My Bullet, loaded this morning at the hotel in Tecate. There’s a motorcycle under there somewhere.
We had a glorious ride today, from Tecate along the Ruta del Vino to Ensenada, and from there down the Transpeninsular Highway to San Quintin, which is where we are spending the night. The weather has been perfect. The Bullet, no so much so earlier, but I think we’ve got it wired now. More on that in a bit.
Joe and I swapped bikes today, so I was on the Bullet and he was on the 650 Interceptor. He’s in love with that 650, and it’s easy to see why. The 650 is a home run for Enfield, I think. Like me, Gresh is wanting to buy one, too. But I’m finding I really love the Bullet as well. Yeah, it was missing a bit, but like I said, I think we found and fixed the problem. You know, it’s not an adventure until something goes wrong, and then a big part of the fun is figuring out what to do about it. I’ll get to that shortly.
The photo ops along the Ruta del Vino were awesome, and we took advantage of them…
The Royal Enfield 500cc Bullet on Mexico Highway 3.Uncle Joe hogging the Interceptor on the Ruta del Vino.Dos Amigos reflected in an Enfield engine case.
Another cool thing….with all the rain we’ve had this winter, I’ve never seen Baja so green. As we rode through the old wine country south of Ensenada, the green mountainsides were blanketed with bright orange wildflowers. It really was quite a sight. I didn’t get any photos of that, but I will on the return leg of this trip.
So, about that Bullet missing deal. The bike only did it when decelerating and then accelerating, and it felt to me that it might be a clogged injector. It doesn’t take much to mess with a fuel injector. Gerry Edwards, my good buddy at Brown BMW, used to work on my RX3 and he’d always dose it with Lucas injector cleaner. Gerry thinks the stuff is great, so Gresh and I found a Mexican AutoZone store in Ensenada and I bought some. We put a little bit in and it didn’t really make a difference (if anything, it felt like the Bullet was missing more). As we continued to ride south, I thought about what it could be and concluded it might be related to a spark plug. We stopped at a Pemex station and pulled the plug. What happened next was interesting. The plug body looked like it had been arcing, but even more interesting was the way the sparkplug cap literally fell off the lead to it. When we looked inside the cap, the screw that turns its way into the lead was covered with green corrosion. Joe got a wire brush and cleaned the connector well, we put it back on, and the bike is running way better. We’ll know for sure tomorrow when we pile on the miles to Guerrero Negro, but I think we’ve got it. I felt a noticeable improvement as soon as we put it back together.
Pulling the Bullet plug. The Bullet actually has a pretty nice tool kit.The spark plug cap. The little green thing is the screw that screws into the spark plug wire. It had corroded. We’re pretty sure this is what was causing the missing, and we’re pretty sure we’ve got it fixed.
You know, you’d think that I’d not like a bike that’s missing, but I am loving that Bullet. I love the vintageness (if that’s a word) of it, and I’m enjoying racking up the miles on a big single. It’s cool. It’s kind of a Lawrence of Arabia feeling, floating along at a steady 65 mph and listening to (and feeling) that big thumper thumping away. I can’t really describe it, but I’ll think about the right words some more and give it another go in tomorrow’s blog. I like it. A lot.
I’m happy to report that the Old Mill Hotel in San Quintin is going strong, and they’ve opened a new restaurant (the Eucalipto). We had a couple of beers after the bikes were put away (Lucia took good care of us), and then it was on to a fabulous dinner (Gresh bought!).
Lucy, the lovely young lady who brought us beer and dinner tonight. Life is good.You have to wonder: What is she thinking?Seared tuna, as served by the Eucalipto. Like I said, life is good!Uncle Joe Gresh, wiring analyst extraordinaire!The 650 Interceptor, covered for its Baja jaunt by our favorite Mexico insurers, BajaBound!
Tomorrow, we’re headed through the Valle de los Cirios, and then Guerrero Negro. Stay tuned, folks. Good things are happening.
We had an easy run down the 15 freeway today, then it was the 805, then California’s magnificent SR 94 to a quick turn on the 188, and wow, Mexico!
Rolling up to the Mexican border in Tecate on a Royal Enfield 650. Wow!…and, we’re there!
