10-3-06 Tuesday morning

The Bloodhound (formerly known as the Blue Dog), it is sporting its new red R100GS six point five gallon tank. Its original blue tank was only four gallon. This tank should give it about a two hundred fifty mile range if ridden carefully.

I left camp and headed for Bob’s Motorwerks over by Red Lodge. I got there in good time and it was great to see Bob  and Anne as usual. I had talked with Bob on the phone a few days before and told him that my Bloodhound (aka Blue Dog) was doing some serious marking of its territory (oil drips) and I had ordered parts for it. I planned on doing the job down in Nevada or someplace along the way while I was camped in the desert. Bob was in the process of getting one bike finished and packing for a trip to Alaska to work on a bike up there that had a couple of cylinder/head studs that had pulled on a customers bike. He and Anne had been up to Alaska at this guys place earlier this summer and that is when Bob had found the stud problem. I had just stopped in for a visit and to say, so long for the winter, but Bob said that I could use one of his stands to work on my bike if I wanted and we could visit as we worked along side each other. It is wonderful to work on a bike while it is on a stand rather than crawling around on the ground and squatting on an  old milk crate or hard stone. I got the bike in and pulled off the first cylinder and got the new seals in place and popped everything all back in place. In the middle of this project I realized I had neglected to bring my snap ring pliers along. Fortunately I was loaned a pair of them by Bob, although I had to go on bended knee and make all kinds of pleadings to get them…..

The second side was going well too when I found that one of the nuts that holds the head/cylinder/rocker arm on was just finger tight. I mentioned that to Bob and his antenna went up!! I put it all back together and torqued it down. The suspect nut torqued up ok. Bob had me ride the bike and it was a fun ride up to Red lodge in the morning. Bob wanted me to re-torque the heads after it cooled down.

That morning the Alaskan guy, Garry showed up on one of his bikes. He has several BMW’s scattered all over the country. He had two at bob’s and now has three. He and bob are going to go up together and Bob will work on his bike.

After I had let it cool down I brought it back in the shop and started to re-torque that cylinder that was suspect. The nut was LOOSE again. That meant that the stud was pulling out of the engine block, just like on the bike that Gerry had in Alaska that they were going up to fix. Bob had all the special tools that he needed to do the job all packed up ready to go. He unpacked them all and went to work installing a helicoil in the block. It was a tedious operation and it was just wonderful to see Bob at work. He is so meticulous and careful when he works.

 Boy, was I glad I wasn’t out someplace in the desert trying to do this…

Bob got it done but his work on the other bike will have to be done when he gets back. I am really fortunate to have good friends……..

Garry  kept busy washing his bikes and helping around the shop.

I left Bob’s place and headed over to Bozeman where I was hoping to see the Awesome Polka Babes, or at least one or two of them. These gals came over to Miles City last year and played. I was lucky enough to be able to go for a float trip with them down the Yellowstone River. They have a lot of fun playing and partying together. As it turned out, one of the Babes (Nyla the tuba player) mother had just recently died and they were going to be at a funeral the day I was going through. I had written Chrysti “The Wordsmith” and got all this news via email. I have my cell phone and was able to get hooked up in Bozeman with it and get this sad news on email. Jeez, I sure wish it had worked out to be with the Babes again, but next time, I hope.

Chrysti is on the radio every weekday morning on our National Public Radio station. She does a short segment on a different word everyday and it is always interesting and sometimes almost titillating (yeah, like that one, tits?) about the words she chooses to speak about. It seems like quite a few of the words she discusses are ones that have slightly sexual in content.  She is a very attractive woman as are all the Babes, but then, aren’t all of the babes in Bozeman?

I have to add a little story here:

On Thursday and Friday evenings there is a call in program on the NPR station called ‘your opinion please’. A couple of years ago I was listening as usual when this guy, that often calls in, happened to mention that he “woke up in bed this morning with Chrysti the Wordsmith”. It was like someone jabbed me in the guts and my heart missed a beat. There was stunned silence from the radio announcer……. The guy finally said that he has his radio alarm set to turn on the radio when her program comes on…….. Whoa!!! I think all of us listening, at least the men, were relieved that she wasn’t in bed with that jerk!

Since the Babes weren’t on the agenda, I tooled on through that busy little town and headed for West Yellowstone and then on down into Idaho. I stopped to eat in Ashton, ID and didn’t make it much further down the highway until I pulled over at a wide spot and spent the night. In the morning I was laying in bed listening to the bad war news on the radio when I heard a slam. I looked out the window but didn’t see anything but then the trailer started bobbing up and down…shit… someone was screwing with the trailer or my bike trailer….It turned out to be Joe, the Mayor of Miles City, the owner of Miles City Books and News and a fellow BMW rider. Wow, how cool!!! Joe was on his way to meet his dad down in Idaho Falls (or Twin Falls) who was flying up to pick him up. Joe’s grandmother had just died and he was going to the funeral. A death is always sad news. It was good to see Joe, although I had seen him  just before leaving and he had offered his best wishes on a safe trip down south.

