IN to AR to NC and back to IN in 4 days.

[alteregovw]

I took a ride and left Saturday morning and just got back this morning at 2am. About 2,000 miles in 4 days. I'll post some more pics up. Have some opinions on the bags I used, bike, etc. I'll try and get back on here tonight. Have a few things to catch up on today before work tomorrow.

And of course I was going to NC to hit the "Tail of the Dragon!"

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[alteregovw]

I left Saturday Morning and headed off to Paragould Arkansas to visit some family and friends. The trip there was pretty uneventful to me at least because I've driven it so so many times. The bike ran flawless and I was beginning to get pretty happy with my choice. I was cruising pretty well and comfortably around 70-80 mph. The ST is pretty steady at high speeds with some dodginess only around semis. It was a pleasure to see I could just leave it in 6th and crank her a little bit to pull around/away from anything I wanted to. A downshift or two and you were passing..... fast.

I didn't adjust the suspension for the weight so I could flat foot the thing no problem loaded down. I was thinking that I should stop and adjust it, but it made for kind of a nice cushioned ride down the highway. There's no expensive GPS on my ride ... I use maps for now and I had some places to get to so I stayed on the highway/interstates the whole time. Packed down though the bike handled just fine and I like the extra weight on the bike at speed.



Well, I left Arkansas after staying there for a day and visiting some places I always hit, including getting some barbecue.

I would have stayed longer but and old time friend who seems to have gone to the darkside of gluttony and internet porn made me think twice about crashing at his place[cry] so off I went to a hotel and then in the morning I got up and thought about where to go. Hmm, how far am I from the DRAGON!?@?@ I went down to the local library and jumped on a computer and found that it was just about as far as I had just come... 600 miles. Hmm, I can do that again no problem!! I'm loaded up and off! 200 miles gone by and my ass is feeling like my butt bones are going to poke out and say hi. My ass is made for show, not comfort!! [drink] I was adjusting seating positions almost every 10 minutes. Standing, sitting with one leg out, switching legs out, scooting forward, scooting back, moving my feet forward on the pegs, back on pegs, and even resting on the "tank" and standing up for short periods. Maybe it's just my bony ass, but should I really be that uncomfortable or is it just normal for riding for that many miles. I guess I did ride a good distance. Sometimes I was lucky enough to play follow or lead with some honeys and that would take the focus off my being uncomfortable. I had a good hour of riding along with some sort of girls gymnastics team in a big van and I didn't think of my butt one time then while they kept...:D


I had lunch in Dyersburg TN. I had some catfish, mmm.

I ended up about 50 miles outside of the dragon and ended up getting a hotel at a place called Kingsway Inn. I saw a Chili's up the road so I went in my room and showered and changed to head out for dinner. I rode up to Chili's about 2 blocks away and as I was walking in a large lightening bolt lit up the sky.... hmm, that was west of me so that means nothing where I'm from. Well, I scored a cutie (I will be taking my camera with me from now on.. sorry) for a waitress and ordered a beer and a Fajita Pita by her recommendation. So I'm just sitting there all happy with myself and how the day has turned out. Ah.... hey what's that out the window... It's a freaking monsoon.... ah...huh oh SH&T. The waitress looked at me like I was nuts as I ran off outside to retrieve my helmet so it wouldn't get soaked. I left ALL my gear in my room so I had no rain gear and the last thing I wanted was a helmet still damp tomorrow. I came back in looking like a drowned rat, clothes hanging now, and my hair plastered down. That's what I guess for thinking that the day was going so well and gloating about it. Now I look like I crawled out of a sewer and am wearing my big brothers clothes. [:o)] LOL.. After I was shivering for awhile the nice waitress let's call Melanie offered me some coffee to warm me up. What a nice girl. And no she didn't even charge me for it.

It finally stopped raining and while I might have been able to pursue hanging out with the girl after she got off work in a half an hour because they were all talking about going to some bar, that would be another trip. I was on this trip to just get the hell away from everything. I mean, when you are out there by yourself and have some earplugs in you can almost hear yourself think. I was contemplating work and is it worth the stress, should I sell my M coupe because I barely drive the thing and no matter how cool it looks in the garage it isn't doing me any good there, what is wrong with girlfriend and will she inevitably end up like her crazy family, ow my butt, should I make this be the year to move out of N. Indiana with some place that has more to offer? Just some examples.

FYI- if there are people hanging out on a bench outside the hotel and at least two other people who have taken chairs outside of their rooms to talk then move on to the next hotel. I was up to 12:30 and about to get pissed off, but I remembered the movie Deliverance so I huddled in my room and pulled up the blankets. They won't make me squeal.

I woke up and headed off to the Dragon. On the way I saw a sweet Rabbit pickup truck that I had to check out. $3450... a little high, but they'll most likely get it. Now this is my first time so all I knew is that I printed out directions to go to Tapoco which is near there I knew. So I'm on rt. 129 and thinking , damn these roads are curvy, and then damn I could have died on that turn if I didn't get into second gear and hit the brakes, and then damn I'm on the dragon when I saw bikes coming at me and then me about to get ran over from behind. Wow, the turns are nuts! The speed limit is 30 mph and if you really go 30 you will still have a good time. I left the bike in 2nd gear for 95 percent of the main portion of it. You keep thinking that there just can't be anymore curves, but they keep coming and coming! After 11 miles of that and just starting to get used to it I came up on the Deal's Gap Resort and pulled in to check it out. It was Tuesday so it wasn't that busy I assume, but there were probably 50-60 bikes there. About 50/50 sport and touring and everyone is super friendly. I talked for awhile with a guy riding a K12S who was from Ontario. A little later a guy pulled in with an older RGS that had a side car on it and his son hanging tight in there. That must have been a hell of a ride in the side car!! Better than the carnival rides!! I bought some souvenirs and a T-shirt and then I wanted to get some food. The girl at the counter was very rude and then I couldn't even get my food because they are cash only in the restaurant so I guess I ended up looking like the ass. Oh well, at least I'm not that witches boyfriend or husband [clap] I rode the dragon again and was pretty pumped about it. Kept it in second most of the time and just let the engine do the braking for me so I could concentrate on the lines to take and the lean. I'll leave the 80 mph straights to hit the brakes for the knee dragging turn for the squids.

