Eisenhower's Birthplace

The weather yesterday was very nice, so we took a motorcycle ride to Denison, TX, a little town about 60 miles from Denton. Its primary claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of our 34th president, and the man who led the allied armies in the defeat of Hitler. Knowing that the first Texan elected president was Dwight David Eisenhower may win a trivia game sometime.

The Eisenhower family was from Abilene, KS, and they lived there most of their lives. The family moved to Denison after the failure of the family business and losing everything to bankruptcy. Ike was the only one of the seven children to be born in Texas. The rest were all born in KS. They only lived in Denison for three years and Ike was only a year and a half old when they moved back. He remembered nothing about the time he lived there, but did visit the town and home three times after the end of WW II.

In an interesting parallel to recent questions about the birthplace of a president, Ike had no birth certificate since he was born at home. Worse, the county records were lost in a fire. Interestingly, he had no need for one his entire life, but although it was not required, one was finally issued for him just before he was elected president. As the curator of the Eisenhower Presidential Library explains:

Dwight D. Eisenhower did not have an official birth certificate until Oct. 1, 1952. When Eisenhower supporters in Texas learned he didn’t have a birth certificate on file in Texas, they decided to obtain a delayed birth certificate for him. Mr. Lonnie F. Roberts of Denison, Texas obtained birth information from Mamie Eisenhower and got Ike’s older brother, Arthur, a banker in Kansas City, to sign the necessary documents. We have a copy of this certificate in our files.

The house itself is a typical 1870's house, but it was on the wrong side of the tracks. Rather, it was almost on the tracks as they were only about 100 feet from the front door. Ike's father worked for the railroad as an engine wiper, the lowest paid job in the train yards. Denison was a major railroad center at the time, and jobs in the busy town was the reason the family moved there in the first place.

It was a nice day for a ride, and we learned something too. Below are some photos we took.

The birthplace is now owned and managed by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife

There are four rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs.

This is the bedroom, though not the actual bed, that Ike was born in.

This bronze statue stands in the garden. It is the first of five that the sculptor made. Each is different. The other four are located at the Presidential Library in Abilene, West Point, The US Embassy in London, and in Normandy.

Interior Trailer Remodel Completed

In our last post we told you about some of the things we were doing to our RV, but we were still in process and did not have any pictures to show you. I'm happy to say that we are now about 99 percent complete and ready to share what we have done. It has been a difficult period in which to accomplish much. Texas has had one of the hottest summers on record and doing anything outside has been no fun. While most of the work was done inside, we still had to do some parts of it outside, and just the general heat and humidity made doing anything unpleasant. That's one reason why it has taken longer than we had hoped to get it all done.

As we mentioned in our last post, changing the refrigerator to a household unit became part of the project. When it arrived we had to get it into the rig by opening the escape window in the slide out and lifting it from the tailgate of the delivery truck through the window on its back. There's no other way to get it in. It took a while to get all the blocking, bracing and trim just right to hold it securely in place and to look just the way we wanted, but we are very happy with the final result.

As you can see, it is a side by side unit with water and ice through the door. It draws air in through the lower right side of the grill, and exhausts through the left side of the grill. There is no need for any air movement behind or beside the unit but there is space all around anyway. I secured it by raising the front wheels and wedging the top against the upper cabinet, then added extra security by installing a Z bracket that goes behind the upper rail and screws into the top front face of the refrigerator between the doors. It is painted black so you don't even see it. I secured the bottom by making a board that is just the right height to slip between the floor of the opening and the bottom of the refrigerator. It sits against the front wheels and is screwed to the floor of the cabinet, securely holding the refrigerator in place. It cannot move.

While waiting on the refrigerator I completed the rebuilding of the water damaged wall, and I did the preparation for the new shades. This involved running 12 volt electrical lines to all the areas where we would be installing shades. I had to tap off several different places in both slide outs and in the rear. It was quite a job to keep all the wires hidden behind walls or inside cabinets.