Joe and I processed through Mexican Immigration (we were the only ones there), and then it was a quick right to that fabulous restaurant I told you about a couple of weeks ago…the Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos. It was an early dinner for us (we hadn’t had lunch) and it was fabulous. We both ordered flautas and Joe grabbed a photo of my good friend Alicia with me…
Joe G, astounded by my flautas. We each had the same thing. The total bill was about $12. Incredible. I couldn’t finish mine.Alicia, the proprietor. We’re having breakfast there tomorrow before we continue our trip south.
After that, it was a quick putt around town and we switched bikes. I rode the 650 INT today and Joe was on the 500 Bullet. Joe said he thought the Bullet was running rough. I hadn’t picked up on that when I rode it yesterday, so I wanted to see if it felt funky to me. I didn’t have any issues with the bike, but I wasn’t riding it at high speed all day like Joe was. I’ll get my chance tomorrow for some extended high speed miles as we continue to roll south. Sometimes these old big single cylinder bikes are easy to stall (I stalled it once or twice in town), especially thumping around in traffic when you’re trying to see the stop signs. I think it’s fine. There’s no question that the 650 is a much more refined bike than the Bullet, but I’m a happy camper with either one.
We stopped near a photo of the Tecate cerveza brewery and hung out downtown for a bit. It’s cold here, but not nearly as cold as it was a few weeks ago when I did the Janus Baja run.
Tecate, Mexico. On Royal Enfields. Good times.Near the Tecate town square. I wasn’t sure we could park there, so I asked a Mexican police officer and he told me we were good.Uncle Joe, delighted to grab some seat time on the 650.
As walked around town, I saw a hot dog delivery dude (hey, I can’t make this up) on an Italika 150 and we had a good conversation. He didn’t speak English, but Joe G speaks a little Spanish. Joe’s Spanish wasn’t cutting the mustard, though (pardon the Oscar Meyer analogy), because our new friend called his girlfriend (who speaks English) and we had an interesting four-way conversation. It was fun.
Riding, the universal language.
I was impressed as hell with the 650, but truth be told, I was even more impressed with the Bullet’s performance. Joe took the lead on the 15 because he knew the roads to the 94. That little Bullet is fast…he was cruising at 70 pretty consistently all the way down and there were a few times when he was touching an indicated 80. And the 650…wow! It’s smooth, fast, comfortable, and it handles very well. I’ll tell you more about the performance of both bikes as the trip progresses. I’ll be on the Bullet tomorrow and Joe’s riding the 650. More to follow, folks.
Joe Gresh arrived here at ExNotes Central late last night (after driving 850 miles in a single day), and it was good to see old Arjiu again (that’s Joe’s Chinese name, I’m Dajiu, and you can read all about how we picked up those names in Riding China).
We’re going to be on the road as you read this, and you can follow our adventure right here on the ExNotes blog. If you missed the first few preparatory Enfield posts, here they are:
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Yours truly in my R Heroes workshirt with the Baja Bullet!
Things are coming together. My good buddy Victor delivered the 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet this afternoon (hereafter to be referred to as the Baja Bullet), and it’s yet another wow-this-is-an-incredible motorcycle. Jet black, pinstriped, aluminum engine, electric start, fuel injection, and a looooong-stroke 500 single. That combination offers a riding experience that is uniquely satisfying, and it does so in an age when most motorcycles feel and run like a Cuisinart (not that there’s anything wrong with Cuisinarts, but you get the idea). Nope, this is a motorcycle. You know it as soon as you see it, but just in case you don’t pick up on the magic, you’ll know it for sure when the hammer drops and the Bullet comes alive . You can literally feel every piston stroke going down the road, and that’s a good thing. It’s a machine, a real motorcycle, and it feels like one.
Topping off at the local gasolina store…Imagine that…a motorcycle with a motor you can see!This is really, really cool…a beautiful motorcycle bound for Baja. Jet black paint, silver pinstripes, polished aluminum. What a life!
Like I said, things are coming together. I’ve got my BajaBound insurance (wow, those guys make it easy). Gresh texted me a couple of hours ago as he blew past Quartzite, which means he’ll probably be here in another 2 or 3 hours. I was worried about who would ride which bike, but truth be told, I’m going to be a happy camper on either of these magnificent motorcycles. Joe and I will be trading off bikes regularly, and you’ll get both our impressions. Mine are overwhelmingly positive so far.
I’m 18 again. I’m a little heavier and I have a lot less hair than I did when I was 18, but trust me on this…I’m 18 today. I feel very British, which is odd, considering that the bikes are made in India, we’re in America, and we’re going to be riding in Mexico. Globalization, I guess. I sure am glad the Royal Enfield folks in India kept the Royal Enfield marque alive, not only in name and logo, but with that awesome Britbike feel.
