A summer evening ride, and more…

Quite a day today. The temperature rose up to 103 degrees. In mid-October. It’s hard to believe.   It’s not even still Summer.   We’re into Fall already.  But it sure feels hot enough to be Summer.

Susie and I didn’t get too much done today.  I’ll blame it on the heat and the donuts.  I wanted to get out and ride to the plant in the morning, but you know how Saturdays go.  Susie wanted donuts, so that meant a quick run down to the donut shop, and when I got there 20 people were lined up with the same idea.  Hey, I wasn’t about to go back empty-handed.  Then I got home and put another pot of coffee on to read the papers and before I realized it, one of my riding buddies had sent me a text message telling me he had ridden into the CSC plant and, you know, where was I?   Well, I was too busy taking it easy, and by the time I got that message, it was nearly noon. It was too hot to ride for this old guy, so Susie and I hopped in the car and rolled on over to the shop (with the air conditioner running flat out the whole way).

When we got to the CSC plant, Ryan told me another good buddy had stopped by on an XR 650 (Tom, I’m guessing that was you), and I had missed him, too.  Wow.  I didn’t do too well today.

Gerry and the Service Department sure are staying busy. We’re getting a lot of service work because Gerry and his crew are tops, we’re not out to gouge people, and the word is getting out.   Gerry had a super sleek BMW K-Umpteen-Hundred-Something-or-Other he had just finished servicing, and there was an FZ1 Yamaha with 100,000 miles waiting right behind it for its turn in one of the service bays. Between doing the setups on the new RX3s and the service work on other brands, our motorcycle maestros sure are staying busy back there.

If it sounds like I’m bragging about our Service Department, I guess I am.  I went to the gym late this evening, and I decided I really owed it to the KLR 650 to take her out after Gerry and Lupe worked their magic on that bike. The KLR has never run better. And somehow, they managed to eradicate all of the chalking that normally occurs on the older first-generation KLR body panels. I don’t know what they used to bring the bodywork back, but my 2006 KLR actually looks newer than my 2015 RX3. That’s undoubtedly because I like keeping the RX3 dirty and I am really racking up the miles on it. I’ve had the KLR nearly 10 years and I’ve only been riding the RX3 since April of this year, but I’ve already got nearly as many miles on the RX3 as I do on the KLR.

The ride home from the gym a short while ago was fun. Surface streets all the way, a hot summer evening, and the KLR was chugging right along.  That motorcycle-manufactured summer breeze sure felt good after fighting with the machines in the gym.  There’s something about a motorcycle ride in the evening on a hot day that’s just, well, right.   It felt good.   I’ve had times in my life when I was younger that I’d find myself in those situations and I’d ride until the sun came up.   I love it.   Tonight was like that.

We’re sure eliciting strong reactions from our friends to the north. One of our Canadian fans signed on to buy a new RX3 a few minutes ago (via an email to me, no less) and he’s going to join us on the Baja trip next March. I’m pumped about that, but then I’m always pumped about any motorcycle ride to Baja. It’s going to be grand.  We’ve had several people sign on for our next Baja run already, and if you want to buy an RX3 and ride with us, well…there’s no time like the present.   Give us a call on Monday.   When your buddies are bragging about their latest chrome doodad or a run to the corner burger joint, you’ll be able to casually mention you rode your motorcycle to Baja.   Trust me on this one, folks.  There’s nothing like it.

Roselda, the prettiest Pemex attendant in El Rosario

Another nice thing that happened today was an early morning email from my good buddy Twin Peaks Steve. Steve is doing it right…he and his RX3 headed north on 395 up into the High Sierras a few days ago.   Steve camped on that trip.  It looks like he had a ball.

Steve, your photos are awesome. I am envious (yeah, I know, it’s one of the seven deadlies), but it looks like you are living the life and doing what you are supposed to be doing with your RX3.   Good for you!

Sunday morning (tomorrow, as I write this) is going to be good, too. My good buddy Greg and I are heading out to the rifle range early with our Mosin-Nagants. We want to beat the heat and the crowds, and throw a little lead downrange.  Good times.  Watch for photos. We have a lot of fun with our 90-year-old infantry rifles.  Not as much fun as riding an RX3 in Mexico, but good times nonetheless.