RV Trip: Hot Springs, SD - Day 1 and 2: Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway

Saturday, October 14, Martha and I rode Umarang with Scarlett in tow, through the eastern outskirts of the Metro Denver area in thick, thick fog conditions.  It was so thick at times, I couldn't see farther than 100 feet ahead...we were searching for a spot to pull over and wait it out and it started clearing fortunately, just north of Longmont.

The rest of the day was spent in windy overcast conditions mostly, it even rained and snowed lightly on us a few times as we transited Wyoming on I-25, heading eventually for the turn eastwards into South Dakota....basically taking US Highway 18 into that state.

We got to the KOA at Hot Springs, South Dakota shortly after 3PM and settled into glamping mode.

Sunday was a much better day in terms of weather.  Sunny and though it started in the high 30s, would soar to 60 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the riding.

First it was a quick run into the town of Hot Springs where we met Martha's friend from Nurse College, Trish and her husband John for breakfast.

After breakfast, it was a visit to their nearby property on which they're working to eventually build a house and small horse ranch.

At around 11AM we set off going north on US385 to State highway 87 and eventually junctioning with US Highway 16A, a.k.a. Iron Mountain Road; a very twisty and scenic road with rollercoaster-like ups and downs with tunnels and views of Mount Rushmore.

We saw many Bison, some really close to the side of the road

that we were on!

photo courtesy Martha

photo courtesy Martha

Signage at a campground near the start of

Iron Mountain road and some Fall Color

Wonderful road, Iron Mountain Road, the tunnels that were blasted for it were designed to always frame the Mount Rushmore Monument's Presidents.

 View from Scovel Johnson Tunnel

 View of Mt Rushmore from C. C. Gideon tunnel, 

he designed the Iron Mtn Road and the Pigtail Bridges

(Bridges that went under themselves)

 Doane Robinson Tunnel

Scarlett and I, going and coming...

photo courtesy Martha

 photo courtesy Martha

photo courtesy Martha

 Near the entrance to Mt Rushmore Monument

 Profile view point near Mt Rushmore

After fueling up in Hill City, we got onto the Needles Highway.  Had to pay a $10 fee but it was worth it.  See the film at the end of this posting.

We did also have an encounter with two adult mountain goats and their two kids.  Sorry, didn't get a good pics of the kids, they had their noses burrowed into the ground, not sure trying to get at what.

Tunnel on the Needles Highway

 This guy came a bit too close for comfort

and so we left!

photo courtesy Martha

 A view of Cathedral Spires from the Needles Highway

Near Wind Cave National Park

photo courtesy Martha

Clutch Troubles for Fiona

Back on Saturday, October 7, 2017, I had been riding Fiona, my '99 Ural Patrol with a Beemer engine on I-70 towards Loveland Pass.

As I passed Silver Plume, it felt as if the transmission had fallen into neutral.  I couldn't get it to re-engage so I coasted to the side of the highway.

Definitely a clutch thing it turned out after I got it towed home using Progressive Insurance's tow coverage.  (Worth every penny by the way).

I got the gearbox off and this is what I saw:

The cracked metal shield was allowing the center

spline assembly to spin freely, hence no clutch engagement

This happened a little over a year after I'd replaced the clutch disk and Richard W had fixed the gearbox to make sure it centered OK on the clutch disk.  He'd also replaced the input shaft on the gear box as it was buggered up.

So this time, along with the destroyed clutch disk, it had also truly buggered up the input shaft splines again!

No problem, I said to myself, I have this spare gearbox with the problem shifter that I can grab the input shaft out of.  I'd also previously bought a used 1964 clutch disk (splines are more robust than newer ones ) so I'll just remove the bad ones and put in the good ones.

Look similar don't they, but no.

Left: buggered splines

You ever hear the expression: The best laid plans of mice and men?  It's true.

I did the input shaft swap but couldn't for the life of me mate the gearbox halves back together!  Wasted several hours on this effort before I realized (after a night's sleep) that the shafts were different!

Yep, the ruined shaft has 20 teeth on the fourth gear (pushed on) and 17 teeth on the cast on 3rd gear.

The input shaft I went to replace the above with has an additional tooth both on the 4th and 3rd gear, so not usable, it's designed for a 750cc's gearbox.

Dammit.

Oh, and the "spare disk" I had so wisely ordered and put aside?  I failed to examine it when I originally got it and one side's clutch material was loose so it was not usable!

Dammit.

 The 650 gearbox awaits parts

The beemer awaits the new(old) clutch disk

So now waiting on arrival of another 60's era clutch disk and trying to source a 650 input shaft in good condition.

