Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Author: Gale

  • Preparing for Yosemite but no Motorcycle

    I need to prepare for departure and my motorcycle is still at the dealer awaiting approval from the extended warranty company. After that they will need to order the parts. Which all leaves me wondering at what point I will have my motorcycle back in the garage to do trip preparation.

    Once I have it back I will need to change the fork oil, change the brake fluid, and change the brake pads. I’ll be doing that work myself.

    I decided to not risk my shock going out on this trip so I contact Brad who rebuilt Jean-Francois’s shock right before the Canada trip and he’s ordering a new shock for me so he can install it before I leave.

    All this doesn’t include actually packing the motorcycle for a two week trip that includes a lot of camping so I will be leaving fully loaded with camping gear and food.

    I wanted to make stuff sacks for both my Gerbing jacket liner and pant liner today, but realized the pant liner is in the side case on the motorcycle. I did get a bag made for the jacket liner, but will have to complete the other bag when the motorcycle is back.

    Since I can’t work on physical preparations I’ve finalized my routes and am preparing route summaries for each day that I can put in my map case. I’m hoping to make it easy on myself to navigate on my own — I’m so spoiled by Jean-Francois do all the navigating so I need to get used to handling all that myself on a long trip.

    I’ll get my computer, camera, and other electronic equipment ready while I’m waiting for the motorcycle.

    I’ve also been drying food for camping. I did a fruit treat for myself — strawberries and bananas. I also tried making beef and turkey jerky from ground meat for the first time. For some reason I thought ground meat would be easier to chew, but from what I sampled it’s not that different from regular meat jerky. I’m not sure how well it will keep either, so I’ll report back on that after the trip.

    I’m definitely in the learning stages for drying food for motorcycle trips so I proposed a  newsletter question to Chef Glenn at BackpackingChef.com — I want to know if you can over dry food.

    The good thing about planning for this trip is that I can basically use the same packing list from the Canada trip. I used everything I packed and really didn’t need to buy anything other than a fleece jacket — I definitely needed that for nights and mornings outside the tent. I also wrapped it around my pillow to make it a little more substantial for sleeping so I consider the fleece jacket required camping gear now. It’s a great packing list that is an Excel worksheet with everything put in categories and also where I pack it on the motorcycle. I may publish it for others to use after a little clean up.

    I’m doing what I can to prepare and keeping busy with other projects while I wait for the motorcycle. I really hope I get it back later this week.

  • A good sign? Fort Worth BMW Motorcycle Dealer

    I haven’t had good luck with the local BMW dealers since they tend to treat me like I’m a stupid female — tell me I want the wrong motorcycle, ask me when I’m buying parts who is doing the work for me and scoff at me when I tell them I’m doing the work myself.

    My F650 has about 40,000 miles on it and I have a bad water pump and radiator fan right now.

    The water pump is a known failure on the F650 suspected to be caused by the low quality of BMW coolant and solved in the future by using Honda coolant. Evidently the BMW coolant gets gritty as it deteriorates and breaks down the rubber seals on the water pump impeller shaft that seal off the coolant and oil so they don’t get to meet each other.

    The radiator fan is a mystery. I looks likes something dropped down into it so the fan blades dragged across it and ruined the fan. Who knows.

    Both should be covered by my extended warranty I bought prior to leaving on the Canada trip.

    I took the motorcycle in today to the Fort Worth dealership and was really impressed with Stacy Smith the service manager. I really nice young man who didn’t make one negative remark to me as a female rider and treated me like I actually knew what I was talking about. What a nice change.

    I went to the parts counter and ordered a couple of small parts and was treated with courtesy by the good natured man behind the counter.

    I’ll post more as I find out more…

  • Texas Rally

    I had not been to a rally. I think I avoided them mostly out of fear that I would do something terminally stupid like drop the motorcycle in front of everyone. But I’ve been encouraged by my friend Mike Truel in Oklahoma City to go to them since they are such a great way to meet interesting riders.

    The Texas Rally is billed as a “no frills, no cost” rally. While there were no frills provided, the cost of camping at the event was $1. What a deal.

    Campsite at Robinson City Park Llano, TX

    The rally moved to a new location this year at Robinson City Park in Llano, TX. Easy to get to just a couple miles west of town on Hwy 152. Nice park with great camping sites — only draw back seemed to be disgusting bathroom facilities. Even the guys were grossed out by the men’s rooms.

    I left around 9:00 Saturday morning and took my time wandering down there. To many trips to Mexico, Big Bend, and San Antonio have left me bored with the standard routes so I followed obscure county roads and figured if I kept heading southwest I’d get there eventually.

    I was surprised that the trees were behind the trees in the Dallas area. The oaks in my yard are in full leaf already, but as I neared the Llano area the trees were just starting to leaf out. I didn’t really see a lot of wildflowers until I got past San Saba, but from that point on the road side and the surrounding fields were carpeted in brilliant color.

    I stopped in Llano and got a late lunch (4:00) at Stillwater’s and headed toward the park. Since it was still early I road past the park entrance and down 152 where the flowers were much heavier than they were along route 16.

