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tntmo

Cold and wet - North Dakota to San Diego

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I like your GPS setting. "Go Byway, Not Highway" nice trip.

 

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Day thee on the bike: Omaha, NE to Dodge City, KS

For once the weather is looking like it might not rain.  My buddy sleeps in late, I spent the morning drinking a pot of coffee waiting for him to wake up while looking at the Rand McNally atlas.  After the cold and rainy days I was concerned about crossing the Rocky Mountains.  My sister lives in Colorado Springs and I always like to stop for a visit, but I had just been there a few weeks ago.  I looked at the map and Dodge City just called out to me.  I seemed to recall some lawman spending time there many years ago, and it was approximately 400 miles away so it looked good to me.

After my buddy woke up, I said "Adios" and hit the road. I have a cousin who lives in Omaha as well, so stopped for a visit with him before I slipped out of town.  Avoid highways once again, really nice roads out of town.  It stayed in the 50's all morning, not cold but not warm either.  Some parts of Nebraska have nice rolling hills with rivers, other areas are just flat with crops.  It's nice to see the variety of these "fly over states" and give yourself a better picture of what they have to offer.

Some awful road construction, those roads where they scrape off the top layer and it's all grooved......hate it on the bike and it's worse on a narrow two lane road in the wind with big rigs crowding the center line going the opposite direction.  Hold on tight, hold on loose, clench your sphincter.....whatever works, the sign only said road work for 46 miles.  

I saw a lot of wildlife on this trip, mostly dead on the side of the small county roads.  Raccoons seemed to be the overall winner (loser?) but skunks were right up there in numbers with a couple porcupines and deer, even a coyote or two but Kansas had the only turtle.  So they've got that going for them.  Which is nice.

I finally saw temps above 60 as I got near Dodge City.  I rolled through the town unimpressed.  I guess my expectations were higher, but it was a destination that was south, out of the rain and slightly warmer so I guess I need not complain.  I stopped at a truck stop to get some chow (a chef salad and a Keystone light...classy, right?) and found a lake to camp at a couple miles out of town. Pretty nice place, but there was trash strewn about everywhere.   Only one other person camping there, a strung out looking dude in a minivan full of junk who asked me if I had any weed.  He seemed nice.  Ate my gourmet meal, set up camp and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of semi-automatic gunfire in the distance.  Of course it rained that evening......

 

 

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Day four on the bike: Dodge City, KS to Carlsbad, NM

I slept longer than I anticipated, guess the rain helped me sleep.  I had noticed some oil on my rear rim and around the final drive area the prior evening (is Yamaha sourcing parts from BMW?).  I decided that a seal must have started to fail, so went to WalMart in town to get some gear oil. 

After picking  up the oil and removing the pannier,  I got my tool kit out and opened the fill/level plug.  The fluid was still right at the level, oozing out a bit.  I capped it up and wiped up the oil on the rim and surrounding area best I could.  Guess I have another jug of gear oil to add to my overwhelming collection at home.  If anyone needs gear oil, please come on by.  I don't know what the issue is/was, but I didn't notice any more oil after that.

I decided not to go to any of the tourist trap stuff in Dodge City.  Has anyone been?  Did I miss out on anything worthwhile?  The weather was looking okay first thing in the morning, but as I was heading out of town the skies darkened again and I donned all of my rain gear.  My right boot was doing a commendable job at keeping my foot dry but the left boot may as well have been made of mesh.  I picked up a few extra bags at the WalMart (free, F you very much CA) so I resorted to the old tried and true method I remember doing as a kid.  I think we used bread bags, since grocery bags were paper back in the old days.

Rain on and off all day, my phone wasn't charging for some reason and the Bluetooth deal in my helmet quit working.  So many first world problems!  I just followed roads that went mostly south and mostly west.  Cut through the Oklahoma panhandled and a corner of Texas.  Super flooded there, some of the fields were so wet the water was level with the road.  At a stop in Texas I noticed that my tires were wearing much faster than I had anticipated.  Hmmm. I have already had a tire issue on this trip but that was on the truck.  I don't want to have tire issues on the bike.  They aren't showing cord, but they are awfully close to the wear bars.  I will just check them later.

I had planned on stopping in Roswell, NM for the day.  Once I got there, I realized that I wasn't as interested in that tourist trap stuff either.  I liked the idea of it, but once I got there it sort of fizzled out.  I decided to head for Carlsbad.  I got about 30 miles away from the park and found a great lake to camp on.   I resorted to a Coors Light and a MRE for my evening meal.  It wasn't too bad, but I hadn't had anything to eat all day.  Rain all night long, vehicles driving in and hanging out playing music, gun shots and coyotes are the sounds that I slept to. 

