Duncan, the easiest way to upload pics (if you have an iPhone) is to get the app Tapatalk. Alan aka Northwestrider turned me on to Tapatalk at the Chelan rally this summer. It works great! There is probably a similar app for Droids. Stop by on your way through Spokane. We have an extra bedroom most of the time when family isn't coming for a visit. I'm on the north side of Spokane, just a couple miles from highway 2. PM me and I'll get you the address and a brief description on how to get here. Drive safe friend!
After guiding him to the start of a connecting route...saw him roll by sans me..I shed a tear. So got more space now in the garage...build furniture...build a canoe/kayak....build a garden Hutch for the Missus...watch you Hackers post on ADV rider with a cup of coffee in hand... Breaking News: Duncan made it to Columbia, SC with some intermittend rains. Is now in Greenville, SC replacing the front Metzeler Tourance! Says that the rig is running great. Heading for Claude's (CSM) abode in Middleburg, PA this weekend. cheers...
Hey Holadays, This is Chad. My wife Holly and I met you at Touring Sport BMW in Greenville, SC. I hope that you have a fun and safe trip back home.
Elmer and Chad - thanks for posting the pics. I'm really bad with camera work - both taking pics and uplaoding them. Sorry I've been silent for the past couple of days. Had a great visit with Elmer and Sharon when I picked up his rig Friday. They are wonderful people. Hope I can do his rig justice. Rain from Elmer's almost to Florence SC - I was heading SW to spend Friday night with my son. He had a GoldWing+EML rig when he was doing his residency in California. Sold it and went back to 2 wheels. Seeing my rig brought back lots of good memories. Then off Saturday morning to Greenville SC to get a new front tire. Fun to run into Chad and his wife. I was just sorta hanging out when he popped over and asked if it was Elmer's rig that he had seen on advrider. Doubt there are 2 rigs with that paint scheme. Next headed over to Asheville to help a very good friend celebrate his 65th birthday. Funny how things work out sometimes - if I hadn't needed a tire, I would have gone straight north from my son's place and missed all the fun. My friend lives up on one of Asheville's mountains. I'm really glad the rig has a 3.0 final drive. Not sure I would have made it up the hill without it. Spent most of Sunday and today wandering through the Carolina/Tennessee/ Virginia mountains. I have a couple of really bad phone pictures somewhere but can't find them. Great scenery and so different from what I have at home now. Nice to get back to it for even a brief while. Going to visit with Bob Henig of Bob'sBMW in Jessup Tuesday to chat about rigs and probably spend a few bucks. Then up to see Claude via Rte 15 from Frederick with maybe a detour to Gettysburg. Been a fun trip so far - Rig handles well - interstates and major highways are no problem; I'm slowly getting used to secondary and tertiary roads. Other than handling, the biggest differences to me from riding on 2 wheels are: - Speed - instead of 10 miles over the limit I'm at or slightly below the posted speeds. And if a corner says 25mph, I take it at no more than 25; often less. Maybe that will improve over time. But I haven't hit any really challenging twisties. Not sure I'm ready for that yet. - Gas mileage: I'm getting about 30 mpg - stopping every 120 miles or so. - Attention: Every gas stop, meal stop, rest stop takes a little bit longer as I get to chat with lots of curious people. - Physical demands: At the end of 8 or 9 hours, I'm ready to call it a day. Must be the heat and humidity. All in all it's been a great experience so far. I'm looking forward to what's ahead.
Duncan -- There's fresh lamb and red wine up here in Vermont if you make it this far north. Your rig is familiar with us as it brought Elmer and Sharon this way on their way back from Newfoundland. They can vouch for the lamb and the fact that while they might stare at you hoping you're sloppy eaters, maybe even drool a bit now and then, our dogs are very well mannered. Got a shop and most of the tools you might need just in case. Can share with you the most awesome routes through Ontario if you decide to go that way. Plus can show you how to upload photos so you can share this great adventure with the rest of us! Anyway, think about it. Pete and Tam And our four goldens: Barley, Rusty, Tullamore and Kazoo
Aye...Boondox.... From this ... To this........at Boondox.. Duncan...if you're heading to Boondox's farm..make sure to give MAXBMW in Hew Hampshire a stop. Nice folks..have them listen to the soprano of 'Brunhilde' for free then be on your way to Boondox lamb chops chow-pow! Cheers...