    I was back at the park by 5:00 and ran into folks I know from BMWDFW. The rally wasn’t what I expected, but the guys warned me it’s not how rallies typically are. There was a man giving a presentation on his ride to Tierra del Fuego. The covered pavilion was huge so we sat in the back where we could chat quietly and not bother the people huddled up around the speaker. After

    Route 152 west out of Llano

    about 3o minutes a man walked around the room ordering people to stop talking. I was shocked. I wanted to ask him if we were in second grade.

    A group of us went out to the picnic table nearest our tents. It was 9:15 but people were in their tents and complained about us talking. I gave up an went to bed.

    There were people up at 4:30 and 5:00 the next morning talking loudly and making a lot of noise — was I supposed to yell at them to be quiet? I think not. Like I said — not what I expected from a rally. Not the early risers. I think that’s totally normal for camping. I mean the people telling others to be quiet.

    Sunday dawned with complete cloud cover and rain threatening so I wandered back northeast on county roads. The highlight was stopping for lunch in Meredian. I figured I’d be lucky if I could find a decent hamburger, but when I stopped at the Cactus Grill on 144 just after turning left from 22 I ended having pecan encrusted pork with cinnamon sweet potatoes. Who would have figured? I would strongly recommend other riders stop and check the place out. The food was wonderful, the service was great from a waitress who very sweet and a lot of fun.

    You can find info about them here: http://www.meridian-chamber.com/Information_Pages/Cactus%20Grill%20Page%202.pdf

    And I rode 600 miles and got back in the garage without having to tear my motorcycle apart one time. Big improvement over the three times I had to do it on the Big Bend trip.

  • National park list for Yosemite Trip

    I’d already mentioned my wish to stop at Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwelling and swinging by Grand Canyon on the way back.

    I have ridden by Capulin Volcano National Monument several times and have decided it’s time to go up to the top and see the view. After checking out New Mexico state parks I decided on Sugarite by Raton — much prettier than Clayton Lake. I talked to the rangers at the park today and they said they do get snow in mid-May sometimes. I’m hoping 2010 isn’t one of those times…

    Next stop will be in the southwest corner of Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park — I plan to camp there two nights so I have an entire day to see the cliff dwellings. From there it will be a little loop down into New Mexico and then up to Utah to Glen Canyon National Park and then head on to Zion National Park. The NPS web site mentioned heavy road construction and possible gravel roads through Zion, so it could be an interesting ride.

    From Zion I want to head northwest into Nevada and go to Great Basin National Park. I had planned to bypass this stop until I saw pictures of the park and changed my mind.

    From Great Basic I will head west to California to get to the rally in Yosemite. I think I will be more than ready to stay at a nice lodge and have a private bathroom and hot shower for a couple days. I’ll be in Yosemite Thursday evening through Sunday morning.

    On Sunday I’m going  to head south through Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. I looked for a place to stay that night in Kernville and everything was too expensive — even camping was $45 a night. So I’m going to go to Ridgecrest where I was able to find a reasonably priced room.

    From Ridgecrest I’m going to head north to go through Death Valley National Park and hope to make it to Williams that is near Grand Canyon. In Death Valley I plan to take Badwater Road to hit what is supposed to be the lowest spot in the United States at 232 feet below see level. I’m looking forward to the route to Williams since I will detour to take a portion of historic Route 66 outside Kingman.

    Grand Canyon National Park will be the last park for the trip. From there I will head to Albuquerque to stay at a hostel and maybe stop for the night in Lubbock the next day if I’m really tired. If not it will mean a 650 mile day to get home and I’m not sure I’ll be up for that.

    I have located reasonably priced motels as backup to my camping stops if it’s raining or I’m too tired to do the camping thing. Even with the Tenaya being a bit pricey for three nights (split with a roommate) I think I’ll be able to keep my lodging expenses down pretty well. I don’t eat all the much and with getting over 50 MPG, neither does the motorcycle.

    So the plan is 12 days, 10 national parks, and maybe only spending $1300. Hope I can pull that off.

    1. Capulin Volcano National Monument
    2. Mesa Verde National Park
    3. Glen Canyon National Park
    4. Zion National Park
    5. Great Basin National Park
    6. Yosemite National Park
    7. Kings Canyon National Park
    8. Sequoia National Park
    9. Death Valley National Park
    10. Grand Canyon National Park

  • Difficult maintenance decision

    After the motorcycle overheating in Big Bend I took off the plastic when I returned and found a slightly mangled radiator fan. I’m not sure what happened — it almost looks like something got in the fan and damaged the blades, but I can’t imagine what could have dropped down in there. I don’t have much doubt that the overheating issue is a result of the fan being damaged.

    The good news is my extended warranty covers the fan — which is a $300 plastic piece from BMW — so I can take it in and have it replaced.

    The bad news is the forecast is perfect for this weekend, the blue bonnets are at peak bloom in the hill country, and there’s the Texas Rally in Llano, Texas that I’d like to check out.

    So do I take the motorcycle in so they can start working on it or do I head down for bluebonnets?

    I ran the idea of going by Jean-Francois and since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 70’s he suggested disconnecting the fan so if it has seized it can’t cause any collateral electrical damage and go ahead and make the trip.  Since this is a Saturday to Sunday trip, hopefully there won’t be any stop and go traffic.

    After a lot of vacillating I decide to go. I want to see blue bonnets, I want to go to my first rally, and I want to camp.