Living here in the southwest is pretty good, 4 mild seasons, low cost of living, decent work, and the Rockie mountains in my back yard. Life is good!
Freezing temps hit a few weeks back, which caused me to reflect upon my rides this past year...
I had gone on two major off road rides this summer, one, up the COBDR on my trusty DR650, and another down by elephant Butte lake, also on the DR.
I had gone on a real nice mountain ride, down the devils highway in Arizona, RT191, leading a pack of sportbikes on the Tenere. Lots of fun.
I also went on 3 different sport rides, one on my Buell 1125, and two on my Ninja 1000, all were great rides, lots of fun, quite a few miles, with good friends.
But...
It had been awhile since I've gone really long distance, and with a new mate at my side that loves to ride, I decided it was time to visit my little brother in Myrtle beach, whom I had not seen since 2006.
Talking with the woman, we decided to shoot out to visit him, pausing long enough to ride the dragon at Deals Gap a few times, and then meander back home along the gulf coast, in the hopes of finding warmer temps, and some fun in the sun.
I set about searching for a trailer hitch for Eeyore, my fine, blue, Tenere. My little Mule as I like to call him
I found a Bushtec trailer at a decent price in Alabama, and that weekend, we drove out in the truck and picked it up. The hitch came shortly after from a member here, that makes them down in Florida. Simply bolt on ::001::
All that was left was upgrading the suspension to handle the two of us. I didn't mind the stock shock so much since it was just me on the back, but with both of us, AND our gear, it was overwhelmed.
A call to Jaxon, and an Ohlins rear shock was on it's way. ::012:: I can't say enough about how well this shock worked, it took a few miles to get it adjusted where I liked it, but it's great. Thanks Jaxon !!!
So, Saturday, before Thanksgiving we headed out in 26 degree temps, heated gear plugged in, trailer in tow. Vroom, Vroom.
We didn't really stop much, just gas and food until we got close to Deals Gap. We burned across the Texas panhandle, and most of Oklahoma. Got a performance warning from one of OK's finest.
This was taken along 129, on the Tail of the Dragon.
Since it was off season, we had the road all to ourselves! We saw in FJR, and later a Mazda Miata, that was it. The whole road was ours ::012:: ::001:: O
We rode back, and forth, I think, about 3 times, awesome. Bike handles so well, even pulling a trailer!
Like I said, there was nobody around...
From there, we continued on to my brothers in Myrtle beach ::26::
My little bro, living the dream on the beach
It felt good to be on the beach, so nice, what a wonderful change from the deserts of New Mexico ::26::
One day was all we got, and then on the road again, down to jacksonville, then west along the gulf. Pensacola, Biloxi, Galveston, Corpus Christi, we stopped in Biloxi and camped near the beach, it was sooooo nice, so warm ;-)
But we kept moving, 4600 miles in 8 days is tough when you want to enjoy each stop :'( ::26:: ::001::
We finally got to South Padre Island, which was our final destination, and most looked forward to. It did not disappoint. The KOA sucked, they are not tent friendly, mostly cater to the RV's that spend weeks at a time there. ::005::
But there was a nice state park on the west end of the island, that has camping, and it had some nice tent spots for $8 a night. Just what we needed. ::003::
If you look close, you can see the crab crawling out of his hole...
Great seafood at Dirty Al's, they will even cook what you catch!
Gorgeous Sunsets
One last walk along the beach before doing the Ironbutt saddlesore back to Albuquerque.
We left South Padre Island Saturday morning, about 5AM and started burning the pavement. I had to document all our stops and route changes for the ironbutt saddlesore attempt.
The weather really screwed us, good thing we were prepared for cold and wet because it started raining as we passed San Antonio. By the time we went through Ft Stockton, the rain was switching to snow, and freezing rain. We pushed on hoping for the best, and about 50 miles from El Paso, we broke out of the foul weather, and actually were seeing stars but the time we crossed into New Mexico. woo hoo! ::001:: ::001:: ::26:: ::001:: ::26::
We pulled into the driveway about 10:35 PM, about 17 and a half hours to scoot across Texas and half of New Mexico, not bad for a little blue mule pulling a trailer!
Hope you enjoyed my little ride report, or "what I did on my Thanksgiving vacation". ::012:: ::003:: ::001:: ::26:: ::001::
We had a great time, and hope to smell a few more roses next ride.
Freezing temps hit a few weeks back, which caused me to reflect upon my rides this past year...
I had gone on two major off road rides this summer, one, up the COBDR on my trusty DR650, and another down by elephant Butte lake, also on the DR.
I had gone on a real nice mountain ride, down the devils highway in Arizona, RT191, leading a pack of sportbikes on the Tenere. Lots of fun.
I also went on 3 different sport rides, one on my Buell 1125, and two on my Ninja 1000, all were great rides, lots of fun, quite a few miles, with good friends.
But...
It had been awhile since I've gone really long distance, and with a new mate at my side that loves to ride, I decided it was time to visit my little brother in Myrtle beach, whom I had not seen since 2006.
Talking with the woman, we decided to shoot out to visit him, pausing long enough to ride the dragon at Deals Gap a few times, and then meander back home along the gulf coast, in the hopes of finding warmer temps, and some fun in the sun.
I set about searching for a trailer hitch for Eeyore, my fine, blue, Tenere. My little Mule as I like to call him
I found a Bushtec trailer at a decent price in Alabama, and that weekend, we drove out in the truck and picked it up. The hitch came shortly after from a member here, that makes them down in Florida. Simply bolt on ::001::
All that was left was upgrading the suspension to handle the two of us. I didn't mind the stock shock so much since it was just me on the back, but with both of us, AND our gear, it was overwhelmed.
A call to Jaxon, and an Ohlins rear shock was on it's way. ::012:: I can't say enough about how well this shock worked, it took a few miles to get it adjusted where I liked it, but it's great. Thanks Jaxon !!!
So, Saturday, before Thanksgiving we headed out in 26 degree temps, heated gear plugged in, trailer in tow. Vroom, Vroom.
We didn't really stop much, just gas and food until we got close to Deals Gap. We burned across the Texas panhandle, and most of Oklahoma. Got a performance warning from one of OK's finest.
This was taken along 129, on the Tail of the Dragon.
Since it was off season, we had the road all to ourselves! We saw in FJR, and later a Mazda Miata, that was it. The whole road was ours ::012:: ::001:: O
We rode back, and forth, I think, about 3 times, awesome. Bike handles so well, even pulling a trailer!
Like I said, there was nobody around...
From there, we continued on to my brothers in Myrtle beach ::26::
My little bro, living the dream on the beach
It felt good to be on the beach, so nice, what a wonderful change from the deserts of New Mexico
::26::One day was all we got, and then on the road again, down to jacksonville, then west along the gulf. Pensacola, Biloxi, Galveston, Corpus Christi, we stopped in Biloxi and camped near the beach, it was sooooo nice, so warm ;-)
But we kept moving, 4600 miles in 8 days is tough when you want to enjoy each stop
:'( ::26:: ::001::We finally got to South Padre Island, which was our final destination, and most looked forward to. It did not disappoint. The KOA sucked, they are not tent friendly, mostly cater to the RV's that spend weeks at a time there. ::005::
But there was a nice state park on the west end of the island, that has camping, and it had some nice tent spots for $8 a night. Just what we needed. ::003::
If you look close, you can see the crab crawling out of his hole...
Great seafood at Dirty Al's, they will even cook what you catch!
Gorgeous Sunsets
One last walk along the beach before doing the Ironbutt saddlesore back to Albuquerque.
We left South Padre Island Saturday morning, about 5AM and started burning the pavement. I had to document all our stops and route changes for the ironbutt saddlesore attempt.
The weather really screwed us, good thing we were prepared for cold and wet because it started raining as we passed San Antonio. By the time we went through Ft Stockton, the rain was switching to snow, and freezing rain. We pushed on hoping for the best, and about 50 miles from El Paso, we broke out of the foul weather, and actually were seeing stars but the time we crossed into New Mexico. woo hoo! ::001:: ::001:: ::26:: ::001:: ::26::
We pulled into the driveway about 10:35 PM, about 17 and a half hours to scoot across Texas and half of New Mexico, not bad for a little blue mule pulling a trailer!
Hope you enjoyed my little ride report, or "what I did on my Thanksgiving vacation". ::012:: ::003:: ::001:: ::26:: ::001::
We had a great time, and hope to smell a few more roses next ride.
