klb1122
0
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 2,531
- Reaction score
- 96
- Location
- Houston, TX
- First Name
- Kory
- Last Name
- Burleson
Since this is going to be THE year for University of Houston football, we decided to make the trek to watch them take on UCLA at the Rose Bowl. It didn’t take me long to decide I wanted to take the bike. It would be a great excuse to fill in California on my “states ridden” map. I didn’t have to do much convincing to get my brother, Brett, to ride with me. He loves California and would be living there today if he could. My 7-month pregnant wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law would all be flying over for the game and a little sight-seeing.
Riding Day 1 – Thursday – 9/16/2010
Houston, TX to Gila National Forest
After work on Wednesday I dropped my wife and sister-in-law off at the airport and then went home to finish packing. I loaded up and headed over to my parent’s house to stay the night. Brett did the same. It would be easier for both of us to start from a central location. The 25 mile ride over to my parent’s house was the first time Connie has hit the road since Trippin' Connies - Take 2 & +1. I have her 95% back to normal, there are a couple of items scratched I’m in no hurry to fix.
I set my alarm for 4:15 am in hopes of being on the road by 5. A quick look at my clock once we hit the road revealed it was 5:05 am, so we left at what I would consider on-time. The first gas stop was just outside of Houston in Sealy, TX. Brett didn’t start with a full tank of gas, hence the early stop.
We hit the morning San Antonio traffic. While in traffic, Brett noticed something was wrong with his rear brake. It was very early in the trip and my mind was already wandering if it was about to come to an end.
We made our next stop in Comfort, TX. We filled up the bikes and as Brett was pulling up in front of the store there was a nice grinding noise coming from the rear of his bike. We started looking at it and noticed the inner brake pad was missing. Where in the world did it go and how did it fall out? I started looking around and then I noticed both of the pads were on one side of the rotor. Since there is apparently nothing to really hold the pad in place, when he installed the new rear tire both pads moved to the outside. Luckily it was caught now and not too much harm was done, just a little metal on metal action. He removed the bottom two bolts of the caliper and slid the one pad out and moved it to the other side. Problem fixed. We walked inside and grabbed some burritos at McDonalds. We probably ended up spending 45 minutes at this stop, but at least the FJR was back in business.
Next stop was in Sonora, TX. After leaving here, and just a couple miles down the road, I opened my face shield to get some air. Not much later I got hit by a bug next to my right eye. The worst part was I could feel the bug then go into the ear pocket area of my helmet, and it was still very lively. After a bit of buzzing around and what felt like stings I had to pull over. Brett was leading and I tried waving to get his attention and then hit the shoulder. I got my helmet off as quickly as I could and then saw the bug fly away. Maybe I just imagined the stings because nothing ever came of it.
This is what it looked like:
Fort Stockton, TX was the next gas stop, then Van Horn, TX. From here on we were skirting storms and got rained on a few times.
The ride through El Paso was just as it always seems to be, a downer. I generally try to avoid the town if at all possible, but with time restraints on this trip, it wasn’t. Dark clouds surrounded the town and we had some traffic here and there. The worst part was the wind was blowing sand everywhere. The littered road made Houston look clean. Trash was flying all around and I had to pick it out of my Baker Air Wings. I was almost taken out by a ferocious beach ball sized tumbleweed. Just when I thought we were free we hit construction on the West side of town. It went down to a stopped one lane. We lost quite a bit of time here and by the time we broke free of the construction we were in Las Cruces. Here we exited I-10 and headed North on I-25. All traffic is eventually diverted to a check-in station. I rode up to the officer and he said, “Ar joo a US cizytn.” I couldn’t hear him with my earplugs so I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” He repeated, “Are you a US citizen” to which I replied, “yes sir!” A “have a good day” later and we were out of there.
Final gas stop for the day was just North of Las Cruces, NM. The wind was blowing hard here still and it was difficult not to get dust in our eyes. We parked on the side of the building for cover and took a little break. Brett scored 4 packs of Pop-Tarts for $1 in the clearance rack. I didn’t check the expiration, but they tasted great. I got a gallon of water and topped off both of our Camelbaks for the night ahead.
