Went down and back to Alabama to get the part for the FJR. As I was riding down from Nashville, I calculated
it's been 173 days from when the bike was diagnosed with an altitude sickness problem until the remedying part was
made available by Yamaha. Nonetheless, hopefully the new ECU (basically the bike's computer or “brain”) will
solve the problem and I'll be free to romp in elevations. I'm rather partial to mountains so this is a very
good thing!
I left Nashville at 7am blasting down I-65 heading for the dealership where I purchased the FJR, D&H Cycle in
Cullman, AL. I arrived when they opened their doors at 9am. The install of the new ECU took all of
19 minutes:
I was on the road after visiting with all the members of the family at the rural, family-owned dealership. While
riding back north on I-65, I noticed I felt exceptionally hot, like I had on heated gear or something, even though
the temperature was in the low 70s.
I stopped at a gas station to refuel – both the FJR and myself; I'm not sure which one consumed more fluids. My
next stop was to take this photo:
It's while I was taking this photo that I realized there was a problem: I was FREEZING. The thought even
crossed my mind to put on my heated gear!
Bubba would probably say “That ain't right, sistah!”.
Thankfully, at that time, I was less than thirty minutes from my Dad's home in Nashville.
By late afternoon, I was running triple digits.... yup, triple digits.... um, well, not the kind involving wheels
in motion though:
Once I regain 98.6 and my strength, I'll be heading for Washington (state,
not DC) with a pit-stop in Arizona. Yes, I just got back from New England, then Alabama, I'm currently in
TN, and I'm heading to the Pacific Northwest via Arizona. Here's an excerpt from a conversation I had with
a friend about my plans while I was still in New Hampshire this past weekend:
MK: “New Hampshire to Tennessee to Alabama to Washington by way of Arizona... typical AGirl routing..... If I
had a million chances I'm sure I would never guess why you're going to Washington”
me: I'm going to WA to shake someone's hand and get a National Park Passport Stamp
MK: “A stamp... I thought you had all those?
me: I certified the V-Strom for the Master Traveler Gold when I got the Alaska stamp this past
summer. The FJR only needs the state of Washington to be certified for the Silver, which
has been prohibited with it's altitude issues. If I can get the stamp, I will have met the
requirements for the Silver and the Gold and done so independently on each bike within the same
year. [NOTE: Silver= in one year, visit 50 National Parks in 25 different states, 4 of which
are the cornered states of ME, FL, CA, and WA. The Gold includes the state of AK. For full
details, click: THIS)
MK: “I'll certify you as nuts, how's that missy.... so, who's owns the hand in Washington anyway?”
me: I don't really know, some guy named “Warchild”, he's on the FJR forum and offered to help me with the FJR's ECU part”
MK: “I thought you just said you're going to Alabama to get the part?”
me: Indeed, I am going to 'Bama. I'm still going to Washington so I can personally thank the man for his extremely
kind offer. Since I'll have to hit altitude to get to him, I'll be able to throughly test the new part
too. Plus, tf there are any problems with the part, I guess you could say I'll be in good hands.
MK: “Stamp. Altitude. War FJR guy...got it. Well, I look forward to reading your Journey Report
about this adventure”
So, MK and other Journey Report fans, look for an “AGirl goes to WARchild” report very soon. (Very, VERY
soon... I suck at being sick!
)
Thanks again for all the support.
If you wish to receive direct emails from me whenever a new Journey Report has been posted than simply click:
