Broke Down 1973

Dave's Moto Guzzi - Brokedown in Vale, Oregon 1973




Dave's cross country trip circa 1973. Thanks for the karma!

Rain Ahead!

OK. Looks like I'm gonna hit some rain when I leave Saturday. Also got rain in TN, AR, TX, and AZ. This alone, the weather, might slow down my trip quite a bit. Good thing I invested in a rain suit. Need to pick up some boot rain covers.

Sweet & Sour

El Nino

SWEET. This last Saturday was an amazing day. Temps hit 90 deg. and I headed down the Jersey Shore with Nino. The bike is running nice after all that maintenance I had done at Mike's. We hugged the coastline avoiding the pre-Summer traffic and craziness. Stopped at a couple of biker bars; marinas; soaked some rays; cool ocean breeze. It's like being reborn: the start of a new riding year.

SOUR. Late that evening Nino went down on his bike. Went to the hospital and luckily nothing very serious. But he will be recuperating from his injuries for a while. Get well soon.

Fresh Rubber

My ride
2002 Harley
Dyna Wide Glide



Got a call from Mike at Hudson County Custom Cycles. He said she's just about done. After consulting with him I decided to go ahead and install new Avon tires. The Metzlers I had on there were about on their half-life. Motorcycle tires are made extra sticky for safety and therefore wear out faster than automobile tires. I could probably have made the trip with the older tires but why take the chance, right? Peace of mind = priceless.

So we changed all the lubricants, fork oil, cleared up a small leak I had been developing from the tranny, and changed out the cables. I have been complaining about a hard clutch lever for some time. It's probably due to a heavy duty Barnett clutch plate installed to prevent slippage. But Mike says after changing the clutch cable the action has eased considerably. I hope so. It's a pain when doing a lot of heavy clutching, and a bit distracting if you ask me.

So I'm excited to take her out on the road for a pretest this weekend. Gonna throw the bags on there make sure everything fits right. Weather's gonna be beautiful. I'm giddy like a little kid.

The Trip

OK. Here is the whole trip set up in 3 sections. First is NJ to Vegas (2680.8 mi.). Second is Vegas to Montery, CA, to L.A., and back to Vegas (1237.5 mi.). Third is Vegas back home to NJ (2544 mi.). Total for the whole trip is 6,462 miles. Approximately 3 weeks time.

Everything is open to changes, especially Leg 2 where I'll be riding with friends. We may alter things around there to accommodate everyone. If you click on the links it should take you to the HD website with the ride planner. If not, cut and paste the url.

Leg 1. Cross Country Leg 1: Secaucus,NJ - Las Vegas, NV

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/share/211156

Leave NJ Saturday, May 2, 2009. Arrive in Vegas by Friday, May 8th, when friends will be arriving by plane.


Leg 2. Las Vegas - Monterey Bay - LA - Las Vegas: Loop

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/share/211166

Leave Vegas Sunday, May 10th. Travel through dessert into CA and go up north to Monterey. Travel down Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to Santa Barbara and then to L.A. Travel from L.A. back to Vegas. Be back in Vegas Friday, May 15th.

Leg 3. Cross Country Leg 3: Las Vegas - Secaucus, NJ

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/share/211167

Leave Vegas Sunday, May 17th. Arrive in NJ 5-6 days later. Maybe Saturday, May 23rd.

Important Things

Aside all the logistics, heavy on my mind are the more important things. My little one.





One day she will ride again

Preliminaries

Vermont 09/07 on the way to Nova Scotia -------->>


Preliminaries. A little less than two weeks before the start of my trip.

It's materializing, something I've only dreamed of for many years and put on the to-do-list back burner. But it feels real now. All elements/conditions are coming together right now to make this possible. I'm really gonna do this. Wow.
I have a lot of considerations and preoccupations about the grandness of the trip, the preparation needed. At once I want to prepare and organize everything to the max, but I also don't want to overdo it. Need to leave space for some spontaneity, change, chance. A lot of this trip is about that, right? Change is good; chance can be good (makes for good stories anyway). Shake up that stale old life a little bit. Let's see a bit more of what's out there, and, necessarily, in here.

