Odds and Ends...

Only took the credit union a month to release the title they had a lean against... even though they'd been paid with cash 😕 buuut no matter. I have the title now!

Be another couple weeks I expect to get the paperwork sent to South Dakota and get a plate back.

In the mean time I've been keeping busy working on the build of my Drifter's Wagon and replacing some gear.

...like a fresh Bell Star Series Helmet... It's a little different catagory than I've rode in the past__sort of a hybrid between sport and touring, so quite a bit snugger than I'm used to... gonna take a little while to adjust I think...

Just got the solar panel mounted on the roof today... waiting on ordered windows to arrive...

I am anxious to get this work done and get back on the road! Looking forward to __Hopefully rolling out in February and finishing out the last of the winter, warming on the Arizona desert!

- Brian

Part I; The Harvest. Part II; The Return of My Scooter

Well Ok... Been a while and there's things been happenin'... I am solidly in pursuit of a sort of a kind of Minimalism. Some might even call it Spartan... Though I like the sound of Spartan 😎💪 I think Simplicity and Minimalism is closer to the mark.

Got to Montana back in mid/early late September and worked the Harvest. Made a few dollars, a mite less than last year... Buuuut...

I was on the way there when I blundered across an advert for this scooter. She's an '08 Raider. The same year as the one I regretfully sold. I was told she had a bit over 14,000 miles. Truth is it's more like a bit over 13,000.

Of course, I didn't have the dinero for her and wouldn't for maybe six weeks. How-some-ever... the price he was asking was so far below what I took the market to be that I couldn't NOT contact him. I told him if he still had the bike in six weeks he'd sell it for sure and for certain.

To my surprise he writes back that if I put earnest money on her he'd hold it till then. Was a spooky deal for me to send money off for a bike I'd never seen but in a photo to a fella I didn't know... a thousand miles from where I was at.

Buuuuut... some lil' voice whispered to me; "Yo! Dumb ass! You lost the last bike for bein' stupid. Don't let this'un get away.

Well... it took some hustling and working around troubles but I got the harvest done and the bike finally to me. She was just as pristine as pictured and is now...Tee Totally Mine! For almost exactly to the dollar what the Harvest won me! 😁

So now, with Two parts of my road laid down... I'm working on the next couple. Part III; My old truck is sold for more money than I can believe for an 18 year old truck. I should get paid tomorrow! That provides the dinero for what is to be my "New Home" goin' forward.

I'll be getting the Lakota up for sale (Part V; or - whatever - just as soon as my new setup is ready. That'll be a chore as I'm upside down on that rig that proved out to be a huge mistake for me. Whatever, I'll get out from under it somehow...

But... I'll be living in about half the square footage I have in this Lakota, or 72 square feet. That's 6 x 12__ Part IV; at least if the current plan comes together this week as "planned".

This lil cargo box is most likely the benefit of selling the truck. I'll buy this one new__unless a cheaper used one pops up in time. I'm weary of waiting!

A few limited mods I'll make, to render it a decent quarters for such as me, but honestly I'm not looking for much more than a "Hard Sided Tent" sort of deal. I want simple. Minimal... bordering on Spartan... (like I said simple minimalism is probably more accurate... I just like the idea of bein' a Spartan! ha ha)

It's a little spooky to be honest... but I'm excited about the adventure that's in the works!

I have decided, after a couple years of mistakes and wrong choices that got me going in the opposite direction I set off for so many years ago... that the times I've been happiest were the times I've had the least.

So I'm working at reducing all to a few simple Needs. For the Most part!

1. A warm dry place to sleep.
2. A few pounds of food.
3. Good work to do.

Enough wind for now... and I've got work to do!

Keep it in the Wind
Brian

Still Bangin' Away... One Foot In Front of the Other.

Saying I'm back and GETTING back are sorta kinda two different things... The Ol' easier said than done kind of deal.

BUT... Progress is being made... if I draw a chalk line around it and watch real close!

The first Major part of clawing my way out of the mire I stepped in to is my annual Harvest job up in Montana that starts 'bout the middle of September. That'll produce the first of the dinero needed for the re-grouping.

Then I'm taking a deep breath and whittling out some very basic changes in the way I live... Ya'll might find it interesting... I'm hoping that's a word I'll be able to use 😎 and no more of words such as crash and burn! 😁

So, I'll be leaving Missouri sometime in very early September to begin working that way.

