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Ghostrider
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 10:50 am: | 
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Interestingly, Iron Butt Association has a Border to Border ride where you start in Mexico and end in Canada (or the other way around) and complete the ride in 48 hours (I think). I was thinking about doing it at some point starting in Juarez and ending at Coutts, AB. |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 12:41 pm: |
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Gonna miss you guys...
US1? doesn't that end in Leggett, CA where it intersects with HWY 101?
some nice local roads up there are the Mountain loop HWY east of Granite falls, and HWY 20 out to Ross Lake Nat'l Park.
Big change being surrounded by all that green.
You may want to bring a cactus or two, just to remind you of the "dry" heat in the summer. 
Have a safe trip up there, and enjoy! |
Sparky300
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 08:53 pm: |
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Short story...
Pulled into work this a.m. and shut off the bike, pulled out the key. Went to go to lunch, dead battery. Seems I'd turned it to "park" instead of "lock". Way to go Hotshot. Put the batt on the tender for 3 hrs. GTG
End of short story |
Agfish18
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 09:03 am: |
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At least you put your kickstand down!  We all have our bad days, you will now be so paranoid that you will never do that again. |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 12:13 pm: |
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I'm planning to ride to Big Bend National Park next week, leaving 2/15. I'm thinking of spreading out the trip to include a few other national parks or monuments and haven't quite come up with my final plan, yet.
One option is to ride further south into Texas, visit the Amistad NRA, the Palo Alto Battlefield NHP, and then the Padre Islands NS before circling up to San Antonio to visit the San Antonio Missions NHP. From there, I could head east to Louisiana/Mississippi, or circle back west into Arizona/California. I've been toying with the idea of going to Joshua Tree NP and Death Valley NP. Also, Organ Pipe NM looks cool. There are other monuments in Arizona that I could stop at, as well.
This is all part of my "visit 50 national parks/monuments in 25 states in 2012" ride.
Later, in May, I'm going to be in Florida, and so I'm thinking of taking a very round about route to get there, perhaps going up through Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, then down through the Carolinas & Georgia. Once in Florida, I'll be on the Gulf Coast, but am planning to ride down to Key West.
In June, I'm going to Alaska. Out through Denver, Yellowstone, Calgary, Dawson Creek, up to Dawson City. Then over the Arctic Circle to Inuvik, NT, back to Dawson City, Chicken, AK, Fairbanks, Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, back to Fairbanks, Denali NP, Anchorage, Whittier, Valdez, Wrangell NP, Tok, Haines Junction, Haines, Skagway, Whitehorse, Stewart/Hyder, Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Victoria, Seattle, Olympic NP, Mount Rainier NP, Crater Lake NP, Craters of the Moon NM, Pocatello, Moab, Arches NP, and home. Should be well over 10,000 miles in 25 or so days.
Sometime this year, I also want to find time to ride to the northeast, probably visit my parents. Perhaps September. |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 01:20 pm: |
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That's pretty ambitious, CJ. I envy you, and your ability to find the time to do all that riding. 
I will have to settle for SpringFast, my weekend rides to Colorado, the Arkansas S2 gathering, and I still haven't chosen a destination for my fall vacation.
Enjoy, and post lots of pictures! |
Reiver
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 01:24 pm: |
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Cj,
Damn thats a lot of miles. Did you quit working? |
Agfish18
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 01:25 pm: |
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I barely have the time to get out of the city on rides with work and school. I have been trying to get everything done during the week this week as far as school goes so that I can spend this weekend tiling certain parts of my house. I typically dont have much of any time. one of these days I will finally graduate and have a little more time. until then...
so yes, take plenty of pictures! |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 04:00 pm: |
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Well, that's been the story of my life. I've never had a lot of time. I've barely put 5,000 miles a year on my Firebolt, all on summer weekend rides and a few out of towners to Arizona and Colorado. That average has fallen a lot lately, especially since I have two bikes. It's now 8 years old with 28,000.
The Uly is two years old with 14,000, and almost all of that is road trips. It's been to San Diego, Vegas, Atlanta, New Orleans, etc. This year, I'm going to ride the wheels off of it.
I've been on my job for about eleven years and I get about four weeks of vacation each year. The way things have worked out, I've not taken very much this anniversary year and I have 14 days left to burn between now and mid-June. I'm going to take three next week, five in early May, and five in mid-June right up to my anniversary date. Then immediately take two more weeks. Those three will be my Alaska trip. That will leave me two weeks to last the following eleven months. We'll see how that goes.
