Duke Nuke'm - cashing it in after 12 years

Wow. I liked Duke Nuke'm, but wouldn't call myself rabid by any means. However I was looking forward to their next release. For years.

I'm not that surprised a project could go 12 years without a release... well, 12 years is a heck of a long time, so yes I was!!
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/

Several companies I've worked for have doubled their original estimates or more. 14 months got another 14-18 months tacked on as the project developed. Often it was feature creep. In some cases, it was just that management didn't believe it was going to take that long and set shorter targets than anyone believed.

I spent almost 3 weeks in 1-3 hour daily meetings on one project while mgmt tried to reconcile the team's 3 month estimate into the 1 month target. Yes, meeting, not working.

Some of the engineers I worked with on that project were some of the best estimators I've ever worked with. Even in my role, I couldn't get any traction with leadership. After that kind of ongoing pressure, the engineers finally caved and rolled with the 1 month estimate. The project took 3 months. Many engineers worked hard on that project, putting in a lot of hours. The project team was generally somber, as you can imagine.

StickyMind's Better Software, Sept 2008 issue has an article on estimating which included some interesting statistics. They compare software to construction, and software does not compare well. They claimed that only 29% of all software projects are successful.

Wow. Less than 1/3 of all software projects are "successful" - whatever that means. I don't like metrics like this since they're very grey. I've been on a few projects which were discontinued. In many cases I was wondering why the project even got off the ground, and had raised my concerns early on. I would call the discontinuation of such projects a "deferred success".

This is in contrast to the UK's plan to rename "failure" to "deferred success": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/education/4697461.stm

So, 12 years in, Duke Nuke'm calls it a stop. And then, only because they ran out of funding. I have a feeling we'll see something get released since they can't be that far from being able to release something. Or can they? :)

More Vista woes

So Vista has somehow decided that the Administrator (hidden account) password is no longer the one I set and disabled the account. I know this because it's the same one I use for all my systems, and it's in my password keeper, AND it's the one I set in the backup software I use, which is required to do scheduled backups.

I found this to help, for future use since that's not the top problem I'm chasing now.
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Administration/locked_out_of_admin.aspx

Microsoft Vista continues to be the worst OS ever

Last night, SWMBO's laptop started acting up. Unfortunately, it had been a while since it had been backed up. I backed it up immediately, unfortunately well aware of where this was heading.

Sure enough, on the next reboot, it started doing the same thing my last Vista machine did - Failed to start, wanted to run the Restore service. And once you do that, it'll start to boot for several seconds, then crash. If you pull the battery and hold the power switch for a few seconds, then try again, it'll actually bring a screen up before crashing.

F5 - Safe mode - crash.
F8 - pick anything - crash

I know exactly what HP will tell me - reinstall the image that came with it (and then SP1, and then every patch known to mankind, and every app I've installed and then configured... Ergg!!!).

Time to look on the other USB drives and find the latest image, and reinforce the backup message throughout the family since it's my free time that gets eaten when these things crash.

Good grief, do I ever hate Vista.

Today, I am a man

Today I hit 40.

I spent 90 minutes typing up some stuff. I reread it and no way it's getting put on a blog. LOL

Here are some excerpts, I hope you enjoy them.

• ...my incredible joys in life. And I have a wife who loves me dearly. Who's wrinkles and silvering hair I revel in (and she hates).
• I am incredibly fortunate to have beautiful children, both inside and out. Kids who are incredibly independant and will get what they want from the world by virtue of their pluck, their intelligence, and their unvarnished determination. I'll be there to help, to support, to cajole, to push, to hold, hug, and unconditionally love in every way I can. But, be assured, this doesn't mean I want things to be easy for them. The metal has to be tempered, but lovingly, shielded from the high heat that destroys a fine blade, but exposed to some pressure and some heat, pushed, bent, twisted. Shaped. Hardened to survive the blows but flexible to survive the shocks.
• When I was young, adults used to tell me that trials and tribulations made the man, tempered the steel. Now that I'm not as young, I see it differently. Like a piece of fine high carbon steel, some heat and pressure is needed to form, shape, and strengthen the metal - to increase one's mettle as it were. I like that turn of phrase. No, it's not intended as a pun.
  
