Sold, Paid and Shipped

The Jesses are gone and the Beemer is officially a run around town bike. Kinda like taking off an overcoat and putting on a speedo.

Trip seems to be a no go - various health problems and other shit have trashed all travel plans for this year. Now I just have to face another winter with cold hands. Sucks.

I'll have to be content with reading some other lucky bastards motorcycle travel blog. Not the same somehow.

Whine, Whine, Whine.

Rick Mayer seat for R80G/S

The seat I had ordered for the R80 arrived today. Looks good and sits good. The proof will be found after several K miles and some long days in the saddle. I am hopeful though as the stocker was an ass burner.

No News

Haven't heard from the guy who supposedly wants to buy the Jesses. Got em all boxed up and addressed but have not had a reply after I sent the e-mail with the shipping cost to him. $65 shipping couldn't make that much difference now, could it??? Oh well, if he dumps on me there are several others standing in line that would buy them in a heartbeat. R80 shit seems to sell very quickly.

Small improvements in health but doubt that I will be back where I need to be for a south of the border ride in October. Too bad. Last year it was a bad back and this year it's some kind of bug that has thoroughly kicked my ass. I may not be destined to make the ride.

SOLD !!

Sold the R80 Jesses today to a guy from Illinois. Got em boxed up and will weigh them tomorrow - heavy. Much better day health wise today. I actually had some energy. Maybe my old abused body can shake this off after all. Mounted a new Pirelli Scorpion (R80) front tire today and ordered a set of Tourances for the KLR and the ride south -- tires have gotten very damn expensive - for good ones.

Weak

It's Hell that as good as you're going to feel all day is right after you get up in the morning. I'm getting the sinking feeling that this thing is going to take a long time to recover from. Three weeks til I need to leave, don't look good. Hopefully I will get back my energy and strength someday ---- and get rid of this ha?cking cough. Think I'll get in a hot steamy shower now and let it do it's magic.

Install

The barkbusters went on with only a twitch or two from my cheater bar. Look good. Hopefully they will help prevent my breaking a lever and hold my homemade Hippo Hands open enough to save my hands in the freezing high altitudes I'm sure to encounter. The HotGrips should do the rest. Now the only thing left to do to get the R80 ready for a trip is to reinstall the Jesses. Not. I am going to use the R80 for a run around town bike and take the KLR south if I get to go.

Moose Bark Busters

The Moose stuff arrived Friday but haven't felt up to installing them yet. Still weak as a kitten after all the antibiotics. Will tackle them and the Jesses in a day or two. Still looking at heading south of the border the middle of October - health willing and the creeks don't rise. Choice of bike still KLR.

