Today is looking a little shaky and we might get caught in a rain shower or two. If we can make Petersburg, Va. without rain, I will be happy to ride in the rain the rest of the trip to Goldsboro, NC. Looks like according to weather reports, I will be driving south away from most of the bad weather, I just got to get past day 1. Here we go.
Weather Radar Loop
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Milestone kinda
This has absolutely nothing to do with our trip or motorcycles, but to me it is still something pretty cool. My 1997 ES300 Lexus just rolled over on 260,000 miles. The old girl is starting to show her age a bit with rock chips all over the frontend and clearcoat peeling on the roof, but mechanically she is good. I still get 28 mpg on the Highway and 24 in the city. She burns no oil, but once in awhile she will leak a drop or two. Transmission is still running strong even though at times around 40 mph the overdrive feels just a little shaky. Interior, no rips or tears and she still very comfortable to ride long distances. The only problem I have is, I'm starting to research what to replace her with and I can find nothing that appeals to me at all. I guess I will just keep running her.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I think we are ready
Today I took a little leave from work to take advantage of the last sunny warm day of the week to tweak a few items on the Motorcycle. After I wired the new GPS up to the bike, I noticed while deceleration I would lose power and it would switch to battery. I must not have made a good splice in the power connection with the supplied clip. I decided to remove the clip and solder the wire solid to connection point. I also topped off the radiator with some antifreeze because I was about a half of a cup low. Something I should have done long ago was install better speakers in the front of the bike, so I removed one of them today, took it to the audio shop, only to find out they had nothing. I will have to order some better speakers when I return home.
I took the old girl, (the Valkyrie), out for a little ride, topped the fuel tank off and parked it. All looks good and I cannot think of anything else that needs to be checked, tweaked, or worked on. Come Friday morning 9am we will hookup the trailer and head south for our first destination Goldsboro, North Carolina. I was to meet up with Billy Morris and his wife, he was the best man at our wedding and one of my best friends growing up, but his wife will be out of town and he has to work that evening. I will either try and do a re-route toward the end of my trip or make a special trip sometime during the Summer to see the both of them.
I still have a couple of things that I would like to accomplish on the first leg and one is stopping in Petersburg Virgina to see the Civil War Battlefield where the Crater was created by 4 tons of black powder. The Northern forces dug a 500 plus foot tunnel to the Southern lines in 30 days, then set off an explosion that was suppose to end the standoff in Petersburg and bring a quick end to the war.
Growing up, my parents loved going to and taking us kids to Parker's BBQ in Washington NC. but since I will be in Goldsboro, Lori and I will be trying a different restuarant named Wilber's BBQ. The reviews on the Internet from the locals puts Parkers to shame, but tasting it yourself is the only proof you can rely on. The BBQ here is the Vinegar base and not the tomato based that so many people our familier with.
Leg 1 should be around 300 miles and below you will see a map of the route.
Leg 1 at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
Also below you will find the basic outline of the route which is around 2900 miles without the rides/tours that I will take in certain locations.
Home-KeyWest-Home at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
I took the old girl, (the Valkyrie), out for a little ride, topped the fuel tank off and parked it. All looks good and I cannot think of anything else that needs to be checked, tweaked, or worked on. Come Friday morning 9am we will hookup the trailer and head south for our first destination Goldsboro, North Carolina. I was to meet up with Billy Morris and his wife, he was the best man at our wedding and one of my best friends growing up, but his wife will be out of town and he has to work that evening. I will either try and do a re-route toward the end of my trip or make a special trip sometime during the Summer to see the both of them.
I still have a couple of things that I would like to accomplish on the first leg and one is stopping in Petersburg Virgina to see the Civil War Battlefield where the Crater was created by 4 tons of black powder. The Northern forces dug a 500 plus foot tunnel to the Southern lines in 30 days, then set off an explosion that was suppose to end the standoff in Petersburg and bring a quick end to the war.
Growing up, my parents loved going to and taking us kids to Parker's BBQ in Washington NC. but since I will be in Goldsboro, Lori and I will be trying a different restuarant named Wilber's BBQ. The reviews on the Internet from the locals puts Parkers to shame, but tasting it yourself is the only proof you can rely on. The BBQ here is the Vinegar base and not the tomato based that so many people our familier with.
Leg 1 should be around 300 miles and below you will see a map of the route.
Leg 1 at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
Also below you will find the basic outline of the route which is around 2900 miles without the rides/tours that I will take in certain locations.
Home-KeyWest-Home at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Move out of the way !
