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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
I've gone ride-about(Nov 2015)...taking 13 days to see some friends in outlying places in the Southwest.
Thursday evening... I started my ride at noon Thurs. I got to Mike's in LA Ca for the night. I thought I'd put some more air in my rear shock as I prolly had a 75 lb load. Usually I pump it way up and let air out till I'm where I want to be. Well I may have put a 100psi or so in it. It was an unfamiliar air source so I couldn't tell perzactily.
I bounced on the bike and just as I was deciding that that was too much, The lip on the seal blew out and spit a couple ounces of oil out on the ground. The seals for those rear shocks (v65 Sabre) are unobtainable, so I had used a seal that was the right dimensions, but not considered to be a high pressure seal. I noticed that the seal's rubber cross section was about half what the stock seal was.
That brought me back to my street bike ride to Baja last spring. When I got back the Sabre was riding like it had no oil in it's rear shock. I thought that I'd have to change that seal, but when I put oil in the shock to get me by for a couple weeks till I could change the seal, the shock never leaked so I never did anything to that shock....till yesterday. Seems like from bouncing on the bike after last night's blowout,that the seal lip has reversed and is again operating correctly. I think I'm good to go, but now I know the difference between high pressure seals and standard ones. ...or not....
....... When Last we talked, I was good to go, I thought. NOT! I went for a test ride this morning, and the shock is leaking and won't hold air. So I had to take it off the bike in the last hour and a half (Fri morning). The seal's spring was sticking out in a u-shape thru the sealing area.
I was able to push it back in and with some messing with the seal lip it is now holding air.....and it's back on the bike. Now I have to button it up and reload the bike.
I'm meeting halfway Harry at the gliderport at 3 pm today in Tehachapi....then on to Parkfield Ca in the morning at sub freezing temp till the earth warms up a tad and we get off Harry's mountain.
Ride-about continues...Day two....
More on my ride-about...Satiday.
Saturday Morning soon arrived with Harry's gentle reminder that it was 5:50am. We had agreed that getting our hearts started at 6Am would give us time to have our coffee and check to weather before hitting the road at 7. A blurry goodbye was said to Mary as we walked out the door.
Mary was still rocking out her pajamas as any sane person would be.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
I took a few moment to take some pics of Harry's view. His house is a 1000 ft above the Tehachapi Valley and on a clear day they can see Mt Whitney to the north about 150 miles away. It's about 250 by roads. That's a little snow out there...
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Here's the Mt Whitney direction...just a little to the right of the window divider.
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I thought at 5500 feet we'd be dealing with freezing temps that morning, but it was in the high 40s. I've seen it before while dune buggying, when you drop into a 20ft deep ravine that you notice a temp drop. Well, the same thing was true here but by 3000 feet. It was actually colder in Bakersfield at 2000ft by about 5 degrees. Normally the temp increases with an altitude drop. Anyway Harry guided us down the Woodford Rd past the famous Tehachapi loop. Woodford is a great twistie road that Parallels HWY 58 that is a major east west route.
I was struck by the beauty of the Tehachapi area. I must have been in a high mood as the land up there all looked groomed to me such as in this picture....and maybe it had been in an effort to reduce fire problems
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Anyway, we progressed down the hill to an 8am rendezvous with old V65 rider, Hairston, who has hung up his spurs. Hairston arrived in his Tahoe just minutes after we did. We had breakfast at Denny's and exchange info about what pharmaceuticals we are all dependent on. We also caught up on the latest Sabmaggot world issues. Hairston brought along a couple old Bike mags that he'd finished.
Hairton decided to follow along in the Tahoe with us as we Headed to Cholame for our biker meetup. We did have to gas up along the way. Harry's Hondaline Faired V65 got 48mpg where I got 41. That's the most Harry ever got with his Sabre. That makes sense as we dropped 3500 feet during that 100 miles. It was a little better for me as well....but truthfully I'd always been suspicious of Harry's claim for his excellent gas mileage. Now I'm convinced, and I have no explanation for such a big difference.
