Serk and Blake's fall ride (Ride report)

[Serk]

Had been planning to take Blake to the Three Twisted Sisters in the Texas Hill Country and then Starbase TX to see the place they launch Starship rockets from for a few months during his fall break from school.

Had time off work and hotels booked, etc...

Then 2 weeks ago the spousal unit tripped and fell on the stairs and broke her back. Two compression fractures of the spine. Out of work, needs looking after, etc...

So as I was getting ready to cancel my hotel reservations SpaceX announced they were going to launch the 11th test flight of the largest most powerful man made object to ever fly on this past Monday.

I did not cancel my reservations (With the spousal unit's understanding and blessing.)

We headed out Friday after school/work, went to Fort Hood to visit with the elder spawn, then Saturday did the Three Twisted Sisters outside Kerrville.

(Where I dropped my phone into the hotel pool and had to get a new one mid trip... Ya' never realize just how much we rely on those things now until you're in the middle of a trip and don't have it!)

Headed to Starbase, TX on Sunday to see the rocket that was gonna launch Monday.

It's truly amazing you're able to get close enough to the thing right now that if it fell over it'd smush you, less than 24 hours before it blasts into space.





Somewhere in the middle of nothing in south Texas I noticed the Wing making a noise and vibrating. It was getting progressively worse as we rode. Having been on the side of the road on my Valk once when the U-Joint failed I recognized the symptoms.

We decided to continue to South Padre Island for our beach hotel and watch the launch anyway, and figure out a way home after...

Monday got to our hotel on South Padre Island (That had gotten a LOT more expensive after I booked my room for some reason.)

Not a bad room for $170 a night IMHO...



From the beach at the hotel using the zoom on my shiny new phone (Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra) got this view:



After we got into our room and rested a bit we hiked down the beach to the southern tip of the island and I got to check a BIG one off my bucket list...

Not every day you get to watch a 40 story skyscraper blast off into space!

https://rumble.com/v70ery4-starship-test-launch-11.html



The next day we spent some time in the Gulf of America, the pools, etc... Got stung by jellyfish (Luckily the least venomous kind, still hurt like fire)



I was also working feverishly to plan a safe way to get us home... We considered many options...

The main one we were considering was get on the bike and start heading home, when it fails call insurance to get us and the bike to the nearest hotel and have the spousal unit with a bad back get a U-Haul and trailer and start driving south. But looking at the map, that 200ish miles of nothing between South Padre and.... anything... had me very scared (Plus the possibility of it failing in a way that locked the rear wheel up with the kid on the back. Or failing in a constructions zone with no shoulder, or......)

Put out a call for help on Facebook. Good to have friends, had several folks contact me to offer help getting us home.

The same friend that drove from south of Dallas to Ohio to get us when Kali wrecked at Inzane insisted on helping again. I reluctantly accepted. So he drove down Wednesday, got a trailer, got a comped (By me) beach front stay and then Thursday loaded the 'Wing up and got home...

Probably the prettiest pic of a bike on a trailer I ever did see...



Home and unloaded...



I'll deal with the U-Joint replacement soon, but no major rush. (I'm assuming that's the issue, but I'm fairly confident that's it.)

Sorry for the rambling nature of the post, I'm still rather frazzled but wanted to share while it was all still relatively fresh.

And sorry for not my usual detailed ride report, there was obviously much more we did, mostly good, some bad. Was good to spend a week with my son through all of it. They're growing fast, I know at 14 they won't wanna hang with dad like this for too much longer, so I take it while I can...

[t-man403]

Nice ride report!
Good photos and write up. Man what a treat to witness a launch! That’s something that I know I would not soon forget. The u-joint kinda sucks …. or did it? Cool how things seem to always work out.

[Jess from VA]

Great report Brian.   Cool trip. 

Sorry about the wife's fall, the bike trouble, the phone's swim, and the jellyfish.

It's true that “into every life, a little rain must fall.”  (Inkspots)   

[Jersey mike]

Great report Brian.   Cool trip. 

Sorry about the wife's fall, the bike trouble, the phone's swim, and the jellyfish.

