Fall Colors Uraling, Day One

A pretty long day of riding today, left home a bit before 9:00 AM and after a brief stop at the BMW dealer to pick up a part for Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer, headed out of town on US285.

The weather was excellent for riding and Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar rig seemed to hum contentedly as we cruised along at about 60 mph.

Kenosha Pass was glorious in terms of Fall Colors as the leaves had turned as I approached it.  However, it was also a chaotic maelstrom of cagers all seeking a parking spot and trying to get photos of the aspen trees.  I elected to keep going instead of fighting the crowds and ending up with pictures that included cagers.

Soon after tanking up at Fairplay, CO, we came to the exit at Como, CO for Boreas Pass.  The leaves were looking quite vivid from the highway so we exited to get a closer look.  I went through the small town of Como and stopped Scarlett short of the hill which one climbs to start up Boreas Pass.

Continuing on, I hit a traffic jam just east of Buena Vista which delayed us for about 25 minutes or so of stop and go driving.

We finally got away from the hordes of cagers as they all seemed to be heading north towards Buena Vista and probably trying for Independence Pass.  Scarlett and I headed South instead, staying on US285 through Salida, Tabeguache and into the San Juan Valley.

About the middle of the San Juan Valley, I took the road towards Del Norte instead of staying on US285, saving myself a few miles.  I picked up westbound US160 and continued on towards Wolf Creek Pass.

About eight miles east of Wolf Creek Pass, I exited onto the Meadow Creek Recreation area for some pictures of more Fall Color.

The overlook at the pass was closed for unknown reasons, so I wasn't able to do the usual stop for pictures of the valley below.  Instead, here's a view of the mountain pass area from down in the valley:

The rocky formations about midway up the mountain and

to the right of the picture, is where the overlook site is located.

Pagosa Springs came and went, soon Scarlett and I were approaching Durango and I spied the KOA Campground sign on the south side of US 160.  I missed the turn initially, had to do a u-turn further on and finally checked in with the campground shortly after 5:15 PM.

I setup my tent and camp, made dinner out of freeze-dried "chicken and rice" and satisfied my hunger if not my palate before heading out to see about sunset shots.

Not being very familiar with Durango, I asked the folks at the campground office about a suitable location and the lady told me to go to the campus of Fort Lewis College as it was on high ground.

I found the campus, and a suitable spot by the school's football field's parking lot:

Sunset from Fort Lewis College

Looking for a spot that overlooked Durango, I found a small park/picnic shelter called "The Lion's Den".  It was accessible via a bumpy gravel road of some steepness and I posed Scarlett overlooking the town:

It was, a bland sunset.  Hopefully I'll find a better spot for tomorrow's sunset.  Tomorrow, the agenda calls for riding north of Durango and seeking Fall Color along the Million Dollar Highway.  Or maybe I'll go to Ridgeway by way of Telluride and then come down the Million Dollar Highway as I return south towards Durango.

Fall Art and Scarlett

Just a "teaser" post prior to the riding and Fall Colors I hope to capture over the next three days or so in the Durango/Million Dollar Highway area this weekend.

Found this rather colorful leaf on my driveway and proceeded to pose it with portions of my rig: Scarlett.

See what you think.

 Recently mounted stickers from my recent Uraling in the European Alps

 "Oh Canada?"

Last Summer Sunset, First Fall Sunrise

The idea was to capture this summer's last Sunset and the first Sunrise for Fall season.

Due to clouds leftover from a recent tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico (according to a weather guesser I heard on the TV recently), our skies here in Colorado since yesterday had been quite cloudy and overcast.

You can see for yourself, low lying clouds obscured views of the sun as it set yesterday:

2015 Last Summer Sunset

This same system of clouds, also obscured the next morning's sunrise:

2015 First Fall Sunrise

Previously: Running out of Gas on the URAL

Running out of gas on an EFI URAL Sidecar Rig: What worked for me.

So, Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar, developed a leak on the right side fuel injector sometime after Mike and I left Dan's home in Black Hawk on Saturday.  It was slowly leaking gas all the way home apparently but I failed to notice until I saw the spots of gas on the garage floor.

No problem, it was just loose where the fitting plugged into the injector on the throttle body.  The screw securing the fitting was loose, probably knocked about (since I use it to anchor a metal tab to protect the delicate plastic fitting) while on the trails Saturday.  Protecting the Injectors: LINK

The allen head screw above had come loose, and the fitting

had been jostled loose.

Of course, Sunday and Monday came and went and I forgot to fill up the tank again since my fuel level was now unknown.

I rode out this morning to run an errand, pick up a couple of bottles of Sidecar Malbec wine which had been created by fellow Uralista Jay B.  I of course ran out of gas on Arapahoe Road, one of the busier roads in the area and had to pull over onto a left exit lane.

Got to use my four-way flashers for real!  They worked fine, as I realized the problem, put gas in from my spare gas can that I carry on the rig.  Went to start the engine....nothing.  It would crank and crank but wouldn't turn on.  Damn.

Figured there was air in the system since it had run out of fuel.  I tried the "pressurize the gas tank" by blowing into it while creating a seal with your face....not only did that not work for me, I am sure I provided quite the sight to passing drivers!  :(   (this "technique" had been posted on SovietSteeds)

source: google

Pushed the rig over to a nearby sidewalk to get out of the danger area.

NOTE:  My apologies to the nice lady (who said she rode) who stopped to offer assistance, I was in the hate phase of the love/hate relationship with my rig and I was rude while declining her help.  I am sorry.

So anyways, I called up Randy the dealer to let him know and perhaps he had some ideas.

He agreed with me that it was probably air in the fuel system and to disconnect one of the fuel lines, and turn on the fuel pump for a few seconds to clear the air from the system.

Did that, Scarlett fired right up!  Once again, I was mobile and I went to Jay B.'s home to secure the wine:

So, if you drive a fuely or EFI rig, and run out of gas....don't try giving the fuel tank mouth to mouth (doesn't work for me), do the procedure above.