07 Weekend Break Out Rides

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The continuing saga of travels with my 2005 883cc Harley Davidson Sportster......

Saturday 24 March 2007
The temp was a toasty 75F. The skies were clear and the road screamed to be ridden. It doesn’t take much more that that to get me out for a ride. Saturday morning the Central Midwest HOG group was having its Spring Breakout ride. So feeling guilty because for the past 2 years I rarely went to any of their rides because of my own trip plans, I decided I would ride out with them. Simple trip from Olathe, KS to Louisburg, KS. About 20 miles. The
ride started at noon and this would still give me plenty of time to get in a good ride after. The night before I loaded the GPS up with some little towns to use for my ABCs of Touring and I was all set to go. Before heading out to the meeting place, which was also the Central HD dealer, I worked at putting back on the rear heat shield. The lower clamp had broken a couple weeks ago, so I took it off until I got new clamps. I had picked up two new clamps from the dealer earlier in the week, but not installed it yet. I was sure the clamps were going to be too big, I knew that when I bought them. The parts clerk assured me they were the right ones but I could bring them back if they were too big. After confirming they were indeed to big, I made a couple adjustments in my RAM mounts and I was ready for the day.

On the way to the dealer, I was listening to my satellite radio. Because the radio was on so was the voltmeter I installed on the bike. I noticed that the voltage on the bike was surging and pegging the meter. When I arrived at the dealer I rode it straight to the service dept and talked to the service manager about it. He sent one of his crew out on Effie for a ride and he saw the same thing. It wasn’t RPM or gear related, voltage would jump then come back down. Service guys looked at it on the bench, hooked up a real voltmeter and didn’t see anything. I suggested he take it for a spin with the voltmeter hooked up so after a couple minutes off he went. When he came back he reported that the voltage on my meter
did jump, while the voltage on his meter did not. He had set his voltmeter up to record the highest voltage it read during the ride and this voltage was .5 volts below any reading that the service department would be concerned about. I believe highest reading was 14.48
VDC. We were all happy that nothing was broke with the bike and that my meter was the culprit of the trouble. During one of their rides, I had exchanged the heat shield clamps, so all my business here was done.


With Effie again road worthy, I decided to catch up with the group at the lunch location. I was a half hour behind them. Meeting them for lunch, I was not that late. Some had not gotten their food yet and I just grabbed food from the buffet so I got to get in some socializing with the group. At the conclusion of lunch everyone split in their different directions and I headed farther south to start my big loop. First stop was Beaver KS, the HOG Chapter has a new challenge this year, if you remember last year was the I’ve Been Everywhere Tour, where we tried to find the 91 locations in Johnny Cash’s song. This year it is the Road Kill Safari, where you find towns with animal names take a picture of the town
sign with you bike and your RKS mascot (which the chapter gave out at the meeting). I have a cute orange tiger that I call ‘Tina”. So Beaver does not have a town sign, or post office or
city hall or anything much but a cemetery (founded in 1893) & a Methodist Church both using Beaver in the title, so I take a picture at both. It was a pleasant ride out there, well worth the
time.

After Beaver it was on to Parker and Centerville. Last year for my ABC theme I used the same name for the City as I did for the County. Everything matched but X because there is no
county that starts with X and Z because I didn’t have time to ride to the bottom of TX to find the one matched set down there. This year I am going to be less ambitious and try to use the hole in the wall post offices from very small towns with for the cities. And use the Rural Fire Departments for the Counties. I know there will be exceptions but I am hoping I can find the majority of locations to fit my theme. So I pick up a Linn County Rural Fire department and an Anderson County one too. After a stop in Centerville, I decided I had better get gas. So a 30 mile detour to Garnett for gas. I had 182 miles on the tank when I filled. I should have filled at Louisburg. Anyway after my splash and dash its back to the route. Next stop is Xenia KS. Lucky to have an X city so close, it is a pleasant town to stop at. Sometimes the Amish will be out in their buggies for a ride, but didn’t spot any this trip. Xenia has an
active church, an active Mason Hall, bunch of houses and a good highway heading through it, what more could you want from a place to call it home? After a stop at the city limit sign its on to Mapleton KS. Mapleton is at the crossroads of Hwys 65 and 31. As I pull into Mapleton a couple of riders wave from the city park. Mapleton is really just an intersection with the Centerville's Post Office. I love these little towns. The whole town is centered around the intersection. The town is maybe 2 blocks long, but has quite a few community services available for its size. The big city park is on one side of 31 and the row of commerce is on the other. I pull up to the post office and take picture I need then down a couple building for the Bourbon Co Rural Fire department sign, after that I decide to roll over to the other riders and say Hey. The couple was out for a spring ride and had decided to stop and enjoy the park. The guy was drinking a beer as I pulled up and opened another while I was there. He had his own stash in his saddlebag nothing in Mapleton is open. We talked about bikes, travel and weather. They were from Ft. Scott. As the talked the Fire Department had a call and headed down the hwy with sirens blaring. The engine was a small old one as I would expect to see out here. The Fire Engine was followed by the water tank truck that carried the water supply they would need to fight the fire. The 3 of us talked for about 45 minutes then decided to head down the road as we were all heading to Fulton KS next. Years ago I had a friend at work by the name of Fulton, his family actually came from this town. He was the neatest guy, he got canned, but he was really a great friend he helped me spread my wings so every year I use Fulton in my ABCs as a reminder of him. Tom moved to Canada. Fulton is in the decline, most of its commercial area is boarded up, but they still have an open bar on the highway. The couple pulled into the bar which I have little interest in going to. So I pull up and say my goodbyes and head for what I thought was going to be the post office. The post office is now a vacant building, but the Fulton City Hall is next door so I use it. In small towns usually the city hall has to multitask so this just has 3 garage doors in the front, the entry door is on the side of the building. As this was the last ABC stop I decide to head home,
but take the long way getting to Hwy69, so I head south. Hwy 69 is a fun highway and part of the Scenic Military Road. One of these days I am going to ride to Leavenworth and just follow the road all the way to Ft. Scott. It has a bunch of historical markers and a couple Kansas Historical Sites on its path. This trip is in my plans for this summer sometime. I love history like this.

