What Have You Being Doing With Your Non-triumph Today?

No inspections are required in Arizona--at least not that I know of! I truly can't even remember the last time I drove a vehicle that required an emissions test for annual registration. The only inspections that happen are those folks do on our own or when we bring vehicles in for service at regular maintenance intervals.

 

Not today, but Saturday.

Detailed Clyde getting ready for our trip next weekend to Fort Davis, TX. We plan a ride through Marfa, Presidio, down river road along the Rio Grande, through Terlingua, and back up to Fort Davis through Alpine. It's a ride we've done before and we loved it but it's been a few years so we're excited to do it again. Of course I also did safety checks, i.e. air in tires, etc.

Poor Bonnie was ignored that day, but I'll make it up to her.

Please pay no mind to the condition of my garage -I am not an organized person, much to the chagrin of Mrs. JtC.

 

Enjoy your trip, mate. That's what it's all about.

 

That sounds like a great trip, JtC! Have fun and I look forward to some pics and stories.

 

I will try my best, Sandi. I will guarantee the report will not be as good as yours are, so keep expectations low, please.

 

Not much, it’s pretty much sorted.

 

I know I will enjoy whatever photos and stories you care to share, @JtC! Your best will most certainly be more than fine. Your best will most certainly be more than fine. Most of all, have fun!

 

I appreciate that, Sandi! We will have fun!

 

@JtC, I have been meaning to ask you how your daughter is doing with her new riding career!

 

She is getting along well, thanks for asking. Some friends took her out for a ride/instruction just to get her some highway experience and her neighbor rides a Harley and is riding with her as well -giving her lots of tips and support/encouragement.

Of course she has dropped the bike a couple of times at or near standstill so no damage other than a broken mirror -well worth the lessons that were learned. I told her that is what first bikes are for. She has a great attitude and is still excited about it. I told her there will be a point when she stops thinking about it and just does it naturally.

 

Have a good trip @JtC and lets see some pic's most of all take care

 

Thanks for the update on your daughter, JtC! I'm glad that she has some friends to ride with and who mentor and encourage her. Glad too that she's seen that she can drop that first bike (thankfully) and that it can turn out ok. The key really is that she has that great attitude and excitement. And a dad who will talk with her about all of it. Yes, she will eventually do those things naturally that she now has to think so hard about. It will all "gel". I'm excited for her--and I've never even met her!

 

Took advantage of the sunny but cool weather with a run out around Littleborough, Hebden Bridge and Ripponden on Kwacker. Done about 500 miles now so getting run in and she goes in for the first service Tuesday morning.

 

After putting over 3k miles on the SS over the last 3 months I thought I'd give the Z an airing today. It felt really strange, high pegs, semi race crouch, weight on the wrists etc, dare I say a bit of a pain compared to the laid back easy riding style of the SS. Until I opened the throttle that is. I wonder what a 200bhp Scrambler would be like?

 

Nice one Andy, bike looks great in the sunshine

 

We spent the weekend riding around South Texas and along the Rio Grande on our Goldwing, Clyde . . .

We rode about 4 hours Friday to get to our hotel in Alpine, Texas. A lot of the ride was pretty desolate, but there was some good scenery and twisty/hilly roads once we got near Texas. This is a rest area near the Guadalupe Mountains looking northwest at El Capitan –the tall peak in the distance.


We saw a heard of deer when we stopped for food and fuel in Van Horn, Texas. I’ll bet that is some tough venison!


Once we got to our hotel, we walked across the parking lot for dinner at an old fashioned 50’s style diner. The food was home style delicious, the people were friendly and the “masks required” sign was just to keep the insurance company happy.


Saturday we started our approximately 240 mile loop down to Terlingua, Study Butte, Presidio, Marfa (of the famous “Marfa Lights” which I think are headlights of Border Patrol vehicles), and back to Alpine. Fun fact: While a lot of people view Texas as “flat”, there are 100 peaks in Texas that are over a mile high.

One is called “Elephant Mountain”. There’s also one called “Lincoln’s Profile” we screwed the pooch on getting a photo of, but trust me, it is a perfect profile of Honest Abe!
(There are supposed to be photos here but I emailed to myself twice and they are lost in cyberspace.)

Here’s some photos of the Rio Grande –The great Republic of Texas on one side, Mexico on the other.



They get creative with the rest areas along highway 170 (river road) along the Rio Grande. The scenery is beautiful and the road is challenging and fun with many switchbacks and blind hills that are pretty scary because you know the road isn’t strait on the other side but you don’t know which way it’s turning! There’s even a 15% grade –with curves throughout. The last time we did this ride we went up, no biggie, this time we were heading east to west and went down it. Wow! What a ride. I managed to scrape the pegs on the Goldwing a few times and got a lot of practice trail braking.



We stopped in Presidio for lunch and had some of the most tender and juicy brisket I’ve ever eaten –and that is saying a lot sense I was born and raised in Texas where brisket is king. I think I’d ride four hours for that any time. There was a neat little garden area where we sat and ate the delicious brisket –I think it was called St. Mary’s.

 

Great pictures and write up

 

Just outside Marfa there were these steel posts (?) erected –there were 11 of them and each had a different symbol on them. From the looks of them, I think they light up at night. I dubbed them UFO-henge. Apologies to my brothers and sisters in the UK.




The 240 mile loop was a long and fun ride. We got back to the hotel about 6 hours after we started –we stopped a lot and didn’t try to break any speed records through the scenic areas as I was trying to sight see and keep Clyde between the lines at the same time. We did manage to ton up a few times once we got back onto the desolate part of the highway.

Sunday we took a different route back to the interstate so we could ride the mountain roads and enjoy that thrill just one more time. It’s been a long time since we were able to take a weekend trip on a bike together, so we were tired when we got home having averaged about 5 hours of riding time each day for three days –a total of about 750 miles (I didn’t track it exactly). But our butts never ached and we weren’t sore –that’s a testament to why the Goldwing is the king of touring in many people’s view and I can’t argue with it.

 

Great pic's and write up @JtC its a great place to visit, I must admit when I saw the Rio Grande I expected something a spectacular instead of the trickle of pee it was then, but I was told that a lot off the water was being drained off for the New Mexico vin yards

 

Me too. There are places you could literally step on over without getting wet, for sure, and there are places that will drown you if you try to swim it. Folks have been fighting over that water for a long time, I suppose.