Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas - 2023 Edition - Tour stops report -

[p6x]

This year, I am going to blog it differently; rather than piecemeal following post additions, I will update the first post (if possible; I remember there is a limit to the number of photos one post can contain) as I complete the tour stops.

Everything will be in a single post, at the front of the thread. Easier to follow.

Here's the map for 2023 50 stops( not formatted for phone view): this year, there are three additional "Alternative stops" that can be substituted for any of the 50 contractual ones.

Once I have made a stop, I change the color from red to green. I should report distance and gas mileage. The purple colored stops are those which I will replace with alternates.

 

 

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26-May-2023 update: Frio Canyon loop (South West)

620 miles (998km)-10hours 25 minutes ride

Five stops; total 29 stops out of 50

Highlights:

Did the FM 337 (one of the three twisted sisters) from Medina to Leakey, coming from Bandera's Flying L Ranch. Last year, in 2022, at the same stop the V11 would not start again, forcing me to abort and go back home.

At the Texas Motorcycle Museum, I could see a Moto Guzzi Daytona RS up close and personal for the first time!!! the bike is stunning!

Lowlights:

I installed a bracket to hold a camera so I could record the 337 run on video. Unfortunately, this is a camera equipped with gimbals, and the actuating motors are not strong enough to withstand the wind. I did some trials before the trip, with the camera perfectly behind the screen. But I changed the placement and found out the hard way that if exposed to the wind, the gimbals lock and the camera stops recording. I realized my mistake, and made a second attempt, keeping the bike beneath 40 mph. I will check the footage and post it if interesting.

At the Frio Canyon Motorcycle stop, as I was backing up the Le Mans to park, my foot slipped on gravel; I nearly dropped it.

Fuel details for the trip:

I started on May 26th at 06:00; tank top off on May 31st after running errands.

Something to take into consideration: the more refuels with less mileage in between, the greater the possible error.

The three main refuels during the trip are all around 47 mpg and almost exclusively without any traffic.

In the city, the mileage is around 40 mpg.

 

Stop #32, Alamo BMW in San Antonio

Stop #10, Flying L Ranch in Bandera

Stop #23, Frio Canyon Motorcycle Stop near Leakey. See the gravel on the ground? hazard when backing up the bike on the incline....

Stop #21, C-47 Aircraft, Gillespie county airport near Fredericksburg

Stop #29, The Texas Motorcycle Museum, Johnston City

 

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01-May-2023 update: North East Texas

644 miles (1036km)-10hours 36 minutes ride

six stops; total 24 stops out of 50

Highlights:

In Corsicana, a driver stopped to talk  to me while I was taking the Clint Eastwood Mural picture. He saw the bike, and told me he had a V7 Sport Guzzi when they came out in the 70's.

In Gladewater, a young rider and his girlfriend came to chat about the Moto Guzzi brand which there weren't aware existed.

In Jefferson, met a retired Policeman who did active duty on Moto Guzzi 750 and later 1000. he shared some photos of him while on duty riding those bikes. He was quite emotional telling me that since he retired, this was the first time he saw a Guzzi.

Lowlights:

Because of road flooding, I could not take the quickest itinerary between Jefferson, my last stop, and Houston. I had to take the 59 to Center, then the 96 to Jasper, the 190 to Jefferson, and resume my planned road. From 619 miles it became 644. This Eastern part of Texas has lots of forests, single lane roads, lots of lakes, nice to ride however....

On the 190, a truck towing a boat on a trailer turned left in front of me. I do not know if he saw me, but I had to brake in emergency to avoid hitting the trailer. The speed limit is 75 mph on these roads, and the guy turned left all of a sudden. No turn indicator. This was a close call. If I had not been pressed by time, I would have chased him to make him aware that he had cut in front of me.

Fuel Details for this trip; Notice the differences in gas prices with Houston and the rest of the towns I visited...

my fuel mileage is pretty good on the Le Mans. One detail, I tuck myself behind the windscreen on highway rides. It probably helps a lot.

Stop#11 Clint Eastwood Mural in Corsicana

Stop#1 Transformer Statue in Terrel

Stop#17 Derrick in Gladewater

Stop#18 Gladewater Museum Gladewater

Stop#16 Old Fire Truck Gladewater

Stop#46 Jay Gould Railroad Car Jefferson

 

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Trip done on Monday 24th, April 2023; page updated on Thursday 27th, April 2023. Count: 18/50

Texas Side Cars loop; 5 stops; 1 alternate.

