Back To Vegas To Pick Up The Road Glide Day 5

After Breakfast at the hotel I took Hwy 25 south to Hwy 380 and headed East through the Valley Of Fires and the Lincoln National Forest.

I Stopped for lunch at Farley in Roswell New Mexico What a huge hamburger! And I ate it all!

After lunch I continue east in to texas and made it to Abilene Texas.

Had dinner with a friend and got some business done while I was there.

I checked in to the at the Marriott Residence Inn and relaxed for the night.

Tomorrow I'll hopped on Hwy I-20 to Ft. Worth and visit with family for the weekend and headed back to Houston on Monday.

Photos • More Info About The Valley Of Fire

Back To Vegas To Pick up the Road Glide Day 4

After breakfast at the hotel I headed East out of town on Hwy 69.

I stopped for lunch at Al & Diane's Red Onion in Heber, AZ. I had a great Chicken Fried Steak!

I continue East On Hwy 260 through Show Low Arizona, Then hopped on Hwy 60 in to New Mexico. It was now getting really windy and colder.

On Hwy 60 I rode through Quemado New Mexico, the speed limit before town was 65 MPH and 25 MPH in town and out of town there were no speed limit signs. Two miles out of town I pass a state cop doing 65 MPH He turned on his light and pulled me over. So you know I have been riding the speed limit or 5 MPH over, max the whole trip. I ask the officer what was the problem. He stated that I was going 10 MPH over the speed limit. After writing me a $71.00 ticket he told me that the speed limit was 55 MPH for the next 11 miles. This was nothing but a speed trap!

After my 45 minute delay I rode in the dark to Socorro New Mexico and book a room at the Best Western Hotel. I grabbed a late dinner at the El Camino Restaurant & Lounge.

Beside the ticket it was a great day of riding.

Photos

Back To Vegas To Pick up the Road Glide Day 3

Headed out of Laughlin around 9:00 AM and headed East. I stayed off the main Freeway and took the back roads. I stopped for lunch at Kirklands Bar & Steakhouse for a late lunch.

After my pulled pork sandwich (No Steaks!) I headed on to Prescott AZ and got a room at the Marriott Springhill Suite.

After checking in I headed over to the Palace Restaurant and Saloon for dinner. The steak was fair and I had the place to my self. Before I went back to the hotel, I stopped by Krogers and got a bottle of wine.

I relaxed in the hot tub and had two glasses of wine.

I really love riding on these back roads in Arizona. It was a great day considering my two previous days.

Photos

Back To Vegas To Pick Up The Road Glide Day 1 & 2

On Aug 5th I Had a motorcycle accident near Death Valley National Park. By the recommendation from GEICO my insurance company, my 2008 Harley-Davidson Road Glide was taken to Arlin Ness Las Vegas. Eric told me that it would take six to eight weeks to fix the motorcycle.

Eric called on the first part of November and told me my motorcycle was ready to pickup and would be like new.

It took three months to fix, I was told that the guy who was in charge of my motorcycle was fired and my motorcycle was forgotten about, despite my calls every two to three weeks to check on the progress and I thought Eric was in charge of my motorcycle being fixed from the beginning and he is still there.

I flew to Las Vegas on Monday evening November 9th 2009. The next morning I arrived at Arlin Ness Las Vegas to pick up my motorcycle at 8:00 AM and I expected to be there two or three hours for minor things that might need to be adjusted or fixed.

I left at 2:00 PM only to find out that the radio was dead, I immediately returned to the shop and was there till 3:30 PM.

This is the part that really upset me:

Eric told me that I needed to stop at the Henderson Harley-Davidson Shop south of Las Vegas to get the radio configured because of the radio beeping every 30 seconds.

The Henderson Harley-Davidson Shop Manager told me that Arlin Ness Las Vegas brought my motorcycle there two times to fix things.

By the time Henderson Harley-Davidson Shop got to my motorcycle and fixed the radio it was 5:30 PM and I headed to Laughlin to get a few miles in.

Riding in the dark and a few hours later I arrived at the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin. After checking in and grabbing a steak, I relaxed for the night.

• The motorcycle should have been ready.
• I should never had to take the motorcycle to Henderson Harley-Davidson Shop for any reason.
• If Arlin Ness Las Vegas had to take my motorcycle to Henderson Harley-Davidson Shop two time to get fixed, Arlin Ness Las Vegas should never work on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, especially my motorcycle.
• I had to spend other night in Las Vegas (Laughlin).
• I lost a whole day of pay.
• The motorcycle still had things that were not fixed.
• Throttle sticking.
• Fairing to far to the left.
• Nut missing on front left turn indicator.
• GPS mounts still broke.
• Right floorboard sticking up.

