Well Day 1 did not go as planned. A more supersticious man would assume that the gods were not in favor of the trip and head home.

The day began with a vicious hangover. My decision to medicate so I could sleep was unwise. Meeting up with a couple young Navy lads and swapping rouunds of shots was just plain stupid.So when the alarm went off at 6 AM I was already dehydrated and aching as I dfaced a long, hot day of riding with my face aimed at the sun.

The next issue was deciding how to deal with the bike's title. When I assembled it some years back, I had no title for the engine. No worries. The kind folks at the DMV registered it to me with an "ownership in doubt". That meant if I posessed it for 3 years, I could title it as my own. I neglected to do that and only remembered...the night before I left. So I had to wait until the license joint opened at 10 AM.

Then because I had time...I dawdled. Why? I have no idea. Maybe I am just a procrastinator. Or...maybe the he-man biker was a bit nervous?

Anyhow...I finally managed to get free of home and on the freeway at a little after 11AM. Shameful. And it meant I wasnt going to make the mileage I wanted to for day 1. I really didnt need to worry. other things would get in the way. But in the meantime I just set my sights on getting out of Washhington and as fart into Idaho as I could before camping.
headed out on I-90 intending to just make time across the state. Nothing new to see here, so lets spend time on unfamiliar ground.

An observation - beware of father driving the family in a mini-van and resenting it. For some reason they like to take it out on other drivers and motorcycles in particular. On three occasions I had these sorts pull some briliant maneuver like speeding up just to pull in a group on the freeway in front of me. One prick in particular made the lane change right on my nose with no signal and a full quarter mile of empty lane behind me. Plainly a "lets mess with the biker guy" deal. I just dodged him and slowed up. It must suck to feel so miserable all the time.

To entertain myself on the slab, I took to riding alongside a car and staring at the passenger or driver until they looked back at me. I figured it would be a giggle to give them a huge happy grin when they looked, totally blowing the "bad biker stereotype" To my surprise, most wouldnt look. Not avoiding looking at me, just not aware or interested.

About 10 miles from Vantage, the old goose pulls up lame. Eh? I havto switch to reserve at 130 miles? That's not good. I roll into Vantage and 3.30 a gallon. Eek. Anyone care to bet I will see 4 bucks before I get home? I calculated the gas mileage and it came out to 33. Oh dear. That is no good. But I was pretty sure I knew the cause. Just before I left, I took a 400 mile test run. When I got back I complained that it seemed to ping a bit and hesitate just off neutral throttle. The diagnosis was lean needle positions. So I raised them a notch. It seemed to run much better. But I hadnt done a long highway run. I just didnt have the time. So I figure that the needle position is too rich. I decided I ould move the needles in the morning.

I kept plugging along and filling the tank. Then as I hit Spokane, it started to run bad...stumbling and missing. I pulleed off into the east side of Spokane to look at things. I managed to pick what seems to be a shitty part of town. Lots of crackheads and street drunks. I had to ward a few off with the stink-eye. Fortunately I can look very uninviting and I had a bad mood to back it up. I pulled the plugs. The right hand side looked, if anything, lean. The left side though was black as midbnight in a coal mine. bad. I cleaned it up and set to looking at the carb. I scrounged a pop can and cut it down so I could drain the float bowl without dropping a cup of gasoline onto the hot header and sparky starter. I was thinking that the main jet fell off. Nope. Main jet present and accounted for. I poked about a bit and noticed a screw holding the top of the carb down was loose. I went to tighten it and it promptly stripped. It must have been hanging on by the barest of threads. !
argh. Okay so now I thought it was an airleak. Yes I know that an air leak would be lean not rich as the plug indicated. I was tired, hot, sweaty and worried. So I tightened the screw as best it would go and sealed the ouside of the seam with silicone.

Of course that only lasted a few miles to Post Falls. And of course about half a mile from the Spokane stop, I slapped myself silly "RICH not lean you idiot!"

So I stopped in Post Falls to fiddle some more, this time looking for reich causes. I found that somehow the choke adjustor had screwed out quite a ways. Well that will certainly richen things up. I bet that cylonder was running nice and cool what with all that unburnt gas passing through. I tightened down the choke adjustor until I was certain there was no activation of the choke.

Once again I only made a few miles to the turn off for 95 which was my intention. Had the day gone right, I should have made this turn sometime close to 2pm. It was now 7:30.

I bit the bullet and got a hotel room. 75 bucks and it is as far from my bike as it can get in all three dimensions. I was able to park next to the office with a couple other bikes. But I had to schlep all my junk up to the room. I cabled up the bike to make it as uninteresting to steqal as possible and even removed the pannier lids so no one would take them and couold see there was nothing inside. Thankfully there is no rain in the forecast. All small favors gratefully accepted at this point.

The next order of business was a cold shower and food. I wasnt firing on all cylinders myself because of the heat and not eating properly all day.

With my belly full and my body cooled, I sat down to think up some plans. Checkout is at 11. I will be up at the crack and do a couple things. First a fresh clean plug. I dunno, but the sooty one might be attracting more carbon because of the layer already on it. Probably a load of hooey..but it doesnt take but a moment to do. Next..lower the needles. Then take it for a spin a couple exits away on the freeway. Hopefully I will just have to schlep the gear back on the bike and head out. Another option is to make some calls to see if anyone has ideas. Spend a few hours sorting it out. Or even keep hopping down I-90 to the east as I try to work out the problems. I do have the original jets with me so I can fatten up in combination with the needle drop. That would put me back where I was on the test ride.

Other issues I have noted. There is a bit of oil weepage from the transmission breather and a few times I couldnt seem to find 4th. on my list to do is to chedck the transmission oil level. And the oil pan is weeping slightly from one corner. I'll check that bolt for tightness.

What is freaking me out is that this is resembling a trip a couple years back in which I got to Coer D'alene and had the bike start making scary noises. Heading home it conmpletely died in MNoses Lake, a terrible place to break down, and I spent the remaining time of my vacation scrounging a ride for me and my bike. And my budget wont take many hotel room nights.

They say that the adventure starts when the plans go awry. I like to kick They's ass.