No West Nile - No Bacterium - Viral mystery

3 weeks of trying one of everything with no joy. Been trying to remember the sequence of events so far but can't remember all the drugs employed in this fight.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jim – September 2008 – Pneumonitis & Sinus Infection / Dr. Findley
09-01-08 Monday – Sore throat started
09-02-08 Tuesday – Runny nose / sore throat
09-03-08 Wednesday – + cough
09-04-08 Thursday – To Dr. Findley –
- 2 Shots:
- Prescription 1: 2: 3: 4:
09-05-08 Friday – Appointment: Dr. Findley
- 1 Shot:
- Said almost put Jim in hospital yesterday – lungs were “bubbly”! Lungs sounded better today.
09-08-08 Monday – To Dr. Findley ?
09-11-08 Thursday – To Dr. Findley
- Gave orders to go to Angel Medical Center (Franklin, NC) for “out patient” IV
treatments for five days / Thursday – Monday
- To Angel, “out patient” facility... closing for the day, turned Jim away.
- At home, called Angel & spoke to supervisor. / Advised to go to emergency room for today's treatment.
- Jim went in for first IV treatment.
09-12-08 Friday – Angel (out patient) for second IV treatment
09-13-08 Saturday – Angel (emergency) for third IV treatment
09-14-08 Sunday – Angel (emergency) for forth IV treatment
09-15-08 Monday – Appointment: Dr. Findley
- Took sputum sample from lungs for culture.
- Took blood to test for West Nile (Large insect bites Labor Day weekend at campground.)
- Canceled today's IV treatment. (Treatments are not helping.) / Started Z-Pac at 4:00pm.
09-16-08 Tuesday – Appointment: Dr. Findley
- Dehydration and continued cough... pneumonitis (?)
- Jim admitted to Mountain Lakes Hospital (Clayton, GA)
- Chest X-Ray / Breathing Treatments (Steroids + Z via IV) / Liz arrived after 7:30pm to stay with Jim.
- Almost no rest all night! Sleep was constantly interrupted with nurses & technicians in & out of room.
09-17-08 Wednesday – Remained in hospital.
- CT Scan of lungs & sinuses / bottom of lungs closing & sinus infection
- Continue breathing treatments /Albeuterol in breathing treatments increased heart rate to 118 beats per minute.
- Anxiety and chest tightness / Nitro + EKG + 1 mg Ativan as needed per 6 hours
- No sleep all day! / Finally got 45 minute nap after 5:30pm.
09-18-08 Thursday – Remained in hospital
- No sleep until after 3:30am / 20 minutes later, tech woke him to draw blood / within 2 minutes, IV monitor beeped (Common for this machine!) / 5-10 minutes later, tech came in for EKG : Jim refused / later breathing treatments were due: Jim refused / Nurses put up “DO NOT DISTURB” sign after 4:30am. / Jim did eat breakfast at 8:00 and took morning meds. / Dr. Finley made rounds and told Jim he was awaiting results of throat culture & West Nile virus at office; called back at lunchtime to say the throat culture came back okay, West Nile had not been completed, & he was dismissing Jim today. Jim would get a nebulizer to take home at dismissal and should continue Z-Pac at home.
- Filled prescription for inhaler: ipratropium inhal sol coba (Used twice before bedtime.)
- Energy level up a little this afternoon. Glad to be home! Short walk this evening.
09-19-08 Friday – Appointment: Findley
- Jim feeling better this am with relief of being out of the Clayton hospital + Renee & Dr. Findley's light humor and hearing his lungs sound much better and West Nile test was negative.
- Discontinue Z-Pac / Continue regular multivitamin, add extra C, E, & continue regular B-Complex / Use nebulizer at
least twice per day.
09-20-08 Saturday – Jim took it easy today. Not feeling as good as yesterday. Weak. / Using nebulizer makes throat sore. /
Rested a little. Energy comes, then goes quickly. After 4:30pm, felt white bumps on both sides of his mouth between
gum & jaw... concerned, (from chewable C?) / Tried to call Dr. Findley at home & mobile; no answer -- no message. / Noticed frequent urination this evening before bedtime.
09-21-08 Sunday – Up several times during night... urinating often! Cough continues. Rested after breakfast -long nap.

If I don't have any relief by monday I'm gonna ask to be refered to a Pulmonologist for some definitive answers - maybe. Sick of messing around. I got to shake this shit!!

DIARY

In case you haven't figured it out by now I'm treating this blog like a diary, just saying any fool thing that comes to my head, not trying to maintain any coherent train of thought so if it gets confusing at times either get lost or stick around and wade through to the good stuff. Just rolled in from two days enforced vacation at the local(small town)Rabun County Ga Hospital - Stephen King Central - what a hoot - First thing I noticed when they checked me into my room was no shower and a sink that was loose and about to fall off the wall. Busted sheetrock and a redneck douche made up of a sink sprayer attached to the cold water supply on the toilet. After I picked myself up off the floor and recovered laughing at this, and was getting into bed, the Local Mortician came rolling a dead body down the hall past my room with one arm dangling off the gurney - it was covered with a RED artificial grass carpet throw -. Can you spell AMA.(checkout Against Medical Advice?) The Azithromycin?azithromax? IV was a total bitch, it hurt like hell going in, burned the vein. They had to slow the drip from 250 down to 75 so I could tolerate it. Next was a respiratory therapy that accelerated my heartbeat from it's normal 65 or so to 118. Spooked the shit outta me. They were giving me pills to dry up my secretions while at the same time giving me stuff to make me cough up the crap in my lungs - two competing things. Not to mention the aggravating Nurses Aide who would pop into my room about every 10 minutes checking to see how much I had peed and grabbing up my bottled water by the neck to check how much I had drunk - all with her UN-sterilized hands - no telling where they ha been!! Needless to say I was very glad to get my fat ass outta there. Back home now, thank God, Hope to never wind up there again.