  But add too much heat, and the metal becomes fragile. The analogy of metal doesn't work once you get to this point. I imagine a big snowball, packed tightly with fresh snow. Trials come in the form of a heat lamp - the sun is too benign -  melting and eroding away the soft, suppleness that makes that snowball resilient. Over time, some of the soft snow which doesn't melt away becomes brittle, hard. Soon all that's left is brittle ice, which crumbles when you push on it, unable to take any pressure.
  
• I also learned about Social Proof before I knew what it was called. You become what people expect of you, regardless of your internal bent.
  

Reading DVD movies... that was short-lived!

So it worked until I rebooted, then it went back to its original behaviour. The registry was still the same and no values had reverted. Some driver somewhere is unhappy.

Further searching has turned up a couple of leads of the same behaviour, but no real solutions (reinstall? Err, no thanks!) I'll keep digging, and may restore the PX file and see if that helps.

My laptop wouldn't recognize movie DVDs anymore

My laptop has progressively gotten worse and worse about recognizing movies. It would recognize some some of the time, and others not at all, frequently acting like there was no DVD in the drive.

These are original movie DVDs, and the ones that it struggled with are copy protected. As everyone knows, DRM is starting to become commonplace.

Resolution
My resolution was to download this file:
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip

And run "cdgone.reg" from it.

The "EditReg.reg" file changes Windows so when you double-click a *.reg file, it opens in Notepad rather than automatically merging (kinda scary "feature", there, Microsoft).

I also renamed c:\windows\system32\drivers\PXHelp20.sys to PXHelp20.sys.old since it seems that many sites referencing this file feel it's buggy.

Wa-Bam!, I can read movie DVDs again - no reboot even required!!

The copy-protected DVDs take a while to load (the drive grinds on 'em), but then they come up.

Notes
I had tried several other solutions, include removing UpperFilter and LowerFilter from this registry entry, but it didn't work.
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

I also tried Apple's solution of removing LowFilter and using their GEARs.... driver in the HighFilter, no joy.

I may have to reinstall some of my software if it won't read the drives any more, but the couple I've tried seem unaffected so far. It's early yet.

cdgone.reg (for reference in case it stops being hosted)
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]
"UpperFilters"=-
"LowerFilters"=-

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdr4_2K]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdralw2k]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdudf]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UdfReadr]

SW 13.2 makes the bike rock! But MPG dropped for some reason...

In science, they tell you never to change two variables at the same time so you can verify cause and effect.
During my 18K service on the K1200S, North County BMW updated my software to 13.1 to address a hesitation issue I'd been seeing when the bike was cold. Right after the service, my mpg dropped by a consistean 3mpg (almost 10%) or more. It's been consistently low since. Like, in the same range any other sport bike delivers (the K1300S has impressed magazines with it's high mpg considering the performance). Yuck!

So... was it something that was part of the 18K service (valves were checked but did not need adjusting I'm told), or was it the software load?

I got upgraded to 13.2, and wow is that nice. Power delivery is better, and it sure seems to run harder when asked.

With the reduced MPG, I've asked myself more than a few times if the new powerband just isn't begging to get used more, and it's me that's the problem. Over the last week, I've ruled that out since my work commute is pretty consistent what with all the traffic. I saw 34mpg on the way home yesterday from work, shockingly low considering I was going with the flow of traffic. Then I realized I had been in 5th since resetting the MPG. LOL

Before the 18K service, 39 was my low commuting, and 36 was my all-time low. And I had to work really hard to get down to 36. Enjoyably hard, actually.

The new mpg gives me an effective range of 140 miles between fillups (vs 170+), which is just too low. With the previous SW version, I had to work the bike hard to get down to 140 miles/tank. I'm filling up every 2 days now, instead of twice a week.

On the upside, the new software seems to have woken up the bike. I can't put my finger on it, but "better" is the best I can describe it - just not how. Just better!

The K1300S they loaned me for the day (2500 miles on it) would hit a certain speed from a rolling launch between 2 markers, and that was using the shift-assist WOT shifting feature (cool!).

With 13.2 loaded, my K1200S actually ran about 3-4mph faster (so, close enough to the same). Considering the new bike has "more power" than mine (8hp, 10 ft/lbs), that's impressive.

So, overall, I'm happy with the upgrade in most ways, but the lost 3mpg rankles. Guess I'll take 'er back in and see what they say. Bummer for them, I feel bad using their time chasing a tough problem like this.