I also began the process of making new valance boxes for the shades. I used 7/16 oriented strand board. They have a leg and a top section, both of which were covered with batting and fabric. The top section is plum colored and has a geometric pattern. The legs are a solid plum colored microfiber fabric. All the pieces of wood were cut at Jenning's on Chris's table saw and assembled here. I used his pneumatic brad nailer and glue. Here's a look at the finished product.

After the refrigerator was installed we began putting up wallpaper. We purchased a light tan, textured, cloth backed vinyl. It has the appearance of corduroy. Given all the windows etc., I don't think there was a single piece that did not have cutouts in it somewhere. It took quite a bit of work, but it came out very nice. You can see it in the previous photo as well as this wider shot.

After the wallpaper was done we installed the valance boxes and then the shades. The MCD shades are the top of the line window covering for RV's. They are not cheap! While there are many options available, ours are typical of what most people do. They consist of a day and a night shade. The day shade is solar blocking and is pulled down in all the photos below. They really help keep it cooler inside. The night shade is a cream colored vinyl material. The day shades are manual and the night shades are electric. Even the manual shades are a far cry from the old style roll up shades. The roll up speed and the upper height limits are settable. That means you can just give it a tug and let go to put it up. It slowly retracts to its preset location. The night shades are electric and remotely controlled. Here is a photo of the remote.

There are 14 buttons to control individual shades, but we only have 11 shades. I have programmed the other three buttons to work groups of shades. One does all, one does all the shades in the rear of the unit, and one does all the shades in the curb side slide out. These are great! Raising and lowering all the shades in this rig used to be a major hassle. We rarely opened more than a few. Now we can open or close all the shades with the push of two buttons. It's one of the best upgrades we've made.

Once the shades and valances were complete I installed base molding along the bottom of all the walls, crown molding along the ceiling, and new corner molding in all the corners. We took some of our wall paper to Lowes and had them mix a paint to match which we used on all the molding before installation. The molding gives the place a nice, finished look that feels more like a house and less like an RV. You can see the molding in the previous photos as well as in this one and some of the photos to follow. The photo also shows the trim around the slideout that we covered in fabric to match the window valances.

The next project was the tile in the kitchen area. We removed the mirrors that Teton had installed on the walls, and replaced it with 3/4 inch square glass tiles. We used a spray on mastic that works better than thin set or regular mastic on slick surfaces like the original walls. We also used an epoxy grout that is normally used in commercial applications. We were concerned that regular cement based grout might crack due to the flexing and movement of the trailer. I had to make oak trim to finish it off nicely. Here are several photos of the finished tile job.

The tile is much darker than the original walls. This, along with the removal of the mirrors, made the counter area quite dark. So, we ordered and installed some 12 volt LED's for under the upper cabinets. That involved running more 12 volt wires inside cabinets and through walls. The lights are hidden behind the front trim and really brighten up the counter area. In fact, they are almost too bright first thing in the morning, but just great the rest of the day. Here is a photo of three of them installed just behind the front lip of the upper cabinets. This photo is taken from the top of the counter looking up.

Somewhere along the way, Dianna decided she didn't like the original 120 volt lights any more. So we replaced all of them, including the ceiling fan. They do look very nice. You can see some of them in previous photos. Here is a closeup of the fan, and you can see the lamp above the rear window as well. The new wall sconces are shown in previous photos.

Once we finished making messes, it was finally time to replace the carpet. We ordered a two tone cut pile carpet made by Mohawk. It is a new product that they call Triexta or SmartStrand. It is guaranteed not to stain. For demonstration purposes they installed it in several animal cages at zoos around the country. You can see some of the videos on their web site where light colored carpet that had been in a rhino pen for two weeks was cleaned with a just hot water. Even bleach is not supposed to affect it. I'm sure some of it is marketing hype, but it does seem to be pretty good stuff. I doubt we will be as hard on it as the rhinos and camels were, but it's nice to know it should last. We're really enjoying walking barefoot and feeling how soft it is compared to the old carpet. Here's a photo of the carpet.

