Travelogue -- Dr Bob's Wrap-Up Motorcycle Ride
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10 May 2018, 9:00 PM MT, Deming, NM

Can you tell me what is wrong with this picture? (Does this sound familiar? See June 7, 2015.)

So, what is wrong? You can see the motor is running because the tach says something like 1,000 rpm. You can see that the voltmeter is alive -- top right. You can see that we have oil pressure -- below the voltmeter. The bike is not moving -- the speed is 0. So, what is wrong?

Look at the radio at the top of the stack. It is blank. If the motor is running that display is never blank. It shows the time if the radio is turned off, and it shows the station if the radio is turned on. It has looked like this for a couple of days. I have been waiting to pass a Harley dealer to have it checked out.

I did that this afternoon at Barnett Harley-Davidson in El Paso, until recently the largest Harley dealer in the world. Believe me, the store is enormous. Nick, a service advisor, took a quick look and pronounced it dead. It is a funny kind of dead, though. The radio still works, you just have no idea which station you are tuned to, or if it is Weather Band, or AM, or FM, or maybe even CB, or the Intercom. If you listen for a while you might be able to figure it out, but I don't have that kind of patience. Actually, I rarely use the radio. I use CB if I am riding with somebody else, and the Intercom if somebody is on the back.

Nick did not have any replacement radios in stock, so I rode on. He told me that it will be covered by my extended warranty, but it will be a re-manufactured unit. He called ahead to the next Harley dealer in Las Cruces, but they did not have one in stock either. I need to get an oil change at 5,000 miles, so I will check with that dealer and maybe have them do it. Otherwise, I will wait until I am home. I don't need the radio on this ride, except I like to have the clock. I like to know the time. I cannot look at my watch, it is covered by my wonderful Royal Canadian Mounted Police gloves with the large gauntlets. Fortunately my GPS can show the time, but I have to sacrifice some other very important piece of information.

Enough about that. I guess I wrote a lot about it because I don't have much to say otherwise. Well. that's not exactly true. I stopped on the side of the road somewhere on US-90 to get a picture looking to the west.

And another looking to the east.

But that's not exactly why I stopped, I stopped to take the next picture.

I have seen blimps like this throughout south Texas. I suppose it has something to do with border patrol. And speaking of border patrol, I have gone through half a dozen "vehicle inspections", the most recent one this afternoon. All traffic is diverted from the road and you stop and chat with a border patrol officer. In each case I have been asked one question, and one question only, "Are you a United States citizen?" I reply yes and I am told I can ride on.

The stop I mentioned above to take pictures looking west and east and the blimp had a fantastic ending.

This freight train came along at exactly the right time so I was able to get a picture. The engineer blew his whistle for me (I guess it is really a horn these days, but I like to say whistle). I waved back in appreciation. That reminds me, on my Route 66 Ride, where there was almost always a train track beside Route 66, I always waved at the engineer while riding along, and most of the time I was treated to the sound of the whistle.

I entered New Mexico late this afternoon. I could not stop and take a picture of the welcome sign, so I stopped at the welcome station two miles later and got this picture, exactly the same sign that was by the side of the road.

Plus I took a picture of another sign, then quickly jumped on the bike and took off.

Not as many miles today as I had anticipated. I got up late because I went to bed late because I showed you so many pictures yesterday. I had 351 miles today. My total is 2,830.2 which you can see on the odometer on the top picture. I was exactly on my preliminary plan last night, but I am about 60 miles behind the preliminary plan now. I was tired, it was hot, so I quit early. Temperatures were 100° plus again today. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little cooler, maybe five degrees. That can be significant when it is this hot. I used my motorcycle air conditioner today, and it was great. I should have used it the past two days. I have told you about my motorcycle air conditioner on a previous ride. Remember it? If not, see May 20, 2012.