PJPR01

Fun day out yesterday, 3 days in a row of perfect weather to ride, and a nice rendezvous up in Navasota and surrounding areas...great to have lunch with P6X, look at the red LeMans, and enjoy a little run of the big blocks thru the back roads as well as pick up another tag on the Great Tour of Texas from a different angle than a day earlier.

Excellent…will be up that way at the same time…

Ah ah ah…so close! Will get there! If you’re going to go to Classic Rock tomorrow, shoot me a note if you’re up for a coffee and some company unless you have a tight schedule.

Thanks P6x…I’ll have to get down there shortly! Had a nice 250 Miler today getting two stops on the tour, Classic Rock Cafe and Camp Hearne plus a nice loop. Tomorrow I may do Port Bolivar and Galveston or Lufkin…haven’t decided yet. got lucky….no rain just a pleasant day out with some clouds and sunshine alternating…quite a few riders. Will load some pics later this evening…

As hard as this is to believe it was actually at the Tavern stop!! Disclaimer…I don’t drink while riding but at first glance I thought someone had spiked my Arnold Palmer!

Lots of local wildflowers now blooming here in Texas. Location on FM362 between FM1488 and 105… Today’s run was a 160 mile loop with a friend on a Stelvio and his family in the Boxster with a stop at the local tavern…and something I have never seen…a 4 month old Joey (kangaroo) hopping around near the bikes. No V11 content due to awaiting a few parts to be installed tonight in my complete tank off maintenance process. Tomorrow off to collect a few stops on the Grand Tour of Texas…

Indeed...I haven't been on the TGV yet, we were moving slower on prior trips in France or by car so didn't have a need at the time, but many times on the fast Intercity trains in Germany/Austria and the Frecciabianca/Frecciarossa in Italy. I agree, train travel is infinitely more enjoyable than flying in my view, room to walk around, stretch out, take a nap or even an overnighter (did many of these when backpacking around in prior trips). I do hope that they find another vendor besides Amtrak to run the line, as their safety track record here is not great...if and when the rural land owners decide to sell. Not sure if the State of Texas will expropriate the land...but it still feels years away from a practical reality.

Fantastic ideas P6X, however once I retire and put a limousine service to the airport, it will be with the Range Rover, probably not a Gold Wing. Houston City traffic is a little too crazy for me to want to do it on a moto day in and day out! I hadn't planned on going to any Moto GP races in Europe this year but I would love to get to Le Mans one day to see the track and a race in person, and perhaps also a run around the Nurburgring in the Ring Taxi (pity that the wonderful Sabinet Schmitz is no longer with us), and a visit to the new Porsche Museum. Right now I'm contemplating heading to Vienna in July to see The Stones and Robert Cray and visit a good friend there as well as spend some time down in Klagenfurt. If time permits, a trip to Mandello would be ideal in September for the 100+1 party...not sure I can do both yet. Too many plans, not enough time yet while still working. Ironically I would have seen The Stones at COTA late last year, but with Ticketmaster screwing up my refund from the original dates and voiding my tickets, I couldn't get it sorted and never got to see them. I heard that traffic for the show was a nightmare, but the show was good nonetheless. By the way...on my route back yesterday from COTA, between Fayetteville and Bellville on FM159, there were lots of fields of Blue bonnets and Indian paint brush...worthy of a drive in case you're still on the lookout for some pictures this year. Speaking of TGV, I wonder if we'll ever see the high speed train between Houston and Dallas actually get built.

Well, that was a fun race to watch in person at the track, and there were some good passes along the way. Sitting at the top of the hill in Turn 1 afforded a wonderful view of the botched start, the furious speed down the straightaway in front of the grandstands to the crest of the hill and the wonderful lean angles as they make a 150 degree turn...all the while being able to see many of the other turns out over the horizon and a pretty decent view of turns 15/16, coming out of the long curve to 19 and part of 20. Odd to have Moto 2, then Moto GP, then Moto 3 as a race order...I wonder if that's something they are adopting for future races. It was a very blustery day ride up and more so on the way back to Houston, but any sunny day of riding is a good one. At some points the wind reminded me of last year's Cedar Vale, Kansas rally when some of us went riding to Pawnee leaned over at 20 degrees and going straight. Who knew that sailing and motorcycling could be done at the same time! The wind did seem to be affecting some sections of the race track for the riders as they fought side blasts from time to time. Gut feel, but attendance felt very down on Sunday compared to the last 5-6 years I have attended in person, Rossi merchandise was for sale at 50% off, while they were still charging $50 bucks for Marquez T-shirts (too much in my view). Was great to see a few other Guzzis in the parking lot, one white Norge and a Black California. Ducati island drew quite a large crowd Was a fun day at the track all in all, and a nice ride to boot. I thought about capturing one of the Great Tour of Texas points of interest nearby in Creedmor, but decided to do it in a few weeks when I can loop over to Hill country and capture a few more at a more leisurely pace. On to the next race now!

It's the flip side of the flag...93!

Vamos Marquez!

A couple other Guzzi friends will be there all weekend, I'll be riding up with another friend early Sunday morning...planning to arrive around 10 am. Got Tickets in section T1-2 of Turn 1, Section 2, Row 15... Have enjoyed Turns 15/16 the last couple of years, but back to turn 1 this year...King of the Hill!

In the middle of replacing the petcock I had ordered back in late 2017, and casually decided to look at this thermistor/fuel level sensor also. Just had to order one of these from Curtis at Harper's as it's out of stock at Stein Dinse. Prices have gone up...was $104, now $260...rare part indeed, but he has a couple available in case anyone needs one. As I'm deep into a tank off exercise, I noticed the black wire had disconnected at the plastic plate area, the gray/whitish wire was hanging on by a thread, and all of the plastic shrink wrap was brittle and hardened. Time to refresh, along with a couple of other parts. Amazing what one finds when going thru with a fine tooth comb doing the Tank Off exercise.

Wow...Indeed...Carilo was one of my favorite spots to visit, play golf and enjoy the seaside, we spent a lot of time there and in Pinamar on many occasions for ocean side visits. It's a very special place. I still have a favorite golf wind breaker from there that I use till today! A lot has changed since the early 2000's for sure...so many stories to tell of that time. Time for a factura and a lagrima one day to reminisce! I left in October 2002, so just missed an overlap there. We had offices in Vicente Lopez, then San Isidro and then Belgrano. We lived in Alto Palermo at the time (Juncal y Salgueiro)... Now...Lockhart (affectionately known as the Capital of BBQ in Texas), not more than a 5-10 minute wait at Blacks, no need to queue up like in Franklin or other places that you have to get up at the crack of dawn to have a chance at getting some BBQ. Well worth the visit, since LowRyter has declined to show up for BBQ after the race, I'll transfer the invitation over to you - my treat! Of course, if both show up, will be entertaining! Bluebonnets - it's a bit of a stretch, but I did see a lot on the way up and back from Dallas last weekend...another good place to look is between Fayetteville and Hwy 71 on the way to La Grange...that road typically has Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush in abundance. A nice stop at Orsak's in Fayetteville makes a good coffee/pie break along the way. TGIF!

Go Kermit!!

Allons-y!! Hoping for a good outcome as well on the election. I'll have to tell you a funny story about Maradona one day, reminds me of an interview I saw about him while on vacation in Punta del Este, Uruguay when we were living in Argentina between 1999-2002. In a sympathy Porsche message, I am also having to drop some $$'s into the 911, the left rear upper shock mount has apparently broken and was the source of an annoying squeak I was trying to find for the last few months, so after 13 years of ownership since new, both left and right rear strut mounts will need to be done and then an alignment, along with some preventative maintenance, including spark plugs (have to remove the exhaust system to get access to the plugs, quite labor intensive). The reward is in the drive after all, one has to pay to play! At least I can do oil changes, filter changes both oil and air on it, all else is just not doable given how tight the engine is packed in there, but honestly, this car has been error free since I bought it, so I don't mind it needing some maintenance on a rare occasion. On my side of town, I use Euro Auto Techniks (Michael Crawley), who ironically many years ago worked with Mike Haven of MPH! Quite a small world in fact. Is the leak affecting the clutch (slipping at all?)... Now...about that brisket in Lockhart...hhmm, something to look forward to on race weekend!

Thanks for the update p6x! Looking forward to a good day at the races, will watch the qualifiers via the Moto GP subscription and see if the King can be competitive. I agree with the above that if he can't have a good showing at COTA, he should take time off to recover completely or he risks jeopardizing the remainder of his career. Now I also wonder how many Rossi fans will not show up now that he's retired, and if overall attendance will be down year over year. It was good to see him race last year and send him off in style...the crowd was very appreciative. Griso is ready to go, Scura is on the operating table with lots of bits and bobs off at the moment...struggling a bit to get the left pork chop off to get to the shifter extender which I have been meaning to replace for several years now since buying that here on the forum! Peeking into the throttle bodies, they'll need a cleaning too with a fine toothbrush to get rid of some of the gunk accumulation there, new rubber intake boots all around, valve adjustment and new gaskets coming up, and then a proper tune again once all the new items are in place. Everything else looks good so far with the tank off, airbox pretty clean, just a bit of oil in the bottom to remove, air filter still in good shape.

That is smart!

We don't have to ride together, just arrive at the same place. Much easier to do! You already know where Blacks is anyway! Open invitation...I'll head there after the race, if you want to join, send me a text, otherwise, no worries! We did have a nice Italian meal in Poteau, just didn't ride back together, so I'm proposing a meal, not a ride! Lesson learned! Ha ha!

I'll throw in a free meal at Black's on Sunday after the race for you John...come on down!

Ciao Arveno...I have one from my 2002 Scura, but it's in excellent shape. You have a $ budget in mind? PM me. Shipping may be a bit pricey given the box side, probably $50 bucks at least.

Griso is beautiful...Have that exact color combo and year. It's overpriced by about $4K, but I'm sure the dealer knows that and will haggle. Nice collection of other cars there to look at for sure!

A good quality Radar detector (Beltronics, Escort, Valentine) highly recommended and allows more driving enjoyment. Why drive in a school of fish, and gamble on getting a ticket, much better to be in control of one's own destiny and the radar detector allows that. So many spots in Texas with wide open places, no traffic, plenty of room to let the horses run free! Enjoy!

Big congrats to Aleix...super riding and a reasonably fun race to watch. Jorge Martin shows lots of guts in his riding style. Aside from Marc's medical issues, the other tragedy is that as bad a season as Marc is having, he's still doing better than his brother. I'm beginning to doubt whether they should have elevated AM from Moto 2 to GP...or he may be years away from reaching his potential, like Aleix has shown. 200 starts is a lot of races never to have won. COTA will be exciting...another new winner likely unless the KING comes back, but I doubt he'll make it unfortunately.

Always good to have a backup place just in case…I like redundancy in terms of where to go for service in case one disappears. Of course a 50 mile drive in the 911 is a pleasure in itself…I just did a 500 mile round trip to Dallas and back in my 911…good to let it breathe on the open road a bit at full speed!