Haven't had much of a summer here in Porkland.. rained well into July.. With the short summer season this year there hasn't been any time for riding since I've been buried in house projects.
So I think I'll take off in the morning and head east through Oregon and Idaho. Then turn south into Utah.. stay a couple of nights in Utah.. make one of those nights in Mexican Hat. Then continue on down into Arizona and stop in Sonoita for a while.
Once I've had my fill of Arizona, I'll head back north, then west at Phoenix. Make a stop in Palm Desert and see how Pat is doing. From there make my way north back to Porkland.
Should be an interesting loop.
Pics... we need plenty of pics.
Taking Spot with you this time?
well hell ya Garth :yahoo: get out and ride.
If you end up anywhere near sacramento , throw a shout out . :good2:
Let me know when you're going to go thru Tucson, if I don't have to work we should be able to get together....
Made it into Salt Lake yesterday night. No so much a fun ride after dark, though thunderstorms and such. Got pulled over only about 45 minutes into my day (Monday). Turns out both my tail lights had burned out. I just checked the damn things a couple of days before. Thankfully no ticket, but spent a while on an off ramp in the rain and dark swapping tail light bulbs. Good thing I tossed a flashlight in my tool case.
Looks like I'm going to be on the edge of more thunderstorms today and will get better as I get further east.
Pilot Road 3 I had put on the back is a very nice tire. No surprises and grips really well.
Rich, I'll be going through Tucson on Wednesday afternoon on my way to Sonoita (about an hour from you). I'll be there through Monday so I'm sure we can figure something out.
Here's the link for the Spot tracking.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0i83kAQ0qJ3KaJWYnplqbCV7oXmIHhTDf (http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0i83kAQ0qJ3KaJWYnplqbCV7oXmIHhTDf)
I'll get a link for pics when I get some up.
Our friend Garth just dumped his FJ about 2 hours north of Mexican Hat. He said the wind got him. He is continuing riding on to Mexican Hat tonight. Apparently he and the bike are mostly okay but he needs to borrow a right hand mirror for an 86-87 FJ to finish out his trip. He will need it over nighted to an address in Arizona and will of course pay for shipping, etc. Does anyone happen to have one they can loan out for a week or two?
I will have one on the way.
Randy - RPM
Thanks randy, I could send mine but the Right one has the weight knocked loose and expanding foam decaying and seeping around the glass. With your mirror Garth won't sound like a conga band sitting at a stop light.
Well as Marsh stated, I dumped the FJ today.
Was buzzing along at about 70 or so and had been fighting wind and thunderstorms all day long. Not really tired, but a bit wet and a little chilly. Totally alert, but looking forward to reaching Mexican Hat and taking a long break.
A huge gust of wind came up and blew we across the highway. Totally unexpected, and thankfully there was no oncoming traffic and by some miracle a turnout. As soon as the wind hit and I was moving sideways across my lane I let off the throttle and started braking. When I entered the turn out (which happened to be a road) there was some fine gravel and I locked up the front wheel since I was on the front brakes.
The bike started to move into a high side, but I let off the brake a bit and got the front wheel turning again but it was still wanting to high side. Finally I wrestled the handlebars around enough to stop the high side and damn near had the bike totally stopped when it went down on the right side. Virtually no speed left and I was able to hop off as it was falling. Bike slid less than a foot.
A guy in a truck behind me a ways stopped and helped me get the FJ back on its feet.
Only damage is the right hand mirror and some scrapes on the engine bar. FJ fired right up, after checking a few things and texting Pat and Marsh to see about getting a mirror I was on my way back down the road.
So I'm totally fine. In Mexican Hat.. Just had a nice steak dinner and now know what Klavdy and others meant by the wonderful showers here at the lodge. :) IIRC I had a bit more water pressure than what Klavdy showed in one of his videos.
I managed to get a few pictures today, and will get them posted up once I reach my destination. Have my phone tethered to my laptop right now and it's not too speedy of a connection.
Have less than 500 miles left and will gain an hour of time as soon as I cross into Arizona, so no huge hurry to get out of here in the morning.
-Mr. Bean
got in touch with Randy and he's sending the mirror.
Thank for the assistance Marsh and Randy. I owe both of you a few beers.
Good deal Garth, glad you and your bike are ok .
The winds in that part of southern Utah are treacherous. Rest up. Watch out for the storm cells that sweep in. You will se them come in. I got caught in one out in the 4 corners area and had no cover at all, totally exposed. I wanted to crawl under a tumbleweed.
That's dangerous country out there. Beautiful but dangerous.
Enjoy Monument Valley at sunrise....or sunset, when the low sun casts shadows on the rock faces.....
Also until you get to Kayenta, keep your radar detector on, the tribal cops don't like white guys who speed....check that, they just don't like white guys period.
Thank you Randy. Pat
Quote from: pdxfj on October 04, 2011, 09:50:00 AM
Made it into Salt Lake yesterday night. No so much a fun ride after dark, though thunderstorms and such. Got pulled over only about 45 minutes into my day (Monday). Turns out both my tail lights had burned out. I just checked the damn things a couple of days before. Thankfully no ticket, but spent a while on an off ramp in the rain and dark swapping tail light bulbs. Good thing I tossed a flashlight in my tool case.
