Oct 16th- From crickets to crabs

Do you know the sound of one hand clapping?

yes i do, it's when i gave this guy a smackdown.

It was with mixed emotions that i woke up today.  Didn't sleep well at all.  Stress.  something that i hadn't really had on this trip until a few days ago.

I think i work up around 5:30 or so... well before my 7:30 alarm. yay for less than 5 hours of sleep.  I putzed around for a while, knowing the shop would only open at 9, and it probably wouldnt be ready until then.

Had the hotel breakfast.  Cheese omellet, breakfast burrito, bacon, fruit loops, apple juice and coffee.  Pretty good for free.  Well, not exactly free when the room was $90 a night.  Not that expensive considering it was one of the best rooms i've stayed at.  Ok, the hotel in Page, AZ was $140 but considering it was one of the last rooms in town and it was a holiday inn express, it was worth it... except for that disgusting breakfast.

The room was really nice actually  King bed, 5 pillows, very nice...  37 inch (i think) flat screen, nice furniture.  Bathroom was all marble, nice glass walk in shower.  The only thing i hated was the soap.  felt like i was oiling myself up.  I had expensive soaps for that.  Gimme the cheap stuff. it cleans and leaves you feeling clean.  I want an oil stripper dammit, i don't want to be left feeling as if i slathered myself in butter.

Why mixed emotions? 1) i knew today was going to be expensive.  Maybe not as expensive as the one week stay in Richmond, BC last year while my rad was getting fixed, but i didn't know what to expect with the bike.

I went back up to the room as it wasn't 9 yet, and turned on the shower and sat in my personal steam room for a while.  Then i coughed up a nice lung cookie.  I know, who takes pictures of that? i do.  Here is is.

I sat up in bed with most of the pillows behind me almost fell asleep watching TV.  I was/am exhausted. It wasn't what i was watching on the History Channel, but rather just being comfortable in bed with nothing to do... it was easy like sunday morning... cept it's not sunday.

Went to the bike shop and the bike would take another 30 mins to an hour to be fixed. Back to the history channel i went.

It's interesting that that the tactics used in the tribal wars between the isrealites and the palistines in BC times, that were written in the bible, were used by generals in the first and second world wars going over the same terrain.  neato.

Finally got the bike at around 10:30.  $450 or so? can't remember.  Got a new chain and sprockets and the power delivery is so smooth now. wow.  They checked everything else, oil/air, cam tensioners, Horn and speedo cable.
The relay on the horn blew and they don't have the relay.  piece of crap relay.  They didn't have a speedo cable in stock either.  oh well, maybe i'll find another shop along the way that does and can install it cheap.  It's not really that needed, but i'd like to have the odometer and trip working correctly.

front sprocket and chain. woot.

rear sprocket and nice shiny chain. won't be like that for long

I packed up the bike and put the new cradle in it's place and works well (as i knew it would).

As you can see on my GPS, i'm listening to Guns n Roses.  What's good about it? see that little thing on the top left that says HairNation? and the other thing that says XM on the top right?


Introducing my gift to me. The gxm 30xm. woot

Garmin GXM 30XM mounted on left fairing

Told you it was an expensive day for me.
hotel room for two nights $180
various crap from home depot $60
Bike repairs $450
audio cable to replace defective one $8
new cradle and XM reciever $250

being able to listen to different kinds of music at the touch of a button while riding.

Priceless.


 Left the hotel at around 11:30. Today i was running late and didn't want to be as i wanted to meet up with Dan and his wife in Lake Charles, LA.  I didn't want to be late, because i hate not keeping my word.  If i say i'll be there, i'll be there.  sometimes late. heh.

I let the GPS plot the quickest course to Lake Charles, and it took me mostly off the interstates and on put me on the highway system, bypassing all cities.  Works for me.

Not 10 miles from Granbury, a very large object hit me in the right cheek and stuck there.  Man it hurt, looking down, all i could see was yelow and black, so i flicked it off in haste.  Last time that happened was in 2008 on my east coast trip and the wasp stung me.  once, maybe twice.  It hurt.  First time i'd ever been stung i think.  Anyhow, didn't get stung by whatever it was.  Here's a hint.  always put down the full face sheild.  It'll protect your face.

