11/25/2013 Day 4: Balmorhea, Tx to Houston Texas (558 miles)

Morning Post:

The original plan was to bring the bike back to the Northeast during this week to avoid winter storms.  It just works out that winter storm Boreas started wreaking hell across the United States right when I was to depart.  A flaw in my weather planning was looking at the route and not the National Weather Outlook.   I saw the possibility of snow and ice along my route and hoped, that since it was Texas in November, it would be minimal, or a dusting.  I was very wrong.  The lesson learned here is to get as much information as possible, and in this case, that includes the national outlook.  If I turned on the television once in awhile, I probably would have seen it; but, since I turn on a television once or twice a month, I missed it.  There's another lesson, watch more TV...or at least the weather channel.  And a final lesson is that you have to strike at opportunities as they appear.  Had I stayed any later in New Mexico, this trip, I would have been buried in feet of snow.  Likewise, had I stayed any longer in Sierra Blanca, I had a big risk of missing my arrival window before Boreas beats up the East Coast.

Patience and good decision making have gotten me this far.  I'm 1/3 of the way complete with my journey and I should have been pulling in by 1pm tomorrow; but, it is what it is.  My new arrival window is planned for Tuesday evening.  I've also had to change my route.  Now, I will take I-95 up the coast vs I-81.  I-81 is a much better traffic option; but, I-95 should keep me East of the wintery mix.  No matter what, my rain gear will be tested today and tomorrow.

Here's what I'm dealing with:  <<<Click me>>>

The biggest question in my mind is what I do when I get to Mobile.  I have a choice - either 85N to join 95 mid way up the coast, or continue into Jackson Fl. and take 95 the whole way.  The later assures me that I will be far away from the storm; but, adds another 100 miles or so to the total trip.  That 2 hours could be the difference between making NJ or not making NJ if the storm gets further East than predicted.  If I take 85, I'll cut the two hours off; but, travel closer to the icing conditions for the whole route.  I'm leaning toward the former option.  The good news is that I can make my decision later today, or tonight.

Kickstand up at 8am.

...

Evening Post:

Well, here I am, Houston Texas, about 500 miles from my planned destination of Mobile Al.    I am stopped for the night.

Ya know that sensation in your ear when you get out of the pool and have water stuck in there?  Well, let me just say that you should never feel that sensation on a bike; pool, yes; SCUBA yes; motorcycle, no.

The day was going just fine.  I braved the sleet and ice in the morning, cheating death for hours at a time, watching the temperature inch it's way up from 28 when I left to 35 by the time i got to San Antonio.  By the way, there's a big difference between 30 and 32 and 28 and 30 degrees.  In the later case, things might be frozen and bridges are.  In the former, you're trying to find a path between piles of frozen stuff.  I'm just sayin'  Now that I've said it, I should probably go on record that I don't advise anyone to try either.  Stuff that glistens on the road needs to be avoided at all costs and if you can't hold a line, hang up your helmet and try again when conditions are better.  Temperature wise, I was a toasty warm.  My Gerbings gear performs very well and often, I need to dial it back.  The major issue on this trip has been visibility.  At cold temperatures, my face shield fogs up, causing me to have to leave it cracked open a quarter inch and, when you have salt and road grime all over the wind screen, all that is useful for is for it's wind protection.  In the rain, the face shield is fogged up worse and a quarter inch open does nothing.  The good news is that the only evidence (except this blog) of the salt and road grim has been washed off by the pounding rain.

As has been the case this trip, I've been getting occasional phone calls.  Today, my bro Dave called while I was in San Antonio, and I asked him to check the forecast for me.  He said I was going to go through a band of rain that stretched from Corpus Christi into the mid-west and width wise, it was about half the distance from San Antonio to Houston. I asked what color rain Dave was seeing on the radar and he said dark green.  I can deal with dark green rain, yellow and red are bad.   So, I planned to get wet; but, didn't see any showstoppers.  Onward ho!  Just as I was nearing Houston, my mom called and we were discussing the fact that I was about to hit Houston during rush hour and how that wasn't good.  We also talked about Dave's call and how dark green rain isn't so bad.  Just then, traffic came from every direction and I had to end the call.  Within minutes, it was pouring and the ride was getting challenging.  First, my face shield was getting fogged up and my only option was to open it if I were to have any chance of seeing anything.  I also needed to get the wind screen down as that was like trying to see though milk.   After about 20 minutes of this, traffic nearly came to a standstill, where I sat, getting wet, barely inching along.  I also noted that my left hand was wet inside my glove from my finger tips to the palm of my hand and that water had found it's way underneath my helmet and collar and was streaming down my back.  Well, that wasn't enough to stop me.  I kept going.  By now, it was dark and I was getting concerned about the fact that I couldn't recognize the standing water any longer and was taking my queues from cars splashing through puddles. Right about then, the pickup truck in front of me went through about 20' or more of standing water that was about 3 or 4 inches high.  I wasn't measuring; but, it came up about half way or more to my pegs.  When he hit that puddle, water sprayed out from his truck to the left and the right to a height about 2' over his cab and drenched the car to his right.  I had just enough time to grab a handful of clutch when I hit it.

Let me just say that motorcycles can forge through water.  I know a motorcycle cop in PA who had riding in the Susquehanna as part of his qualification.  He had to ride out to a bouy that put him in water up to his air cleaner, turn around and come back without dumping it.

So, what happened?  Well, the bike abruptly slows down due to the increased drag on the tires.  Water went into the air; but, wasn't as impressive as the truck in front of me.  Water FLOWED across my boots up to about 2" higher than my ankles.  I decided enough of this and decided that the Hampton Inn that I just passed was the place to be for the night.  There was no way I wanted to risk this all the way to Mobile AL.

Fortunately, there was room at the Inn.  As I pulled up, I admired my freshly bathed bike.  It was still wet of course; but, it wasn't looking as horrible as it did when I got to San Antonio.  So, how did my gear fair?  Glad you asked.

Spot tracker - still working; but, drenched.  +++++

Top case - Contents dry +++++

Side cases - Don't know.  I haven't opened them.

Bag bungeed to the passenger seat - Some contents wet.  The included rain fly did a lot to protect the bag; but, it was wet.  The compression sack with my power cords in it was wet; but, the contents were also wrapped in a ziplock bag and were dry.   My Jeans and sweatshirt were wet in spots.  My hiking boots, which were on the bottom had wet laces. ++

Goretex rain jacket and pants - These performed very very well.  If I were wearing the hood inside my helmet, I would not have gotten wet inside at all. +++++

Boot rain covers - These worked pretty well.  I recommend them; but, since my boots and right sock got wet, they only get ++++ out of +++++.  Then again, maybe I should give them more credit.  After all, my feet were pretty much submerged.  Fine I'll give them all 5.  +++++

Heated Gerbings Leather gloves - Soaked all the way to the inside.  These have nothing to keep rain out.  They're fine in mist and light drizzle; but, are horrible in rain.  I need outer rain gloves. They get 0 out of 5 +'s for rain protection.  For heat though, they get all 5 +'s.

Schuberth helmet.  I think what is needed is a nose cup to keep exhaled air off the face shield.  Other than the visibility issue, I really like it.  +++

So, now you know how I got water in my ears.  That said, what now?

Well, it's become clear that winter storm Boreas is just ravaging the country and killing people in it's path.  The death toll is up to 14 now.  If I try to soldier on, I'll be riding in rain the whole way home and risk arriving in sleet/snow/ice.  Since I've already done that and have the blog to prove it, I decided to park the bike and fly home for the holidays.  Fortunately, it works out that my bro has a sis no more than 20 miles from here and she has space in her garage for as long as I need it.  I will have to ride for about 40 minutes in pouring rain tomorrow morning; but, there is a clear path to Thanksgiving dinner now.  Why not a U-Haul?  Well, my bike hasn't been on a trailer yet.  I'm not about to start a tradition of not finishing my rides.  It's one thing if it's broken and can't be repaired roadside.  It's another thing entirely to put a fine ride like mine on a trailer for any other reason.  It's simply a pause in the journey.

Before I close out this show some video clips, I want to take a minute to say thank you to all my friends and family who have been following this trip with such curiosity and concern.  I really appreciate all the phone calls, FB and blog comments.  I want to especially thank my biker friends, who know the challenges of the open road and have followed me the whole time.  Jeff, Joe, Dave, Paul, Mike, Scot, you're all top notch bikers and I take all your advice to heart.  Susan and Gary, thank you for giving my bike shelter while I enjoy the holidays with family.  You guys rock.

Now for some of today's best video's...

This first one will be instructional for some of my West Coast friends.  Basically,  when the temperature is lower than 38 degrees, you have to be concerned about ice.  Yes, 32 is freezing; but, ice hides in shady corners and bridges get iced up faster because wind can pass above and below the road surface, as seen in this video.  This video was shot at about 31 degrees, making anything wet suspect.  Glistening stuff is to be avoided.  It's probably ice.  The idea is to hold a line that's in your lane and between the glistening stuff and if you have to go over it, slow way down and stay off the controls.  That said, I strongly advise folks to just put the bike in the garage at temps below 38.  None of what I just said should be taken to mean that riding in these conditions is safe.  There were frequent times that I wondered if the exit ramp I needed would be passable; what would happen if there were ice on an incline (up or down), or if a whole bridge were iced over, or what would happen if the road froze over while I was stuck in traffic and couldn't make it to the next accomodations, which, in Western Texas could be 40 miles away. 40 miles is much longer at 32 degrees than it is at 80.  Really, check your yardstick.  I'm sure it says that in the fine print.



And, of course,  the blog wouldn't be complete without documentation of the aftermath.


 btw...The gloves have been in the dryer for 2 hours and are still not completely dry.

And finally, one last comment....

This morning, I pulled into a gas station when the temp was just under freezing.  There was snow and ice everywhere and as I'm gassing up my ride, some guy comes up to me and asks "Is that a GoPro on your helmet?"  Seriously?  That's the question you wanted to ask me?  There are others that would have come to my mind first, like "Are you f-ing nuts?  It's cold out here."  Or, "Where are you coming from, where are you going?"  "How do you stay warm?  It's freezing out here."  Or mabye even "Wow, that's the finest touring motorcycle in the world.  How do you like it."  These would have all been good choices; but, the fact that you went with "Is that a GoPro?"  is just incredible; but, it is the question I get most often.

Someone else, same gas station, said to me that his father road a BMW for 27 years and said that there are no other motorcycles worth owning.  I appreciated the comment; but, disagree.  I'm sure some of my readers will as well.

To be continued...