Tell of your unplanned adventure

[BouncinBob]

Well, the unplanned Colorado adventure got me to thinking about unplanned rides. While mine does not have the curves, dirt roads and vistas (whadda yah expect, I live in Ohio). Let's all post an unplanned ride or trip here.

Here's mine:

My house was the site of the family Christmas reunion. This does not happen often in our family. My sister and kids, my parents, more siblings and kids and we were overrun. Finally everyone slowly cleared out. A weekend came along just after New Years. It was mostly clear, threats of participation from the west. But the roads were dry and clear, the white was just salt dust. I looked at my lady and said I needed to go for a ride.

Temp was somewhere just under freezing. I saw a few flakes as I headed out, but I had looked at the weather map, as long as I didn't stay out too long, I should be fine. I jumped on I90 east figuring to go 15 or so miles then hit some back roads. It felt good to be cruising along on the K at a healthy pace. Sure, now and then I got strange looks, but hey.

As I approached the exit I had intended to take I started thinking, hey PA isn't far away. So I put my head down and kept going east. Once in PA I was thinking <there I go again, I tried to be careful with this thinking thing>, where to now... hey, NY isn't far away, so I kept on streaking east. I got to NY and started thinking........

Ha, no, VT or Mass were too far. I wasn't sure where to exit the NY Thruway, but hey, it didn't matter, I have an EZ Pass on the bike. Well, I got to the Buffalo area and stopped off for a cup of coffee. I called home, good news is it wasn't snowing or raining there....... yet.

I turned around and headed back west, confident the helmet therapy was washing away the stress of the last week or so. Of course, I was now getting much stranger looks from the people in their ski jackets in the closed up and heated cage when they realized my plates indicated I was from 2 states away.

No, it was not the vistas, it was about helmet time unless you enjoy the view of snow covered fields. It was the time with myself in the helmet that I enjoyed so much.

I did not hit any precipitation on the way home, it was the perfect day for a ride.

When I got home my lady relayed a conversation she had with my son.

Her: Hello
Him: Dad there
Her: No
Him: Where is he?
Her: Buffalo
Him: Why
Her: for a cup of coffee
Him: Oh, he went for a ride, tell him I called if he comes home.

 

[bmwmick]

Unplanned Detour and Praise for BMW of Salt Lake City

I just got home Sunday at 1500 from the 2005 3-Flags Rally. 4,790 miles door-to-door. This year was Tijuana to Calgary and totaled 2,622 miles one way,
We left TJ on Friday 9/2 at 0400 and arrived in Calgary Monday at 1700. GREAT trip!! Almost all back roads and mostly great weather.
My "unplanned detour" came as I crossed over Bear Lake summit in Utah on my way home to Tucson. I had decided to take all back roads home just like the trip north. I got caught in a thunder storm as I passed Bear Lake on route 89. The pivot screw on the right side of my Schuberth Concept helmet must have backed out. It was raining pretty hard as I was heading down the mountain. My face shield was down but I noticed a little more wind noise than normal. As I put my hand up to localize the noise, a 50mph gust of wind came from the right and ripped my face shield off. Since it was still securely attached on the left side, the wind gust bent the shield backwards (against the curve) and it shattered in a hundred pieces.
I got stopped and turned around (in the rain) to see if I could find the pieces. At the time, I didn't know it had shattered. I found most of the pieces and both of the latches that secure the shield. I made the decision right then to detour to Logan, UT and make my way to BMW of Salt Lake City. I called the dealership from Logan and spoke to Mike. He gave me directions (which were wrong) and said they would be there until I arrived, no matter when that was.
I got to the dealership about two hours after closing. Mike and two other guys were still there. They stripped a new helmet for parts and I proceeded to install a new face shield, new right side rachet and pivot screw. To my amazement, they would NOT take any money for this.
Better yet, they steered my to the Best Western Cottonwood Inn where they send folks who need emergency repairs on the road. Vince at the front desk set me up with a $52 corporate rate for a ground floor room overlooking the registration canopy where he told me to park my bike so the office staff could keep an eye on it. It doesn't get much better than this!!

A BIG thanks goes to BMW of Salt Lake for their exceptional support.