Albuquerque to DC and Back

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HotRodZilla

GOD BLESS AMERICA
Joined
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Albuquerque, NM
Well, the trip to Washington DC for "Police Week" is in full swing. We left Albuquerque this morning at 0700. True to my record, it immediately rained on us. It was cold all the way to Amarillo. I took a coiple pictures, but I used my daughter's Polaroid point and shoot, so I'll have to get them off the SD card later.

Not a bad day, with us ending up in Henryetta Oklahoma. However, imagine my surprise when the lead guy pulled over for our first fuel stop at 115 miles. He rides a 1700cc Kawasaki Vulcan bagger with something like a 4.3 gallon tank. Holy Hell. THEN, we're traveling at 75mph. I'm riding in the back, just listening to music, trying to stay awake, and enjoying the scenery. Today was a LONG 630 miles, but it's for a good reason, and I don't have anything better to do, so I'll just roll with these guys.

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll have more tomorrow.

 
You picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines riding with the cruiser boys.
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have a good trip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeI5ke0BENwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeI5ke0BENw

 
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Zilla, it will all be worth it in the end, I am told that Police week in DC is something to behold and is an experience like no other. I think riding the FJR with fellow forum riders spoils us as to what riding can be like, when I ride with other guys that have 'real bikes', we seem to stop as soon as I just get comfortable in the saddle. That storm you ran into gave my wife fits while flying back from Cancun yesterday, I think it was the first time she got air sick from turbulence.

Safe travels, and from here on out, fair winds and following seas.

 
May you and the boys stay safe AJ. How many rider's you have with you?

I won't make it to the DC ceremonies this year but if you make the run next year maybe I'll get to shake your hand.

 
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Sooooooooooo, take 3 guesses where we are!

Nevermind, I'll just tell you. We are at Old Fort Harley Davidson in Fort Smith Arkansas. Why you ask? Well, one of the guys heard noise coming from his primary yesterday. I told him it sounded like his primary chain was loose. Sure enough, those model years of Screaming Eagle HDs have some issue with a buffer in the primary drive going bad and letting the chain come loose. Luckily he has extended warranty, and this place has the parts. So, we're here for about 3 hours, not including the near hour it took them to decide that was the problem. Oh, well, I don't have anywhere else to be, and it's super cool of them to get him in and done so fast. However, a bike needing a drive part with 21k on the clock makes me cringe.

Oh well...it's not a good trip if it's not an adventure. There are 4 of us making the trip. It was supposed to be 5, but one bailed out. It's a good thing we all get along.

 
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Police week? What--- free beer and donuts? Nothing says we appreciate and respect you like free beer and donuts.

Regret I missed it.

You need a place to crash on the way home, look me up.

 
Well, even with the 3 hour delay, we made Jackson TN, which isn't far from our orginal goal. We were able to ride more miles between stops as the altitude has lowered. Now that Vulcan is running close to 140 miles on a tank. Lol...I'm getting 47mpg at these speeds. Lesse...47x6.6=310. I could comfortably ride 290 miles if we keep this up. That's never happened on a trip.

So, regarding the Harleys, neither of them are obnoxiously loud, and the two guys riding them are decent riders. The one on the Screaming Eagle that needed repaired is a VERY good rider, and a super cool guy. What's funny, is we were all in the Traffic unit at some point in our careers. Two of us rode motors, and two didn't. That guy was the Traffic/Motors Sergeant up until about 6 months ago.

Either way, we got back on the road in a decent amount of time, which I thought was amazing. I couldn't believe they had the parts on-hand, and they dropped what they were doing to get us going again. Nice. Those guys gave me AR riding map books, which I haven't read yet. They look interesting though.

It was all straight boring freeway today, so nothing great about the ride to report. However, I did have an interesting conversation with an old guy at a gas stop. Obviously I was parked with the guys, and he was talking their heads off when I walked in the store. When I came back out, it was my turn. So, "H" = him and "M" = me and the () are just my thoughts:

H: So, you having a hard time keeping up with these guys?

M: No, actually, I'm really off the throttle and just riding in back. I normally ride faster for longer periods, but we're just taking it easy.

H: Well, I mean, this seat you have (I have a Spencers with a smuggler in back). It can't be very comfortable, and those bikes are the king of the road, so you gotta be having a hard time.

M: Actually, no, that's a custom seat (I fibbed a little) and is very comfortable. I normally ride 800 to 900 mile days, with some going over 1000 miles, and one trip where I rode 1400 miles in 23 hours straight. I'm not having any problems keeping up. In fact, one of those guys had to buy an air cushion because his butt was killing him.

H: Oh, well, are you running tubes in your tires, or tubeless?

M: Tubeless radials.

H: Are you sure?

M: I have 70k miles on this bike, and I installed those tires, so, yes, I'm sure.

H: Well, do you check the air?

M: (WTF...YES, mother) Yes, I checked them this morning. They were good. I check them every day.

H: That's good, because if you have a tire with tubes in it, and it gets about 10° hotter they'll pop and you'll need the whole freeway to slide that bike around under your ass. Happened to me once. You see, radial tires won't pop, they'll just slow leak, where a tube will pop, because you can't see what it's doing in there.

M: (Now, just looking for an out.) Yup, that's why I run radials. I don't need my tires blowing me up. Haha...You have a good day sir.

Then he got I his truck and left. Hahahaha...I think he was just tying to be nice. I'll say, in all my times through AR and TN, I've never met a jerk. People always just want to talk, including the truck driver from Alaska at the same stop. He said something about getting home once and his wife had her boyfriend's boxers on her head. I couldn't help but laugh, so I chalked that one up to "information I didn't need to know."

That was it. Rest of the day was easy, just droning along, listening to music. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Haha...We're like 680 miles from DC, so I'm betting we don't get all the way there, but we'll see. Maybe they'll surprise me.

I'll do an update tomorrow...

 
I wonder what he would have said if you told him they were airless radials.
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Even if you are on four lane slab, being on a trip on your bike is still the best. Save Travels!!

 
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Haha...Day 3 is done. Nothing much to report for today. It was a standard day on the road, which is good, because that means nothing went wrong.

We skirted the rain until we got to Virginia and then we hit it. Big raindrops that felt like the size of quarters. I'm sure they weren't, but they felt like it. Thankfully, even that didn't last long.

The guy I'm rooming with, Paul, and I wanted to just get to DC. The other two wanted to stop. We hit Christiansberg and tried to get a hotel. They were either sold out or $280/night. Apparently Virginia Tech is having graduation, so hotels are full. We continued on to Roanoke VA, which puts us within 250 miles of where we need to be. Who stops 250 miles from the end destination? Oh well.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which is funny, because we're 1500 miles from home and had Mexican food. I did the same thing in Johnson City in like 2009. Haha...Either way, it was good.

The Screaming Eagle is making noise again. Paul just walked in, pissed off about it. He says he's gonna ride it, and if it breaks, he'll rent a car. That thing has brand new parts. Don't know why noises would be back.

That's ALL I have. We're gonna leave in the morning. Paul and I are staying at his Step-mom's house, outside of DC, and the other two are hoteling it in the city. I'm wondering if their reservations aren't until tomorrow night, and that's why they insisted on another night on the road. Either way, Paul and I have a shorter ride tomorrow, and we should be done quick. It's 221 miles from here. I'm not even going to get gas.

 
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It's funny how a trip with more days in it means more stories vs. the same trip where you do it as quickly as possible. I like how this trip is shaping up. And it's a good thing you switched to tubeless tires before this trip. You also switched out the spoked wheels too didn't you?

 
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