Eastward, Ho! Day 3: Van Gogh and a Grasshopper

This morning's sunrise wasn't too bad:

 I spent the first part of the morning dismounting the rear wheels on the Sammy to check on the brake material on the brake shoes.  You see, I'd been careless and had driven the VRRV while towing the Sammy with its parking brake on!  Dammit.

I had re-adjusted the parking brake back to tight but then had found the brake pedal quite "spongy" and having to be pushed down way lower than normal before it would start slowing down the truck!

Since I'd screwed up with the parking brake, I thought perhaps I'd caused the braking material on the brake shoes to be worn off.  That didn't turn out to be the case.

Here's a pic of the left rear wheel hub, before I cleaned it up with brake cleaner spray, plenty of material remains on the shoes:

Same thing with the right side wheel hub:

The Haynes manual also said to check beneath the rubber end caps on the silver colored brake cylinder in the hub, for leaks.  None were evident on either side.

So, plenty of material remaining, next step was to try bleeding the rear brake circuits.  

Around 10AM, Martha and I drove the Sammy over to the nearest town: Goodland.  I picked up supplies to bleed the brakes, and Martha picked up supplies at the Walmart.  Lunch was at a "Steak and Shake" fast food establishment, it was pretty decent I suppose.

But first, a visit to two tourist traps:

The world's largest Van Gogh painting, created at the behest of the Goodland Rotary Club apparently:

A few miles away, the second tourist trap was "The World's Largest Grasshopper":

After lunch, we drove back to the campsite and I prepared to bleed the brakes with Martha's assistance.  The hardest part was breaking loose the rusted up brake bleed valves!  I'll be ordering speedbleeder replacements and replace them all when I return home.

Finally got both rear bleed valves broken loose, after much cursing, and with Martha pumping the brake pedal on command, I bled both circuits.  The fluid in the reservoir was nasty and dark, now it's looking like apple juice.  

Once done, the brake pedal action was "mo better"!  So it was air in the brake circuit, how it got in there I'm not sure.  Was it related to me towing the Sammy for almost 200 miles with the parking brake on?  I don't know.  Any guesses or theories are welcome in the comments!

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting up from the morning's activities and repairs.  We'll be displacing tomorrow to a Harvest Host camp site.

Eastward, Ho! Day 2 - Fort Wallace Memorial Museum

 Martha and I rode the Samurai over to the town of Wallace to visit the Fort Wallace Memorial Museum located there.  Dedicated mostly to the history of the U.S. Army Fort that was located near the museum, it's a nicely organized venue worth your visit.

Here's some of the stuff that caught my eye:

William Comstock, Ace of Scouts

Butterfield Stage Coach

Old Time Medicine

Brigadier General Custer

Plesiosaur

I wonder what they meant by "Fancy Groceries"?

I think the taxidermist induced the smile on Josiah; Teddy Roosevelt's gift from Pearl Gorsuch, a young Kansan during a stop in nearby Sharon Springs.

Nicely broken in pair of boots!

There were several displays of military insignia and detritus that had been collected over time from the area where Fort Wallace covered:

From a series of art paintings:

I found the distant stare of this trooper's eyes very compelling:

I wonder if this 360 degree marked device was related to surveyor

equipment or artillery equipment?

No idea how an Egyptian symbol came to be here...

This White Buffalo seems to be expressing his disapproval

Poster located at the train station next to the museum

Conestoga Wagon

Chuck Wagon with associated dining gear deployed.....not too shabby

We decided to call it a day after the museum and returned home to lunch:

and a short nap:

We basically just "hung out" at the campsite the rest of the afternoon, staying in the shade of the trees and enjoying the recurring breezes.

Tonight's sunset wasn't too bad:

Eastward...Ho! Day 1 - The Saint Francis Motorcycle Museum

 We left the Metro Denver area just before 9AM, Martha and I, towing the Samurai and with Yagi on the VRRV's front rack.  We'll be taking our time and planning on attending a Suzuki Samurai Rally in Kentucky, take in a set of Whiskey Distillery Tours with friends Jane and Larry and then drive on to Virginia for a bit to visit with them at their home.

By noon we were in the small town of Saint Francis, KS and touring the motorcycle museum Martha had found via Google.

It's not a very big museum but it was neatly arranged and had many vintage marques I'd not been aware of and some which names rang a bell but I'd not seen many examples of.  Here's a few for your viewing pleasure:

I didn't know that Harley-Davidson once produced a scooter: 1963 Topper

The smallest H-D made apparently: 1966 M50, only 14,700 produced.

1922 Ace, built by one of the founders of Henderson Motorcycles

1928 Cleveland

1914 Flying Merkel in its signature orange paint

1913 Jefferson

made by Kenzler-Waverly Motorcycle Co. of Cambridge, WI

Only known surviving example apparently

1915 Emblem

Each motorcyle was ridden in excess of 70 mph before being

shipped to a dealer.

1912 Iver Johnson

made by famed firearms manufacturer Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works

of Fitchburg, MA

1914 Yale V-Twin

made by Consolidated Manufacturing Co. of Toledo, OH

1945 H-D UL with sidecar, apparently a "barn find"

Martha in front of a Ford Model T

The motorcycle is an Excelsior Model which once held the 

title of World's fastest motorcycle.

Replicas of the two motorcycles from the iconic movie: Easy Rider.

Honda's historic contribution to the world of Scooters:

1965 Honda Super Cub CA102

Over 100 million built!

Cushman Motor Works' Model 53 Airborne made for WWII Paratroopers

After the museum, we drove another 40 miles or so to the Soldiers Memorial Park Wildlife Management Area where we found a nice spot to dry camp for $5/night.  There was also a small campground (6 sites) with water and electricity for $20/night which we skipped.

photo by Martha

Back home for a few days....

 Sunday, May 30

Bob W and I broke camp this morning, with him leaving about one hour before me.  The weather forecast for the next two days was for cold and rain which made our decision to leave quite easy actually.

It rained on the VRRV after I'd made it past past Colorado Springs, as I motored along CO Hwy 83, to avoid the frantic and congested traffic on the I-25 Super Slab.  The sometimes heavy rain would turn to pea-sized hail in the vicinity of Castlewood Canyon State Park!  

There were a couple of motorcycle riders stopped, by the side of the highway, trying to figure out what to do as the hail fell and accumulated on the pavement.  At times, it was thick enough to hide the pavement!

On the plus side, both Uma the VRRV and the Samurai got a nice wash down.

Got home before 4PM, still raining though lightly, and parked the VRRV in the driveway.  The Samurai was of course unhooked, and eventually parked in the garage.  I'm glad to report that no water got into the Samurai but there was a new drip of water in the cab of the VRRV!  I'm hoping it's something minor.

Monday, May 31

Spent Memorial Day sorting out the wiring in the VRRV's house battery compartment, chasing weird readings on the external power meter in the VRRV.  Some travail later, it was reporting things as expected, though it would fluctuate wildly the next day.  I think I need to replace the metering device.

Tuesday, June 1

Fixed some frayed wiring on the 4WD sensor connected to the transfer case. (it had gotten loose when I installed a rubber glove over the Evil Twin Sticks to prevent water from getting into the transfer case.

I like the Evil Twin Sticks shifter levers but the lack of a "dust cover" and the prescribed use of a rubber glove is a bit sad.

And yet, that's it for repairs on the Samurai for this trip!  She's all ready for the trip eastward in a few days...towed by the VRRV.