Thread: It was the Journey/Not the Destination

Wow, what an epic trip! Amazing, makes me wish I had a still had a bike (though to be frank, I'd be terrified to ride nowadays with all the idiots texting and driving-yikes!).

Anyway, another stunning ride if you love the Rockies is the Beartooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge, MT. Charles Kuralt called it "The most beautiful drive in America." The San Juan Skyway from Durango to Silverton, CO is equally breath-taking. I've done both on road trips with family, but just imagined myself on a hog the whole way!

Y'all keep the shiny side up, and the greasy side down as they say!

My apologies for being delinquent on posting however after a day or two of getting the Boar's Nest in order, I took off to visit pinklather just north of Portland OR.

I guess that 'IF' I can include that trip, my total mileage for my first long trip with my Harley would be right at 5000+ miiles

We'd met several years ago at a Meet in Spokane but had been in correspondence for quite awhile. Damn was it good to once again see him in the flesh. With that said, it was an absolute pleasure to meet his lovely wife in person.

I'd taken a couple of natural hones for him to play with and he chose the Zulu and he sent me home with his Gokumyo 20K to play with.

He'd taken a quick shot in black and white right after I'd landed and had just taken my helmet off. I"m really surprised that I didn't break his camera!

Wow, Roy-If you photo-shopped out that bad bike and replaced it with a horse, you would look like on of those gunfighter dudes in the old daguerrotype photos in the Time-Life Old West series. Just strap on an old hogleg .44 and the picture would be complete! Aaron

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Wow, Roy-If you photo-shopped out that bad bike and replaced it with a horse, you would look like on of those gunfighter dudes in the old daguerrotype photos in the Time-Life Old West series. Just strap on an old hogleg .44 and the picture would be complete! Aaron

Well there are those who call them bikes 'Iron Horses'.

I've had the leather jacket since 1969/that's when I got my first bike. It was a little Honda 90 with a pressed steel frame. I had ridden up to a cabin that belonged to a friend of my dad's and an old boy by the name or Ray was there and after talking to him a bit he said, "Ride me up to my place". (Ray lived at his place 12 months out of the year).

Ray 'place' was an old single wide trailer under a reinforced cover so his trailer didn't get crushed with the snow and he heated and cooked on a small wood stove. Anyway he went to a closet and dug out this old black leather jacket saying "This is an old motorcycle cop's jacket and I want you to have it". I thanked him very much and tried it on. It was a little big and it stank of old wood smoke.

I took it to our local dry cleaners and was told it would be $15 for a cleaning and it would be a week before I could pick it up. Once I saved enough to have the jacket cleaned I took it to the cleaners. A week later I went to pay for the cleaning and was then given a jacket that looked brand new! It was redyed and it smelled fresh as a daisy!

I've worn it while riding every bike I've ever had and 47 years later it looks about like it did when Ray gave it to me (minus the smoke smell) and it needs a new satin liner/which I plan on having made this winter while the bike is parked. But I don't plan on redyeing it, I like the character

ps; The jacket is no longer a little big/I just hope it doesn't get a little 'snug'.

Roy, ya should include, for human interest, the visitors we had while we were sitting in the front of my house.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Roy, ya should include, for human interest, the visitors we had while we were sitting in the front of my house.

If you recall, when the visitors arrived you had not yet seen them however as I got up I told you that I'd be going inside but you could stay on the porch with the visitors if you wished.

Here's a relative of those 'visitors'.

That evening we were treated to Mama, Papa and about six babies. Usually only one or two of the babies showed up. They have a big ranging area and haven't seen them for several days.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

That evening we were treated to Mama, Papa and about six babies. Usually only one or two of the babies showed up. They have a big ranging area and haven't seen them for several days.

Actually only the mother has anything to do with the kids or technically called 'kits'. If memory serves, there was a total of 4 skunks that rounded the corner when my common sense kicked in. If others showed while you dilly dallied along getting inside I didn't see them (well you actually hurried right in since you were closest to them). The one thing on your side was that the tails were down along the ground. Once those tails are UP they are ready for some real nasty smelling Shite and it doesn't take much to provoke them!

While skunks are normally nocturnal all you or your son need is to not notice one when you are outside of the house or shop and you'll be wishing that they'd have found another safe haven.

As I had said when I started this thread Tc had ridden from his home in TN to the Denver Meet and then all the way to my home in Walla Walla to not only meet me and ride together but to help me learn more about my newly acquired '97 HD Heritage.

We did a full service on the bike even though it only had 2000 miles on it since I'd purchased it (the seller had done a full service the night before the deal was done)

When we got to changing out the final drive we found that for some yet unknown reason the previous owner had used some kind of gasket sealer along with the gasket for the inspection plate and the O-ring for the derby (clutch) cover and a Lot Of Sealer.

Tc was totally befuddled as he'd Never seen anyone do that as there wasn't any pressure in the case just oil flinging around. Tc said he'd never seen one leak. In fact he said he'd seen guys not even use a gasket but that was a rarity.

So we cleaned all of the goop off, got it all nice and pretty, filled to the proper level and put the new gaskets on (HD had replaced the O-ring with a new and improved gasket). Well that completed the service so I started the bike and let it warm up a bit.

Since we'd installed Red Line Full Synthetic fluids I asked Tc to take it for the test ride since he had far more experience with the bikes and the fluids. So on went the helmet and as he rolled my bike out of the wheel chock and down my driveway I saw a trail of oil. We got the bike back on the chock and the primary fluid was freely coming out the bottom of the inspection plate and the derby cover.

So we tore back in and Tc could not understand WHY it was leaking. Then he happened to touch the derby cover that was sitting on some plywood with the flat side down and it 'wobbled'. I vividly remember hearing Tc say "What the Hell"?

Upon further inspection we found that 'someone' in the past had so Over Torqued those plates that they'd bent them. So out comes the brake cleaner, the rags and the good old dependable Permatex Aviation Gasket Sealer.

After a very through cleaning we installed the new gaskets but ignored HD's instruction about not using the O-ring with the gasket on the derby cover, bolted all up, then once again started the bike but this time intently watching for oil leaks.

No leaks! So off for the test ride. Once back at the Boars Nest inspection showed no leakage so we were good to go!

Ok, you already read about our trip to Glen's and then my ride.

To make the story shorter, Tc sent me a brand new derby cover but the inspection plate was no longer available so I found a used one on FleaBay and when I serviced my bike I replaced the covers.

I got to thinking that the Derby Cover would make a cool clock. So after making sure that the chrome and black looked really nice, off to Ski's I went. I'd ordered the clock mechanism and Ski had the Black Walnut for the base and a shop full of tools and machines and between the two of us we constructed the clock. I did the finishing and semi assembly here and then sent it off to TN in hopes that Tc would get it for Christmas but alas it was right about a month after Christmas that he got it.

Here's some pics that Tc sent:





Since you can't see them very clearly here's the pictures beside the clock. The first one is of the 'Welcome Sign' that Ski had made. It's an inside joke as Ski just couldn't remember Tc's last name;



This one is while taking a break from working on my bike--Man cannot live by bread alone--there is beer. I'm sitting on Tc's bike;



Thanks for reading and looking. :

Great idea about the clock Roy! Very cool!