CSTN 07

A few photos from the 2007 Sport-Touring.Net Central Meet (CSTN), a 3-day weekend of riding based out of Eureka Springs, AR. (Sept 22-24, 2007)

R.I.P. Robert Jordan

Arrrrgh. Fantasy author Robert Jordan died over the weekend (cancer).

Some of you know that I have always enjoyed reading. The longer the book, the better. Robert Jordan, with his epic 1000+ page books has been a "must-buy" author for me for a long time.

The first book in his "Wheel of Time" series was published in 1990. I discovered it in paperback form at my local library a few years later and was instantly hooked. He faithfully punched out a new book for me to devour every year through my high school graduation in 1996. While I was in college, his intervals between books lengthened out to 2 years or more. I was buying them in hardback as soon as I saw them, generally finding them at the bookstore on the day of release. I remember one case where my first sight of one was at a kiosk in an airport (with elevated airport prices). I was ensconced in Jordan's fantasy world for that entire flight.

Jordan's writing was known for incredible levels of detail and huge numbers of characters to keep track of. Somewhere in there, he had a 1000+ page book that covered only one day in the timeline of his world. Another had nothing really happen (as far as clues to tying up story lines) until the last 6 pages. It was maddening slogging through mundane moments in the lives of characters I no longer cared about to get scarce hints about how and what certain others were doing.

Somewhere in there I stopped calling Jordan a "favorite" author. I now HATE his writing style. It's become supremely boring and slow.... but I kept buying them because I MUST KNOW HOW IT ENDS!

Volume XI, "The Knife of Dreams", was published in October 2005 with the tantalizing note that there was only one more book to go. I would occasionally check Amazon to see if there was a publishing date set yet, but didn't see anything. Now this. Arrgh arrgh double arrgh.

Rest in Peace Robert Jordan, but you sure had some bad timing.

According to his website, his wife (who is also his editor) will finish the last book from his notes.

36k Service

I did a 36,000 mile service on the R1200ST on September 8 (weekend before last). Valve adjust, oil change, and a new rear tire. It was the first motorcycle maintenance I've done in my new garage... Also the first time I've ever gotten the ST onto the centerstand without someone standing on the other side "just in case".

Apparently Pilot Road rears are on backorder with the release of the new Michelin Pilot Road CTs, so I took a Metzler Z6 instead. SPORT-touring riders rave about the Z6, but I, being more of a sport-TOURING rider, have never tried them. I'm a little concerned that I won't get good mileage out of them, but they seem very "tire"-like so far. ;)

I did a run out and back to Austin last weekend to break them in. I'm leaving for CSTN (Central Sport-Touring.Net Meet) on Thursday after work. It's up in Eureka Springs, AR again. I'm going to have to figure out something else for next year, because the ST.N National Meet is scheduled for Eureka Springs in June.

Family Reunion in San Diego... Oh. And a Wedding!

My sister Jessica married her long time (7 years!) boyfriend Dave over the past weekend. Family and friends converged on San Diego, CA for the ceremony and reception and various activities.

I arrived late Thursday night. Most of the women in the family met on Friday morning to head downtown to a salon in Horton Plaza for manicures and pedicures.

Friday night’s event was a pool party at Jess and Dave’s apartment complex. After enjoying some yummy Greek food, Dad handed the *dowry* over to Dave.



The ceremony, reception, and a cruise of the San Diego harbor took up most of Saturday.







We headed to the beach on Sunday. Jess and Dave went kayaking with a bunch of friends. I spent the day on the beach. Others went to the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, or sightseeing in Mexico.



Probably the best part about the weekend was interacting with all the family that attended. I hadn’t spent so much time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in years.

Some assorted pictures:

Friday night:



Prepping for the wedding:



Waiting to board the boat:











At the reception:





































Note: I didn't take that many pictures on this trip. Dave and Jess set up a Flickr account. When I looked through it earlier this evening, it was up to 1500+ pictures. Knowing that *I* would never again want to go through that many pictures, I culled the ones that had meaning to me.... and posted them.

The full set of photos from this event can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveandjess811

Summer 2007 Tour - Day 16

Day 16
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Austin, TX to Cypress, TX
163 miles



I left Austin late in the day after a morning of sightseeing and exploring. The dash up US-290 was uneventful. My mom came out of the house as I pulled into the garage and admired my bug-encrusted BMW. That night over dinner, we finally dared to joke that this was my first incident-free long tour in a long time.

Trip Costs:

Gas: $393.90
Food: $139.59
Lodging: $592.04
Misc/Petty Cash: $285.89

Total: $1411.42

Mileage: 6089
(from Mapsource, GPS was inaccurate and my odo was waaaaay off)

Summer 2007 Tour - Day 15

Day 15
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Van Horn, TX to Austin, TX
463 miles



The interstate exit at Van Horn, TX is all screwed up.

I could see the inviting sign for McDonald’s and my morning coffee and yogurt right on the other side of I-10. I headed south towards what looked like the underpass and instead found myself trapped into getting onto I-10 west!

Being in west Texas, the next town was about 30 miles away, so this was a serious situation. It was around five miles down the road before the first exit appeared, an unnamed ranch access road. I exited and passed under the interstate through a barely one-lane wide tunnel on a barely maintained paved road. With a burst of speed, I re-entered the freeway and headed back to Van Horn, finally obtaining my breakfast about 20 minutes after leaving my motel!

The southernmost east-west interstate is very familiar to me, after several recent Texas crossings. I settled into my saddle for some serious mile-eating.

Four hundred miles later, I left I-10 just east of Junction, TX. I had never ridden this segment of US-290 and it was a welcome change of scenery.

Fredericksburg, TX with it’s German restaurants, quaint shops, and peach stands was interesting to ride through although with all the traffic, I‘m not sure I‘d care to spend much time there. I always enjoy history, so Johnson City and LBJ Historic park might be worth a stop sometime when I’m not hurrying home from a large trip.

I’d been hearing from my parents and boyfriend that Texas had been enjoying some especially crappy weather while I’d been out enjoying all the spectacular scenery and blue skies that the West had to offer. The weather started to look threatening as I approached Austin, TX. When the first rain drops hit, I decided to enjoy the coolness and continued riding instead of stopping to zip up my jacket vents.

A classic Texas pounding rainstorm hit me as I rode the overpass from US-290 to the Mopac in Austin. I was dripping as I geared down to greet my boyfriend in the parking lot of our hotel.