Recently, I decided that I'm not going to be one of these people that waits until retirement to do all the things I want to do. I may not have all the money it takes, but I'm going to figure out how to make it work. I'm going to be crossing things off my bucket list starting now and the first one is riding to see the world. North America is up first and by fall/winter, I hope to be on my way to South America on my bike. There are so many things to see and do along the way, I just can't think of any reason not to go now while I'm still young and spry enough to do it. |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 04:03 pm: |
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Ghostrider
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 10:41 pm: |
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Syonyk
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 02:42 pm: |
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Very cool. 
Also, I've had some time to get used to the Pilot Road 3s I installed, and I have to say, I *like* them.
I don't ride hard enough to hit their limits (and will NOT be tracking them). However, they've been great in the rain, and yesterday morning, being the usual clueless type I am, I rode to work. And discovered lots of glazed roads & patches of packed snow/ice close to work...
The Road 3s worked perfectly on it. I know they're not recommended for ice, but riding gently with minimum acceleration & rear brake use, I had no wheel slip at all.
Color me impressed. |
Sparky300
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 08:13 pm: |
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Dude...you're braver than I am  |
Syonyk
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 09:56 pm: |
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I'm not sure "braver" is the right word.
"More insane," perhaps?
Or, likely, "stupider." |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 10:01 pm: |
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Well, I'm riding around punching out National Parks. My weekend plans for this trip were very fluid, but I had hoped to get to Big Bend National Park by way of Carlsbad Caverns. As most of you know, the weather was not very cooperative.
My original plan was to get up early Wednesday and bug out, arriving in Carlsbad sometime around lunch. A buddy from HS lives there and offered to buy me lunch.  That was a deal I just couldn't pass up, right? 
So it got all fouled up when the weather guy starts talkin about storms coming in Tuesday night. Sure enough, when I wake up Wednesday, there's snow on the ground and they're saying that the heights and east mountains got slammed. I decide that all is not lost. My plan is fluid anyway, so I'll just leave late. I'll wait for the inevitable melt off that always takes place by lunchtime and ride off then. So I wait. At about 1030, I'm basically ready to go, the roads look dry, it's warming up. It takes me quite a bit longer than I expected to load up the bike even though all the bags were already packed.  So, I have to stop by work to drop off an envelope, but that's only a few minutes out of my way. While doing that, I realize that I somehow managed to forget one of the most important items for my trip: the fuel for my camping stove. So, double back to the house to get it. More minutes gone. 
Eventually, I'm gassed up and on the highway, which is nice and dry. As I'm headed out of town, I realize that the mountains look pretty darn cool all coated in white.
So, there I go off into the east mountains on I-40. The roads are still wet, but I figure that's normal. The temps are now up into the mid-40's on their way to 50+, so I figures it's going to be fine. Then, I get to Zuzax. ••••.  There's lots of ice. And lots of traffic. I end up being surrounded by 18-wheelers going up the hill and the fast lane is the clear lane, so that's where I am even though I'm not going fast. I end up riding in the rut created by a big truck as that is the only thing not covered with ice/snow. It leads into the shoulder, over the rumble strip, through big puddles, etc, but I ride it. Also had to ride over some bumpy bits of real ice but just kept my wits, no abrupt movements, etc. Went ok. 
So, by the time I got past Edgewood, things were clearing up pretty good. Past Moriarty and you couldn't even tell it had snowed. Well, kinda. Here's the view from Clines Corners.
So, down 285 I go. And you can see that here too.
I stopped for gas in Vaughn and hung out in Allsups to warm up and get "lunch."  You know how it all sucks at Allsups, right? So, then on to Roswell, where I gassed up again because the damn Uly won't go farther. Even got 50mpg most of the way.
Then construction in Carlsbad. My buddy that offered lunch was long gone to Lubbock. I didn't get into Carlsbad until after 4:30pm or so. Got out to White City at 5pm, the same time the visitor center for the park closes. So, I wanted the stamp so I knew I'd be spending the night. They had campsites in White City for $20/nt. That seemed like a lot to me. I mean, I'm going to be outside, uncomfortable, cold, right? Shit. So... I got a shot of my camp just before dark.
The one good thing was that they allowed campfires. So I started one with the scraps of wood they had in a bin for just such an occasion.
Made my Mountain Home dinner and then when I got cold enough, I doused the fire and got in the tent. My headlamp seemed to be draining it's battery pretty quick, so I shut it off and read with a glowstick. Pretty tricky, but worked well.
