Tag: vermont

August 5 to August 8, 2010 in West Dover, Vermont

My pictures from Vermont: http://motorcycle-journeys.com/current/photos/vermont/index.html

I finally got a cool day of riding (temperature). I had made it to Conneaut, OH Wednesday night around 8:00 PM. It was pouring rain when I first looked outside at 6:00 AM but had stopped before 7:00 so I could load the motorcycle and get on the road. Many, many miles of wet roads through Pennsylvania and New York yet somehow I was never rained on the entire day.

The scenery started getting pretty once I was east of Utica, NY and was much better after I exited I-90, took I-87 north briefly, and got on Route 7 to get out of New York. I’m not a big fan of  interstate highways due to the lack of scenery but it was necessary to make up the time I lost in Louisville.

I made it to West Dover around 5:30 on Thursday. Arrival accomplished in four days but only 2 and 1/2 days of riding after spending a day and a half in Louisville, KY getting the motorcycle repaired. Quite a few riders had gotten there the day before so I was one of the last to arrive.

The Gray Ghost Inn is owned by Magnus and Carina Thorsson (http://www.grayghostinn.com) and is extremely motorcycle friendly, but I would recommend it for riders and non-riders alike. The setting is gorgeous with nothing but green in the back, large decks along the rear of the Inn with a hot tub, grass that slopes down to a swimming pool and fire pit. It’s a B&B so you get a great full breakfast every morning.

Our group spent evenings in lawn chairs circled around the fire pit swapping stories after riding all day and Magnus prepared a wonderful dinner for the group on Saturday night.

I rode alone on Friday so I could stop and take pictures whenever I wanted. Magnus has a binder at the front desk with motorcycle routes and when I picked the “Covered Bridge Route” he highlighted a Vermont map and talked me through the entire route so I knew exactly where I was going.

What a great place to ride — no traffic to deal with, gorgeous green mountains, homes and towns from the late 1700’s, and covered bridges. My route also included a stop at “100 Mile View” where you could see mountains all the way to Massachusetts.

On Saturday Carina took me on a tour of the Green Mountain area which included a stop at Grafton Village Cheese Company where I bought incredible aged cheese (Grafton is a beautiful New England town), more covered bridges, a stop in Peru, Vermont where the movie Baby Boom was filmed, and then a great lunch in Manchester (another stunning New England town) at Candeleros Southwestern Grill before returning to the inn. Carina is such a great person and I feel very fortunate that I was able to spend a day riding with her.

The temperatures were exquisite — mid 70’s during the day and it even dropped down to 39 degrees Saturday morning. I wore my jacket liner that day and it was almost perfect riding weather. Such a relief after the heat on the ride north.

The Chain Gang members from the Northeast were all very nice people and I’m glad I had to the opportunity to meet them and have time to talk and get to know them. We had three riders from Ontario, and then riders from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, DC, Vermont, and me from Texas.

Sunday morning I left to ride north on Route 100 to head to the Canadian border under sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures.

I was up at 5:30 but needed to wait for a little daylight to check the motorcycle. First thing I did was turn it on to check the head light. Nothing. I didn’t even pull the ABS sensor. I replaced the blown fuse and sent an email to Rick in Louisville that I was heading that way and started packing the bike.

I could deal with no speedometer, an inacurate odometer (huge pain in the butt when you don’t have a fuel guage), and no ABS. I felt no head light was an official show stopper.

Rick and I talked and he came to help me check out the motorcycle. The fuse was blown again. Since the HID ballast could be causing electrical problems he thought I should switch back to the OEM bulb. I still had no ABS and the speedo was off, so I decided to take it to the local BMW dealer that was, fortunately, only 5 minutes away. Rick let me follow him and came in to make sure the service guys took care of me. Interesting dealership. The local Harley Davidson dealer bought out the BMW dealer and now carries both motorcycles under the same roof. The mechanics moved too. Am I the only one that thinks HD and BMW are a strange mix?

As soon as I arrived they pulled the motorcycle in, put it on the computer and there was only an ABS fault. I can’t get the motorcycle on the center stand. Once on the stand one quick spin of the wheel showed the problem. About 25% of the ABS ring on the rear wheel was missing. Just broken off and gone. I guess that explains why the speedo wasn’t right and why the ABS computer couldn’t figure out what to do. 

 The tech had never seen a broken ABS ring and didn’t know they break. Good news was the ring would be covered by my extended warranty. Bad news was they weren’t carried in stock (since they never break) so it would have to be overnighted from BMW.

