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I would go from DFW through El Paso, on Hwy 20, to Las Cruces, NM, turning North on 25 to Albuquerque, East to Amarillo on 40 and finally Hwy 287 to Ft Worth and Arlington. Distance on Rand McNally listed 1,565. Alternate route would be 20 West to Lordstown, NM and return, staying South, if the forcast was bad. I preferred the Northern route, as being more difficult. Especially when you consider ldriders difficulties in the NorthWest and North East. Our distance rides are a lot easier than theirs due to faster roads. My hat's off to them!
The K1100LT was new in April,a left over 95, and generally is ready to go, providing the tires have enough wrinkles left on them. Topped the oil, checked the air. It has a Fuel Safe aux tank and a new service, just a few weeks ago. While they were at it, a Stainintune exhaust was installed. (replacing the ruined stock exhaust) The forcast Looked like it would be ok, with thunderstorms going thru DFW around 4:00am and really bad weather, East of Dallas.
Jack Tollet and Paula, the OinC, met me at 6:15am at the IHOP and bought my breckfast and signed the witness form. It was starting to rain, it must be time.
I wore a thin poplene long underwear set, BobRay's FinE Tshirt, jeans and thermal socks and leather wellington boots. My 2pc RoadCrafter, puchased in June, with 18K miles had not seen a drop of rain. I guess the lucky spell is now broken.
Checking out of the new Mobil, I notice there is no time on the receipt. Had the young lady put the time on and sign it. Better get out of here, the clock is running. Fiddle with that damned Radio Shack timer, have figured out how to set one clock counting down and the other counting up. It worked the night before, now it doesn't start. Later, leaning on the tankbag, it suddenly starts. It is headed for the trash.
Within 2 hours, I'm out of the rain and the sky is blue and beautiful. The brush, trees, are wet, so the colors are more pronounced. The State Troopers are on HWY20 in force. I earlier took a large post it note and wrote the 4 legs and distance,in a column, and next to it 2 more columns with time needed, if I averaged 70mph and at 75mph. This was a constant reminder and I'll keep doing this.
The first leg was kept at 80 to 85 and planned gas would be at Big Spring, Tx. As I was almost there, I thought, if I fuel now, it looks like I'll have to get gas shortly before ElPaso and then have to stop again,for the corner, getting fuel before heading North. I passed Big Spring, Midland and pulled into Odessa. By then 311 miles had been covered at 34.1 mph and 73 miles per hour. I did not time the length of breaks. Although I felt ahead, and only took minutes to gas, by the time the pit was checked and I pulled out the turkey sandwich, then nearly choked on the sandwich, trying to swallow it instead of chewing it. The pit stop turned out to be much longer. Resolved to slow down on this next. Probably lost 5 minutes waiting for the lump to move further.
Made El Paso, fueled, more Turkey and the traffic was heavy. By the time I pulled out on the West side, my mph for the over all trip had dropped 5mph. The turn North on 25 put me in a 55 mile speed limit and I started to get a little edgy. In a while it was 65, I felt better.
As the elevation rose, going towards Albuquerqe, it got cold. I finally pulled over at a rest stop and put on my old faithfull 3flags sweat shirt and my winter gloves. The historical marker told of a nearby Union fort was built to control Indian raids and were defeated by Confederate forces. The rebs were no doubt in a hurry to get out of here and get back where it was warm. It was nearly dusk and I kept pushing North. Seemed like a long 279 miles. My mph dropped to 65.6 and fuel was staying the same range at 34.9.
Albuquerque was busy Friday night. Pulled out the electric vest. Now I had everything on that I owned. Attempted to call home on the pay phone.
I gave up and got the cell phone out of the tankbag. Left a note on our recorder and headed East. I can begin to see the end of the road, just up the road a piece and turn right.
Leaving town,a Cherokee and I were positioning back and forth at 80-85mph. I noticed a gold stripe on a car door as we passed. It was a state patrol. It was a 75mph zone, and he wasn't interested in us. It was by now noticably colder. There was very light traffic and I found that my speed was edging upwards. Nearing Santa Rosa, the snow fluries started. The roads were still clear and I needed at least 2 hours before I could turn South. This was the fastest leg at 80.5mph, including the last fuel stop. The snow by then was gathering on the windshield but the road was still ok.
Stopping at midnight in Amarillo, I was hungry and hoping to see a Wendy's for a quik bowl of chili. Stopped again for fuel. It now was seriously cold. It was 32 degrees and wind out of the NW. By the time the fueling was complete I was shaking badly. Hurried to get the bike and the electric vest started. Then, got turned around and lost 287. I was concerned about bridges and roads because now I could see the road shining. It was getting serious. Back tracked and found 287 South and the games were ready to begin again.
287 is a divided 2 lane, going through small towns, each with their own aggresive police forces. I was through the snow and the road was clear.
When I arrived at Decatur, I had 3 hours left to go 40 miles. Short of something unfortunate, this was going to be successful. Stopped at a Whattaburger and got a not so quick breckfast and cup of coffee. Stopping at 3:30am, the food is not ready and the employees are not in too much of a hurry. The young counter guy was telling me that he used to have a Kawasaki Ninja, for 2 years and just sold it because he wasn't riding. uhmmmm interesting! "is that sandwich about ready?"
I moved fast into Fort Worth, right through on hwy 30 to Arlington. Stopped at the Fina station at the Ball Park in Arlington and topped up.I had been alert all day and night, but I let up a little getting near home and missed the turn off. I went on to the police department and the desk officer came out and checked the odometer..kept asking what I was getting out of this? I already have the license plate, so I guess I'll just take the knowledge that I did it and can do it again!
The overall trip averaged 69.9 and the milage was 36.6. Elapsed time was 22 and 1/4 hours. Arlington was only my 5th fuel stop in 1515 miles.
I would as soon not do this without aux fuel. This is huge advantage and I'm sure saved at least an hour. I had planned on topping up at Wichita Falls, Tx but my fuel milage had increased to 44 mph. Saved one complete stop.
Thoughts on the trip:
I had a few powerbars, left over from Rawhide, One was open and I managed to finish unwrapping it. It still had enough life in it to stick to my tank bag map cover. Next time, I will precut these into 2" long pieces where I can eat them through my full face helmet. I found that my gatoraid bottle with sport button top could be squeezed and drank while driving. I needed to carry more food that I could eat while riding as I wasn't going to stop. I did realize that I needed to stay out of the resturants, once I was really cold. I would have sat there too long getting warm before going back out and continuing the sport. :(
I'll remember that in the future too. My feet were cold, and I would have froze in the Stitch, except for the electric vest. Maybe, we should consider a down jacket, in case of breakdown where we do not have a battery to utilize. The bike was flawless, though I'd better start using ear plugs on long runs. What you say man?
Susan had stayed up all night and we went to bed at 7:00am. I was ready. Good luck to everyone doing an endurance run this winter. See you at the Pizza Party!!
Dave, I'm going to think some more about the stock seat before the IBR, Cowherd
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