Off to Meet the Jews in LA then Mexico

Every year around Memorial Day, members of my tribe (the Jews) who ride motorcycles, come from around the world for what's called the "Ride 2 Remember". We eat, complain, argue, eat some more and support a chosen charity that promotes Holocaust education.

i usually design a ride, either leaving from my home in Brooklyn or my place in Nashville.These rides are slab free Last year the event was in Toronto and my route was 1600 miles long and included lots of nothern Quebec. I was joined on that ride by Richard from Australia (He's the fit one)




who rented a Goldwing,


but still dressed for the VFR he rides down under.

For a living , I drive a car carrier, when I went on the Canada trip, I left it on the street in Queens. 2 minutes after getting back to the truck I was surrounded by screaming cops. Seems they had to hire temporary receptionists just to handle all the complaints from homeowners about my truck. I was told not to park anywhere in that precinct if I didn't want the truck impounded. I own a former used car lot in Nashville where I can leave the truck so on this trip, I will get a load of cars going there and put the bike on the back. So which bike.

The route from Nashville to SoCal is all backroads, lots of mountains, some dirt. 3400 miles. My DL650A


Would be the perfect bike for this trip. Comfortable, great handling, zero mechanical issues. Dealer and aftermarket support anywhere in the world. Basically a bike that does everything well. Sure did fine in Canada


Then there's my other bike


The Victory Sport Cruiser. Only 500 of them were made 12 yars ago when Polaris was just learning the motorcycle business. Zero dealer support, heck they don't even know what it is. No aftermarket support, barely any dealers in the US, none in Mexico. Heavy, and feels heavier, eats rear tires every 3k miles, basically, a bike that excells at nothing, but i does look cool. I have reached a fork in the road and I look at the licence plate on the Victory

The Road Less Traveled! The Victory it is!

Since I hadn't ridden the bike for a year since I got the Wee, I bought a new battery, changed the oil and checked the air in the tires, replaced the unbearably loud D&D slipon with a merely annoyingly loud Victory carbon fibre one, heading to Nashville tomorrow.

This is gonna be good .love the attitude.good bikes good buds = good times .
Win win win .lots of pics please for us vicarious armchair warriors.

Yea, good stuff

Getting ready to head out to Nashvile tonight should be there Monday. I'll reregister the bike and throw the bags, tent, and extra tires on it and set out.

I would like to share my route here but I'm not sure how to do that. It's in a GPX format right now so if anyone can send me somewhere that I can put it on Google maps or some other format that I can post it her with, that would be great.

As for photos I am going to pick up a point and shoot camera when I get to Nashville, so far I'm using the phone which will limit quality. Any suggestions for a cheap (Itend to loose them) camera that takes above average photos would be helpful as well


mitch

Hey Mitch,
Have a great trip and above all; when you get to Orange County avoid all right turns......
-Mitch

Hola Mr Mitch,
So go ahead and post the .gpx file and I or one of the bazillion inmates will surely create a nice map or two for you to post. I find Garmin Base Camp to be pretty easy and there are some guys who post here who are absolute GURU's. ( I'm a green pea)
For a camera stick with a Nikon, very good lenses and they're readily available for a couple hun, and some now have wi-fi though you might end up finding that feature unnecessary for the $$
Also I live near LA and it would be fun to meet you and your Hebrew Biker Gang!
Cheers

Hi Mitch.

So typical you: taking the road less traveled and the bike less reliable.

Alan

Left Brooklyn Sunday in the truck and I'm now at a truck stop outside Knoxville, TN, unfortunately the trip was more eventfull than anticipated.

Every time I've done this route I fill up in Jersey City and make it to the Flying J at the first exit in Virginia on I81. this time I ran out of fuel 4 miles before the exit! The reason i pushed it to get to that station is that Flying J and Pilot give you half a shower credit for every 25 gallons of fuel. other chains only give a full credit for 50 gallons and my truck only holds 32 gallons. I figured I'd need some showers on the trip especially if I stealth camped.

