The Start of an Adventure Starts with Planning

I had been planning for this motorcycle trip for just over a year (planning started before last years Nevada – Utah 2019 motorcycle trip, which I will be blogging about later. So much careful planning and preparation from how many miles I was planning for each day, the routes, how much fuel would need to be purchased, the campsites and the few motel stays. I created meal plans that determined how many Mountain House meals to purchase and pack, canned chili and spaghetti, Tabasco sauce, how may meals would be eating out and how many times would I actually cook. There was careful planning on what to pack for clothes and riding gear as I could experience extreme heat and cold, rain and maybe even a little snow all on the same trip. I had to plan how many days I could wear my motorcycle riding jeans before they would be too offensive even for me and thus determined how many riding jeans / pants I would pack. How many days of underwear, socks, and shirts would I need before I would do laundry on the road. And where would I do my laundry on the road, well this was planned out too. Every detail that I thought significant and not so significant was planned and re-planned before the trip was to start. This also of course included attention to my motorcycle, Dexter, as well.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

During my Nevada – Utah 2019 trip I had broken down twice on the road that resulted in long delays, greatly altered trip plan, and fiscal pain, though in the end everything worked out and it was an excellent trip. I even got reimbursed for all towing fees from AAA. Based on those experiences, I was determined to do everything I could to mitigate the risk of breakdown for USA West 2020.

The first breakdown during the 2019 trip was in the middle of nowhere about 60 miles west of Ely, Nevada on US Highway 6, a very isolated area in the high desert. My Stator (like an alternator) had failed and I lost all power. I was lucky in that where I broke down, I could just barely get a cell phone signal. Of course I had no other means of communication with me but as I said, I was lucky and I was able to have AAA send the tow truck cavalry to the rescue. I had the motorcycle ultimately towed to Zion Harley Davidson where they replaced the stator. The second breakdown occurred 90 miles up the road from Harley and resulted in a tow back there and they replaced the spline in the rear shiftier.

Not wanting to repeat 2019’s experiences or worse, I purchase a Garmin inReach Explorer+ Satellite Communicator. Now I could send out an SOS emergency beacon if a life threatening event occurred and ,most likely, be able to send SMS text messages to anyone as long as I had clear sky to a orbiting satellite. I was able to communicate with others even where there was no cell service, nice.

In the spirit of avoiding 2019’s low moments, I had Dexter undergo a full check up, like a physical. There were some items I knew that needed attention and others I was not 100% certain of. In the couple of months before the start of USA West 2020 (actually right up to the day before) Dexter had the following work done:
– New Exhaust (Full exhaust replacement)
– New Final Drive Belt
– New Fork Springs / Suspension
– New Fork Seals
– New Plugs
– New Clutch Cable
– Throttle Cable Adjusted
– New Front and Rear Rotors
– New Brake pads, Front and Rear
– Rear Suspension Adjusted
– Replaced Trunk Hinges with heavy duty ones
– Oil Change
– Primary Oil Change
– Transmission Fluid Change

Work was completed late Friday and prepared to roll out on Saturday……

May 23, 2020 – Departure Day

The day had finally come. The planning, packing, budgeting, anticipation, and worry was now finally over. I had a late start as the wife and I had to video chat with our realtor in Georgia (just started process of for real house hunting there at this time)

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I rolled out from our apartment in Ramona, California at around 1PM. My route was to take CA HWY 78 to Escondio, CA. Then proceed North on I-15 to I-210 West and catch Interstate 5 North to avoid having to ride through Los Angeles. I decided to exit Interstate 15 in Lake Elsinore (where I used to live) to top off fuel and grab a snack. Lake Elsinore is about 90 miles north of Ramona.

90 Miles into Day 1 – Breakdown One

While attempting to proceed after waiting for traffic signal for the exit ramp, I discovered that I was not able to shift out of 1st gear. What the hell, I thought to myself, this felt like the same problem I had experienced during the Nevada – Utah 2019 trip, Not cool man….Not cool.

So I rolled into the Lowe’s parking lot in Lake Elsinore, California and proceeded to troubleshoot the problem…no dice. I called my mechanic at Ramona Performance Motorcycle and we talked through a few troubleshooting items, no dice. At this point, I am madder than a 2020 Murder Hornet. I ended up calling AAA to get Dexter towed back to Ramona. In the world of COVID-19, I of course was not able to ride back with the tow. Complete pain in the butt, but totality understandable. So, I called my wife to come and rescue me in Lake Elsinore, California.

On our way back to Ramona, we stopped at Del Taco in Escondido because, well tacos duh and I received a call from my mechanic who was already able to look over Dexter. The problem turned out to be super simple but not obvious. A foreign metal object (meaning not from my motorcycle) had become lodged between the rear shift lever and the rest of the bike preventing the shift lever to move far enough backwards to facilitate an up shift. Removal of the foreign object cheaply and quickly resolved the problem. So it was on wards to Ramona, California……after tacos.

USA West 2020 Day 1 – Take Two

My wife and I arrived back in Ramona at about 6PM, a full 8 hours after my initial planned departure time. I proceeded to haul the gear out of our car and reload Dexter, prepare myself, and proceed to top off fuel again across the street from the motorcycle repair shop.

At about 7PM I proceeded to roll out of Ramona again to re-launch the USA West 2020 Motorcycle Trip. In an attempt to make up some of the lost time, this time I decided to pick up Interstate 5 in Oceanside, California, ride through Los Angeles and stay on the 5 to the planned hotel room in Martinez, California (a little northeast from Oakland, California). By the time I rolled past downtown Los Angeles the sun was set and it was starting to get dark.

By the time I reached Grapevine, California at an elevation of 4,144 feet, it was actually quite cold. I pulled off the Interstate to add some clothing layers and change into warmer riding gloves.while dining on delicious Chef Boyardee spaghetti and Tabasco sauce with the finest bottle of Diet Coke….hmmmmm gourmet.

I continued to proceed north on Interstate 5 throughout the night, arriving at the hotel shortly after 2AM.

So while the day started rough and Day 1 succeeded in blowing my careful OCD planning right out of the water…it was successful and was able to catch a few hours sleep to take on Day 2.

Check out the video for DAY 1 on my YouTube Channel