To the preparation. Several things are on my mind. First, the mechanics of the bike. It's riding good right now and I have it at Mike the Mechanic's shop for some standard maintenance before the trip. Good thing. Feel good about that. It's like a small security blanket. Don't want to break down out there alone. But this is a Harley. And as much as I love these machines, "chrome don't get you home," they say. I have plenty of experience on that subject. I did sign up for Harley Owner's Group (HOG) membership. That includes roadside service and towing if needed. I have a small tool set (gotta make sure I have all the necessary tools) I'll take for small stuff.

The weather. Been hearing news reports about bad weather in the south and mid-west: tornadoes in Tennessee, floods in Texas, blizzards in Denver. It's mid-April and I'm a little concerned about that. I gotta ride through this stuff. I hope things clear up nicely for me in two weeks time. It's going to be huge to develop a system for checking weather forecasts along my travel route daily and probably even more frequently.

The Rockies. I've heard that while riding in high elevations (about 10,000 ft.) problems develop with the carburation as the air/oxygen gets thinner. I asked Mike the Mechanic about this. You can change the jetting (which I don't know how to do nor want to mess with, I think) but then you have to change it back upon descending, he said. He said I should do nothing about this, just ride through it. I'm concerned.

This ties in to my next concern: communications. I have a Verizon Razor3 cell. I need a new smart phone and was considering either the Verizon Blackberry Storm or the Apple iPhone using AT&T. I'm torn as to which to get and am now even considering going with just what I have if I can't make a decision/transition by departure time. So I would call Verizon and change my plan to a national plan (to avoid roaming), upping minutes, and adding internet service. The internet will be important for the weather forecasts, hotel reservations, Harley dealership locations, communicating with my Control Center (Cristy, thanks you're an angel) daily, updating my travel blog (http://mountainrider09.blogspot.com/).

Other considerations: taking and securing the right motorcycle luggage, taking all the necessary stuff (I loathe packing!!!), becoming familiar enough with my route that I don't miss important locations or scenic roads, taking pictures with my digital camera (I don't think I'll be able to download these pics on the road and put them on here; I don't have that technology/knowledge; but I think I might be able to take a shot on my cell phone and text it to this site: investigate), digital camcoder?, etc.

Oh, yes. Safety. I want it. A lot of it. LOL. I know the inherent dangers of riding a motorcycle, especially on a very long and arduous trip. However, I'm a pretty conservative driver and even more conservative rider (99% of the time). I'm not concerned about smashing into a tractor trailer head-on. I'll only be riding during daylight hours, sun up to sun down. Find a hotel. Fatigue is a concern, have to make frequent stops, stretches, coffee. I'm shooting for 500 miles per day for 5 straight days; should take me NJ to Vegas direct.

Interesting are the different reactions I get from people when they first learn I'm doing this trip and doing it solo cross country. The responses range from admiration to questioning my sanity. I get a lot of "ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!," "I would NEVER do THAT!," "Are you sure you really want to do this?""I'm not going to let you do this.". Some of that throws me off a little bit but I have to get it out of my head. When you do something extreme or requiring max effort, concentration, focus, you have to be a hundred percent. I can't be doubting myself.

There's a lot to think about.

So, I welcome advice from other riders who'd like to pitch in. And I also welcome thoughts, comments, wishes, prose, jokes, whatever from friends, family, the world. Share the blog with others. I don't know if I'll ever make this trip again so I'll try to make it as inclusive as possible. Let's have some fun with this thing.

I aim to make daily posts here once the trip gets underway: May 2nd, 2009.

Bad Lands, SD '04

OK. So this is the first blog for me ever. Let's see how this thing goes....