Well, he's gone, gone, gone...

Phil Tarman

Phil Tarman

Site Supporter
Joined
Dec 12, 2010
Messages
3,521
Age
83
Location
Greeley, CO
Bike
2010 Silver NT700VA (ABS)
Horse has left Greeley. Today a Methodist pastor friend purchased Horse and moved him away to Casper, WY. I had owned Horse for neary six years, but hadn't ridden him since October, 2023, almost two months after Joanne died of Alzheimer's.

The buyer hasn't ridden a motorcycle since he was in college and won't try until he's able to get into one of Wyoming's Rider Training Courses. He'll be getting his name on the lists for as many openings as possible.

I will encourage him to join this Forum and know you will welcome him if he does.

I'm thinking about all the people near Spokane and hoping that the fires in the west come under control.
 
Phil I know that riding was a big part of your life, but you have so many other things going on. I hope that you’re able to enjoy them to the extent that you enjoyed riding. Our life is what we make it. But often the transitions we must make take time. So enjoy to the fullest possible what you can.

I treasure the memories of our ride to Alaska. I’ll never do it again but the great memories live on.
 
Phil, my wife is in the beginnings stages of Alzheimer's. Our Slingshot sits in my son's garage. Life changes, but life also goes on. My condolences for your loss.
Charles
 
:( sorry to hear that. Ya, life changes in both subtle and sudden ways. Some anticipated some out of nowhere. May you and your family be strong through whatever lies ahead.
 
junglejim said:
Phil I know that riding was a big part of your life, but you have so many other things going on. I hope that you’re able to enjoy them to the extent that you enjoyed riding. Our life is what we make it. But often the transitions we must make take time. So enjoy to the fullest possible what you can.

I treasure the memories of our ride to Alaska. I’ll never do it again but the great memories live on.
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Well said.🙏

junglejim said:
:( sorry to hear that. Ya, life changes in both subtle and sudden ways. Some anticipated some out of nowhere. May you and your family be strong through whatever lies ahead.
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Well said again.🙏

I am at Cody now. Gonna skip OSH next year and tour while I can. We all know what's comming. I don't think we did in 2012...every day we find joy is a gift. IMG_20260811_142230852_HDR_copy_820x615.jpg
 
Better to sell NT if almost 3 years of non riding. You can always look back on the Epic ride and other rides that rarely are accomplished by others.

Was fun to be a part of your Epic ride in 2013 for that short ride in NC. Then you even made it to NT Gathering in 2016!! Best to you!
 
Phil, I've enjoyed riding with you!! I may be following along and hanging up my riding - I sure have done very little of it this last couple of years. I anticipated doing more this year but I needed more heart work this last May. The Docs stuck me back on Eliquis so we shall see... Best Regards!
 
Hi Phil,
As we age, it is difficult to give up things that we like because we know we will not be doing them again. What was fun back then is not longer fun or now dangerous. Downhill skiing after I retired ... I just got cold and tired. I still have camping equipment??? I don't know when I will have to give up riding but I hope it is not one day too late.
 
Chucksklrst said:
Live to Ride, Ride to Live.
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For me, in retirement, I did want to ride more and I do. But traveling by cruise ship to Hawaii or driving to Oshkosh are great also. Next stop, riding to Hood River OR to a flyin to see all sorts of antique cars, planes and motorcycles.
WAAAMMM.jpg
You can even camp out and talk with pilots.....
1787092413450.png
 
Phil, a bunch of us older gents on this forum have walked the same road where you are now. I was a motorcyclist - it was my identity - it was who I was. But on my last long trip from Key West to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate my 80th BD, I found that the longer I rode on that trip, the less I was enjoying it. I started out in Key West grinning from ear to ear - but by the 5th day out in west Texas that grin had pretty well faded. I was in good physical shape for my age, but the trip was taking more out of me than my body had to give - and of course, running off the exit ramp at low speed, resulting in the bike tipping over and me breaking my shoulder brought that trip to a halt. Six months later, after my shoulder was healed I went out for a 100 mile easy ride through rural central Florida - pretty day, easy ride - but the enjoyment was just not there - so it was an easy but sad decision to sell the bike. I also don't ride my bicycle much any more but I still go out kayaking and I still close my three activity rings on my Apple Watch every day. I'm also still a part-time boat captain giving tourists hour long tours through the Winter Park chain of lakes - and it's a fun job. And I'm very involved in my grandkids lives - two are Navy officers, one is an aero space engineer that worked on the rocket that just went to the moon, one is a Dr of Physical Therapy working in Thailand as a medical missionary and another one is an engineer for BMW in Greenville. All great kids and I enjoy being part of their lives. For my 81st birthday I decided to hike 10 miles on the Florida Trail right through black bear territory with a 25lb back pack, camp overnight and then hike back. I did the 10 miles, enjoyed camping overnight but in the morning I just didn't have it in me to hike the 10 miles back to where I had parked my car - so I called my brother to come be my uber driver - my get up and go had got up and left. For my 82nd BD I did nothing adventurous - maybe I had learned my lesson. - Wendell
 