It's true that “into every life, a little rain must fall.”  (Inkspots)   

Yeah that sums up what I was thinking.

It must have been a real ground shaking experience to watch the rocket launch, that had to ne really cool.

Those U-Haul trailers certainly are a life saver. Glad you guys made it home safe and sound. It will be a memory to share for a long time.

Hope everything works out well on the bike repair.

[carolinarider09]

Nice ride, nice view of the launch, sorry to hear about the bike.

It seems that you had a contingency plan that worked well.  Glad you got the bike home.  

Glad you got to see the launch and enjoyed the time, even with an "issue".  

But the end result was great, home safe and mission accomplished.  

 

[f6john]

All’s well that ends well! Looks like a great week for you both overall. Appreciate the great pics!

[da prez]

Very good report and spending time with the son , nothing better.  Good you have a guardian angel.

   
                                                        da prez

[Rams]

Then 2 weeks ago the spousal unit tripped and fell on the stairs and broke her back. Two compression fractures of the spine. Out of work, needs looking after, etc...

SNIP

It's truly amazing you're able to get close enough to the thing right now that if it fell over it'd smush you, less than 24 hours before it blasts into space.

SNIP

They're growing fast, I know at 14 they won't wanna hang with dad like this for too much longer, so I take it while I can...

An excellent ride report, glad all worked out and you got home safely.   

My wife is now in recovery after having C4 through C7 vertebrae in her neck fused, steel rods and cadaver bones installed, a painful recovery process.   Looks like someone tried to slit her throat.  Sure hope your wife is doing well.

Smush?   Must be a Texas slang............... 

Yep, as they grow children grow and become more independent, they will get that way but eventually come back around.

Rams   

[Hook#3287]

Cool trip report  

Thanks for sharing.

Best part is teaching Blake to be resourceful and to adapt to any roadblock.

And you had your share.  

[DIGGER]

Cooool ride!!!   Great time of year for making memories.   Sorry about your wifes injuries!!!

[John Schmidt]

Brian, it's true that "dad" time will amount to less as they get older but these trips you take with them now will never be forgotten. Later in life when the three get together, they'll compare notes of "that trip" they each took with you. How you handle things on the road is, in itself, an education. While living in Florida during the exciting time of before & after the first space flights and ending in the moon flights...those were the days. You could feel the ground shake from miles away when the big rockets launched. You gave your son some great memories. 

[Oss]

Brian
Great post and pics

While visiting today in laws In senior care in seattle (on wayhome)
Lost the cell phone

My oldest who works for Amazon said whooo pops and he went on an app and located my phone under the driver seat of my rentL car it was on silent but he made it ring loud till we found it


Now I don't have to drive all over seattle between senior center the ww2 museum in everett.  Proud of that boy

Great for your son to see you calm under stress. Happy ending

[Serk]

Thanks for the comments all...

Funny how it's the trips where things go sideways that we remember the most...

At the time I was NOT having fun when I ended up sleeping on a park bench on Trafalgar Square in London using newspapers at blankets, waking up to Japanese tourists excitedly taking my picture but in hindsight, that was actually a pretty cool experience!

Replacement drive shaft/u-joint (It's a combined unit on the Wing) has been ordered. Still haven't decided if I wanna tackle the job myself or try to hire it out but will think about that more once the part arrives.

And yeah, I could almost hear my Valk quietly clearing her throat as I pulled the loudly complaining Wing into the garage.... "Hey.... I (almsot) always got ya' home....."

[TJ]

   

[hubcapsc]

Thanks for the ride report, glad you got to see the skyscraper take off...

-Mike

[Serk]

Finally got the replacement drive shaft/U-Joint in and arranged drop off to a repair shop.

Took a short video while riding it to the repair shop. For anyone curious, this is the sound that got me so nervous ~600 miles from home:

https://rumble.com/v71821e-suspected-u-joint-failure.html

The sound is MUCH louder in person than comes across in the video.


Will update after shop opens it up and confirms if it's the u-joint or what it is if not...

[HayHauler]

Interesting, never heard of a u-joint or rearend issue on a Wing.  NO, I didn't search the vapors for it either, just never heard of it myself.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[old2soon]

    I did turn 80 in Feb this year. I can Still recall the very 1st time I went fishin with Dad. While I recall the fishin my age was either 8 or 9! So Serk my Tall Texas Friend those trips WILL be recalled by them as they age up even more!  And B T W helluva Good ride report! Sorta like some of my favorite authors-reading yer ride report makes me feel like I mighta been along!  RIDE SAFE.

[Serk]

My mechanic finally got to tear into my 'Wing and yup, I called it. Definitely a failing U-Joint/Drive Shaft.

Very glad I didn't try to get the 560+ miles home on that with the kid on the back, especially across 200+ miles of absolute nothing in far South Texas (Or going through major cities Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas with lots of no shoulder construction going on!

I'm no mechanical expert, but pretty sure a u-joint's actions should never be described as "floppy"...

https://rumble.com/v71fsv8-failing-u-joint-drive-shaft-from-my-2008-honda-gold-wing.html

[NewValker]

Yeah, that’s a worrisome sound far from home.  Glad ya made it.

Craig

[Serk]

One more Goldwing mechanical update on this - Got my bike back from the shop last night. I asked for and got the failed part. Woah. VERY VERY glad we didn't try to get home on it. It wasn't just a failed/failing bearing. One of the posts of the u-joint had completely come out of the bearing assembly.



It was colder than I prefer to ride getting her home, but was still nice, running like a Honda flat six should again...

[HayHauler]

Wow!!!   Disco knows all about u-joints that look like that...

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Disco]

Wow!!!   Disco knows all about u-joints that look like that...

Hay  
Jimmyt

Very similar, but mine was in two pieces!  I still have it as a memento...

The BEST part of my story is that none of the Honda dealerships in Greater Houston had one in stock, but there were THREE in (different people's) saddlebags at Hotglue's GOTF!  Thanks again, Willow!

[Willow]

Wow!!!   Disco knows all about u-joints that look like that...

Hay 
Jimmyt

Very similar, but mine was in two pieces!  I still have it as a memento...

The BEST part of my story is that none of the Honda dealerships in Greater Houston had one in stock, but there were THREE in saddlebags at Hotglue's GOTF!  Thanks again, Willow! 

Uhh, we need to clarify that only one of those three was in my bag.   

[Disco]

Wow!!!   Disco knows all about u-joints that look like that...

Hay 
Jimmyt

Very similar, but mine was in two pieces!  I still have it as a memento...

The BEST part of my story is that none of the Honda dealerships in Greater Houston had one in stock, but there were THREE in saddlebags at Hotglue's GOTF!  Thanks again, Willow! 

Uhh, we need to clarify that only one of those three was in my bag.   

Edited for clarity. 

[Willow]

Uhh, we need to clarify that only one of those three was in my bag.   

Edited for clarity. 

LOL!  I was only kidding.  I don't even remember the incident.  I have a rather droll sense of humor.   

[Flyingfree]

Love the write up Serk,

Thanks for the inspiration, if only Canada's only rocket launch site wasn't on the shores of Hudson Bay and now defunct.

[Serk]

LOL!  I was only kidding.  I don't even remember the incident.  I have a rather droll sense of humor.   

Although I was unable to turn up photographic evidence of your presence, perhaps this will jog your memory:



And it seems your life partner got very confused as to the appropriate location to relieve herself at the same event...

[Disco]

Thanks for the pic, Serk!  17 April 2010.

Lady Draco, Highbinder, TP, Disco, Miles Allen on the ground with the hat?, HayHauler, Hard 6, Godfire, Chauffeur, not sure about the lady in the green shirt.

The bike had 22,537 miles on it.  We found the rubber boot was not installed properly and the swing arm was really dirty on the inside. 

It screwed up my BBQ dinner  , but we had a helluva wrench party! 

...and Texas really is bigger than France...

[Willow]

Good pix.  They do bring back some memories.  There are at least two in the wrench party pic that are no longer with us.     I have ridden specifically with those two.