That's about the end of the interior remodel story. Somewhere during the past couple months we have also refinished the kitchen table and moved all our stored goods from a regular storage facility to one that is climate controlled. Of course, that required building more shelving and working outside in this terrible heat, but we got it done.

Next on the agenda is the outside. We have an appointment starting the day after Labor Day to get the outside of the trailer repainted. We're going to keep it white but have some new graphics painted on. There will be no more decals or vinyl graphics. They will also be replacing the radius where the outside walls and roof meet with fiberglass. Teton used a cardboard form for a couple years, and brought the roofing material down over that form to meet the top of the walls. Of course, the cardboard did not hold up and they abandoned that method, but that's how ours was built. It sags and looks very ugly. Some other minor body damage will be repaired before they paint.

The one other thing we may change is the sofa. It doesn't really go with the decor any more, and the hid-a-bed is almost impossible to sleep on. We are thinking about installing a smaller sofa or love seat with storage underneath, and using an inflatable bed for the rare times we have guests. Stay tuned.

So, for those of you who thought we have just been goofing off all summer, now you know. We hope you like it as much as we do.

 

 

Remodel

For some time we have been planning to do a major facelift to our home, and make some upgrades to certain equipment as well. Part of that has already been done. We added new and better brakes while in New Hampshire last year, and we replaced the wheels and tires with heavier duty ones when we lost the wheel in Globe, AZ earlier this year.

We then went to an RV repair facility near San Antonio for repairs and adjustments to our slideouts. They replaced some parts and installed a bracket to keep the slide from coming in too far. Then we continued on to Denton where we planned to make the majority of the modifications.

Dianna has posted about our family activities since we arrived, so I will post about the plans and progress of the upgrades. The first item was not planned. Our refrigerator failed. RV refrigerators use ammonia as a cooling agent, and are powered by electric or propane. Our cooling unit, the thing on the back of the refrigerator, sprung a leak. They are not repairable. We then discovered that our 10 year old refrigerator is no longer made, and repair parts are not available from the manufacturer. Even worse, no one makes a refrigerator of the same dimensions as ours. To replace it with a new refrigerator would require cabinetry modifications.

We found a company that makes replacement cooling units and ordered one. It was shipped to a trucking terminal in Grand Prairie, about 45 miles south between Dallas and Fort Worth. We picked it up and enlisted Chris's help installing it. It was described as a DIY project, but I dare say most would find it more than they would want to tackle. Our refrigerator was the largest RV refrigerator made, so it was heavy, and it had an ice maker, heat tapes, and cooling fans installed to make it more difficult. We got it done but immediately had concerns. It did not cool as well as the original unit. After a lot of work, including adding fans and rebuilding baffles to route air through the fins, we finally gave up and decided to send the cooling unit back. The company offered a replacement but we decided we have had enough of RV refrigerators. They gave us a full refund, including shipping charges.

Many people now order their full time RV's with residential style refrigerators. We decided that was the route for us too. Our trailer has an inverter that lets us make 120V AC current from our batteries when we are not plugged in. So, after removing the refrigerator and the cooling unit again, and taking it back to the trucking terminal in Grand Prairie, I set about modifying our cabinetry to hold the new refrigerator we picked out. It is a 21.7 cubic foot Whirlpool with ice and water in the door. It should be real nice.

I removed the drawer below the original refrigerator opening, removed the gas line, rerouted electrical lines and moved the plug, closed off and insulated the outside access doors in the wall since rear access will no longer be needed, fabricated and installed mounting brackets to hold the TV cables and 12V wiring on the back wall, and strengthened the floor. I also enlarged the cupboard above the refrigerator opening by extending it an additional 9 inches to the rear. This space was used for air movement above the rear of the original refrigerator, but it would now just be wasted space. It certainly didn't get back as much space as the drawer we lost, but it helped.

We are now waiting for the new refrigerator to be delivered. That will be another interesting experience. It will have to come through the escape window because it is too large to fit through the door. We'll let you know how that works out.

