nice! and i thought i had a lot of jackets!
which "adventure" bike is your favorite??
Hi:
That's a hard question for me to answer, for in my vision of motorcycling, they are all adventure machines.
The whole basic reason I think we all enjoy motorcycling so much, is that at our core is a desire to explore, see what's over the next hill, venture down to vistas we've never seen (or maybe anyone else), and defy the common man's reticence from which he or she cowers in fear when faced with the unknown. John Wayne is quoted as saying "Courage is being scared to death, and saddling up, anyway." I think motorcyclists have a genetic understanding of John Wayne's statement. Man, we need men like him, today.
That's my so-called poetic definition of why we ride; and it drives my basic nature as well. I am a retired airline captain and check airman; in my career, I got to travel via airplane to many parts of the world, which I never might have gotten to otherwise. My same innate wanderlust that drove me into a flying career, led me to motorcycling as a replacement avocation and addiction, for I was equally addicted to going eight-tenths the speed of sound with my hair on fire. Succinctly, I traded one addiction (flying) for another (motorcycling), and as my wife would say, I am quite proud of this personal fact.
Each machine I own has an assigned mission. For example, I take
Independence out about half a dozen times a year, as it is now a flawless example of the mark, and I intend to be buried with it >LOL<. Ultimately, it will be parked in my office as a display bike and trophy to my love of the sport when I finally retire it. Currently it has about 23,000 miles on it. It very rarely leaves town.
On the other hand, I spent several days at Big Bend, and Terlingua, Texas, in April, and I had no problem deciding which one of my fine steeds I would take on that trip:
Republic made the run.
For longer trips, it's a toss-up for me whether I take
Kitty Hawk, Constellation, or
Enterprise.
For example, Amy and I will take
Kitty Hawk to a BMW rally in Eureka Springs at the end of October.
Constellation did a lot of the Rockies in 2010, so I am think 2013 it'll will make another run, west-bound.
Enterprise will head back to west Texas and Ft. Davis / Big Bend for the 2012 Christmas holidays.
Kitty Hawk will be headed to Oregon in July 2013 for the national BMW rally.
So that's the long answer to your question...my BMW F650 Dakar,
America, is going through refit now, and should be finished in the next couple of months. I want to do the Trans-America Trail ride on it, and I am prepping it for that run, likely in 2014.
Lastly, now that I have a mighty Valkyrie Interstate, I want to learn more about the national, and Texas, annual Valkyrie rallies, as I will definitely do those. I love this big-assed machine; its size is misleading, and leads the uninformed to think it is nothing more than a parade float. Well, I am sure there will be no disagreement in this audience when I say the person who imagines a Valkyrie is a pig, needs to work on his imagination. As far as I am concerned, the '
Big E' can, and will, outdance the best of 'em. Harley riders: suffer - you do not know what you are missing.
Thanks all - see you Thursday night!
