My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

As some of you know, I have been planning a cross country motorcycle ride to the West Coast for some time. I have set up a blog to record my daily progress, complete with photos and a Google map (my wife, Sue, is doing the map).

Well, I'm about ready to go. I will probably leave tomorrow morning. The blog website is up and active. I hope some of you will join me on my trip, through my blog. There is a message board there. Feel free to leave comments, or ask questions.

Here is the URL:
http://www.gallery1700.net/blog/pages/tripblog.php

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Never fear, we will be watching and reading. Looking forward to pics of your journey.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Thanks. I'll be following your trip.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Bon voyage! I look forward to following your progress.

:2tup: :rawk:

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Ride safe.Have a great time.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Good luck.
Do you not want to even SEE any of us along the way.....should we be near your route??
I'd gladly buy you lunch if the timing was right.

Alas, the messge display function of your blog comes out pretty ugly using IE. Hope the posts YOU leave are going to look better.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Do you have a planned course in mind?

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

I was going to poke at you (knee-jerk) for criticizing his page, but holy crap!

David, something is definitely wrong with your guestbook script and blog application. Need some help maintaining it, or setting it up properly?

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Have fun. Let me know if you come by Southern California.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Update - Major bummer! I was going over the bike one last time, and the back wheel has a very small, almost imperceptible amount of play from the 12 o'clock to the 6 o'clock position. On the Beemers it indicates a developing final drive failure. Dealerships don't open till Tuesday, so I can't even get it checked out. But I suspect a major warranty repair. They may just replace the whole drive, which wouldn't take too long if they have one. Anyway, not going anywhere very far away tomorrow, or probably very soon.

Thanks for the heads up on the message display page. One little missing quotation mark can sure cause a lot of trouble. So the good news is, at least that's fixed.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

They all do that.





:hide:

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Sorry for the bad news.
That gives us a few more days to pester you though. :biggrin:

Are you going to publish a "proposed" map or itenerary any where along the way ?? ......or a general idea of your route ??
Or maybe you are really serious about being totally alone in this endeavor.

I would see it as a golden opportunity to put a face with a few "handles" but also would understand if that's not your thing.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Good luck on your trip, hope the dealer is able to get you up and running quickly so you can get on the road.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Well JWR, it appears that you are correct, even more so than you meant or intended. Apart from the fact that BMW's with the Paralever final drive are becoming famous for failing prematurely, which is I guess what you were referring to, it appears that a small amount of play in the rear wheel is normal and within spec. This is according to a service bulletin from BMW, which I got in response to an inquiry on the BMWMOA forum. I read the service bulletin carefully, went out and took some careful measurements, took the wheel off, checked the axle and a couple of other parts, and come to the conclusion that all is in order. I'm not used to any amount of play being normal, and it's only about .5 mm measured at the rim at its worst, and up to 1 mm is acceptable with that bearing design.

Easy Rider,

I do have a rough idea of my route going out, and very little idea of how I intend to return. Basically I'll follow major superslabs to St. Louis, and then pick up Rt. 50 to Sacramento, where it ends. From there I'll hop down to the San Francisco area and visit my older daughter, the tattooist. When I say follow major superslabs, I mean either ride them to make time, or shadow them on good marked parallel routes where available. For example in NY I can ride the Thruway (Rt. 90), or hop off and ride Rt. 20 for a while as my mood and time permit. I also notice that there is a Rt. 40 that shadows Rt. 70 for quite a ways. If I get bored with Rt. 70, I can hop off and ride 40 for a while.

I'm quite excited about Rt. 50. It follows two historical routes in places: the Pony Express route, and the Lincoln Highway. I feel about the Lincoln Highway the way that a lot of people feel about Rt. 66. The Lincoln Highway is much older. It's really the very first transcontinental road, begun before 1920, and cobbled together from local, state, and volunteer paved roads at a time when there weren't many paved roads outside of towns and cities. There isn't much of it left, but there are historical markers along its route. It's creation is a fascinating story of idealism, greed, politics, and a monumental effort. One really interesting tidbit is that in 1919, when the route had been defined but not all that much was paved, the Army sent a convoy along the route to gain support, publicity, etc. It took them months to get across, and much hardship, along with a lot of partying along the way in the towns, where, in most cases, they received huge receptions. On this expedition was a young lieutenant who wanted to escape desk duty after the war. His name was Dwight David Eisenhower. The experience led him to form a lifetime commitment to build a good road system in the United States. When he became president in 1953, he did just that, which is why it is still called the Eisenhower Interstate System today.

Rt. 50 through Nevada was dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America" by "Life" magazine in 1986. It wasn't a complement. "Life" warned people not to attempt driving it unless they had good survival skills. The Nevada Commission on Tourism picked it up and ran with it, and now a lot of people (like me) drive (ride) it out of fascination and for the beauty and historical significance of the route. I got a packet from the The Nevada Commission on Tourism, complete with "The Official HWY 50 Survival Guide". If I get it stamped in certain places I get a badge and certificate that I survived "The Loneliest Road in America". There's a lot of stuff to see on it, too. I just need to remember which of the very few towns along the way have gas stations. There's one stretch of 130 miles without any!

So, my plan now is to leave tomorrow morning if I can get rested up enough and the weather doesn't look too ugly. There's a big, ugly storm stretching from Alabama through Pennsylvania right now. It's supposed to break up and just give the route to Buffalo some showers and thundershowers by tomorrow. I don't mind a little rain. But if it looks like it's going to roll north in its present form, I'll put the ride off for a couple more days.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Maybe I have my wires crossed but I thought US 40 was the first concrete trans-con road; maybe it really is 50 ??

I'm not too far from I-70/US 40 and could maybe hook up for coffee if I know a day in advance.
I'll drop you a PM.

Here's wishing you a safe and fun trip.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

I intend to hit the San Francisco area to visit my daughter. From there I'll either go North and come back through the Dakotas and etc., or South and take/shadow Rt. 40 back through Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Or I may follow Rt. 80 if I want to get home the quickest. I don't know what I'll do. I'll keep my blog up to date.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Everyone, thank you for the well wishes. I do appreciate them very much! This is a good group!

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

Good luck, ride safe. Get to central texas give me a shout.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

I'm envious of the idea. A little less envious of the reality, but it will no doubt be an excellent adventure. I hope you enjoy it as we will all be living vicariously through you over the next few months.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

I-40 from Arizona through to Arkansas is the worst. Especially from the western Texas panhandle all the way through Oklahoma.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

FWIW I drove I-70 from where it hits the 15 to Denver last spring and it was super awesome. The whole time I kept thinking, should do this on my bike someday. It can get windy though and there are some long stretches with no gas.

Re: My Cross Country Motorcycle Ride - Leaving
 

:popcorn:

Safe riding, and look forword your posting...