Atlanta is a BIG
city with LOTS of
traffic! Combine that with using an outdated version of Streets & Trips and
trying to find a place you've never been. This leads to a bit of
hilarity and a lot of confusion. Eventually, I found the offices I was
looking for, the WERA headquarters, where I had a good meeting with
Sean "Mongo" Clark. Unfortunately, the out-of-date software was to bite
me again as I searched for my hotel. The route instructed me to take
the 112 exit off I-75. By the time I reached downtown, from Canton,
north of Atlanta, and was only down to exit 252, I knew I was in
trouble! As I was ensnared in going-home traffic (I certainly wouldn't
call it rush hour) with no place to pull off and check a map, I exited
on US 278 west, figuring it would take me to the loop somewhere north
of I-20 and I could figure it from there. It would appear that Georgia
has renumbered their exits to correspond with mile markers (as most are
now) and my exit was back north. So, in the grand scheme of things,
what's another 50 or 60 miles...
I refer to Wednesday and Thursday's travel as "the
900-mile
automatic car wash" for very good reasons... From Atlanta, I dipped
south and ran along the stationary front that inundated the
South with rain for days on end. Well, at least the bike isn't as bug
encrusted as it usually is after one of these forays. The high point of
that section of the trip was a billboard in Alabama. I noticed
increased promotion of anti-drinking and driving laws all along
this
trip. Alabama has the best billboards though, hands down: "Get Hammered
-- Get Nailed!" Nothing like gettin' to the point.
There was a bit of drama left, though. When I
stopped for gas the
second time on Wednesday, I heard what I though was the EVO brake servo
whining. Not having any apparent problems with the brakes, and not
looking forward to dismantling the bike for diagnosis, I rode on. When
I pulled into the motel parking lot in West Monroe, LA, it was still
squealing. After I unpacked, I called Greg at BMW of Fort Worth and
told him about it. Greg got Brant, one of the techs, on the phone and
we ran through some tests. Turned out not to be the brake servo, it was
the fuel pump. BMW fuel pumps are not available at the local car parts
and bait shop, besides they're located inside the fuel tank which made
me reluctant to try to fix it in the pouring rain. I decided to try to
make it to Shreveport in the morning and have the BMW dealer there look
into it.
Friday morning dawned wet and gray. I loaded the
bike while visions
of being stranded on the side of the swampy Louisiana highway, rain
pouring down with a fried fuel pump swam in my head. Lo and
behold!
When I started the RS up, no more whine! I topped off the tank and
started the final stretch home.
I finally broke out of the rain about an hour east
of Dallas and
had an uneventfully ride the rest of the way. Best guess is that I got
a bad tank of gas in Atlanta and the fuel filter became water-logged.
The pump was working hard to overcome the restriction, so it was noisy.
The fact that my fuel mileage plummeted from 48~49 to 42~44 on
Wednesday yet climbed back to 49 on my last tank Thursday, contributes
to that conclusion. Next week, I'll get a new fuel filter and tear into
the tank. My guess is I'll find a half cup or so of water in the bottom
of the tank.
All in all, an good trip. I enjoy traveling by
myself at times,
regardless of how much I like my regular riding companions. The 1150 is
a better "mileage disposal unit" in some ways than my `94 1100, but has
some idiosyncrasies that I'm still not sure I want to deal with. Time
will tell.
