Monday, June 10, 2013

Uraling back to Colorado - Day 62: Salem, OR to Ontario, OR

I left Bluekat and Ron's home shortly after 7:00 AM and arrived at Raceway Services in Salem, OR shortly after 8:00 AM.

Last evening, I had a chance to give Rachel, Bluekat and Ron's daughter
another ride in the sidecar.  She doesn't like her picture taken apparently....  :)

Robert started checking out Valencia's torque on the head bolts, asked me about yesterday's oil change, examined the oil I'd brought from that oil change, fixed the mounting bolts on my front brake caliper (they were stripped due to overtightening I think).

I was out of there by 10:00 AM, once again thankful for such a great dealership such as Raceway Services and the stellar shop crew and management that they provide for customers.

The rest of the day was steady ( speed was between 55-60 mph indicated ) riding on the I-84 Super Slab.  No pictures of the Columbia Gorge area, too much congestion due to a traffic accident on milepost 44 which really snarled things up.

10 glorious hours later, and according to Google Maps roughly 421+ miles, I checked into a Motel 6 in Ontario, Oregon.  I am a tired rider tonight.

Here's today's route:

source: google maps

 As I rode along, I tried to capture a sundog rainbow, failed at that
but as you can see, got a good shot of the sky and clouds somewhere
to the west of Ontario, Oregon on I-84.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  That's the saying where good
weather is presaged by the appearance of red skies in the evening.....I hope its correct.

Valencia ran great all day I am happy to report.  The plan is to cross into Idaho tomorrow and stop at the URAL dealer in Boise, ID to get him to check/re-torque the head bolts one more time per the recommendation of Raceway Services.  I didn't have a torque wrench with me and the one I found at a NAPA store was $200 so I passed on that purchase!  I also hope to do a 1000 kilometer interval oil change to ensure there's no more metallic shavings in the engine oil.

After that's done, it's more slab time heading towards Wyoming.  

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Dom:

very glad to see all is well and uneventful. Hoping that your ride home is smooth with good weather all the way

Red sky at night, is the best !

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Andy said...

Good to meet you at coffee in Corvallis.
I found Bud E. after coffee, he somehow hit the eject switch.

Man, I-84 is a drag. You should have run up Hwy 20, then 26 to Ontario. The scenery is much better with less wind as well..

Maybe next time.
PolarBear

SonjaM said...

Even though not many pics have been made the two presented are lovely. Slab time is always boring but at least you got Valencia working again, and seemingly working good. Safe travels home.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks Bobskoot....I hope your preparations for the trip continue going along well?

redlegsrides said...

Polarbear, great to meet you as well and glad you found Bud E!

Yeah, slab time is a drag but when one is confined to Ural Speed.... :)

redlegsrides said...

SonjaM

it was the ace mechanic at Raceway Services who got Valencia working....I just stood nervously in the sidelines. ; )

Canajun said...

Fingers crossed the rest of your trip is as uneventful.

RichardM said...

Nice cloud photos. You have to admit that slab riding is still better than sitting in front of a computer..

Trobairitz said...

Glad thing are running smoothly again and that you made it down I-84 - it is usually a snarly mess with a lot of accidents so no surprise there was another yesterday

Thanks again for taking the time to come to coffee Saturday morning It was great to finally meet you.

Safe travels to you.

Unknown said...

I used to ride around a lot until I got too busy with my job. Now I need to look into motorcycle repair before I go again. There is something about cruising across the country that is amazing.

redlegsrides said...

thanks Canajun for the well wishes

RichardM, just barely Richard...just barely.

Trobairitz, it was great meeting you and Brad as well Brandy....