It’s about 1,500 miles from home to Austin, Texas if you use the interstates. To get there, I took all interstate freeways—295 to 64 to 81 to 40 to 35. To get home, I took all interstates again—35 to 20 to 59 to 75 to 40 to 81 to 64 to 295. Going was Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas. Coming home was Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennesee, Virgingia. It felt like more progress going through more states, but that’s all. Far less traffic on the way home, but worse road surfaces through the Deep South. I stopped in Little Rock for the night on the way there. I drove 22 hours straight through to get home—probably ought not to do THAT again. Not my best idea ever.
The purpose of the trip was to attend and cover the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show, I think it was their 10th year. BMW is the title sponsor, so there was a big BMW presence—both corporate and custom bikes. Definitely heavy on Airheads, which is why I wanted to bring Daren Dortin—he does the Airhead 247 podcast. We both got a lot of content.
Crossing the Mighty Mississippi on the way to Austin … in a car.
I was also able to spend a little time at COTA for MotoGP. Underwhelmed with the access my weak press creds got me, but still happy to be able to go. Saw the big race on Sunday but bailed not long after Marc Marquez crashed out—he’s the epitome of “if you ain’t first, you’re last.”
Got tamales from the Tamale House, supposedly the best in Austin. They were good, but they weren’t Jon’s place in Phoenix good.
I chose to drive the Charger instead of taking R 90/6 for a bunch of reasons:
- Brand-new charging and ignition system installed the weekend before. Popular wisdom is never to embark on a major trip right after doing something like that in case there’s a problem.
- A 1,500-mile (one way!) trip and the 1,500 miles back as my FIRST trip on the R 90/6 didn’t seem wise. I need to do something shorter—maybe 600 miles total—first.
- Weather in Austin looked super sketchy. Indeed it POURED HORRIFYING TORRENTS on the Thursday and took me six hours to get from Dallas to Austin. Rained on and off all weekend. I know me—I would have been wet and unpleasant all weekend as a result because I have shitty rain gear.
- Had to arrange rides for my wife to get to/from work and physical therapy while I was gone. In the car, it’s a two-day drive each way. On my GS, same. But on the Airhead, I would have budgeted at least three if not four days each way so as not to overdo it. That seemed like an excessive burder not just on her, but on my kid, my Mom and our friends as well. They helped her Wednesday through Monday and that seemed like enough imposition.
I still felt guilty about it—not riding, I mean. I keep telling myself there’s plenty of time to ride left in 2025.
End mileage: 64,902
