The Saga Continues

I spent the past week visiting family and friends in northern Arkansas and southeast Missouri. Had a fantastic time, and did my best to see everybody but inevitably missed out on seeing some people. The time I spent was great, and I will be going through that area again so hopefully I'll see more next time around!

With that, I headed out east towards Ohio. Seeing as I took a break, I was a bit rusty in thinking ahead and didnt get a single picture during the days ride to where I'm at now; Rockport, Indiana. Thats right, not a single picture... I think I was just too excited to be back on the road, and I could tell Freya was as well.

Luckily, I havent been affected by the storms that are devastating this part of the country at the moment. I hope that luck keeps up, and my best wishes go out to those that haven't been so lucky. Nature hates us all, and its out to get us.

I did cross the Mississippi River, and got to see first hand the fields upon fields of floodwater. Its gone now a lot from where it was, but you could see, hear, and smell the damage. So far on this trip I've seen the effects of severe drought, and now I've seen some effects of the severe flooding. However, I did NOT feel any of the Rapture! HAHAHA one more doomsday we've survived, and many more to come.

Also more updates to come, with pictures!

Late Update

I havent updated the site in a while because, since I'm in northern AR and soon to be in SE Missouri, most of my time is visiting with family and friends. Not much of a "ride" to report on, but in a few days I'll get back to rides longer than an hour or so and get back to making the report. I could post all about my family, photos, and the like, but I choose not to.

In response to the rig and maintenance, so far I have been lucky enough to get Freya to a Ural shop in time for recommended maintenance schedules. The 7500km I did myself because theres nothing really to do other than change fluids. I'll probably end up doing the 10000km service myself, which is pretty major. She's a simple machine though, so nothing is really difficult (except maybe for the first time, meh).

I have changed carb jetting several times, and its really straightforward and easy after you do it once (like most things). Other than that, its all about just listening to the machine for any changes, doing the "pre-flight" check nearly every time, and every once in awhile giving her a really good inspection (seals, etc). Its a really great machine though in the first place, despite what some haters whose only experience is older Urals would say. Haters gonna hate though, lol.

Arkansas Ya'll

While I was in Houston Texas, I mentioned that I did the unthinkable and cleaned Freya.. Heres what she looks like with all that desert dirt taken off:

Looking GOOD! On top of all that I did the 7500km service, which wasnt much but an oil change and check everything out. Now, on to Arkansas!

Shortly after leaving Houston, just about to cross the border at Texarkana, the sky started looking mean. After a few moments of thought, I realized that it was going to rain because washing your vehicle is the modern day rain dance. After being in the desert for awhile, and South Utah being the last time I was in the rain, I welcomed the chance to get all wet. Time to pull over, get the rain gear on, and snap a picture!

Unfortunately, it only barely rained the entire time. It kept looking like it was gonna start pouring down, but it never did. I kept a watchful eye on things since tornados have been going crazy... sky better not turn green... I figured if it did, I got enough rope and bungie cord to strap me and Freya to a pillar underneath a bridge or something.

Finally driving through trees again, it sure was nice. The next day the sky cleared up and I rode too long with no jacket or long sleeve.. Welcome to sunburnville population ME! I made it to Hot Springs and camped out at the national park there, which was really nice (pictures are below). After waking up and shaking off the cold, I rode through overcast skies and a cold wind to my friend Beau Goldens house in Clarksville (just outside of Russelville).

That night, we partied it up with some great people from the college there. Drinks flowin, jello shots being thrown around like candy, and rock band filling your earholes. It was a great time! The next day wasnt too bad, though I did get a late start since we got back home at 5am. HAH, time to head to my brothers house in Harrison, and to get there Freya and I had to go through the Ozarks...

2 lanes, big green foliage everywhere, sometimes trees towering over the road. Full of twisties, I was happy to finally be on a technically demanding road, planning and attacking every turn with a careful eye for oncoming traffic and deer. I did see 5 deer during the 2 hour ride to Harrison.