A quick 40 miles had us pulling in to the James Dean Memorial at 10:30. Dave and Jewels were already there and Steve Rapaldi pulled in within 5 minutes having come from San Jose. We all kicked some stones in the parking lot waiting for a BMW rider friend of Dave's for a half hour. We had a visitor...
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
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He was headed for the well traveled road. I worried about his short term future.
Riding with the guys and gals on Saturday from the Jams Dean Memorial.
Soon we got word that the BMW rider's bike was having issues and that he'd aborted, so we geared up and left for the 100 mile ride loop that Dave had planned for us. The roads were quite sporting and not much traffic. That's the recipe for moto mayhem. No prisoners were taken and no casualties were had. Just the way we like it. 5$ a gallon gas was encountered on the west end of this loop. That did bring a tear to my eye.
The first 10 miles of the southern end of 229 would be heaven for a small sport bike. It wasn't too bad for our touring bikes either.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Somewhere along the way we took a break.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
A piece of 229... https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/FpX1yr21rghsv4HDVcLZ5dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
Jewels is sporting a newish VFR, and she moves it along quite well.
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Dave has just about everything on his Honda ST1300...very nice
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Steve's SV650 VStrom
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Harry acquired a very nice low mileage Sabre a couple years ago. We were able to stop his fork seal leak at the Hanger the night before so Harry rode the Sabre rather than his FJR. We had to fill 4 deep dings on that fork tube with super glue in order to stop that leak.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
My bike is still hanging in there with the best of them, just not quite as polished. LOL
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Typical scenes' along the way way...
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Eventually we got to Parkfield for a late lunch. They specialize in Bugers during lunch hrs, Harry had a BBQ Chilli Burger...
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
And the rest of us had their house 1/2 lb burger and fries..
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Jewels and Dave believe in eating desert first so that had a house special of several scoops of ice cream and apple struddle. They shared bites with all.
Needless to say lunch was good
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The bar was rustic with saddles for stools....cool place.
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I tried one on for size.
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A pic of this play house for the kids built in the trees out front.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
It was getting late so we all said goodbye and hit the road. It had been a good day. As we rode toward the barn the sun was getting low in the sky...
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
I reflected on the days to come. I was going to try and go past Lake Isabella and on to the east side of the Sierras. I set my GPS to Ridgecrest figuring that it would take me that way, but it took me around the south end instead on Hwy 58. I didn't realize what it was doing till it was too late to correct it.
Harry cut off toward his home at Tehachapi, and I went on to Mojave where Fatigue was setting in. It had gotten cold so I holed up there at a Budget Motel. I have to remind myself to not do too much on these trip. Once you start getting tired it takes the fun out of traveling.
I'm taking my time this morning to write this report, and I'm not going far today. Seems like Chuck Surprise is over in Ridgecrest as we speak so I'm going to have lunch with him. He's doing sick aunt duties, and has been for weeks, so maybe I can give him a lift. Besides it's always good to visit with Chuck.
...BTW, the whole album of photos is here.
The road is closed in Lone Pine due to wind last night. Here's yesterday's (Sunday) BS story....
I slept in at the motel in Mojave. I looked out the window and could tell the wind was blowing a bit and even though the sun was out and there were clear skies, I knew it was only a 50 Degree day When I did get up I drank all their coffee, sorted pictures, and wrote about Saturday's ride. I made sure to use all the hotel time till 11am checkout.
I finally packed up the 'puter, stole the unused soap and shampoo, and packed up the bike. In the interest of conserving energy I didn't plan much for the day. My plan was simple, go see Chuck, and finish up the day at Nips place in Lone Pine only a little over a 100 miles away.
I made cell contact with Chuck, and we set up a lunch date, which worked out well. I met Linda his long, long time friend. They were in Ridgecrest disposing of Linda's 86 year old aunt's possessions after living in her ridgecrest home for 35 year. This aunt must be a hoot. She's still with us and Chuck says she's still sharp as a tack living in San Diego now. I made Chuck promise to introduce me one day.