Looks like I'm going to be on the edge of more thunderstorms today and will get better as I get further east.
Pilot Road 3 I had put on the back is a very nice tire. No surprises and grips really well.
Rich, I'll be going through Tucson on Wednesday afternoon on my way to Sonoita (about an hour from you). I'll be there through Monday so I'm sure we can figure something out.
Here's the link for the Spot tracking.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0i83kAQ0qJ3KaJWYnplqbCV7oXmIHhTDf (http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0i83kAQ0qJ3KaJWYnplqbCV7oXmIHhTDf)
I'll get a link for pics when I get some up.
I work Wed. nite (leave the house ~4PM), but have Thurs. and Fri. off.... sent ya a PM.
Enjoy the 191 between Alpine and Morenci in AZ. Extra vigilence on animal detection and avoidance on that section. It is worth the trade off, animals for cars! :D
:drinks:
I have an original right mirror after I did a CRB mirror mod. Let me know if you need it.
YO Garth I got a mirror for ya . :good2:
I am gonna try to call you now.
I had a similar problem with my taillights. Get a pair of LED 1157 bulbs (WHITE! Red wont' work!), and you're golden. Beats ass over swapping them every week or so!
Sorry about the spill.
I made it to my destination yesterday evening just fine. No rain, although a bit chilly in places.
Something is funky with my HID setup and I'll have to switch back to a standard lamp for the trip home. Headlight flickers really bad with the engine vibes. From what I can gather it's the base of the lamp vibrating (the part that moves). It always flickered a little, but is totally unusable now and I'm sure annoying as hell to others at night. Riding at anything above about 45mph at night makes the headlight useless.
Coming down out of Flagstaff I was a few miles from a rest area. I noticed on the other side of the freeway a car flashing their lights. Three flashes, then stop. Three flashes again and stop. Wasn't quite sure what they were trying to say, then it hit me.. Cop..speed trap... let off the throttle a bit and crested a hill. Sure enough right across from the rest area there was a Arizona Highway patrol car waiting with radar gun out.
Quote from: andyb on October 06, 2011, 08:22:44 AM
Get a pair of LED 1157 bulbs (WHITE! Red wont' work!), and you're golden.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! There is actually no such thing as a white LED., they're a shade of blue or yellow. Yellow/Blue light does not have very good transmissivity through a red filter (taillight lens), so you WILL get a dimmer light. I bought a 5W Red 1157 LED that is the best single lamp led I've ever seen.
YMMV,
Quote from: simi_ed on October 06, 2011, 12:03:20 PM
..... I bought a 5W Red 1157 LED that is the best single lamp led I've ever seen.
Why have only two led's when you can have 10?
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/49_13_03_10_12_33_24.jpeg)
(http://fjowners.com/gallery/49_13_03_10_12_35_09.jpeg)
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=1629.0 (http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=1629.0)
Quote from: simi_ed on October 06, 2011, 12:03:20 PM
Wrong, wrong, wrong! There is actually no such thing as a white LED., they're a shade of blue or yellow. Yellow/Blue light does not have very good transmissivity through a red filter (taillight lens), so you WILL get a dimmer light. I bought a 5W Red 1157 LED that is the best single lamp led I've ever seen.
And if your red lamp is a wavelength mismatch to the lens, you'll end up with less light still. Is what I did, is why I made the suggestion--first set I bought were red and a total waste of money! Works a ton better than having one or both burned out and not being aware of it!
The integrated massive LED thing is better still, but if you're just looking for a quick fix on the road, you can get the lamp replacement types at any auto parts store.
My time in Arizona is done, and I'm now at Pat's place in Palm Desert. Rather warm ride across the desert today, but not a big deal to me since it wasn't raining.
Have some pictures up. I've been a little slow updating them. Most of them were taking while riding..which I'm still perfecting my technique...
http://s964.photobucket.com/albums/ae130/pdxfj/Arizona%202011/ (http://s964.photobucket.com/albums/ae130/pdxfj/Arizona%202011/)
Still have over 1,000 miles to go before getting home.
Still playing with that little pop-gun I see mate.
great pics Garth :good2:
Looks like you got to the Titan Missile Museum..... wish I'd known, would have met you there. That .50 looks like fun, too!
Quote from: RichBaker on October 13, 2011, 11:11:45 PM
Looks like you got to the Titan Missile Museum.....
Worst part of that place for me was the 'Watch Out For Rattlesnakes' stencils on all the stairwells... :shok:
Hey Rich,
It was a last minute decision. Was a toss up between the Titan museum or the Pima Air Museum. Since my friend had been to the air museum several times and hadn't been to the Titan museum the choice was obvious..My next visit down we're going to work it around the available dates for the in depth tour of the facility. It's 5 hours long and they take you all the way to the bottom of the silo.
Made it from Marsh's house all the way to Redding today. Made good time even with a side trip to the bay area. Lane splitting is an art form I have yet to fully figure out. Maybe it's because people in Oregon run you off the road or block your path if anyone attempts it here.
Ok.. so I'm a geek.. who happens to like animated moves and can appreciate the amount of work that goes into them..Thus a quick side trip into the bay area was necessary..No public access, but still fun in my book.
(http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae130/pdxfj/Arizona%202011/IMG_0683.jpg)