Monday, December 22, 2014

Stretching the Wings "legs" today.....

Decided to take a 200+ mile road trip on the Honda GL this afternoon. Quickly loaded up some warm gear and on the road by 1:00 pm. Decided to run up "Ogilby Road" in California and north up to Blythe CA. Then over to Quartzsite AZ. Basically a big 200+ mile loop.
 The old ghost town of  "Obregon" along CA. Highway S-34...nothing there now, other than quite a few RV'ers dry camping in the desert. Appears to still be some small mining efforts going on.


                 (left click to enlarge)

The Gold Wings new carburation  system worked fine throughout the ride, other than the occasional "lag" when starting out. Checking fuel mileage put it at 42 MPG, which is about what I got with the original 4 carb system. 40 miles of rock, brush & sand on CA. S-34. Numerous sections of the road are water crossings, when it rains the water carries loads of sand / rock onto the road. After every rain "event" of any size, the Cal-Trans guys have to plow the road.

A nice section of hilly twisty roads were on my chosen route. The road then drops into the Colorado River Valley prior to hitting I-10.


                  Main Street - Palo Verde CA.

Fueled up in Blythe CA....checked mileage @ 42 MPG. Had a quick Macdonalds burger...then to Quartzsite AZ. Temperatures were cooling off as the day went on. In the lower 60's by 5:00 PM. Great riding weather. The bike ran great. I'll pull the spark plugs and take a peek at them tomorrow to see how they look.
The GL 1000 was really happy running at 75 - 80 mph on the highway. Engine temperature was in the low range as usual. This bike is more comfortable on the highway than any other bike I've ever owned.....other than the "stiff" rear Progressive Shocks..... CA. S-34 is a pretty rough road and a few of the bumps rattled my teeth.
Arrived home just prior to sunset.
                           Mountains outside Quartzsite:

We rode the sidecar rig over to the Mexican Border yesterday. Guess I'll need to get the R75/5 out for a ride next so it doesn't feel neglected...

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Gila Mtns.

Gila Mtns.