As soon as the Harvest is complete I'll be returning here to start the FUN part... Restoring my butt to the saddle of a scooter... and outfitting through the early part of the winter for the next chapter in this twisted and convoluted journey.

I am miserably impatient waiting to get things moving! ... and get my own knees in the breeze again! Patience is not a virtue I have much of left... might just could be how I get myself into so many jackpots! Ha ha...

Stay tuned.

-Brian

I'mmmm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Well... sort of... I'm still bikeless... and living in a horse trailer... one batshit crazy dog and a horse that... yeah... enough of that...

Actually not much to write about... the last two years and more have been a slow motion train wreck...

Divorce, Struggle, Humongous vet bills, Betrayal, Busted shoulders ( fall from a truck not a horse) Humongous repair bills to rival and dwarf the vet bills... you name it and I probably did it wrong...

... and all seeming to be the Boss smacking a slow learner up side the head with a two by four wanting to know; "Yo! Moh-ron! WHACK!! Have I got your attention yet???!!!"

Thing is... he GOT MY ATTENTION. Actually sort of one of those epiphany revelation deals. "I can see clearly now"... the stars are gone.  Let's see if I can keep the fog of life from obstructing my vision again in the next few weeks. That's my trouble right now... I know where and how I need to go... onliest problem being that things beyond my control say that trail can't really start until well into September... which leaves a moh-ron plenty of time to muck up the works with second guessing and conjuring up troubles that don't exist! :)

I'm stationary in Missouri for another few weeks... I'll start rolling along about the 5th of September as my labor to restore myself to who and what I was begins. I'll be Colorado bound for a couple of commitments and then on to Montana to start this next chapter of my twisting journey.

I don't want to say too much just now (superstitious you know) but... as I make progress I'll hopefully be able to reveal my successes as I strive to restore my bony ass to the world of the upright and scooter mounted.

I'm hopeful... combined with a nature that's about as stubborn as the boss ever made and I should get where I'm headed... in some fashion... One way or t'other... it'll be a Ride!

- Brian

I Don't Know...

...what the hell I was thinking. 

Yeah its been a while. Not sure if anyone is even watching this page any more :( Guess I'll just have to go back to work and gain 'em all back!

It's been a year and a half and more of stupidity, blown up shoulders, blown transmissions, humongous vet bills, pneumonia and finding out those who swore loyalty, friendship and partnership were only fine "players" that worked me with their pretty words...and meant not a one. Can you spell 'Sucker' boys and girls? 

It's left me bankrupt and busted in body and spirit. No horses and no scooter neither. Just one damn fool, a bat shit  crazy dog living in a high dollar horse trailer that was supposed to be paid for by horses and partnership... yeah... just a gen-U-whine dumbass.

So... I'm parked in the wilds of western Montana clawing my way out of the hole. Yep! I stopped digging soon as I saw clear how deep the fool already dug the hole. So the good news is, it ain't getting any deeper!

I have another harvest coming up over in eastern Montana in just over a month to start filling that hole back in. THAT work is my "new" to me Raider to start me back on Freedom Road.

A hard nut to Crack will be divesting that high dollar aluminum boondoggle I bought last year. One way or t'other it will get done.

Then it's just one foot in front of the other reconstructing the life I did a fair job of deconstructing!

I have a "plan"... no idea how I'll get it done. Just know that the only way is to start. Pick up my foot and step off the cliff. I'll have to learn to land soft on the way down!

-Brian

Well the Changes Have Been Coming Fast and Furious...

Been running hard. 

First, Arlo and me found a small piece of dirt just after he joined me. Just a five acre spot down in Cochise county in Arizona.

That's Tombstone/Wyatt Earp/Geronimo and Cochise country.

Then... a biggie is my new "house"... I made a lightning fast week long run from Colorado to Alabama and back to pick it up.

The old Jayco 5er I've been living in for the past several years is going to my Kid... to be used for living quarters while they build a new house in Missouri...

*2016 Lakota Charger 3 horse*

The biggest part of "The Change" though is the change in what I'll be riding... It's the "thing" that caused all the shakeup in the first place.

This old buster is goin' back to horse.