I figure it was around 9:30pm when I went to sleep. I had a fitful night. Even with my •••••• foam pad, the ground is hard. And the +20* bag was working pretty well, except for my head and hands. I had an Underarmor cap on that I run with in the winter, kind of a wicking fleece thing. Kept my head pretty good except my face. My hands, they were just cold all night. I woke up many times. Then around 7:30am, the sun was up and I could hear people around, so I got up. They had showers, but I'd forgotten my water shoes and opted against the athlete's foot. It might have warmed me up, though.
I whipped up some oatmeal for breakfast and broke camp. By 9:30am I was on the road for the visitor's center. The road was pretty nice.
The visitor's center had a nice view, although hazy.
When I was done, I rolled out to the Guadalupe Mountains National Monument.
It was very hazy riding over there. I discovered at the visitor's center that apparently, that's some sort of pollution phenomenon. For some reason, the air flow from Central Texas, Mexico, and even Southern California all flow into the area and dump all their smog.
On the way out, I got a great photo of El Capitan.
I shot down to Van Horn, TX. It's a straight ride, but the road is sorta fun in a roller coaster kind of way. Van Horn is bizarre, though. It's a long town with about 19 hotels and one restaurant. I found it. And had lunch. Then, I had a dilemma. The weather was again not cooperating. If I went on to Big Bend, I'd definitely get rained on. If I went to San Antonio and then to Big Bend tomorrow, I'd get rained on twice. If I went to El Paso, I would not be rained on, and then I could head to Tucson and southern Arizona to hit a few of those parks/monuments. There's a Hyatt Place in El Paso. $39 employee rate. Score!
As a side bonus, there's another monument in El Paso, Chimisal National Memorial.
So, looks like tomorrow will be in Arizona. |
Leprikan
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 - 06:52 am: |
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selling my bike heres the link
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/21/ 668489.html?1329479434 |
Agfish18
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 - 09:35 am: |
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looks like you are having fun so far there Ghostrider. I envy you... |
1eyert
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 - 12:12 pm: |
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Hey, its raining in Tucson today, if you need anything when you get here let me know, I am on the East side of town off I 10 and Houghton rd. |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 - 07:52 pm: |
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yea, that IS a nice looking road.
How did the oogly handle with that load your carrying? Is it light in the front end?
Where are TODAYs pics??? |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 - 11:00 pm: |
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For today, I had decided to ride west into Arizona. Based upon the weather forecasts, it looked like the best bet. There was a chance of showers very early in El Paso, and another spot of showers in Las Cruces, and maybe some late afternoon east of Tucson, but otherwise, it should be mostly clear. My goal was to be up and out by 8am so I could get into AZ quickly. Here is my proposed route:
This route would take me first to Ft. Bowie National Historic Site, then a quick ride to the Chiricahua National Monument. After that, I'd roll down via Douglas to the Coronado National Memorial. I thought that if I had time, I might ride through Tombstone because I've never been there before. Finally, I'd visit Saguaro National Park in Tucson before hitting my hotel by the airport. This was too optimistic.
Upon getting out of the hotel, late, I discovered that while it had recently rained in El Paso, it was now sunny. And I was all trussed up in my full rain gear on top of all my other gear. It was beginning to get warm, too. But, once on the highway, it cooled off and by Las Cruces, there was rain. A nice steady drizzle that didn't let up. Ever. Ok, almost. Just inside of AZ, it let up briefly. But as I was between Plyas and the state line, everything on both sides of the freeway was turned into an enormous lake as far as I could see. I didn't stop for a photo because of the rain.
My first stop was Ft. Bowie. The ride in was weird. You ride through this crummy little town and then down this sorta crummy road. There are signs everywhere about not riding through the washes if they're full of water, and it's been raining, so I'm concerned. But they were all dry.
The clouds were hanging low. As I'm approaching the site, I come to this sign:
Pavement ends 500 ft.  What are they using to measure this? Anyway, it's dirt up to the parking area. Where I discover this sign:
Walk 1.5 miles to the visitor center?  WTF is this all about? I'm not hiking 1.5 miles in all this gear. I did notice about a couple miles back that they had a "handicap access" route. I figure the gimpies aren't walking 1.5 miles, so that's where I go. It's also dirt, but well maintained so up I go. Leads me to this:
This site is an old army fort, a lot like Ft. Union in NM. And like Ft. Union, they've done this weird stucco job on the remaining bricks to keep them from falling over I guess? Weird.
Meanwhile, I talk to the girl and she says that the route to the next monument, Chiricahua, is over a dirt road past the parking area at the trailhead. So, that's where I go. It seems pretty good, and reminded me a lot of the road from Sandia Crest down to Placitas.