Duncan- We met in Yakima at the sidecar/trike class. I have the KLR/Velorex. Looks like a nice trip. If you hit Nebraska, you may want to consider Hwy 2, angling up NW thru the Sandhills, which are unique and beautiful in their own way. (But horribly dry this year.) I am from Custer County, central NE, where my family farms and ranches. Don't know your roads traveled in the past, but I drive from here to NE frequently. I-80, basically from Salt Lake to Omaha, has heavy truck traffic and can be deeply rutted. I-90, WA, ID,MT, SD, carries about 1/4 the traffic, much more pleasant. If on 90, consider the "shortcut", basically from Belle Fourche to the Little Bighorn battlefield, Hwy 212. It straightens the jog 90 makes into Wyoming. If weather is windy, or threatening,or dark, be careful. It is fairly empty country, so be fueled up. It is now a very good road. Lots of deer at night. If you have not stopped there, spend some time at the Custer memorial. Very simple, good driving self guided tour, and modern forensics have tracked individual troop movements by tracing firing pin indentations in shell cases. Be careful. But maybe you are being tracked by drone?? Phil
Boondox: Thanks for the offer. Wish I could make it up your way - great roads and great food. Stopped by Bob's BMW Tuesday. Unfortunately, Bob was off doing battle with the MD DMV so i didn't get a chance to see him, but his folks, as always, were helpful. Here's SU waiting patiently in the shade for me to finish shopping: So I headed off to Claude's to get a sway bar installed. Stopped by Gettysburg along the way. Here's pics the NC and VA Memorials, and waiting to participate in Pickett's Charge. Nice to finally meet Claude. He and Crystal are great folk. For those traveling up this way, I recommend the Selinsgrove Inn as a place to stay. Closest hotel/motel to Claude, nice BIG rooms, reasonable rates [I paid $105] 2 blocks from very good food, great breakfast included in rate, and a laundromat directly across the street. Speaking of which, I'm off to turn dirty smelly stuff into cleaner things.
Well I give up on this picture thing. I took the time to get the photos from my phone to my laptop to smugmug, copied the smugmug urls into the post and it didn't work. Too much effort for too little results. I don't know how y'all get pictures into your posts. I don't know why there cant just be some simple drag-and-drop way to make it work. GRRRRRR!!!!
dholaday, your pics look great! Gettysburg NC memorial: Gettysburg "Pickett's charge": Gettysburg VA memorial: At Bob's BMW: Safe travels!
I am sorry to see you let go of it Elmer but I am happy for the new owner. I hope to see it on the road again.
Hey Elmer just to let you know your oufit is in very good hands with Duncan, It has what I would say is an excellent home. Yes, we modified it a little with a swaybar. But what we did recently does not even come close to some of the cool things you did to this outfit when it lived with you all. Please when you get back up this way stop by and say hello. And Duncan, you have a great trip. Wish I had the time to tag along. We all enjoyed your stay here and hope to see you in the fall.Glad you liked the difference the swaybar made. Feel free to call anytime.
Claude: Thanks for posting the pics of my rig at your place getting the sway bar. It really makes a difference. Boondox is right about that. And before anybody asks from looking at Claude's photos: No, Elmer did not include Sharon as part of the deal. I'm hoping that my wife enjoys the rig as much as she. Since I last posted - left Claude's and headed to Ann Arbor to see my niece. She thinks the rig is cool!! Then headed north to find US2 in the UP. Here's the north end of the Mackinac Bridge [/url][/IMG] Went west on 2 to Bemidji, MN, where we saw Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox - Lake Bemidji in the background - it's the northern-most lake on the Mississippi River. Where 2 crossed the River it was, oh, maybe 10 feet wide. [/url][/IMG] Then I decided to take a short (1000 mile?) detour and drop south on mostly secondary roads, including a long empty stretch on US 85, to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. I find the latter to be much more impressive - it's HUGE and very special to the Lakota. Still lots of work to be done and progress is slow. The sculptors accept absolutely NO state or federal funds. ALL privately financed. If you are in the area don't miss Crazy Horse - it's only about 15 miles from Rushmore. The picture does not do it justice. They wouldn't let anyone drive on the gravel road you see in the photo. [/url][/IMG] Today I planned on going north via US 212/87/89 to rejoin US2 and go to Glacier NP for a run over the Going to the Sun highway (weather permitting). Unfortunately, I got a two-day unplanned rest while the folks at Sturgis BMW get a new speedo-tach-info display unit shipped in and installed. Hope you can see from the photo that I was driving the Fastest Hack in the West. I mean BMW speedos are always a little optimistic, but this was ridiculous. [/url][/IMG] Good thing is that it gives me time to update this thread, ride around the Black Hills some more, and do laundry. This has been a good trip, speedo units notwithstanding. A lot different than riding it on a solo bike, but lots of fun. I'm really glad Elmer let me buy Ingrid/Brunhilda. . . altho there will probably be a renaming ceremony when I get home. And I'll have to change my avatar.
