Trip to the iMBC 2012, Day 1. Cable, WI to Towner, ND.

Last night I packed my clothes, gear and a few tools. I had everything out on the living room floor and put it on the bike this morning. I was all set to go when I tested my XM radio.....Dead.... I got my multi- meter and found 13.8 volts at the end of my battery tender plug, and 0 volts at the dual lighter plug end. Good thing I had a reserve double end lighter plug. Swapped it out and 13.8 volts at the plugs! Thumbs up! I now have XM and a GPS! I managed to get out of the driveway by 0750. A quick stop in town for fuel and cash at the bank, and I was on my way.

I headed for Duluth. Once there, I stopped at Aero Manufactuing, maybe better known as Rider Wearhouse, home of Aerostich riding gear. I picked up a t-shirt and a Go Cruise throttle lock. It's a cool place, but the sales floor is very small. They probably do 99% of their business over the internet.

They have a neat thing on the display floor, it's an old Honda Ascot frame, seat, tank and handle bars mounted on a side to side rocking horse kind of chassis.

After I left there, I continued west on US-2. In Proctor, MN, just out side Duluth, I stopped at the same fighter plane as George. I also got a few pics of the large locomotive and tender in the parking lot.

A "Yellowstone" class locomotive. 2-8-8-4. The locomotive weighs 695,00 pounds and the 7 axle tender weighs 436,635 pounds, it was loaded with 25,000 gallons of water and 25-26 tons of coal!

I also took a picture of the same fish too... The Big Fish Supper Club and Resort on US-2 in Bena, MN.

I only stopped for fuel after that. I was fighting a head wind all day, add the 70 MPH speed limits in ND, which was really more like 75-80, and I burned a lot of fuel.
My original plan was to stop for the night in Leeds, ND. I drove through town and decided to continue. I stopped in Towner instead. There's a nice city park in Towner with free camping.

The GPS says 513 miles and the odometer says 515.3 miles. Tomorrow should be easy. I was planning to go as far as Glasgow, MT.
I've got to get busy and set up my tent. There's a nice cool breeze blowing through the park now!

Here you go John, just for you...
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60 Hours and Counting...

It's getting close to the departure date for my trip to Oregon for the IMBC, International Motorcycle Bloggers Convention. I plan to head out first thing Monday morning. I'll travel a northern route across MN, and ND. Then about half way across MT, I'll drop down and catch 200. From there, US-12 into ID.
I plan to be in Baker City around noonish or so on Friday the 20th. I have lots of leeway in my plans as far as how many miles I need to cover in a day.
I have started to assemble and check my gear. Tent, Exped Synmat (air mattress), sleeping bag, cool vest, Camelbak, tank bag with electrical connections for GPS and XM radio. I still have to put together my clothes and a few tools and chain lube.

I've called Verizon and re-activated the service on my little netbook. To test it out, I'm posting from it tonight. As long as I have cell phone service, I'll be able to make blog posts and send e-mails. I won't be dependent on hotel WiFi hotspots any more.

The big green ZX-14 is all serviced and ready to go. In the last few weeks I've changed the, oil and filter, air filter, spark plugs, chain and sprockets, mounted new tires, flushed the brake and clutch fluid, and replaced the front brake pads.

I know once I get out there, I'll wish I had more time and could stay out west longer. I'll have to start for home by Tuesday the 24th. I'll be leaving for the Sturgis rally around the 31st. I'll have just enough time at home to cut the grass, change oil(again!), and wash my clothes before heading back out!

A Project for After the Riding Season...

When I was just a little boy, back about 45 years ago, my father and his brother, Harry, bought a tractor. They used this little tractor to drag a trailer into the woods with all the gear they'd need for a week of Deer hunting at the shack. The "shack" was on 40 acres that they owned. It was near the Totagatic River Wildlife Area north of Hayward, WI. About a mile and a half off of the closest gravel road, through the woods, along what would later become a snowmobile trail. The shack was built in the early 1900's as a homestead. I can't imagine trying to live in it year round. The Black Flies and Deer Flies must have ate poor Knute Peterson, the homesteader, alive! Folks must have been a whole lot tougher back then!!
I found a few old pictures of the shack. The first one shows the shack and the wood pile at the end of the building. The wood pile was many rows deep and ran the width of it. The rifles hung in the cases outside. If you brought them in to the warm shack after being out in the cold all day, they'd be covered with condensation.

The second shows the plumbing facilities, the little white building on the right... an out house. That was a cold run in the winter! What you can't see is the "ice box", a small wooden box that hung outside on the wall and was used to keep refrigerated things cold.

In about 1975, my father had a heavy duty 4'x8' trailer made. It replaced the old green utility trailer that was made from a model A axle. The guy that built the new trailer for my father, used to build U-haul trailers. It's built like a tank. I still have it! That's my father on the left, me in the trailer, and my uncle Harry on the right.