She a chemist that worked at the China Lake base. She's published 46 papers, and has 5 patents. Her garage was full of tools. Drill press, radial arm saw, and all maner of cordless tools as well as hand tool. Yep, I think I'll like her. I enjoyed lunch with them and then took off toward Lone Pine. The storm that is on it way from the northwest was making itself known as it's clouds were busting over the east side of the Southern Sierras. In fact, I felt spinkles when I left the cafe at 1pm....but that cloud blew away quickly. No harm was done.
On yesterday's ride Jewels asked me if my headlight was dim or didn't it work. An inspection show that the low beam was out. On the way out of town I stopped at an Autozone and inspected the bulb. Sure enough it had a blown element. That was a relief and an easy fix. The bike is almost ready for a trip now.
I'd tried to call Nip and got a disconnected phone message. It'd been a few months since I talked to him. Made me wonder if he was still in Lone Pine. I figured it was worth the trip to at least find out. When I got to Nip's place his Harleys were there, so he still lived there and definitely was still alive. That was the good news.
The bad news was he was not at home. Did I say a storm was coming in. Sleeping on his porch was going to be my best option if he was on some sort of an out of towner. It was about 3pm by then, I decided to go down the street to McDonalds and catch up with the photos that I'd taken between here and Mojave. I left a note for Nip.
I love the east side of the Sierras for pictures. Every time I drive/ride thru there, I take the same pictures. I've at least a half dozen of the same photo's, no doubt.
Nip showed up at MDs at about dark. We decided to have dinner at the new BBQ place that's been open for a few months. We got a lb of Brisket to share, and Nip had a pint of cold slaw, and I had a baked potato. It was better than the BBQ brisket that I had at one of the famous Texas places that I went to a couple years ago. 2 thumbs up from me.
After a couple hours of catching up over dinner, and also making a plan to ride his 2 Harleys around up here tomorrow, I settled in to get a few words written down for tomorrows report so I don't forget.
Nip threw my usual (when I stay here) mattress on the floor and handed me a pillow and 4 blankets to keep me warm. A fellow in Ridgecrest said that it would snow down to 2500 ft tonight according to reports. I might just put another blanket on my bed.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
A windy day in the Owen's Valley
Sunshine and wind isn't a bad combination in a pickup truck, but it not so good for empty box Semis. Nip and I followed one up to Bishop who was all over the road fighting a 40mph side wind. Watching him was scary. We tried to register Nip's newest Harley at AAA. Nert!!!...it was bought in Nevada and needs Hwy Patrol verification of the VIN number status or it needs to be brought in so AAA can verify it. Damnit, I knew that.
Well, it was a good PU truck ride that showed off all the fresh snow in the Mtns from last nights storm. No rain made it over the mountain. Here is today's photos of the eastern Sierras... They start here in the album for 20 or so photos.
Near the last of them is a field with about 5 or 6 elk cows. It's hunting season so the bulls are staying low.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Speaking of Nip, which we weren't, but....Nip is an artist in many forms. Foremost is his drawing. He worked for all the Hollywood studios at one time or another so the majority of his work is as a Superhero cartoonist, but he can draw/ anything. Here's the man...as we drove down the road this morning.
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He's been sober for 26 years...it wasn't always so. Back in the day it was a different story....An old photo
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Here are some of the other things that he's done that I took photos of last night out of a small scrapebook. This first one is completely out of Nip's imagination of the 'Second Coming of christ' Done on a wall at the Calvary Chapel in Tempe.
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Anyway, not much going on out here today. I'll hit the road toward the east tomorrow...I expect.
