End (4) – 66,821 (279 miles)
End (5) – 67,051 (230 miles)
(4) Gas @ 66,572 – 3.496 g E0/89 @ $3.759/g = $13.14. 124.8/3.496 = 35.7 mpg
(4) Gas @ 66,686 – 3.095 g E10/93 @ $3.999/g = $12.38. 113.9/3.095 = 36.8 mpg
(4) Gas @ 66,808 – 3.095 g E10/93 @ $3.929/g = $12.16. 122.2/30.95 = 39.5 mpg
(5) Gas @ 66,962 – 3.969 g E10/93 @ $4.039/g = $16.03. 154.2/3.969 = 38.9 mpg
Weekend stats
$53.71 in gas, avg 3.93 per gallon
509 miles / 13.655 gallons of gas = 37.3 mpg
What a weekend! I had off work Friday and decided Saturday would be a riding day as well. My wife was out of town. Two long and relatively hard days of riding to collect Virginia Ground Tour stops.
Friday I rode to Waynesboro, mostly on US 250, and had breakfast at Weasie’s Kitchen. Good food. 105 miles to get there. Then I got the Cross Keys & Newport locations, both near-ish Harrisonburg. I got on I 64 for a ways just to get around Charlottesville on the way to Waynesboro. Stayed in the right lane at about 65 mph except for passing a couple of trucks on uphill sections. Not much to say about the bike, it is running fine. I added a few ounces of oil but no air to the tires.
At Weasie’s there was an old man behind me apparently trying to die from coughing up a lung. As I was collecting my gear to pay and go, he started asking questions about the bike. I gathered he used to ride. I got lunch at the BBQ Xchange in Gordonsville, sat outside because one family inside had a cranky baby. Dude with wife & 2 kids saw the bike, saw my helmet, put 2 & 2 together. Knew a lot about BMWs already, so it was a good chat. At a light on 301 near home, I pulled up to turn left and was next to a dude on a tricked-out Hayabusa who had blown past me a few minutes before. “Hey-AAAY! NICE RIDE!” he shouted, then sped off when the light turned green.
At Cross Keys on Friday, I met 2 young men. One from Virginia, the other from South Carolina. Dude from SC spent 20 minutes explaining the battle in great detail while I got sweaty in my gear standing in direct sunlight WITH MY HELMET ON (but face bar up). He sure knew a lot and it was really interesting, but I was so sweaty.
I sent out an email to the RBMWR to see if anybody wanted to tag along on Saturday. I don’t normally ride in groups – and I definitely don’t normally volunteer to lead them – but I figured if I was leading then I could set the pace and path. I figured nobody would show up at Rise & Shine Diner at 7.30 on the Saturday after a big holiday. 2 dudes showed up; Pat has an ’00 K 1200 RS but he’s chasing some issues – no side panels on the bike so he can keep working on the fuel gauge and whatever electrical issue is making his brake light stay on for a long time, and Shawn, who rides an R 1250 GSA. He was excited to meet “the guy from the magazine,” he’s a new MOA member. I love when that happens, it really makes all the work worth it. They followed merrily along all day. We went to Chancellorsville Battlefield NP, Rixeyville and Sperryville.
I didn’t need gas in Culpeper but I sure did in Sperryville. Guess what!? NO GAS STATIONS IN SPERRYVILLE! Had to backtrack 20 miles to Culpeper. Put 3.9 gallons in my 4.8-gallon tank, so I guess I was OK but got worried. Shawn on the GSA just laughed. I think his bike holds 8 gallons of fuel.
It was weird having people following me but not unpleasant. Only thing I didn’t like was helmets & gloves off at every stop. I just want to get my photo and get moving again – a holdover from doing rallies like The Void. I tried not to look impatient, hope I succeeded. We stopped for subs at Joe’s Heroes in Mineral on US 522. The Mexican place I wanted to go was closed for the holiday weekend.
At the Chancellorsville BNP, there were two female employees or volunteers, one young, and an old man volunteer. Plus a younger man park ranger. All SUPER excited when me & Pat came in to use the bathroom. I got the feeling they don’t get much foot traffic.