wphillips007 said:
For my 82nd BD I did nothing adventurous - maybe I had learned my lesson. - Wendell
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Well Wendell, if you learned your lesson you did better than me. Sometimes I doubt my own sanity.

About 6 weeks ago I bought a new motorcycle. And not just any motorcycle - a BMW R1300 RT. 3 minutes into a test ride I knew I was going to buy it. It is easily the most comfortable, and best handling motorcycle I've ever ridden. A couple days ago I completed a 3,000-mile ride to about 7 western states. And I finished with a 795-mile ride home on the last day. This 83-year old rider is loving it. And I feel very blessed to have both the new bike and the ability to ride it.

One of my stops was at the home of the venerable Phil Tarman. We had a great visit and recalled old times including our trip to Alaska and other adventures. Although Phil lives alone I was impressed that he's doing OK and not suffering from loneliness and isolation. Physically he is unable to ride but he's getting along. I stopped at the homes of two other buddies in MT .

First I stopped at the home of a rancher and fellow rifle shooter in NE MT. Then I stopped at the home of a friend who previously lived near me and is currently a BMW owner too. I took this beautiful new motorcycle over a very remote pass east of Hamilton. The 60-mile ride over the pass included about 25 miles of gravel road and considerable one lane road. There was one big fire camp on the east side and two active fires on the west side. Then I rode south on ID on Hwy 28 where I confirmed that this motorcycle is FAST. I visited the National Museum of Military Vehicles (again). Following that I rode to an 11,000 ft ridge in Medicine Bow NF where the temperature fell from 88 to 50 and down to Alpine. Then it was up along the east side of the Tetons to Jackson WY which was a Zoo of tourists. The scenery was great but I had to keep my eyes ahead. On my way home it turned hot (104 degrees in Greeley CO) so I headed to some high country to get some relief. Against my better judgement I stopped in Sturgis for the night. That town showed sighs of being used hard recently. From there it was a dash for home.

I love this Beemer BUT I find the nagavation system awful. It is complex and I'd digitally illiterate. We don't get along well at all. By the way - the word nagavation IS spelled correctly.

High pass east of Hamilton MT, gravel road and fire killed trees
IMG_0245.jpeg


Snake River
IMG_0248.jpeg


I had a lot more pictures but the file sizes are too large to load. I know there are ways to reduce file sizes but I'm too lazy to look into it and I don't want to risk confirming how stupid I am.
Now I have to learn how to change the oil in my wonderful machine. I don't think it is easy, but it has to be easier than figuring out BMW Nagavation.
 
junglejim said:
I had a lot more pictures but the file sizes are too large to load. I know there are ways to reduce file sizes but I'm too lazy to look into it and I don't want to risk confirming how stupid I am.
Now I have to learn how to change the oil in my wonderful machine. I don't think it is easy, but it has to be easier than figuring out BMW Nagavation.
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Jim, let me know the file size your camera/phone is using. The site will typically take a pic and resize it for display but I would imagine you have a pretty big one since phones are getting bigger and bigger MP cameras.

Changing the oil is as easy as in any other bike, at least that's how it is for the 1250RT. The trick is you have to reset the service reminder but you can do that via the motoscan app (android) and a bluetooth OBD2 adapter (cheapest option vs the GS911). Let me know if you need more specifics.

I rode once with the BMW connected app and navigation and decided my zumo works better and garmin has been at it longer. There are other options but so far that works best for me.

It's crazy to see how much you like that bike. I think I remember you saying, at Spearfish, that 300 to 400 miles a day is pretty much the best you can do for a comfortable day but it wasn't that great. To see you touring like this is great and I don't even recognize you anymore lol. Sometimes the right attitude just needs the right tool.
 
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Thanks.

I was on 2 forums discussing the BMW Connected app and struggling with that. I called “time out” I’m going for a ride” and I’ll deal with the connectivity later. Bottom line is that BMW Navigation is a PITA. I mounted my Zumo on the 2nd day I had it.