Sigh.  Yes, all part of the life of a Ural rider....and I've borrowed more vicissitude by having a rig with a Beemer engine!  Yay me.

A Year with Umarang

A year ago today, Martha and I picked up a 2006 Jayco Escapade Motorhome whom we would name Umarang the URRV.

Umarang was our oldest son's idea for a name....along the lines of boomerang, she'd make sure the Ural would always return home (one way or the other).

So began our adventures in Glamping, or Glamorous Camping as there's no other way to describe using a motorhome as a camping habitat.

For the record, using Uma as a camper, has ruined yours truly for camping via tents!

Our first camping trip was a shakedown trip, in a KOA campground near Wellington, CO.  Everything went well and all things augured well for continued glamping.

Link to posting

Over the last year, we've explored camping in private campgrounds, state parks and even boondocked on public lands a few times.  All had their pluses and minuses but none were to be avoided in future travels.

You can, review each RV trip we've done, by just clicking on the RV Trip category in the story category listing on the right side of the blog by the way.

Glamping allowed us to meet with friends: RichardM and his lovely wife Bridget as they themselves were glamping their way through the Western US in a shakedown cruise of their travel trailer.  We met with them twice, once at Mueller State Park in Colorado and the other at a campground near the BMW MOA National Rally in Salt Lake City, UT.

Uraling to Skyline Drive

Uraling to Pikes Peak's Summit

Uraling to Guardsman Pass

Yes, there was a learning curve with living in a motorhome, both in hot and cold weather.  There was stuff to buy to make things easier or more comfortable, more maintenance tasks to monitor and perform, but both Martha and I are really enjoying this type of travel.

Uma tows one of my Ural sidecar rigs, either Scarlett: 2014 Patrol or Fiona: '99 Patrol with a '84 Beemer engine.  She makes the interstate miles between destinations go by in comfort as opposed to battling winds and weather while riding the Ural at Ural speeds in busy highways.

Uraling in SW Colorado

Uma proved herself a worthy URRV (Ural Recovery RV) when Scarlett's engine seized (bad crankshaft bearing) in Austin, TX and brought Scarlett home with very little fuss.

Blog posting

Finally, Martha has been tracking the days we camp with Umarang, and she's saying it is 63 days this past year.  Not too bad, let's see if we can do better this coming year.

RV Stuff: New Air Compressor for Tire Inflation

Given the heavy weight of even a lightly loaded RV, I'd always given much attention to tire pressures on Umarang, the URRV that tows my Ural Sidecar rigs around.

The door label on Uma states to inflate the rear dually tires to 80 PSI when cold and I'd been using the garage compressor (Husky 3 Gallon 150 PSI) to do this before each RV trip this past year.

I'd carried an old Sears tire inflator that was rated for 100 PSI but recently I'd found it to be "lacking" in topping off the tires to 80 PSI.  I mean, it would probably eventually get there but inflation coupler was failing and I had to hold it against the stem to achieve a seal, that's a PITA.

Yeah, I could replace the connector hose, but still be saddled with an inflator that struggled to push air into the RV's big tires.

So, after much research and bugging of friends such as RichardM and CraigH for advice, I went to the local Home Depot and found this:

source: homedepot.com

Link to product for more info

The specs were right, it actually had SCFM output of .5 at 90 PSI so it should push air into a tire where I am trying to achieve 80 PSI.  

Note: it doesn't come with a quick disconnect coupler, so you'll need to get one if you wish to have that functionality.

As I wanted to test it and resolve the issue today, I bought it today.  I thought, Amazon probably has it cheaper but you have to wait.  Turns out, it's more expensive on Amazon at $95!  :)

Got it home, unpackaged it, put the hose on and installed a quick disconnect coupler, easy peasy.

Connected to one of Uma's 110v electric outlet and powered the unit on.  It's a bit quieter than my 3 gallon Husky compressor but still an annoying noise.  Took it about 2-3 minutes (didn't time it) to fill the 2 gallon tank to 100 PSI at which point it cut off the motor.

I then successfully topped of to 85 PSI one of the dually tires, then bled off air till it was 80 PSI.  Easy, fast and the compressor motor didn't cut in, the tank held enough for that one tire.

This RV safety need is now tested, resolved.  My other Husky has lasted me over 5 years, so if I get two or three out of this $69 unit, I think I'll be happy.  It's got a two year limited warranty so it should be OK in terms of coverage for manufacturing defects.  It's made in China after all.....then again, I ride Russian motorcycles so my threshold for quality manufacturing is suspect.