Not many pictures of Texas because, well... Texas has no real scenery t speak of.  Not the highways i was on at any rate. The roads are nice to cruise on and the speed limits are high.  Nice roads for the most part, just a bit boring.  Oh California, how i miss you.

I realized once hitting about 75 mph that the wobbling was still prevalent.  Crap.
Not as bad as before (until i got on interstates) but still there.
I was pissed off, boiling hot and wanted to keep hydrated, so i stopped in at Mcdicks.
Why because mcdicks? Wifi.  Only reason actually.  The smoothie was ok.

saw this and laughed.

I wish i had a girlfriend that dirty. lol

Not much of interest to see, except a bunch of broken towns, so i listened to a lot of musc.  Pretty good actually,  except not loud enough nor does it have enough bass.  Then again, This is XM RADIO, not CD quality.  overall i'm fairly happy with the GXM 30XM... wish they didn't play the same music in a loop though.

I have a theory as to why my bike does a wobble.
it's not a single thing, but a compound issue.
1) small wobble with the front at high speeds.  Could be tire pressure, balance, alignment, shocks.  Maybe when it fell over on the right side a few times it knocked something out of alignment somehow. who knows.
2) weight.  Look at the picture of the bike on day 1 (sept 20th) and look at it now.  I still had some space in the cases then.  Now, the cases are full and so is the large duffle bag i have.  It's too damn top and back heavy.
3) drag.  I'm probably have the same drag coeficient as a 1 ton truck.  I'm not kidding.  a typical sports bike has on the size of a car, and a cruise the size of a pickup.

to simplyfy:  It's top heavy, wide and all the weight is in the rear with a wobbly front.

OMFG... my bike is a big fat black bitch. this is not a racist comment. If it were a different color, i would have said the color the bike was in.  Then again, if you're offended, fuck you, you shouldn't be reading this. heh.
after much riding and much music I finally got to Beaumont, TX and hit a starbucks.  I needed it bad.  i hadn't had a decent cup of coffee that day, so i needed that, but more importantly i needed the Wifi so i could grab Dan's number which i forgot to write down.

Late as i wash, he and his wife were up to meeting up with me at Steamboat Bills. Woot.  It was already dark by now, and he was only about an hour away.

The interstate ride was.. .interesting. Many big rigs on the I-10 and at night you could see my headlight shining the two lanes on each side of me, back and forth, back and forth.  Heh.  it freaked people out and they fell in behind me... or maybe it was because i was hitting 82. Think of the fishtailing like surfing and  I was hanging 10. I've never surfed before, so you can just imagine. lol

Got to Steamboat Bill's and ordered a Pistolet and a Crawfish and shrimp combo platter.  Anyone who is a seafood lover would love this place.  People who don't like anything from the sea would like this place.
Was awesome.  Dan and Rebecca were sitting under a 10 foot stuffed gator.  Neato.
I actually hope Rebecca delivers on halloween! how cool would it be for them that there's an assured party for them on every birthday!! you need to think long term... Instant social life and drinking partners. heh.

Grats in advance on the baby guys...

Crawfish and shrimp, on a bed of fries, with a deep fried bun and slaw. AWESOME.  No shot of the pistolet as i ate it so fast.  It was awesome.

Delicious!

Steamboat bills is a no frills type of place.  You order at the counter, everything is fried and it's delicious.  I regret not taking more pictures, but i was too busy enjoying myself.  I should have had one of the happy couple, and of the 10 foot stuffed gator over our heads. ah well, next time.  i was so exhausted.

It was great meeting with them and chatting for a while... i had a great time.  I really need to do another tour soon of the eastern seaboard and mostly the south.  fear i spent too much time on Route 66 and the west coast that i'll run out of time and won't make this ride epic. meh.  Next time.

I took a room at the Oasis Inn, almost right beside the restaurant.  It seemed like a non-chain, cheap motel.  It is.  The wifi sucks, but i was warned ahead of time.  for half the price of the hotel in Granbury, it's worth it.
The pain peeling wasn't great to look at but at least the soap here doesn't make me feel like i just rubbed lard all over myself. It helps that the shower worked and the bed was comfortable.

Time for bed.  I was sitting up and dozed off while writing this in notepad.