Damn hard ride from Austin.
I walked out of my Motel 6 and it was suddenly HOT. Humid Hot. I'd been in this place for two nights, trying to get my shtuff together and get some rest.
Some guy from the bike shop up on Rt. 35 had suggested I make it past 6th Street in the capitol district... as that was where the Action was. After installing anew air filter and new Arai faceshield, I motored up the "freeway" to the capitol district and headed in. The bike had been experiencing some popping and spitting off idle, which I recognized as dirt in the (a) carburetor pilot jet(s). I planned to take them all apoart and clean them out before leaving Austin.
The downtown 6th Street had about twenty bars.. most of them dark, cavernous rooms with square, Texican facades; ancient bricks and moldy rafters poking through un-apologetically. Obviously well used, these places had seen um-told number of bands over the years.. and Austin(ians?) are very proud that their city is supposedly THE Live Music Capitol of the World. Okay, well... maybe.
I roamed through half a dozen joints.. having a Lone Star beer here and a pulled-pork BBQ sandwich there. I saw three or four acts, as it was late Happy Hour / Early Evening... and the air was just beginning to humm as I left to go back to my hotel. Don;t want to take too many chances drinking in these lower states.
So in morning left my Motel... the scariest one yet for worrying about my motorcycle. Everyone I spoke to recommended that I keep close tabs on my Stuff.. as Austin (and southern Texas) are real hotbeds of gang-land cultures.
I opted to pour in half a bottle of Tecktron fuel-system cleaner, and see what happened prior to doing a complete 4-carb overhaul. Good move; it eventually cleaned things out.
Anyway, I headed out on I-35 for Louisiana and went the wrong way for half an hour. Once turned around, I kept running in and out of lines of heavy showers... so I would be wearing my full plastic suit for a while in the very hot sun... finally get tired of that and stop to pack it away, only to pull it back out and go through the donning process onbce again as rain started falling. Over and over. Riding in the rain on a motorcycle is a Requirement on a long trip, and if you have good rain gear it makes it a lot less miserable... but when you are in and out of showers all day it wears you out.
Small Texas towns .... nothing special to report...
[TO BE CONTINUED WITH PHOTOS.... I'm too bushed foir anymore tonight...]
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