2011-02-11 I got me an itch...

..scratch, ahh..., scratch

Really, I got nothing to post

.nada
.zero
.zip
.blanco
.de nada
.epic fail

I just have blow out of town
tired frustrated angry confused disappointed 

..ever been there?
thought so 

..more to read later nothing a good ride won't take care of
(grateful I live where I *can* ride year round)

head south my boy ..
that's where the escape lies

really - isn't the motobike all about ..(you fill in your personal answer)
....cause i have mine.

answered in spades

...to be continued.

All righty then.

Not really ready to go but then again it’s not like I’m traveling to a foreign country..

..or am I?

I’ll be Spot tracking – view where I am here..
clicky clicky

No route planned yet – just heading south

Plans are for pussies, anyway..

...to be continued

Day one 2001-02-11
scratch, scratch... not done yet, still itching.

Slept in. Not feeling so hot yesterday, went to chiro, got some sleep.

Packing

Running a different top case this trip - in memory of Tim

Told you it was a late start.

Finally, on the road!

Rode for 15 miles, now chowing down at the eatery! ..edit, wow, got to resize them pix - can that be done with forum controls?

to be continued.

First stop? Cell phone deliver in San Luis Obispo. It's my other job! :rolleyes:

South to Santa Maria, to hook up 166 east.

I've never seen this much water here before. Normally it's dry, dry, dry,.

Eastbound and down, radar detector going, ain't nothing going to slow me down..

For this ride, decided to take as many little back roads as possible. The first one was 'Old Ridge Route' off 138. Hmmm, what kind of trouble can I find here?
This shot is looking down on the flat and boring 138 while I play in the sand infected twisties.

Cool old oak trees with mistletoe.

The road ended in a 'T' with this property right on the corner.

Gotta love LA sprawl. I'm riding essentially just 1 mountain range north of San Fernando Valley.. and here they go again, making home blight as ugly as possible..

Here is where I was.

Mormon rocks on 138 South, heading towards San Bernardino.

Windmills at Palm Springs.

Getting towards dark, about 70 miles from Blythe. Was getting grumpy, my lower back is really hurting. Went to chiro yesterday, and also feel like I'm coming down with a cold or something. Still - carpe diem and all that crap.

I think I now see why SkooterG wears the center out of his tires before the sides.. the roads in this neck of the woods are s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.

So, holed up in Blythe for the night. Mananna is the border crossing into Az, then go find some decent roads to ride. Ain't got nothing planned - just letting this ride come to me, one mile at a time. Peace Out, Happy Trails, and Woof Woof!

..to be continued

Virtual riders, I have great news!
1. It's a brand new day, one you've not lived yet, so go make some memories.
2. It's a beautiful early AM in the desert today. Slightly chilly but crystal clear.
3. You're back feels much better and
4. You slept great last night!
5. You get to see some stuff you've never seen before!

So go ride, eh?

..to be continued

Holed up in Tucson today, met some new members of the family. Wow, just where *do* babies come from?

I've got some pretty killer pix to post when I get back, but for now it's prepping the bike for the mad dash home. My CBA status might be in jeopardy, as I *have* to be back at work Tuesday.

Note to self -
1. Blythe bypass 87s
2. Imperial dam rec area, water where, 911 controls,
3. Military tanks and rockets
4. Green farmlands vs desert
5. Hi speed sucker run
6. Time change
7. Back
8. P A R T Y (you can call me Joe, BeemerBrian, princessSkooterG, moovies and BeemerDon throttle control stuck in river)
9. Family

Off to the jacuzzi, then to clean and pack for early AM departure.

Forgot to add - the best part?
I get to ride 58 West from I5..

..what a delicious curvy sensuous road to end a day of slabbing on!

Woot Woot for Me!

..to be continued

Dang, this Old Michael crack-o-dawn stuff s u c k s.

Outta here in 15

..to be continued

Day 2
2011-02-12
On to Don's

Amazing what a good nights sleep can do. The lower back is feeling much better and the day dawns bright, chilly, and clear. Ride on!
Per BeemerDon's advice, am crossing into AZ then south on 95, east on 8.
Crossing the Colorado river, just east of Blthe, CA.

WooHoo, I'm in Zonie land!

Near Quartzsite, home of millions of RV's camping out.

Bronson singing a tune in my head
'Going down that long lonesome highway...'

