All I need are big dreams and open highways
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how I will see less of a particular event as time goes on.
That being said, I make it a point to stop and appreciate anything that I find makes me feel good. I’ve always had a thing for a beautiful sunset.
I’ve ridden across the country and have seen many sunsets as well as sunrises. Not one of them is the same, I don’t compare any to each other either. Just admire what’s in front of me.
On my way home from my daily commute I went up to my favorite lookout point to get a clear shot of the super moon. It’s also known as the “cold moon”.
The moon was located over Lake Pardee. It was a good spot to be, only one other person was up there and they split when they saw me coming up the driveway.
I think if it weren’t for riding the bike I’d prolly would have passed the opportunity up if I was driving a car.
I think what happens is when you’re in a cage you tend to want to get to your destination in a hurry. When you’re riding a sled, the getting to the destination is not as important t as the ride itself.
Since you’re in no particular hurry to get anywhere you will take the time to enjoy your surroundings and stop to appreciate it.
This is the current miles on the Goldwing.
Ain’t this a bitch. It is a good thing I opted for the maximum AAA services, because between the motorcycles and cages, something is always breaking down.
I took off in the morning knowing it would be a stormy ride. I got hit going through the small town of Ione. Riding in a storm is nothing new to me but one thing about riding on hard rain, you can see what is under the area where puddles have formed or the depth of a pothole.
As it turned out I ran over a big ass nail or spike. I got it dead center of the wheel. This would normally be a plug fix, but in this instance the nail caused a slight tear using a plug was out of the question.
One this is for certain, I was actually fortunate getting the flat after work, I was able to wait for a tow at the convenience of my work lobby.
Ever since the wreck I put on some serious miles on the Goldwing. I started off with approximately 4000 miles which was one of the driving factors for buying the bike.
As of today, I clocked in over 26,000 miles which is a hell of a lot miles for anyone. Even with commuters driving their cages it’s a lot of miles.
Today marks the one year anniversary of my accident. Time certainly has flown by. Just about this time last year I was laid out in ER.
A quick recap, I was going to work and traveling just North of Ione when a car tried to pass a row of cars. He went into my lane on the two lane road and clipped the left side of bike. The rest is a blur, I believe I counter steered out of a full head on. I went down an embankment, shot up through a barbed wire fence and flew approximately 40 feet and landed in an open field.
When I came to, the fire department, CHP and paramedics were already there standing around me. My adrenaline was so high I jumped up and immediately fell down. My left knee cap had torn off and was sticking out my leg.
I went through 3 months of wound repair, 3 times a week at Kaiser Stockton. My body was completely black and blue, cuts everywhere, internal.
Unfortunately the 2015 Goldwing did not fair well and is on the lift table being taken apart. I’m not sure what I will end up doing with that bike as it’s not a priority for me to get it back together.
In any case I’m heck of lucky and blessed.
I thought this was an interesting fact. I rode the new Goldwing for over 20k miles in 11 months since I had my wreck. That’s a lot since I still have 1.5 months to go to since I owned the bike.
I purchased the bike with 4,400 miles on the odometer. This is the mileage it has now, actually a little more since I rode 100 plus miles today.
We took off early today and headed to Suisun City for OhanaFest. Wifey wanted to go for a ride on her birthday, the festival was a good destination distance and spot to hangout for her birthday.
We went from a full touring GL1800 Goldwing model to the non-bagger. The carrying capacity is greatly reduced but the ride handling is much more better for me as I get older.
Having the DCT model is also a major plus in the “getting older” win category.
It was a good day! The weather was just ride and we didn’t get stuck in highway 12 traffic going to the event and coming home.
We recently went through a thunder and lightning spell. The lightning strikes create a bunch of random wildfires along the Sierra foothills.
With the ongoing fires and morning sunrise it creates a condition of pure radiant color. These are the times I stop and take it in, knowing the conditions that caused it is rare.
I’m racking in miles at a high rate. I really need to keep up on the miles because riding 110 miles a day 5 days a week you can really turn the odometer.
The G-Bag is at 20,572. I changed the oil filter, clutch filter and added 4.9 quarts of oil. I performed the oil change today for maintenance records purposes.
The CaDually is out for front suspension work so I have plenty of room inside the shop to do the oil change. I purposely performed the change at the location where the CaDually leaks. Lol.
This is the visual record of the odometer for historical purposes.
For a complete oil change you will need 5 quarts of oil, removing 0.95 liter on the 5th quart container, oil filter, clutch filter, clutch filter O-ring and 3 crush washers.
You will also need the special oil filter removal tool as a normal tool made for filters will not clear the close lower engine cavity quarters.