LATER OBSERVATION - 29 September 08;

Be damn careful if a Doc wants to load you up on antibiotics -- I have learned they can be dangerous.

70 today - ain't that a bitch!!

70 years old today - sucks to be sick.

Doc decided the old shit ain't working - duh- started new one today, Azithromycin, 4Th different antibiotic, hope to hell it works. Also testing me for West Nile virus as mosquitoes bit the crap outta me the weekend before I came down with this shit.

All the steroids and antibiotics I have taken have made me weak as hell and I'm sure has my immune system in the crapper.

Eating yogurt by the bucketful.

4th Day of IV - no joy

Had my 4th IV antibiotic/decadron drip today and no real improvement. Doc visit tomorrow and I think I'll ask for a culture to see just what the hell this bug is. I don't mind the Jerry Clower, "Shoot up in the tree boys, one of us has got to have some relief" approach, but it ain't working. Time to get specific and nail this Son Of A Bitch with a silver bullet.

Rode the R80 to the hospital today and enjoyed it although it just ain't as smoothe as the KLR, nor nearely as comfortable. Ain't as tall either! I am seriously considering taking the KLR south and leaving the R80 for a run around town bike. I think maybe my butt and back would thank me.

One other consideration would be that I would not mind leaving the KLR in a ditch somewhere - it's just another bike - whereas the BMW is a Classic Motorcycle!

Seat Mailed Off to Rick Mayer

Let's see, pan $100.00
gas 35.00
postage 48.00
new seat 419.00
return postage 35.00
------------------------------
total $637.00

Hope it's comfortable!

IV DRIP

Met Lloyd over at the IronHorse and purchased his original R80G/S seat pan(recovered some time back) for a cool c-note. With the gas to get there that makes about $135.00 for a 22 year old seat - don't get me wrong, I was glad to get it. Now I won't have to send Rick Mayer my good original cover seat.

Got the seat packed, addressed and ready to mail in the AM. What with the price of the new Mayer seat and the 135 for the old pan, this sucker better be superb.

Had a Doc visit today, still can't shake the SOB cold/flu/congestion/cough/bronchitis. He sent me to the Hospital for a round of IV antibiotics/steroids. Repeat for 5 days. Hope this kicks it in the ass. I'm really tired of this shit.

Still haven't mounted the Jesses - waiting on the Moose barkbusters to install first. I have a wierd sense of order.

Hot Grips - Good Day Today

Thought I was going to have to return the Hotgrips I bought cause they were about 5/8" too long. Really liked the grips though and did not want go to a shorter set that might cramp my big hands, so I started doing some creative thinking and it dawned on me, why not have a local machinest make me an aluminum shoulder plug to extend the bars 5/8" and at the same time drill and tap a metric hole to mount the Moose Barkbusters with the supplied metric bolt. JB Weld them in place and wallah!, solves two problems with only a small outlay of greenbacks. Good on me! Now if I can somehow solve the seat thing.

Did a wash and general cleanup on the bike yesterday and I think it did me more good than it did the bike, mentally, at least. Got my mind off how mad I was at Corbin for fouling up my well laid plans.

The tall windscreen was buffeting like crazy so I did a Bikini cut on it --- much better. I like a steady wind on my helmet instead of a swirling vortexey? mess created by a bad windshield. May add a laminar lip later.

Tomorrow I think I'll tackle mounting the Jesse panniers with the new spacers Al sent me. Or maybe not.

