Back in the ABQ.

I got another good nights sleep. So now I'm off to the dealer to get that tire replaced. I'm lucky as they can fit me in no problem. Unfortunately, no free service vehicles. Its a rental car for me :-(. They do give you a dealers rate, so it's not too bad.

First stop is, for one of those great breakfast burritos that I had on the "breaking bad " tour last year, @ Los Pollos Hernando's . It's actually Twister's.

Man, these burritos are even better than I remember. I'm in heaven.

Ingredients:
Ground beef
Sour cream
Bacon
Sausage
Cheese

Mmmm.

The sign is ironic, if your a Breaking Bad fan.

Just in case you were wondering:

The ostrich was still there, but I couldn't see the Lima today. From here I head back downtown and head over to "Chuck's house from "Better call Saul". So I end up passing a few familiar places.

Here's the laundry, and if you look or zoom the pic, you'll see the sign for the " Dog House", just down the street.

Chuck's house is just down the street from the Pinkman abode.

10 minutes later and I'm over at "Mike's" day job at the parking booth.

Just in case you were wondering, your seeing the ABQ convention centre in the background. The court house is at least a 5 min walk away.

Next I'm over to " Mike's house. Which is only a 5 min drive away from the parking lot.

Now I'm off to southwest ABQ to see Tuco's house. Tuco wasn't home, just a nice old lady who couldn't speak English :-)

From Tuco's, it's over to the offices of Saul Goodman. The last time I was there it was vacant. Now there's a bar in there.

Its nice and also smart of them to keep the lettering.

What can I say, I never pass up a military surplus store. A good selection, but as I'm on the bike, it would have to be special for me to buy.

Now I'm off to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and Technology. I have no idea on what to expect. I was not disappointed. This next section is for nuclear weapons geek's. Being a child of the cold war, I grew up with some of this stuff.

If your not into it, just scroll on through.

These are not mock ups. They are the real deal, just with all the innards taken out.

The gadget, below, however is a recreation.

I could fit this little guy in my trailer.

This is known as a Backpack nuke.

Here's MIRV. Before and after reentry.

 
The Trident missile, it's a lot bigger than I thought. The Ohio class that carries it must be huge.

Ever wonder on how they upload the "codes". Now you know.

A 105mm shell, as you can guess, this one is a little special.

A selection of the boxes that keep the weapons safe and secure.

The outside displays.

I was surprised, the Polaris was a lot smaller than I thought.

The Mark 17.

I really enjoyed the visit to the museum and considering I got stuck here for the day, I've had a really good time.

Those clouds you see over the mountains came over in the afternoon. So there were some thunderstorms and we had rain all night and into the morning.


Milage today 2, driving to the dealer.

Destination "ABQ", but will I make it, or do I call Saul?

 I ended up getting a good sleep, and little did I know it, I was going to need every minute if it.

Yesterday's blog crashed while I was proof reading it, so I had to redo a big chunk of it :-(. Its also freezing out there, as in 32° freezing, but hey, at least there's no snow. But I'm not too worried, as by the time I leave, its going to be warmer, I hope.

I took this after I cleaned my part of my seat.

 I do the 3 S's and pack the bike, and checkout. It's time to hit the highway, which is just down the street. I'm in to first gear and then 2nd and that's when it happens, I lose the shifter and I'm stuck in 1st gear. So instead of hitting the on ramp to I-40, I head straight to Love's truck stop and shut her down. It's not what I needed on the trip. The "What do I do, the fuck now", thoughts come to mind.

Anyway, time to dig the tools out and see what's actually gone wrong. 10 minutes later, I have it apart and one of the pins (screw) has sheared off the linkage. It's a known problem.

One of the reasons I upgraded the shift linkage is so this would not happen. This could have happened for a couple of reasons. The first one was, because I dropped the bike on the shifter in Trenton, ON and I had to readjust it a few years ago, to get it working again. The second reason, someone could have been playing with the bike when I was not there (like last night when I was sleeping). The third, that I can think of, was that the upgrade was actually defective. So whatever the reason was that it broke,  I've still got to fix it. Thank God the guys on the BMWlt forum  for recommend that you carry a spare, which I do, and its the old one. I give credit to the gentleman who designed the upgrade, because all the parts between the old and new one are interchangeable. So some of the old and some of the new parts come together and its as good a new ;-) (I hope). The biggest problem is readjusting the shifter so it shifts both up and down, which sounds easier than it actually is. It took three adjustments, which actually means taking it apart 3 times to get it working well. It's also at this time, that I noticed the rear tire had a couple of bulge's on the tread. I could ride the tire a few miles, but nowhere near all the way home. So a quick prayer to the motorcycle gods that the tire will last at least 350 miles, so I can get it to a dealer in the ABQ.