More to come, folks. Much more. And hey, sign up for our email updates. You just might win one of our moto adventure books. In the meantime, if you want to get a jump start on what it’s like riding in Baja, check out our Baja page!
Gresh left New Mexico headed for Los Angeles early this morning. What’s that white stuff?
Imagine you’re an old fart like Gresh and suddenly you could be again 18 years old again. That’s kind of what happened to me just a short while ago. Now, old Joe Gresh, he’s inbound from the Sacramento Mountains (don’t let the name fool you) in New Mexico, the Tinfiny Ranch, headed here. The guy wanted to make the drive in one day in order to be staged for our run into Baja tomorrow. Hey, that’s okay. It’s going to be warmer where we’re going.
Anyway, back to that 18-years-old-thing again. That’s what I want to be. 18 years old. And while I’m dreaming, throw in a new 1966 650cc, made-in-England, Triumph Bonneville, but let’s add electric start, six speeds, disc brakes, and a flawless finish. That’s my dream.
Only it’s not a dream. That’s where I am right now.
The bike is a new Royal Enfield Interceptor. It’s a 650. The styling is perfect, right down to the big tach and speedo that almost say “Smiths” (if I have to explain that, you wouldn’t understand). It’s made in India instead of England (hey, the current Triumph Bonnevilles are made in Thailand). My take? This new motorcycle has out-Triumphed Triumph in being more faithful to the original layout, displacement, and feel of the ’66 Bonneville I’ve lusted after for years. But with lots more refinement.
A brand new Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor in my driveway. It’s my ride for the next 10 days or so.For my good buddy Orlando: See, it’s orange…the fastest color!You can almost see where it says Smiths. This, folks, is what motorcycle instruments should look like!
Want to read another strong statement? On my 25-mile ride home from So Cal Moto in Brea, where I picked up the Royal Enfield, I decided I’m going to buy one. Oh, I’ll find some nits to pick over the next 2000 BajaBound miles and I’ll share them with you here, but this bike answers the mail. And the price? Well, a new Triumph Bonneville cost $1320 in 1966. I know, because my Dad bought one. A new Royal Enfield is $5799, I think. If you take that 1966 $1320 figure and adjust it for inflation to 2019, it comes out to $10,298. Buy a new Enfield 650 and you’ve already saved $4500. That’s the argument I’m going to use with She Who Must Be Obeyed. I think it will work, too.
I’m going to break our rule and post more than one blog today. We are living in exciting times, my friends, and I can’t wait to share the excitement with you. The 500cc Bullet is about 45 minutes out (it’s being delivered from the RE dealer in Glendale) and I’ll post an update about that later today, too!
I can’t wait to get on the road tomorrow.
Stay tuned, and hey, sign up for our automatic email blog updates!
The new Royal Enfield 650cc twin. We’ll be riding this and a 500cc Bullet single in Baja!
Ever wonder what Royal Enfield motorcycles are like? I mean, really like? You know, on a real adventure ride?
Joe and I are headed south tomorrow morning, and we’re riding (drum roll please) Royal Enfield motorcycles. Not just any Royal Enfields, either, but factory bikes of a most interesting flavor…the exciting new 650 Interceptor twin (the actual bike you see above) and a 500cc Bullet single. We’re picking up both bikes today, and wow, are we ever pumped!
This is going to be extremely interesting…it’s one of the very first long distance trips on the new 650, it’s the first time it will be in Baja, and we’re excited about all of it. You’ll get our unvarnished impressions of how the bikes perform, how they compare to each other, and how they compare to the other bikes we’ve ridden.
These are exciting times, folks. The market is changing dramatically with real bikes at real prices (not the bloated, heavy, monstrous, and expensive behemoths most of the manufacturers have been shoving at us for the last 20 or 30 years). You know, I’ve been wanting a classic English vertical 650 twin for decades, and as a guy who rode singles all over China, Colombia, Mexico, and the US, I’m doubly excited about the Enfield 500cc single. This is a dream come true and we’d like you to read about it and enjoy the experience, too. Joe and I will see the whales, enjoy the fish tacos and other amazing Baja cuisine, and ride the best roads in the most exciting place in the world: Baja!