Pissed

Corbin has still not sent UPS by to pick up the seat. I have come to believe they don't know how to tell the truth about anything.

This has delayed me so long I may have to settle for an airhawk for my trip to South America.

The shame of the whole thing is that I would really like to have this seat. If they would have only said, sure, send it back and we will modify it to fit, everything would have been great. Instead they tried to lie their way out of the problem and by doing so compounded it greatly. I will tell everyone I meet not to buy a Corbin seat, the customer service SUCKS!!!

No refund yet either!

SNAFU

After making yet another call to Corbin today and speaking with a fellow named Sergio in Florida, Nina called me back and said " There is no way that seat is going to fit your bike", no shit Sherlock, what did I say from the get go ! I really can't be too hard on her as she has been polite, though uninformed, all the way through this mess. It's the rest of the idiots at Corbin I have a problem with.

I know they make a seat that will fit because I just talked with a guy who has one on his R80.

I suppose someone grabbed the wrong/miss marked form and built my seat and rather than admit a mistake they decided to take the easy way out and take the seat back and refund my money.

The term SNAFU comes to mind.

CORBIN IS A JOKE

You won't believe what Nina, the Corbin customer rep told me today, hell, I don't believe it!!

She told me that the boys in the back room told her to tell me that I don't really have a 1986 BMW R80G/S. What the Fuck!!! I may be 70 but I sure as hell ain't senile, I know what bike I own. Just because their seat won't fit I have the wrong bike!! It's my fault their shit don't work?? When she told me that, I burst out laughing so hard I almost dropped the phone – the colossal arrogance of these people. I think it dawned on her just what an asshole she looked like telling me that because she told me she would have to call me back later after she checked with her guys again.

No call yet and it's after closing time in California. I think next time I'll ask to speak with the someone with the knowledge and the authority to make a decision. I don't want to make Nina look bad, her own co-workers have done a really good job of that already. I just want to speak with someone who knows what the hell they are talking about.

I think tomorrow will be the 6th phone conversation, not counting the 2 e-mails with attached pictures showing in detail why the seat won't fit!!
If you are thinking about buying a new seat I suggest you look to someone else, hell, anyone else, other than Corbin.

What a bunch of fucking jerks they are.

Me and Corbin butt heads again.

Recieved my new Corbin seat and like normal with them, it won't fit. Have talked with them several times and sent them pictures and they just won't understand that the seat is 2 1/2" too long. I really don't know how to make it any clearer. Will try again on Monday when they return to work. Why has it got to be like pulling teeth every time I deal with them!!

Good news on the Jesse Panniers though, I talked to Al and he saw the problem right away and is sending spacers to fix things. It's nice to have a manufacturer try to help fix a problem instead of finding excuses why it's your fault their shit don't work(Corbin).

DEPRESSION

Today was not a real happy day for me, pretty shitty in fact. Looked the R80 over more closely and was not pleased with what I saw, Jesse bags need some work to make them usable, the subframe looks twisted and out of line, front brakes need major work and although I haven't looked I'm sure the rear brakes will need work too, fork boots shot, stock side stand sucks, looking like a $1000 bill to get her up to snuff. Us old creatures need lots of TLC.

There's no fool like an old fool.

Nothing to do now but choke it down and tackle one thing at a time. Think I'll start with the least necessary things first - just so I can piss off the Moto Gods and anyone else afflicted with logical thinking.

Here we go again

This will be my second try to get to South America by motorcycle. Last years try was aborted by a back injury, which, in truth, still has not healed.
I kitted out a '08 KLR for the trip last year but now find that it is too tall for me even though I lowered it 1".
This years bike of choice is a '86 R80G/S BMW. Quite a change huh! I have been looking for this bike for years with no luck. A good friend bought one, 3 years ago, from a older fellow who could not ride anymore and had stored the bike for years before being able to part with it. My friend recently got the urge for a Harley and happened to like my '06 Arctic White Road King and when his wife saw it she fell in love with it right away ---- done deal. Swapped +boot for the BMW.
Now to get it ready for a long trip.