Disaster averted!

Saturday, September 19th the BMW Club had their monthly meeting at Water's View Restaurant on Lake Gaston.  I was wrestling with which bike to take since my back was feeling better but not ready for the twisties.  The Goldwing was the choice since I would take I-85 all the way there, 65 miles, with just 15 miles of back roads.  I had posted my bicycle stand for sale and a neighbor was coming over to buy it so I was in the garage waiting for him, checking the bike.  I decided to check the tread depth and was looking for the wear marks on the Dunlop tires when I spotted this:

Both views show the same thing, a philips head screw in the tire.  How long it has been there I don't know.  These are the tires I traveled out West on for 8,000 miles and I have added 3,000 more.  They probably have another 3-5,000 miles left on them.  It seems to be holding air and I have checked it multiple times but since these are what keeps my butt off the ground I have ordered 2 replacement tires.  The screw appears to be well worn on one side and it may have been deflected by the steel belting so it didn't pierce the inner wall.

I am afraid to pull it out and see if it holds air still.  The dealer is only about 15 miles away so I will carry a patch kit and air pump with me and go over tomorrow and get them replaced.

The BMW was all ready to go and I had a great ride up and back on what was a clear day in the high 80's.  My back felt great after the ride so I may be getting close to a camping trip.

A difficult year in many ways!

Let's see, it all started with an unusually cold and persistent winter.  No, there was no Indian Summer as we tend to have in January.  We passed quickly through spring to an unusually hot summer with high humidity summer.  In the middle of this I had oral surgery that went very well but with temporary teeth for the next 4-5 months and I was on a pretty soft diet.  Then in July while trying to fix a toilet I had a severe muscle spasm in my back that triggered nerve pain around my chest.  Since Duke couldn't get me into physical therapy until November, I changed Dr's to UNC and BAM! this new Dr ran all kinds of tests.  Then she scheduled my colonoscopy for a week later (in June Duke scheduled me for next January).  She had me in physical therapy in 3 weeks and I seem to be on the upswing.  The latest is that my mouth healing is almost over with my dentist fitting my permanent implants next week and I will be back to eating steak!  None of this has anything to do with my motorcycle!

The weather is now cooling and the humidity is declining so I am planning to start riding again with trips to Camping in VA and visiting a close friend in NY.  My mood also seems to be improving.  Nothing makes me grumpier than being locked up inside.  We just got back from 11 days in the Rockies seeing many National Parks and hiking numerous trails.  My legs are in great shape for riding but the plane flights weren't great for my back.  I am still planning to forge ahead gradually.  

I hope to get in the following trips;

Camping at Willville Campground at Meadows of Dan, VA - 2 nights  3 trips!

Trip to Woodstock, NY to visit a great friend 5 - days (will include a visit to my Daughter Megan)

Calabash, NC  for Lunch (a one day trip when the spirit moves me) 

Loop of the Outer Banks from Ocracoke, NC to Corolla, NC (an annual thing)

And of course somewhere in this I will try for the 6th time to ride the Elwell Ferry that has had the landings rebuilt.  That would leave only 1 cable ferry left for me to ride.

So my spirits are high and I will start going over the BMW and Goldwing to make sure they are road worthy(which I know they are).  But it is good to check.

We have just returned from a tour of the National Parks in UT & AZ.  No motorcycle though.  The following picture was taken while eating dinner on the porch in Moab.  5 minutes later and the colors were all gone and the picture wasn't worth taking.  Now I see why photographers are sitting around at sunrise and sunset kind of waiting and watching.