5300 mile Ride to Austin for the MotoGP Races

[redfjniner]

5300 mile Ride to Austin for the MotoGP Races
 
A friend, Ron, and I rode from Portland/Vancouver area to Austin to watch the MotoGP races at Circuits of Americas. Along the way we meet up with other friends, Bill and Mike in Sahuarita, AZ. Bill and Mike are big race fans. Ron and I are So So race fans, but enjoy the ride and the race track experience. This ride was 5494 according to the FJ odometer, 5285 actual miles according to Garmin.
 
We only had a couple days of bad weather, with the first day being the worst as we rode from Portland area to Grants Pass. It rained all the way, or about 5 hours worth. My feet got very wet in my waterproof boots. The same boots I walked across the Rio Grande in and my feet stayed dry. We had a head wind of 20 mph so, I conclude that the combined 70 mph and 20 wind pressure on the boots may have been the reason they leaked. On the way home we hit Northern California with rain and snow showers near Mt. Shasta and temps that got down to 33 according to the FJ and 29 according to the C14 Ron was riding. It also rained in Austin on Saturday so we didn't go to the races that day. Mostly good weather as can be seen in the pictures. We finished the first days ride in sunny Redding, CA with temp in the low 60's, which pretty much dried us out, except our boots. Day 2 we rode from Redding to Bishop, CA and it was dry but very cold in the pass before Old Station, CA, with snow on the side of the road from the snow the day before. From Bishop to Austin and back to Grants Pass was dry and very good temps, except Las Vegas at near 99.
 
The FJ ran flawless the intire trip. The camchain tensioner was making noise before I left and got a little noisier along the way, but no problems developed. The PR-3 on the rear showed normal wear. I left with about 2,000 miles on the tire and finished with about 1 mm of tread to the wear bars on the rear. Should be good for another 2K. The front PR-4 looks to be a little better than half worn with about 8K on it. The throttle seems to have gotten gummy or semi restricted, but works okay for closing.
 
A very good ride and really good fun with my best riding buddies Bill and Ron. Bill made all the lodging arrangements from Sahuarita to Austin and back. Great selections. Food selection along the way was interesting.  The races were just Ho Hum, nothing special, almost put me to sleep.  The following is summary of our stops and miles ridden. 5331 miles calculated by MS Streets and Trips.
 
  
 
This is a selection of photos taken, and set at 1920x1080 pixels. If you click on the pictures, there is some descriptions. I did some editing to enhance contrast and color, with sharpening.

[1moreroad]

Thanks. Bill has a VERY nice garage.