Heading out on the first trip of the year....

[KBMWRS]

Taking the bike out and heading through the high desert down near San Diego. Going to meet up with an old VMF friend we know here on the west coast...Outlaw...Angelo Outlaw. We used to meet Angelo down at the Ford show we called 'Knotts' in LA. Well it seems he had an accident with his Mustang and it was totaled. He took the money and learned to fly. So this old pilot was invited down for a flight. Going up on Thursday. It is a good excuse to also get back on the bike for a not to distant ride.
I'll check back with some pics next weekend.

 

[B67FSTB]

We expect pictures......

 

[blu67]

Ride safe, my friend.

 

[Midlife]

Taking the wife with you?

 

[guruatbol]

Nice. Tell Angelo an Katie hi from us. His seats and roller perches are in my garage waiting installation in the Captain.

He has a daughter too. Can't wait to meet her.

Mel

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[KBMWRS]

So the plan was to take I-5 south and then cut east towards Bakersfield taking Hwy 178 to Lake Isabella on the southern end of Sequoia National Forest. Straight road through the orange orchards with heavy fragrances and then on to some twisty road to Lake Isabella…well more of a mud hole now. I stopped a few times.





I have been having problems with my audio system on the bike and they continued. I have ear buds but kept on getting static which then the system cuts off because it thinks I’m using the microphone. Some type of loose connection. Most likely my attempt at converting a 7-pin connector to a 3.5 mm plug. Oh well. No music….but it also takes away the audio notice from the radar detector. Ok so I won’t speed….too often. Then my old GPS starts to act up. I look down and its blank. Another loose connection? The on/off switch is just a rubber pad. Never really know if its on…well until it comes on. It comes back and then goes away a few more times. I reach lovely Barstow, CA. Go to the motel I have being stopping at for many years. Nice Indian couple run it now. Take a ride out to get gas, stop at the new Walmart for a cheap set of ear buds. I did find that our custom ear buds had broken wires. I was using my wife’s since mine had the same problem. Wires are so fine and at the 90degree bend I can’t fix them. Decided to stop by a nice Italian place for dinner. Come out and start the bike…its starts then dies. This continues with me trying to rev it high but then nothing. I’m stranded on Main street lane #2. I get it over to the far side curb and step off. Pick-up truck full of guys yell “do you need help?” and kept on driving. I start to push the bike. Motels is about 0.2miles away..up hill. I’m dying. I nice young guy walks up and offers help. We push this behemoth uphill to my motel. I collapse in bed. Need to slow the ol’ticker down. I’m thinking battery. Start calling…Reilly’s/Autozone, nothing…check Walmart. Walmart may have the right size. Motel manager offers to charge/jump the bike. We try but nothing. He wants to connect Negative direct to frame….no, no its not a frame based system. Don’t want to fry any computers. He does drive me and the battery down to a place that only sells batteries on the other end of town. No battery but a test confirms my battery is in great shape. Too late to do any more that day. Go to the movies….The Batman…Did you know its always raining and the sun never comes up in Gotham?



Next day I call my Motorcycle Towing Service plan and they find a guy who only flatbeds bikes willing to take me to the nearest BMW dealer in Riverside..only 83 miles away. At least my plan covers $300 of the tow. He shows up at 11:45 and we head to Riverside BMW. White knuckle time. With my bike in the back we’re doing 80-90 mph, cutting in and out of traffic where-ever there’s an opening. Made it alive. Service manager, Christie, comes out. She puts the key in and it starts right up. They’ll check it out. Guess is alternator or belt. Bad/good news checking for a new alternator….there is only ONE in the US. Its in Stockton, CA. At least the same state. I start to think about canceling hotels calling Angelo and cancelling flying. This is going to be expensive. Leave them to do their work and I head out for a burger. Stroll past a huge Harley dealer…and a place called Malcolm Smith Motorsports. Double the size of the HD dealer. Deals in all things for off road riding/driving. Back at BMW Christie tells me she was riding it in the back when it just shut down on her. So it wasn’t me! The tech is working on the bike as I walk up to exchange my eyeglasses that are on the bike. He tells me its two wires off the ignition switch that broke. He was putting in longer wires to make a loop so when turning the wires would not be stressed. After three hours there I pay the bill. I’m expecting BMW prices…$200…hey that’s great news. I’m back on the road heading to ElCajon by the end of the day.

 

[KBMWRS]

Next day I need to waste time until the meet-up with Angelo at 1:30. Meet up with Ang at the airport. We start talking flying and some of my old war stories about ‘back in my day’ crap. Head out to the nice Piper Warrior II he has for the day. We head out towards the ocean with San Diego off the left wing. We’re always in controlled airspace. Which means Angelo is always on the radio listening and scanning the skies. He’s very good at all this. We fly north along the coast a bit and then head inland. Make a big circle and head back to his airport. He nails the landing nice and slick. We’re up maybe 45 minutes. I would have loved to take control and done some maneuvers but it was his aircraft and he was too busy flying to offer such to an old pilot. I totally understand. He is going through the flying stages. All gun ho and looking for others to offer his same enthusiasm. I hope he keeps at it. We talk a short while and say our good-byes. And that was it. He did note he misses the MITM we used to have. And all this flying is being paid for with the settlement he got after his ’66 was totaled.

The flying stirred up so many old memories I had from back in college. Like getting in a plane like folks get in their car. Just another vehicle. That was fun.

 

[KBMWRS]

San Diego off left wing

 

[KBMWRS]

 

[KBMWRS]

Came across this in Ramon CA advertising real-estate.

On the way back I stopped by Mojave Airport for a look around. Since it was Saturday and very windy nothing was happening. I was hoping to be able to see some of Burt Rutan’s aircraft but no such luck. There is a building with a replica of the spaceship. The real one is in the Smithsonian.


The mothballed aircraft are all over.

 

[KBMWRS]

At the entrance are static display aircraft. The F4 was the first program I was on when I graduated college. I had display models of McDonnell's fighter aircraft on my desk then. Some engineers came over to borrow my plastic models to discuss moving the position lights on an F-4 for testing. Pic of position lights on SAAB.

 

[KBMWRS]

Riding home was boring with a lot of head wind. Tiring.

At least the bike’s running…low mileage too…only 79,000 miles

Next up ...Trailer Trash Tour

 

[Midlife]

Angelo flew over most of my old haunts: Ocean Beach/Point Loma, and Del Mar. I even lived in El Cajon, where there was an active 1/2 mile race course that I used to go to often when I was in HS. Your photos bring back old memories.