Itinerary: 539 miles (based on Google Maps; Total riding time 09:00 hours (estimated).

Fuel details for this trip:

 

Stop #4: Donnie.

Stop #49: Old Fort Parker Grœsbeck.

Stop #19: Gulf Gas Station Waco.

Stop #42 Humble Gas Station Lampasas.

Stop #40 Hill Country Motorhead Museum Burnet.

Stop ALT-2 Henrietta the Hippo Hutto.

 

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Trip done on Monday 20th, March 2023; page updated on Tuesday 21st, March 2023.

Gulf Loop: around 400 miles total. 40 to 50 degrees F:

Fuel details for this trip:

Stop #33 former Kingsbury post-office:

 

Stop 38 Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum:

Stop #20 Edna Movie Theater:

 

Stop 43 Hotel Blessing:

I was warned beforehand! one of the best buffet for homemade real food... they only accept cash unfortunately.

 

 

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Stop #ALT1 Pete the Mule (in lieu of Stop #50 Lonestar Rider who is doing a 48 States ride):

Stop #02 Buddy Holly Center:

Stop #03 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum:

Stop #41 Historic Comanche Depot:

 

 

Stop #8 History of Coryell County Mural:

 

 

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INITIAL Mileage before starting the 2023 tour;

 

 

Stop #27: Navasota Classic Rock Coffee Co. & Kitchen:

 

Lady #683: I did the same mistake parking with the front end first here. This is an incline and with a heavy bike, you cannot get out anymore. Fortunately, the car parked on her left hand side moved.

Stop #25: Houston Red Roof Hotel: Red Roof is a sponsor of the tour;

 

Stop #47 Galveston Naval Museum:

 

 

Approximate calculated mileage Stops 27, 25, 47: 281.3

 

[PJPR01]

Nice to see, will cross paths for sure, I'm # 844 this year.  Expecting to pick up some stops this next weekend...should be great riding weather!

[audiomick]

Have fun.

[PJPR01]

Hey Pascale...I thought I'd run into you on the road this past weekend, there were lots of riders out, and with 3 days of glorious weather, I clocked 980 miles in total.

Managed to get 15 stops in so far, and another 4 scheduled for next weekend.

Stops so far:  Donie, Groesbeck, Corsicana, Waco, Gatesville, Comanche, Lampasas, Burnet, Johnson City, Fredericksburg (with an obligatory stop in Luckenbach of course!), Bandera, San Antonio, Kingsbury, Hutto, Navasota

Next up:  Galveston, Blessing, Edna, Cuero

In May, will get 3 in Gladewater and nearby Dallas / East Texas to get to 25 stops I hope, while on my way up to Cedar Vale for our Guzzi rally there (join if you are interested...nice 630 mile ride up).  Will have to see if I can take a run to Big Bend later in the year...that's a LONG haul.

 

Fun little side note:  I'm about a mile away from the museum in Burnet, and I see a white motorcycle coming my way.  As it gets closer, it's clearly a white Norge.  I turn around about a 1/4 mile down the road, and ride back 1/2 mile, the other guy has turned around.  We stop and take off helmets, and what do you know, it's Larry who used to work at MPH a few years ago.  Nice bit of happenstance in the middle of Hill Country.

[p6x]

I am in New Mexico at time of typing.

On the way to Santa Fe, I did History of Coryell County Mural, Historic Comanche Train Depot, 12th armored division memorial, Buddy Holly Center, Old Pete Mule Statue. So we have two commons, Gatesville and Comanche.

All five done Guzziless unfortunately. So I maxed out the "no motorcycle" option. I am not going to upload them just yet, in case I do them later.

I am waiting for the spring break to end to get back in the saddle. My next destination will be Alpine, Marfa, and the McDonald observatory, or so the three most Western stops.

I am not too far from Texas, in Alamogordo.

I think NM is also a fantastic playground for Motorcycles.

It is definitively a small world! I have bumped into people from the past at the most unlikely places.

I have laid out my "loops", but have no firm schedule. I am however planning to get to 50 if the Guzzi cooperates. I think that I have fixed all the known issues (grattacapi as we say in Italian), leaks, starter, tank breather, odometer; no more show stopper hopefully.

[mikev]

what app are you using to track fuel consumption and mileage?

[p6x]

3 hours ago, mikev said:

what app are you using to track fuel consumption and mileage?

I use TripLog.

I no longer record my trips with it; only the fuel consumption.

