Cloudburst

 Mark and his family rolled into Jacks about 20 minutes ago, just as
Sheep and I got back from a Cherahola Skyway/Tail of the Dragon round
trip.

Now there is sun all around us and a POUNDING cloudburst reverberating
off the tin roof of the covered picnic area.

 On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:47:52 -0700 (PDT), "tomorrow@erols.com"


This is going to go on for days, isn't it? You guys are going to give
us up-to-the-minute reports of all the fun you're having until the
last one is safe at home in bed. Then there will be 1000 pictures to
pour over. AAARGH.

I guess the only remedy is to get out of the house and find some roads
of my own. Harumpf.

--
Turby the Turbosurfer

 
Hope you had a nice ride!   I just got back from a couple hour loop
that Jack suggested; wanted to make sure I was back at the campground
before a big, mean looking storm that crossed over Memphis this
morning got to the Knoxville area.   Mission accomplished.  Just a
nice, 97 mile loop after a leisurely Tellico Plains breakfast with
Sleazy Rider, south from Jack's place on TN 68, west along the Ocoee
River (and 10,000 whitewater rafters) and then back northeast on 39.
Very scenic, and except for the rafting traffic, pretty darn quiet,
too.

I won't torture you with photos, since I forgot to bring the battery
charger for my camera, and it ran out of juice yesterday!

Thinking about backtracking 5 miles to the Hog Heaven Barbecue place I
passed on my way back.  M'mmmmm.  Ride to eat, eat to ride.....

Tim

 Another cloudburst.  This one on I-40, just east of Pigeon Forge and
Sevierville.  I was soaked.  I quickly forgot about that discomfort
when, in the slimy aftermath of the downpour that ended as abruptly as
it started, I sensed  a gradual slowing of the bike, followed by a
smooth but rapid move over to the right lane, then the right
shoulder.  Engine running beautifully; no power to the rear wheel.  In
*any* gear.

Turned on the emergency blinkers, got out the tool kit, and removed
the clutch inspection cover from the primary drive outer cover.
H'mmmmmm....

Dry clutches aren't supposed to run in (beautiful, clean, slippery,
Harley brand) synthetic oil are they?

Looked up the nearest Harley dealer, called them, and less than two
hours later I'm sitting in Knoxville Harley-Davidson's service
department's waiting room.  I suspect that the inner primary cover's
oil seal for the main shaft went bad, allowing engine oil into the
primary, followed almost instantaneously by massive slippage and I-40
east "no go."

Pretty sure this one is my bad.   When I had the bike in for its 25k
mile service, they told me there was a "tiny" oil drip from the inner
primary drive cover.  I hadn't seen anything on the garage floor, and
the 25k mile service was pretty expensive, so I told 'em not to worry
about it, we'd get it at the next service.  Probably, with 20/20
hindsight, not the best decision I could've made at the time.

Knoxville may be a nice town, but Knoxville H-D is *not* in the best
neighborhood.   Hope they can fix it and get me on my way before they
close at 6:30 PM.  Then it will be a dash east on I-40 to I-81 north,
to my reserved Hilton Honors reward room at the Galax Hampton Inn.

Google Maps says 219 miles, three and a half hours.  I could be there
by 10PM if all goes well from here on out.

But then again, why should it?

 So, I just wandered over there into their showroom, and they have this
2009 Road Glide in this gorgeous (to me, anyway) bright orange paint
with black striping, and a black and siver accented engine.

It is sooooooooooooo purty......

No. No. No. No. No. No. NO.