By the time I get back on the I-40 its 10:30 in the morning. This is going to be a full tank to empty run, and that's how it turned out. 220 miles later I arrive in Gallup, NM and the bike just starts going into reserve :-). A stop at McD's for lunch, fill up the bike and back on the road.

The lens was greasy, but I like the pic. 

I check the tire and it is holding up. Funny part is that both took 1 1/2 hours, 1/2 hour for lunch and updating the blog, and 1 home, for the time change. Now I'm back on the road for the easy part, 130 miles, and I get into Albuquerque, NM around 5pm. Lucky for me, I happen to book the motel 1 1/2 miles from the dealer, and this was before all my problems started. The only problem is that they are closed Sunday and Monday's. I like the ABQ, so if it had to be stuck anywhere, I'm glad its here.

Yea, that's my bike down there, hey, they can't be all great pic's.

The temperatures rouse after I got on the other side of Flagstaff, AZ from 70° and all the way into the 80°'s when I got into the ABQ.

The 3 wheelers are from Québec

The usual wind down and dinner, good night

Today's mileage 365 miles / 587 km
Totals.  695 miles / 1118 km

Distance to Niagara scooter run 1801 miles
Or 2898 km

Leaving Vegas and hopefully I'll see the Grand Canyon this time.

Well at least I got a good nights sleep last night. I'm up at 5am, so hopefully I'll be on the road for 7am. As I open up the curtains, the sun is already starting to rise. For some reason I'm not a go getter in the morning, so I don't hit the road till 8am

That's the strip way down there. By staying way out here in Henderson, it gives me a 1/2 hour jump. I'm glad I did, plus no losing in the casino.

As luck would have it, the casino next to the hotel was closed down. I'll take that as a hint.

I bought these to help out with the bad motel coffee, now I just have to remember where I packed it.

All loaded and ready to go. The drive down to Kingman was fast, thanks to the new highway 93 Hoover dam bypass bridge.

The only thing that sucks is that you can't see anything while driving over it. I guess that's not a bad thing. Though, that didn't stop a few tourists from pulling over by the bridge anyway.

The rest of the drive down to Kingman was relaxing. Desert driving, I find is really nice, the sweeping curbs and some long straights make for a really relaxing drive. that and almost no traffic.

Time for a coffee break. since I can't really  be bothered to hunt for a Starbucks, I'll take the McDonalds instead.

Just what I needed. the break also gives me time to update the blog. but now I must be off, my first stop is Seligman, AZ. I Drive through town but find nothing of interest this time. I don't need any souvenirs and I'm not really hungry, so too bad. So now back on I 40. The nice part about I-40 is the speed limit in Arizona. It's set at  75 mph, plus I usually add a little on top, so I set the cruise control at 80 miles an hour. A couple of hours later, I see the sign for Williams and the Grand Canyon. I'm getting closer. but time for a gas stop.

Gatorade in/coffee out, gas up, and a nice break. 55 miles later I get to the park. What a nice smell of pine trees. The line up wasn't to bad and bikes pay less (cars $25, motorcycles $12. As I get to the parking lot I see these guys.

All the cars parking don't seem to bother the elk. That and the hunting ban in the park. The nice thing about the bike is you can usually park right up front.

Just off to my right is this little guy. These guys are way too tame. Anyway, I came here for a reason.

Wow, you really have no idea how big the Grand Canyon is until till you see it. These poor pic really don't do the canyon justice.

It really is a long way down.

For those of you wondering, hey, isn't it mother's day, and your at the Grand Canyon? No worries, as I took my mom out to Joe's crab shack last week and gave her a mother's day phone call from the Canyon.

Where's the river?

That's it way down there.

Want to go to the bottom. Here are some guidelines on how long it will take. I decided to pass ;-)

Like any other Natural wonder, you can only look for so long and its time to be off. Now for the test, would I go back again? The answer is yes, it is yes. The drive back to Williams, AZ is ok, except having to overtake motorhomes every 5 min.

Fill up the bike for tomorrow, supplies for the ride and the room and I'm off to check in. When I was talking to the gas station clerk he was talking about the snow storm they had yesterday. Bikers with snow build up on their windshields. Glad I wasn't here yesterday.

I check in and relax, a few hours of TV and I'm off to bed, I'm tired, but its been a good day.

