T-Dub'ing to find new Campsites

Spent last couple of days exploring the area around my campsite and then doing some exploration of the National Forest area south of Westcreek, CO.

Pikes Peak in the late afternoon

Rode Yagi, my TW200 Dualsport in a big loop comprising FR 323 and 324.  The highlight being a repeat visit to the rock formations at what I believe is Scorpio Dome.

Today, I spent the morning exploring a portion of the Pike National Forest south of Westcreek, CO.  I'd been told of Rule Creek Road by Bob W., a neighborhood friend who'd camped there before.

Nice area, but my VRRV is limited to the first two miles as the road gets progressively worse and not doable by Uma.

I returned towards Woodland Park using Painted Rocks Road.  There were some cool rocks on the north side of the road just before CO 67.  No way to get closer, I suspect it's National Forest Land but could see no way in.

So I contended myself with pictures from the road:

I checked out possible campsites to the south of my present camp, along Rampart Range Road but didn't find many.

It rained pretty hard after lunch and I was glad I was back safe at my campsite.  The lightning was hitting pretty close too!

The weather turned nice once the storm passed over, with occasional periods of nice sunshine warming things up nicely but not hot.

Camping again!

It's only for a few days but I'll take it!

Today the company I contracted with to trim a couple of big Cottonwood trees in the backyard came by and did a nice job of removing enough leaves and branches to allow air to flow through easier.  Now I am less worried about the occasional wind storm taking out the trees and the trees taking out the roof of the house!

I left the Denver cesspool just before 4:00 p.m. and by 7:15 p.m. I was at a campsite in the South Rampart Range road area.  I have camped nearby last year in August.  

This time I managed to snag the primo spot with a view of Pikes Peak to the south.

Going to be here till at least Saturday if not Sunday. Nice to be out of the cesspool that is the Denver metro area.

Uma goes into Storage and Yagi gets her first post-top end replacement oil change

I know, it's a pretty exciting life I lead when I'm at home.

Martha and I spent part of the weekend sorting out stuff, cleaning, organizing the VRRV in preparation for storage and her next camping trip.

Stuff that wasn't needed or used got removed.  She's good to go now.

I took her to the Buckley Space Force Base RV Storage Yard and there she'll sit until the next time; which hopefully will be pretty soon.

I'd tested the storage yard's vehicle sensor before with Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW Airhead, no problems detecting her and allowing me to ride out.  Today I found out the sensor doesn't seem to detect Yagi, my Yamaha TW200!  Luckily, there was a couple in a car leaving soon after I found this out and I tagged along.

Once home, and having overcome the Schwarzenegger-level tightness of the oil plug on Yagi, I drained her of the oil put in when she had her engine top end replaced in Henderson, NV.  

It had been almost 300 miles since the and I changed it today with no real surprises or issues.

After I put the tools away, I tore the paper element from the old oil filter to examine it for metal "swarf".  I expected to find some as the new parts on the top end worked themselves into place.  Kind of like a "break in" for the engine.

As expected, some swarf was in evidence but it was a small amount and nothing bigger than large dust sized particles:

I used a magnetic pickup tool to gather all the ferrous particles:

Not bad at all!  I've seen more swarf come out of the Ural's oil change, and that's with a "broken in" engine/transmission!

Brakes Week!

Seems this week will be known to me as "Brakes Week".

Not only is Uma, the VRRV get new brake pads/rotors, shock absorbers, serpentine belt, new rear anti-sway bars along with associated fluid changes, servicing of rear differential, rear axle R&R along with required new inner and outer wheel bearings and finally including an oil change and chassis lube; but other vehicles too!  

As I'm not familiar at all with how Dually Wheels are put together, my regular mechanic shop is doing the work.  We got it back from the shop today.

Martha's Honda CR-V got it's rear brake pads replaced (easy peasy) by me, the rear disc rotors are almost 2mm above minimum thickness so I didn't replace them.  The inner pads on both the rear brakes were pretty close to bare metal!

I checked the front brakes on the CR-V and the brake pads were still showing the wear indicator groove so plenty of life left. The rotors were almost 2 mm above minimum thickness as well so I left them alone for now, will check in about 5,000 miles.

Thing 2 came by for Thing 1's birthday and we troubleshot reported weak brakes on Thing 2's pickup truck.  We determined that there was no brake fluid in the reservoir.  Doh!  Insert heavy sighing here by me.

So, we installed Speedbleeders on the front brakes, the rear brakes are drum brakes.  Then, we bled a lot of air out of the front brake circuits!  Truly, a lot of air.  Thing 2 is also going to order brake pads and rotors  for the front brakes and those will be installed soonest after they get here from Amazon.  The local auto parts store didn't have the appropriate pads in stock for the 1999 Toyota Pickup you see.

Last but not least, I replaced the brake pads on the sidecar wheel for Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig.  There was some "meat" left but both pads were worn past the wear indicator.

I'm loving the new brake piston retractor tool by the way.