We've been trying to keep active and take a bicycle ride nearly every afternoon. Typically 2 - 4 miles. The other day we took an 8 mile ride around the area.
We stopped at a buddies place for a quick visit:
He owns a number of Pit Bulls and they are all great dogs...they love Darian. She usually brings them "treats". None today but they were just thrilled to see her as usual. One of his Dogs is on her last days with cancer. She is still as friendly as ever....it will be sad when she is gone.
The weather looks fantastic for the next week so the Death Valley Airheads Rally is a "GO" for us. We've had sad news in the past 10 days with deaths of three friends and acquaintances, but maybe the trip will cheer us up a bit. Life does go on. It is always later than we think.
I did a "once over" on the bike and trailer and think all is "good to go" for a 1000+ mile trip. Installed a new rear Michelin "K-Block" rear tire. Found that the old rear tube had been folded over in an area on the last replacement. Tube never lost any air but definitely was an accident waiting to happen. I inflated / deflated the replacement tube numerous times so hope it didn't fold onto itself. I've never had that happen in the past after dozens of tire / tube replacements. The other tires will easily make the 1000 mile trip. The Pusher tire is the one needing replacement on a 3-1 ratio to the other tires. Only got about 2500 miles out of the last "K-Block" tire. 3000 miles is about the maximum life I get from any type of tire I've mounted. I've ran Dunlops, Bridgestones, Michelins, Avons, Shinko's. None seem to be any better than the other. I'm using the "K-Blocks" simply cause I want a little more rubber on the ground. Currently running "square" sidecar tires on all the wheels.
Found a broken wire when I hooked up the trailer / wire plug today. Ran and picked up a new 4 wire plug. The old one was a CHEAP Chinese made plug with wiring that looked as heavy as cotton thread. Way too thin. I went looking for a replacement and everything I found was "Made in China". I finally found a better quality plug, but it was still from China...U.S.A. made?...not much anymore....
Darian uses a GPS with a suction cup mount in the sidecar. The suction cup will no longer hold so I permanently mounted the bracket to the "wing" window in the sidecar. Meant drilling a 3/16" hole in the plexiglass but that's OK. The "Wing Windows" were old BMW wings from an unknown model for which I paid $12.00. They were missing one bracket so I made one from some hardware store plumbing brackets that I modified.
We plan on a short 250 mile day tomorrow to Joshua Tree Nat. Park. We've camped there before and plan on staying at the "White Tank" Campground. Great hiking trails there amongst the giant boulder formations.
2nd. day probably over to Tecopa Hot Springs. That will get us to Death Valley early on Friday so we can get a good camp spot.
1 comment:
On the BMW, I'm trying out a Heidenau K28 sidecar tire on the pusher. I've had such good luck with the K60s that I thought that I'd give it them a try. The K60 on the front of the BMW has around 12k miles and still has more life left. The ones I use in the winter hardly show any wear at all but then again they only have a ~2k on them before they get swapped out due to the studs.
Have fun in Death Valley. I read about that gathering every year...
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