Metzeler Z6 vs Pirelli Diablo Supersport

I'm a Metzeler Z6 kind guy. They give good mileage, have good traction, handle well, and recover from slides very predictably. A great, balanced tire.
However, Cycle Gear was selling Pirelli Diablo SuperSports for $199 for BOTH. A rear Z6 alone costs me that much, so I couldn't pass it up. Since Pirelli makes both tires, why not?!

NOTE: I am comparing worn Z6 behaviour to new SuperSport behaviour.

I've put about 1000-1200 miles on the Pirellis since mounting them.

The Supersport is more predictable when tracking in dry corners than the Z6. Also, the bike leans over a bit more predictably. I'm expecting to see about 3500 miles out of the rear, vs about 5000 miles from the Z6. I'd say confidence is higher in the SuperSport. To be expected, it's a sport tire vs a sport-touring tire.

In the wet, however, we see different behaviour. Note that I lived in Portland, Oregon for nearly 10 years and I'm a year-round rider. I rode in the wet a lot in Portland (months and months and months out of the year).

The SuperSports aren't as at-home in the wet as the Z6.

On the way home in the rain 2 nights ago, I broke the rear loose while accelerating from a stoplight. And I mean loose - the revs spun right up at about 40mph in 2nd at part throttle. Granted, something could have been on the roadway exacerbating it.

However, on the way home yesterday evening, I managed to break the rear end loose again, this time in an uphill sweeper at about 60mph. The bike demonstrated a wobble as it came back/broke loose/came back/broke loose again/came back, as I reined it in and under control. Not the smoothest return I've experienced, especially in the wet.

However, it's the first time I've slid on this bike, and it just broke through 21K miles today, so I can't say whether it's the tire or the bike. But, it does add a strong mark in favor of the Z6 in the wet, given that I've had three on the rear and plenty of wet-weather riding with 'em and have not slid before.

The Z6 is the clear winner in the wet.

So, I'll ride more gingerly in the wet on the SuperSports, since saving $140 is a poor substitute for throwing your bike down the road, but at $199 for the pair, I say buy a couple sets!

I'll post mileage on them when I wear them out.

Shortcut: http://tinyurl.com/DiabloSuperSport

And I didn't beat him silly...

On the way to work yesterday, on the bike of course, I was behind a silver SUV at the stoplight getting off the highway. They toodled along under the overpass to the Stop sign, obviously not in a hurry.

From there, I passed them between the Stop sign and where the lanes become one, pulling well ahead of them as I went over the hill, losing them from view.

Apparently this somehow had upset them greatly, because the next time I saw them, they just about hit me coming into the work parking lot, tires screeching as they braked and made the corner, then proceeded to tailgate *very* closely, and swung out twice in what I perceived to be an attempt to pass me between the entry and the garage (maybe 500 feet, tops - even on the bike I'd never think to pass someone there).

Now that's an angry person. And on camera where they worked too.  Clearly someone wasn't thinking very clearly.

I had performed a clean pass, I didn't cut them off, and they had to work their SUV very hard to catch up to me.

I swung into my parking spot, with the SUV still tightly attached to the tail of my bike, where they decided to go straight. As I did my 270 degree loop to park and watched them drive by then accelerate to well over the speed limit in the parking garage, I decided I needed to find out who this idiot was who had endangered my life, so I followed them into the parking garage at a more than reasonable distance, slowly since all those cars make me nervous on the bike.

When they parked near a corner of the garage, I passed by, and went to near the top of the ramp, turned around and stopped at least 10 parking spots away to ensure there was no altercation and waited. If they were coming out and at me, I'd drive away. I hate getting into fights anyways, and no way someone could sucker me into one at work.

The person studiously looked away as they got out of their car, hiding their face from me, shoulders hunched in what I took to be embarrassment. Apparently they were through their road-rage moment and reality was settling in as they realized the absolute stupidity of their actions. He got his bag out of the back seat, and started to walk towards the stairs/elevator, keeping his face away from me the whole time.

At that point, I clicked it into gear, causing them to look up. As I drove by slowly, I made sure to get a very good look at his face. Tall, trim, not quite lanky, bearded. Never seen him before at work.

If this hadn't been at work, this would have been a very, very different interaction (but still not physical).

In all my years of riding (I've racked up about 110K motorcycle miles in the last 7 years alone), this was an absolute first.

Unbelievable...

Rain, wind, more rain, and Christmas trees

Big rains in SoCal. My motorcycle was the only one in the parking garage, looking wet and lonely (but not bedraggled!).

