June 28th, 2010: Today is another cool and cloudy day here in the NorthWet. Spend the weekend down in Hood River, Oregon at the Advrider PNW Gather. Great to meet the people I see posting and the music simply rocked. Chris and his family have a great place tucked in between two peaks and surrounded by orchards. This is a must do next year if offered again.
The airhead GS still sits on the lift waiting to be reassembled.
Next on the agenda is the BMW MOA rally in Redmond Washington the weekend of July 17th, then two weeks up in Vancouver Island touring the island.
Coming back from Chris’s I wandered up along forest service road 1400.
Wish it were warmer, it’s rained every day now for the past two weeks. Next weekend is the holiday and I’m hoping for warm sunny days while camping in Oregon.
March is closing with rain and wind, but I’m back on the bike daily. The final drive was reshimmed this week by SouthSound and the problem was too tight shim installed at the factory. I kept the bearing I put in Mexico and will use it as a spare. Next time I carry a puller too!
The pictures above are my barbers shop in Steilcoom. He was diagnosed with cancer last month and had surgery last week. Hope you recover soon, Pat.
Jas continues with her third term of college. She’s rocking with solid A’s. She is still cautiously learning to drive and enjoying the car.
Spent the week on Miami Beach. Is all of Miami a giant money sucking machine designed to rip off tourist?
Today it was light until after 5:30 pm. I’m loving it. Spent the weekend at the coast, Naval resort in Pacific Beach. It rained, was cold and windy. Just the way I love it!
Monday, 4 Jan. Most of my patients are still on leave. It was daylight when I left tonight. I love the sunlight. Los Angeles next week, sun, beaches and warm weather. I’m digging it.
Time for a winter project. I scored a used Ohline shock for the airhead GS and after getting the bike up on the lift decided it needs to be stripped and cleaned. Time to build the bike for the trip to India.
Tonight, subframe off, making plans. More to come tomorrow.
It’s cold outside. For the first time in years I’m driving the truck to work. Need to shim the final drive and change the fluids and haven’t wanted to mess with it.
Arrived back from Mexico on Saturday night. I came back up on Hwy 93 from Tucson. It was cold, really cold. In Ely, NV it was -3 when I left the hotel. The speedometer broke on the bike from the cold. My nose froze and blistered. I’ve ridden in cold before, esp in Europe, but don’t remember ever being that cold before. I was wearing the Gerbing jacket which kept me at about 70 degrees then froze my arse off when I stopped.
I went down Baja to Santa Rosalia then ferried over to the mainland. I made Creel in two days and had the final drive fail 40 Km from Batopilas. I replaced the ring gear bearing on the side of the mountain, using a jet boil stove and a chisel to remove the old bearing. I only had 20-50 motor oil, but it made it to Batopilas. It was leaking when I got there, and I ended up getting a truck out of the canyons for $1600Mx (about 140.00 US$) back up to Creel. From Creel I trucked the bike to Hermosillo which is about 500 Km away to a trusted shop. We removed the seal and reinstalled it and I made it home.
Total milage was about 5200 by the GPS unit. 21 days on the road and I’m glad to be back at home. Having said that, I must admit I spent the day planning my next trip, shipping the Airhead to India next year.
Pics follow, more to come. See my location tags at spot: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=183194
Report about changing the bearing here at ADVRIDER:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87214&page=16
Update 13 Dec, WordPress isn’t liking the photos. I’ve tried to upload about a dozen times. Most of the pics are at the spot page.
I’ll keep working on it when I have the time to spare.
For Sale: 1981 R65. Runs great, new heads. approx 67k miles. $1200.00.
Arrival in Creel, Mexico
Ok, it’s official. Depart mid Nov, should make the canyon by the holiday. Weather is great too, according to noaa that area gets an average of 2.5 inches of rain durning November. I’ll be taking the pig.
If you are on Advrider, you’ll see my posts for a partner. Plng me back on GV if you’re interested in going.