I discovered after better than five years without that there was a growing hole inside me. After living with horses for the greatest part of my life, I came to realize they weren't something I was able to walk away from.

It came down to a hard choice; Horses or Motorcycles. It could only be one. I'll tell you right here... the choice was as tough as I've ever had to make. How do you choose between joys?

Buuuut... My current economic realities dictated that I had to make a choice. I just couldn't swing both as things are... Horses won...

That new Lakota helps that out since those back three windows are the three stalls of a three horse LQ (Living Quarters) Trailer. The front half or so is the living quarters.

So... for the coming foreseeable future, my winter camp will be in southern Arizona.

I've gotten committed to helping my daughters family move and build in the Missouri Ozarks, at least the first part of this summer.  But then__Hopefully__by late August or early September I'll return to my little patch of dirt I'm calling Cochise Camp... to start building up a simple Cowboy Winter Camp.

Maybe with a little luck I'll sell enough books in the not to distant future to allow me to regain a fresh Bike.

Until then, when something occurs to me I'll post a story here... but... most of my time is going to be spent writing, riding horsehide and building... the stories of that will be posted on my sister site goin' RV Boondocking.

Living with Horses again, and then having a good Motorcycle for my "Run Around" transport would be a pure Joy of life for sure!

Duckin' and Runnin'
Brian 

Going That way... Nope This way... That way... Oh Look... is That Another Road?

The Bike finally sold a few days ago__and let it be said; I am completely and totally ambivalent about this choice__I haven't a clue whether I'm comin' or goin'...

Somehow I knew it was time for "Things" to change. The whispering in my head was a genuine pita.

Only problem is__ I hadn't really a clue what exactly that "change" looked like. Still don't! I mean all sorts of things have been tumbling in my head. Tumbling so much that they were confused and fleeting in a murky haze.

Finally, more out of frustration than anything else I just reached out and set a grip on one of the visions when it momentarily appeared in the fog... Pretty much I had to do Something, even if it was wrong, just to break the inertia and get some movement.

I've read that; "The mind is like water, when it's agitated it's hard to see... but when it is calm it becomes clear and you can see easily"

Yeah... I get that for sure and for certain. The "water" inside of my head is most often like the inside of a blender clicked on High.

Been so long since I could see clear that I'd probably mistake it for somebody Else's dream and pass on by if it ever did happen.

I'm letting things just settle for a while... and see what comes. Too often I think maybe I've tried to force things that shouldn't be forced and ended up with square pegs wedged tight into round holes.

Turned an unplanned direction a few days after the Raider left__ and stumbled across a guy...

His name is Arlo. He's a 9 week old Australian Shepherd pup from the ISDR registry. That's where they were carried before the AKC got ahold of the breed and begun to mucking it up like it's done to so many others...

The ISDR is where the Real Aussies are found.

Well... when this guy looked at me and that lil' voice deep inside looked into those eyes it whispered; don't be a jackass. do.not.leave.this.guy.behind.

So he's sharing camp with me these days. Softens the loneliness that a solo camp becomes.

Maybe this guy will herd me back into the sunlight that seems to have faded.

We shall hope and see__ and find out where exactly the future road runs.

Brian

I know... It's Been Months...

It's been a difficult fall and winter. I've been in a "place" in my head that's not what you'd call a good place and not real inspiring to write about...

I came to a place where there was a gnawing inside that I couldn't ignore any longer. I've felt it for a few years, slowly growing... but honestly... didn't truly recognize the source.

It starts and ends with me.

I'm a gypsy in more ways than one. Much interests me... but there's a problem there. Spread yourself in too many directions, and nada gets done. You run in circles with nothing being accomplished.

Well... spinning those circles I came to realize there were... are... parts of me I just can't leave behind. But also in this world, there's only so much of each of us to go around... and it's "THAT"... that I've been stewing over for months.

Which part of me at this late place in life do I focus on? Which part of me is the greater part? I have to cull out the lesser bits to focus on the greater... or lose it all...

Now... I'm a rider right? But what kind? Motorcycle? or Horse?

I've rode both the greater part of my life (Made my living horseback)... but the past six years... there've been no horses. It was THAT absence... that has been gnawing at my innards. Turns out to have been a wrong trail I turned down.