It is free of charge in the "lite" version.

[p6x]

Updated today, 03-May-2023 for my 6 stops ride in Eastern Texas;

Please refer to the May 1st in the OP.

Riding 644 miles in a single day, 10 hours 36 minutes of riding time is not too strenuous.

I wear the SIXS padded boxer shorts that considerably alleviate the back side hurt.

The major pain comes from the shoulders (the day after), and the legs being too folded because of the foot pegs position.

I don't eat while I ride, so I don't fall asleep.

[PJPR01]

Nicely done P6X!

I'll be picking up those same stops next week on my way to a small Guzzi rally in Cedar Vale, Kansas with a few days detouring thru Arkansas as well riding the twisties before ending up in Kansas.  Hopefully can pick up some of the ones near Dallas on the way back down, then the 4 near Houston (Submarine, Edna, Blessing and Cuero) in a few more weeks time.

Lemans doing well I hope...no more leaks?

[p6x]

9 minutes ago, PJPR01 said:

Lemans doing well I hope...no more leaks?

I have resolved all the problems.... so far.

It starts when I need it to, and nothing else is wrong if excepted the engine sneezes below 3000 rpm when the outside temperature is Texas standard. The few earlier rides I did in April and March while temperatures were in the 50's and 60's, I had zero coughs.

My next ride will be the Frio Canyon loop.

I am looking forward to the Marfa loop though. I am going to try to take some pics of the Le Mans underneath the stellar skies of the Chihuahua desrt.

[audiomick]

55 minutes ago, p6x said:

... the engine sneezes below 3000 rpm when the outside temperature is Texas standard. The few earlier rides I did in April and March while temperatures were in the 50's and 60's, I had zero coughs.

Don't want to de-rail the topic, but as an aside: Mine does that too. Constant throttle at about 2,800 revs and 50 km/h through the small towns between open road stretches, it coughs occasionally. You mentioned 50° F and that it didn't do it at that temperature. Mine was doing it at about 6°C.

Whatever, the subject has been mentioned here recently, seems to have something to do with the map, and actually has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

[p6x]

1 hour ago, audiomick said:

Don't want to de-rail the topic, but as an aside: Mine does that too. Constant throttle at about 2,800 revs and 50 km/h through the small towns between open road stretches, it coughs occasionally. You mentioned 50° F and that it didn't do it at that temperature. Mine was doing it at about 6°C.

Whatever, the subject has been mentioned here recently, seems to have something to do with the map, and actually has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

The infamous injection misses around the 3000  rpm is a never ending topic which has multiple threads in all the V11 Guzzi forums. Supposedly cured with a map change, or a proper tune-in.

I wished mine did not do it, and I took all the steps to attempt to mitigate the problem. However, I can't get Guzzi Diag to communicate with the interface. This perfectible injection is annoying the perfectionists that live in all of us Guzzi V11 lovers. But I am going to keep going until i finish the susmentioned 50 stops.

Then I am going to look for my Unix manuals, and open that communication port using the Terminal window on my Mac. During my oilfield days, our applications ran on Unix, so I should be able to sort it.

Till then, I will continue to accept the rebukes from the V11 to run around 3000 rpm, which is, just by luck, the most often used engine regime. Ha!

[KINDOY2]

I had the infamous 3000 RPM cough at stop lights when it was hot out on my Rosso Corsa..and never did totally get rid of it..despite trying many things.

Then after a complete rebuild on my  Scura it was doing the same thing at 3000 in in-town traffic on hot days..I tried everything I could think of , or could read about on the subject..It drove me crazy (er).... Finally I loosened up my valve clearances a little and it seemed to stop..and had still stopped a couple months later when I sold the bike...I don't know if that was a coincidence or what..but that is what happened..
 

[Joe]

5 minutes ago, KINDOY2 said:

I had the infamous 3000 RPM cough at stop lights when it was hot out on my Rosso Corsa..and never did totally get rid of it..despite trying many things.

Then after a complete rebuild on my  Scura it was doing the same thing at 3000 in in-town traffic on hot days..I tried everything I could think of , or could read about on the subject..It drove me crazy (er).... Finally I loosened up my valve clearances a little and it seemed to stop..and had still stopped a couple months later when I sold the bike...I don't know if that was a coincidence or what..but that is what happened..
 

I have seen tight valve clearances create the same scenario, you are right, it wasn’t happenstance. 

[p6x]

I am going to get to the bottom of it this year, after I complete the Texas Tour.