People pulling up next to me at a light would look at me with various expressions on their faces. Concern or incredulity, accompanied with a subconscious shaking of the head, seem to be two common reactions.

Not that long ago, if you wanted to go somewhere, you walked or rode a horse. Being warm and dry was not generally an option.

I really enjoy riding my motorcycle. It allows me to experience the elements. On an Autumn evening, some areas are warm, but you ride into the dips and it gets crips, only to warm up again as the road rises.

My BMW has a temperature monitor and I'm amazed in the Spring that I can leave my house in 60 degree weather and see temperatures from 40 to 80 degrees on a 36 mile ride. It's awesome.

I revel in the weather changes, and how you experience them on a motorcycle.

So when it rains, I ride to enjoy the weather as much as to get where I'm going - sometimes more. Traction changes, visibility changes, all sorts of new challenges rise up. Some of them come in the form of drivers who can't drive in the wet as well, of course.

When I lived in Portland, Oregon I found that I was a much, much better dry-weather rider because of all the wet-weather riding I had done. Smoother in transitions, smoother on the throttle, braking.

The wind poses its own challenges, and can also be enjoyable to ride in, even when it's blowing sideways at 40mph with gusts up to 60-70mph. Keeping the rubber underneath you can become a challenge, as does staying in your lane.

Riding a motorcycle can be an adventure. But it sure is fun.

Swapped on a new front tire on the K1200S today

Finally. I’ve been trying to get to this all week and it was getting thinner than I liked. I bailed doing it over last weekend due to work and the exhaustion of a day closing at 4:30AM followed by another long day starting at 7AM.

I couldn’t find the energy to get to it Monday night after work either, so took it easy going to work the next 2 days. Truck’s in the shop getting an engine, and the Husky has a flat/toasted rear.

It went pretty well, took about an hour from start to finish as I puttered through the process. I didn’t want to dawdle, but I had to figure out how to use the Pit Bull stand, and how the front end came apart. I’ll need a tool for the axle nut next time. I used a bolt/nut combo this time, and while it worked, it was not optimal. :)

I need one of these:  http://motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/08-0397/

The front wheel is pretty grungy, I’ll have to clean that up better next time.

I’m getting pretty good with the NoMar, but after my first marathon event changing a tire, I’m still incredibly wary. If my first change had gone like either of my last two, I’d be loving the machine. Let’s just say it didn’t go so well.

Got totally lucky, the front tire balanced nearly dead on with the old weights. Whee!
Swapped on a set of Diablo Supersports I got from CycleGear for $199 (vs $199 just for the rear Z6). I’m liking the rear, it seems to track better than the Z6 in the corners. Look to see how the front does tomorrow.

We’ll see how they do on wear. I’m expecting about 2/3 the miles I see with the Z6. Hope I’m right or low!

Technorati Tags: K1200S,tire,Metzeler,Pirelli,NoMar

Cleveland Forest’s Skyline Gate

From ADVRider, language cleaned up a tad.

I know a lot of people don't usually ride that far and that stupid gate used to confuse the heck out of me too.
Here are some bullet points:

• Skyline is not like the other gates
• It is maintained by Riverside County
• It is supposed to remain locked at all times
• A locked Skyline gate does not mean the trail is closed
• You can obtain a key for a $100 refundable deposit
• Often people will leave the gate unlocked
• Even when the gate is closed it is sometimes unlocked
• Sometimes someone with a key will be at the gate and let you through
• Sometimes you get to the gate, it's locked, nobody has a key and you have to turn back
• There are gates at both the top and bottom of the trail
• The top gate is only locked if the trail is closed
• Skyline gate is about 4 miles from the 91 and about the same from the 15
• Skyline gate to Hell's Kitchen via Main Divide is the longest stretch of dirt in that section of the forest at about 40 miles
• Skyline gate is very well barricaded and very difficult to go around
• In a pinch, the pedestrian gate is passable if you are resourceful
• If your bike looks like mine you could always lay it on the ground and drag it under the gate
• If you ride to Skyline gate from either direction and don't have a key, be prepared to turn around and find a different way.