It was a nice trip on across the south of Idaho and I was pleased as usual to cross the border at Jackpot, Nevada. It isn’t that I like Jackpot, it is just that I like being back in Nevada, it feels good to me. The country opens up and it was wonderful to be back. I made it on down that evening south of Wells but not as far as Ely where I found a little rest area and pulled in for the night. It had started to rain like hell and it is always a little dangerous in the desert where a flash flood can come out of the hills and suddenly the road is gone and a river takes its place. Even in the daytime it can be dangerous, but at night, it is best not to travel if possible. The pod is wonderful in the rain. In a hard rain like that it is almost deafening, but so wonderful to be inside and dry…. I could get a station out of Salt Lake and they were predicting heavy rain and flooding all over Utah.

In the morning I found a neat little car camped next to me. I talked with the guy and he said he was heading for Bonneville but would probably have to just turn around and come back. I am not sure what he was running, but it sure was a slick little car.

This was a summit that I stopped to take a piss. What a wonderful view from up here.

I just love these big valleys and their long straight roads. When you travel east and west in Nevada you are constantly crossing mountain ranges and large valleys. Folks that travel north and south are mostly just driving down the bottom of these valleys and it can get pretty boring. The thing I like the best is that all along the way are small roads that lead off into the mountains and down the valleys and rarely a sign saying where they go. It makes me want to just ‘go see’…..

 10-7-06 Hot Spring

Saturday night at the hot spring, north end of Big Smokey Valley.

Ahhh, it was wonderful and worth nine hundred miles of travel. That nine hundred miles had some good spots and bad spots and they all turned good in a

pool of hot water….

I don’t often like to get wet, but these hot springs are wonderful. This one of my favorites…..

Sunday morning

I thought about getting up and going over and checking the water last night but didn’t do it. I should have, as the last folks in the tub left the hot water run all outside the tub and none in it. There are directions on the pipe to let 2/3 out and let 1/3 in the tub. The water is 129 degrees so the tank was extremely hot this morning. I pushed the pipe over and let all the water by. It would cool down in an hour or two but I wanted to go for a soak and watch the sun come up on the Toiyabe Mountains and watch the full moon go down over them.

 I walked up to the upper pond and  found that someone had turned the hot water off in that place and the water was barely warm. Damn…… I turned the hot water on and got in and stayed right by the hot water inlet. It was OK but would have been much nicer if it was hot!! Later I walked down and got in the stock tank which was still too hot but if you get in and don’t move….you are ok for a while. If you move the hot water will burn you. By staying still you get a little insulating layer of cooler body temperature water around you. When I got out I was a pillar of steam. Wow, what a morning…

I was way too clean so I figured that a nice ride on dirt/gravel roads would be just the ticket to feel better. I could have just taken a roll in the dirt but heck, I had the motorcycle that needed exercise. Motorcycles are a lot like dogs, they need exercise often. There is no cell phone available at the hot spring but I had emailed my buddy Tom over in Reese River Valley and he had said that he and Bev would be home, unless they had gone to deliver some hay, so stick around. I rode on over to Austin over a very nice pass, lets see, I think around seventy five hundred feet. I stopped and ate some late breakfast at a nice little restaurant that was totally decorated up for Halloween. The next stop was for some gas and  then down the canyon and off on the old highway 50 and then south down the Reese River Valley.

This isn’t what I would call a white water river but running  water in Nevada is special for sure.

 The roads were all mine and the gravel parts were fast as the pavement. I love these Nevada back roads. There was a little ice under the wheel lines that were run overnight.

I made it to their place just as they were about to go down to the Yomba Reservation to deliver some hay. Tom runs the boom and Bev stacks the hay. She doesn’t hardly weigh as much as a bale but she is tough as well as beautiful. She stacked all the hay on this truck herself….. she is a good one!!!

This load of hay is some that was grown on some new ground that will be ready for alfalfa next year. They are the only farmers still putting up small square bales in the valley and almost anywhere in the state. They are focusing on the small bales for the horse trade. They sell retail and get seven bucks for a bale that  weigh a hundred pounds. That comes out to a hundred forty bucks a ton. Almost all the hay is grown for the California dairies and they only use the large square bales.

I went with them on down to the little Res and helped them stack the hay. Bev unloaded all these bales down to Tom and I, who stacked them. I am so out of shape I had to rest some but these two are hard as nails. You don’t find nicer folk anywhere. I sure like talking with Tom and Bev as they know farming and are willing to try different things and are always looking to improve their operation.