My tires were really concerning me.  The front was what initially had my attention but the rear tire seemed to be going even faster.  I had fair phone service, but could find no bike shops in Carlsbad.  One promising one in Roswell, a few possibilities in El Paso.  My planned stop for the next day was near Sierra Mesa, AZ where my friend lives.  He mentioned a good shop there.  It's almost 500 miles from my campsite.  Decisions...........I slept on it.

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13 hours ago, tntmo said:

I had noticed some oil on my rear rim and around the final drive area the prior evening (is Yamaha sourcing parts from BMW?)

LMAO!!!

 

Nice write up, Tom. Keep them coming. Also, we want pictures and video!

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Your Yammy just wanted a break.  Gave you a head fake with the rear gasket and got a few minutes of rest. 

Your salacious reference to the great Gelände/Straße line of BMW motorcycles is both reckless and uncouth.  But will be forgiven due to your mental condition (San Diegans are notoriously allergic to rain and often exhibit signs of dementia).  It is understandable that your Yammy would want to act like and be like it's Bavarian brother.  Don't worry, given enough time and miles something will eventually explode and you'll get to order some expensive gadget from overseas and if you're lucky enough, you might even get the famous "on back-order" email.

Welcome home my friend.

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Day five: Carlsbad, NM to Fairbank, AZ

After a night of rain, I woke up to a beautiful sky.  A guy had camped out in his truck not far from me, drove over from Texas to do some fishing.  I made some coffee and spread my tent out to dry.  Nothing opened until 0900 so I couldn't make any call on what I wanted to do.  I decided that I would ride the 30 miles to Carlsbad Caverns and do some thinking inside a deep hole in a ground.  The ride into the park was really nice, more green than I anticipated.

I didn't know exactly what to expect at the caverns.  I had seen photos, but I thought it might be a 20 mile drive from the visitor center, or you had to take a bus or ???  Nope, just take an elevator down if you want or a nice downhill stroll into the mouth of a cave.  The ranger said it was approximately a 2.5 hour trip if you did the walk, but I finished it in a bit over an hour.  I walked fast but saw it all.  I know I will be back with my lady at some point and will take as long as I need, but I had to figure out what I was going to do with my tires.

The cell reception at the park wasn't good so I stopped at the first gas station outside.  Looked at my tires and was not surprised that they still looked like they had no tread.  I lowered tire pressure slightly, my stupid logic being that I might wear a bit more on the outside edges instead of the non-meaty center.  It was 440 miles to my buddy's place out near Tombstone.  The tread had been on the wear bars already for a bit.  Hmmmm, I believe my friend is crazy enough to come a few hundred miles  but I haven't verified that yet.  I called the AZ dealer and ordered a set of Continental TKC 70's.  Quick shout out to Chochise Motorsports, they were easy to deal with and gave a great price on a set of tires.....as good or better than anywhere else I found.  Then I contacted my buddy and said I was riding his way, could he please pick up my tires?

The ride from Carlsbad Caverns to El Paso, TX was really nice and quite nerve racking.  Highway 180 goes through the Guadalupe Mountains and not much else.  No towns for about 150 miles.  I kept seeing small desert dwellings off the highway and remembering the mile marker they were on in case I started to see cords in my tires and I had to walk back.  Kept the speeds down and enjoyed the first day of my trip with the vents open on my jacket.  It finally warmed up!  I keep doing math in my head, 1/10th of the way there, 100 miles down, El Paso!  I pass a few small bike shops there, I'm sure there are a few more.  The tire tread looks the same as when I left.  For the first time in my trip, I get on the interstate.  I didn't want to do it, but figured it's for the best.  Onward, boring but somewhat safe with places to stop every so often that have businesses.  

No real drama, the bike continues to just go and tires seem to have found a no-wear spot.  Even though the remaining tread barely catches a fingernail, it's not appreciably less than when I left in the morning.  My friend has just moved his family from Maine back to AZ and they are living in a 40 foot toy hauler in a park outside Tombstone area.  He's waiting with a cold PBR for me when I show up about 1800.  Now that's a good friend!  I got cleaned up and he took me out for a big slab of prime rib.  