This was at 10pm and the State of West Va help truck came by and took me to the station to get 5 gallons of fuel. I put it in but the truck refused to start. The Help guy called a truck mechanic who charged $85 per hour to come figure out what was wrong. i'm more of a mechanic than this guy, but not as good a scammer! After 4 hours of dicking around he said my high pressure oil pump was shot and he could call a tow truck for me. After I paid hin $360 he left with a smile on his face. Tow truck took me 1/4 mile to the exit which had a diesel repair shop , another $125 and it's 3 am. When they open I tell my story and the guy says hell get me going in 5 minutes! He opens my fuel filter, puts a cup of diesel in it, tells me to start it, starts right up, blows black smoke for 30 seconds and smooths out.

Went on the the flying J and filled up 28 gallons and got my 1/2 shower credit, a $5 value. At the Flying J I saw a couple of guys standing by a V-Strom so I went over to say hello. Seems it was a sale transacton between 2 inmates from a post in the Flea Market. Sorry, forgot the user names, but if you see this, say hey.

Should be on 2 wheels day after tomorrow.

Mitch

How do I post the GPX file? There doesn't seem to be a way to attach it.

The "Ride2Remember" event is in Santa Ana at The Holiday Inn at the Orange county Airport between 5/30-6/2 so come by and say hi.

Mitch

Sorry to hear about your truck problems, $85 DOLLARS AN HOUR??? OY VAY!!

I feel your pain, lol, but glad the truck is now running, looking forward to following this thread, and seeing your pics.

Shalom.

Look forward to seeing the Vic!

From one bike riding Yid to another, have a safe trip.

Another buddy of mine from the tribe use to have a plate that read: 1JOB which stood for One Jew On Bike.

Ride Safe and post up. I will be following along vicariously.

Rick G

Never fun running a diesel out of fuel. But if you run into that scenario again, you can crack an injector line or 2 open slightly, crank a bit to get the air out and get the pump reprimed, tighten the injector lines back up and the truck should fire up. Worst case might have to repeat. Granted filling the filter may be easier depending on the truck...

Good luck

I'm looking forward to the trip report!

Got to Nashville ok, doing some experimental packing.


This should work great in the twisties!





Maybe i'll ship the tires to the hotel in CA, the Metzler me880 should last the 3400 miles of this trip. After having a Michelin Pilot Power on it which stuck like glue but lasted less than 3000 miles, this feels as sticky as a bowling ball.

I didn't have any extra lighting so I took the flood lights that were on the back of my truck and mounted tham on a small ss pipe I cut to size. They are rubber with the same size bulbs as most cruiser lightbars.
If I want a more adventury look, I can flip them to be above the bar..

Mitch

Good luck Mitch! I'll see you in OC.

I was one of the 500 who owned the Victory Sport Cruiser. Same color, too. It WAS very cool to look at, but I can second everything you have said about it. I ended up hating it and sold it cheap to just be done with it. I went back to riding a Harley, an FXDX - perhaps the best handling big twin Harley made. Alright, back to your trip....

I know what you mean, but I will never sell this bike, but I think after this trip, it will do light duty cruising. I may buy a salvage kingpin or Vegas to make into a RTW project, but for now the V-Strom is my iddeal bike.

Started out this morning with a $5 shower at the truck stop, then off to the Loveles Cafe for breakfast.



Then I hit the Natchez Trace parkway which is fantastic for the first 20 miles or so. no cops during the week so I was really enjoying the 75 mph sweepers. i then cut off to head west on some twisties, I just didn't realize that they would be dirt.


Several hours of backroads got me a road called Cardiff Rd. i don't know where it is, but its on my 10 best list. The following pic is the beat I could get since it was mostly forested and this photo doesn't do it justice. Smooth, twisties and sweepers with not a car in sight. About 10 miles al; told but just great.



So now I'm riding on some very rural backroads and i see a turtle crossing the road. Now comming from Brooklyn, this is not a common sight. I decided to turn around to get a photo of the turtle next to my front wheel. The road was tight but there was a driveway entrance so i did the turn, unfortunately the lip of the concrete of the drivewy stopped my forward progress while leaned to the left and with alll the stuff up high on the bike, well...



There is no way I was getting it up on my own, but a toothlwss local came by and helped, his comment "thats a heavy sumbith ainit?"
A more experience RR author would have gotten his photo.

On into Mssissippi for quaint county courthouse and more unpaved stuff


i crossed the Mississippi River and I'm holed up for the night in the Delta Bluesey city of Helena, Arkansas, 369 Miles