Day 18 - A long one!

Leaving Decatur,  Texas at 6:30 AM and it is shirtsleeve weather!  :-)

The day went well, considering we went over 700 miles and some of that was off the freeway following Route 66.

It is a real shame to see what has become of this road. A Lot of the old buildings are still there, but abandoned and falling apart. There are a couple of sections where local businesses are trying to keep things going, but it does not look like there is enough traffic.

Tucumcari is one such town that is trying, but it seems everyone is all about the destination and don't stop to look around anymore. That is a shame. I think that is one of the reasons I like the bike so much. It isn't about the destination near as much as the trip.

Lori and I have been trying to buy from local businesses as much as we can. We found a little chicken place for lunch and the chicken was great! But then again we stopped at a burger place in Albuquerque and it wasn't so good.

We also found out that the sheepskin seat covers are really not the way to go. They actually retain the heat and create hot spots. We removed them and my ride was much better.

I have been having a ticking noise in the motor and it seem to have been running richer than what is normal. Kritter from the 1300 tourer forum suggested possibly sticking valves, So I tried some Seafoam in the gas today and it helped. A lot! The motor is quieter and running much better.

I also had a first today! We went 150 miles on a tankful of gas, all of the driving was 75 mph and we were fighting a strong headwind. I took 3.4 galloons and Lori's bike used 3.7 gallons. First time ever I used less than her. That 950 has to work pretty hard at higher speeds. My bike just loafs along, like it is no big deal :-)

The weather today was nice. It was high clouds and lite breeze and mid 80's. Can't ask for any better than that. We did run into a little rain about 30  miles past Albuquerque NM, but it was short and we didn't hardly get wet. 15 Miles down the road we were dry again.

We did get a beautiful sunset from the clouds though.

We finally made it into Gallup, NM at about 8PM for the night. That makes for a nice easy 400 miles into Las Vegas tomorrow, I hope to be there by about 1PM and relax for the afternoon. Then we get to look around for a show on Wednesday for our 32nd Anniversary

Then we are off for Reno!