A slow glamping week

Monday, August 26.

Not much got done in terms of riding, pretty much relaxed around the campsite.

Tuesday, August 27.

Woke early, again, and got some pics of the campsite as the morning sun got above the nearby hill:

Rode into Vail to have lunch with neighborhood friend Dale B.  We went to a pizza/sandwich shop, not very expensive.  The rest of the afternoon was spent by me troubleshooting a high idle situation with Fiona, my '99 Rig.  Didn't make much progress there.

Then it was time for a mild sunset:

Wednesday, August 28.

Got the URRV prepped for me not being with it tonight.  Basically securing the generator inside the RV and attaching a cable lock on Yagi as she sat mounted on the trailer.

I then rode back home on Fiona, still experiencing the high idle issue but otherwise no problems.  Got home after about 2.5 hours of riding.  It was much warmer down in the cesspool that is the Metro Denver area!

In the afternoon, now that I was back in the garage with Fiona, I decided it was time to examine the carburetors.  I think I may have found the issue causing the high idle:

 Left side carburetor's idle jet, the o-ring is

damaged, which allows air leakage.

 Black sludge, I think from a disintegrating o-ring

in the cavity where the main jet is located.

 Both main jets had damaged O-rings;

it's apparently very easy to damage the

darn things when installing the jets.

So, I've ordered replacement o-rings of course, along with some new return springs for the choke levers on the carburetors and some spare throttle return springs as well.  They should be at the BMW dealer some Tuesday of next week.  Hopefully this will remedy the high idle situation with Fiona.

Thursday, August 29

Had a medical appointment at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Aurora.  Part of the process to be assigned a primary care provider.  That went well, they did all the usual checks and drew some blood for lab work.

After that, I got back on Scarlett, my 2014 rig and rode all the way back to the campsite, with no issues and got there just before Noon.

Soon I was joined by Dale B. and Bob W., friends from the neighborhood who were staying at a timeshare condo Dale had arranged in nearby Vail.  Lunch was consumed and then we prepped to take the motorcycles and Bob's ATV for a ride.

Dale B. would end up on Bob W's ATV, Bob would be on the TW200 and I would of course ride Scarlett.

Note to self.  Use full pre-load on the shock absorbers for no "wallowing" behavior when riding at above 45 mph!  Use no pre-load when doing dirt/rocky road riding.  It's much better that way.

Below pics taken with iPhone 6s, forgot my camera at home.

We rode and explored Lime Creek Road first and then we headed back to Shrine Pass Road and eventually we showed the town of Redcliff to Bob.

photo courtesy of Dale B.

 Bob and Dale at the "snowcat" VW bus

 Dale and Bob beneath the bridge over the Eagle River

near Redcliff, CO

Shooting the breeze near the old cabin sites along Shrine Pass Road

Three went out, and three came back.  No injuries and no mechanical issues.  A good afternoon of riding.

We finished off the afternoon relaxing by the RV and having some snacks.  Soon, the weather turned chilly though so Bob and Dale left after securing the ATV to the bed of Bob's pickup truck.

After a quick dinner, I went and used the iPhone to capture this evening's sunset.  I used a third party camera app instead of the built-in camera app and got some decent results.

Not too bad eh?  The iPhone 6s that I have can't shoot in RAW mode so there were limits to what post-proceeding the images using Lightroom could achieve.  

The area is starting to fill up with campers showing up already for the long Labor Day Weekend.  I'll be leaving here tomorrow to avoid the weekend crush of campers and tourists.

Update, a couple of short videos:

Dale on ATV, Bob on the TW200

Easily loading his ATV onto his pickup truck.
Easy Peasy for an ex-Navy Carrier Pilot!