Today's mileage : 330 miles / 531 km

Back in Las Vegas

After only 4 hours of sleep after work,  the big day has arrived. Well, not quite. I've still have to go down to work for sign up. If I don't go, and chances are, I won't get the best peice of work for those weeks. The sign up went well, and so did the subway/bus trip out to the airport. Only a few people @ the United check in counter, unlike Sunwing, where there were 100's  in line waiting! As I found out, first class upgrades on my connecting flight means no extra baggage charge, yea!

Unfortunately my cheapo rolling luggage bag that I bought in Vegas last year, didn't do so well on the trip to the airport. I had to fix it with some tie down straps for the bike and lots of Air Canada packing tape, hopefully I won't or have not lost much.

I get the full meal deal at the security check. It's getting felt up time for me. It was almost like getting a massage, so I'll leave it at that.

At least the concourse has improved, lots for you too spend money on. It's a light lunch for me, a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and a drink, $24. Gotta love flying out of Toronto.

I'm off to "cattle class", so I end up with some twitty 20 something old kid next to me. He's just a little annoying, so I ended up watching " Birdman". It was okay, but nothing special. 3 odd hours later, were in Denver. Rainy, cloudy and cold. Just like Toronto for the last 3 months.

Plan "B", was to ride back through Denver and the mountains. After looking outside, that plan is dead. So I'll be doing Route 66 as far as St. Louis, anything after that is open.

I've got some layover time, about an hour, which gives you time to do things, but after you do them your flight's boarding. My quest for a bottle of Dr Pepper was successful.

Now onto  first class upgrade time. I just wish I could afford it all the time. Pre boarding, pre take off drinks and Dish TV.
Happy Tross :-))

A great view of Lake Mead and Las Vegas


We land in Vegas on time, and I'm off to pick up what's left of my luggage, actually I saw it being loaded in Denver, it looked OK there ( hopefully it survived).

Wow, those first class stickers worked on my luggage, mine came down the ramp 3rd in line. My luggage looked OK, but we shall see when I open it.

I go to pick up my rental car, they've got 3 people on the counter on a Friday night in Vegas :-(( Way to go Avis.

40 minutes later I get to the counter. Well at least I got a cheap upgrade out of them.

A 5 series BMW. Nice car, now only if I can figure out how to use the extras, which I mostly did the next morning.

I'm off to the motel to check in, unload and hit the pillows. It was a good day, as long as you accept that a travel day is a write off.

Day 2

What can I say. 5 hours of sleep and I'm awake. Unpacked the battery that I shipped down and topped it up, which only took 5 mins. I might as well head over to the locker, since I'm up, with stopping at a Starbucks for a coffee.

Of course I miss the exit for the locker, but I get there quick enough.

Well that looks positive, my lock is still on
:-)

Everything is as I left it, yea!!

I take out the old battery and in with the new. Reset the TPS and turn the key. She start's right up. My worries are all gone now. I load the old battery and crap into the car. Too bad I forgot to bring all my motorcycle gear back to the motel ;-(.


Now for the missing stuff:

My Kevlar Jeans for riding, I should have looked harder at home for them.
My GPS, though, it might still be with the bike somewhere. (Update, it was in the top case)
My leatherman, its either at home or fell out of the luggage.
My hot temp riding boots, I guess they're with my jeans.
Shirts and polos, guess they're with the jeans as well. Back to the outlet store to buy some more clothes.

I head back to the locker to finish putting the bike back together, and it actually goes well. I close down the locker and park the bike until I return the rental car.


So now I'm going over to the outlet mall too buy some jeans for the ride home. To bad they won't do anything to protect me if something happens. It's ends up being a double trip as I need some shirts & polos.

Now over to In-N-OutIn-N-Out, for a cheeseburger and shake, cheap and good.

Since the pinball museum is just down the street, I head down there as well. Its always good to get a pinball fix.

In the PC world of today, someone would be offended by this machine, right, flower child ;-)

Its been a good rental car, but time to return the really nice rental and pick up the bike. There's a Taxi stand at the car rental place, so no waiting. $15 later I'm out @ my bike and on the road. A quick stop at Wallymart to fill up the tires. The great guy there actually filled them up for me as I rolled the bike for access to the tire valves. Then I'm back to the motel for some packing the bike, update the blog and some well earned sleep for a long day tomorrow.

A new year, and going back to Vegas to pick up the bike.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Namely because I've done nothing but work and pay off the
"Big One" from last year. It's taken till April to pay off, but it was worth it. One thing that I do know, is that I will be going back to the west coast sooner than later. Hell, I didn't even get down to Dave's and Rich's over the winter.


