 Thursday, August 26, 2004
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 275.3 KM
Average Speed: 87.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 43 Minutes
After a lovely reunion with Chuck and Kathie combined with the wonderful hospitality of their nephew Mark and his wife Pat we are back on the road.
This morning we went through the town of Waterloo made famous by a Frenchman by the name of Bonaparte and much later by a rock group named Abba. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we didn’t get to see a thing. Huge black clouds rolled in as we arrived and it started to rain very hard. We gave up and headed south in order to get out of the bad weather but the rain came at us in waves all day. We would just get dry from the previous down pour and the next one would drench us.
We thought we would get into a hotel in a dry condition; Verna did but while she was registering yet another down pour drenched Jim as he was securing the bikes for the night.
Friday, August 27, 2004
Total Distance: 119.0 KM
Average Speed: 79.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 1 Hours 49 Minutes
A short ride to Saarbrücken - a huge manufacturing area that drove the German economy up to WWII with its coal mines and steel mills.
Saturday - Thursday, August 28 - September 2, 2004
Total Distance: 219.8 KM
Average Speed: 63.6 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 18 Minutes
 We managed to get the bikes packed before the rain started to come down but as we were putting on our jackets and helmets preparing to lave it started to rain heavily. We rode in the rain all morning. Fortunately it stopped for a bit just before we stopped for lunch so we were not soaking wet and dripping water when we went into the restaurant to eat.
It started to rain again before we finished our lunch and we rode in the rain for the remainder of our ride to Mainz. When we arrived we found every hotel in Mainz and Weisbaden fully booked. So, we called our friends Gabi and Erdmann Scheibe in Idstein to find out if they had a room available at their hotel Zur Ziegelhütte Gasthof + Hotel. Fortunately they did so we headed north to catch the A66 which would take us to the A3 and then north to Idstein.
 All was well until we were on the on-ramp to the A66. The rain had stopped but the road was very wet. As we rounded the right hand corner of the on-ramp Jim’s bike started to slide. Somehow he managed to keep the bike upright and complete the turn. Verna was not so fortunate. Well, Verna was fortunate because she was not injured but her bike slid to the left and went out from under her. We will know more about the bike itself but so far we know that the right pannier and the top box will need to be replaced. What is difficult to see in the picture at right is all the damage to the lower front of the right side bag. There is a hole in the bag on the corner and a very deep dent that has weakened the welds on the cornner. Click on the picture to see a better picture of the damaged bad. The twisted lid on the top box is easy to see.
The left bag is questionable but we will look at it in the morning when we have better light. We also think something may have been damaged on the rear wheel. The disk is making a horrible screeching noise when the wheel goes around. So, lots to look at in the morning.
We have been told that it had been raining since 6:00 AM this morning in the area where this occurred. We are convinced that someone spilled diesel fuel on the road and that this is what made the road so slippery. We were not going very fast either. Maybe 35 to 40 KPH on a turn that has new asphalt, and is in good condition and banked properly. It will be expensive by the time we get everything repaired or replaced.
Friday, September 3, 2004
Total Distance: 404.2 KM
Average Speed: 53.2 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 7 Hours 35 Minutes
After a week of getting parts and luggage we are back on the road. The most costly items were the replacement of the top box and one of the panniers on Verna’s bike. The second pannier needs to be replaced too. It was severely damaged when the bike “high sided” at the end of its solo journey down the road. We tried to repair the lid to the top box but even though the lid looked square it did not seal properly when closed. Anything in the bag would be wet when it rained and it made it easier for someone to pry the lid off the bag if they wanted to get into it.
We hope to have the new left side bag at the end of the month when Al Jessie will be making his annual trip to Europe; he is going to make a bag for Verna’s bike. Why does he have to make one? The bags he now makes will not work with our exhaust system - a Stay-in-Tune which gives us a much lower mounted and smaller diameter exhaust pipe than the one that BMW supplies. Replacing the muffler seemed like the thing to do when we were starting out but now we are not so sure. And the new model of the Jessie luggage is not as wide as the ones we have so, they will not hold as much stuff. Probably a good thing but this is causing a bit of a problem at the moment as we sort things to determine what we can live without.
The problem with the rear wheel turned out to be brake pads for the disk brake. They had worn to the metal. In fact, one of them was worn beyond the flat area where the brake material is bonded. This was causing the horrible noise we heard. So, a new disk for the rear brake and a new set of pads and that is fixed. We are not happy that the dealer in Landau did not bother to tell us that the pads were worn so badly when the bike was serviced in June. Grrrrrr.
And, we had to replace the right hand rear view mirror because the glass broke in two places.