The question of the day is this, what do you do when you meet a Schoolbus on a single lane dirt road and your moving at 40mph with no time to stop?
Get out of the Way !!!
Schoolbus
Get out of the Way !!!
Schoolbus
Monday, April 20, 2009
How about a Little Dirt?
Before I write about last weekends ride, just know that I finally got all my reservations done through Key West or the first 10 days of our trip. As long as Key West lodging is done, coming back north will be a piece of cake. I can always just bail and come straight home.
I did a little more testing of the camera on the F650GS Dakar Dual Sport in the dirt and the videos below speak for themselves.
Dirt 1
Dirt 2
I did a little more testing of the camera on the F650GS Dakar Dual Sport in the dirt and the videos below speak for themselves.
Dirt 1
Dirt 2
Saturday, April 18, 2009
What a Beautiful Weekend
Here is a real quick video of Doug Meikle cruising through the Shenandoah Valley. I will post more later about the weekend trip.
___________________________________________________________________
My Udpated info:
Lori and I meet up with Doug at Sheetz in Boyce at 9:30am and the morning air was clean and brisk. I was expecting nice weather for the day and it looked as though it was not going to disappoint. After we fueled are bikes and chatted a bit we hit the road on our first leg.
The ride through the Shenandoah County could not have been prettier. The skies were perfectly clear and the roads were for the most part clear of traffic. Our first set of twisties had Doug chasing the camera mounted on my trailer pointing aft. The GoPro and the trailer combined did a fantastic job of shooting some very stable video. We reached speeds of 60 to 65 mph and the camera never lost focus and had minimal shake. At our first stop, I wanted to switch the camera from the trailer to atop Lori's helmet. What an interesting view that was. I will post a video clip from the helmet cam soon.
We stopped in Harrisonburg for lunch at Mrs.Rowes buffet. For $7.75, it included all you could eat, salad, meal, dessert, and drinks, (non-acholic). If you like country style cooking, and your in Harrisonburg, look no further than Mrs. Rowes.
Now with full bellies, we headed east on some backroads to connect to Hwy 33. We took this over the mountain heading to Horton's. Some of these old town's that we road through looked as though they were locked in time, some 50 years ago. The one that stood out the most was Gordonsville. Even I would like to return to these Histroic towns and do a little foot walking. We arrived at Horton's Winery, which is a neat little place to visit, bought a few items and resumed our ride.
As we approached Lake Anna, I knew that Doug would be wanting split routes and head home, so I found a place to stop and we said our goodbyes till next time. Lori and I coutinued to Fredericksburg to find our hotel and then a place to eat. We put just over 300 miles on the motorcycle and trailer and I was very pleased with both units. I do not think we will have an issue on the road unless Lori does to much shopping.
The next morning we got up, went to the BMW open house, bought some new boots for me and oil for the second motorcycle at home. Once I had my fill of looking at new machines and running my mouth with all the other bikers, we headed home. What a great two days of riding in almost perfect weather. I just wish I had the power to create such weather on my own.
Doug Meikle
___________________________________________________________________
My Udpated info:
Lori and I meet up with Doug at Sheetz in Boyce at 9:30am and the morning air was clean and brisk. I was expecting nice weather for the day and it looked as though it was not going to disappoint. After we fueled are bikes and chatted a bit we hit the road on our first leg.
The ride through the Shenandoah County could not have been prettier. The skies were perfectly clear and the roads were for the most part clear of traffic. Our first set of twisties had Doug chasing the camera mounted on my trailer pointing aft. The GoPro and the trailer combined did a fantastic job of shooting some very stable video. We reached speeds of 60 to 65 mph and the camera never lost focus and had minimal shake. At our first stop, I wanted to switch the camera from the trailer to atop Lori's helmet. What an interesting view that was. I will post a video clip from the helmet cam soon.
We stopped in Harrisonburg for lunch at Mrs.Rowes buffet. For $7.75, it included all you could eat, salad, meal, dessert, and drinks, (non-acholic). If you like country style cooking, and your in Harrisonburg, look no further than Mrs. Rowes.
Now with full bellies, we headed east on some backroads to connect to Hwy 33. We took this over the mountain heading to Horton's. Some of these old town's that we road through looked as though they were locked in time, some 50 years ago. The one that stood out the most was Gordonsville. Even I would like to return to these Histroic towns and do a little foot walking. We arrived at Horton's Winery, which is a neat little place to visit, bought a few items and resumed our ride.