So back to the electrical issue I was having… all day the voltmeter is intermittently pegging high or low. But the bike is riding like a champ, no issues performance wise. I have stopped and started it multiple times and every time it starts right up. So I figured to remove the voltmeter at my earliest convenience and save myself the worrying. I am just suffering through TMI. Before I get home though I stop for food, take out, I strap the food on to the
back rack, mount up and tried to start the bike. When I turned the key on everything was fine. Turned on the Kill switch (or off, however you want to think of that) hit the start switch and I get a blurp and a click, then nothing. No lights, no odometer, just like I had turned the key off. First reaction: THE VOLTMETER STAYS. I fiddled with her for a couple minutes then decide what the hell, I parked at the top of a long hill. All I got to do is turn it around
and coast downhill for speed, pop the clutch and I am home safe and sound. Thankful now that I don’t have EFI. So in the process of turning around I decide to try the electronic start again. Vrooom. We run for home. 221 miles for the day. Food is hot, Effie is hot and I am tired, so Effie seems like a good project for tomorrow. Its close to 7PM. Its been a
nice day of riding even with the issues, I can hear the call of those long trips calling me. Thanks for bringing me home today Effie. Her odometer has rolled to 69K miles during the days ride.

Sunday 25 Mar 07
All week they talked about Sunday was going to be a day of thunderstorms, but the forecast has been altered. 80s and beautiful. I sleep in, but when I rise I get a phone call from one of my friends telling me its time for a ride. I relay my dilemma and tell him I am sure I just have a loose connection I will go out and find it and give him a call. It doesn’t take long to find the positive terminal is loose on the battery so I tighten it up and give Darrel a call, he is a couple blocks from the house so he heads over. This will be great as I will have a much better wrench with me if Effie fails on our ride.

When someone takes a ride with me, it isn’t going to be some around the block thing. So we decide to run to Linwood so I can get my ABC picture there. As we are leaving Linwood, Darrel says “You know you are in redneck country when the local café advertises that its air conditioned." From there to Reno, but we didn’t stop, then to Tongie. We stopped at the Sonic and had tatter tots and an ice cream blast. I had not eaten yet today and its about 3PM so both were welcome sights. As we sit at the tables a couple pull up on their bike but they are not the social type so we shared no conversation. As we are getting ready to mount up and leave, we hear a baby crying. But it turns out it is a baby lamb in the back of a truck that has pulled in for cokes. Darrel says something and we laugh, which causes a comment from the driver…. Long story short they were just coming back from a 4H leadership project where they had lambs, rabbits and baby chicks for Easter pictures for kids. So we talk and for a mere $6, Effie and I get our picture with a white lamb and a Sonic menu as the backdrop. They are sending me a 5x7. What a hoot. You know you are in farm country when you can get livestock photos at the local fast food stop. I miss living in a little town. Our stop has been about an hour long. As for the electrical issue, the voltmeter has not wavered, it has been steady at 2 green LEDs and life has been worry free for me. After sonic we decide to head toward Ozawkie, KS sounded like a place that need to be located and we didn’t have much better to do. So off we went. Darrel needed to be back to Kansas City by 5PM, so at 4:20PM I pulled onto a side street in Perry and said we had better turn around, Ozawkie would have to wait for another day. We headed home. It was a great day to ride. Pretty windy, but a great day. The day ended with only 117 more miles on the odometer, but I eagerly await my lamb picture and it is always a good time to sit and talk with Darrel.

Confident that my electrical issues were in the past I tucked Effie away for the night. It was the next morning that she decided to play the familiar blurp, click dead game again. Bless her heart at least she hasn’t stranded me and she has had some good opportunities. I shut the door and called Central HD to come and get her. This was only her second ride on a trailer/truck. The first ride was from the factory.

I called CHD Monday evening and they said it was contamination at the negative terminal of the battery. Now Sunday I could not get to it to tighten it, but I did get close enough to see it. I saw no contamination on the negative terminal. I think my next few rides will be with a companion.

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Photos

Beagle KS
So my first Road Kill Safari picture. Thats 'Tina the Tiger.'

C is for Centerville, KS
Centerville's Post Office. I love these little towns.