Reading (For Dummies)

Motorcycle Maintenance

A new toy...

I bought a new toy over the summer, which is to say an old toy. You might recognize the style.

My "new" bike is a 1977 Yamaha XS 650, which was my first motorcycle (which never ran). This one cost $800 more than the first one I had. Which is to say that it cost $800. It ran okay to begin with -- the carbs were and are still a little dirty. It fires right up every time I want to ride, with only a little coaxing needed until it's warm. I've been doing a lot of work to it, since I think it will be a keeper.

Tonight's job: installing a new headlamp shell (basically rewiring the bike!)

The XS 650 afficionado might recognize that I've installed a Sparx aftermarket alternator (the green thing in the bottom of the engine) and a Boyer Bransden electronic ignition (the yellow thing at the top of the engine). I've also replaced the air filters, the clutch wormgear assembly, the clutch and throttle cables, the throttle body itself, and most of the electronic controls. My next steps are pulling the clutch itself to replace the starter motor gear and clutch needle bearing, then rebuild the forks with performance damper valves and better springs.

I've taken the bike out for a few cruises on the Palouse and it has performed admirably -- much more zippy than my Honda VT500 even though it is close to 100 pounds heavier and supposedly produces the same HP.

Glacier

Laura and I went on another little trip, this time to the continental divide.

A view from the Top

We hit up Glacier National Park, in Laura's words, "before the glacier's are gone and it's just called National Park." The glaciers are all expected to become perennial snow fields, or worse, by 2015. It's kind of a shame, because the water that flows from glaciers creates a pretty interesting ecosystem. The weather in this part of the country is very dry in the summer months, the result being an almost completely brown, barren-looking wasteland by mid-August.

We managed to secure two nights worth of backcountry permits, although they weren't our first, or even second, choice of locations. We wanted to hike a rather famous loop around the Two Medicine wilderness, instead we hiked a rather short distance in the same area.

This plant is called a Fire...er...fire something?

The fun began at the front-country campground on Two Medicine Lake. An older woman with white hair was the campground host, living in a a little trailer. We took the campsite right next to her, the only site available I think. Funny how nobody in their RV wanted to be next to the camp host...

I was taking a picture of the above plant and she asked if I knew what it was. She told me that the flowers are edible and taste great on salad. She then informed me that in the backcountry I was allowed to eat anything edible that I could find. "Except mushrooms," she added, with a wink and a huge grin. I had a difficult time figuring out whether that reminder was for me or for her. I smiled back politely.

Our first destination

We got a late start on Saturday morning, which was fine -- we only had a 6 mile hike to Upper Two Medicine backcountry camp. It was a scenic hike, not very strenuous. The most entertainment of the trip came that night when some college kids arrived late and began playing drinking games, shouting at each other well after dark.

I put on my old man face, walked around to their camp site and yelled, "Are you hard of hearing?"

They fell silent, and did not answer. I shouted again, "I said, are you hard of hearing?"

"No," one of them, a young woman, meekly replied.

"Well, you're yelling at each other," I said, and waited.

"Sorry," the first girl said. "Oh, god," said another woman, in the kind of way where I could feel her eyes rolling. This made me smile. The men in their party were oddly silent through all this -- all submissives.

My mission was accomplished. They stayed quiet. Within a minute or two, Laura and I began to hear elk bugling in our valley. It was like magic.

We awoke the next morning refreshed after a cold, rainy and windy night. Our tent stayed dry, and so did we. We broke camp and headed for our next destination, which was roughly 7 miles away -- Cobalt Lake.

Cobalt Lake -- we did not swim in this one

This stage was a bit more of a workout, with something approaching elevation gain (only 1500 feet, but this pushed us up to about 6500 feet of elevation). The temperature was dropping rapidly by the time we arrived, the wind was picking up, and clouds were rolling in. We also saw our first bear sign off-trail -- large mounds tightly-packed scat in two different huckleberry fields. They were the best huckleberries that I've ever had, possibly because they were sweeter than Idaho huckleberries, and possibly because I was sharing them with a grizz...

Since the weather was turning, and there was obviously a bear in our area, we decided to head back down to the car another six miles away. We then hit the road and made it back to Pullman by about 1 o'clock in the morning on Monday. So yeah, Glacier is somewhat close, and quite doable as a long weekend trip. I hope that I get to go back in the not-so-distant future, maybe see a Grizzly, or at least an Elk.