As we approached Lake Anna, I knew that Doug would be wanting split routes and head home, so I found a place to stop and we said our goodbyes till next time. Lori and I coutinued to Fredericksburg to find our hotel and then a place to eat. We put just over 300 miles on the motorcycle and trailer and I was very pleased with both units. I do not think we will have an issue on the road unless Lori does to much shopping.
The next morning we got up, went to the BMW open house, bought some new boots for me and oil for the second motorcycle at home. Once I had my fill of looking at new machines and running my mouth with all the other bikers, we headed home. What a great two days of riding in almost perfect weather. I just wish I had the power to create such weather on my own.
Doug Meikle
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
GoPro Camera is here
Well the request was made by a friend, I ordered the camera, and it is here. I knew the camera was small but the pictures on the Internet do it no justice. This little camera is not much bigger than 1 inch square. Very easy to operate and simple to transfer movies from camera to Laptop. The first thing I did was to throw the only SD card I had into, a 16gb, and that did not work. The camera would shutdown and the computer would crash trying to play the video. The next thing to say, is that I like all the different mounts that it comes with. A suction cup mount, 2 curved mounts for helmets and fenders, and flat mounts for flat surfaces.
Your first expense on the camera is going to be re-chargable batteries, the batteries themselves, and a 2gb card. There is a note on GoPro webpage that soon a software patch will be released that will allow the camera to recognize a 4gb card. The camera will cost you $140-$180 depending on who you buy it from and then the accessories will set you back another $70 bucks. Just in case you think you will record without a SD-Card, think again, it will only hold 20 seconds of video without the card. With the card it will hold 56 minutes.
Ok, it was raining like crazy all the way home today, so I figured it would be a good time to test the water proof case and suction cup mount at 70 mph. Drum roll.......Suction cup mount never even moved or wobbled sitting on my hood right in front of the windshield. There is no shake in the video and the quality is amazingly good consider the size of the camera. The camera was also dry after 12 minutes of driving through the rain. Ok, without further ado, he is a 5 minute video. Watch it a few different ways to get the idea just how good the video is, click the HQ button, then the full screen and see what you got. Also know that YouTube also reformats the video, so the there is a little quality lost there. Overall, I'm very happy with the end results. Now I need to practice video editing and adding music.
Gopro in the Rain.
Your first expense on the camera is going to be re-chargable batteries, the batteries themselves, and a 2gb card. There is a note on GoPro webpage that soon a software patch will be released that will allow the camera to recognize a 4gb card. The camera will cost you $140-$180 depending on who you buy it from and then the accessories will set you back another $70 bucks. Just in case you think you will record without a SD-Card, think again, it will only hold 20 seconds of video without the card. With the card it will hold 56 minutes.
Ok, it was raining like crazy all the way home today, so I figured it would be a good time to test the water proof case and suction cup mount at 70 mph. Drum roll.......Suction cup mount never even moved or wobbled sitting on my hood right in front of the windshield. There is no shake in the video and the quality is amazingly good consider the size of the camera. The camera was also dry after 12 minutes of driving through the rain. Ok, without further ado, he is a 5 minute video. Watch it a few different ways to get the idea just how good the video is, click the HQ button, then the full screen and see what you got. Also know that YouTube also reformats the video, so the there is a little quality lost there. Overall, I'm very happy with the end results. Now I need to practice video editing and adding music.
Gopro in the Rain.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Details
I think that I have finally gotten all maintenance done on the Valkyrie and my new trailer. You would think with the word New, I would not have to do any maintenance, but the fact is the trailer is new to me, but is a used 2005 trailer. I do not know for sure that anything was ever done to maintain the working components of the trailer.
I took the wheels off and checked the bearing to make sure they're running smooth and true as the manual stated. I then greased the axle and put her back together. Next was the tongue to make sure that it's components were greased and operating properly. I did have to take the swivel apart, clean, and put it back together because there was a little play that did not belong.
The last thing was to grease the sway bars but I did not have the proper lube. I placed this on order and it should arrive no later than this Wednesday. To finish my work detail off, I gave the trailer a dry bath and threw a coat of wax on her. Things are looking good. If the forcasted weather holds for this up coming weekend, Lori and I will have to take an overnight trip somewhere in Virginia and then swing by Fredericksburg Va, for the BMW Motorcycle open house at Morton's. Always fun to look at new bikes and gear, even if your not in a buying mode.
I took the wheels off and checked the bearing to make sure they're running smooth and true as the manual stated. I then greased the axle and put her back together. Next was the tongue to make sure that it's components were greased and operating properly. I did have to take the swivel apart, clean, and put it back together because there was a little play that did not belong.
