Friday, December 4, 2009

Nashville to Hope, Arkansas

Not much to see in AR. It wouldn't have mattered much, because 455 miles and 26 degrees F meant the only thing I could see was the ice crystals forming inside my corneas. In my aqueous humor. Except not funny.

The motorcycle is acting out and protesting very earnestly, but so far in fairly civil ways that I can tolerate or deal with. It really doesn't like cold starts in the morning; it took two trips up and down the hill near Jim's apartment to get it started this AM in Nashville. (No daily Crossfit needed after that!) I was a little nervous about being in the middle of Arkansas with a hard-starting bike, so I got a new battery, fiddled with the carbs, and tried to redo the ignition system(*). Seems much better now, but given the low tonight is expected to be a tingly 22 degF, and there isn't a hill or friendly help within 150 miles, I'm taking extra precautions:



I don't expect any trouble starting it tomorrow morning.

(*) I bought all the parts and tools I'd need to redo the points and caps and set the timing, figuring that would freshen things up, fix the bike's high-rpm stumble and probably make it start easier. When I pulled things apart, it has a completely eletronic ignition! WTF? In 1978?! This thing was as high tech as the F-16s just starting to roll off the assembly line at the time. Well, no maintenance or rebuilding possible. Guess I'm living with a weak spark.




1 comment:

  1. Hey Jim, Lupe & I are here in the Dallas area. Call me when you are coming through!

    9726890381

    Mylynka

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