Epic (for me) trip on the KZ1100

Hey all, dont post much here, usually just read Ive got 2 KZs, a 77 KZ650 B1 and the one im taking on this trip my 82 KZ1100 with all the Vetter goodies.



Whats so epic about the trip? Well it will be me and Tina, so 2 up, 6000-8000 miles and 6-8 weeks on the road. We have very few set plans or time frames other than "hey that looks cool..............lets go there" The rough idea is to camp for 2-4 days, then motel...........repeat. Even though the bike has a full Vetter compliment.......its not enough space for the 2 of us. When I first bought the 1100 it had a trailer hitch on it that I quickly removed. After much thought..........I put it back on and got a small tag along trailer.

Here it is on a test run.



Though I have to take her a little higher in the RPMs to get the same acceleration, and allow more room for braking...........she handles it with ease.

Now I know many will say........"a trailer? WTF?........take your car!" And thats fine, its not for everyone, Ill not try to convince you otherwise.

Heres a short vid of what it looks like from the trailer.



Tina and I wont be leaving until the end of the month sometime (remember that "no plans" thing?) But we are going on a test camp to Tybee Island GA next week. Ill start posting pics and maybe some vids then.

Looks like she pulls it just fine, you can pack a lot of comfort into that trailer, have fun !

Thanks Blue, she does pull fine. I was scared shitless at first but after 15 minutes or so I got used to the differences and settled down. The most noticeable difference is when maneuvering slowly, like in a parking lot.

Looks like from your avatar you may do some traveling too?

We travel but trailer the bikes and set up camp somewhere nice, next is West Yellowstone , still snowing up there now but getting warmer.
6,000- 8,000 that's awesome lots to see out there, you may want to stay South for starters and let the North warm up and dry out a spell.
It seems like we are getting 2 good warm/ sunny days and 5 wet /cloudy ones per week right now in the Midwest.
You are doing it right by having no set plans, it makes for a much more enjoyable trip.

Wow that looks nice . Be sure and get lots of pics .

Ok, we finally took our test run. Im glad we did as we learned a lot of things.

I was working on the ride report but trashed it. Way to long, nobody wants to read a book and if I did it that way for the actual trip it would be longer than War and Peace So here goes a much shorter version.

Test Trip Day 1

The plan had been to go to Tybee Island. Found out last minute they are having some sort of festival so they jacked up the camping spot price and wanted 3 nights minimum.........no thanks. :iconraspberry: Scrambled last minute and found a place on Jekyll Island, about 50 miles further away. It was getting late in the morning, things were already not going as I thought......I was getting a little stressed. I ended up snapping at Tina after she took this pic.




Less than 10 miles from the house I pulled over. Told Tina that my stress was not her doing and I was an A hole for taking it out on her, gave her a smooch and a hug, told her I was sorry and said lets start this trip again on a positive note. Judging by her smile I think she forgave me



First visit was in Warthen GA. A small log jail built in 1783.





It was used to hold former Vice President Aaron Burr in 1807 as he was being hauled off to Virginia to stand trial for treason.

Backroads GA is ate up with a bunch of small towns, many having gas stations. We cruised through a small town (cant remember the name) and as I passed the gas station I glanced at my fuel gauge. Right at half a tank........plenty......or so I thought. Mile after mile passed and I started to get low. Then Id see a sign that said so and so town 10 miles, but then the gps would have me turn again. It wasnt long before.......pluttt pluttt pluttt bugggggggg.......switched to reserve and she fires back up. We pulled into the first station we came to in Vidalia GA. 4.8 gallons, capacity is around 5 gallons
Stopped for a bite to eat.



Vidalia is known in the south for their onions, very sweet, some eat them like an apple So we stopped at the museum. Yup, they have an onion museum, an onion committee and an onion business council. These people take their onions seriously

Onward we go. The further south we go the hotter its getting. Im not used to wearing all the riding gear in the heat but the new Olympia Air Glide jacket and pants we got are doing better than expected. I may do a gear review later.

More backroads riding and we come to another small town......Santa Claus GA. Mr. Greene founded the town in hopes of bringing tourists to the area.............and his pecan farm.



Every street had a Christmas theme, December Dr, Reindeer Rd, Candy Cane Ln. They even had Santas mailbox.





Putting through town is when the trouble started. Bike instantly dies, wont restart, no dash lights, nothing. After some troubleshooting I found 2 blown fuses. We happen to break down in front of a Dollar Store........no fuses. I walk in the opposite direction to a convenience store. They had a pack of assorted fuses. Replace the blown ones and she fires right up. Troubleshooting to find the cause of the blown fuses will have to wait..........Off we go.

Had to stop and take a look at this dude. You can see in the pic Tina is trying to see what hes pointing at



More riding and we finally reach the campground on Jekyll Island.







So, 246 miles, 5 hours and 23 minutes of actual riding time, 9 hours on the road. We were hot, fatigued and tired. I unhooked the trailer and we went into town to get a 6 pack Came back and I set up camp.

Heres a video I made of the first day. Im not a good editor, only my second attempt of trying to make something. I ended up leaving a lot of it out.......but you get the idea



Ill do day 2 later, we saw a lot fewer things and it was hotter.....longer and we had a LOT more issues.

Stay tuned

Good job.
Steve

Thanks for the updates. Travel with an old vehicle can be quite an adventure.

Finally getting around to the second day of our test run. This ride report stuff takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

Test Trip Day 2

Before heading to bed the night before I gathered up our trash in a grocery bag. Tied it up and put it in the fire ring. We didnt have a fire, it just seemed like a good place to put it until I could put it in a trash bin the next day. About 1 o'clock in the morning I heard a lot of noise coming from in front of our tent. Zipped it open enough to look out into the moonlit night. There was a fox and 2 raccoons just tearing the trash up like there was no tomorrow. Wish I would have taken some pics. Lesson learned, trash either goes in a bin or locked up in the trailer before bed.

Maybe it was an omen of how things would go that day but during the night the air mattress pretty much deflated which left me with a sore back. So I got up to make some coffee and wait for Tina to get up. When she did some pretty brave squirrels started gathering close to us, even closer when Tina started throwing them peanuts and crackers. I would say these squirrels have the campers pretty well trained.