After Bev fed us lunch, she excused herself, as she had to go out and change the wheel line for the evening set. They have a creek that they use for water when they can and try not to use the electric pump as much as possible. Now they are using the creek for wheel lines during the night and the pivot during the day.

I headed off from their place and took the back road over the mountain to get back to camp. This road crosses the Toiyabe Range and comes out in the little village of Kingston Canyon. I forgot to look but I think it must have been about a hundred mile day and coming back over the mountain was wonderful.

The road was pretty good with only a few water crossings. It so happens that this weekend  was opening day of deer season and I saw several outfits camped along the way. Tom said that this was good deer country.

This was the top and I had to go down the extremely steep stretch just around this corner with the rear brake skidding the wheel most of the way. There was a lot of loose gravel covering the road. The sign said that trailers were not recommended and I sure would hate to have a trailer push me down this stretch of road. I doubt if you could pull one up it. The road got steep just around this bend.

Back in camp I wandered over to the tank and found that the last user had left all the hot water running out side the tank. Dang, cant these people read and think…..the pipe says leave two thirds out….one third in….simple eh?

When this place was unknown it was better I think. Now there are just too many people using it and most of them drive from a big city and don’t seem to be polite enough to consider other folks. One guy I was talking with said that it is good that there are a lot of people using  it as the BLM was going to close this hot spring down but there was such an outcry from people that they decided to let it stay and be used. Damn, BLM anyway, they are more and more my enemy. I know it isn’t the little people that work for them in the local office, it is the big shots back east that make the rules that they have to follow. Damn government anyway….. 

I rolled into Silver Peak I think on Columbus Day. As usual there was not a hell of a lot going on other than some quads running wildly up and down main street along with a few pickups. It is rather casual in the Peak and pretty much anything goes. They have the deputy sheriff fairly well trained now and he doesn’t bother anybody unless they really get out of hand. His main job is to try to catch someone speeding which gets the county money so they can afford to keep him hired.

I saw my buddy Kens truck parked at Kenny’s bar as I came into town so I stopped to see him. He and another friend John were in the bar just hooking up a new VCR and heating up a pizza. They had been over in Kens machine shop doing a little work on the trailer hitch of Johns Bronco. John needed the hitch so he could hook up a little trailer to go up and try to find some firewood. It is getting that time of year here. The rabbit bush is in bloom and that always means that snow is on the way. Because the bar was open, some customers started drifting in. The bar usually doesn’t open until around four but hey, if the bars open, some folks will take advantage and stop in for a drink. I had a mid afternoon pizza with them and finally drifted on down to Kens place. He has an old adobe/wood house that is right on the main street, actually a State highway that dead ends in town. There was just enough room between his front step and the highway to park my little train. I just stepped out when Kenny pulled in next door. He took me up to see the house that he is building (actually has been building for several years, there  is no rush in the Peak). I got to look at everything and when we walked out to check out a ladder that I might need to borrow he showed me the truck he bought for a buck($1). He and his brother were up in Reno and were at a yard sale where a guy had this truck( a 1956 DAF made in the Netherlands). In Reno, like a lot of other towns, you are not allowed to have cool stuff just lying around your yard. The city evidently was making the guy get rid of this truck. They had to go get a couple of 12 volt batteries (24V military electrical system) and it started up and Kenny drove it back to the Peak. It must be around 200 miles and he said it took him 8 ½ hours to drive it back. He didn’t get any papers for it and there was no license on it, so he just cogged it in gear and took off. He said that a couple of highway patrol cars came up close to take a look at it and maybe try to read the license plate (none there) and finally they just pulled around and let him go. This is what I love about Nevada, if you have the balls to do it, you can usually get away with it. Lord knows I have gotten away with my share of outrageous acts. Kenny asked if I wanted to go for a ride. YOU BET!!! So off we went down the highway and finally pulled off and went up a hill and off road back down to the highway again. He shifted it in low gear four-wheel drive and we just crawled over some really rough stuff. Wow, what a truck. After we got back into town I had him stop at my train and I got my camera out and snapped this.

I hung out at Kens place for the next day and finally took off for Goldfield late in the afternoon. it was raining in the Peak and you could see that it was raining across the lake and up in the Montezuma Mountains where Ken has his base camp. Ken recommended that I pull my little train back around through Tonopah rather that try to cross the lake. It gets really muddy/slippery and the part I don’t like is that it has a high salt content and makes everything rust like hell.