Nice one lane bridge, with somewhat short blind curves just before it! As you can see, the skies were again overcast, and still a cold wind was blowing. The temperature dropped to about 55F, so while I was pulled over I added another layer. Going uphill, going downhill, twisting about on the road, and a gradual uphill led me to see this:

The Grand Canyon of Arkansas, which is just beautiful. I really wish I could take better pictures because this just doesnt do it justice. After this, it was a really twisty 7 degree downgrade (trucks limited to 15mph) which eventually led me out of the forest and into Harrison, AR, where my brother lives.

Arriving at the house, I got there just in time for homecooked poppy seed chicken (DELICIOUS!) potatoes and corn. Being cold and hungry, I was soon remedied with a full stomach and a hot shower. I spent the rest of the night playing the game Epic Mickey with my super awesome niece Mallory (who is awesome at video games btw).

Being here in AR, and having friends and family all over, the next days are going to be filled with short rides to a destination. A welcome change I guess. Its the 16th of May now, and I've got to be in SE Missouri around June 14th... Just under a month, and I still have the entire NE USA, East coast, Blueridge Parkway, and New Orleans to complete... I doubt I'll be able to do it all, I might have to skimp on some things. In June, I'll be heading to the Yukon Territory for a couple months (still dont know if Freyas taking me.... haha)

If I dont get to finish this trip before I leave for the Yukon, theres nothing stopping me from picking it back up where I left off. I dont feel like I'm behind schedule or anything either. We'll see what happens.

Dinner at Fort Millsy

Chicken teriyaki meal packet made by mountain house. It's a lot of food, I could barely finish it. My stove took forever to heat 2 cups of water to a boil... definite upgrade for the future.

Camp in hot springs, Arkansas

Picture of Fort Millsy, and my wicked sunburn! Yes it stings.

Late night munchies

So terrible for the body, so good for my tastebuds! Yes I ate all this while watching aqua teen hunger force.

yeeee-haw Texas ya'll

Texas! But first, starting from Roswell because I havent updated in a few days. I'd like to thank random motels advertising free wi-fi, then inform me that its down after I've already paid. GRR! Moving on...

I didnt spend too much time in Roswell, but the time that I did have I spent at the Roswell UFO Museum. What a cool place it was, full of old newspapers lined up on the wall telling you the timeline of the 'incident' and all the fallout from it. Very cool, and lots of reproductions of artifacts and printed interviews to help with the story. Also on the walls are loads of the classic military releases that are mostly blacked out. I especialy liked this 'reproduction'

If (When) the "greys" finally make their presence fully known, I wonder what they'd think if they saw something like this. I'm not saying "ooo thats bad and disrespectful" or anything, just wondering. Do they have museums with scenes like this, except with people getting probed? I'd like to ASSume so. *rimshot*

After Roswell, it was time to head south onward to Carlsbad Caverns. Just gorgeous scenery on the way there:

Amazing right? All that nothing! What a boring ride it was until the exit to Carlsbad Caverns. The road changed from a flat straightaway to a winding twisty road going between hills and cliffs. Once you get to the caverns, its time to head underground. The elevator to the caverns was cool as its full of windows and they turn the lights off as you're descending so you can see the rock walls fly by as you descend 750 feet in 1 minute. Thats not really that fast, but when the rock wall is 1 foot from your face, you feel the speed. Once inside, the place really opens up to a whole new world. The pictures didnt come out too great, but heres the best one:

Its almost impossible to express the enormity and expanse of the caverns. If anybody has played The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, or any dungeon crawler game for that matter, thats what it was like. I kept wanting to hear some ghouls or something moving around in the darkness, but all I heard was people lightly talking. FYI the "bottomless pit" in the caverns isnt bottomless at all, its 140 feet, but back in the day when they were naming stuff, I would have called it bottomless as well.

A ways down the road, and here we are

and completey surrounded by this:

Miles upon miles of this landscape to look at. West Texas at its finest I guess. I knew that Texas was big, and my next destinatin was San Antonio, so to help make miles and time, I hopped on the I-10 and boringly rode it out. The speed limit was 80, and if you ride a Ural you're probably chuckling right now. I cruised along at 55-60mph and had no problems with traffic. The only problem I had was with fighting the wind, which was nothing like the road to Flagstaff Arizona, but it was still pretty mean.

