The days are long enough …

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Waldo

Repairs and Mods – Furnace edition

Last week I came back from an event on a 14* night and walked into a cold house. Brrrr! The furnace had failed to light while I was away and the heat inside slowly flowed to the great outdoors. It failed a dozen more times to light while I was standing over it shouting encouraging slogans! After a couple hours I gave up on the idea of it working and I went and bought a second electric heater to keep us warm through the night. I kept the fresh tank from freezing by circulating the water through the water heater and back to the fresh

The next morning I woke and dove into the great YouTube looking for answers. Sure enough, people have made videos about this.

Seems the issue was cat fur on the sail switch that kept it from closing and telling the gas valve to make some hotness.

I cleaned the fur off the sail switch and all the other bits and parts inside the furnace box then put it back together. Now it makes toasty, toasty hotness!

Only 5 more days!

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Waldo

Until the days start getting longer! YaY!

There is not a lot to share with you this time and so I will bore you with some weather updates. We made the trip from Wheat Ridge to Ft Collins without incident. The weather here is mostly icy side-streets with occasional fresh snow to hide the ice. I had so hoped the first snow would melt before additional snow was added on top but alas, ’twas not to be

The sun is low in the southern sky and the wind from our friends in Canada is a frosty -3C. The snow can be heard to laugh heartily at the sun’s meager solar resources trying to liquefy it

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New turn signals

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Waldo

The Husqie Adventure-450 wrapped up and ready to go

The stock brake/ turn/ tail lamps were not that great to begin with and I’ve been planning some sort of brightness upgrade for awhile. I’m mostly concerned about it when I’m going slowly and have the 4-way flashers on. Putting the Adventure-450 on the back of the trailer changed the game by blocking the lamps completely. Call to action!

New LED stop/ turn lights are visible above the Adventure-450

I ordered some 10-LED lamps from etrailer (because no one near me stocks things like that) and installed them above the Adventure-450. The LED’s are much brighter than the stock cheapo-lights and they can be seen above the bike. I bought surface-mount lamps and installed them with some 3M double sticky tape. I ran the wires on the surface and into the bottom of the existing lamps. It’s kind of lazy-looking, but I didn’t want to cut into the walls and ruin the insulation or the water-tightness

Even with 14″ of snow the lights are still visible

Note to self: go south for winter

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On the Road Again

Posted on November 20, 2019 by Waldo

Packing up and getting ready for our annual migration in the opposite direction. Most full-time RV peeps head south for the winter. We’re going north again this year

Got my new toy strapped to the back of the RV with time for kitty to practice a little bit of yoga before we go. The bike-on-back thing seems to be working except it covers the turn signals. Look for a repairs and mods post addressing that issue shortly

The drive over was unusually quiet. Not much traffic, no snow or other weather hazards, and we made the trip in just over 5 hours. We had an uninterrupted run at Vail Pass (and the tunnel) and Truck 2.0 pulled them at 55 mph no problem

Kitty does not want riding season to end

Well it looks like riding season on the east side of the mountains is wrapped up

A few inches of white to accent the chili peppers

It seems the snow has forgotten how to fall down and is now practicing some new upward-falling moves

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Last Call

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Waldo

The view of the La Sals from the North East

The last Motorcycle ride of the year was a great time. Rode from Gateway Co to (almost) Moab. I’ve been working out a couple of routes this fall. One for dirt bikes and one for big twin adventure bikes. Now I have most of the routes ironed out for each type

Mandy, Mike, and Dan on the road to Rattlesnake Arch

I started this when it was hot out and now it’s just barely warm enough to ride and there is only 4 hours of ridable daylight. The sun sets early in the canyon bottoms

The all-new Husqie Adventure-450 on the Kokopelli Trail near Dewey Bridge

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Mid October Round Up

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Waldo

First day of the retreat was a bit snowy

Winter in the desert is just around the corner now. Mountains are getting snow and the passes are all yucky. I took a quick trip to Ft Collins and got some snow and mud on me. I spent the weekend in retreat with friends and became fully illuminated one morning (it wore off by lunch).

I’m a fully illuminated being. Big thanks to Robert for catching the moment

I’ve also been playing with my Mini-ADV bike. The all-new Husqie Adventure-450 is turning out to be a lot of fun and is keeping me from paying attention to my mountain bike. Friends and I are planning to ride in Idaho next summer, we’ve named it rIdaho. That’ll be a hoot!

In other news Truck 2.0 turned 300,000 miles this month. I spent a few hours and dollars chasing down a coolant leak, and a fuel leak but we seem to have that all sorted now.

Glamor-shot of the Husqie Adventure-450 in the Colorado Nat’l Monument

North of Baxter pass near cow-lake (named for all the cows nearby)

About 1/2-way up Baxter pass road. Looks like an old southwestern school house

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I bought a new toy

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Waldo

As you recall I spent some time riding adventure bikes this summer and I decided to go ahead and buy one for next summer (plus this fall, winter, and next spring!) I got a mini-adventure bike instead of the big Africa Twin I rented for that summer ride

The Husqie Adventure-450 on trails in the Book Cliffs

The Husqie Adventure-450 is about 280 pounds lighter than the Africa Twin (250 vs 530). I can pick this bike up if it falls and it is a lot more maneuverable for the UTV and jeep trails that criss-cross the desert. I’ve spent a few weeks looking for a route to Moab that I can ride. The Kokopelli goes that way, but parts of it are above my ability. I have a dream trip of riding over to Moab one day and coming back the next. I also want to ride the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP. Maybe this year. Could be next year

Kitty is taking riding lessons. Vroom! Vroom!

I have been skunked a few times on my attempts to make loops out of 4×4 roads. The Husqie Adventure-450 is street legal and can go highway speeds so I can always hit the pave to get around, but I prefer dirt roads

This would make a great trials section, but it’s a no-go for the Husqie and me. This is a 4×4 connector trail I tried to make a loop with

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Ask Mike Moore

Pondering & Wandering