We finally got off of the Interstate when we exited on NM152. The reason for this was two-fold: 1) I rode this last year and really enjoyed the road and 2) part of it runs through the Gila National Forest and we were hoping to find a place to camp. The first several miles are straight as you head towards the mountains. After that, the road livens up and gets twisty. As soon as we started getting to the good stuff, it started raining on us. This knocked our pace down considerably with the fresh rain on the road. As soon as we entered the National Forest, there was a small campground right off of the road. At the moment it wasn’t raining, so I pulled over and we discussed whether to stop or keep going forward to where I had planned. I had the day’s route stopping on where Google said there was a campground, 8 miles up the road. I convinced him to keep going and so we rode on. Almost immediately it started raining again, but the worst part was the road surface turned horrible. It was in the middle of a re-surface, some sections were all gravel while others were repaved but had loose rocks everywhere. It was bad news: raining, getting dark, tons of gravel, all on a tight and twisty mountain road. The 8 mile trip took us about 30 minutes, but we arrived at our campground. Sweet, except it wasn’t a campground! It was just a scenic overlook, which we contemplated camping at.
As it continued to rain, we decide to chance it and just keep going West in hopes we would run across another actual campground instead of staying or heading 30 minutes backwards. Lady Luck (or the Man Upstairs) was on our side because as we were pulling out of the overlook area a local had pulled over to re-arrange something in their car. Brett asked him about facilities up the road and he said we would run across a couple of them. Woo-hoo! We rode on and came to this nice little primitive campground. It contained a restroom and a couple of camp spots with a picnic table and fire pit at each. We checked the place out and picked our favorite. It was still sprinkling as we quickly set up camp.
By the time our tents were up, it was dark. Dinner time! Chef Brett cooked up some mean lasagna for me. Boil some water, pour it into the pouch and stir, then let it sit for 8 minutes or so, and BAM! Lasagna! He went the breakfast-for-dinner route and had another pop tart and some scrambled eggs. After seeing/smelling his scrambled eggs, I definitely got the better end of that deal.
We pretty much ate and then hit the sack. I thought I’d have a hard time sleeping, but that wasn’t the case. I zonked out pretty quick. It was nice and peaceful, not another person for miles. Camping at 7200 ft… I could get used to this.
About 900 miles tallied for Day 1.
Riding Day 1 – Thursday – 9/16/2010
Houston, TX to Gila National Forest
After work on Wednesday I dropped my wife and sister-in-law off at the airport and then went home to finish packing. I loaded up and headed over to my parent’s house to stay the night. Brett did the same. It would be easier for both of us to start from a central location. The 25 mile ride over to my parent’s house was the first time Connie has hit the road since Trippin' Connies - Take 2 & +1. I have her 95% back to normal, there are a couple of items scratched I’m in no hurry to fix.
I set my alarm for 4:15 am in hopes of being on the road by 5. A quick look at my clock once we hit the road revealed it was 5:05 am, so we left at what I would consider on-time. The first gas stop was just outside of Houston in Sealy, TX. Brett didn’t start with a full tank of gas, hence the early stop.
We hit the morning San Antonio traffic. While in traffic, Brett noticed something was wrong with his rear brake. It was very early in the trip and my mind was already wandering if it was about to come to an end.
We made our next stop in Comfort, TX. We filled up the bikes and as Brett was pulling up in front of the store there was a nice grinding noise coming from the rear of his bike. We started looking at it and noticed the inner brake pad was missing. Where in the world did it go and how did it fall out? I started looking around and then I noticed both of the pads were on one side of the rotor. Since there is apparently nothing to really hold the pad in place, when he installed the new rear tire both pads moved to the outside. Luckily it was caught now and not too much harm was done, just a little metal on metal action. He removed the bottom two bolts of the caliper and slid the one pad out and moved it to the other side. Problem fixed. We walked inside and grabbed some burritos at McDonalds. We probably ended up spending 45 minutes at this stop, but at least the FJR was back in business.