The bar that holds our PIAA lights absorbed a lot of the force of the bike sliding on its side, as did the crash bar on the right side of the bike. The crash bar has been worn about one half of the way through. These two items saved the 41 liter Touratech tank. They kept the tank off the pavement. If the light bar had not been in place, or had not been as strong as the bar we have, we think that the tank would have had a hole worn in it during the bikes’ solo journey down the road; the crash bar would NOT have kept the tank off the pavement. That would have been a disaster. Verna’s bike now has a crooked “nose”. The front fairing is a bit twisted from the force of the slide on the light bar.
Today’s mileage is a bit misleading because it also includes the trips Jim made to Weisbaden to get the brake parts and to Elsoff to get the new Jessie Luggage. Bob Wilkins and his wife Bärbel Schilling are the European distributor for Al Jessie.  We spent an afternoon and evening at their home getting Verna’s new luggage installed. Due to differences in the way the new bags are made we were unable to mount the top box the same way as it was previously - the panniers would not open. So, we had to mount it so the long axis of the box runs parallel to the length of the bike. We do not like this and will work on a way to mount it the “old” way this winter.
Having completed the work on the luggage we then enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Bob and Bärbel. This certainly eased the pain of having to replace all of Verna’s luggage. “Kiwi Bob”, as Bob refers to himself on the Jessie Luggage web site has a very varied motorcycle background as does Bärbel. We really enjoyed our time with them and look forward to seeing them again at the end of the month when we return to retrieve Verna’s new left bag.
We also have to say a big THANK YOU  to Gabi and Erdmann for all their kindness during our stay. Being able to use the garage to work on the bike made our lives a lot easier.
We learned something about the ABS on these bikes - after the crash, Verna’s ABS would not reset. Turns out that in the event the system identifies one wheel moving when the other is not moving, the system thinks it has detected a fault and turns itself off. The only way to rectify this is to visit your friendly BMW dealer and have them reset it. So on our way south today we stopped by the Weisbaden BMW dealer and after 20 minutes and 15 Euro we had a working ABS system.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Total Distance: 210.6 KM
Average Speed: 43.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 53 Minutes
We spent last night in Worms. This morning we headed south and then east. It is always interesting to wander about the towns we visit. The area where Worms is located was one of the most industrialized regions of Germany prior to the 1940’s. The allies bombed this area of Germany relentlessly in order to destroy the manufacturing capability in the area. We found two old churches, one of which mostly survived the bombing. We suspect that it was used as a point of reference for the bombers much like the Dom in Düsseldorf which was the only building left standing by the end of the war in that city.
Tomorrow will be a day with little, if any, travel. On Monday we want to visit BMW-Gespann-Duo-Drive Fa. Mobec GmbH in Uhingen to talk with them about a sidecar rig. This company has done some very innovative things with sidecars and we want to have a chat with them about some ideas that we have.
Sunday, September 5, 2004
Total Distance: 198.4 KM
Average Speed: 37.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 5 Hours 21 Minutes
A lovely day for a ride - blue skies and sunshine. And contrary to our finishing comment yesterday we did ride a bit today because BMW-Gespann-Duo-Drive Fa. Mobec GmbH in Uhingen is no more. Well, they are no longer at the address that we had for them. We have no idea if the company continues to operate or not. Too bad really. If anyone has information about their location please E-mail us.
We wandered our way south east toward Munich with the town of Olching being our destination. Bob Wilkins had told us of a shop in this town that does good work on BMW motor bikes. We found the shop and then found a hotel nearby. In the morning we will visit the shop. We hope they will be able to do the 100,000 kilometer (60,000 miles) service in the next day or so. We asked the BMW dealer in Weisbaden and they wanted a two week lead time to schedule the appointment.
We went for a walk in the early evening and found the father of the owner of the shop putting his heavily modified early 1980’s BMW motor bike in the shop after a days ride of 313 kilometers. We suspect that all of that was in the mountains to the south and that is a lot for a day. The bike was beautiful. Perhaps we can get a picture tomorrow.
As we were checking into the hotel we noticed about 16 BMW motor bikes parked behind the hotel. We soon learned that this is the start and finish point for the Bob Beach European Tours. When we went to dinner we met Rob (Bob’s son who has taken over the business) who is one of the tour leaders. Bob Wilkins had told us that he had been a tour leader for the Beach tours so we were not totally surprised to find them here given the proximity to the BMW shop. We suspect that the shop does the maintenance on the bikes. Seems the last tour finished yesterday and the next group arrives Tuesday.
All in all a lovely day with some great roads with little to no traffic and grand weather.
Monday - Tuesday, September 6-7, 2004
Total Distance: 175.6 KM
Average Speed: 56.3 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 07 Minutes
All of the bikes from the Beach tour are now in the shop for service. So, we must wait until next week before our bikes can be serviced. What to do? Head south east for Austria.
We rode to Salzburg where we will spend the next few days before we head south into the mountains. Another great day today with clear blue skies and sunshine. We encountered several sections of roads that were closed for repairs today which caused us to take some roads the we otherwise would not have seen. As we got closer to Salzberg we gained altitude and the temperature at Chiemsee, where we had lunch viewing the lake, were quite nice. It has been a bit warm at the lower elevations ever since we left Idstein.
