Thanks Char.If we leave we will go up to Willville with the bikes & tools/stuff.I have been here thru most storms since '83 & this one gives me a bad feeling.Got the boat secured today when we came in from fishing.Will secure the house tomorrow & make a decision tomorrow evening about leaving.
Donnie - still praying this storm will decide to take a hard right turn! We've been lucky for the past 10-12 years in regards to storms. Keep your head down and stay safe. Post up when you can!
Ulywife.We have the van packed.Heading out for some SW Va riding until this thing goes by.Hopeful to have something to come back to.The Island has taken some bad licks in the past,so maybe we'll get lucky. Thanks for the Thoughts Donnie
Donnie, Keep us in the loop on your plans, we'd be up for some riding this weekend. Haven't been to OBX yet and could use some hints on where to go/what to do... I've got a soft spot for dive bars and blue crabs.
Becky and the kids are in WV for the storm, as for me I am in Oklahoma currently. The one time they send me to a school, honestly the timing could not have been worse.
We got our power back this aft in Rhode Island about noon.29 hours without BBZZZZZZTTTTT and we felt the end of civilization was at hand,whew!
I write youse C-3ers tho to thank you for the most excellent C3 patch.I got it somewhere along the line i forget where.
The fine people at Vanson leathers were TOO confused about it's orientation.They thought it looked like a BUM-BUM! I said NOoooo!! It's C-Three! For Carolina Corner Carvers! It fit very nicely on the right arm just below the color matching Vanson patch
I got to see my kids yesterday morning before school.
It was about a 70 mile ride from Arlington, so I got an early start on the day. After I saw them off, I started heading across Texas. I didn't really have a need to rush at that point, so I stopped to take a few pictures. I like the way this one came out.
I got on 84 around Abaline, and started heading up toward Post. It's funny that I've done this enough that I recognize things along the way. There are tremendous windmill farms along that road. I'd love to get a picture of them, but I just can't figure out how to take a picture that conveys the vastness that you see when you're there in person.
I had lunch in Post, at a nice little BBQ joint. Lunch was $4.50. I left a dollar tip, which is more than 20% but I still felt cheap. I'm used to Raleigh prices. I texted Adam, who's comment was "I guess you'll be here tonight." I hadn't really thought that far ahead, but now I had a goal.
I got on 380 in Post, and started the drive into New Mexico. I always underestimate the climate on the trips I take. It was just unbelievably hot. It's amazing that you can drink a half gallon of water and still feel yourself getting dehydrated. I made it to about 50 miles outside of Roswell and I knew I had to stop and drink, you can feel yourself going down hill after so much heat, and you have to nip that in the bud. I saw this little rest area place that had _SHADE_. I drank a quart of water, and headed into the restroom to see if I could refill my container. There was a big sign over the sink which read "NON-POTABLE" in about 4 languages. I just covered my shirt with the water until I was dripping wet. It's unbelievable how good that felt when I was back on the bike. It's like having air conditioning.
I stopped on Roswell and found a place that would serve me large volumes of Tea and small volumes of Ice Cream. It was so good.
380 on the other side of Rosewell is a much different road. You come through mountains, and there were clouds, and it actually rained on me. I got into Soccoro around 7:00. It was good to see Adam. We went out to dinner with Griz. Food was good. Air conditioning was good.
Hung out with Adam a bit this morning drinking coffee. It's such a simple pleasure, but I really enjoyed it. I'll probably head up to ABQ in a little while and see what's going on up there.
It's 5:30 am in Las Vegas. A good time to post stories.
I'd been in Socorro, NM for a couple of days, and was about to leave for Las Vegas. I rode up to Sante Fe that morning to meet some people from ADV. One woman I'd met before, and two other people for the first time. We had a nice lunch, and I always enjoy meeting online people in real life.
When I left, I took 14 down through Madrid, where they filmed Wild Hogs, got on 40, and started heading west. I made it about 30 miles past Albuquerque when the tire blew. It wasn't a major event, the bike just started shaking and I knew I had a tire problem.
