HA!
OK then, we landed and all that jazz in LA and my friends took us to pick the bike up. They snuck the engagement ring over so my g/f wouldnt find it. We got there and the BMW is not what i imagined. Specs show it as the same weight as my Ninja 1000, but it was surely bigger. It felt it too. Specs show it having the same power, but it def felt slower too. Whatever, i had saddle bags and a top case. So she went to change and put her moto gear on, i packed the bike and did the swap to hide the ring with our stuff. Drove the bike around the parking lot, it was going to take some getting use to for sure. I felt i needed to give it way more gas than i should to get it moving, this never got better. I got use to it, but i just didnt like it. The motor feels, wierd i guess. But i never rode a beamer. It did what it was made to do though, it was super comfy for the 2 of us. We spent 10 hours on average a day on it and did 1300 miles in the 3.5 days. Not bad for maybe 4 hours of freeway total i guess. The windshield, heated seat, heated grips, and active suspension are the reasons i would buy this bike. I would never use it as a commuter, only for 2 up stuff where we planned on riding for 4+ hours. But when the time comes i may try a few other bikes as well, i just didnt fall in love with it. Also, as glad as i am that we can rent bikes all over, for almost 200 a day, plus you NEED to buy the insurance (or put 3,000 down "just in case") was rediculous. I ended up getting the insurance and had to put 1,000 on hold. My insurance would cover me for the rental, but i didnt have 3,000 to spare on my credit card. Oh well, we didnt drop it (almost did once), and didnt get hit during lane splitting in LA traffic so it worked out.
Now for the actual ride, after we left LA this was my route (remember my plan was to avoid highway)
http://mapq.st/1FI1uTk
So after waking up at 5am for our plane, then flying 6 hours, now being 3 hours behind off we go. We stopped and ate mexican around the filmore area and it was pretty good. But by the time we were finished it was dark. No worried, i still know my route. But at this point she got mad, the day was already long and she wanted to just get to the hotel and sleep. Oh well, were already this far, why turn around. The los padres moutains were pretty awesome, but no cell reception, it being night and me not knowing the area made it a bit challenging. Oh ya, it got pretty cold out there at night, and it was a little rainy at time. It was at this point that CC's favorite part happened. She started crying and saying how miserable she was. We had 3 hours left to go! We pulled over to put our overpants and extra jackets on and a nice couple stopped to see if we were alright. My gf decided i was a moron and that she wanted to find the closest hotel, i wasnt going to argue with her. There was no cell service out there in the mountains, so we said goodbye and headed off in the same direction i was going anyway. We got to a gas station and had service so she started looking at hotels. Closest one we found was in bakersfield, so about an hour less than i had planned before, not too bad. My main worry was how much is would us up for the following day.
So shes still cold (im OK) and we head off from the gas station, it was still alittle wet out but no big deal. Apparently the police officer thought differently....a few miles after getting gas he got me going 75 in a 55 ( i really had no idea what the speed limit was, its not posted very often out there). He was coming the other way, turned around, and then caught up to me at a light. Megaphoned me to pull into the gas station next to us. I pulled over, told my gf were getting stopped and her wonderful night just got even better (we have SENA's). I stay on the bike but shut it off (this is now my second time getting pulled over ever, so i know the routine haha) License and registration, heres my license but sorry officer, its a rental so i dont have the reg. He tells me he puled me for 75 in a 55 and at that point my gf blurts out, "where are the speed limits, we never see them). At that point he tells me where 3 are, one which was ahead of me, one going the other way (really, so neither one helps) but one must have been 3 miles back. I think this was on 119, because it was just a straight road for miles. He goes back to the car and does his thing and came back. Now shes crying (again) and just saying she just wants to get the hotel. He must have felt bad for me, he told me that its wet out and i should slow down because motorcycles arent as good in the wet. I told him thanks i know, and he gave us directions to the hotel. We had maybe another 30 min to an hour to go, the rest was uneventful. Got to the room and said she wants to go home, whoopy. This is going to be a good few days, and im supposed to ask her to marry me? PSH! I told her calm the hell down, we will wake up at 7 and it will get better from here.
These are really the only pics i have for this day when we picked the bike up. Since it was night i didnt take pictures.