Entering the Yuma Proving grounds and Imperial Dam recreation area. Hadn't intended to stop, but why the hell not?

When they say Don't Enter, they mean it.

Entering the Imperial Dam area.

The dredge cracked me up. Running at full throttle, not a person to be seen, it must be on full auto controls.

Look closely, see the pirate flag? That's what cracked me up.

The mechanisms of the dam are impressive.

Back in day, some ol concrete guy saw his chance for immortality when the boss wasn't looking..

And this is the priceless commodity being metered out.

Historical info.

Leaving the dam I caught sight of our flag.

KrZy8 ready to romp, feeling frisky.

Stopped at this outdoor military moooseum on the way out.

Had to giggle at the names of some of these weapons.

Leaving the military moooseum, I was amazed by what a bit of water will do to a desert.
Check out these contrasting pix of green and growth vs dry and (mostly) dead.

This train was the trip highlight so far. As I slowly passed the long string of cars and posted up along the front engine, I saw the engineer peering over at me n
KrZy8. I wondered if he would rather trade places as I pumped my arm up and down in the time long honored sign of 'blow the freaking whistle'.. and he did! 4 long
loud toots had me giggling like a school boy. It was just cool.

Heading east on I8, a bunch of Zonie Nascar wannabe drivers upped the velocity of their vehicles..
heee, this was really, really fun. I started thinking these Az peeps are cool, we were running at uh, well,
rally nominal speeds for well over 40 minutes when miss Gps Jill said take the next exit.

I did, and it was a bummer - I was now on the frontage road and the main interstate. Damn, 55 posted too. Oh well, soon enough the frontage road met back up with
main interstate and I settled into a sedate 5 over the 75 posted. Yawning away, I was jolted back to reality when I saw two of Az's finest had pulled over two of the
Nascar group.. as I rode past, the one guy gave me a real mean stink-eye look..

...wonder if he thinks I called it in when I suddenly left the pack to follow miss gps?

You see the strangest RV's in Arizona..

and airplanes that no longer fly..

Arriving at BeemerDon's las casa grande, he arranges for me to have a 1 hour massage with someone he knows. Wow, this is the way every ride should end!
Later that night, when no one was looking, I snuck some photos of BeemerDon's bikes. At one point in time, I thought that TurboDave had the most stickers on his
windshield(s), but now I think BeemerD holds the records.

Only the poor lonely Harley doesn't have any bragging rights..

The moovies were great, the company even better. The pizza's n' booze were pretty good too. Of course, all I could legally take pix of were the critters. Check out
the look on the face of the human to the right..

Day 4
02-14-2011
The day of reckoning

I've now spent on the 'free time' and it's time to pay the anti CBA piper. As much as I hate to break my own devoted CBA rules, I have to put miles on today in order to be at work tomorrow.

This means no more fun roads. Interstate it back, be efficient, keep the wheels turning.

Leaving Tucson at an ugly hour of the morning.

Happiness is a Best Western in your rear view mirrors? Not really, I could have slept another 3 hours easy...

The early morning ride was much colder than I had planned for. And, somewhere on this journey I lost my heavy winter gloves.. Crap, the light weight MX gloves are all I have, and I'm finding every place the FJR leaks warm air around the fairings..

How cold was it? It was soo cold that the camera could not take a good pix of state prison.. LoL, but I liked the result anyway.

These are the cooling tower of Palos Verdes nuclear plant. Ain't they purty?

Ahh, finally back home to the land of the fruits and the nuts..

I remember thinking I was going to be passing TurboDave's hood and I did, eventually.

From I5 took 58 West. For any of you from out of state or the area, this ride is simply great. Today, the Ca Valley was in a slight drizzle with sunshine too. The result?

I think I like where I live..

Final numbers, about 755 for the day. I know, I know, I'll pay the CBA fine gladly.

Final thoughts?
The FJR is truly a wonderful platform. KrZy8 is close to breaking 150k yet she ran like a scalded ape down the Az Nascar I8, handles heavy loads with effortless aplomb, and didn't freak out when I found out what Az road signs mean when they say 'Odd Surface'.. WTFO?

Odd surface means one lane is approximately 4 inches higher than the other lane due to new asphalt! Woo-Hoo!

BeemerDons - Thank you so much for the wonderful hospitality. You simply rock.

Fini