I'll try to cut out the first 4 pages of just boring prelude to the ride...
The idea behind this trip was that I found the bike i wanted in Palm Springs California, with the features i wanted at the price i wanted and had a week to get ready, fly out, and ride it back.
A few weeks back I decided the rental process with my old house was going OK and other things were falling into place nicely and my desire for an honest street ride (instead of a supermoto) was nagging incessantly at me, so I decided to start a search for a new bike...
A buddy had purchased a BMW 1200GS a year back and i really took a liking to it... So i call him up and he jumped right on the task of sending a half-dozen classifieds my way and providing me with as much info about the bikes as he could, including letting me test ride his, which even further accelerated my desire to buy one. Within about a week I came across one located in Palm Springs CA. Although many others were closer, and some even priced lower, I couldnt get over the problem of getting it home, and spending money on shipping it or driving / flying out to inspect it first, and if I was going to go to all that trouble, it might as well be far enough out to make a decent ride home!
So, the bike in Palm Springs was the winner. I believe I had worked out most of the details within a day of its listing, and simply had to plan the rest of the trip.
A measly 1200 miles home. Not a daunting task. After all, I had lived through a n Iron Butt SaddleSore ride in about the 20hr mark on my ZX10. 200 miles more couldnt be that bad right? A quick look at the map told me it was mostly the same drive I had made 6 years ago to the R1-Forum Convention in Las Vegas. Long, Straight, Boooooring, hot, and not at all what I wanted to do on a bike. Time to re-route the trip.
After several conversations with friends and looking at Googles Satellite and Terrain maps, I decided to extend the trip up into Southern Utah and Colorado, and back into Northern New Mexico, and finally down into Texas and on home to Oklahoma.
With less than a week left I had to plan the trip, gather up all the essentials and figure out what I could and couldnt take on the plane, pack the bags and narrow down to what I thought I could fit on the bike, and program a borrowed GPS, and come up with a way to quickly attach it.
Thanks to all my buddies for coming to the rescue. By Thursday night before the trip I had 3 different GPSs, 1200GS electronics tray, a BMW rain suit, a Vario soft bag, power splitter, extra camel back bladder, and of course, tons of advice! A quick run to a local vendor had a Bluetooth speaker system installed in less than 24hours in my helmet, and my buddy helped me use his Garmin software to program his GPS in just a few hours with the entire route and waypoints.
The final frontier was figuring how to get my trusty and super compact Keltec .380 out to Commiefornia with me. Since they don't recognize other states Concealed Carry Weapons Licenses, I realized I would have to research their laws and find out how to get the gun there, and make it to Arizona legally where I could then resume carrying legally. Some extended research thanks to you guys here on OSA!!! told me that about the only way was to check the firearms in the baggage and lock the ammo and gun in separate hard-sided cases, which would technically allow me to walk out of the airport in Palm springs with both ammo and gun, legally, and not carrying a concealed loaded firearm. Also, the separate locked cases could then be placed in two different panniers for transportation on the bike itself. All legal, and I was happy.
So, all set Saturday morning, run the the list one more time. All is good. Big wad of cash in my pocket, lovely and understanding girlfriend to drop me off at the airport, and three plane tickets. Off I go. Checked my baggage at the United desk where the United employee was extremely professional when checking the firearm and ammo. It didn't even phase him one bit and he simply asked us to stick around for 10min while the baggage went downstairs in case TSA agents required to inspect it. About 10min later he told us everything was OK and we were good to go. THANKS UNITED for handling this part super well, and making me feel at ease letting my firearm out of my sight!
Waiting to board OKC to Denver
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On to the plane flight thing I still cant get over the stupidity of taking off your shoes to go through security, but whatever. Everyone was super nice. A hop skip and a jump later we dropped down into Denver. Wow. What an airport. Its like the airport autobahn there. Conveyor belts 4 lanes wide to get you where you need to go. I could have rode those things in circles for hours, but alas, another plane to catch .
4 Lanes wide in Denver
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Finally the view started getting better from the air. San Fran was pretty spectacular and we landed right over the water. On approach we got to see a dozen wind surfers cutting through the waves what seemed to be about a mile out to sea. Really amazing that they would get out that far, and the speeds they were moving was incredible! Im putting this on the list of things to try next.
Half way between Denver and San Fran
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The Bay on approach
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Food Court at San Fran
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View from the San Fran airport
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Leaving San Fran
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White spec on right is another plane on approach. You literally skim the water on landing. The wind surfers were a half mile or more out in the bay in this general area.