The last thing was to grease the sway bars but I did not have the proper lube. I placed this on order and it should arrive no later than this Wednesday. To finish my work detail off, I gave the trailer a dry bath and threw a coat of wax on her. Things are looking good. If the forcasted weather holds for this up coming weekend, Lori and I will have to take an overnight trip somewhere in Virginia and then swing by Fredericksburg Va, for the BMW Motorcycle open house at Morton's. Always fun to look at new bikes and gear, even if your not in a buying mode.
Friday, April 10, 2009
1st Test run short & sweet
Today we finally got out and did a 100 mile run with the Valkyrie and trailer to test everything together. The Valkyrie handled the trailer very nicely. No binding or un-necessary feedback through the hitch. Once we were out for awhile and I started to get the feel of the extra load on the bike, I was able to take the corners at a much brisker pace than in the beginning of the ride. By the end of the run, I was able to corner as hard as normal to the point were my pegs were scraping the road. I like to know my limitations and these little runs help me with that.
The Garmin Bluetooth connection with the phone and headsets were just a little disappointing. The bluetooth connection between the headsets, between Lori and I, were perfect. Something that I learned today was that once you set your own personal volume setting, as your ambient noise from the wind and bike start to increase, the headsets adjust for that automatically. I could hear Lori and she me and I got no feedback while not talking. This is good. My old J&M headsets would always feedback road noise or radio noise through the headset to the point I would have to cut them off after sometime of annoying noise.
What was disappointing was the Phone and GPS directions never came through the headset. Apparently, today the Garmin GPS could find the phone but not the headset. Once I got home and read the manual again, that was no help either. What I found out on my own though was that inside of one of the menu option items, that the GPS had turn off the Headset even though it was synced. I turned it back on and everything started working again. So I will need to test this on another day.
I promised some pictures of the new trailer and today I took some. I will also include some of the new horn, GPS mounted, cup holder, and new windshield.
Horn
Horn 2
Floorboard
Bike & Trailer
Bike & Trailer 2
Bike & Trailer 3
Bike & Trailer 3
GPS & Cupholder
The Garmin Bluetooth connection with the phone and headsets were just a little disappointing. The bluetooth connection between the headsets, between Lori and I, were perfect. Something that I learned today was that once you set your own personal volume setting, as your ambient noise from the wind and bike start to increase, the headsets adjust for that automatically. I could hear Lori and she me and I got no feedback while not talking. This is good. My old J&M headsets would always feedback road noise or radio noise through the headset to the point I would have to cut them off after sometime of annoying noise.
What was disappointing was the Phone and GPS directions never came through the headset. Apparently, today the Garmin GPS could find the phone but not the headset. Once I got home and read the manual again, that was no help either. What I found out on my own though was that inside of one of the menu option items, that the GPS had turn off the Headset even though it was synced. I turned it back on and everything started working again. So I will need to test this on another day.
I promised some pictures of the new trailer and today I took some. I will also include some of the new horn, GPS mounted, cup holder, and new windshield.
Horn
Horn 2
Floorboard
Bike & Trailer
Bike & Trailer 2
Bike & Trailer 3
Bike & Trailer 3
GPS & Cupholder
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Brillant ! Just call me the Webpage Wizard.
We all do dumb things from time to time and today it was my turn in the bucket. I was doing some house cleaning with my Host company where I keep all my webpage information, I decided to delete my databases to make room. Well I did and I along with that, I deleted my blog. I had to laugh, because I forgot my old BBS was tied to my Blog. Nothing really lost, just old posts and the perk is, I have more space for pictures and videos.
Still, what was I thinking?
Still, what was I thinking?
Camera
I was asked a question at work the other day by a friend of mine, what I planned to do about shooting video's on the bike. Well to be honest I had not consider it, but I told him that we had a HD camera and Lori would be responsible for stills and video. Then I started thinking that it would be much better if I could just mount a video camera on the bike or the helmet and just let her go.
After a little research, I decided that the GoPro Motorsports Hero would be the camera of choice, so I bought one. See below a sample from the company on what to expect from the camera. Not my video, and you might want to turn the speakers down a bit because there is music with the video.
GoPro At Deal's Gap 123008
After a little research, I decided that the GoPro Motorsports Hero would be the camera of choice, so I bought one. See below a sample from the company on what to expect from the camera. Not my video, and you might want to turn the speakers down a bit because there is music with the video.
GoPro At Deal's Gap 123008
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