I got into Goldfield just before dark and finally found a key to fit the lock on my little cabin. I had stashed in side some kindling and fire wood for the stove and was able to get a nice fire roaring right away. It wasn’t really cold and it wasn’t raining here but it is nice to have a fire and kick back in the rocking chair and listen to the radio. The cabin is 12’X12’ so it warms up quickly. I brought along my kerosene lamp so it was nice not to have to have to live with only candles.  I am damn happy to be back in my desert camp. Here is that cabin in the morning sun. It was foggy this morning, again rather unusual for this country, as it is usually so dry.

The main reason I am here is that I had a note from a friend here in town before I left to go to South America last year, that part of my roof had come off one of my other cabins. I walked over and snapped this I the morning.

The long cabin in front is what I used for a shop and I have tin nailed over the south windows. The little guest cabin in the rear, needs a little work too, it seems. I had a fiberglass window nailed over the window opening but it looks like the wind relocated it. The wind does that sort of thing here. A few years ago one of those little tin sheds that someone put up in their yard got blown over and out in the street. It blew one way and then the other for quite a while and finally it was all bunched up like a piece of tinfoil you would squash up in your hand. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was almost a four foot round ball. I suppose someone finally rolled it up into a pickup truck and hauled it off to the dump. Here is my little tool trailer I bought up in Reno many years ago. it was one of those things that they had to get rid of to clean up their property.

It has two little caster wheels and it hooks directly to the back bumper of the car/truck so it follows directly behind and is easy to back up as it is only just an extension of your vehicle.

I finally got busy this afternoon on stripping the old roof stuff off. I learned that after about thirty years since I put this roof on, I find it much more difficult to crawl around on a roof.

The used tin that I had brought down a couple of years ago that was left over from turning our shed into a greenhouse was a little too long. I loaded it up on my bike trailer and made a run over to the Peak where I found Kenny. He got out his Sawzall and a couple of clamps and  I had that tin buzzed to length in short order.

While I was working on this cabin a neighbor came over and wondered if it might be for sale. heck, everything is for sale eh? I have three lots here with these two cabins on them and nine others just across the street from them. After paying taxes on these places for years as well as the damn sewer/water/dump fees I am ready to get off of them. I have always figured that the back wash from Las Vegas would finally come up here and the placed would finally boom. I told the neighbor I would consider an offer and I would ask around and find out what it was worth. I went up to the restaurant/bar and asked up there and it looks  like things are finally starting to roll here. I might just pull out of here with a saddle bag full of money…

It took me the rest of the day but I finally got the tin nailed down using some lead head nails I found in a can I had stashed in the shed. I doubt if you can even buy them anymore, they sure work well.

I got a little dirty doing this job so I decided to head over and take a dip in Alkali hot spring. This is a hot spring I had tried to buy years ago but never did get it done. A doctor bought it and lets folks use it. It is only about ten miles from town. someone has been doing quite a bit of work on the place and I found a new fiberglass hot tub there. I didn’t think I would like it but it turned out to be the hottest one and after I got in, it was OK!!!!

Here is a couple of other of the older soaking pools.

I went up and notified the Post Office that I was in town and was expecting some mail to be forwarded from Miles. I tried to go to the library and use the Internet there but it was closed on Friday and wont be open until Tuesday. There is nothing but slow lines in town and I don’t know anyone right now that I can go over to their house and use theirs. I had lots better Internet service everyplace down in Central/south America. This is a real dry hole here in central Nevada. I drove around Tonopah and checked for a wifi connection but couldn’t find one. The one I used a couple of years ago is not working now. Tonopah is on the skids again, even more depressing than usual.

I found the guy (Gary) that had a couple of BMW’s that he had in an old shed a few years ago. I knew one of the bikes, as a friend had tried to sell it to me years ago. That bike was a really nice R75/6. I was never able to make a deal on it and Gary ended up with it. He had gathered up another BMW but that one was a R90/6 like the one I crashed. This time Gary was interested in getting rid of both bikes, so I now have two more BMW’s. The R90 is mostly for parts but that R75 will be nice to get going again. I’m going to have to add on to my shed…..

The R75/6

The R90/6

I got the seats/ saddle bags/ set of new tires/ one of those sealed batteries/ fairing/ and a couple of rear top bags. Oh, the best part is that that R75/6 has only 21,000 miles on it… last time licensed was in 87 so it has been sitting for twenty years.

One of my teeth, that I had worked on before I left, has spit off the filling or something, so I need to get that fixed. I could blast off and make it down to Mexico and have it done but then I thought maybe just the best thing was to go back and have the dentist fix it again and that way I could take these bikes up to Bob’s and have him do what ever that R75 needs and I would have it when I come back up north in the spring. That will give Bob all winter to work on it, as I sure don’t like taking in a bike in the spring and asking him to work on it in the summer, as that is his really busy time. It will give him something to do in the shop and keep him inside and not out playing in the snow making snow angles and such.