Monster Service Day

Well, it's a very good thing I didn't try to take my big ol' bike to my barn or I would probably still be there. Even by parking over at my relatives' driveway, I still had to make two hairy water crossings to get out to a fully paved road 😱. It was a very stressful first mile.

The best news of the day (so far) is that I didn't have to pack the bike in the rain. Not a drop. But as soon as I backed the bike up, the sky opened and it was torrential all the way to Tyler 😞.

Service rolled me straight in even though I was about an hour early. I grabbed what I needed off the bike, and set up my office by the coffee machine 🤣. I've been working with this new Garmin zumoXT3 all morning 🤬. These things are not all intuitive. It's like trying to operate an iPhone after you've only used Android. Very frustrating. Plus, it doesn't work with Basecamp--Garmin's own software. I've had to consolidate all my routes, then divide them up into 10-stop routes, then export them all, then upload them to Garmin Explore, then import them into the GPS device...each separately 🤦. My old zumoXT? Just drag and drop all the routes from Basecamp onto the device ,then import them on the device. This is soooo much better...NOT!!! 🤬🤬🤬

But it will solve the problems I've been having with the old unit. A couple of years ago, it decided I didn't need to know the number of the highway I needed, nor the exit number, nor which lane to be in. I learned to follow the line instead of reading the directions, which didn't always work, but close enough. Lately the mount has been intermittently powering on and off. Needless to say, I've been very stressed about possibly losing use of the GPS, so I got the new one, reluctantly.

I walked a couple of doors down to Taco Bueno 🤤. My go to is the taco burger, taco fixings placed on a burger bun. Yummy!!

Just after lunch, another Mile Monster rider, Honor Trip, came to say hi. We hung for a little bit, and she introduced me to everyone, then she had to roll.

Now (1630), they just told me the bike is done yay!!! Front and rear tires, rear brake pads, Screaming Eagle Lifter kit with adjustable push rods, new Garmin mount, sprocket bearing, and an adjusted sticky throttle.

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Update at 2030: Ooooo, the bike sounds so nice again!! And the throttle works better than it has for a while now. I didn't realize how bad it had slowly gotten. I left there at 1730, but only got 3 hours down the road before I just now dove into a hotel for the night. I dodged some pretty significant lightning, and my route was going to take me directly into the storm. Nope. Not tonight. I had some points to use, so a free stay out of the weather is fine by me 😁.

Hope to see you on the road! Remember, NO WHINING! ✌️

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2026 starting odometer: 46667
Starting odometer: 57540
Ending odometer: 57729
Daily mileage: 189
2026 miles total: 11062Read more