Motorcycles get inside you... Horses... even deeper. It rapidly goes back to that "If I have to explain it to you - You won't understand" bit of wisdom.

There's not enough of me to go around... so I have to choose. Where does my greatest passion lay?

... I have discovered... that it lays with Horses and so Back to Horse... is where I'm going.

To that end, I put my Raider up for sale way back in December... when I got back into Arizona for the winter... I was hoping that like, ripping a bandage off FAST to get the pain over with quick... it would sell fast.

It didn't... it Hasn't. and this turmoil in my head gets drug out week after week... month after month.

I've run ads online since before christmas. I'd not be so perplexed if people looked at the bike and decided against it... but I've had zero calls. That's as in... None. Not one... ugh! Not a soul has looked at the scooter... makes it real difficult to sell it.

That was an eventuality I'd not expected.

I can't mark it off to I've got her priced too high. It's been the lowest for that bike on craigslist by near $2000.

Guys say well keep it... and do both... To which I say; Re-read the parts above where I talk about "Only so much of me to go around." ... I can't spread my loyalties around like that I've discovered... It runs 'em too thin to give proper attention to either.

...or at this point... my finances... and I need the cash she represents to go the way I've chosen...

And deep inside me... I NEED to get back to Horse...

... and this lil' bit of purgatory drags on.

Brian

P.S. If you should know anybody interested in an '08 Yamaha Raider with 38,000 on the clock and a few extras for $6000... send 'em my way...

Another Day in the WInd

First thing every morning... ok the second thing... but that other first... well... we'll just keep that private :-P so the second First thing is Sunrise Coffee.

 Which is a slight problem... when you've left your cup a few hundred miles away... well, it tastes just as good and hot in the cool of the morning when you drink it out of a bowl so no complaints.

Then it was time to load camp back up and head on down that ribbon of asphalt.

Independence Pass was on the map for today. I'd not been on it in 15 years or so. Makes it damn near a first time experience... and a sweet ride it is. Lots of twisties, and decent pavement...

Buuuuut... you might want to keep a leash on the throttle... that dozen plus big horn sheep that were on the road when I leaned around one bend can mess up your whole day if you're really pushing it. :)

I'd have a pic of that... 'cept there wasn't a single place for a half mile to pull over and put a sidestand down.

No matter... there were a few spots available for other pics as I climbed to the top.

From down in the bottom of the valley... and then way up on the pass...

You come down the west side of the pass through equally gorgeous country... right up until you roll into Aspen...

Yeah... I've got this idea I might not be a welcome addition to the citizenry of that lil' burg... leastways if the look I got from one 40something "Lady" is any testimony. Bwahahahaha...

Now I never noticed just my presence to be an offensive thing before... buuuuuut... 

That long legged gal strutted across the crosswalk past my scooter, with a look on her face that purt near said it all, as I waited on a light. Dayum... if looks could kill I'd be one of them Ghost writers right now! :) ha ha ha... yup... you'd a thought when she glanced at that leathered up biker that she'd stepped in somethin' unpleasant.

Buuuuuut... just down the road is a place, Glenwood Springs, where they treat such as me a mite friendlier :) So I got my lunch there before I turned east and rode on to a camp on the other side of a certain pass...

*Ha! They named a pass after me!*

I've tried on occasion to get myself tied in by blood to this fella. I don't know that it'd be good to have his... let's say... careless reputation ;) buuuut... inheriting a small bit of his money would sure make drifting on a scooter a lot easier deal :)

Yes sir. I could stay in Snooty Hotels where the waiters in the restaurant hang them clean towels over their arms? and you sip wine with your lil' finger in the air... and get room service and massages with fancy perfumed oils and such... WhooYa... the life of a Royal Biker huh? ;-D 

Yeah... since THAT ain't happenin'... I set my tent on a nice roomy patch of grass with one other tent over in Kremmling... We had a ramada with a table to use and fine facilities with hot showers... all for $13 bucks. Which makes it 'bout half of a KOA to get a shower... wifi too... beer and breakfast burritos just down the road a mile... all the comforts. Red Mountain RV park in Kremmling Colorado. I'll be keeping that one on my list.

Got up in the morning and crossed over Rocky Mountain National Park to get back to the rig... and all the chores that stack up in just four days of splittin' off...

Grab Your Handles and Ride... (It beats those damned chores every time!)