A Cold Night in Lone Pine
Nip and I quit early last night. At 7:30 I wanted to go to bed, but it was just too early so Nip set me up with the movie, 'Cellular', Pretty good vid.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
It was 30* last night, but I had 5 flattened out sleeping bags on top of me. I had no problem. sleeping. This morning is a different story, still cold, but the wind is gone. You saw all that snow on the ground on the mountains yesterday. Well, the enormous wind blew most the snow off the mountain. I didn't know that happens. Here's the proof....not much snow.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Anyway, I've been here long enough, so Nip and I will ride down into Death Valley. Supposed to be 74* down there. That sounds pretty good right now. I have intended to go toward Moab all along, but it's 40* highs over there so that may not happen.....we'll see.
Moving Day...on toward Moab..
Yesterday's wind had subsided overnight, although, it had gotten down to freezing last night. It was warming up nicely as I drank my morning coffee at MD's and talked with Richard (while trying to read email). I'm not a very good multitasker, besides, Richard was an interesting character. I imagine he was pushing 80, and dressed in sweat pant and coat. He was charging his paraphernalia using both 110V sockets. Grrrrrrr. Well first come first serve, or survival of the fittest covers charging sockets these days when you're on the road.
Richard was a real pro photographer and easy to listen to. He was an action guy. Underwater, aerial, boom truck, and all sorts of exciting things. He'd already been fleeced by his several ex wives. I gather he still had some money left, but right now he was living out of a small Toyota Van with his German Shepard, Lulu, who was waiting in the sun out by his van.
I introduced him to Nip when Nip came in to check his mail. Maybe Richard will replace me as I was only a half hour away from moving on. The weather was good enough that I thought I'd strike out for rancher Glenn's place in Paradox Co (near Moab) some 800 miles away. Nip decided to ride along to Furnace Creeks (Death Valley central). We left town at about 9:30am. Nip was riding 'Pretty Girl', His new to him bike.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
As we rode beside the section of the White mountains that had the Sierro Gordo Silver mine in it, It's up on top there somewhere....
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I reflected on those days of hauling the ore down the 5 miles of Mountain to get to the town of Keeler where the Steamship Bessie Brady was waiting. Life was tough out there just a hundred years ago.
Keeler...nowadays
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
We climbed to almost 6000 feet before we dropped to the bottom where Panamint Springs waited for us. We stopped at Father Crowley point for a look see. Nip says that he has pictures of F-15s flying long ways thru that canyon below the rims, and pulling the stick back to Vertical at the west end.
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Pictures of the decent to Panamint Springs...
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Near the bottom there's a dirt road that goes up to the Panamint Reservoir that supplies water for the couple of enterprises at PS. That road also goes on up to the other local ghost town of Darwin.
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Soon we stopped at PS for a break and for Nip to catch up with his friend Gil Mclaugin (the cook). Victoria served us some ice tea.
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I had to put the fellows in this picture so it wouldn't look like I was stocking Victory. She'd been there 6 years, and said she like it. Go figure....
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Gil was also an interesting guy. He comes from good moto roots. His dad had a couple Indian and Harley shops in the LA area, and he started the Mclauglin stunt riders
sat out in the patio and had an Ice tea for a half hour then I had to hit the trail.
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Nip stayed with me to Furnace Creek. Took another short break. Nip showed me the sandwich shack that serves the golf course down there. It's a cheaper option toward getting some food than the touristy Furnace Creek Ranch. Not a bad looking course
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I rode out toward Vegas via the Furnace Creek Hotel You're not likely to ever catch this old bottom feeder ever staying there.
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The ride to Vegas and on to Mesquite was an uneventful ride. Lots of picture along the way. Mostly when I look at the pictures, I wonder why I took them. Then I remember that the whole thing that I was looking at was so much more spectacular than the little piece that my camera caught.
I hung up my boots at about 4pm at the Virgin River Hotel/Casino in Mesquite NV. A 27$ room and 7$ prime rib dinner was more than I could pass up. That's going to leave me with 450 miles to do tomorrow. That will be a hand full to get done in the part of the day that's rideable temp wise. I'll let you know how it goes.
Burrrrrrr....Wednesday
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Ye of YWR (Ye Wilde Rider) fame asked me if I was getting soft, that I hadn't camped out one time, yet? Well, he might be right, although I felt like I was camping out at Nip's place without the hassle of unpacking my sleeping bag. Yeah, I know, that isn't the same.....maybe later.
I got out of that Casino/motel Wed morning at 9am. According to the weather 10 day forecast, Wed was the coldest day in the week before and after. It had a 50* high for about 50% of the 450 miles because it was at the 7000ft range. And believe me, it didn't start out at 50*...prolly more like 40%. It had been a 30* low
I decided that today was the day to run my electric shirt and my grip heaters together, if My bike's alternator would produce that much electricity. Imagine how my heart sank when there was no voltage drop when I plugged in my shirt....crap!...there was no connection for some reason. The good news was that the upper body torso wasn't as important as the grip heaters as I only had light summer gloves. The grip heaters would never have been enough without my hand wind guard.
....Anyway, enough about my whining. If your gonna be a bear, be a Grizzly Bear. Reminds me of this poem my dad was always quoting me. Life is a game of poker with happiness as the pot Fate deals you 5 cards to begin with and you play whether you like it or not. ....and on and on...
That was me Wed morning. I was at 3000 ft at Mesquite, and some of I-70 going toward Moab would be at 7000ft. I'd dealt myself into this hand, now we'd see where that took me.
Once on the road, I was just barely surviving the cold on my Torso. I was getting some cold air to my right side under my arm. I stopped after 20 miles to adjust my shirt and tuck it into my pants on that side. Ah....that was so much better.
A ways up the road I was being passed by an SUV. I looked over to see an old lady (older than me) in the passenger seat looking at me with the window open. Now in 45* weather you don't have the window open for almost any reason. She's making a crazy motion at me. What the hell...I'm thinking? Hummmm.....maybe I better stop and look at my Beverley Hillbilly pack and see if something's falling off.
As I was almost stopped, and using my foot to find my kickstand that wasn't where it ought to me......I realized that it was already down. That's what the old lady was trying to tell me. Well, bless her heart. You have to love a ranching girl. Both rider and passenger were women in that SUV.
Back in Ca where I live, there isn't one gal in a 1000 that would know that a down kickstand can spell disaster. These women were both observant and knowledgeable. A big 'Hell yeah' goes out to these cowgals.
My hands were being taken care of by The grip heaters, mostly. Just the tip of the left thumb was hurting a little. The wind must have been curling under my wind protection just right. I thought about tucking some napkin down the thumb hole, but found that I could place my thumb over top the grip and that worked to keep it warm. My Jacket with the tucked in shirt took care of that cold. I was good to go.
As the day warmed up, the higher I got, and the temp stayed cold. Here's a picture that explains better than I can tell you about the conditions.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
The road north of Mesquite started climbing as soon as I got to the Virgin River Gorge. What a beautiful 10 miles stretch of road, view wise. Currently, there was construction road work, but traffic didn't drop below 50mph.
Within a hundred miles I was seeing snow on the edges of the road.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
As I gained altitude the snow was more pronounced, but the temperatures were tolerable even without the electric coat. It looked like I wouldn't be frozen out away from my destination due to the cold. I was prepared to abort the trip to Co and go to Baja if I became uncomfortable from the cold.
I was at 6000 ft at Cedar City, Ut still on I-15, and still going up. I remembered seeing 7000ft+ signs on trips thru there 10 years ago, but I didn't realize there would be at least 4hrs spent in the 7 thousand foot range. It turned out that the cold wasn't an issue, and the views all along there from Cedar City to Green river were awesome, made all the better by the snow scenery.
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.......But it wasn't all about the snow...
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There was lots of remarkable scenery along there.
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I'd gassed up at a little crossroads north of Cedar City called Beaver. I hadn't really calculated my next gas stop at Green River, Ut. Signage soon informed me that that it was 185 miles away. Hummm....if all went well, I had a max range of 230 miles, but it didn't take much to go wrong to make that range a lot less. Just a 10 mph headwind would make that 185 miles a stretch.
