A Group Outing to the Paint Mines Interpretive Center

 Today's destination involved Martha and two couples from the neighborhood, all neighborhood friends of many years.

Bob W. and Dale B. rode a Yamaha 250 Dualsport and a Scooter respectively, Martha and I drove in Mariko and Jacqui and Anita, Bob and Dale's wife respectively drove in another car.  This was Martha's first ride in the Samurai and she liked it.

Windy, windy, windy day.  The guys on two wheels were having some interesting moments while riding along, with some of the gusts shaking the Samurai as well!  Along with the occasional hills, the strong winds kept the poor Samurai from making much over 45 mph at times!  Pretty much like a Ural in high winds.

Still, we made it to the Paint Mines Interpretive Center near Calhan, CO in about 90 minutes or so.  The parking lots were mostly full, the weather being nice though windy and it had brought out more people than I thought would be there.

It's about a half mile hike to the formations and we meandered about following the trail and seeking color among the weirdly shaped formations.

Can you see the people further in among the formations?

Bob had come up to me on the way to Paint Mines and told me Mariko's brake lights weren't working.  Cue heavy sighing on my part.

Once we got to Paint Mines, I did some basic troubleshooting, nothing found.  It was decided to go on the exploration and fix things once at home; with the guys on motorcycles acting as escorts/brake lights on the way home.

Before we went home though, we stopped at a diner in Calhan and had some great tasting meals.  Here we are after finishing the meals, all stuffed!

Above pic courtesy of Dale B.

We returned home via a slightly different route, some strong winds of course, but everyone got home without incident.

After resting for a bit, I tackled the non-working brake lights with the help of Thing 1.  Some methodical testing with the multimeter, I determined it was the wire from the brake switch to the left brake light that had a break in it.   

As the wire was part of the wire harness, I elected instead to run a separate wire to the correct wire at the left brake light assembly.  Not the prettiest or professional of jobs but the brake lights now work!  Getting at the brake switch proved to be a bit of a PITA as you have to twist your upper body in painful ways to be able to see and access the darn thing.

Still, Mariko has brake lights again so all is well.  I verified the reverse and turn signals still worked along with headlights.  The only electrical thing that still doesn't work is the wiper motor and the replacement should be here soon.

I won't be installing it any time soon though, since it involves major work in terms of having to remove the dash to access the motor!  In the meantime, by using a resettable fuse of the required amperage, I can get the wipers to work, sort of.  Good enough for now.