Tepees and Buckley's Golf Balls

Tuesday, November 12

A pretty mellow day for Martha and I, this day marks the 29th Anniversary of her putting up with me as a husband.  I say it often, the woman should be sainted!

No festivities planned for or wanted by either of us, there'll be trips to foreign lands in our future we'd rather save our money towards.

I did get a short ride with Scarlett, out to the VRRV storage yard for some minor chores.  On the way home, I posed the rig at the Plains Conservation Center:

Thursday, November 14

The weather was sunny and in the mid-50s so it was time for Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW to get a little bit of exercise.

On the return half of the ride, I almost had a close encounter with a herd of Buckhorn Sheep that was thinking of crossing over the road which borders Buckley Space Force Base's northern perimeter.  They turned around back towards the snow covered fields as I passed by.

I turned around as quick as traffic allowed and parked the motorcycle near the herd which was once again timidly edging towards the highway in another crossing attempt.

Before they made it though, more cars and trucks came along and this time succeeded in scaring them into giving up crossing the highway at this location.

I managed to get within telephoto lens of them though.  No time for tripod or manual focus though as they moved steadily away from me:

I believe this is the largest herd of Buckhorn Sheep

that I've seen!

Walking back to where Brigitta was parked on the side of the highway; I realized she was in a good spot to get Long Peak and three of Buckley SFB's Golf Ball shaped satellite dish enclosures:

Lots of post-processing went into the above two shots, it was very hazy and the conditions precluded sharp imagery of the front range mountains.

I think there's also some slight calibration/focus issues with the telephoto lens, it's a smidge out of focus unless I go manual and use a tripod.  Oh well.

Post-Snow Storm Views of Mount Blue Sky

Record-breaking snow falls, this past three days.  We approached two feet of snow accumulation I think here in our cul-de-sac in the SE portion of the mess which is Metro Denver!

Lets just say I spent quite a bit of time running the snow-blower and doing some shoveling along with my loving wife Martha.

I elected not to ride out immediately after the snow storms, I was concerned my worn tires on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig, were not very grippy anymore.  Subconsciously I think I also knew the snow was deep enough to high-center the rig easily and probably immediately.

The above concerns were proven out when after the last snow fall, and once the cul-de-sac was mostly cleared, we went riding.  Martha accompanied and asked to be taken through a neighborhood next to ours so we could visit friends.

Our friends weren't home, and I managed to high-center Scarlett as I tried to leave from our friends' driveway area!  Doh!  Martha secured a snow shovel nearby and I dug out the high, solidly rutted snow, from under Scarlett.  

We finally got her loose and moving again without any cursing.  We slipped and slid our way to the library and from there back to the house for more snow blowing and shoveling.

Today, I rode out to Buckley Space Force Base to check on the VRRV's snow accumulation.  

That's Mount Blue Sky

formerly known as Mount Evans

Before the storage lot though, I quick ride to the gravel/dirt pit area on the eastern part of the base:

Found perhaps 1.5 feet of the stuff on the roof and spent some time clearing it off.

Leaving Buckley SFB, I motored over to the Denver Tech Center to check out the archway at the entrance to the Westlands Park.

These two geese sauntered by to get

their picture taken

After the park, it was a ride on the Arapahoe Road of Death, thankfully without any attempts by cagers to share my lane back to the home neighborhoods.

One more stop by the golf course for one more shot of Mount Blue Sky:

As you can see the sun was out, temperatures were in the low 50s and it felt quite balmy.  Roads were wet as the snow melted rapidly, I expect things will be dry again in a couple of days.

Chores, Learning Correct Ways with Connectors and Small Repairs

Amidst rather nice weather, I've been catching up on household chores.  

I also realized finally and youtube'd some lessons on the correct way to use butt and crimp connectors for low voltage wires.  I'd been doing it with the wrong tools and methodology you see; now I have new wire crimpers which should lead to better repairs in the future.

Changed the oil on both the Onan 4KW generator on the VRRV and also the Predator 2K Generator.  I've lost track of the hours on the Predator so I just change its oil when I do the Onan generator, which is at least every 50 hours of operation.

Changed the engine oil and filter on the VRRV, she's now over 119K miles.  I bought her with 22,240 miles on the odometer back in 2016.  That works out to an average of about 12,095 per year.