I needn't have worried. The bike ran well, plus there were at least several places along the way that sold gas that weren't there 10 years ago. More pictures along there. At the absolutely worst time, my camera ran out of memory storage space. That place is where the road drops out of the high country to the Green River altitude.
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It was only 50 more miles from Green River to Moab. The Moab folks have done a nice job on the entry to their town as you cross the Colorado River.
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Here's a cliff photo near the entry to the Arches Natl Park.
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It was about 3:30 at Moab. That left me 60 miles to go to get to Glenn's house. One of the reasons that I go to Glenn's is to get some of his wife's pinto bean soup. I couldn't be certain that she had a ham bone in stock to make the soup with, so I stopped at the super Market to get one. They didn't have a bone, so I had to buy a whole ham. I wasn't going to take any chances.
Its another great ride from Moab to Paradox Co where Glenn lives. The road go south out of Moab past 22 miles of red canyon cliffs and thru several twisty canyons....then you take a nearly 40 mile ride thru LA Sal, and La Sal Canyon. There is also a twisty rapid drop of a couple thousand feet decent into Paradox valley. Simply beautiful looking at the Valley when it first comes into view. It was nearly too late to catch the sun still shinning on the far off crimson cliff
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| From nov 2015 3 |
I arrived there with a half hour of daylight left. I was glad to get off the bike as it had been a long ride of 450 miles and the temps were already sporting the evening chill.
Glenn met me in the driveway, and showed me right into his garage. It was good to see them both again. Hugs were had all around....really great folks. Now the fun can begin.......
Time with Glenn and Enid...
Enid was going to be busy at a function at the Paradox town hall, and left Glenn and I to fend for ourselves for dinner.....some of the best hotdogs that I've had in a while. After dinner I did some email checking, and then also checked into bed early. Glenn had some things planned for the next couple days. I was going to need my strength.
In the morning Glenn showed me around his projects after breakfast. He's restoring a 65 T-Bird, and has been for a couple years now. He's finished the engine and trans, all the body work, and the complete paint job. Currently. he's working on installing the rear bumper and sequential tail lights. The bulb sockets in the tail light were holding him up.
There are 2 or 3 cracks in each of the bulb sockets that have allowed the sockets to splay so that the bulbs wouldn't stay in the sockets. Glenn has been all over the internet looking for a solution. Good used parts don't seem to be available. Glen found an aftermarket kit with new electronic turn signal sequencers. It was a couple hundred bucks. He really didn't want to go that route.
We brainstormed and mulled the problem over for most of the day. Glenn thought that maybe he could wrap wire around those sockets to make the sockets tighter on the bulbs....maybe solder the wire to the outside of the sockets or something.
We also went to Les's place in town for a visit that afternoon. Glenn told Les that we had taken a vote, and that he was elected to buy lunch. Les has a 40'X40' home auto repair shop. His place is always fun to visit. While we were there he showed us a rebuilt 429" Ford engine. It was Ford's version of a high performance block. It had extra bolts going into each main bearing cap thru the sides of the crankcase. I'd never seen that before.
Since I'd been to Les's a couple years ago he'd made an Oxy-acc cart using old Indian motorcycle wheels...sweet.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
We went up to Nucla for lunch. Nucla was a boomtown from the Uranium mining days. There's no more Uranium mining but there's still a couple thousand residents there with hardware stores, cafes and such. We went to one of the old places in town, and had some great burgers, and some great BS stories. Look at the great tables and chairs, and of course, the wood stove back there.
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That's when I learned that Glenn's family had moved up there from the town of Springer, NM in 1946 to build fences for a land owner in Nucla. The whole family lived/camped up on the mtn where they were building fences. they weren't paid very much, and they lived off the mtn. There were two guys and their wives who gardened for food, and the guys hunted game with a single shot 22.