In the meantime, I have also rebuilt the end wall in the living room slide out. It had a water leak some time ago that rotted the wood structure. I had to completely disassemble it, rebuild parts of it with an epoxy putty compound (that smelled worse than Dianna's nail chemicals), replace the wood framing, and resurface it in preparation for new wall paper. That's the next item. We have decided to re-wallpaper the entire living room area. After several trips to home improvement stores and other stores, we finally found the one we liked. We just received it today and will begin on that project in a few days.

But, that's not all. We've always disliked the day/night shades that came with our trailer. They are difficult to get to behind sofa and chairs, cumbersome to operate, and most of them have now been repaired at least once when the cords wore through grommets in the mechanism. So we decided to replace them with new shades from MCD, a company located in McKinney, just a few miles from here. They will have both a night time shade and a separate sun blocking daytime shade. Best of all, they will be electrically operated with a remote control. At the push of one button we will be able to lower or raise all or any of the shades.

The shades have been ordered but we do the installation ourselves. I will be running 12V power to the valences where the shades will be located. This will require opening slots in the walls, another reason for new wall paper. And, as long as we are redoing the wall paper and shades, we also decided to replace the valences and the legs that surround the shades on several of the windows. We have purchased the plywood from which they will be constructed, and we have purchased the new material they will be covered with. They will go in as soon as the wall paper is up.

We have also decided to replace the mirrors that serve as the back splash in the kitchen with tile. In fact, we will be adding the tile in the entire kitchen backsplash area. We chose a small glass tile that should look very nice.

Of course, when all this is done, we will replace the carpet. We're still contemplating about whether or not to replace the current hide-a-bed sofa with a built in seating area with underneath storage. That one will probably be decided by how much energy we have left after all the other upgrades.

There are still a couple more things in the works. I plan to replace our current inverter, the thing that makes 120V AC power from the batteries, with a different kind. Ours makes a form of power known as "modified sine wave". This means it is not exactly the same as utility power we have when plugged in or using the generator. Most things work OK with it, but some do not. We will replace it with a true sine wave inverter that makes power exactly like utility power. It will be better for all our electronics, and for the new refrigerator.

And, when all this is done, we plan to have the trailer painted. That's still a ways off, but we're working at it as much as we can. The temperatures have been brutal the past few weeks. This week it has been up to 105 with high humidity. It makes going outside no fun, and we're both feeling the effects of the heat.

So, there you have it. Now you know what we've been up to, and what we will be up to for the next several weeks. I'd sure rather be doing it somewhere more comfortable that here, but we have everything convenient to this location. There are two Lowe's and two Home Depot's within ten miles, (I visited one Lowe's every day for 14 straight days), and many of the larger tools, like the table saw and chop saw are in Jennings garage, just 5 miles down the road.

I'll try to post a little more often as the projects move along. I may even include photos!

Prom, Graduations, Strutter's Spring Show, Jobs

I wanted to wait until all the major events had come and gone to write a post. Maybe that wasn't the best of ideas as there were so many, so please bear with me.

First was Deidra's prom. She looked like a full-figured Tinker Bell in her gorgeous gown. She doesn't have a boyfriend so she went with her two best friends and other acquaintances, one of whom had rented a limo for the evening. I think they had more fun getting ready (nail, hair & make-up) and taking pictures than at the actual prom, but they did have a really good time.

Next was Dayna's graduation and Deidra's Strutter's Spring Show - all on the same weekend. Dayna ended up with a 4.0 GPA in her Master's program! (We're not too proud!!) Next she will do the prep class for her CPA exam. She's going to take the exam in NM as she doesn't qualify for it in TX. In TX you have to take half of your accounting classes in a classroom. Since she did her Bachelor's studies on-line that didn't happen. She's job hunting but not having any success. One company really likes her and they are hiring a lot of people as it is a new business but they haven't found the right position for her yet.

