Buying a new Goldwing

Buying a new Goldwing is exciting, but a little planning can save you a LOT of money!

How-To Install a Bellypan

A bellypan is the most important items you can install on your Goldwing to protect the bike from damage. I show you how to install it yourself. It's inexpensive, easy to install and everyone should have one!

Buying A Used Goldwing

Cruiseman offers some helpful suggestions on what you should consider when buying a used Honda Goldwing.

Honda Goldwing Oil Change

I posted this video to YouTube a few months back and am amazed at how many people have viewed it! I hope it offers some assistance to my fellow Goldwingers.

Home Again!

This morning was our earliest start yet. To avoid as much of the heat as possible, we mounted up and headed out of the Hampton-Fayetteville parking lot at 5:50am! Our ride today was 316 miles to our home in Carrollton, TX. The first part of the ride was nice. With the sun rising at our backs, we were enjoying the twisties on US62 from Fayetteville to Muskogee, OK. Actually, this was the most spirited riding of the entire trip! Starting about 40 miles from Fayetteville, the highway gets very curvy and the asphalt is fresh and smooth. There was virtually no traffic, so we had the road to ourselves. My biggest concern at this time of day is deer. Fortunately, none of the beasts were to be seen today.

At 8:16am my '07 Goldwing turned "60" (see photo). This bike has carried us all across the US and has been my primary form of transportation since November, 2006. What a great bike! This is probably the last major trip we will take on her. As soon as I return, I plan to get her cleaned up, detailed and ready to sell to some lucky future Goldwing owner. I have no doubt that she is good for at least another 100,000 trouble-free miles.

With only a couple of stops for fuel and to quench our thirst with ice water, we make excellent time. By 9:00am it is already 93 degrees, and getting hotter. Fortunately, it is less humid the closer we get to home. We are making such good time that we decide to stop in McKinney for BBQ at Hutching's BBQ. Good decision.

We pulled into our driveway at 12:30pm. It is hot and we are tired, but it was another great road trip with lots of good photos and some video to boot. We have been to Illinois twice, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and of course, Texas. We had the pleasure of getting to meet and visit with Mike Wolf from Antique Archeology in LeClaire, Iowa. We stayed three nights in Milwaukee at The Iron Horse hotel, a motorcycle themed boutique hotel. We visited the Harley-Davidson museum. We rode the Tunnel of Trees. We visited Mackinaw Island and crossed the Mackinac Bridge. Lots of memories.

And The Heat Goes On

This morning is our earliest start yet. We are mounted up and rolling out of Hampton Inn Jefferson City at 6:45am. The heat came earlier and hotter than yesterday, and yesterday was miserable! By 11:30am it was in the 90s and we we found ourselves pulling off on the side of the road just to drink some ice water and cool down under some shade.

The morning portion of the ride was nice. It was moderate and there was much less wind today than yesterday. We also had much better scenery today which makes for a much more pleasurable ride.

We rode through Osage Beach, then Branson, Missouri on our way to Fayetteville, AR. Road construction delays and a few other hitches caused us to arrive at the Hampton in Fayetteville at close to 2pm. It was 96 degrees when we pulled in, and I don't even want to know what the heat index was.

Tomorrow we plan to leave even earlier for the final leg back to Dallas. Highs are forecast to be 100. I just hope the tires don't melt!

Hotter than Hell

Boy when the weather changes, it changes! From the cold and rain of Michigan to the brutal heat and humidity of Illinois and Missouri. In anticipation of the heat to come, we left early, heading South on US 421 for the 424 mile trek from Valparaiso, IN to Jefferson City, MO. For us, this is a long day since we take the back roads and try to avoid Interstate riding. By noon, temperatures were into the 90s and the wind was intense.

We stop for lunch in Springfield, IL at Smokey Bones. The goal was BBQ, the result was disappointing. This is a "concept" restaurant that tries to look like a BBQ place, but offers a menu that more closely represents TGI Fridays. I tried the ribs, yuck! The first clue is the lack of any smoke smell in the parking lot OR inside the restaurant. Avoid this place.

After leaving Springfield, it just kept getting hotter. By the time we reached Jefferson City, the heat index was 106! We made several stops along the way to take drinks of ice water and even put pieces of ice on our heads to cool off. Rickee is pretty tough when it comes to rain, cold and wind, but she cannot take the heat. I guess I am sort of the same, it really wears you down.

Our ride tomorrow to Fayetteville, AR does not look to be any cooler or more comfortable. However, it is only 315 miles and we will get an ever earlier start.