Find the bike ...

Living in a rural area pretty far from motorcycle dealers presents a challenge.

The internet levels the playing field to some degree. This was 1999, and winter. I started looking for older BMWs. I learned about the modern airheads, evolution of the old R50 earles-forked bikes. Those I asked told me that those old bikes were only good to restore and put on a pedestal in the living room.

Since I rode my old bike a lot of miles I felt sure that I could still ride one a lot of miles. But they were not easy to find in the price range I had in mind. So searching local BMWs for sale I ran into Morton BMW and a nice old R90/6. I called and talked to them several times through January and February. I felt sure this was to be my machine. Then, I had the problem of needing a ride up there in case I decided to buy the bike and ride it home. So now the moment comes when I must tell my wife that I want to do this thing. It was scary, but in the end she was excited to be doing this as she had ridden on back of my bike in Denver before we were married. I was surprised....

As weather turned warmer (that is relative) in March I saw a Saturday with temps above 50 degrees and asked my wife to drive up to Mortons. She agreed and I called the sales person to make sure he'd be there. The good news was he would be there and the bad news is that someone from Texas bought the R90/6 sight un-seen. I asked if they had another bike in that price range that would serve my purpose. He said he was sure they could find one for me. So we went up on Saturday and ended up buying the wrong bike, but I was riding. I rode it home and froze. It was dark and in the upper 30s when I finally got home after a five hour ride. But I loved it. I was the proud owner of a low mileage 1980 R65 with a fairing and bags.

We are getting closer to the trip, but first another bike enters the picture...