Our computer has starting acting a bit strange the past few days and we think that we may have a physical problem with the wiring that connects the screen to the mother board. If updates to the web site should cease you will know why. We also will not be able to get to our email unless we go to internet cafes; this means we would have to be in a relatively large city to get our email. If you do not see updates to the site or get a response to email it means that our computer is out of service.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Total Distance: 181.5 KM
Average Speed: 33.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 5 Hours 21 Minutes
We rode south late in the morning (even for us we were late getting on the road and did not do so until well past 10:30 am) and rode to the Großglockener Hochalpenstraßen. The entire area is a national park and you must pay for the privelege to ride through it (much like you must do in many of the national parks in the United States). It cost us €17.00 per bike for the privilege. A bit much really given the small geographic area protected.
But, having said that it is very pretty and there is a lot to see. Our Tageskarte was good for the day (not 24 hours but just the calendar day which ends at 8:30 pm when the gates are closed. For the price of admission you can drive/ride through the park, leave the park, reenter and ride through again if you so desire. A very civilized practice, really.
 We chose to just ride through stopping at the Großglóckner glacier (left) late in the afternoon. The glacier was very picturesque but we are spoiled - the Svarstian glacier that we hiked on in Norway two years ago was much more spectacular. But, having said that, Norway does lie a bit further North and glaciers in that area have much better climactic conditions for survival.
We stopped for the night in “Holy Blood” - Heiligenblut. A small village perched on the side of a mountain overlooking the craggy mountains across the Molltal valley and a distant view of the Großglóckner.
The weather prediction for the next several day is “on our side”. By this we mean that the forecast is for blue skies and sunshine. In the mountains finding weather conditions this stable is very unusual and we are looking forward to our travels this week.
Click here for the Großglóckner slide show.
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Total Distance: 208.8 KM
Average Speed: 37.4 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 5 Hours 35 Minutes
 Today’s ride was a nice loop that took us south over Plöckenpaß, and then a bit east over Paso Cason di Lanza. These two passes are in Austria and Italy, respectively. The Paso Cason di Lanza involved riding on a narrow road that was paved for the first two thirds of the ride (right) but deteriorated to lots of segments of dirt and stones for the last one third of the road. Then we rode over the Naßfeld Paß which is known in Italy as Paso di Pramollo because the pass is on the border between Austria and Italy. So, we are now back in Austira for the night. Tomorrow we will be back in Italy.
Click here to see the slide show of the Plockenpass area.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Total Distance: 245.1 KM
Average Speed: 40.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 6 Hours 07 Minutes
Our first pass today was the Jaufenpaß, or Paso di Mte. Giovo and then up an over Timmelsjosch or Paso del Rombo and a stop for the night in Solden. The view above is from just before the Jaufenpaß, looking north. In between the 2 passes we stopped for a bit of a break in Vipiteno (Sterzing), a medieval arcaded town.
The day started with overcast gray skies and it was a bit cold. After we rode west for about an hour and a half the skies were blue and we had beautiful sunshine all afternoon. It was the usual clothing exchange when on the bikes - put it on in order to stay warm and then and hour later, take if off because you are too warm only to stop in another hour to put it back on because it is cold at the high passes (9 degrees Centigrade (48 F) at Timmelsljoch).
Click here to see our slide show for Jaufenpaß and Timmelsljoch passes and the area.
Saturday, September 10, 2004
Total Distance: 127.8 KM
Average Speed: 40.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 08 Minutes
Not so much time on the bikes today as we came down from the higher elevations. We went up an over the Fernpaß today - we crossed over this pass on our way to the Netherlands from Trento in early July. We stopped for the night in Waligau, which is a bit east of Garmisch, in order to postpone our departure from the mountains for one more night. Tomorrow we will reach Heufeldmüle and have made arrangements to meet with Dieter Oberst tomorrow afternoon.
Sunday, September 11, 2004
Total Distance: 182.5 KM
Average Speed: 45.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 58 Minutes
The weather did not cooperate today. It rained during our entire ride. We stopped at Dieter’s home to drop off a map and book that belong to Alezandro Zorrat. We had made arrangements with Dieter to meet him between two and three in the afternoon but we arrived shortly after one. With the weather being so bad we decided to just move on. As we were riding around Munich on the ring autobahn the traffic was stopped due to the heavy rain and the sheer volume of traffic. It took much longer than we thought it would to get around the city but we arrived at our hotel late in the afternoon and were very fortunate because the rain stopped just before we arrived so unpacking the bikes was much easier.
We found the people who are riding on the next Beach Tour arriving at the hotel at the same time we were. We thought they had left last week but learned that they spent the week getting the bikes ready for the next tour which starting tomorrow.
This concludes this portion of the adventure.
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