A Pass Baggin', Figure Eight'n, Continental Divide Crossin' Wander Through Colorado

I left out of Fort Collins bound up the Poudre River Canyon for Walden and North Park.

Before I'd gotten even three miles I got stopped for quite some little while waiting for the boys with their trains to move their toys out of the way and clear the road...

... Thennnnn... as soon as I entered the canyon... six and a half miles of chip and seal road work. I was getting a lil' nervous how this ride was starting out!

Buuuut once I broke out past those obstacles it was open road!

I crossed over six good tall passes on the 750 some miles I rolled in the four days... starting at the west end of Poudre canyon with the often crossed Cameron Pass...

Rolled down the west side of the pass which brought me down into North Park and Walden...

 I do believe North Park might be one of the nicest bits of cow country in Colorado... even if the winters are brutal... and the summers... at maybe 46 growing days is damned short!

I was coming near to my planned camp for the night about the time the clouds were piling up fast.

I raced over Muddy Pass and a few seconds later... Rabbit ears trying to beat the threatening storm.

I wasted no time and had my camp set in under ten minutes. ;) The thunder was booming and the lightning flashing as I hustled to get a dry camp set... and then with only a light shower it passed on by.

Climbed back on the scooter to run on the last 19 miles into Steamboat to pick up the fixin's for supper... and a brew to wash it down.

Now... I'm no cook so I've come up with some quick and easy ways to have a decent meal at the end of day... cook or not.

The best and easiest to have some tasty and good food I've found is this; I stop at the last town, if there is one! (Walden ain't got a grocery any more, hence the run into Steamboat from my camp east of town) ... anyway...

I stop and pick up a "Healthy Choice" Cafe Steamer!

Yeah they're made for the microwave or a regular oven... buuuuut...

I just open 'em up, and peel that celophane stuff off. Scrape the sauce out of the bowl into my pan... often it's still froze even if it's been in a saddlebag for a couple hours!...

... and then dump in the rest of the goodies... and heat it up on my stove. one pan... they provide the bowl so fewer dishes to do! ... or I often just eat it right out of my pan...

When you've been on the road, especially if conditions are tough, either cold or real hot, windy, rainy... anything that saps your strength and energy...

... it's critical that you take care of yourself. Decent food, not gas station coffee and three muskateers bars is a gotta have.

This makes it quick and easy for a non-cook to eat well.

and simple as hell for the guy on a bike with limited places to carry hardware. Eat supper and doing the dishes is largely... throwing them away! :)

It also deals with the problem of riding through BIG bear country up north. You pick up your food just before you eat it... and it's that much less to deal with for safety... Bear Bags hung in trees and such...

Anyhoo, after supper, while you savor that fancy brew you just kick back and contemplate the nice country you rode through and into.

*Dumont lake east of Steamboat*

Yeah... and laugh at the looks on everyone's faces when you walked out of the grocery store in a frog strangler downpour there in Steamboat... climbed on your scooter... and rode off into the storm! :)

... To have your supper in the sunshine that came along after that second storm passed!

Got up to a soft and quiet sunrise...

... and then dawdled around and visited with some folks in the camp... while I waited for last nights rain and the HEAVY morning dew to dry off enough to pack up camp.

It's kinda nice to not be in a rush to get somewhere.

My plan for the day was to head south on U.S. 40 past Kremmling turn onto Hwy 9, cross Hoosier Pass and on to Fairplay.

I'd choose my direction once I'd got there... and when I did... that lil' voice inside my head said; Swing around and turn back north on U.S. 24 To Buena Vista...

City Market in Buena Vista supplied my second nights Cafe steamer and another fine brew... That I enjoyed at the Diamond Point Campground near Twin Lakes... Just below the eastern approach to Independence Pass...

You can't see it in these... but there was a pretty constant breeze across that like... that kept the skeeters blown away... and made for a pleasant camp... just soaking up Far Country.

It was fairly cool... and that rectangular $29 walmart Coleman Bag I recently got because I can't stand the confines of a high dollar North Face mummy bag any more did an awesome job of keeping me toasty along with plenty of room to wiggle around. ;)

Shortly after the sun set... I crawled into my bag and zoned out for the night... though I left the door open so I could see the moonlight on the lake when I'd wake during the night. :)

In the morning I headed west again on Hwy 82, to climb Independence Pass... but that's another post.

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

I've Been Reworking Some of My Touring Gear

I picked up a New Ultra Touring Bag from Kuryakyn about a week ago. Found it in the Beaver's Den Motorcycle Leather shop on a ride up Highway 34 west of Loveland...

*My New Kuryakyn Ultra Tour Bag*

There's been a bit of evolution over the years... for how I pack my gear.

*How I packed my gear on my Alaskan ride*

*Another evolution from a ride a couple years back*

*My current packing and gear arrangement*

I used to carry the tent up on the bars. Not a bad way... but there was some interference with the ignition key... so I'm trying out some new packing of that.

Also, I abandoned my old mummy bag. I just can't tolerate the confines of that thing... and I'm now carrying a cheapie walmart rectangular bag that seems to keep me as warm and a hell of a lot more spacious. But it is a bit more bulky. 

The Kuryakyn tour bag so far is proving out well. I took it on a "Test ride" up a twisting mountain canyon and into Rocky Mountain National park the other day. I thought it a good idea to test it and the way I've got everything packed now on a real world hundred mile ride... before I take off on a weeklong trip hopefully later this week... and it all rode without a hitch.

The bag is something I'm becoming real happy with. It carries actually more clothes than I took to Alaska... and does it without having to stuff and punch to get it in. The quality of the bag seems top notch...

This is what I put in it... and still have a bit of space if I DID feel like stuffing... Likely I don't need that much... you just stop at a laundry a bit more often. :)

 ... and this pic doesn't include the drinking water bladder I'm testing out in the top road side pocket... a convenient place for drinking water on the road (one of the bigger mistakes people make on long hot tours... they fail to drink enough water) Make it convenient to get a drink... It should improve that... which makes you a safer rider. (dehydration is going to slow down your thinking/reaction time)

Likely one of the biggest improvements for me is that it attaches rock solid. I've tried to cheap out for a while, (not a good choice really) using "other" gear and not bags designed explicitly for bikes. That left me always having to conjure up ways of strapping it on secure.

This bag locks onto my seat with two built in straps from the bottom front and a wide, velcro strap that wraps around the back rest.

Combined with two straps from D-rings on top of the tour bag that I use as anchor points to secure the tent...which is also secured to the sleeping bag below it... which is secured to the luggage rack... it is a rock solid load.

It does come with a heavy duty rain cover... but with all my other gear, that doesn't look like it's going to fit. The bag itself seems like it should be pretty water resistant... but I'm scouting for a rain cover that will cover the whole load... thinking maybe a light nylon tarp sized right and a lil' bigger net to secure it... always some sort of gear to fiddle with...

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

A Weird Conclusion to The Fork Rebuild... and Some SWEET Time in The Wind

Sooo... I'm at a tee total loss. The bike is back together and I've not got a sliver of a part of a small bit of the shadow of an idea how.

The curbside of the forks was together days ago. The road side refused to go. I broke down and ordered the pro tool which required waiting a week for it to arrive. When it did it was the wrong "drive" so I had to hunt up an adapter for it...

Then I went to assemble the fork tube... and the PRO tool wouldn't hold! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

I had help to hold the holder and no matter what I/we did... nada... it wouldn't go together. Frustrated and angry I called it quits at dark. Went over and sat under the shredded awning and sipped a beer... stewing in my own juice.

Shortly after dawn I walked back over to give it one last solo try... and failed again. That damned tube just kept turning. No Joy.

So there I am... bike sitting on a jack. One tube that isn't and won't go together and stumped and frustrated and fresh out of any ideas....

Absent mindedly I picked up a wrench... and just went to turn that bolt again, and turn the damper rod, while trying to come up with another "idea"... and with NO HOLDER in the tube... the damper rod wouldn't turn? Locked up solid... WTF???!

I picked up the torque wrench and put it on... and CLICK! with NO DAMPER ROD HOLDER IN PLACE...not one damn thing to hold it... and it didn't/wouldn't turn...

So now, I'm kinda freaked; Did I screw something up and have the forks all jammed up?

No... it works like it's supposed to, both sides... Weirdness... checking the other tube it wouldn't turn either???... IDK. I've no freaking idea what or why or when or how...