Unfortunately 2 hours of labor later (on my tab) all that was found was a loose positive battery post connection. This could definitely cause the fuse to blow, but no guarantee.

Everyone at the dealership was really great to me all day. I got a call from the extended warranty company and they wanted a picture emailed of the broken ring so they could approve the claim and pay the dealer tomorrow and I could be on my way. Wow. If you do not have an extended warranty and want one I recommend Western. I bought the 4 year extended warranty before I left on the Canada trip last year and it has more than paid for itself and the people at the company are absolutely wonderful. I am so glad I have it.

Even the customers were really nice at the dealership — mostly Harley riders. One who is extremely familiar with roads headed to New England mapped out an entire route complete with recommended fuel stops (nice facilities). He knew I would be running behind and wanted to get me there as quickly as possible.

The tech called later in the day to ask if my tires were new — I had new ones put on a short time before the trip. He said possibly the ring was damaged when the new tire was mounted. Considering I had to take the front tire in to have it remounted the day before I left because it was leaking air, if the rear ABS ring was broken too that was the most expensive tire change I hope I ever have.

The new ring, hopefully, will arrive tomorrow morning. They will put it on as soon as it gets there and hope to have me on the road by noon. The only downside being the temp is supposed to be 102 here tomorrow.

Once again I say you don’t find out how really great people can be until something goes wrong.

I forgot to mention — Rick called to check on me this afternoon and if the part doesn’t arrive he wants to bring the rear wheel off his F50 down and swap with mine so I can get on the road. Like I said — you get to find out how great people can be. I won’t let him do that, but how cool that he even thought of it.

Due to the forecast for 106 degrees in Dallas I was up at 2:30 yesterday morning hoping to be on the road by 3:30. I backed the motorcycle out of the garage, started it, and wondered why it was so dark. The brain was moving a little slow, but I realized — no head light.

Back into the garage and I pulled the HID bulb only to find out it was a blown fuse. Back in goes the HID, fuse replaced, and I hit the road at 4:20. Of course I’m wondering while I ride what electrical problem I could have that would be blowing fuses.

The early morning ride went great since I was able to scoot through Dallas in next to no traffic. I even got seriously cold right around dawn when the temperature dropped to the mid 70’s. Due to the heat I was trying shorts and wicking top under mesh jacket and mesh pants. I told myself to enjoy the cold since it wasn’t going to last long.

I made a fuel stop a little after dawn and I could feel the temperature start to rise when I was back on the highway. Around 8:00 I watched my speedometer drop down to 0, come back up, drop again and then settle about 10 miles an hour below my actual speed. About that time the the ABS light came on and stayed on.

Shorting head light, bad speedo, no ABS — just dandy.

You can imagine was I was thinking about while I rode. I figured I’d keep going and research the problems on the internet when I stopped for the day. I was through Little Rock around 9:30 and turned north just west of Memphis before noon.

About that time the speedo spazzed out again and settled at around 20 MPH below actual speed. I kept going.

I reached my intended destination of Union City, TN for day 1 around 1:00 in the afternoon — not tired and not prepared to be bored for the rest of the afternoon. I was told at the Tennessee welcome center that Elizabethtown, KY was about 4 hours out but I didn’t want to go that far in the heat.

 I took Purchase Parkway north into Kentucky and then the Western Kentucky Parkway east — little traffic on either so I was making great time. I thought 4:00 would be a good time to call it a day since it was really getting hot, but there just wasn’t any lodging along the parkway so I ended up at Elizabethtown after all.

815 miles in 100 degree heat. I had grabbed my cooling vest at the last minute and think it’s the only reason I could keep riding. At every fuel stop I would take in a zip lock bag, put a couple inches of ice in it, throw the vest in and fill it with water and close it up. The vest would soak while I got fuel and I would put it on dripping wet (and ice cold). Since my odometer was off due to my speedo malfunctioning I was stopping every 160 miles or so.

I had the Weather Channel on while I was researching on the internet last night and heard that Little Rock and Memphis had record breaking heat indicies of 112 and 116. I certainly pick the days to travel.

I emailed one of the organizers of the F650 get together in Vermont. He contacted an F650 rider  in Louisville about 40 miles north of where I was staying. That rider, Rick, emailed his phone number and told me to call him in the morning.

My plan was to get up in the morning to check the ABS/speed sensor on the rear wheel and see if I could figure it out myself. 2:30 AM to 10:00 PM. I was pooped and called it a day.