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Manwohr 36 Tour

Right after my Pikes Peak ride I had an appointment with Pikes Peak Motorsports (an official BMW Dealer) to shoe up Ol' Blue with a set of Michelins. While there the service adviser advised me to replace the fork seals which are under warranty. When I asked how long it would take he replied with "Pop the old ones out, pop the new ones in."

This was Tuesday at about noon. A short time later he approached me and said their was a problem. They "popped" the old ones out and realized that they didn't have any new ones in stock. Okay, pop the old ones back in and I'll get it done down the road. Not so fast. The old fork seals are sacrificed when they are removed. Huh?

He told me that he placed the overnight order with BMW and the new seals will be at the dealership first thing in the morning.

The next morning when the BMW shipment arrived, the fork seals had not made it. I was then told that BMW treats Colorado Springs as an east coast vendor, and the shipment wouldn't arrive until the following morning. Huh?

The service adviser then told me that the Denver dealer had the part and he was sending his guy to pick it up; a three hour round trip. This was at around 10am yesterday. Two hours later and the guy who was making the trip is still hanging around the Colorado Springs / Pikes Peak shop. I asked what the story was and was told that another courier was bringing the part from Denver, ETA 4:30pm.

Okay, I can still lay down some miles after the seals are popped in.

At around 4:30 the parts arrived and I'm ready to go. As I'm gathering all of my stuff, the adviser approaches me and shows me the new seals which are either damaged or defective. He tells me that the original BMW order will arrived the next morning, which is today. Huh?

During this whole fiasco, the mechanic who's doing the work on my bike comes out and appears to be pissed off. He tells me that his parts guy is the biggest idiot to order only one set of these fork seals at a time. "Order a dozen for Christ sakes!" he exclaimed. He also said the exact same scenario, with the exact same parts occurred just a week ago.

So, cutting to the chase, I incurred two extra nights in Colorado Spring's Hampton Inn, and instead of offering to take care of at least a portion of my additional expense, they took 10% off their already inflated price of the tires; two Michelin Pilot Power CT 2's installed with the discount, $575. Before paying the bill, I asked the service adviser for something positive from the whole experience so that I could put it on my blog, because I really don't like to write the negative stuff about people. His response? "Nobody reads those blogs anyway."

This is the worst dealership of any kind that I have ever come across.

Avoid Pikes Peak Motorsports like poison!

Well, I finally got on the road at 1pm and picked up I-70 just north and east of town. Heading east for about 200 miles, I exited onto US 83 south to Garden City, KS. The sun was getting low on the horizon and bathing these vast fields in some beautiful light. It was nothing more than a straight road, but it was heavenly.

From there I headed east again on US 50 and into Dodge City, a 360 mile trip after everything was said and done.

By the way, today was my dad's birthday. He would have been 82 and I miss him. His voice was in my head throughout the ride today. Dad, I hope you are in a peaceful place.

So, as for tomorrow, you know what I'll be doing? That's right.

Gettin' outta Dodge.
 
Is this is their idea of a customer lounge, folding chairs and an empty drink machine? In total, I spent about 12 hours here. I guess you get what you pay for when you decide to purchase a BMW. Are you kidding me?
 

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Anyway, should an authorized BMW Motorrad's service dept. have a sign like this?
 

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Today I left Dodge City and headed out across Kansas. It was cold and gloomy but miles had to be made up since I was held up so long at Pikes Peak Motorsports in Colorado Springs.

39˚ and windy eventually became 52˚ and rain.

I can't say enough about my gear and the BMW's heated grips. They make these conditions so much more than tolerable. Not that it's a pleasure mind you but it makes stopping out of the question.

Into Oklahoma then east into western Arkansas. 450 miles of otherwise "I'll take the car" weather. Hoping for dry roads and warmer temps tomorrow through the Ozarks.

Nothing exciting about today's ride which is a good thing. Ironically, I found it to be a very nice ride. Really no scenery, and no traffic. It's hard to describe but after reflecting on today's miles, I sit here in my hotel with a reserved smile on my face....and the thermostat at 80.

I'm hoping to thrash a bit of the Ozarks tomorrow and the make it into eastern Tennessee. If not, there's a lot of good college football to watch.

In case you didn't know #5 Georgia plays my #6 Gamecocks in Columbia at 7pm.

Tomorrow's ride will be governed accordingly.
 

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Today's ride ended in rain and 48˚ temps. Stay thirsty Ol' Blue.
 

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I left Springdale, Arkansas this morning under partly cloudy skies and 39˚. Heading south on I-540, I exited on AR 180 which turns into AR 16. What a great road. No traffic, no cops and 50-70mph sweepers. Just what an RT likes. Before I knew it I had gobbled up 150 miles of asphalt.

Eventually AR 16 intersects with AR 7, which dumps you off on I-40.

Just before getting on the interstate I noticed ominous clouds to the east southeast. Right where I was heading. I pulled off of AR 7 and donned all of my foul weather gear. A good thing too. As soon as I pulled onto the freeway, the skies opened up. Heavy rain, 42˚ and traffic heading into Little Rock.

About 2 hours later I pulled off for gas. It was around noon and still pouring. Right there next to the gas station were a couple of nice cozy hotels. I was tempted but not deterred. A full tank and onward towards Memphis. The rain would not let up.

After running past Memphis, I called it a day. I was wet, cold and hungry. I had only traveled a total of 350 miles but I feel like they were well earned. And I thought, why kill myself. Put the bike away to ride another day.
 
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After a rainy night, sitting in my hotel room watching the Gamecocks destroy Georgia, I woke up to dry pavement. There still was a thin layer of clouds that indicated rain was possible. My plan was to get 300 miles under my belt no matter what the weather. As it turned out, leaving Memphis and heading east, the skies started to clear. Not cloudless but bits of pure sunshine. It's amazing how a small ray of sunshine can stir my soul. I had a friend who taught me the true meaning of life. Some of her wisdom was the feeling of warm sunshine bathing your skin on a cold day. Check. Another was a hot shower after being soaked by a cold rain. Double check. The point is the simplest things are the most treasured. She passed away in 2000.

So here I was on I-40, heading east trying to accumulate some miles. Just after Nashville, I needed a change and exited onto Hwy 70. A nice change of pace, some small towns, a few twisties and about 80 miles.

From there back on I-40 to 321 looking for a dragon. After gassing up, I made my way over to 129. Sunday afternoon and Deal's Gap was virtually empty, nobody ahead of me and nobody behind me for the entire session. Beautiful.

At the south end of the Dragon there is a left turn onto NC 28. Wow! What a great road. Less technical and much faster than the Dragon. It runs along side a river for quite a distance and provides few surprises. The RT just ate it up.

It eventually straightens out and I went looking for 441 to lead me to the southern beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway, hoping to ride the part I missed by starting it in Asheville at the beginning of my trip.

It's amazing how different it looked from a month ago. It had transformed from the effects of Autumn. No more green canopy. Now the roads were sprinkled with the colorful leaves of fall. Really a pretty time to be here.

As I got higher on the mountains, the vistas revealed some remarkable cloud cover from below. It felt heavenly not unlike the summit of Pike's Peak.

I road the Blue Ridge into the night, looking down on the faint lights of the small towns below. I felt as if I was the only person on the entire parkway. A combination of solitude and terror.

Ended the day in Asheville.

Tomorrow I hope to catch some more of "28" and eventually make it to Tallahassee and to hug my daughter.

I can't believe it's almost the end of the road.
 
NC 28, a great road. The road is on the right side of the photo and shows from where I came.
 

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