| Start Time: | Start Mileage: | End Time: | End Mileage: | Total Time: | Total Mileage: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/10/96 @ 6:15 | 44592.0 | 7/10/96 @ 23:30 | 49470.5 | 257 hr 15 min | 4878.5 miles |
Participants: |
|
| Alan Fleming | '88 Suzuki GSXR1100J |
| Ed "Gooz" Guzman | '93 Ducati 900SS |
| Jim Franklin | '87 BMW K75S |
There are many reasons to travel. A destination. A particularly scenic route. A particularly interesting traveling companion. A need to retrace the steps (and memories) of a prior travel. However, there is also another reason to travel that very few people understand. It is the meditative process that comes with just moving.
Most mystic practices have some form of moving meditation. The Taoist practice of Tai Chi; Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist circumbobulation: walking around a holy site such as a monestary or sacred mountain; the Zen Buddhist practice of kinhin: walking meditation. There is a certain solitude and oneness that come with travel, particularly travel on a motorcycle. Being alone inside a helmet for 8, 10, 12 or 15 hours can have a very profound effect.
Travel to a specific destination is not only common, its the norm of our society. Everyone can relate to going home. Motorcyclists always talk about riding "to Daytona", "to Sturgis" or "to Laguna Seca". To most people, not having a destination or at least not traveling for the sake of a destination is just downright weird. Its just outside the framework that most people attach to traveling in the first place.
Many people can relate to the memories of travel: to see a red tailed hawk rise on a thermal and soar off over a field; watching water boil over rocks in a roadside cascade; seeing off onto the watery horizon from a clifftop above the ocean; or to see range after range of mountains fade off into the distance. These are the treasures that the lucky bring back from travel. However, few realize the emotional and mental impact that a day or week's journey can have. It is as much for the quietude, as it is the picturesque images, that I travel.
With all this groundwork out of the way, I'd like to give a travel log of a recent trip I took. Every year, I try to make a long trip on my motorcycle. In the past, I've done trips across the eastern US from Atlanta to Colorado; up the east coast from Florida to Virginia; south from Atlanta to southern Florida. However, at the beginning of a given year, I rarely know when or where that trip will be.
This year I was contemplating a cross country trip to the east coast for the annual Right Coast Ride (RCR) when Ed Guzman brought up the idea of doing the Pacific Northwest's Gather instead. Since I've only met a few of the west coast Internet motorcyclists, this seemed like a great idea. In addition to having some general goal, a few other people expresed an interest (Roar Larsen, Lazslo Nemeth, Mikii Schoeh amoung them) so it looked like it would be a grand trip with a fine group of companions.
After some thought and vague planning, I decided that after the Gather, I would continue on west to the Pacific Coast and then perhaps travel for another week or so. This would offer me an opportunity to drift around, maybe ride some famous roads and perhaps see some sights. More importantly, it would give me some time to think...or perhaps not think directly but just experience for a little while.
As July got closer, more and more people had trouble commiting to the trip. In the end, it was just myself, Ed "Gooz" Guzman and Jim Franklin from California. Jim was originally going to ride his Cagiva Allazura but bike problems scratched that plan. Then he decided to ride his KLR650 but thoughts of riding a large displacement single for long days scratched that plan. In the end, he flew to Denver and borrowed Ed's BMW K75S. Ed, meanwhile, would take his Ducati 900SS. I was very disheartened by this, since I thought the sight of a GSXR, a 900SS and a KLR all out touring together was great, while the substitution of an actual touring bike ruined the image. So much for poetic vision...
Although my '88 GSXR is holding up pretty well for a bike that was professionally raced for three years and has since had 40k street miles put on it, I wasn't sure it was up to another long trip. Since I couldn't afford a new bike, I worked up a list of what should be repaired before leaving on a long trip: forks rebuilt, new tires, cracked bodywork repaired, fix two shorts that were lurking in the wiring harness, tune-up, bleed clutch and brakes, etc. Needless to say, it was a pretty imposing list. Oh well, that's why the bike shops love me...
After my first trip to the bike shop, my wallet was considerably lighter and a large collection of parts was in my possession; some special tools were added to my tool box; new tires were on order. An afternoon with the wrenches had the bike disassembled and spread around the garage for easy of maintenance. It was just around the time that the bike reached its greatest level of disassembly that things began to get busy at work. Over the next few weeks, things got busier and busier. Work kept me jumping during the day and late nights in the garage kept me hopping the rest of my time. In this tug-of-war of priorities, work was slowly winning. With one week left before time to go, the forks were still leaned against the wall, the bodywork was untouched, one of the shorts was still causing problems and the valves were still unadjusted. Finally, a series of late nights got the majority of problems fixed though it introduced a few more.
The rushed valve adjustment resulted in two stripped out bolts on the valve cover. A rushed fork rebuilt left me with too little oil in the front forks and no preload dialed into the forks. The rushed wiring repairs failed to find a short in the instrument panel ground. Naturally, the impact of all this wasn't immediately apparent. More on this later...Up until the morning of departure, I was still doing the one thing I'd promised I wouldn't: frantically working on the bike. So much for planning.
During this time, I was busy with other preparations as well. Money was sent off to reserve space at the Gather. Ed and I, along with help from some helpful folks from the WetLeather mailing list, put together a rough route. Ed arranged a place for us to stay along the way. I spent some time replacing crucial pieces of camping equipment that were missing after a spring robbery cleaned me out. Tent, saddlebags, rain covers and other items were water proofed. Finally, things at home were taken care of so that my dedicated computer connection would stay online and my two cats would survive during my two week absence.
Return to Alan's Trip Reports
Return to Alan's Home Page