Here are some bonuses brought to you by others

History of the gate by RandyM - http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...postcount=1094
Telephone number for key info by boyfester - http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...&postcount=812
How to obtain a key by Geoffster - http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...postcount=1196
Some eye candy and potentially useful info by RAZR - http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...postcount=1137

Technorati Tags: Skyline Gate,Cleveland National Forest,offroad

Borrego, S2, Jamul ride with Todd

This started out as a group ride, with about 5 folks expressing interest. Then it moved to a Sunday. Sunday is football day here in San Diego, and most people are otherwise engaged on a Sunday!
Since I’m not much of a football fan, blowing off a Sunday game, while blasphemy to many, is probably something I do every week. :)
We still had about 4 folks interested, including several new riders, so it was with eager anticipation that I parked my lawn chair at the front of my driveway and plunked myself down in the sun with a book to wait for everyone to show up around 8:30 on Sunday morning.
I had just picked up a SPOT the day before, and was looking forward to using it. I have many, many miles on bikes, but my family still worries. This helped them keep an eye on me and know that they could still be contacted if needed, far far from cell service. I’m still learning to use it, but it is kinda cool.

The weather was a bit cooler than I had expected, but I figured my mesh jacket with liner would be fine, after all we were going into the desert, where it’s typically much warmer than at my house.
284 miles of fun, fun, fun!

After a bit, I could hear a non-Harley bike running up the road, and I knew they’d arrived. Todd turned the corner and pulled up while I waited expectantly. Instead, I found out it was me and him.
Oh darn. Not!! Todd’s great to ride with. He doesn’t get in over his head, rides his own ride, isn’t shy about passing slowpokes, and doesn’t whine. He’s definitely one of the more enjoyable riding partners I’ve had. If we weren’t going to be taking some newer riders on this spectacular ride, and enjoying that aspect of it, we’d be enjoying other aspects of this ride. #8^)
My camera somehow corrupted several of the files. Badly enough Windows barfed on ‘em when trying to get details from the JPGs. “Chkdsk <drive> /f” later and more of the files were in good shape, then I still had to rename several to non-JPG extensions soe explorer wouldn’t crash. I still lost about 8-10 pictures and maybe 1 video. That’s a first ever event.
From my house, we hit Old Julian. It’s a great road. Ashley’s boyfriend lives right at the apex of the 180-degree curve – apparently a lot of motorcyclists come to ask to use their phone when they biff it there.
From there, we ran through Santa Ysabel, cut across Wynola (very technical, no guardrails) and down Banner Grade. Yes, Banner Grade is that curvy. On Wynola, I stopped to watch a baby deer and his mother cross the road in front of me, with little fear. It’s a sad state when deer aren’t afraid of humans or cars, and one that keeps me ultra-alert when riding.


Next, we hooked a left at San Felipe road (Scissor’s Crossing), some nice sweepers, then past the police training station on the left, and more nice sweepers until the turnoff for Ranchita.
San Felipe is a decent road in a motorhome, but it’s still a cool road with very nice sweepers on a bike. And it sure isn’t slab!



Next, we ran through Ranchita. I nearly ran out of gas there once, incorrectly surmising a town out thataway would have a gas station. Nope!


From Ranchita, the road to Borrego Springs is spectacular. Great  views, great curves, great pavement. It’s far from medical help, so ride accordingly!!

Check out those forever views
 
See that dirt road snaking over the hills to the right of center? Guess what I want to ride next?
From the shadows, you can see it’s still early. :)


We filled up in Borrego (Cha-ching!!) since, while we had a map, plans change at a whim.
We found the strangest things on the side of the road out of Borrego Springs, on this straightaway.
Here are only a few of them pictured. There are mammoths and others, but those were among the files that got corrupted. Someone put a lot of work into them. We didn’t stop to get closer as it was deep sand, and streetbikes and deep sand don’t mix well.


Not much further, and a coyote crossed my path. Hmm. The animals seem to want to meet me today. No bueno!
I’d always wondered where the Borrego Springs road off of 78 went (we go to Ocotillo Wells a lot with the motorhome and dirt toyz). Today, we came in on that road, so I got to find out!
Back to Scissor’s Crossing, then left onto Great Southern Overland Stage Coach Road (S2). I love this road, but have only ridden it N/NW, and never in the other direction. There is at least one hairy downhill decreasing radius curve in that direction and it’s woken me up more than once. I found it on this ride, but it was an awesome uphill increasing radius this time. Amazing how the character of a road can change going the other way. :)
By now, we decided the weather was as good as it was going to get. It was in the 50s and 60s (low of 42 during the day, cooler than at my house). Thank goodness for grip heaters!!
Here’s the last animal-crossing of the day. Todd had never seen one, and was understandably a little put off at first. It’s a big spider. I couldn’t get it to climb into my hand, so we scooted it off the road. They’re a little scrawnier in SoCal than in the Sonora Desert in S. AZ where I grew up.