Deidra was in nine dances in her Spring Show. We found out Strutter's is not just a drill team. It's a dance group. They did a military, hip hop and jazz routine as well as many others. Dayna did one with other moms and Chris participated in a Daughter & Dad dance with Deidra. We were so glad to finally be able to see her perform as we've missed most of her season. The picture is one of her outfits they wore at football games.

Finally Missy D graduated last Friday evening! It was held at UNT's (University of North Texas) coliseum so there was lots of room for all the family and friends who wanted to, to attend. We can't believe that cute, red-headed infant of 18 years ago is now a high school graduate! This picture is of her and her father, Daren, who came from Las Vegas to be with her. His sister and niece also came, as well as Crystal (and family) and Eva (Dayna's former business partner) (and family) from NM. (The picture on the banner is of the same three as the prom photo.)

Dayna has been living on adrenaline for over a month and is looking forward to doing nothing for awhile ... until she starts her CPA prep course. It just never ends for her!

Dom just finished his first day at his new job. He is working for the HOA, cleaning pools, restrooms and around the lake. He decided he likes his job as he found $15 while cleaning the lake today!

Deidra has been promised a job at Sonic but they haven't put her on the schedule yet. They are supposed to this Friday, but we'll see. She plans on attending a local community college to get her basic courses out of the way. Currently she thinks she wants to be an English teacher.

It's been a busy month attending all the events plus we've started our home make-over projects. I'll let Richard tell you all about them. The list just keeps getting longer and longer.

Iron Butt

The term Iron Butt refers to long distance motorcycle rallys. I didn't attend a rally, but I feel like I did. We drove the car to Edgewood last Friday to bring the new motorcycle back to Texas. It was a drive of just about 600 miles, and we drove into the teeth of a horrendous wind the entire way. I don't recall ever driving in such strong wind for such a long distance.

We stayed with Diane Nolen with whom we were worship leaders at Valley View. It was great catching up on her life. She works five jobs to keep a roof over her and her daughter's heads so we had to sneak visits in in between jobs.

Saturday morning we went to Weavers, where the scooter had been stored for the past month, and I prepared it for the trip. I installed a larger windshield than the stock one, a backrest for the front seat, a cup holder and a GPS holder. In the afternoon we visited with Errol and Joyce Stepp, our pastor when we lived there, and his wife. We also went to Sadie's for dinner with them, and had some great New Mexican food.

Sunday we planned to go to church and then leave for Texas, but we woke to spitting snow flurries. By the time church was over, there were two inches of snow on the ground. I don't mind riding in some light rain, but snow is another matter. We decided to stay, which gave us the opportunity to get together with some old friends and play cards and visit all afternoon. Much of the snow melted off during the day, but there were still patches around. All the roads were clear by days end.

Monday morning was bitter cold. I bundled up and we left at about 9 AM when it was 34 degrees. Dianna led in the car because it has cruise control, so it was easier for me to follow her than the other way around. We headed east on I-40 to Clines Corners where we turned south toward Roswell. By the time we got there it was above 40 and my hands were finally beginning to thaw out. We turned onto US 380 and headed east, finally stopping for the night in Post, TX after traveling over 350 miles for the day. That is by far the most miles I have traveled in one day on a motorcycle. I was pretty much sore all over. There is no question where the term Iron Butt comes from! We traveled the final 250 plus miles to Denton on Tuesday, and arrived about 3 PM. It sure felt good to get off the bike.

It is hard to compare this bike with our old one. They are completely different. This bike is a lot heavier, much more powerful, and more comfortable at high speeds and in the wind. It does not get nearly as good fuel economy as the 400. We stopped every 120-140 miles for fuel, getting on average around 45 MPG. I think it will get better when the weather is not so cold, and when we are not traveling at such high speeds or in such high winds. We ran 70+ most of the time, which is something I rarely did on the 400.

When we got home I installed the Givi topcase on the back. It is similar to the one we had on the 400 except it is a little larger. I also looked for a way to power the GPS. The installed cigarette lighter plug will not work because the glove compartment door will not close with the adapter plugged in. I found a hard wire kit on the internet that will let me make a very neat install. It should arrive in a few days.