You can bet we’ll be riding with our BajaBound insurance, wearing our RHeroes workshirts and doing the things guys do on trips like this. And more likely than not you’ll be reading more about this ride in Motorcycle Classics, RoadRUNNER, ADVMoto, and Motorcycle.com magazines (Gresh and I have had stories in all these publications). In the meantime, you’ll be able to follow the adventure in real time right here!
We’ll be posting from Baja every day, with great photos and great stories, so stay tuned! And hey, while you’re here, why not sign up for our blog update notifications? Just add your email address to the widget you see on this page, and you’ll be eligible for our quarterly adventure motorcycle book giveaway!
So, good buddy Marty and I completed the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally and we were in Calgary. That didn’t mean the riding was over, though. We would stay two days in Calgary, and then plot our own course home to California. That part of the ride was great, too. This blog focuses on our two days in Calgary. Much as I like riding, after riding from Mexico to Canada, it was good to be off the bike for a couple of days!
Before diving into our time in Calgary, you might want to catch up on the ride. Here are the first six installments of the 2005 Three Flags Classic…
Calgary was fun. It’s a large and modern city, and we had a good time walking around and taking pictures. About the only riding we did in Calgary was finding a motorcycle shop and getting a new rear tire for the Triumph (you might remember that I patched it). Only one shop had the tire I needed, they knew I needed it, and they soaked me pretty good. It cost $300!
Some of the sculptures along Stephens Street in downtown Calgary, as seen through the Sigma 17-35 lens. I’d heard these were supposed to cut down on the wind noise between the buildings.Interesting graffiti. Classier than the stuff you see around LA.An interesting sculpture in downtown Calgary. It reminded me of one of the guys who rode with us on the rally.I couldn’t resist this shot.An underfed Canadian horse?A chess set in a Calgary store window.Looking up in Calgary.A steam engine in downtown Calgary. I had a new super wide angle 17-35 Sigma lens. It was about a third the price of the comparable Nikon lens and it did a good job.
We spent two nights in Calgary, and we went to the Three Flags Classic banquet in our hotel. About a thousand people attended. I won a $100 Aerostitch gift certificate. It was great. Then they announced how many people rode each different brand of motorcycle. There were lots of Harley, BMW, and Honda riders. There were a few Suzuki and Yamaha riders. But there was only one Triumph rider, and that was me.
We had fun in Calgary. Like I said above, it felt good to be off the bikes for a bit. We spent time just sitting around in the hotel drinking coffee, we talked about many different things, and we solved most of the world’s problems. Then it was back on the bikes for the run west across Canada, with a left turn to head back into the US as we neared the Pacific. That’s coming up, folks, so stay tuned!
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People reload ammunition for different reasons. It used to be you could save money by reloading, and I suppose for the more exotic cartridges (any Weatherby ammo, the big elephant rounds like .458 Win Mag, the .416 Rigby, etc.) that’s still the case. It’s not the case for the more common rounds like 9mm, .45 ACP, and .223 Remington; bulk ammo for those is so inexpensive you’d be hard pressed to reload for as little as that ammo costs. Sometimes people reload because factory ammo is no longer available or it’s very tough to find. But most of us reload for accuracy. We can experiment with different combinations of components and tailor a combo to a particular firearm to find the sweet spot…that combination of components that provides the tightest groups. I’m in that category; it’s why I reload.
When I’m testing for accuracy and I get a tight group, I always wonder: Is it because of the combination of components, or is it just a random event? Usually, if the group size is repeatable, we conclude that it is the component combination, and not just a random good group that results from all the planets coming into alignment. But is there a better way? You know, one that shows with more certainty that it’s the component combination, and not just a fluke?
This article is a bit different. It’s not just a story about a gun or about reloading ammunition. It includes those things, but it’s more. This story is about applying the Taguchi design of experiments technique to .45 ACP load development for ammo to be used in a Smith and Wesson Model 25 revolver (the one you see in the photo above).
I’m guessing you probably never heard of Taguchi. That’s okay; most folks have not. Taguchi testing is a statistical design of experiments approach that allows evaluating the impact of several variables simultaneously while minimizing sample size. The technique is often used in engineering development activities, and I used it regularly when I was in the aerospace world. The technique was pioneered by Genichi Taguchi in Japan after World War II, and made its way to the US in the mid-1980s. I used the Taguchi technique when I ran engineering and manufacturing groups in Aerojet Ordnance (a munitions developer and manufacturer) and Sargent Fletcher Company (a fuel tank and aerial refueling company).