On the scooter front, I picked up a slightly used clutch off a accident scooter on ebay to fix that clutch slippage (I think) from Port Burwell last year. I've also got a new belt and rollers etc to cover everything else.

$75 and from the pics, the pads are almost new.
Funny thing is that I haven't been on eBay for a long time and on a whim decided to have a look, then this pops up.







Well you know how it goes, you can't stop at one thing. The seller also had this for sale as well.

Both are from the same bike, and the tire still has most of it's nibs still on. Just makes you wonder on how far down the road this scooter got from the dealership when it was crashed. $70 for the rear tire and rim, how can you go wrong.


Just to show you how much I've been procrastinating, I bought these in January and it's almost May, and I'm just going to pick them up now. Well, it's not like the weather has been great. (Update), I've picked them up and, WOW. The scoot these came off couldn't have made it far or even off the dealer lot. A win for me!


Now on to the bike front. As I write this I'm just over a week away from heading to Vegas to pick up the bike and bring it back for the season. The original plan was to go to Vegas in February , for the scooter run and have a bike to ride instead of renting a car like usual. Well, that plan got thrown out after the bills from the bucket list trip came in, $$$$. My work was good enough to allow me to change that week of vacation to single days, which I can use over the year, or even some for next week (like 3 days of them).

The biggest problem is, when my plane lands,  is that I have to go to the storage locker and pick up the battery for charging. The problem is that my flight lands at 8:10 pm and my storage locker closes up at 9 pm. To be honest I can't see me getting my luggage and rental car and being at the locker at 9 pm. Now you might ask yourself, why not take an earlier flight? Well, I have to go into work for Sign up, this is where I pick my work for the upcoming weeks. End of the day, I can't miss being there. The battery was getting cranky anyway in the cold, and I've got 2 years on it, and whatever the previous owner had on it. So new battery time. I could pick up one when I land in Vegas, still, I would have to get it Saturday morning, and hope that I don't have to take to much time topping it up. The cost is $156 USD at a battery supply shop for a Odyssey PC-680, which is AGM. Just in case you were wondering, the BWM dealer OEM battery is $202 for a sealed gel battery. I'll take the better, cheaper AGM anytime. But it did get me thinking on what the price would be for the battery here in Ontario, as I could put in in my luggage .


Surprise, surprise, this comes up,


Aircraft Spruce

$149 CND. It's cheaper and in Canadian funds. So I have to pay taxes and shipping, so it comes out to around the same. If the name Aircraft Spruce sounds familiar, it's because a lot of Toronto area scooterists have used the site for ETG guages, etc, for years and at a reasonable price. Since I know these guys, I order it on a Tuesday afternoon and get it delivered at my door Thursday at noon.  It' has a good date code on it, so I threw it on the charger, and a 1/2 hour later it's all charged up and repacked for the trip. I decided to ship it out ahead, so it will be waiting for me at the motel when I land. Since I'm going down to visit my Mom for a early mothers day (I'll be in Vegas for the real date) I dropped it off at USPS and it's on it's way.





Well, no guarantees the link below will work, so what the hell, and this is a test. Hopefully you can at least leave a message. Damn thing won't let me test it on Preview,

Talk to the Tross.




It's now a couple of days before I go and I'm into packing everything and cleaning the apt. As I've learned on past trips, nothing is better than coming home to a clean house and fresh bedding. The battery has arrived in Las Vegas and is at the motel waiting for me, That and my mom's coming up to stay at my place to visit friends while I'm away ;-)

Niagara Scooter Run 2015

May 15th - 17th, 2015

Well, Rich and Dave have pulled it off for another year, and here's the Facebook link for all the info:

Niagara Scooter Run 2015

Look at all those happy campers!!

But when you get there, it makes it all worthwhile!!

If we can get a weekend like this again.

You do have to make it there first!

Jeff Fish has yet again managed to get tons of firewood for this year, so remember to thank him!!! Same rules as always, pay at the gate, get your pass and set up your stuff!!!!



This is my pre trip post. It looks like everything has come together and in a couple of posts you'll get to see what I forgotten to pack. One of the big questions is will I make it back in time to go on Niagara?

Even I don't know the answer, it really depends on weather, what kind of stops I make and if there are any problems. Enjoy my upcoming posts!!


Cheers,
Tross


Upcoming trips

Ride back from Vegas May 8th - 20th
Niagara  May 15th - 17th
Back to Detroit weekender (gotta see the rest of the Henry Ford Museum
PVSC
Port Burwell Scooter Run
Fall ride down the East Coast to Key West.
Plus a few more things.