Here's a picture of my father driving the little Allis-Chalmers model B through the woods, on the way to the shack.

My father's family has owned the same home in the city of Hayward since the early 1900's. My father grew up there, his brother and sister lived there even after their parents passed away. They continued to live there until they passed. When my father passed away in 1991, the family home became my mothers property. The tractor remained at the home until my mother started talking about selling the home.
I've keep the tractor with me since the early 1990's It has followed me through 6 different homes and a 13 year marriage.

A few days ago, I rented a car hauler trailer and went down to pick it up from a friends place in Minnesota. He stored it for me so I didn't have to worry about moving it up here last winter.
The tractor is a 1950, Allis-Chalmers, model B, with a PTO, a belt pulley, a hydraulic pump, lights, electric start and a distributor ignition. I know my father had talked about cleaning it up and giving it a fresh coat of A-C Persian Orange paint. He never lived long enough to see that project through. I guess that's been handed down to me to do.

The tractor is now finally back in the north woods of Wisconsin... It's home..

ZX-14 Spark Plugs and Air Filter.

Today was a bright and sunny day, so what did I do? I spent most of the day in the garage working on my ZX-14, getting ready for the trip to Oregon.
The first project was to take off the plastic body panels around the engine. With a nearly naked bike it was time to pull the spark plugs. It wasn't a real difficult job, but I was wishing I had a very small handed helper. The in-line 4 cylinder engine used a stick coil instead of regular spark plug boots and wires. It was a tight squeeze trying to reach between the top of the engine and the frame. There is JUST enough room to pull the coils out of the holes and get the Kawasaki tool kit spark plug wrench in the holes.

Panels off...

Three spark plugs come out from the right side of the engine. It's tight!

One comes out from the left side.

Here are 3 of the 4 stick coils.

The color of the plugs that came out was pretty good. The gap had widened a bit though.

After torquing the plugs, a little dielectric grease around the sealing area of the stick coils to ensure easy removal in another 30,000 miles and help seal out and dirt or moisture.

While I had everything apart, I replaced the air filter too. I had it out a week ago and knocked the bugs and grasshopper parts off of it, but I had to wait for the replacement to get here. I was looking inside the dirty side of the air box. I could see all kinds of bugs and stuff in there. I put a clean bag in the little Oreck vacuum and slipped on the small hose. It took a while but I got all the crap out. I cut open the bag to see just how much stuff was in there!!!

All the air enters through the hole in the front center of the fairing, and runs down 2 plastic tubes into the air box...

All that's left to do before I head out for Oregon is clean and lube the chain, check the air pressure and change the oil.

A Nice Day for a Ride and a Little Excitement!!!

I wanted to get a little ride in today before the weekend comes and the road is full of tourists. I plotted out a 175 mile loop north up to Lake Superior.

I left home and headed west on County Road (CR) M. I gassed up in Cable and turned north on hwy 63. Just south of Drummond, I caught Forest road (FR) 35, north bound. FR 35 is a great twisty road. It's too bad it's posted 45 MPH, but I've been startled by Deer crossing the road a couple of times on it, so I guess it's best to hold it down a bit!

At the north end of FR 35 I turned onto CR H, and followed that to CR E. I took CR E north to US 2. Along E, there were big fields of Alfalfa. The air smelled like sweet summer perfume!

When I crossed over US 2, CR E became Ino(eye-know) Road, or FR 236. It's another awesome road through the north woods. It also is posted 45MPH, but it's do-able faster.

At CR C, I turned north towards Cornucopia. In Corny, I stopped for a quick bottle of apple juice, and I was back on my way. I pulled into the wayside on the east edge of town. The little park looks out onto Lake Superior.

Out of Cornucopia, I went east on hwy 13. I followed that to Bayfield. Bayfield is a small tourist town that has ferry boat service out to Madeline Island. The area is also a big destination for sea kayakers.

Hwy 13 runs through Washburn and Ashland. The Chequamegon Bay was all red from recent storms and rain.

I took 13 out of Ashland down to Mellen, and CR GG towards Clam Lake. GG is yet another north woods gem! From Clam Lake I turned onto CR M and headed for home. I did stop at the dam at the start of the Namekagon River. It's possible to canoe or kayak all the way to the Gulf of Mexico from here. The Namekagon flows into the St. Croix, which flows into the Mississippi.

Headed towards the Gulf.....

So, where was the excitement? I walked into the house to find Nancy mopping up a huge flood. The washing machine that we bought in January after we moved in, decided to overfill and spill all over the floor. I helped her get the water up and dry the floor. I thought everything was good until I went downstairs! There was water in about a quarter of the basement!!!

The Whirlpool repair people will be here next Friday!
It's got to be better tonight!

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