Mileage update.....

So, I was sitting thinking while updating my blog with the latest little trip. I have been back on motorcycles since December of 2006. As of this week it has been 2 1/2 years back on the bike. I was kind of curious what my open road mileage was. I know what my odometer says on the Russian, it puts me in the neighborhood of 20,000 miles. The R90 has not had a working odometer between when I got it, and May. Between may and now I have put around 1800 miles on it. guessing at 400 miles per month for commuting, I would put it in the neighborhood of 1200 miles of commuting on the R90 before the odometer fix.

What I ball-parked was about 14,000 over the road miles in 2 1/2 years by mapping out the routes to the major trips I have taken over the past couple years. My total mileage, including commuting should come up somewhere around 24,000 miles in the past 2 1/2 years. That is actually not that bad really. I think I need to do something about it though. Time for another trip.

TTFN

Dave

Back in one piece

The return trip was fun. This was just a short little run to get Angela's legs under her for what a road trip would be like. It was just a little jaunt up to Stephenville, TX and back. I think the highlight of the trip had to be when we first rolled in. After 170 or so miles, not a long day one, we pull up in front of the hotel and she slumps across the tank of her bike. It was kind of cute. In one day she had almost doubled her total mileage on the bike. When we started off she had ridden about 100 miles total around town. At the end of the first day, she had put in 170 miles in about 5 hours. To top that off, she did it on a Suzuki GZ250. That is the little cruiser that competes with the Honda Rebel. That is a decent ride on a full size bike, but on the little Suzuki it was a beating.

Here is the shot of her on her tank:



When we stopped in Hamilton for Angela to get gas on Day 1, she found the cutest thing. I was standing in front of the store and I got a text from her. It confused me a bit, because I thought I knew where she was. It just said, come look what I found. When I got inside, she was pointing at this display and giggling. I almost peed myself when I saw it. I got a quick shot with my phone so I could share....use your imagination. We wanted to bring one back, but it probably wouldn't have survived the heat.

Here is the popcorn on a cob:



I think this was my first clue that she had slipped into vibration induced psychosis.


The trip back today was fairly uneventful, except for me missing my turn to get on US281. We ended up going over to this little town called Meridian. When I figured out that we were in the wrong spot, we cut back over to 281 so we could head home. We got to stop at this little place called Hard Eights in Stephenville. It is an awesome little BBQ shop that Kel and I found on our way back from Hot Springs a couple years ago. Yes, they are still as good as I remember.

Here is us in front of Hard Eights:



While we were there, we had one of the guys running the pit take a quick shot of us together next to our bikes. It had to be done, I guess.

The little "detour" that we took on Highway 6, allowed us to go through this area called Cranfill's Gap. It is westbound on FM22 from Meridian, TX. It is not incredibly high, but it is very pretty. All in all, it was worth the 45 mile detour.

The rest of the trip back was uneventful. We pretty much ran straight through because we were kind of running from the Texas summer "cold front" that was moving south. That means it was around 85 degrees. The problem is that when the 85 degree air hits the 102 degree air, you tend to get snap thunderstorms and high erratic winds. We did manage to make it home in one piece though. It was a very nice ride. I think I want to do it again.

Here is our return route:


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Dublin on the 4th of July.

This was a shining example of "The best laid plans, and all that jazz". This little trip was originally conceived as a good excuse to get a friend of mine out on her new bike and get dome road miles under her. The original plan was to take off this morning from Austin and go to Dublin, TX to get a Dublin Dr Pepper (look it up, ya'll). We roll about 160 miles in heat ranging from 98 when we left to about 102 when we rolled into Dublin. When we get there, the significance of the date becomes very obvious to me. It is the 4th of July, everything is closed. The only thing that I noticed open as we rolled through town was a restaurant that looked abandoned except for the flashing open sign. I just decided to roll us on to Stephenville to hit the hotel. Depending on how we are feeling tomorrow when we get to Lampasass, we might come back through Lago Vista and Marble Falls. That would mean 1431. We are going to call the ball on that one in Lampasass, because I want to make sure we are not too beat from the heat, and make sure she has her confidence up for that ride. The road isn't that difficult, but it is very high stakes and doesn't give you much time to rest.

Here are a couple shots from the day. Didn't end up taking many pics, mostly a couple shots when we got into the hotel. Hopefully I will be able to get some more tomorrow on the way home.

Here are the shots:





Here was our route:


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Have fun, I will close out tomorrow night when I get home.

Dave