Today Dianna got her first ride on the new bike. We had to make a trip to the post office. She immediately noticed the different sound of the twin cylinders, the power, and the greater stability of the heavier bike, even in the wind. I think we are really going to enjoy it.

The incomplete saga of the wheel problem

Yes, it may be a saga.

The new wheel assemblies arrived from Kodiak early last week but the axle did not arrive from Dexter until Thursday. When it came in the installer at Cobre Motors called me to let me know it was not the same as our other axles. After some phone calls we discovered that the people at Dexter Axle had not looked up the serial number we gave them completely, and had shipped us a standard 7,000 pound axle instead of a 7,000 pound axle with an 8,000 pound spindle. That meant that brake mounting brackets would not work. After some discussion we agreed that the quickest way to deal with it was to have Kodiak send us two 7,000 pound mounting brackets. Those were overnighted to us and they arrived on Friday. All was finally ready for installation on Monday.

I arrived at Cobre Motors at 8 AM Monday, and Joseph, the mechanic, began work. First he removed the wheel on the opposite end of the axle that had failed, so he could replace the axle. When he did so we discovered that the bearings in this axle had already begun to fail. They were rough and they had metal filings in them already. We then pulled the remaining 4 wheels and discovered the same thing in all of them. It clearly identified the problem that caused us to loose the wheel. The bearings failed.

There was no option but to replace all the bearings. Cobre Motors located 5 new sets locally, and we had the one new set that had come with the new brake assemblies from Kodiak. Joseph toiled without letup to get everything changed out. I was very impressed with his conscientiousness, knowledge and work ethic. It was a lot of work.

Late in the afternoon we ran into another snag. The new brake assembly did not fit on the 7,000 pound brackets. There was no explanation for this since the part numbers were exactly the same. Our only option was to rebuild the old caliper from the parts in the new caliper. This slowed things down a bit, but was successful.

Along the way we made the decision to lubricate the bearings in an oil bath instead of using grease. The hubs from Kodiak are set up for either approach. Heavier axles, like those on the front of my truck, are usually lubricated using an oil bath instead of grease. It help them run a little cooler and insures complete lubrication that can easily and quickly be verified by looking at the oil level through the clear axle cap.

The new wheels and tires were the last thing to go on, and they look really good. I finally left Globe at about 5:45 and drove about 65 miles to Safford where I spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I stopped and checked the temperature of the wheels with my infrared thermometer several times. Five of them were almost the same temperature, but one seemed to be a little warmer than the rest. As I continued east on Tuesday, I stopped every 50 miles or so to check them. It was over 90 degrees outside so they were all a little hotter than the day before, however the one wheel consistently ran 30 to 40 degrees hotter than the others. At this point, the reason is unclear, but I suspect that is the location of the bearing that came with the new assembly from Kodiak. I am now convinced that they have a bad batch of bearings.

We are now in Pipe Creek, Texas, a small town near San Antonio, having our slide out worked on. It has needed adjustment for quite some time. It has been binding, and the people here have developed a technique for strengthening and rebuilding them that helps quite a bit. Of course, the manufacturer of our trailer went out of business a couple years ago, so that is not an option.

We will probably be here until at least Monday. When we leave here we will go to Denton where we have plans to have a lot more done to our rig. Kodiak is located in Ft. Worth, so I may stop there on our way. Someone is going to pay for all the expenses I incurred in Globe.

Scooting and Really Scooting

We had so much fun Monday that we decided to take another scooter ride on Tuesday. Since there will be little time left before we need to be in San Antonio after we get the trailer fixed, and we will need to take the most direct and shortest route when we leave, we decided to ride the scooter through the Salt River Canyon to Show Low. It's about 100 miles from where we are staying and we really enjoyed the scenery. Salt River Canyon has some great views and it was nice to end up in the pines of Show Low. After having lunch, filling up with gas, and looking around a little, we headed back to Globe.