Times were tough, but better than they were in New Mexico. Glenn's dad once shot a black bear with that 22....and they used the 22 shorts because they couldn't afford the longs or long rifles. Using a 22 short, a bear had to be shot in the eye to make that work. That took a sure hand and a lot of guts. They all ate good for a couple weeks off of that bear.
finally we'd all run out of lies to tell. It was time to get back to the ranch. The brown Santa (UPS) had brought Glenn a package with a new part to his hot water room heater system that had a sticky automatic valve. Glen was going to install that in the morning as winter had arrived this past week.
That night for dinner we'd decided to go into town again to Enid's church where the Parson (and volunteer help) was throwing a community pre Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner was great I met the parson, he was a hell (did I use the wrong word there?) of a down to earth guy. Looked like over 200 folks showed up. The parson said that they cooked 18 turkeys. While there the planning for the hambone bean soup dinner was planned for Friday night. Glen and Enid's daughter Tawnis and Husband, Mark accepted an invitation for tomorrow's feast. Where else but on the back roads of America is a ham rich pinto bean soup considered fine dining?
It was another early night to bed back at the ranch. We had big intentions for the morning
We had Cream-O-Wheat for breakfast in the morning. That took me back 50 years or more. I loved it.
It wasn't long before I was out in the shop, and Glenn was installing his heater part in the house. I'd been dreaming about Glenn's taillight sockets. I thought that maybe I could cuts some 1/8" long copper rings from a 1/2" copper pipe coupling. If I could expand the copper rings just right I could slip them over the outsides of those expanded bulb sockets to make the bulbs fit in them more securely.
It turns out that Glen was having a hell of a time with his plumbing project, and I was happily playing with tools in the shop.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
All ready for the taillights....
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I found a tapered punch among Glenn's punches that looked like I could force my short pipe coupling rings down over it so that they would expand the diameter just the right amount to fit on those bulb sockets. I manage to fuss with my copper rings and Glenn's taillights most of the day. It was a fun project, and worked out pretty well. all six of the sockets needed a ring.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Here they are with the copper rings. Glenn approved the work and says that we will install them and the bumpers tomorrow. Cool
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The bean soup dinner came and went. It was a heartfelt meal. I learned more about the old days when being a cowboy was a much more serious time. Those hard times built character in folks, if you survived. Lots of character was what my hosts displayed that night in abundance. That character may be why I travel the lonely roads of America.
It wasn't all work at Glenn's place when we hit it on Saturday. Saturday was going to be my last day at the ranch. I needed to be getting home. Enid had come down with the cold that I brought with me. She spent the day in bed. I felt bad about that.
Glenn and I put his taillights in the T-bird, and then we went cowboying. Cowboying for us meant driving around in his pickup truck listening to Sirrus XM radio playing country music and talking about whatever came up. There was a lot about the old days. There were women, old PU trucks, dogs, rainstorms and trains, everything that country songs are written about. Maybe this short video will set the mood we had on that last day....one that I'll treasure.
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| From November 27, 2015 |
The Long Ride Home
I started riding back home Sunday morning. The thermometer said 15 degrees when I looked at it at 7:30 am. It was prolly 35* by the time I left. Immediately when leaving Glenn's place you go up a couple thousand ft. They hadn't gotten the message up there that the temp was above freezing, which explains why some of the ducks were standing on this little lake.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
I took the southern route home
I got a room at the El Ray Motel for 35$. The room is good enough, but the wifi is great. 35$ rooms don't come with coffee and continental breakfast so I had to break out the on board camp supplies.
I was tired last night and wanted KFC, but settled for Ramen noodles and Viena sausage....just as good.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Life on the road...morning coffee
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| From nov 2015 3 |
.,,,and making my reports
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Have you guys been thru the Salt River Canyon just north of Globe on Hwy 60? That's moto excellence with views to match. I was late going thru there, and didn't get any great pics but this will give you an idea.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
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| From nov 2015 3 |
I'm headed down into Tempe this morning in order to look up Nip's painting on the Calvary Chapel, that he did over 20 years ago, to see if it still exists. Remember? BTW this was supposed to depict the second coming of Christ which came from Nip's imagination.
