The Spark Of "Adventure" - The First BMW
One could say motorcycling was a mid-life crisis if you don’t expect to live long and you start after you’re 40 years old. Luckily we did this well before all of that, but this was the first bike purchased new and with all the options, only to also be “farkled out” for the eventual Iron Butt 50CC attempt (and success) in 2010.
For the time being, in a prior relationship, one of us was given the option to NOT have two motorcycles (the Triumph TT600 and this one) and also have a car (a 2003 Mini Cooper S), so we gave up the car and kept two bikes. For a few years, it was the main commuting vehicle into Washington, DC as well as the “vacation” bike for trips to Boston for Baseball games.
Preceding the Iron Butt 50CC, at the time, there was a requirement to complete a Saddle Sore 1000, which was 1000 miles in 24 hours, which meant for us, a trip circumnavigating around the outside of Pennsylvania in early 2010. This was a test for the additional electronics, bags and other add-ons for the bike that were to be used a few months later for the attempt from Asbury Park, NJ to San Francisco, CA, or what was termed the “From ‘The Boss’ to ‘The Dead’ Tour”, as the departure point was in front of The Stone Pony where Bruce Springsteen got his start, and ended in Haight-Ashbury where The Grateful Dead started in the 1960s.