I called AAA and they recommended I take it to the BMW dealer. I called the BMW dealer and left a message. It started to rain, which messes with my phone's mind when the drops hit the screen. Several people stopped to offer help. I texted the people from lunch to let them know what was up.
Carol and Michael offered to come get me, but I told them the truck was on the way. Cathy offered to look for a tire. I was still trying to get hold of the dealer at this point, so I didn't know if I needed that.
I finally got hold of the BMW dealer, and unlike what AAA told me, they don't work on Suzukis. He was willing to do it if I needed him to, but he didn't know the tire size or whether he had any in stock. I'd already called the Suzuki dealer at this point and they did have a tire, but were about to close for the day. This is about the point where the tow truck showed up.
We got the bike loaded, and started the trip back to ABQ. I called Cathy and told here that yes, I did need a tire. She called the Sante Fe dealer, and they didn't have one. She called the ABQ dealer, and they did, but were about to close. She called a non-riding friend, Sammi, who lived nearby, and asked her to run over and get the tire. I called the dealer and paid for it from the truck. That would have been the 3rd call they had had about that tire in an hour, they must have figured it was made of gold.
I get to the dealer at about 6:02, and there is a woman holding a tire in the parking lot. She tells me Cathy is on here way down from Sante Fe, and Adam is on his way up from Socorro. We are going to do a tire change in the parking lot. The dealership people are waiting to take my bike inside so they can work on it in the morning. I tell them we will just take the tire, and put it on ourselves.
I stay with the bike and Sammi runs to get us some food. We have about an hour to kill before everyone else arrives. She is an interesting person. She is a chemical engineer who does nuclear weapons projects at Los Almos. She got a temporary assignment in Albuquerque, where she had 2 kids in college. So she rented a huge house, and lives in it with her 2 kids, and 2 other college students.
Cathy arrives after a while, with her two dogs. She and Sammi have been friends for 30 years, since they dated a pair of brothers in high school. Adam arrives next. Adam is the one with tire changing experience.
We wheel the bike over in front of the door where it's flat and there is light. Adam has a lift, and we jack it up.
We don't have a tire changer. We have C clamps, tire irons, and soapy water. It's a slow process. Sammi gets some beer, which seems to make things go better. Eventually the security person comes over to talk to us. His son races motorcross, so he is familiar with tire changes, and he helps us a bit. He askes us to hide the beer so the cops don't see it.
After about 2 hours, I have a new tire on my bike. I take it for a test ride, and it doesn't fall off.
Sammi tells us she has elk roast in the crock pot. We go over to her place for dinner. It's a huge house with a pool. None of the kids are home. Dinner is going to be Elk, sweet potatoes, and asparagus. I haven't had any of the beer so far, as I don't really drink much, but at this point in the day, I want one. I actually end up with a glass of wine. It's good.
Adam and I end up swimming while dinner is cooking. Adam went first actually, but I wasn't going to let him show off for the girls with out me. So I got in there with him.
Dinner was great. I had seconds, I'd hate to see that asparagus go to waste.
Sammi blew up an air mattress for me. It was probably 11 or 12 mountain time by now. Bed was good.
Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2011 - 03:22 am:
Yep, it IS good. The tire just looked pretty gnarly to me, glad you were able to get another AND get it changed by yourselves. Not one of the simplest undertakings. Aint it great to have friends. Have a safe rest of the adventure home!
1. I was doing some organizational tactics today (i.e. tossing out old crap) and came across this in an issue of Full Throttle.
2. I don't know how often anyone gets down to the New Bern area but, if you do, be careful on Brices Creek Road. They just completed repaving a majority of it. Not as smooth as it was before, but that's not the reason to be careful. I was coming up it and since I didn't know the condition of the road near the one left curve where a dirt road goes straight (and tricks you into thinking that's the road you're on...) I had slowed down considerably. Sitting on that dirt road was a Sheriff clocking traffic. Thankfully I didn't get pinched. but this is the first time I've ever seen any law enforcement on that road. I don't know if it is an isolated incident or if they are starting to target it (stranger things have happened).
I'm not posting from home - but I'm not that far away from it either, 1313 P.S. Some of you are in the know, so don't spoil the surprise for everyone else.
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