Next stop was in Sonora, TX. After leaving here, and just a couple miles down the road, I opened my face shield to get some air. Not much later I got hit by a bug next to my right eye. The worst part was I could feel the bug then go into the ear pocket area of my helmet, and it was still very lively. After a bit of buzzing around and what felt like stings I had to pull over. Brett was leading and I tried waving to get his attention and then hit the shoulder. I got my helmet off as quickly as I could and then saw the bug fly away. Maybe I just imagined the stings because nothing ever came of it.
This is what it looked like:
Fort Stockton, TX was the next gas stop, then Van Horn, TX. From here on we were skirting storms and got rained on a few times.
The ride through El Paso was just as it always seems to be, a downer. I generally try to avoid the town if at all possible, but with time restraints on this trip, it wasn’t. Dark clouds surrounded the town and we had some traffic here and there. The worst part was the wind was blowing sand everywhere. The littered road made Houston look clean. Trash was flying all around and I had to pick it out of my Baker Air Wings. I was almost taken out by a ferocious beach ball sized tumbleweed. Just when I thought we were free we hit construction on the West side of town. It went down to a stopped one lane. We lost quite a bit of time here and by the time we broke free of the construction we were in Las Cruces. Here we exited I-10 and headed North on I-25. All traffic is eventually diverted to a check-in station. I rode up to the officer and he said, “Ar joo a US cizytn.” I couldn’t hear him with my earplugs so I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” He repeated, “Are you a US citizen” to which I replied, “yes sir!” A “have a good day” later and we were out of there.
Final gas stop for the day was just North of Las Cruces, NM. The wind was blowing hard here still and it was difficult not to get dust in our eyes. We parked on the side of the building for cover and took a little break. Brett scored 4 packs of Pop-Tarts for $1 in the clearance rack. I didn’t check the expiration, but they tasted great. I got a gallon of water and topped off both of our Camelbaks for the night ahead.
We finally got off of the Interstate when we exited on NM152. The reason for this was two-fold: 1) I rode this last year and really enjoyed the road and 2) part of it runs through the Gila National Forest and we were hoping to find a place to camp. The first several miles are straight as you head towards the mountains. After that, the road livens up and gets twisty. As soon as we started getting to the good stuff, it started raining on us. This knocked our pace down considerably with the fresh rain on the road. As soon as we entered the National Forest, there was a small campground right off of the road. At the moment it wasn’t raining, so I pulled over and we discussed whether to stop or keep going forward to where I had planned. I had the day’s route stopping on where Google said there was a campground, 8 miles up the road. I convinced him to keep going and so we rode on. Almost immediately it started raining again, but the worst part was the road surface turned horrible. It was in the middle of a re-surface, some sections were all gravel while others were repaved but had loose rocks everywhere. It was bad news: raining, getting dark, tons of gravel, all on a tight and twisty mountain road. The 8 mile trip took us about 30 minutes, but we arrived at our campground. Sweet, except it wasn’t a campground! It was just a scenic overlook, which we contemplated camping at.
As it continued to rain, we decide to chance it and just keep going West in hopes we would run across another actual campground instead of staying or heading 30 minutes backwards. Lady Luck (or the Man Upstairs) was on our side because as we were pulling out of the overlook area a local had pulled over to re-arrange something in their car. Brett asked him about facilities up the road and he said we would run across a couple of them. Woo-hoo! We rode on and came to this nice little primitive campground. It contained a restroom and a couple of camp spots with a picnic table and fire pit at each. We checked the place out and picked our favorite. It was still sprinkling as we quickly set up camp.
By the time our tents were up, it was dark. Dinner time! Chef Brett cooked up some mean lasagna for me. Boil some water, pour it into the pouch and stir, then let it sit for 8 minutes or so, and BAM! Lasagna! He went the breakfast-for-dinner route and had another pop tart and some scrambled eggs. After seeing/smelling his scrambled eggs, I definitely got the better end of that deal.
We pretty much ate and then hit the sack. I thought I’d have a hard time sleeping, but that wasn’t the case. I zonked out pretty quick. It was nice and peaceful, not another person for miles. Camping at 7200 ft… I could get used to this.
About 900 miles tallied for Day 1.