Wednesday, 16 September 4:40 p.m.

Wow!! Is it Wednesday already? I'd better get last weekend down on "paper" before I completely forget what happened.

I got started early Friday morning. It wasn't supposed to be a day off. My class was still doing their "finals" and they weren't graduating until Monday. As I was supposed to start another class on Monday I wanted to make sure everything was setup for it to start smoothly. By Tuesday afternoon I had everything ready and was in a position to negotiate getting the day off on Friday. The Boss-Man didn't have a problem with it but he wanted me to show up Friday morning for muster so it wouldn't officially be a "Three Day Weekend". So Friday morning at 0630 I was mustered up and headed out the door. The significance of all this is that, as a student, getting a day of special liberty is pretty much unheard of... Boss-Man said I deserved it and just wanted to make sure everything was ready for the class starting on Monday. (Being an Instructor and a Student at the same time has caused some really strange problems).

I was headed for the CCBR Autumn Beemer Bash. Last time I was able to attend this affair was in 1994. I had a lot of catching up to do.

For the most part the trip up from San Diego to the Central Valley was uneventful, as usual. This time, though, the opportunity to put my MSF training to use on a couple occasions. First time I was traveling in the middle of three lanes with a car in the lane on my left that had just passed me and was about 30' in front of me when I notice a 2x4 about 12" long directly in his path crosswise. I saw it laying there and figured the driver would swerve around it, at the very least, and expected him to swerve into my lane while doing it. He didn't swerve. He hit the 2x4 dead on with his right front tyre. The 2x4 proceeded to explode into about 20 pieces, each of which seemed to have my name on it and headed right at me. Because I was ready for the CAR to end up in my path it wasn't much of a thing to avoid the flying wood. About 20 miles later (still in the center lane) there's a flat bed truck in the right lane and another car passing me on the right. About the time the truck gets 50' in front of me and the car is right along side a piece of aluminum(?) about 20' long and ¼" wide came flying from the back of the truck pointed straight at me!!! One end hit the ground and it twists sideways in front of me and both the car and I swerve opposite directions to avoid it... The car had other worries, though, because about the same time the guy driving the truck realized what happened and hit the binders right in his lane... I twisted the throttle up another notch and got the hell outa there...

Why does it seem that no matter how fast I am traveling it always seems that SOMEONE will think it's too slow and come screaming up behind me and nearly hit me trying to get back in front of me? I won't use any real numbers here to keep from totally incriminating myself, just suffice it to say that there were several occasions where I was traveling at 140% of posted speed limit and it was STILL happening...

So I make it to Mariposa about 1400 and set up camp for the weekend. Eventually Mike rolls up in the truck and I get to watch the floor show as he and Linda set up their "Taj Ma Tent". After a while Steve and Ralphine(?) show up with their huge tent and I get to watch it all over again...

That evening was spent getting reacquainted with folks I haven't seen since 1994 and imbibing in Adult Beverages.

Bright and early the next morning I was in line for the Continental Breakfast and a cup of coffee. After a couple hours of hanging out and about Mike and I were on the road for the poker run. I had a real good chance of pulling low hand winner right up until the last checkpoint when I ended up with a pair of 8's. Oh well, I did end up winning a power socket adapter from the entry ticket raffle. Now I can quit chopping off the cigarette lighter plug from things I want to plug into the bike.

Speaking of the bike... It's been playing Harley Hog lately. It seems to have sprung a leak from the rear main seal and pukes a bit of oil out the back. Funny thing is that the shorter the trip, the more oil it pukes... If I ride it to the commissary and back it leaves quite a puddle under it when I get back. Yet when I travel 400+ miles and park it hardly leaks a drop. I am having a hard time deciding whether I want to do the work myself or not. I am sure I can do it. I have a bit of experience in working on these infernal machines ('63 Plymouth Valiant, '68 MG Midget, '76 Duster, '76 Honda Goldwing, '78 Fairmont, '88 CRX, '91 Nissan 1-ton, '93 Chrysler LeBaron) with everything from having to pull an engine to replace a clutch to having to disassemble the entire right half of a front wheel drive V-6 to replace the water pump but this one has me intimidated. It "seems" easy... Just remove the rear end of the bike, pull the tranny, replace the seal and put it all back together. The thing is, everyone I talk to about this repair mentions "special tool" this and "special tool" that... Hell, I don't know nothing from special tools... I never even knew there was such a thing as a "clutch alignment tool" when I replaced the clutch in the Midget. I just went in and did it because it needed doing. Maybe I should just stop talking to other folks about it and just do it, eh? My other option is to pay a mechanic to do it "right". Only problem with that is their books list it as a "Six Hour" job. That's if they don't have any problems along the way. At $65 to $75 an hour that can add up real fast. I wouldn't even be worrying about any of this (after all, it's just a little oil leak) except for the fact that the leaking oil has found my clutch plates. During the Poker Run on Saturday I noticed the clutch slipping a little as I tried to power out of the corners. Not a whole lot, but enough to keep me from being able to roll on out under full power. It didn't seem to slip any under "normal" usage so I still have some time, but it can only get worse from here on out and I'll eventually have to fix it...

Saturday came and went and suddenly it was Sunday and time to point south and get rolling again. I finally got packed up and on the road at 0830. Six and one-half hours later I was popping the top on an ice cold beer back at the BOQ. Not a bad ride, actually. It seems to get shorter and shorter every time. I sure do miss my radio, though. After leaving Mariposa I quickly settled into playing the entire Pink Floyd album "The Final Cut" in my head, singing along with it as I went. After the final strains of "Two Suns in the Sunset" died out it was time for "The Wall"... Being a double album this one lasted a little longer than "The Final Cut" but it too eventually faded into the wind and was replaced with various cuts from James Taylor, Jim Croce, Jimmy Buffett (that's a lot of Jimmies!), and Harry Chapin. After all that I was stuck with the theme song from the Drew Carry show. I have NO idea how it got in there. I don't even watch that program. Don't particularly care for the song either, but there it was. Drowning out any other song I tried to force in there.

I have been pretty busy at work getting the last of my requirements polished off for my certification. I should be able to finish it all up by the time I leave here. I still have 6 lessons I have to teach from the last class that I wasn't able to do up till now. I will have to give them to a "ghost class" with nobody in there except the person giving the eval. I absolutely HATE that. Trying to "teach" a class to an entire room full of empty chairs. No interaction, no spontaneous questions to try to trip me up (having to think on my feet is part of the fun) no nothing. It makes it real difficult to fail the evaluation because as long as the information you are putting out is technically accurate and you ask a bunch of "good" questions there isn't really anything they can hit you on... Maybe that's why I don't like it that much. No real challenge, not a whole lot of a chance to fail... Kinda boring, actually...

Welp... Even though this entry into my Travelogue isn't as long as some of them have been it has taken me a while to get it all down. Between answering E-Mail, watching TV and chatting on ICQ while trying to pound this out it kinda takes a while to get it out.

This will likely be the last of these. I may send out one more after I return to Hawaii as sort of an Epilogue type thing, but this will probably be the last "for real" chapter. I have plans to go fishing with Mike this weekend but unless I end up pulling up a treasure chest from the bottom of the lake (unlikely as I'll be using dry flies) I probably won't have a lot to report. I hope you have enjoyed reading these as much as I have writing them. I started this primarily as a way to help me remember all the "adventures" I'd have while I was here. When I started I didn't know if I'd be able to keep it up or not. It was hard enough for me to do my essay for my Associate's degree and it was smaller than some of the entries I've made here. I've never fancied myself as much of a writer but it's easy when all I have to do is relate what happened.

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