I’ve never named any of my motorcycles but you may have done it for me when you said that my purchase of RT was “Fake News”. That stuck.

I got the stuff for my oil change. YouTube University says there are 2 drain plugs and a cartridge filter. The horizontal cartridge filter is under a body panel and spews down the side of the motor upon removal. The filler cap is under a different body panel. Small funnel and pour slowly. Boxflyer on BMW Sport Touring is making a video on this.

The BMW service department told me that even with an OBD device I couldn’t reset the service reminder. Same as Triumph. But there’s a difference between “I can’t do it” and “Impossible”.

File size of my pictures ranges from about 4MB to 9MB. And most are 24MP. I think I can set the camera to reduce that if I just take the time to figure that out.
 
junglejim said:
The BMW service department told me that even with an OBD device I couldn’t reset the service reminder. Same as Triumph. But there’s a difference between “I can’t do it” and “Impossible”.
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Well, that's because they loose the $500 they'll charge for an oil change... so I don't listen to those guys much. I guess there's more body panel integration than on the 1250 which is typical. Only one drain plug here so maybe it's a dry sump now like the Super Tenere is.

When I open up my motoscan app, it has an option to select R Series / KA3(R 1300 RT) so I'm pretty confident you can then connect to a Bluetooth OBD2 and then reset the service interval in the Instrument Cluster (KOMBI) settings.

Edit: Oh you have the ASA version too... so a drain plug for that as well. I know Honda's DCT has a filter for the DCT as well... Boxflyer does a great job of documenting things step by step.

If you can stand the strange English translation:

 
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Red Green. G O A T all around engineer and First Class screw up. Timeless classic.
Remember, if it ain't broke, you ain't workin hard enough. Or some such nonsense.
 
wphillips007 said:
Phil, a bunch of us older gents on this forum have walked the same road where you are now. I was a motorcyclist - it was my identity - it was who I was. But on my last long trip from Key West to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate my 80th BD, I found that the longer I rode on that trip, the less I was enjoying it. I started out in Key West grinning from ear to ear - but by the 5th day out in west Texas that grin had pretty well faded. I was in good physical shape for my age, but the trip was taking more out of me than my body had to give - and of course, running off the exit ramp at low speed, resulting in the bike tipping over and me breaking my shoulder brought that trip to a halt. Six months later, after my shoulder was healed I went out for a 100 mile easy ride through rural central Florida - pretty day, easy ride - but the enjoyment was just not there - so it was an easy but sad decision to sell the bike. I also don't ride my bicycle much any more but I still go out kayaking and I still close my three activity rings on my Apple Watch every day. I'm also still a part-time boat captain giving tourists hour long tours through the Winter Park chain of lakes - and it's a fun job. And I'm very involved in my grandkids lives - two are Navy officers, one is an aero space engineer that worked on the rocket that just went to the moon, one is a Dr of Physical Therapy working in Thailand as a medical missionary and another one is an engineer for BMW in Greenville. All great kids and I enjoy being part of their lives. For my 81st birthday I decided to hike 10 miles on the Florida Trail right through black bear territory with a 25lb back pack, camp overnight and then hike back. I did the 10 miles, enjoyed camping overnight but in the morning I just didn't have it in me to hike the 10 miles back to where I had parked my car - so I called my brother to come be my uber driver - my get up and go had got up and left. For my 82nd BD I did nothing adventurous - maybe I had learned my lesson. - Wendell
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God bless you, Wendell., You gave the world great productive offspring/citizens. And unlike so many Americans, they actually had a father. A good one.
Please dont tell me your boat is the Minnow and you give 3 hours tours. :rofl1:

I have found out that at 77, working hard around the ranch to keep from burning up and taking Hormone replacement therapy, I probably have a few more good years left in me. 300 mile days are the max for me now....makes life on the road so much more enjoyable. And I still camp...love camping on a bike ever since 1967.
It wasnt a fun summer due to smoke and heat for touring but I still like it. One more 5 day tour of the North Cascades and Hood river WAAAM museum/fly in.
When Oshkosh wouldnt let me bring a lead acid 9 mph electric scooter, I acutally bought a bicycle to ride to the flight line! With knee straps, I made it
For me at 82, if I make it, my adventure will be riding a motorcycle to a campground on the Lewis and Clark trail, which is close.
Be ware of the ticks down there....it would have been fun to see you at the rally.
Chris
 
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