to cancel my motel reservations in IL for Friday and Saturday and in Amarillo for Sunday. I also turned off my 0300 alarm clock.
Then I went to the office and talked to Linda's husband (who also rides) about where I might find a motorcycle shop and/or tire store. As luck would have it, both could be found right in the booming metropolis of Tucumcari and opened at 0800.
And the Blue Swallow Motel had one vacancy for Friday night, in case I needed to wait for a new tire to be delivered. (Again I remind you to stay at the Blue Swallow Motel)
By now my brain was as tired as the rest of me and I went to bed.
Sunrise hit my eyes and I got up and dressed. I went to the office and enjoyed a couple cups of coffee and learned that a good breakfast could be had at "Kix on 66" restaurant - just a couple blocks down the street.
I decided that I'd move the bike out to the concrete and check the tire pressure before breakfast.
I carry two tires gauges - one 'stick' and one 'dial' - and had used them both the afternoon before I left home. Down on the concrete in front of the Blue Swallow Motel (go there!) I pressed the 'stick' gauge in the tire stem and briefly wondered it it would register anything.
WTF!?!?!?!
32 psi, same as at home.
NFW.
Checked it again, same result.
Checked the front - 41psi, same as at home.
When life hand you lemons, make lemonade.
When you THINK life hands you lemons, look closely. You many just be tired from a long day, too many granola bars, and uneven surfaces.
I cancelled the Friday reservation at the Blue Swallow Motel (GO!), walked down the street for breakfast (gave the waitress a 66% tip), and then called my bride. She was pleased that I'd be home three days early and that my road trip would cost 1/3 of the original estimate.
Friday's shorter ride (615 miles) toward home included beautiful AZ 87 on the way to a night with my MIL in Phoenix. Saturday's 425 miles to home included headwind from Gila Bend to Yuma, and lots of "fun" with "high wind warnings" beginning about 30 miles west of El Centro and continuing for about 60 miles. Crosswinds, gusts, suddenly disappearing wind shadows and more gusts, and then the real fun of uphill right- and left-hand sweepers at 60mph with sudden gusts.
Wheeeee! Great chance to practice and hone handling skills.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
I became aware of the Moonshine Lunch Run a few years ago and tucked it away in my "must do" file.
This year the stars aligned: the piggy bank was available, the time was available - and the weather forecast looked like a big change from the usual "wimps need not apply". Yippee, I'm in.
Perfect opportunity for a SS2k on the way to Illinois. I booked a night at the Blue Swallow Motel (you simply MUST stay here!) in Tucumcari, NM, giving 1010 miles the first day. From there it would be another 1010 miles to Casey, IL., so I booked two nights in Effingham.
For the trip home I planned to split the distance into 900/700/450, so I booked a hotel in Amarillo, TX and planned to stay with family in Phoenix the last night.
In keeping with my wimpy tendencies, I decided that I should take the Hondapotamus instead of the FJR. Having done SS rides on Her Immenseness before, she was set up for comfort. Not as fun, but comfortable - an acceptable trade off for a 4000+ mile! could get T-storms in OKC coming home, I want my blankie ride.
On Wednesday I changed the oil, packed everything on the bike, filled the hydration system, printed the IBA forms, and plotted all the fuel stops for both legs of the SS2k.
I 'saved' the addresses in my lowly Garmin 2595lm and used the unit's resident 'app' to create a two-part trip.
Then the Garmin died.
No problem, I have paper maps packed - and I always have index cards for each leg as a backup. I'll just navigate like in the "olden days".
To bed early, up at 0130, coffee & oatmeal while making my peanut butter sandwiches for the road.
Filled the tank and "started the clock" at 0255.
Made great time. Those AZ & NM speed limits (75) really make the miles fly by. Even with my 15-minute fuel & restroom breaks, I was over an hour ahead of schedule at the halfway mark. Rolled off the freeway in Tucumcari just as the sun was slipping behind the hills.
And then it all started to unravel.
At the end of the off ramp I had to wait for a couple truckers before I could make my left turn. When it was my turn to go, the bike felt... Sluggish. Like I was driving in 3 inches of sand through the turn.
The right turn into the Love's fuel depot was only slightly better.
I fueled and headed out - again having to 'work' through the corners.
Was my rear tire low?
I got to the Blue Swallow Motel (did I mention that you MUST stay there?) I parked near the front door on the concrete.
Nancy greeted me and walked me back to show me my room. Every room has a garage, complete with dirt floor (the place was built in 1939 and was a new concept), and the room was really nice.
We went back to the office, I paid & told them that I'd be quiet when I rolled out at 0400 the next morning) and I went out to move my bike to the garage. It was almost dark as I began duck-walking the bike backwards... With great difficulty. I fired it up and drove it back to the garage and began to process the predicament.
Part of my thought about a low rear tire involved the fact that Her Immenseness is shod with a Michelin Alpin runflat (gasp!) car tire... wait for it... that I put a plug in about six months ago.
Had the plug failed?
If so, when?
For how many miles had I been riding at 80mph on a tire with low pressure?
Why had I not (yet) followed the advise of my fellow Darksiders and installed a TPMS?
Was there any point in rolling the bike out before bedtime and checking?
Clearly my plans for an 0400 departure were in the toilet and, upon further calculation - when & where to get a new tire to replace the one that is now ready to die a cruel death from its recent abuse - so was the possibility of getting to Moonshine before lunch, or dinner.
I thanked the gods that I was still alive, sat down, picked up my iPhone, and called to cancel my motel reservations in IL for Friday and Saturday and in Amarillo for Sunday. I also turned off my 0300 alarm clock.
Then I went to the office and talked to Linda's husband (who also rides) about where I might find a motorcycle shop and/or tire store. As luck would have it, both could be found right in the booming metropolis of Tucumcari and opened at 0800.
And the Blue Swallow Motel had one vacancy for Friday night, in case I needed to wait for a new tire to be delivered. (Again I remind you to stay at the Blue Swallow Motel)
By now my brain was as tired as the rest of me and I went to bed.
Sunrise hit my eyes and I got up and dressed. I went to the office and enjoyed a couple cups of coffee and learned that a good breakfast could be had at "Kix on 66" restaurant - just a couple blocks down the street.
I decided that I'd move the bike out to the concrete and check the tire pressure before breakfast.
I carry two tires gauges - one 'stick' and one 'dial' - and had used them both the afternoon before I left home. Down on the concrete in front of the Blue Swallow Motel (go there!) I pressed the 'stick' gauge in the tire stem and briefly wondered it it would register anything.
WTF!?!?!?!
32 psi, same as at home.
NFW.
Checked it again, same result.
Checked the front - 41psi, same as at home.
When life hand you lemons, make lemonade.
When you THINK life hands you lemons, look closely. You many just be tired from a long day, too many granola bars, and uneven surfaces.
I cancelled the Friday reservation at the Blue Swallow Motel (GO!), walked down the street for breakfast (gave the waitress a 66% tip), and then called my bride. She was pleased that I'd be home three days early and that my road trip would cost 1/3 of the original estimate.
Friday's shorter ride (615 miles) toward home included beautiful AZ 87 on the way to a night with my MIL in Phoenix. Saturday's 425 miles to home included headwind from Gila Bend to Yuma, and lots of "fun" with "high wind warnings" beginning about 30 miles west of El Centro and continuing for about 60 miles. Crosswinds, gusts, suddenly disappearing wind shadows and more gusts, and then the real fun of uphill right- and left-hand sweepers at 60mph with sudden gusts.
Wheeeee! Great chance to practice and hone handling skills.
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams
