Nach Deutschland!
Having retired at the start of 2019, it was time to take the plunge and ship a just acquired F800GT to Germany, thereby setting the stage for annual extended European wandering! She needed to be at the shipper in Gardena, CA on Friday, 15 February.
Easy peasy, right? Ride to Riverside on Thursday, a quick 460 miles, brave the LA traffic Friday morning for a not so quick 60 additional miles, sign the papers, a Lyft to LAX and a flight home. That was the plan.
What promised to be biblical rainfall, with an accompanying flash flood watch for Thursday suggested an alternate strategy, especially because one of my goals was to ship my riding gear along with the bike. Stuffing a wet Aerostich and helmet into a dry bag to be opened six months later seemed like a less than compelling idea. If it wasn't dry, my plan was to take the gear home with me, then schlep it to Germany in August. I could certainly live with that, but shipping would be better. All of my wife's gear could ship, staying dry in the panniers and her Aerostich in its own dry bag.
As of Tuesday evening, there looked to be a window, maybe. Wednesday was forecasted cloudy but mostly dry, with rain starting in the evening. Thursday was to be the epic rain, with Friday again cloudy. An extra night at the Thunderbird Lodge in Riverside was sounding better and better with each passing minute. At least that gave me a chance.
Here's what Wednesday and Thursday looked like in Riverside as of Tuesday evening:
Friday was back to cloudy:
Also cloudy Friday to Gardena:
That's it then; Wednesday is Departure Day! It's not like the bike isn't mostly packed already...anyone who knows me knows it has been sitting in the garage like that for a week. A quick call to the Thunderbird to extend the reservation and the countdown begins.
Packed and ready for the 460 mile blast to Riverside.
It would be cloudy and cool most of the way. The last 40 miles or so the temps dropped into the mid-40s and it had clearly just rained. The road was dry, however, and I made it to the Thunderbird Lodge just in time!
Hunkered down under the eves awaiting the rain and, boy, would it rain.
Time for a quick stroll to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Met this little guy along the way:
Downtown Riverside is going through some redevelopment; rehabbed houses, new lofts. Love the colors.
Having retired at the start of 2019, it was time to take the plunge and ship a just acquired F800GT to Germany, thereby setting the stage for annual extended European wandering! She needed to be at the shipper in Gardena, CA on Friday, 15 February.
Easy peasy, right? Ride to Riverside on Thursday, a quick 460 miles, brave the LA traffic Friday morning for a not so quick 60 additional miles, sign the papers, a Lyft to LAX and a flight home. That was the plan.
What promised to be biblical rainfall, with an accompanying flash flood watch for Thursday suggested an alternate strategy, especially because one of my goals was to ship my riding gear along with the bike. Stuffing a wet Aerostich and helmet into a dry bag to be opened six months later seemed like a less than compelling idea. If it wasn't dry, my plan was to take the gear home with me, then schlep it to Germany in August. I could certainly live with that, but shipping would be better. All of my wife's gear could ship, staying dry in the panniers and her Aerostich in its own dry bag.
As of Tuesday evening, there looked to be a window, maybe. Wednesday was forecasted cloudy but mostly dry, with rain starting in the evening. Thursday was to be the epic rain, with Friday again cloudy. An extra night at the Thunderbird Lodge in Riverside was sounding better and better with each passing minute. At least that gave me a chance.
Here's what Wednesday and Thursday looked like in Riverside as of Tuesday evening:
Friday was back to cloudy:
Also cloudy Friday to Gardena:
That's it then; Wednesday is Departure Day! It's not like the bike isn't mostly packed already...anyone who knows me knows it has been sitting in the garage like that for a week. A quick call to the Thunderbird to extend the reservation and the countdown begins.
Packed and ready for the 460 mile blast to Riverside.
It would be cloudy and cool most of the way. The last 40 miles or so the temps dropped into the mid-40s and it had clearly just rained. The road was dry, however, and I made it to the Thunderbird Lodge just in time!
Hunkered down under the eves awaiting the rain and, boy, would it rain.
Time for a quick stroll to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Met this little guy along the way:
Downtown Riverside is going through some redevelopment; rehabbed houses, new lofts. Love the colors.
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