Hi Duncan... What goes on here..??? Would cleaning the speedo sensors face in the rear have helped?? I would have checked the rear wheel sensor. The more shaving on the sensor, the worse it will work. All sensors have some minor shavings on them. You need to wipe them off with your fingers. If it feels like cream/paste that's normal. Cleaning off the sensor could have fixed this issue. All the shavings can throw the magnet in the sensor off. Did it throw any codes? ABS or Triangle light flash red? No codes is good. Your sensor was probably just covered with metal shavings as the 3.0:1 FD is very new, might not have broken in yet! Wipe if off and stick it back in. This is not uncommon! You may never see a problem again. I guess I am too late in chiming in after you having spent $$$$ for a instrument cluster? :eek1 Should it happen again with the new speedometer...try my remedy.<!-- / message --><!-- sig --> __________________ By the way can you explain to us a bit to about your happiness with Claude's swing arm...what do you see and feel? Most if not all PNW'ers do not sport a swingarm except our Eastern brethren. My ex-sidecar was as you know built by DMC...guess you're the first DMC that has one. cheers,
Elmer: Thanks for the suggestions about shavings. I'll have service guys check it out. I am NOT mechanically adept. And I've gotten worse with age. No visible Codes/warning beacons, and odometer seemed to be working properly. If I had been on my GS I would have just motored on along until I got home and had the garage space and time to fool with things. I'm familiar enough with how that bike runs and handles that I really don't care about the speedo except to avoid counseling about my driving habits from highway patrol officers. On the other hand, this rig is very new to me still and I'm not comfortable enough with my ability to judge speed or make corning adjustments on the fly, so to speak. Re sway bar: I don't want to get in the middle of a "How to Build a Sidecar Rig" discussion with Jay and Claude and Dave Hannigan. I talked with Jay a couple of times about sway bars and it was clear he sees no need for them and has no interest in building one. On the other hand, both Claude and Dave pretty much insist on putting sway bars on dual-sport rigs for on-road use. Claude says no need to disconnect it unless I get into really gnarly stuff. I don't intend to do that. I'm not skilled enough to run the TAT or Black Dog. FWIW, Boondox really liked the handling improvements he experienced going from a Hannigan sway bar to one of Claude's. I figured it was easy to have one on and then remove it if I didn't like it. So far, I believe that it helps the rig's stability, particularly in corners. Just my opinion, and I reserve the right to change my mind.
My rig has no sway bar. We should swap rigs when we get together to see what the other guy's rig feels like. Then we can both post up here our impressions. You got a White Salmon ETA yet?
Drone: Re mileage: I've put on about 3,500 so far - about another 1,200?? to go until I get home. But all on pavement, so still a noob. The Google says a direct route would have been 2,900 miles and 46 hours. I hope to be in White Salmon Sunday. Depends a little on how far I get Saturday - and that depends on the weather at Glacier NP. I'm not doing Going to the Sun if it's icy snowy up top. Be glad to let you drive the rig. I've been wanting to check out yours and talk with you about the stuff you've done to it.
Well darn! Since you missed Vermont I had to eat the lamb roast I thawed and drink the Merlot I had set out for your visit.
Boondox. Sorry to have missed the lamb and merlot. I know from Elmer's reports that both are wonderful. Just go ahead and ship the lamb out here for us to try - we will furnish our own WA merlot. Short day today. Here's a pic of me out in the middle of Not Much, SD [or WY, or MT; not sure which]. [/url][/IMG] Came within 0.2 gallon of needing to stop at the roadside self-service gas station. Riding uphill into strong headwinds plays havoc with the gas mileage.
