Ride Report, Texas to the Atlantic.

[norcalwelder]

Click me, I will take you to the ride report!

 

[lytehouse]

Very nice norcal! You got some great pics there.
Maybe you should ask Santa for a Garmin!
But sometimes getting lost is part of the adventure, true?!?!

 

[tamucc2004]

Great write up and awesome adventure you got to do. Hope there is many more in your future!

 

[iviyth0s]

So cool and inspiring!! I really want to go on a nice long ride-trip, glad you didn't hit much rain. That'd be my biggest "fear" of the trip (a close second would be to break down but I think at 3800mi there's little chance of any mechanical failure)

 

[Yasko]

That was a Great read.:cheer: Thank you for such a fine report.:thumbup:

Very inspirational.:rockon:

 

[Motogiro]

Great ride report and awesome pictures!

 

[Solarservant]

Enjoyed the report! Nice ride.

I have an '06 just like yours. What brand are those saddlebags? Any trouble with them along the way? How about keeping your stuff dry through all that rain?

 

[Cloggy]

Great ride report, and amazing pics, thanks for sharing, it looks like an awesome ride :thumbup:

FYI it's Wilhelmina state park, named after the Dutch queen Wilhelmina from years gone by

 

[motojoe122]

Awesome ride report and pics! I'd love to do a trip like that w/o a gps....just paper maps!

 

[mxgolf]

Thanks for the great report and photos. Glad the trip was free of problems. Looks like fun. :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[dschult2]

Reading through your captions I thought you were going to say that the girl in front of her trailer was going to suggest that you spend the night with her!:BLAA:

 

[norcalwelder]

Reading through your captions I thought you were going to say that the girl in front of her trailer was going to suggest that you spend the night with her!:BLAA:

I would not have said no....she was pretty cute.

My saddlebags are the nelson rigg sport bike version, and they held up well. I have used them on a few trips, and for the price, they work well. For waterproofing, I stored everything in them in plastic bags, with a trashbag serving as the master liner for each side bag. Overall, it kept everything dry, so that wasn't a problem. I'd love to have some pelican cases for side bags though, just for ease of access and overall robustness.

 

[Verharen]

Wow. Great ride report. I had a wonderful time reading about your trip, so the experience must have far exceeded wonderful!!!

 

[FB400]

That's a dream trip and you are still quite young. What will you do to top this?

btw, was wondering.. at 60k miles on the clock have you ever had the valve clearances checked? I keep putting this off although less than half that amount of miles on mine

 

[norcalwelder]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! Will I top this ride? Well each ride is special so I suppose that no, it won't really be topped. However, I have always wanted to ride to Alaska so now that my brother lives in Fairbanks, the planning is underway. I'm not sure if the FZ6 will still be with me, I have my eye on a 1000 V strom that would probably be a little closer match.

 

[crowelor]

This is a great report. Documenting rides better is something I plan to work on, threads like this are great inspiration.

My saddlebags are the nelson rigg sport bike version, and they held up well. I have used them on a few trips, and for the price, they work well.

FYI, I believe you have the bags on the wrong sides. It looks like you have straps over the tops(maybe to help keep them closed). If they were on the opposite sides, wind wouldn't catch under the flap and it wouldn't be in danger of blowing open. Also, the reflective piece would be facing traffic behind you, which is helpful for visibility.

 

[norcalwelder]

Hmm, well its entirely possible that they are on backwards! The straps you see going around the center of the bags are actually just extras to help support the bags and keep them from sagging.