I always wanted a BMW. Don't know why I never did get one. I had almost died T-boning a car back in' 88.I survived with very little injury.
Also in I wouldn't ride for anything today but to save my life because of all these texting drivers and illegal immigrants without without drivers licenses and insurance that don't know how to drive as well as all these cupcakes who don't know how to drive either and don't know what courtesy is. Hit and runs or so normal to hear about anymore.
Also in Florida, we call this God's waiting room because of all the retirees down here. They are responsible for many accidents.
Studies showed seniors between 70 and 74 are the higher risks of fatal crashes and even higher after 85.
Driving Performance in Older Adults: Current Measures, Findings, and Implications for Roadway Safety
I first became aware of the boxers when I was at the Daytona 200 (IIRC) when I was a kid. Two BMW’s ended up on the podium. Skip forward to ~2001, my two son’s and I climbed Mt. Bora, the tallest mountain in Idaho. The next day, we over slept our free breakfast in Sun Valley, Idaho. We were walking around looking for a suitable restaurant to eat breakfast. I saw tow BMW’s. One was a R1150 GS, the other a R1150 GS Adventure. BMW had ruined the BMW airheads that I fell in love with as a kid. I was immediately sucked into the bikes, trying to figure out the design, and why they looked like they did. Slowly I began to see the design, and the purpose of the design.
For the next five years, I would stop into the BMW dealership in Boise, just gauking at them. I got to know the principle of the shop and we had many talks over the years. He went to the Air Force Academy, and was later one of the lead designers of the F117 engines. When the 2007 GSA’s hit the showroom. I ended up buying Gretchen. Over the next few years I learned several things while traveling all over the left side off the country.
1. Everyone in a cage is trying to kill you if you are on a bike
2. Everyone on a bike is invisible, not able to even be seen by the idiots in the cages.
3. See number 1 above.
Having Gretchen helped heal the pain of losing my wife to drugs and addiction, and all the pain and suffering she brought to those around us, everyone in our immediate and extended sphere, including the kids.
Well crap.. what was the point to all this??
The only two or three near death experiences I had on Gretchen,
1. An 82 year old man ran me off the dirt road I was on out in a desert in north east Oregon, left me for dead after taking pictures of my lifeless body laying there on my back when I regained consciousness, looking up at the sky above me.
2. A teenager (I think) who could not see above the steering wheel, came up on behind me on the four lane road I was on. Just before he hit me, I swerved to the right, into the parking lot of the DMV, having to lay my big girl down.
3. A drug crazed tattoed psychopath got about 12 inches off of my rear wheel while I was riding on the interstate late at night. Gradually, I began slowing down, and pulled over to the emergency lane on the side of the interstate, finally stopping. Got off Gretchen, facing the two idiots in the Camaro, I began to reach into my chest pocket on my Aerostich Roadcrafter, as to pull out my .45 S&W. The passenger started freaked out, making the asshat driver get out of there, before they both might suffer from acute high speed lead poisoning… yea.. drastic measures sometimes are needed to change the minds of idiots. Had they stayed, I could have taken pictures of them with the Motorola Droid that I was reaching for in my Roadcrafter pocket. (the .45 was at home).