[Broken External Image]
The idea behind this trip was that I found the bike i wanted in Palm Springs California, with the features i wanted at the price i wanted and had a week to get ready, fly out, and ride it back.
A few weeks back I decided the rental process with my old house was going OK and other things were falling into place nicely and my desire for an honest street ride (instead of a supermoto) was nagging incessantly at me, so I decided to start a search for a new bike...
A buddy had purchased a BMW 1200GS a year back and i really took a liking to it... So i call him up and he jumped right on the task of sending a half-dozen classifieds my way and providing me with as much info about the bikes as he could, including letting me test ride his, which even further accelerated my desire to buy one. Within about a week I came across one located in Palm Springs CA. Although many others were closer, and some even priced lower, I couldnt get over the problem of getting it home, and spending money on shipping it or driving / flying out to inspect it first, and if I was going to go to all that trouble, it might as well be far enough out to make a decent ride home!
So, the bike in Palm Springs was the winner. I believe I had worked out most of the details within a day of its listing, and simply had to plan the rest of the trip.
A measly 1200 miles home. Not a daunting task. After all, I had lived through a n Iron Butt SaddleSore ride in about the 20hr mark on my ZX10. 200 miles more couldnt be that bad right? A quick look at the map told me it was mostly the same drive I had made 6 years ago to the R1-Forum Convention in Las Vegas. Long, Straight, Boooooring, hot, and not at all what I wanted to do on a bike. Time to re-route the trip.
After several conversations with friends and looking at Googles Satellite and Terrain maps, I decided to extend the trip up into Southern Utah and Colorado, and back into Northern New Mexico, and finally down into Texas and on home to Oklahoma.
With less than a week left I had to plan the trip, gather up all the essentials and figure out what I could and couldnt take on the plane, pack the bags and narrow down to what I thought I could fit on the bike, and program a borrowed GPS, and come up with a way to quickly attach it.
Thanks to all my buddies for coming to the rescue. By Thursday night before the trip I had 3 different GPSs, 1200GS electronics tray, a BMW rain suit, a Vario soft bag, power splitter, extra camel back bladder, and of course, tons of advice! A quick run to a local vendor had a Bluetooth speaker system installed in less than 24hours in my helmet, and my buddy helped me use his Garmin software to program his GPS in just a few hours with the entire route and waypoints.
The final frontier was figuring how to get my trusty and super compact Keltec .380 out to Commiefornia with me. Since they don't recognize other states Concealed Carry Weapons Licenses, I realized I would have to research their laws and find out how to get the gun there, and make it to Arizona legally where I could then resume carrying legally. Some extended research thanks to you guys here on OSA!!! told me that about the only way was to check the firearms in the baggage and lock the ammo and gun in separate hard-sided cases, which would technically allow me to walk out of the airport in Palm springs with both ammo and gun, legally, and not carrying a concealed loaded firearm. Also, the separate locked cases could then be placed in two different panniers for transportation on the bike itself. All legal, and I was happy.
So, all set Saturday morning, run the the list one more time. All is good. Big wad of cash in my pocket, lovely and understanding girlfriend to drop me off at the airport, and three plane tickets. Off I go. Checked my baggage at the United desk where the United employee was extremely professional when checking the firearm and ammo. It didn't even phase him one bit and he simply asked us to stick around for 10min while the baggage went downstairs in case TSA agents required to inspect it. About 10min later he told us everything was OK and we were good to go. THANKS UNITED for handling this part super well, and making me feel at ease letting my firearm out of my sight!
Waiting to board OKC to Denver
[Broken External Image]
On to the plane flight thing I still cant get over the stupidity of taking off your shoes to go through security, but whatever. Everyone was super nice. A hop skip and a jump later we dropped down into Denver. Wow. What an airport. Its like the airport autobahn there. Conveyor belts 4 lanes wide to get you where you need to go. I could have rode those things in circles for hours, but alas, another plane to catch .
4 Lanes wide in Denver
[Broken External Image]
Finally the view started getting better from the air. San Fran was pretty spectacular and we landed right over the water. On approach we got to see a dozen wind surfers cutting through the waves what seemed to be about a mile out to sea. Really amazing that they would get out that far, and the speeds they were moving was incredible! Im putting this on the list of things to try next.
Half way between Denver and San Fran
[Broken External Image]
[Broken External Image]
The Bay on approach
[Broken External Image]
Food Court at San Fran
[Broken External Image]
View from the San Fran airport
[Broken External Image]
Leaving San Fran
[Broken External Image]
White spec on right is another plane on approach. You literally skim the water on landing. The wind surfers were a half mile or more out in the bay in this general area.
[Broken External Image]