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I just wanted to add a short note about some of the stupid things I do.  This entire trip was just sort of stupid.  Taking an untested truck and trailer halfway across the country, not entirely smart but it's adventurous.  Sometimes there is a fine line between stupid and adventure.  The bike tires likely would have made it all the way to San Diego.  After getting to AZ, I don't think they were any more wore out than they were in NM.  I probably should have put fresh tires on for the trip, but that ship sailed so I guess it gave me something to think of. 

All said and done, a smart man may have drove the truck up there on fresh tires and took a one way flight back to San Diego.  So call me Forrest Gump if you like, "I'm not a smart man, but I know what adventure is."  

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Day six: Fairbank, AZ to San Diego, CA

Another friend of mine who sleeps late....well I can't lay around and watch videos all morning, got tires to mount!  I get a bottle of water and head outside, it's already warmer at 0730 in AZ than it was in most of the places on my trip.  I set the new tires in the sun on the gravel to warm up while I start getting the front wheel off my bike.  I wanted to see if I could do a complete tire change with the things I regularly carry. 

Bike on the center stand, my right pannier works under the skid plate to hold the front wheel off the ground.  I have enough tools to get the wheel off but no bead breaker.  Well, I just start prying at the bead a bit with a tire iron and move about 1/4 of the way around the rim getting it set down just a bit.  Then I put the curved end in and move the bead off just a bit more.  After that, two levers together and use leverage to pry the bead down even more.  It takes about 2-3 minutes but I get the bead broke....success!  I flip the tire over and it goes well on that side also.

Lever off the old tires, spoon on the new ones with a bit of soapy water in a PBR can.  After that, my 12V compressor slowly inflates the tire and the beads pop on.  30 minutes or so and I'm reinstalling the front axle.  My buddy finally ambles out and is surprised that I'm already one tire into this.  The rear tire went almost as quickly, but my compressor wasn't getting the tire to seat.  I think it would have, but we were getting sick of being in the sun so we used his 12V compressor which had just a bit more volume.  I was able to see some soap bubbles and pressed down on the tire in that area and it seated right up.  Anyway, I guess I  am somewhat capable of doing a tire swap with the items I carry. 

The buddy I stayed with is the only guy I am still in touch with from boot camp.  That was a couple years ago, so we are old grumpy guys now who constantly berate each other (in good humor) and it makes his wife laugh hysterically.  Needless to say, I'm always invited back.  They took me out for a nice lunch in Tucson, then back to the RV park for some more hanging out and stories.  I decided that riding home in the nice warm weather was going to spoil me, so I left at sunset.  Nothing too exciting, I-10 to I-8.  It was still high 80's or so after dark until I got to the mountains leading into Jacumba and back home.  Of course it cooled off well there, and I wasn't ready for it.  One last chance to feel cold before getting home.

I pulled up to my garage about 0130 or so.  2567 miles on the bike, 6 days/5 nights, 10 states, 3 friends/family accommodations, 2 camp sites, one new set of tires. Good times.  Add in the truck trip and it's another 2000-ish miles, 6 more states, one week, all staying with family/friends.  I'd say that's an adventure!

I'll get some pics up soon, didn't take as many as I should have of course.

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Yes, it's an adventure.  And short of crashing the truck or bike, who cares if you would have broke down.  For some, that would be the most horrible thing that ever happened to them.  For you it would just been a little salt and pepper on top of your trip as you'd have found a way to make it work. I admire your resourcefulness and practicality. 

Thanks for sharing, and bring on the pics!

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Here’s the total package, $600 Ténéré transport.
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Montana is always something nice.
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Good museum at Hill AFB, free!
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My son and I dress alike, poor kid!

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My good friend Mike from Billings.  
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Theodore Roosevelt NP in ND
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Rural roadblock by a $300,000 combine.  There were three of them.  

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PBR sign at the TumbleWeed Pub

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My reason for adventure, Zelda, my granddaughter.

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My buddy used to call it the Blue Beast, but we renamed her Blue Beauty.

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The tire...yikes!

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My parents farm.
 

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Two tractors side by side.

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My cousin in Omaha, he runs a sports medicine place.

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The lake I camped by outside Dodge City 

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Camp site.  Sad there was a lot of trash, I packed out two grocery bags but didn’t make a dent.

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Dodge City.

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Roswell UFO stuff.

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Lake Avalon by Carlsbad, NM

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Well done; extra credit for the insertion of SpongeBob and Caddyshack clips 🍺🍺

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