After our little adventure in the bog we desperately needed a drink. The big box of Emergen-C
packets we bought has turned out to be a wise investment, all you need is some cold water and instant tangerine fizzy drink. Its easy to find a water fountain somewhere or just run the faucet in the bathroom a while for some cold water, the packets are small enough to easily stash nearly anywhere without taking up valuable storage space and they just plain taste good. I used to use this stuff quite a bit when I was cycling and doing track and cross country in high school, when you’re exhausted from a workout it really works to help you recover and rehydrate. This one box we bought will probably last the whole trip and only cost $10, way cheaper than 2-4 gatoraids a day X 14 days. I love that they have many flavors available now and not just the generic lemony citrus kind they used to.
Ok, so we didnt see man eating plants, but I was excited to unexpectedly get to see a carnivorous plant bog at the East Texas Arboretum. Cool! how many people get to see those in the wild.
Traffic was not so bad in the city early on a weekend, but I did end up getting turned around (I thought) and took a wrong turn. From my directions I was supposed to take I35 to I30, seems simple enough. I saw the sign for I30 and merged, then quickly 200 feet away theres another turn for I30, what the? So I took the second turn also and suddenly we’re going north east. Well this cant be right, now we’re going the wrong way, we need to be going south… I thought I’d somehow made a big circle and ended up on the wrong direction of I30.
So just a few miles down the road I’m already lost and had to pull over to look at the map. I was going the right way after all, who designed this mess? At least it allowed us to get a few Dallas skyscraper pictures before we hauled tail out of town.
Not many pics today, it was just too dang hot and we had too far to go. It was rather uneventful and boring anyway. By 10:00 it was already in the high 90’s and only getting hotter. Every time we stopped I downed an entire large gatoraide and my eyes were just killing me. The best I can describe riding across west Texas is try putting on a jacket and ski pants with a hair dryer up each limb and one pointed at your face and turn on high. I’m thankful I had the foresight to pack a bottle of visine.
Today was another short day so we took the scenic route and played tourist. From 8200 ft and 74 degrees in Cloudcroft to 3200 ft and 107 degrees in Seminole, quite a change in scenery.
We took highway 244 through the Rez to Cloudcroft. This road is amazing, I’m jealous that my dad has some of the best roads I’ve ever ridden just 15 mins from the house. Lots of sweepers down valleys with lots of tall spruce and fir with wispy spanish moss hanging from the branches, some good twisties and climbs, this road has it all. We will definitely have to come back this way during the Golden Aspen Rally in the fall.
In one of the meadows we cruised through was a golden eagle sitting on a rock in the tall grass not 5 feet from the roadway. It didn’t fly away or anything, it just watched us rumble past, an eerie feeling, like a guardian spirit checking us out as we enter holy ground. Yesterday was the buffalo, today an eagle. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
We stopped by The Lodge in Cloudcroft to take a few pictures. It looks like they could use a paint job again. From here the landscape changes quickly, about every 5 miles the climate changes. First its alpine spruce and fir wilderness and looks very similar to the rain forrests of Oregon I went through once. Then you drop back into ponderosa pines, then pinions, then junipers and finally cactus and dessert all in about 30 mins of riding.
And we’re off! Over a year of dreaming about living on the road for several weeks and exploring this great country of ours by motorcycle and the time has finally come. We’ve learned a lot from the quick 2K mile spring run to Dino’s about packing and pacing. This time we’ll be fully equipped to camp and fish along the way and do this on the cheap. We’ll see how long that idea lasts.
One of my dreams is to go through the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, so why are we riding through the south in July, where it’s bound to be 100+ degrees and way high humidity the whole way? Well its Cece’s great grandmother’s 100th birthday and those dont come arround too often. Glacier and Yellowstone will still be there next year if global warming doesn’t get too out of control by then.
We plan to hit 8 states in 12 days and judging by Google Maps about 3600 miles not accounting for the side trips and running arround we’ll do. I think we’re prepared for everything. I have enough tools to completely strip down the bike if need be, med kit, camping and cook gear, and maybe the kitchen sink somewhere packed on the bike. So much for those weight limits, I think we’re just a tad over heh, and amazingly with the new intakes and pipes the new 40 horses feel as peppy as ever loaded down. I can already see myself looking back on this years later, “I remember when we used to tour the country 2 up and fully loaded down on a little 650.”
I had heard about these Dynabeads on the CC&D and ADV forums and supposedly they were very good with no real complaints against them. I understand the physics behind them. If your tire is out of balance and say the weight moves it up then the beads will stay in place causing them to move down and counteract it, Newtons laws of motion. The videos are convincing also. I decided to try them with my new set of tires and got some more for my dad’s Father’s Day present.
Continued tuning problems, a bit of knocking at higher temps and running hot according to my new crankcase gauge have been worrying me, so I had the guy from SF Motorsports take a look at it this morning. I had been riding it hard for 30 mins to get it nice and hot before I got there, then he rode it down the Interstate and came back, then ran the temps with an infrared gun. The front jug was 250f the rear 260f, apparently thats great and well within specs. Also the crankcase temp he was showing was much cooler than what my thermometer was showing, he says the gauge could be off or the oil is just that much hotter than the metal, but nothing to worry about. The gauge was reading 95C at the time.
I’m pretty sure the gauge is spot on, holding it in my hand for a while when it came in it was reading whatever 96F is.
On the knocking noise he says it does have a tiny bit of a knock but with as many miles is on my bike most of the ones they work on are much worse than mine. He says it feels nice and tight and surprisingly good still. I told him it started after my long ride against that massive headwind where I burned off all that oil and he says the 650’s will do that if you keep them at full throttle for a long time, it gets too hot and starts to wear down the bearings on the rods. He says just expect the knocks to get noisier over time, but nothing to worry about. He says they see these bikes last to 50K with not even taking care of them or doing hardly any maintenance, and it looks like I’m taking good care of mine so it should last a lot longer than that.
That other noise that I was thinking sounded like an exhaust leak maybe, was actually the intakes, it just sounds crazy loud with the windshield on there.
So all of this has been a huge load off my mind, I’ve been doing all this stuff chasing my tail for nothing I guess. I didnt have any cash on me and he didnt charge me, I think I’ll go back tomorrow and give him a $20 for being a huge help.
Latest mod: Wire headlight stone guards off a 1959 Austin Mini.
I got this idea after my first trial run to try out the new pipes and check my overheating problem. Bike was doing well so my short trip down to Madrid turned into a longer trip down to the Greenside Cafe (highly recommended if you’re ever in the Cedar Crest area) where I parked next to an old Packard and the famous Bentley thats there regularly.
Classic Bentley in Cedar Crest
With the 2 into 1 pipes with flexible covers that remind me of the supercharged Duesenbergs, tri-bar headlight, the old school Goodson air cleaner and the ’39 Lincoln Zephyr tail lights, my bike is starting to develop its own style from that era. I love the way the headlights look on the Bentley, I thought wire guards just might work.
This is just a preliminary packing list so I can start thinking about all we need to take so we dont get halfway to Texas and realize we forgot something. I’ll add more and update as I think of stuff.
And we’re off! Over a year of dreaming about living on the road for several weeks and exploring this great country of ours by motorcycle and the time has finally come. We’ve learned a lot from the quick 2K mile spring run to Dino’s about packing and pacing. This time we’ll be fully equipped to camp and fish along the way and do this on the cheap. We’ll see how long that idea lasts.
