The Road Is Calling Me

Wrote this last year and posted it on a motorcycle site I'm a member of .No luck but still hopeful that I will cross paths with another rider to do this trip with.In April I'm going to start prepping the Moto Guzzi for this trip.I turn 73 in April and am itching for a good road trip.I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'll be going alone but that's ok , I don't mind traveling alone . I think I'm not even going to have a destination on this trip,I'm just gonna point the front wheel west and go where the bike takes me.

Bike Group Ad :
Hi,I'm an experienced rider.Been riding 56 years to be exact and I ride vintage. I'm looking to go on a long, probably 2 or 2 1/2 month ride out west in the summer of 2022 and am starting to search for a partner who also rides vintage to travel with on this adventure.I'd like to get to know this person this year and do some shorter rides up to   the Adirondacks or perhaps New England and PA .Looking for someone who also knows how to wrench on bikes as I do.Gonna spend next winter in the garage getting my machine all set for the trip and could also help with yours.My last cross country ride was back in 2010 on the same bike I plan on using for this ride, a 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T . I ride this thing all over the place Had it up in the Canadian Maritimes in 2014 for a couple months and many times up to my camp on the Canadian border upstate NY.Riding cross country will be mostly 300 to 400 mile days with breaks in nice places on secondary roads (no or at least very few interstates) .Camping most of the time and avoiding the cities.I know there is someone out there looking to do something like this so if it's you get back.Here are three links to blog posts about the past cross country ride and the ride up to Eastern Canada.Each link is to a specific post.

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/02/in-my-tent-again.html

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/02/back-in-usa.html

https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-post-from-past.html

So, now the search begins and with any luck I won't be doing this ride alone.I will though if there is no one out there but it would be nice to have a riding partner for this one.
 

 Yes ,it's nearing that time again.Time to hit the road.It may be my last chance but somehow I doubt that.I have a feeling I'm going to be wandering on my old Moto Guzzi right up until the end of this life. That's the plan anyway. It's seems such a waste of life to just sit down and retire waiting for the inevitable . I'd much rather fight that myth that age limits your options. There are still so many places and people I want to see.I'm hoping the Covid lets go of it's grip by early summer and travel becomes less difficult .I'll be camping most of the time or even the entire time . It's cheaper and also safer than being in some hotel room where who knows who was sleeping there hours before.Keeping control of your environment is the safest way I can see to travel and besides,I like camping and always seem to meet the greatest people in campsites.They tell me stories of different places where they have been and point me in directions that I may never would have thought of going to , places that I had no idea even existed.This is what I love most about motorcycle travel ,the people I meet.Had the Moto Guzzi out for a nice winter ride the other day.It was a nice warm day with sunshine and temps in the low 50's F .Sure felt good to get out on my old friend. I've been riding this bike for 15 years now.It has become part of me sort of like an extension of my body.I know all it's sounds and little quirks . It talks to me in a language of vibrations and sounds that only a biker can understand.Came home and gave her an oil change.I tried something new,I used Shell Rotella oil .I heard that the diesel engine oils have a higher detergent level and will clean out sludge so I'm trying it and going to do it every 3rd oil change for a while . So, now I feel better ,I am pointed in the direction that I have wanted to be in for quite sometime now . Like before the last really long trip out west I'm starting to focus and take the steps I need to take early on.Last time I made up my mind that the only thing that would stop me from going would be my death . That feeling is starting to build in my mind again.

It all started here on this little Yamaha YDS3 way back in the summer of 1969 as I crossed the country for the first time on a motorcycle .  This was a side of the road photo somewhere in Colorado heading west to LA . I was hooked after that 

As Winter Drags On

 Well,here we are again in the dead of winter.It's been a tough winter in some respects.The Covid crap makes it worse but that seems to be letting go of it's grip on us now so that's a bright spot.Been working around the house lots.It's how I keep from loosing my marbles here alone all day while my wife works. Been rebuilding a motor for my friend Paul.He's restoring a 1975 Yamaha RD350  and we worked out a deal to trade a motor job for his wife's old 2000 Chevy S10 pick up.I need a newer truck with a 4 cylinder motor.My 1971 Chevy C20 is just too much of a gas hog to take it upstate and I'm not really doing much home improvement work any more .I turn 73 in a couple months ! I think working like I used to do is behind me for the most part.I still do things but the space between the jobs gets longer and longer all the time.Semi retirement seems to work for me .Did a couple of oil paintings and a few digital pieces too. As I got the room back together where I do my painting I was able to set up this old computer that has a good Photoshop program installed in it and play with my art some.I like doing that. 

So these are what I've been working on when I'm not down in the basement working on Paul's motor. Yesterday I took the Chevy S10 out for a trip to the Yamaha dealer to get some Yamabond#4 sealant so I can mate the crankcase halves .As I was coming home the truck lost power .It was running terrible but made it the 10 miles to home.Read the codes and got a P0300 code which is a mis firing code. So,I spent the day messing around with it  with no success.Put in new spark plugs,the old ones were shot but this didn't fix it.Ordered new plug wires and coils last night.I'm hoping this does the trick . We'll see .So,today it's down in the basement working on the Yamaha motor .I like hanging around in my basement shop.It's the warmest room in this old house and with the price of heating oil this old house is staying pretty cold to lower the  oil consumption .

Yesterday it was a nice warm day where I should have been out riding but ended up under the hood of the new project truck , but , as I came around the corner of my garage I spotted my friend who lives under my shed. 

It's always a good sign to see the groundhog make his first appearance of the year.Winter is almost over here in New York ! Soon I'll be out riding my motorcycles and driving my sweet little 1966 Valiant convertible.

So,that's all to report .Life is moving on slowly but steadily in a forward direction and things are good for the most part.Time to go to work now . I think today I'm going to go buy the paint I need to paint the cylinders for the Yamaha and then get them painted.May even get the heat going in the garage and look into the electrical problem that is standing in the way of the finish line for this bike so I can get it tested and sold.