I only know... the forks weren't together... and then they WERE... and I didn't do a damned thing... but... I'll take it! I hurried and got the oil in and leveled, the wheel and fender and brakes on... got her back together... and then gingerly rode a hundred miles... testing to see all was "Right"...

The brakes work. The forks work. No leaks. No Squeaks. No heat... just... doing what it's supposed to do...

Then yesterday I climbed on and went on a nice wide circle.

Ran up Hwy 287 through Laramie. Rolled out Hwy 130 through Centennial and climbed up into the Snowies...

You're just over 10,000 feet up in Snowy Range pass on top... Far Country that soothes the soul of a grumpy old puss gut like me!

Coming down off the west side of the Snowies I caught Hwy 230 just a little below Saratoga and turned south for Walden in the North Park country of Colorado.

Grab some fuel there and came back east on Hwy 14 over Cameron Pass, another 10,000+ footer... and down the Poudre Canyon back to Fort Collins.

That's a nice run down the canyon... until you get to the lower end...and then all the cagers who can't go around a 35 mile an hour bend at 25 without hitting their brakes kinda mess with the day... :)

Buuuut... bottom line... a few hundred miles on my unknown-how-I-did-it repair... and all is good. Awesome!

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

Remember Maxwell Smart?

What's he got to do with Motorcycles you ask?

"Missed it be THAT much!" Just imagine Max's voice :)

I haven't gotten Sonja put back together yet...

But I came close... I found a five dollar tool for plumbing (a nipple extractor) that gripped the curbside damper rod perfectly, allowing me to torque the bolt holding the tubes together...

That center offset section "cams" or turns eccentrically and wedges into smooth round holes to grip.

A small collection of extensions gave me the length needed to reach down inside the fork...

The first tube was torqued in but a few seconds... so excited that I'd have her back together in another hour or so I slid the contraption down the second tube and turned it to lock in place... and turned it to lock in place... and turned it, and turned it... and whispered a curse... and turned it...

Nothing! What worked 100% perfect a foot away in the other identical tube... wouldn't grip even a slight bit in the second... arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

Sooooo... I spent five hours running around, calling, walking through tool/hardware stores trying to scheme and option... went back to the garage and tried again... fail... ugh...

I smell that sorry little irish again. Who else do you know, 'cept for me, takes a two hour job and converts it into a three week ordeal? That pest Murphy has GOT to be mixed up in this ;)

Well... I finally surrendered and called Motorcycle Superstore to order the "Pro" tool... which of course they have to get from THEIR supplier... which is identical to the plumbing tool I used to sell in MY hardware days... which they no longer manufacture as a Five dollar plumbing tool.

Nope... it's a $25 dollar Motorcycle Damper Rod Holder tool! or more if you go to the wrong place. :) So... I wait another week for the HOPEFULLY last tool to arrive so I can put my girl back together!

I did succeed in finding a boot that will, also Hopefully, protect the forks from future premature fork seal failure from dirt...

I located a pair of what were manufactured as Rancho Suspension Shock boots that fit near perfectly. They'll keep grit and rocks and bugs from either dingin' the tubes or getting into the seals and causing future leaks.

Kinda old school and I'm sure the chrome and flashy paint boys will thumb their noses... but then... I've never seen the chrome and flashy paint boys on the roads I ride. :) How-some-ever... I HAVE seen plenty of grit and rocks and bugs...

... and it wasn't just in my bed roll!

Another week and she'll be healthy again... my fingers are tightly crossed...  Until then... I walk over to the garage twice a day and ring that gremlin bell you can see danglin' just under the frame below the gear lever...

Oh yeah... I don't think I told you here... maybe it was just on that "other" blog...The RV one ;) (that story starts here)... I'm still dealing with wasps on the roof of the rig that won't let me up there to do THAT maintenance either... So I built a tent to hang a pest strip in, and traps all around to kill the nasty little parasites...

*Bug tent on the 5th wheels roof surrounded by traps*

Tough as they are... I'm more stubborn than they are (Yosemite Sam genetics prolly) and I'm winning that battle too, if slowly... My "bug tent" is knocking them down day by day...

Putting my frickin frackin motorcyclin' butt back in the wind will be a VERY appreciated day! :) ... even if it IS on a Yamaha... bwahahahahahahaha

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian