A Blog for a geek: My little aluminium butt trip to GA

I’ve been planning on going to visit my friends on north side of Atlanta for something on the order of 2 months now, so as the time drew near, I thought it would be kool to take the bike.
Since the ST1300 was finished, it looked like a prime opportunity to give the thing a good long run. and besides, bikes all get 40+ MPG on the hwy, I can’t even get 20mpg out of the 4Runner. sounds like a no brainer to me.
I had been watching the weather for the week prior to the trip in hopes that it was going to warm up and be a nice ride. It didn’t. I decided that I was going to go ahead and take the ride. Thats what heated grips and Belstaff jackets are for right?
When I started loading the bike at 0530 the thermostat in the apt was claiming it was 28.4*F

The bike thought it was a bit cooler then that

(forgot to reset the trip meter prior to the pic, but you can see the odo 15308)

it was cold, so I layered up, cranked the heated grips to High (or so I thought) and hit the road. the clock on the bike read 0607 when I pulled out of the driveway.

I didn’t make it to Dallas before I thought I was going to get lose my hands to frostbite. I stopped 3 times to warm my hands on the exhaust and/or the heads.

By 1000 it was all the way to 38* (according the the not-always-correct bike)
All this and my body was just fine. Knees got a little cool, but it was hands and toes that were cold. So I kept stopping every ~30-45min to warm back up. to say the least it was a slow trip.

About 1130 I made it to the LA border
yes, thats ~250mi in about 4hrs, yeesh

Stopped and grabbed a Quizzno’s sandwich and hit the road again about 1220. I was warmer by this point so I was able to make some better time.

Somewhere in LA, I stopped for a break and saw this sign. What are they implying??

I’m sure they *meant* to point to some specific area other then the trash can, but I just couldn’t resist a little creative interpretation ;)

Back on the road I ran into a back-log of traffic on I20 near Ruston, LA. Turns out that they had shut down East bound I20 from Ruston to Monroe. I don’t know the cause but they routed us down LA33 to HWY80 and over to Monroe. That trip which is normally ~25mi, took almost 3hrs.

I got stuck between a couple big rigs and the one in front had a shiny trailer!

I wish i’d had a CB during that time so I could at least have somebody to talk to!
My hands were getting warm so I flipped the grips from Hi to Low, I QUICKLY discovered that they were wired up wrong! they got HOT in a hurry. too bad I didn’t find that out sooner
I don’t know for sure but I think the instructions on the grips are wrong, because I remember double and triple checking that I had them right before buttoning the tupperware back on, but I could very well just had some cerebral flatulence and put them on wrong. I’ll have to take the plastic off and get them straightened out.

I had my VX-7r along so I plugged that in and found a little country station out of Monroe. Their DJs weren’t good at all, but the music was great!

By the time I got to Monroe, it was about 1500. time to make some distance. next stop: Vicksburg, Miss. landing there just before 1700.

I spent the rest of the evening doing my best to make tracks across Miss.

I crossed the border in to Bama around 2200. It was dark so I didn’t stop to get a pic of the state sign. I decided that I’d had enough for one day and it was getting darn cold again. so I grabbed a room in Tuscaloosa, AL for the night.

Woke up about 0700 and hit the road by 0745. It wasn’t any cooler Saturday morning either.

all that time and I’d still only gone 600mi!

I was able to make better time on Saturday. Stopped for breakfast at Waffle House around 0900 then back on the road to GA. Crossed the border in to GA around 1100. Construction started at the border so I didn’t want to risk stopping for a pic of the sign.

I turned North at Villa Rica
headed up HWY61 towards Dallas, GA. From there it was up 92 to Acworth and I was done by 1215. phew what a trip.

Saturday I didn’t do much of anything. sat around and talked, read letters from their sister/sister-in-law in Africa and just had a fended off the 2 dogs and a cat appropriately named PITA.

Saturday night we went into town and picked up another controller for the newly-acquired PS2 (yes, the old cheap one :deal: ) and then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening playing games.

Sunday we got up and played more games. it was down right funny to watch her playing GTA: San Andreas and attempting to get away from the cops.

Oh, she decided that on GT4, the Ram 1500 Hemi Quad Cab is the best thing out there cause “it doesn’t turn quick” :scratch:

While she was playing GT4 we got under the house and ran a network cable so they could have all their computers online at the same time.

Then it was off to bed for some sleep before I had to drive home to TX

Sunday I got up 0700 (CST), had breakfast, loaded the bike and hit the road right at 0810.
Sunday was much prettier then friday!

Made I20 by 0900, topped off the tank and headed west for home.
Made a quick stop at the Alabama border for the requisite sign pic

and continued on my way.

First stop was for lunch at 1200 in Miss, but I don’t remember town name.

Hit LA at 1600 and kept on trucking.

It started raining just past Monroe and was wet and/or foggy from there to home. stupid weather. Fortunately Belstaff knows how to keep the water out, now if I can remember to tuck the gloves INSIDE the sleeves next time I’ll be set.

Crossed into TX and stopped in Marshall at 2000 for gas and food. Pulled out of there around 2030.

Once I got West of Canton the fog started settling in. It would be clear enough to see stars one minute then the next you couldn’t see the road 200ft ahead of you.

Arrived home at 2330, all told, 14hrs and 20 min to cover 850mi, need to work on my efficiency.

So what would I do different?