Check out the side of the cool Pinzgauer. I didn’t realize they were air cooled until speaking with this owner.

We stopped at Agua Caliente hot springs store for some sustenance. Like all successful hot springs I’ve visited, it had an airport with planes present.
We drove through the park. If I wanted some peace and quiet away from it all for a week or so, with the idea of having very little to do (excluding awesome offroading), I’d go there.
They even have a store!

My rear tire had seen better days. Chicken strips? Err, no. No, I don’t think so…
Compared to later in the day, it’s looking pretty good. I hadn’t planned on using the center so much? ;-)
Good thing I had a new one waiting at home!!!

While they’re both great-looking bikes, the K-R has an aura of significant badness. Especially when blacked out, which BMW missed the boat on bigtime. Fortunately, Todd knows how to make a bike look mean and blacked out all the components BMW designers missed out on (and repainted the plastic black too).
Refreshed and sustained by beef jerky, a bathroom break, and a drink, we rode on.
After this, we hit whoops in the roadway. Man, those were fun at speed.
Not too far down the road, you’ll pass a Border Patrol checkpoint, a fixture for the past 3 years. Don’t get me started on whether it’s a good use of our tax dollars or not.
After that, there’s a good open section. Somewhere along there, my bike threw up a rock which Todd’s visor caught. Ouch!
I do NOT understand folks who ride with an open face helmet or no face shield. More power to ‘em for riding at all, but I’ll take the protective gear, thankee!!
About 10 minutes after we stopped for lunch at a Subway off I-8, we had a LEO drive by and check out the bikes. He didn’t get out of his vehicle, nor did he hang around. Some LEOs ride and are very cool, others have some story in their past that makes ‘em non-fans. A big part of my family is in law enforcement, so I have a closer view than many. After that, we filled up again.
I had gotten my 18K service done earlier and they had updated the software. I was nervous about them doing that, especially since you can’t go backwards. While the behaviour I had raised was solved, 3 new problems had surfaced. My fears were confirmed. One of the three was that I was realizing some of the worst mpg ever since buying the bike new. I had seen 34mpg on the last stretch, pathetic! I was expecting maybe 37, 36 at the worst - but 34? My K-S usually pulls 1-3mpg better than Todd’s K-R (gearing, etc.), this time my MPG was lower than his.
More lost pictures, but this part of the ride was quite enjoyable. We’d gone from the desert to really nice rocky terrain with good greenery.
This train bridge was quite impressive, especially considering it had been around a while from the rust stains at its base.

From the air. The train tracks really do wend all over down there when viewed through Google Maps, probably due to the terrain, but also probably due to towns no longer there.

We took the detour to Tecate. Turns out it’s almost entirely on the Mexico side of the border

94 around there starts to get very enjoyable. We got held up by no less than 7 motorhomes. Only one took advantage of the slow-vehicle turnoff. Thanks man!! For the rest of ‘em, being a motorhome owner myself, as many cars as you had stacked up, ya’ll slayed me.
On the available first passing zone, I shifted down and put the ponies to work, getting around all of them in one pass. This would be an example of using the center of the rear tire more than I had expected! LOL
The cage in front of me was probably most unhappy. As I went by, he signaled, but didn’t pull out at all.
On this section, my bike managed to pull 42mpg, which is much more average for it. Real Jekyll and Hyde thing going here… Sometimes it’s right on the money, other times, it’s way low.
We rode around the lake, then got lost. I need a GPS. By then we’d had quite a day, so we called it quits and took 125 north until we parted ways, him for his house, me for mine. No, we didn’t hit Jamul this time.
Looking at the map, I see we missed what appears to be some really good stretches (from lower left to Jamul, etc.). Next time!
I hadn’t had that much fun on a ride in a long time. The bike worked great, except for the mpg thing, the weather was a tad chilly, but the scenery was spectacular and the road less travelled was by far and above the best road to take.
Thanks for coming on the ride, Todd!!

A small step forward...

My goodness, all those EricDeslauriers and Deslauriers blogs with no content.
Back when the internet was created, maybe I should have copyrighted my name... :-)
More to come!