So I'm back about to get on the highway and figure I'll get half the drive out of the way to home tonight. It's about 4pm now. I stopped at Ruby Tuesday's and ordered a turkey burger that was truly the best I've ever had. And again,, my waitress was a cutie. That town grows southern belles I guess. No pic again, sorry.

I started my trek home and for whatever reason I just kept thinking that I wanted to get a little closer and a little closer and well, I was finally home. I rode from 10 in the morning, did the dragon twice, and only stopped for lunch and gas before arriving at my house at 2am. Whoa!

Ok, so this story wouldn't be complete without me saying something bad about the bike and of course adding to the wonderful F800 lore.

3 times my bike just died on me for no reason:( Twice it died at a light at a busy intersection. I gave it gas trying to save it and my bike moved some then died. I almost got ran over by the truck behind me. Not too happy about that one and if I would've gotten hit I'm not quite sure what I would have had to say to BMW about a problem that they should already know about and have found a fix for. The third time was when I was pulling into my home town. Bugs all over my visor, fully packed down bike, all leathers on, just plain looking bad ass right... right.... I'm thinking right... and apparently so was this guy on a Harley that pulled up next to me and said "damn, where'd you come from"....so I'm thinking, yeah I'm cool, right..."well, I just rode from North Carolina after riding the Dragon".... what now right, I'm bad, I'm bad, and the light turns green and my bike dies as he pulls off............... um I don't think that I'm so cool anymore. [doh] I didn't know there was a freaking ego sensor on this thing!!

Gear- Cortech - I bought the Tri bag large tail bag and then I bought the Sport Saddle bags by Cortech after I made sure that they would still attach to my top bag even though it was not the sport bag. They fit together just fine luckily!! With the larger top bag there is quite a bit of storage. I was able to pack up pretty much everything I could have wanted to take and given that this was my first LONG trip I'm sure I could do much better next time. I would have liked to have taken my laptop, but I decided against it because I didn't want to have to worry about it this time.

The saddle bags are expandable and I did have them expanded the whole time. They have side pockets that are perfect for maps etc. The top bag is the same as a duffle bag. There are zippers for poouches on each end that can be used for things you want easy access to or you can unzip the barrier inside there which makes the whole inside of the bag become one large area allowing longer objects to to fit in there. There is a pouch on the back that is good for gloves, camera, etc.

The tank bag is Cortech also and is the Super Mini bag. It did a good job is, I'd say a great fit for the F800 "tank". I kept my camera, couple pairs of glasses, cigs, mp3 player, ear plugs, and other odds and ends in there. There is also a grommetted hole in the side where you can run your earphone wire through to keep your mp3 player inside there.

Bike

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[alteregovw]

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[alteregovw]

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[alteregovw]

Also, I'm positive that my gas gauge is almost a dummy gauge. At least 3 times that I was paying attention the gauge would stay at full for a LONG time and when it finally moved it would drop down to half way. One time I had gone about 135 miles and he gauge was still showing full..... I saved the receipt so I could remember how much fuel I put in and it was 2.344 gallons to fill it back up, but the gauge never indicated it had dropped past the full mark... Anyone else having this problem? It might only be when you are riding for a long distance without turning the bike on or off???

[the1sen]

Originally posted by alteregovw

Also, I'm positive that my gas gauge is almost a dummy gauge. At least 3 times that I was paying attention the gauge would stay at full for a LONG time and when it finally moved it would drop down to half way. One time I had gone about 135 miles and he gauge was still showing full..... I saved the receipt so I could remember how much fuel I put in and it was 2.344 gallons to fill it back up, but the gauge never indicated it had dropped past the full mark... Anyone else having this problem? It might only be when you are riding for a long distance without turning the bike on or off???


awesome pics and descriptions!

yeah, the first big bar is supposed to represent a larger amount of fuel - forgot how much - it's in the manual though. guess you were getting good mileage!

sounds like a fun trip!

[de100kb]

Nice Pics Altergovw, thanks for sharing.

The first bar represents half of your tank. So when it is on the amount in your tank is between a bit over half full and totally full.

The engineers opting for this solutions probably has to do with the odd shape of the tank. And the computer also only shows >X km/mile until you hit the half way point when it starts to show the real remaining distance based upon the contents of your tank a.t.m. and your riding style over the last 100 km.

[Flopp]

I found that too, Alter. Quite often the range would show >216kms for a long time then it would suddenly drop quickly, sometimes by 5-10kms per minute. The it would level out and become more accurate. I soon started to look for gas when it showed less than 100kms in the tank, but then again I was out in the boonies where it could be 100kms to the next fill.

[Doodads]

Originally posted by alteregovw



I left Saturday Morning and headed off to Paragould Arkansas to visit some family and friends.

Paragould, Arkansas.......I helped design and build a new power plant there for the local utility back in 1999-2000. Nice town.

[Pancho]

Nice pics, lot of bikes! Each time I read this kind of stuff, get desperate to go out on a long trip!