Florida Keys Ride, Fifth Day

Tire Delivery Boy

This morning I called the bike shop in Jacksonville about a tire for Bob.  They did, indeed, have the size and brand he had before.  So, Dave and Bob proceeded to tear the old one off, and I went to pick up the new one.  When I got back, they had the old one off and everything prepped for the new one to go on.  With the right tools, proper technique, and a bit of soapy water, one can change a motorcycle tire in twenty or thirty minutes.  We got it mounted and back on the bike directly.  And, as predicted, we were back on the road by Eleven a.m.

Old Tire Off and in the Dumpster

We went north on I-75 to Tifton, hung a left, and rode through the rest of Georgia all the way to Selma, Alabama.  West Georgia and East Alabama are beautiful.  In particular, the road from Eufaula to Montgomery was great.  Little hills, bends, perfect weather, and even the smells were refreshing.  Now I understand why they say  “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Since we left my house in Louisiana, five days ago, we have ridden over 2300 miles.  Dave and Bob have gone nearly 4000 since leaving Utah.  And Dave rode his new F650GS from Seattle to Utah before all this.

Waiting Patiently

Speaking of miles, I almost put my Corbin seat onto my GS (I had it off because Stac likes the stock one better, and it would have taken me about twenty minutes to change the brackets).  However, I decided not to because I rode on the stock seat from Louisiana to Utah before in twenty five hours with not too much discomfort.  Bad decision.  Laziness.  Fatal error in judgement.  Yeah, all those things.  I actually have blisters where my butt cheeks meet my legs.  I stopped into Walmart and bought some off those blister bandages, which I will be applying to effected areas before we ride out in the morning.  I am lying on my stomach as I type this post.

After we checked into the motel this evening, we went to a little home cooking joint to eat.  The food and the prices were quite good.  They had a sign on the wall (see picture) I thought was fitting to my condition.  It says Butter My Butt And Call Me A Biscuit!

Florida Keys Ride, Fourth Day

Bob's Back Tire

Today we rode from Cudjoe Key to just east of Jacksonville, Florida.  We were trying to make it a little ways up I-75 and into Georgia.  However, I had to make a call, and when we stopped, Bob and Dave noticed that Bob’s back tire was worn to the bone.  Ouch!  We usually don’t like them to get anywhere near that used.

 

Bob Pointing at His Lame Tire

Due to this unfortunate oversight, we stopped  here for the night.  Tomorrow morning, at nine a.m., we will call a motorcycle shop in Jacksonville about a tire.  When we confirm they have a suitable replacement, one of us will go get the tire while the other removes and tears the lame one down.  If everything goes smooth, we will be back on the road by eleven.

 

Tomorrow, we will ride up I-75 to Tifton, then cut west on Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway.  We will likely make it to somewhere in Mississippi.

 

Florida Keys Ride Prelude

As I stated in my last post, Dave and Bob are riding down here, to Louisiana, from St. George, Utah.  Dave is on his R 1200 GS and is having clutch problems.  Bob is riding his R 1200 RT and is having no problems, which is the norm for BMW motorcycles.  They made it to Plano, Texas last night, just north of Dallas, and Dave had no clutch at all when they stopped.  For some reason, the clutch gets worse when he is going highway-speeds and it is not even engaged.  Then when he stops and the bike sits for a while, it improves.  It must have something to do with a migrating air bubble in the line.  If it is, in fact, the slave cylinder that is bad, we are hoping the BMW Motorcycle shop there in Plano will have a replacement in stock.  If not, we will have to look at other options.

Sam will be working on a rig during this ride, so he took the trip by himself last week.  He started from my house in North Louisiana, rode down the Gulf coast of Florida and back up the Atlantic side.  He did not go all the way down to the Keys, but does have some recommendations on several roads to take.

On his way back up we had some vicious thunderstorms go through here, complete with high winds and tornado watches.  He made it out of Florida, through Georgia, Alabama, and part of Mississippi with no problems.  Then, when he made Jackson, MS, his luck ran out.  Normally, when we hit weather, we either suit up and go through it or hole up for a while and wait it out.  For Sam, neither option was looking too attractive.  The weather channel said it was supposed to be severe for at least a day, and Sam was due on a rig that night.

He called me about driving down with a trailer to get him.  Jackson is about 4-and-a-half hours from my house.  A nine-hour round trip would have put us back at my house around 10 p.m., then he would still have another three hour drive to his rig.  I finished what I was doing, hooked up a bike trailer, and headed to him.  Now Sam had called me from the kind of gas station where you have to slide your money through the little slot beneath the bullet-proof glass.  Between that and the weather easing up a smidgeon, he decided to at least ride to a nicer place.  Once he was on the road, (he did have rain gear, but not much for the cold) however, he decided just to keep going.  Once you are in it, you get a bit numb to it.  Once you stop, however…

Back in the stable

Sam called me again from Monroe, Louisiana (About two hours west of Jackson).  He sounded a bit shakey, but otherwise intact.  He rode through the storm to nicer weather, but was cold to the core so it is still a good thing I came to retrieve him.  His “Don’t Ride Naked” sheepskin seat cover looked like a dead rat in a ditch and he was shivering like a chihuahua, but he shaved 4 hours off our trip.

First Post

This is a first-post test in order to get the settings right and to get this blog up and running.  I created a category for “Past rides”.

Dave, Bob, Mike, Stac, and I went through Oregon and Northern California in September 2010.

Brrrr!

This picture of Dave was taken at Crater Lake.  It wasn’t really that cold, and the roads were fine.

We are planning a ride down to the Florida Keys.  In fact, Dave and Bob are already on the way down to my house, in Louisiana.  They rode from St. George, Utah to Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday.  Today, they will make it to near Dallas, Texas, where Dave will need to go to the BMW Motorcycle shop to pick up a new slave cylinder for his clutch.

His clutch on his R 1200 GS has been acting up.  He bled it before leaving Utah, which helped for a while.  However, it is mushy again; indicating the need for the slave cylinder.  He will pick that up in Dallas, finish the ride to my house Saturday morning, and work on it here.

We will likely ride out of here Sunday.  I will post details on our current ride tonight or tomorrow.