Taguchi testing is a powerful technique because it allows identifying which variables are significant and which are not. Engineers are interested in both. It lets you know which variables you need to control tightly during production (that is, which tolerances have to be tight), and it identifies the others that are not so critical. Both are good things to know. If we know which variables are significant and where they need to be, we can change nominal values, tighten tolerances, and maybe do other things to achieve a desired output. If we know which variables are not significant, it means they require less control. We can loosen tolerances on these variables, and most of the time, that means costs go down.
Like I said above, I used Taguchi testing in an engineering and manufacturing environment with great success. The Taguchi approach did great things for us. When I worked in the cluster bomb business, it allowed us to get the reliability of our munitions close to 100%. When I worked in a company that designed and manufactured aerial refueling equipment (think the refueling scene in the movie, Top Gun), it helped us to identify and control factors influencing filament-wound F-18 drop tanks. In that same company, it helped us fix a 20-year-old reliability problem on a guillotine system designed to cut and clamp aerial refueling hoses if failures elsewhere in the refueling system prevented rewinding the hose. You don’t want to land in an airplane trailing a hose filled with JP4 jet fuel. Good stuff, Taguchi testing is.
As you know from reading our other Tales of the Gun stories, the idea in reloading is to find the secret sauce…the perfect recipe of bullet weight, propellant, brass case manufacturer, and more, to find the best accuracy for a given firearm. Hey, I thought…I could apply the Taguchi technique to this challenge.
When you do a Taguchi experiment, you need to define a quantifiable output variable, and you need to identify the factors that might influence it. The output variable here is obvious: It’s group size on the target. The input variables are obvious, too. They would include propellant type, propellant charge, primer type, bullet weight, brass type, bullet seating depth, and bullet crimp. We’re trying to find which of these factors provides the best accuracy. I wanted to turn my Model 25 Smith and Wesson into a hand-held tack driver.
The Model 25 is an N-frame Smith and Wesson revolver chambered for the .45 ACP pistol cartridge. It is a superbly accurate handgun, as attested to by the target above.
When Taguchi developed his testing approach, he made it simple for his followers. One of the things he did was define a simple test matrix, which he called an L8 orthogonal array. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. It just means you can evaluate up to seven different input variables with each at two different levels. That’s a bit complicated, but understanding it is a little easier if you see an example. Here’s what the standard Taguchi L8 orthogonal array (along with the results) looked like for my Model 25 load development testing:
As the above table shows, three sets of data were collected. I tested each load configuration three times (Groups A, B, and C), and I measured the group size of each 3-shot group. Those group sizes became the output variables.
The next step involved taking the above data and doing a standard Taguchi ANOVA (that’s an acronym for analysis of variance). ANOVA is the statistical method used for evaluating the output data (in our case, the group sizes) to assess which of the above input variables most influenced accuracy. That’s a complex set of calcs greatly simplified by using Excel. The idea here is to find the factor with the largest ANOVA result. You see, any time you measure a set of results, there’s going to be variation in the results. Where it gets complicated is the variation can be due to randomness (the variation in the results that would occur if you left all of the inputs the same). Or, the variation can be due to something we changed. We want to know if the differences are due to something we did (like changing or adjusting a component) or if they are due to randomness alone. I cranked through the ANOVA calcs with Excel, and here’s what I obtained…
The above results suggest that crimping (squeezing the bullet by slightly deforming the case mouth inward) has the greatest effect on accuracy (it had the largest ANOVA calculated result). The results suggest that cartridges with no crimp are more accurate than rounds with the bullet crimped. But it’s a suggestion only; it doesn’t mean it’s true. The next step is to evaluate if the differences are statistically significant, and doing that requires the next step in the ANOVA process. This gets really complicated (hey, I’m an engineer), but the bottom line is that we’re going to calculate a number called the f-ratio, and then compare our calculated f-ratio to a reference f-ratio. If the calculated f-ratio (the one based on the test results above) exceeds the reference f-ratio, it means that crimping versus no crimping makes a statistically significant difference in accuracy. If it not not exceed the reference f-ratio, it means the difference is due to randomness. Using Excel’s data analysis feature (the f-test for two samples, for you engineers out there) on the crimp-vs-no-crimp results shows the following:
Since the calculated f-ratio (3.817) does not exceed the critical f-ratio (5.391), I could not conclude that the findings are statistically significant. What that means is that the difference in accuracy for the crimped versus uncrimped rounds is due to randomness alone.