Received a replacement for the Chicology Blinds that broke in the VRRV.  Gotta like a company that stands behind their product!  It's installed and hopefully will last a while.

Paused briefly to shoot a pic of my neighbor's tree as it steadily begins to lose its leaves:

The trees in the neighborhood are also in the final stages of Fall Colors but not finding the motivation to go get those pics.  It's not the same with houses in the background.

Fixed the Aluma trailer's wire connection to the VRRV, again.  Though I'd done a good enough job last time but a bare wire on the right rear light had grounded and caused lots of current to flow and generated enough heat to burn things up!

Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig's front brakes had felt "mushy" when I last rode her.  Today I checked the pads (close but still good) and then discovered a failed speed-bleeder valve.  The rubber cap had come off a while ago it seems, dirt got into the opening and air got in.

Luckily I had a spare in stock, installed it, bled the brakes and all good now.

Normally, you'd see a small ball bearing sealing

the opening above

I keep rotating through the motorcycles as I run chores and such, no riding for pleasure since I got back from camping.  Mostly though, working on regaining trust in Yagi, my recently repaired TW200.

A neighborhood friend, Chip C., who's a pretty good handyman/mechanic has agreed to swap the wiring harness on the stators so that I have a good "spare" for Yagi.  My soldering skills remain crappy but I bought a "helping hands" tool based on Chip's suggestion for the next time I try soldering wires:

It's been a series of nice and warm afternoons with cool mornings in the 40s-50s.  Snow is rumored for the latter half of this coming week, we shall see.

Maybe not so big a Paradigm Shift after all.....Yagi has Spark Again

So many notions, most unrealistic in the end, ran through my feeble brain the last week or so.

Substitute the TW200 with an E-Bike?  Less moving parts, yes but costs and their performance envelopes just didn't justify costs.  

Give up taking a motorcycle, whether the T-Dub or Scarlett, the Ural Sidecar Rig, when going camping?  Just take the Honda CR-V for transportation right?  Not quite, sometimes the CR-V will stay home with Martha if she's not camping with me.  So some kind of ride must come along.

Sell Yagi for something newer and hence perhaps more reliable?  Nope.  Still have to fix Yagi to sell her and new motorcycles are pricey these day.  I looked at the Honda Trail for a bit, but my cheapness won out.

Martha and I have also determined that we were getting "on the bus to Abilene" in terms of replacing Umarang, the Class C motorhome I call the VRRV (Vehicle Recovery RV) with a pickup truck and travel trailer.  That idea has now been shelved until Uma suffers some unfixable issue or we give up camping hopefully years from now.

Will I continue to ride solo down sketchy trails?  Nope, that's the shift in paradigm I believe.  I will ride safer trails and remain within cell signal distance when possible; even though I might have to walk a few miles to get to said signal sometimes.  Solitary riding is good for the soul but having someone come by and give aid or a ride back to the VRRV is "mo better".

I'm still debating the replacement cost of a refurb'ed inReach Satellite Beacon locator.

I replaced Yagi's stator with an OEM one from Partszilla.com today.  Double the price of the previous one from Caltric but the warranty is a full year vs 3 months as I found out from Caltric.  My fault, I "assumed" their product would have the standard 1 year warranty, nope.  Caveat Emptor.  I do NOT recommend their stators.

So, at almost 22K miles, the T-Dub is now on her second replacement stator.  The original's wiring was damaged due to carelessness on my part.  The first replacement failed shortly after 3 months.  I hope this third one lasts until I sell her if ever.   

If I can find someone who is good with a soldering iron, am going to ask him/her to transfer the wiring from the Caltric unit to the OEM stator that came with the motorcycle.  Then, I'll have a spare.

And now to paraphrase and with apologies to George Michael:

Well, I guess it would be nice if I could trust you
I know not everybody has got a ride like you
But I gotta think twice before I give my heart away
And I know all the games you play because I played them too

[Chorus]
'Cause I gotta' have faith
I gotta have faith
Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
I got to have faith, faith, faith

[Verse 2]
Baby, I know you're askin' me to ride
Say, "Please, please, please let's go and ride"
You say I'm givin' you the blues
Maybe you mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And someone who let me down without a clue

[Chorus]
Yes I gotta have faith
Ooh, I gotta have faith
Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith
I gotta have faith, faith, faith

In case you're wondering what the song sounds like: