Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas - 2022 edition - Repository -

[p6x]

Another place to visit.... in Amarillo! Texas shaped too....

 

[p6x]

Texas Forestry Museum in Lukfin. Stop #32, 10/50.s 261 miles (420km). Nice temperature too. 73 degF (23 degC).

A free museum (they accept donations) retracing the origins and vanishing of the paper mills and wood industry in Texas.

 

[PJPR01]

The folks at the museum are probably wondering why two Guzzis have visited them in the space of just a couple of weeks!  It’s a nice ride thru the forest…other than the love bugs!!

[p6x]

1 hour ago, PJPR01 said:

The folks at the museum are probably wondering why two Guzzis have visited them in the space of just a couple of weeks!  It’s a nice ride thru the forest…other than the love bugs!!

She asked me (Stefanie) how I came to know about their Museum. I said the Motorcycle Tour of Texas... her face lit up, and she said she knew all about it.

I liked they kept that roll of paper which was anonymously annotated to be the last one produced from the mill before it shut down.

[p6x]

The 1904 Train depot in Kingsville. Stop #38; 11/50. 466.5 miles (750 km). Under scorching temperatures, two showers around Victoria. My longest one ride distance yet. 7:00 plus the stops. A 10:00 hours outing.

As far as I remember, I never rode that much in a single day. Next challenge will be to do the return trip to South Padre which is theoretically 12 hours (with no stops).

My last refill was at a place named "The Texan"; it had a similar look and feel as "Buc-ee's".

39.5 mpg while keeping the Guzzi around the 5k rpm. Between Refugio and Victoria. I found that riding under the pouring rain, the faster you go, the better vision you have. It is like with an aircraft. They don't need wipers at high speed. Same effect on your visor.

I am finally able to rest comfortably on the Guzzi. I tuck myself behind the front fairing, torso resting on the tank, elbows resting on my knees, and head down cutting on the wind and watching the road through the windscreen. I was not able to sustain that position long previously, because of the neck angle with regards to the body.

Unfortunately, the Train Depot was under renovation, and I did not get to see the inside.

 

 

[p6x]

Next Monday, I should do my longest single ride trip yet. Houston to South Padre Island and back.

The total ride is 811 miles, anticipated to last 12+ hours. Does not include stops to refuel.

I am not certain I am going to manage to ride 12 hours. I have done a rehearsal up to Kingsville, but this one is considerably longer.

 

[docc]

42 minutes ago, p6x said:

Next Monday, I should do my longest single ride trip yet. Houston to South Padre Island and back.

The total ride is 811 miles, anticipated to last 12+ hours. Does not include stops to refuel.

I am not certain I am going to manage to ride 12 hours. I have done a rehearsal up to Kingsville, but this one is considerably longer.

 

Very serious heat indices return to the southern USA next week. Be aware.

I have been seriously heat exhausted twice while riding. It is doubly dangerous while underway and far from home.

"Heat Stroke " is life threatening, but the sufferer cannot discern the difference and will be fortunate if those in attendance could.

 

[p6x]

32 minutes ago, docc said:

Very serious heat indices return to the southern USA next week. Be aware.

I have been seriously heat exhausted twice while riding. It is doubly dangerous while underway and far from home.

"Heat Stroke " is life threatening, but the sufferer cannot discern the difference and will be fortunate if those in attendance could.

 

Thanks Docc....

I must tell you that I have been exposed to extreme heat a long time before I got in Texas. It started in Libya, and ended in Chad.

On my ride to Kingsville in extreme heat, I did not experience any discomfort.

I remain reasonable. I have never felt any heat exhaustion so far, however I know that I am no longer in my prime. Problem with heat exhaustion, is that when it happens, it goes very fast, and you lose consciousness. Let's hope I will be here to talk about it later on.... :-)

[PJPR01]

Wow…811 miles in this blistering heat? That’s going to be brutal…I would spend the night in An AC conditioned room and start up day 2 refreshed…

Hats off if you can do it one day!!

[p6x]

11 hours ago, PJPR01 said:

Wow…811 miles in this blistering heat? That’s going to be brutal…I would spend the night in An AC conditioned room and start up day 2 refreshed…

Hats off if you can do it one day!!

I have been under circumstances when you have to drive and start working immediately, then drive back. But driving a car is not as demanding as driving a motorbike, even if back then, we did not have AC.

But I will not compromise with safety. If I start feeling uncomfortable for any reason, either sore back side or anything else, I will stop.

[p6x]

After fixing my broken tag support, I decided to make up for the lost trip to South Padre Island by going to Gladewater Tx.

Stops #9, 16, 17, 18 setting me 15/50 a return trip of 440.5 miles (709 km).

As many places in the USA, Texas is under extreme heat, compounded by the elevated humidity in the State. Because of these conditions, we experience torrential, tropical storm likes; I went through one yesterday on the 259.

The temperature during the ride was 104 degF (40 degC). When I got back at 7:00 pm 96 degF (35.5 degC).

The sudden tropical storm I went through concerned me. I saw the lightning from afar, but did not hear any thunder; I assumed I was safe. The storm hit between Kilgore and Henderson while in the forest. Visibility null. I got behind a truck, and stayed there. I did not want to stop. I got completely soaked, but I was dry when I got home, excepted for the socks and the seat side of my riding jeans.

The Michelin Road 5 did pretty well under those diluvian conditions. No hydroplaning and I maintained confidence. But I cannot ignore that riding in such conditions is unsafe, and should be avoided. There was no place for me to stop, and my tail light was probably invisible given the curtain of water falling. This is why I stayed close to the truck in front of me. His lights could be seen better. I kept at a safe distance although we were going about 45/50 mph.

The rain did not subside until Nacogdoches. My hands were completely black from the gloves. Difficult to remove too....

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the outing which basically served no other purpose but to ride the Guzzi. The V11 did pretty well in the heat, considering how much of it, and did not mind the water either. The only issue is the oil seepage which seemed to have resumed. I don't want to immobilize the Le Mans any longer. I will add oil as required.

This is the temperature at my first stop in Kilgore Tx.

The #8 stop in Kilgore Tx. Under the blistering heat!

The former drilling derricks close to Kilgore downtown. Texas has plenty of them.

Initially, the derrick would stay all through the life of the well, and would be used for the required workovers. Nowadays, if you own a well, you call a drilling or workover company for the intervention. Note that those structures were only good for shallow wells, as it was back the beginning of the black gold. The oil was a few hundreds feet under the surface. Today, the easy oil has been already found, and you need a better structure to drill and work deeper.

 

The 16, 17, 18 stops in Gladewater Tx. Almost identical stop for stop to last year's. Not as much fun when repeating stops in places you have already been. At least, I did not need to look to find the locations...

 

Here's the trip details, beginning on 10:38 and ending on 19:12. There were only two major stops to refuel. The reported mileage is not accurate since the App computes the distances arbitrarily, not according to the route used. But it is good enough for my own personal tracking.

 

Fuel consumption was always above 40 mpg, which is basically what I expect to achieve on the road, never exceeding 5000 rpm. If I break that barrier, then it deeps pretty quickly.

Here's the temperature taken upon arrival at 19:12 yesterday.

Now I need to clean the bike and think about my next venture.

I am running out of day ride stops though. The South Padre Island trip is postponed for the time being.

[p6x]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:46 PM, p6x said:

Next Monday, I should do my longest single ride trip yet. Houston to South Padre Island and back.

The total ride is 811 miles, anticipated to last 12+ hours. Does not include stops to refuel.

I am not certain I am going to manage to ride 12 hours. I have done a rehearsal up to Kingsville, but this one is considerably longer.

 

Talk to you later....

This is the day for my 800 miles ride!

[p6x]

I did it! would I do it again? no! it is not about the physical limits, it is about being on the clock. I did not take all the photos to document the trip the way I wanted to. The time lost to get to the South Padre Island stop and other incidentals put me behind schedule.

Stops 24, 29. 17/50. 805.8 miles (793 miles recorded by the ITI Odometer) (approximate)1297 km in a single ride. Funny to think that in Europe, on such distance, I would have crossed multiple borders. In the USA, I could remain within a single state albeit, the second largest.

Edited on June 28th, 2022:

I refilled the tank and attached the detailed fuel log to the post.

19.522 Gal of premium gas exactly; which for 806 miles is quite good! (91 liters for 1300 km)

Highlights:

What an Incredible experience!

The Le Mans managed better than expected in the sizzling heat;

Riding in the night is great too!

Lowlights:

Stung by a (which kind?)bee while riding;

Stopped for speeding

Incredible traffic from Port Isabel all the way into South Padre Island. Why can't motorcyclist go through the lanes?

Unpleasant moment with Customs and Border Protection coming back from South Padre Island

My legs were the weakest part of the trip. The fixed curl angle is killing....

 

Details:

Between Wharton and Victoria, I got my first police pull over ever,  for going 84 mph in a 75 mph zone. This came as a surprise, because in Texas, I thought the unwritten rule was 20 mph above posted speed. The police officer was quite nice and asked me a lot of questions about the Le Mans. So many, that I am thinking he just pulled me over to discuss it. I explained him it is difficult to read 75 mph on the speedometer, because the tick is blending into the dark background of the instrument. Besides, I don't see well at a short distances so it is all a blur. He was very young, and maybe he was not expecting a senior guy speeding?

Between Wharton and Victoria (again), I got stung by an insect. It got caught between the top of my jacket and my neck, and decided it was my fault, defended itself. I am not allergic, but having a large red volcano on the side of the neck ruined my otherwise casual looks. This morning, it itches very much. What makes it funny, is the first stop in Hidalgo was a Killer Bee artifact. Fate maybe? painful one too. I had been stung before, and I knew what it was right away. I let the pain ride its course, did not try to touch it, stopped at the next gas station to check it out!

The ride in the Texan humid heat was not a problem at all. I was not expecting it would be, and it did not affect me. I drank water, and coffee at my refueling stops, every 150 miles even if I could have pushed to 200 given that my average fuel consumption is around 40 mpg. I would have liked to have had a co rider, to have someone else's opinion. I did not cross many other bikers.

The ingress to South Padre Island was a real nightmare. Saturday of course, vacation too, but Port Isabel had road works to add more lanes for the future, reducing flow to just one lane per side. The biggest choke point is the causeway to South Padre. There is room for two lanes, a motorbike could easily go through the cars. However, this is prohibited by law in Texas. South Padre island was also packed and bursting at the seams. Flow was complicated by multiple golf cars offered everywhere on rental, because of the price of gas?

The view from the South Padre Island causeway was breathtaking;

Somewhere on the 69E or 77, there is an immigration check point. I should have known there was one because of the proximity of the border, I would have been better prepared. All cars and commercial vehicles were checked. I thought it would be a formality, but when you are not a US citizen, it gets complicated, especially if you do not carry anything but your state issued driver's license. The only question you are being asked is about your citizenship. If you are a denizen, you need to have a proof that you are not an illegal migrant. Problem was, I did not expect that you had to carry proof of legal residency within the US. I was planning to carry my documents for the Big Bend trip.

The last part of the ride from Victoria to Houston I did in the night. Although I try to avoid riding after dark, it was pleasant to be in human temperatures. The Le Mans liked that too. The traffic jams under the scorching sun, not so much. The V11 was constantly eructing its displeasure to move at snail pace during stop and go motion.

I definitively need to change the lamp to something with more lumen in the head light. The yellow spot in front of the bike does not really help. It is not a problem on highways, plenty of traffic around you to show you the way. 

The way back I had to alternate postures which works fine when you use the tank as a crutch for your bum. However, what cannot really change is your legs' position. Having them recoiled all the time is difficult to sustain.

Reminder of the map of that trip:

The times and mileage of the trip; not included are the numerous incidental stops for gas and undesirable events:

The Gas refuels record. The last one is missing, since I have not yet replenished the tank:

The temperature early in the morning is a clue of what it will be later after the sun cooks us down!

First refuel in Victoria at "The Texan" a copy cat of Buc-ee's. They still have a long way to go, but the principle remains the same. Some sort of gas stop supermarket for the people in motion.

The first Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas stop of the day; isn't it funny that this was also the day I was stung by a bee?

Temperature before I took to home:

The last stop. Observe the youth playing basket ball in the shadow of the Water Tower. Even then, the temperature is brutal!

Back at the Texan, I am gratified by a beautiful sunset, which is kind of the cherry on top of this outing! the colors are beautiful and the heat haze makes it looking like a halo...

 

[docc]

Congratulations, @p6x !  I am impressed with you and with your Le Mans!

V11 have often been reported to suffer from high ambient temperatures, especially crawling in heavy traffic.  Testimony that you have yours well sorted!

 

[PJPR01]

Quite the adventure and endurance test P6X!  Glad you were able to make it up and back...those are brutal temps to ride in all day long....sounds like the bike is running smoothly and is enjoying these high speed runs!