Whew! So what does all the above mean?
All right, here we go. This particular revolver shot all of the loads extremely well. Many of the groups (all fired at a range of 50 feet) were well under an inch. Operator error (i.e., inaccuracies resulting from my unsteadiness) overpowered any of the factors evaluated in this experiment. In other words, my unsteadiness was making a far bigger difference than any change in the reloading recipe.
Although the test shows that accuracy results were not significantly different, this is good information to know. What it means is that all of the test loads (the different reloading recipes) are reasonably accurate. If I had used a machine rest, I might have seen a statistically significant difference. Stated differently, the test told me that I needed to use a machine rest with this gun to see which load parameters were really playing a role in accuracy. Without it, my flaky shooting skills (or as the statisticians like to say, my randomness) overpowered any accuracy gains to be realized by playing with component factors.
That said, though, I like that 4.2 grains of Bullseye load with the 200 grain semi-wadcutter bullet, and it’s what I load for my Model 25. But I now know…the gun shoots any of these loads well, and crimping versus no crimping doesn’t really make a difference.
Check out these two men and what they did almost a century ago…folks, you couldn’t make a movie this exciting!
The monument above (The Warning, sculpted by Eric Richards) was erected in 2003 in Santa Paula, California, to mark a heroic evening in 1928. Motor Officers Thornton Edwards (on the Indian) and Stanley Baker (on the Harley) were on duty the evening of March 12, 1928, when California experienced the second worst disaster in the state’s history. The recently completed St. Francis Dam, 36 miles upstream in Santa Clarita, collapsed shortly after midnight.
The collapse released 52 billion gallons of water, and that water was headed directly toward Santa Paula. The Santa Paula Police Department learned of the impending danger shortly after the dam broke. Thornton and Baker spent the next 3 hours riding their motorcycles throughout Santa Paula, notifying residents and evacuating the town. Thornton worked for the State Highway Department, which later became the California Highway Patrol. Baker was a Santa Paula Police Department Officer. Although the records from this era are sketchy, legend holds that Thornton’s bike had to be repaired during his midnight ride when it ingested water. As a result of these two officers’ actions, the residents of Santa Paula were successfully evacuated, and few Santa Paula residents died that night.
The water released by the dam (the reservoir had just filled, and the poorly-designed dam was not strong enough to contain it) mixed with mud and debris to form a wall of slurry that advanced 54 miles to the ocean at about 12 miles per hour. The disaster killed an estimated 470 people, and to this day, it is the second worst disaster in California history. Only the San Francisco earthquake resulted in more death.
The Warning contains no mention of either motor officer’s name; rather, it is intended to honor all acts of heroism, and to honor those killed during the St. Francis Dam collapse. If you head through downtown Santa Paula, The Warning is hard to miss. It’s worth a trip to Santa Paula just to see it.
Special thanks for the above research to Peggy Kelly, a reporter for the Santa Paula Times, whom I interviewed for the above information.
BajaBound, Arjiu and Dajiu are. Stay tuned! This photo is from a 2008 trip with good buddy Joseph Lee, looking out over Bahia Concepcion. I bought the ’06 Triumph Tiger you see above from Douglas Motorcycles, and it was a grand machine for touring Baja.
It’s been a challenging time, but the WordPress automatic email blog notifications are back on line. I’d like to be able to tell you why the “improvement” caused things to stop working, but I can’t. The people who create the software for this feature (they call it a widget, which is probably and insult to widgets worldwide) advised deleting the update and rolling back to the original version, but that didn’t work initially, either. So we waited a few days (especially after seeing the help board explode with other bloggers complaining about the failure), tried the rollback to the unimproved version again, and voilà, it worked.
Our apologies for the screwup. Eh, these things happen. If you want to sign up for blog update notifications (and we think you should), the widget is in the upper right corner of this page if you’re viewing the ExNotes blog on a laptop, and it’s at the end of this blog on a mobile phone. You might want sign up for two reasons…one, the blog is great, and two, we’re giving away another moto adventure book at the end of this month to one of the folks who get our automatic updates.
Stay tuned, mi amigos, because there’s more good stuff coming your way real soon. Uncle Joe and I are headed into Mexico next week, and you sure don’t want to miss any of the Baja updates!
We’re going to be on the road as you read this, and you can follow our adventure right here on the ExNotes blog. If you missed the first few preparatory Enfield posts, here they are:
