All shutdown
Total miles: 291 miles
Est. time: 6.20 hours
[ Day 1: Wednesday - October 2, 2013 ]
Oh great. Just when I'm ready for a large ride through some
of the best National Parks and what happens? The Government
shuts down. What does this mean, the parks are closed.
My original plan was to go through and enjoy Yosemite and Death
Valley National Parks. So much for that idea. Still, I
want to see the stupidity of it all and I still need a long
ride. So here we go.
The beauty of starting off a trip in the middle of the week is...
there is nobody around on the freeway and especially the
highway. The traffic is light on the 210 and I5. Once
I hit the HWY, there is nobody around. Awesome!
This is my second time on Pine Canyon road and Old Ridge Route
this year, but it's still as good of a ride as ever.
This GS chews up the miles and smiles while it
does it.
This is what it's all about.
I buzzed right through Gorman and headed to
Cerro Noroeste. CN is as awesome as ever.
With the electronic cruise control, sections of road that I
remembered to be so boring and wrist tiring is now a non
bother. I pitsop at Maricopa and stopped by the Golden Bull
for lunch. I didn't get a chance to try to gyro the last
time I was here. So that what I'm having for lunch today.
It's a Greek restaurant so I was hoping the gyro would be
authentic. Unfortunately, it's not as good as the Astro
Burger gyro. Bummer... I might just make that ride one
of these days to get an Astro Burger gyro.
Since I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the saddle for this
bike, I still haven't gotten the feel for its fuel range.
Even with the R1200Rs, it took me a while to figure out what the
bike is capable of. I think I can make it to Fresno with the
remaining tank, but... I might as well fuel up just in case.
Convenience at its best. There is Chevron right across the
street from the Golden Bull. After fueling up, I decided
that even with the panniers on, I'm not carrying enough weight to
set the bike in the ESA 
mode. So I decided to put the bike
back into rider only mode. This is when I thought, "this
bike is so freakin' cool!" As the selected pre-load setting
took effect, I can feel the bike physically adjust itself.
Rock'N Roll!
Be it that I'm in BMW gear on a BMW bike or what not, but the
drivers respectful and are giving me plenty of distance.
Nice!
269 miles is not a whole of distance so I make it to Fresburg
around 3:00pm.
Written on: October 17, 2013
Last modified: October 17, 2013