So, it's going well until I get out of the hills/mountains. I get down into cattle country, where it's mostly flat and covered with cows. And the road is getting messy. Obviously had more rain than the rest of the road. And then:
 
So... that new Palmer bar end was dug in tighter than a tick. I had to unpack the whole bike just to pick it up. Then repack it. All out here in the middle of nowhere.
One car did come by, but it was full of really old people who would not have been any help. So... onward.
Then, like a mile later, I dropped it again on the other side. No pics. I managed to pick it up without unpacking. Then, I really had to take it easy the last couple of miles to the tarmac. Finally... I made it. A few miles later, I made it to the Chiricahua monument.
After getting there, I realized that it took me an extraordinary amount of time to get there. It was nearly four and I had over ninety miles to go for the next monument. So, I reluctantly opted to head right into Tucson. I got to the hotel and all checked in by six.
I was as wet inside my rain suit as I was outside. It was like a sauna. It took me forever to get my stuff sorted out. My boxes are both cracked up. The left one is only slightly messed up. The right one is totaled. I had to strap it all together to keep riding.
So, I'm thinking home tomorrow. I'm kinda tired. |
J2blue
| | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 12:51 am: |
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Ah, the adventures! Thanks for taking us along C.J. That box will be fine with bailing wire and duct tape. |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 08:21 am: |
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Ah, bummer CJ. The weather just doesn't want to cooperate with you.
Sorry to hear about the fall, that mud can be slippery stuff! Think them TK80's might have helped? Get a roll of duct tape for the bags, and you will be good to go.
Thanks for the update, glad your safe, try to stay off the freeways on your way home... |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 11:59 pm: |
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I'll post up photos of the bags tomorrow. The right bag is cracked from just beside the latch all the way down the back and the latch that locks it to the frame is broken. Used a strap and a bungee to get it home. The left box has a crack in the back right where the hook is to hold it on the frame. I think that maybe the plastic version of JB weld and a new latch will fix 'em. Either way, I'm getting aluminum boxes soon. May even get them anodized black.
I do think that the off road tires would have helped. I think my road tires were just like slicks in that thick mud. I even had to walk it part of the way.
Oh, and Art: Sorry for not replying sooner. I was right in your neighborhood today as I went to get my Saguaro stamp on my way out of town. Got to drive by the Pima Air Museum (which I've been to before) and the boneyard. Cool stuff. I'm sure I'll be back through there and I'll ping you. Also planning to do SpringFast.
See yas. |
Sparky300
| | Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 09:32 pm: |
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Dude, you look miserable. It wouldn't have been an adventure w/o a little mishap that you could still motor away from. Warmer weather's comin'. |
Agfish18
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 09:06 am: |
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ouch! glad nothing more than your bags and maybe your pride are hurt! Thanks for keepin us in the loop. |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 11:05 am: |
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You know, as I was going over the first part of the dirt road, the good part, I was saying to myself, "This is where the adventure is! This is cool!" And then I got to the mud and muck and fell off and while I was kinda pissed at breaking it, I had to laugh, because it really was part of the adventure. It also reminded me of a photo I'd seen on the front page of ADVrider.com where a guy is walking his Beemer out of some wicked muck. That's how I felt, that's what I had to do.
I did notice now that for some reason, it's shuffled up my photos and the first two in the first post are out of order. Weird. |
Agfish18
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 08:35 am: |
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I was saying to myself, "This is where the adventure is! This is cool!"
I can actually picture you saying that... I probably would have said a few other choice words.
glad you kept a cool head about it. are the bags completely shot? |
Bartimus
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 09:55 am: |
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CJ,
I used to plastiweld at my shop down in 'Cruces.
I think we have a kit at work. I may be able to help you out. Are any cracks near a stressed member, or supporting part of the bag? May have to brace it.
Nice pics, can't wait to get my Super T! |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 11:25 am: |
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Yeah, Bart, there are a few cracks near the supports and the right bag is split from the top along the latch right down the middle about 3/4 of the way. I keep threatening to post pics, but haven't taken them yet. I'm not going to be able to today or tomorrow. I'm leaving straight from work to Las Cruces for a recruiting trip to NMSU. Won't be back until late tomorrow.
I would like to keep them and repair them. Even though I had already committed to get aluminum boxes, I want to keep these. I'm going to have to order a replacement latch, the one that holds the right box onto the bracket. Otherwise, I'm thinking plastic weld is the way to go. |
Ghostrider
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 10:16 pm: |
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So here are some images of the broken boxes that I've been promising.
Right side box:
Left Side Box:
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