Well I headed out at 9am on Tues headed west. I had been told how unfun Texas was to drive through and should avoid it. I saw no need to avoid it as it was just another state I was passing through and would make no difference if the time spent was one state or 3. As luck would have it I hit Texas as it was getting dark and the road was the same as any other road in any other state in the dark. The one huge advantage Texas had was when I saw the first posted 80mph speed limit sign which meant I could haul ass at around 90 for 8 hours, made up some serious time that way. Rolled into my sisters house from Dawsonville, Ga. (North central Georgia) to Indio Cal. in 28.5 hours (2100 miles). Got to her house and when she got home from work went to look at what all I would be loading. I had already checked price and availability for a 4x8" Uhaul trailer to load all the crates of parts in while the bikes were in the bed of the truck. The trailer would have run me $370 I didn't want to spend. She insisted I would need it.When I got the where she had everything stored in a horse trailer I found most of the milk crates were not full and ended up consolidating them into 4 milk crates. Also had a complete CB750 front end, from the handlebars to the wheel, another spare Borrani wheel and tire (spokes cut out), and a Cb750 rear wheel. 3 different parachutes, a couple of helmets in boxes, etc. I looked at it all and decided I could easily fit it all into my truck bed and started to consolidate the crates and start packing it in the truck. Got it all in and as I drove off first noticed I was at full capacity and with the worn out shocks on the truck had no difficulty bouncing off the frame bump stops. Started think how fun the ride home was going to be because i would not be able maintain the 70mph I averaged on the way back. I had no spare tire, but good tires on the truck and didn't want to get stranded anywhere away from home, that always sucks. So I'm loaded and ready to go when I realize it is Thursday and New Years Eve and there is NFW I'm getting on the road tonight. So I go to a little NYE party with my sister, they celebrate the New York NYE so they can go to bed 3 hours earlier. So I got a good nights rest at my sisters and headed out Fri. morn at 8am. Coming home she recommended I take I-8 along the Mexican border to avoid the 45 mile uphill grade leaving Coachella Valley on the I-10. At the Calif. border I hit a Border Patrol inspection station where the guys immediately started asking about the cool bikes in the back as I was in line at the booth. Cars started stacking up behind me as they were more interested in the bikes than the traffic. That's when one said "would you mind pulling over here and parking" , I figured "Oh ****" here comes the full inspection where they want to unload everything and make a mess searching for drugs and what have you. I was about to be pissed when I asked " What for" and he replied " I want to talk more about your bikes, they are really cool", I said "I'd rather not, I'm on a schedule and just starting and have a long ways to go." He said " That's cool" and we wished each other Happy New Year and I was again off and running. I make it into Texas where I see a Trooper SUV in the left lane and I slow to 70mph in an 80mph zone. They start to slow up to let me pass on the right and then speed back up and throw on the brakes as they near my side. Here I am thinking "Here we go a again", but they notice something west bound and whip a U and go the other way, Whew, saved by someone else doing something. Later in the night I see another Texas Trooper going under the speed limit and pass them at 70 in an 80 and they drop in behind me for a mile or so and then throw on the lights. I pull over and they come to my passenger door and knock on the window. I can't reach the door to open it because I am strapped in. I tell them to open the door. At this point I'm to sure if I'm talking to a male or a female, it was SNL Pat if you know what I mean? She informs me that the broken taillight lens is showing my brake light as white and not red on that side. I tell her I have the lens ordered but it hadn't arrived before I had to leave on this round robin. She then starts quizzing me on all that is in the truck, So I have to explain my brothers passing away and how I'm picking up inherited property and taking it home to Ga.. That's when she asks "What's in tis big green canvas bag in the bed of the truck" I think for a second and answer "Oh that, it's filled with parachutes" She asks "Your brother was a sky diver" I replied Not as much as I am so I have a use for his." She finally says she is giving me a warning for the taillight and sent me on my way. At the last gas stop (every 3.5 hours) I notice the right rear was low on air and after checking realize it only has 20psi in it and I don't want to be doing 80mph with a 1000b load with no spare and only 20psi. So I pull off at the next exit to find air.It pisses me of that they charge $1 tout air in your tire. The first station has a pump with coins jamming the hole and no nozzle on the hose. This goes on for approx 50 miles and about 20 station before finding one station that was closed but had a air machine that was only$.50and had a nozzle, I pop in 2 of the remaining 4 quarters I have and wait for for a response which of course never comes. And now I won't have $1 for the next one and will have to break a $20 to get $.50. I pull into a truck stop and find every truck pump has a 2 air hoses, Eureka, only to find the compressor is not working so none of the hoses have air. This is getting ridiculous. I pull to the next station and find a working pump, but this time it is $1.25, FML, I go in and get the $20 broken and go out to the pump to put in my 5 quarters only to find the pump turn on after only 2 quarters, all right, things are looking up. I put the required amount in the low tire and go to the there side and check it, t's a few lbs. low and start to fill it, get about 2 seconds before the pump shuts off. It's enough, I'm back on the road after wasting a bunch of gas and about an hour or more of time.
I pulled over at about 7am and got 1.5hours of sleep in the front seat and made it home finally at 8:30pm, 34.5 hours 6 hours longer than the trip out. The trip out I did non stop by myself for anything but gas and didn't get any sleep until my 41.5 hours up. Needless to say I am happy to be back home and looking forward to the New Year.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program about building the bike.
BTW. I got home to find they had shut my electricity off on the 28th, the day I left, because I hadn't paid the bill yet. Normally they don't shut off until the 2-3 of the month and I would have had it handled by that time. So here I am home, no lights, no heat, dead cell phone, dead computer and it's sat. night. I call and the automated system wants the past due balance, the $40 cut off fee and the $90 turn on fee. I hang up and think about what my options are and maybe I should wait until Mon when the office opens to discuss the bill. I'm thinking "now I really need to get a bunch of work done on Sun. so I can pay the fees. I realize I can't turn the oven on for work so I then call back and switch to the guy who does the turn ons after hours. He tells me there is a $250 late night turn on fee I would have to pay. I ask when that fee starts, he says "at 9pm" I ask what time is it now? He says 9:03. I say "can't you cut me some slack?" He says no , it's all computer controlled, but if I call back in the morning after 8am it drops back to the $90. I'm using my neighbors phone because mine is dead, he offers to allow me to plug my extension cord in his outside socket so I can at least power up a light and charge my phone and computer. It's at this point I realize the power has been off for 5 days and the chances of salvaging any food in the fridge is probably nil, I was pretty much right, the only saving grave was the fact that as soon as I left for Calif. Ga. dropped from the 70's to freezing and it's been cold in here and no one has opened the door at east keeping the cold air in the fridge. I realize I can't take a shower cause there is no hot water. I can't take care of any of my business on the computer because the electric modem is down with no electricity. So my only option was to throw in one of the movie CD's I brought back from my brothers property and get into bed and warm it with my body and fall asleep to the movie which should be quick after the long trip. Had the power restored first thing this morning and am back on track. All the bad luck has passed and 2016 will be a banner year. I have my bikes and parts and ready for 2016 to be a riding year.