The scooter ran fine but we encountered some heavy headwinds in the afternoon. We also often found ourselves climbing long grades where the scooter was not able to maintain the speed limit. Even with the throttle wide open we found ourselves at 55 or 60 when the speed limit was 65.

When we first bought the Burgman in 2005, I considered buying the larger 650 model, but decided to go with the 400 since we figured it would mostly be used around town and that we would only occasionally ride on high speed roads or take long trips. While it does get a lot of around town use, we have found more and more that we like to tour with it. The trip to Show Low was a perfect example, and we have talked about riding some of the parkways and traces on the East Coast sometime. In the 6 years since we bought it, we have put almost 33,000 miles on it. That's a lot for a single cylinder motorcycycle.

I often peruse the Burgman Users Forum for ideas about maintenance, accessories and other talk about Burgmans. I have also kept an eye on the classified section. Tuesday night when we got back from our ride I saw a new posting from a man in Albuquerque who had decided to sell his 2008 Burgman 650. He had purchased it on an impulse when gas hit $4.00 per gallon, but in over 2 years he has ridden it only 895 miles! It is essentially new. It has always been kept in a garage and is in showroom condition. Best of all, he was willing to sell it at a reasonable price. A new one today would cost just about $10,000. He was only asking $6,000. I made a couple phone calls, and.... well, you can guess the rest.

Dianna was all in favor of it too. We made arrangements to meet him Thursday to look it over and close the deal if it was as described. That meant we had to drive to Albuquerque the following day. Nothing like 12 hours notice! Wednesday we drove back north through Salt River Canyon to Show Low, on to Holbrook where we joined I-40, and east to Albuquerque. We checked into a hotel and then went out for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.

Wednesday night Albuquerque received the first rain they have had in over 2 months. Naturally. It was raining when met with the owner, but the bike was exactly as described. After making the deal and accompanying the owner to his credit union to pay off the loan and make arrangement for the title to be sent to me, we prepared to take the bike out to our friends in Edgewood who have graciously offered to store it for us until we can come get it in a few weeks. The rain had stopped in Albuquerque, and it looked like we might be able to make it to Edgewood. By the time we entered Tijeras Canyon it was cloudy; then it started sprinkling, then raining, then sleeting, and finally hailing on me. Yuck!

The good news though, is that the Burgman performs incredibly. I had a very hard time keeping the speed down to 65. The bike is much heavier (around 600+ pounds), and much more powerful. More than that, it has a completely different feel. The suspension is very different from the 400's, and the transmission is much more sophisticated. Having two cylinders instead of only one also make it much smoother and vibration free.

After parking the new Burgman in Weavers garage, we headed back for Globe. This time we got off I-40 before we got to Grants and drove through El Malpais National Monument before joining US 60 in Quemado, then west through Springerville and down to Show Low again. After dinner in Show Low we made the trip through Salt River Canyon for the third time in as many days. We got home about 8 last evening.

There are many posters on the Burgman forum who used to own, or still do own, Honda Goldwings. Many of them compare the Burgman 650 very favorably to the Goldwing. Of course the Goldwing is much heaver and has more power, but many people prefer the Burgman because it is lighter and easier to handle. They think nothing of starting out across country on a Burgman 650.

Then there's Gerry from Oz, the Australian fellow whose blog I followed a couple years ago when he rode his Burgman 650 from Vietnam, across China and Russia to Europe. We don't have anything that strenuous in mind.

Needless to say, we are really looking forward to getting back to New Mexico and picking it up. After the trailer is fixed, and we are still waiting on parts, we need to so to San Antonio to see Deidra perform in a drill team show at Sea World, and then get some adjustments made to the slide outs on the trailer. After that we will go to Denton where we plan to have some more upgrades done on the trailer. As soon as we are settled in there, we will go over to New Mexico and pick up the new bike.

Stay tuned as we end our scooting days and begin our "really scooting" days.