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| From ridabout Nov 2015 |
Tempe was only 60 miles away... I rode in from Globe Az. That's another beautiful ride. I rode in from Globe Az. That's another beautiful ride.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Finally, I got into Tempe to see the mural that Nip did way back in '92. I asked Nip if it was likely to still be there. He said yes that he had done it with good paint. So I'd found the address of the Calvary Chapel, and when I pulled in there, I thought the place had deceased. There was a children s school. I went in and asked for the Calvary Chapel. She said that the parson was out, but he'd be back. It was about noon.
I told her that a friend of mine had done a mural. She asked right away if I was talking about the 'Second coming of Christ' Mural. there was kind of a proud sound in her voice when she spoke of the mural. She said that I could see it thru the window. I walked over to the untinted window of the front door and there it was in all its glory. It looked as good as it ever could have.
Here's the one I took that day
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| From nov 2015 3 |
I don't know why, but I'm happy the guys at the chapel are proud of Nip's art work.
I blew on past the Phoenix area on down to I-8 at Casa Grande. I was making good time, and soon found myself crossing the Ca border at Yuma. Hummmm.....whas up? I was riding out toward the west at the AG check point just west of Yuma, and felt some squiggly handling on the highway. I looked for groves, and couldn't see any. then I stopped to check for a soft tire. Nope. I drove off again...still seemed like a flat tire. I finally stopped and what I saw this time caused me to call a tow truck. My bike had spit out a rear wheel bearing which allowed the wheel to wobble when rolling.
This is getting old I finished up the day at Steve's house on the back of a tow truck. I'm hunkered down with Steve (same guy from Westmorland) who saved me from my getoff in June.
I pulled the wheel off last night and got the bearing pieces out that would fall out. That left me with the nekid outside race that had to be removed. I had no way to get behind it with a punch to knock it out. So that's what I dreamt about last night.
Steve served up his famous Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. That alone is worth breaking down anywhere within the hundred mile free towing distance (allowed by AAA) from Steve's house. Oh yeah, and did I mention his excellent box wine. Anything better would be a waste on me.
By the time we went to bed We both had gained 50 IQ points. smile emoticon
Steve said he had a Dremel tool with a grinding tool assortment. I ground flats in the ball path on opposite sides to get a punch on it....
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| From nov 2015 3 |
Then I could get the punch thru the wheel, like so, and knock the bearing out.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
The good news was that the hub still held the race tightly so the wheel was still good. The bad news was that Napa wanted 62 dollars for the bearing. Can you believe that? We told the guy, "Thanks but no thanks". The industrial bearing place 5 miles away in Brawley only wanted 15.62. Ah....that felt better. So it looks like I have everything to get back on the road in a couple hours.
There's just a little more to the story..... It had been a long 24 hrs of problem solving over my blown out rear wheel bearing. Steve and I had done some running around getting a new bearing and such for the repair....and the repair was finally finished. I was buttoning up and preparing for the last 100 mile ride home.
I picked up a qt of oil while I was out. I was surprised that I only needed a quarter qt to top it off. I was truly ready now. It was a warm day now that I was down at sea level. I thanked Steve for being a big part of my most recent rescue. I vowed to stop by when I don't need him some time.. smile emoticon
I put my winter coat on, now I needed to get wind in my face before I overheated. The road from Steve's place is a straight flat desert hwy. It's about 20 miles to the immigration checkpoint where, I slowed down and lost my foothold on the right foot peg, and again when I put that foot down on the pavement.
Oh oh......you don't suppose that I didn't put the oil fill plug in, do you? crap, there was oil everywhere. That was the bad news.
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| From nov 2015 3 |
.....but every once in a while you win one. The fill plug was sitting happily right there on the engine case where I always set it....not to mention that I had 3/4 of a qt of oil to add to the engine. The moral of the story is, you guessed it.... Luck beats Good!!!!