The one positive thing I can say about Arlin Ness Las Vegas is that they were very nice and apologies many times.

What do I want out of all of this? The cost of the extra night in the hotel & eight hours of pay, my motorcycle fixed and what happen to me at Arlin Ness Las Vegas does not happen to anybody else.

Photos

Lone Star Rally

Had a great time at the Lone Star Rally this year. Seem to be more people this year and there was lots to see and do.

Checked in at the Gaidos Seaside Inn around noon, Sherri join me later that night. Nice hotel to stay. Map

On Saturday we did a test ride on some of the Victory bikes, checked out the Strand (The main street for the rally) and the vendors.

We took a nap around 8:00 PM and did not get up, we were in for the night.

Sunday we had breakfast at mosquitos. After a great breakfast we hit the Strand one more time and headed home.

Photos:

Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3

Comanche Campout 2009

Can't remember if this is my third or fourth year to attend the Comanche Campout. Anyway it's lots of fun and I always have a great time.

Day 1 Friday:

Sherri and I headed out of Houston Friday afternoon around 1:00 PM. We stopped in Katy to have brunch at Snappy's Cafe & Grill. Always a great breakfast!

After a great brunch we headed West on I-10 to Sealy and took the back road the rest of the way to Smithville at our hotel Americas Best Value Inn. No we did not campout, maybe next year.

After checking in we ran over to the campsite in Buescher State Park where Comanche Campout was being held. We said hello to everyone and had some white chili for dinner with the Cypress Creek SCRC.

After eating some great chili and visiting with friends, we called it an early night (10:00 PM) and we headed back to the hotel.

Day 2 Saturday:

We woke up late and headed over to the campsite to get the details for the Scavenger Hunt. We got our list and headed out and immediately got turned around and end up back at the park entrance. We were hungry so we headed to the cafe (Elm Creek Cafe) on the Scavenger Hunt list. Both of us had the Chicken Fried Steak, we should have shared one plate. It was huge and a great Chicken Fried Steak.

If you are ever in the Giddings area, the Elm Creek Cafe is a

must stop and come hungry!

After stuffing our selfs we followed the Scavenger Hunt map back through Giddings to the Court House to find stuff on the list. We went down highway 71 to La Grange and stopped for gas. We collected some more stuff and found out that we were running out of time and we had to be back to the Campsite by 4:00 PM.

We made it back to the Campsite at 4:10 PM and tuned in our small finding. We did not win, but we had a great time riding around the country side Scavenging. Headed back out to the hotel to rest and get cleaned up before the party later that night.

After our short break we headed back to the Campsite had some gumbo for dinner with the Cypress Creek SCRC. Great gumbo!

The costume party started at 8:00 PM, great costumes this year.

My favorite was Kill Santa, dressed up as Elfs that had santa's head in a shopping bag and yes they won the costumes contest. No, Sherri and I did not dress up this year.

The party continue on all night and we headed back to the hotel around 1:30 AM.

Day 3 Sunday:

Head over to the Campsite around 9:00 AM for the group photo. We had a small breakfast and helped with the packing and clean up. After saying our good byes, headed back to the hotel and packed up our gear, checked out of the hotel and headed down the street to downtown Smithville for some lunch at the Pocket Grill. We had there hamburgers which were good.

After lunch we headed back home through the country side back home to Houston.

The weather was great for the weekend and I had a great time. Put some more miles on the wonderful new Victory Vision.

Photos • Route Day 1 • Route Day 2 • Route Day 3

Star Riders Chapter Ride

What a great day for riding! The friends, weather, route, & food was great!

We started out at Kelly's, once we got out of Houston we hopped on FM 521 South to Sandy Point Rd (CR 42), then West on FM 42 To Cow Creek Rd (CR 25). These two roads are one of my favorites in the South West Houston area. After a spirited ride on CR 42 and Cr 25 we rode in to

West Columbia for a gas break at the local Buc-ees.

We ran into the Southern Cruisers at Buc-ees as they were getting ready to continue their ride to Mikeska's BBQ in El Campo. It was nice to have a quick hello with them.

After our gas break we headed South on Highway 35 to FM 1459 through Sweeny and turned on to FM 524 to CR 16. My first time to ride on FM 1459, FM 524, and CR 16, very nice roads. After hopping on FM 2919 we ended up at 2J's Cafe & Marina on the intracoastal waterway near Lake Jackson.

2J's Cafe & Marina is a great restaurant, it's worth the trip down there.

I rode my new Victory Vision and finished the break in (500 miles) today and I will schedule it's first service this week.

Photos • Route • GPS File