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From: Rand McNally on 19 Jul 2010 17:00
are apparently contagious...

Set one up for the house, an a double for each of the fuse blowin', ground checkin',
shifty miscreants who started passin' the current contagion around.

Friday night the Redheaded One and I were in perfect phase, as in neither cared to prepare
an evening meal and had put in a good day's work, so we both needed to get some breeze
between our knees. After minimal debate we decided to try a place we had heard good nudes
about and motored off on backroads in the general direction of the Black Mountain Lodge.

http://www.blackmountainlodgemi.com/index.htm

Since I never quite get all the winter air out, I decided to check, and shore enough, the
front was a few pounds low, so I vectored southeast a bit to the local BP station, which
is a: owned by a client, b: the closest station to our route, c: still offers FREE AIR, d:
has a separate hose for premium, and e: had no more actual responsibility for the spill
than any other local station. Topped off the tires and the tank. Met Lenny, a local
rider/friend and shot the poop for a few minutes. While we were there some random guy came
up and asked if we knew about the accident. We didn't, but it turns out a local feller
clipped the back of a cage turning right and landed on his head with fatal result in spite
of the required helmet. (pause and reflect upon "assured clear distance")

Knowing that the highway was a cluster due to the accident, we avoided that area, did a
back road slow ride to a wonderful dinner, and added another waypoint to the menu.

Another round might be in order now, so if I can get Shirley's attention...

The place was hopping. They have a wraparound outdoor bar with a view of a little lake, a
slightly out of tune live guitar player with my kind of repertoire, and a busy chef
lookin' dood running a grill. I had the french dip and The Redhead had a cheeseburger.
Baked beans, slaw and chips. Staff was busy but we were in no rush and achieved the
desired state at a leisurely pace. The food was great and bill wasn't bad.

After hefting the dyna backward uphill on gravel with a full belly from the "motorcycles
only" parking area, we headed west again, and I sorta noticed something odd with my turn
signal. It seemed slow and not as bright as it should have been. hmmmmmmmm....

A few months back, before the big oil spill, I was headed out for the Tuesday night putt.
Topped off at the same pump at the same BP station and when I hit the starter, nothing
happened. Almost. The accessories came on, but no headlight and no starter. Called my
go-to guy, and a few minutes later the entire Tuesday night crew showed up. Snatch
figgered the voltage regulator needed kicking, McBad was convinced the entire wiring panel
needed to be disassembled, many other opinions were offered and debated, we considered
buying a 12 pack and staring at it until we fixed it. None of us had a multimeter so Beej
went and got his trailer and we all went to dinner, albiet a bit closer to home than
usual. Turned out to be the ign part of the ignition switch. Tied the acc and ign lines
together with a vampire tap and have had no issues until this one.

Meanwhile, the Redhead is blissfully unaware of our gremlin, and I gave it no further
thought until I passed a feller going way too slow and noticed I had no turn signals. It
was still light enough out that I couldn't really say for sure, but I didn't see the
headlight reflection in the nut on the inside of the windshield. We were far enough from
home that it would be dark by the time we got there. Motoring on. Not good.

A couple years back I put a pair of LazerStar lights to help me avoid critters at times
like these. I read the instructions, looked at the wiring diagram in the service manual,
and decided to wire them in a bit differently than the instructions said. Specifically, I
wired the switch/relay to the accessory line instead of the headlight line.

Meanwhile, motoring on, the Redhead is comfortable, enjoying the breeze, and I am somewhat
concerned about being rear-ended since that is a common way to fuckup an otherwise lovely
motorcycle ride. It is getting darker and I have no lights except the Lazerstars. Traffic
is light and as long as I can get through a few stoplights unscathed we will be OK.
Concentrating on the road and mirrors as best I can while trying to imagine where the
gremlin is, I debate stopping to buy some kind of light and decide not to. Look for an
out. Sheriff goes by, doesn't notice. Motor on.

We made it just fine, as I took side routes around the traffic and outran anything that
resembled a threat. She was unconcerned when I finally admitted our condition. Had a nice
evening.

Turns out the main headlight burned out and blew the fuse in the process. Replaced the
bulb and fuse, all is well. Glad I didn't follow the directions on the auxillary lights.

Virtual top-shelf stuff all around for alla yas that made it this far. I'm probably not
going to make any IRLs this season, but not because I don't want to. Daughter and sister
each took two weekends, the very ones I might have wandered out. It's all good though.


--
Rand McNally BS#263
Cloaking device on, deflectors inop, engage...
From: glowbottom on 20 Jul 2010 10:27
Rand McNally wrote:

> Virtual top-shelf stuff all around for alla yas that made it this
> far. I'm probably not going to make any IRLs this season, but not
> because I don't want to. Daughter and sister each took two weekends,
> the very ones I might have wandered out. It's all good though.

Shoot. I was looking forward to getting to know you better IRL.
See you next year then.
--
Steve (just settling in and warming up to the place) Paul
EKIII, BS284
'93 Lowrider Sport Convertible


From: Rand McNally on 20 Jul 2010 17:12
On 7/20/2010 10:27 AM, glowbottom wrote:
> Rand McNally wrote:
>
>> Virtual top-shelf stuff all around for alla yas that made it this
>> far. I'm probably not going to make any IRLs this season, but not
>> because I don't want to. Daughter and sister each took two weekends,
>> the very ones I might have wandered out. It's all good though.
>
> Shoot. I was looking forward to getting to know you better IRL.
> See you next year then.

Thanks. There's an outside chance I'll try for Eddie's but a lot of forces are aligned
against it.

--
Rand McNally BS#263
Yer not lost if you get back before the search party finds you...
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