I stayed at a motel for a night with a bunch of firefighters from all across the country. Drought has caused the entire big ass area very prone to fires, and there quite a few of them. Apparently, Texas doesnt really have a state run fire department to deal with it, so firefighters make the annual trip to Texas and help out. The state then manages them while they're here. People from Washington, Oregon, even New Jersey were showing up to lend a hand. Seeing the effects of drought firsthand from New Mexico to here, and then watching all the tornadoes and flooding on television, really makes the mind think about things.

Eventually, the scenery changed as I entered Eastern Texas:

Greenery! Soon enough I was in San Antonio, and of course I couldnt forget the Alamo!

Lots of history here, and a very nice museum to tell the story on the inside. While looking at the list of names of those who died at the Alamo, I found this:

3rd one down on the right, William Mills! Am I related to that guy? I have no idea, but I'll go ahead and say yes, at least to my self. I even picked up an "alamo ranger deputy" badge/star from the gift shop.

Onward to Houston, and more battling with the wind. Houston isnt too far away from San Antonio, but I coudlnt take much more beating from the wind. I called it a night and decided to arrive at my friend Lee's house the next day, which is exactly what happened. I remember Lee telling me about home cookin', and once I arrived the meal was absolutely fantastic. Crawfish etouffee to die for, also the best picture Lee has ever had taken of him

So ends another leg of the journey, the Desert Leg is done. Freya valiantly carried me across what I thought would be the most difficult part of the trip. In some ways it was, but the bad pales in comparison to the good. Freya had no mechanical issues, no problems, just pushing me all across the land from the barren wastes to the Texas hills.

Now a confession. Freya was still covered in the light tan dust from the Las Cruces area of New Mexico, and today I did the almost unthinkable. If you ride a Ural, you might not appreciate this, but I.... washed my Ural... really scrubbed her down and got all the desert dust and road grime off her. After the wash, I pretty much bathed her in WD-40 and I'm not entirely sure why, but there are some rusty spots and WD-40 cant hurt anything.

Now the Iron Swan is all shiny, and tommorow its the usual full inspection after a completed leg of the journey. I'm just under 7500km, which means I've put 7000km on her during this trip. The Avon tires look almost untouched btw. Freya is sitting in the garage right now, no doubt as anxious as I am to get back on teh road and get dirty again. Rest well sweet lady.

Onward to Roswell

Started the day in Las Cruces, NM. Someways down the road, I finally got to see White Sands. What a neat place, it just looks like dunes of weird snow. Bright white, covering everything (including most of the road in the picture above). A quick stop for a sandwich, then back en route to Roswell.

The road was great, 4 lanes with little to no traffic going through the hills. The elevation climbed and I was soon surrounded by trees, and then the long descent to Roswell. Soon the hills and trees were over, and I was left with this:

Miles and miles of it. Freya was running fine, 55-60mph the whole time, with only minimal loss on the long uphills. I pulled over to grab the picture above, and then noticed something:

The plug was gone! How long has it been gone?? How did I miss it earlier!? Was this the reason I was topping off the oil more often than before? How much dirt and debris got in there?? No idea, but now to fix it. I didnt have any extra rubber or high temp plastic to fashion a plug myself. The area around it gets pretty hot, and I'm gonna have to run the engine pretty hard to get to Roswell. All I had was electric tape, so I taped up the hole.

Hitting the road, I kept looking at the electric tape cover. One because I didnt want it to melt onto there, or fal off, or worse yet be sucked inside. It seemed to be pretty stable, and is still there. Tomorow I'll try to fashion something a little better.

Finally I got to Roswell, and got into something I didnt expect: massive traffic. Roswell is a pretty big place, I dont know what they have here besides tourism. Still feeling a little sore from the day before, and hungry, I pulled into a motel and ordered a pizza. Tonight I'll search for things to see, and tomorow I'll check this place out. After that, Carlsbad Caverns awaits.

Cinco De Mayo

Shortly after posting the delicious green chili cheeseburger at Sparkys in Hatch, NM, I met a man named Adolfo (or Adolpho?) in the parking lot of Sparkys. I was just getting ready to switch out air filters since I ran through a few dust storms on the way. There was no shade in the parking lot, so Adolfo offered to show me his farm and do my maintenance there in the shade.

Adolfos farm wasnt just a chili farm, as he had cows, horses, pigs, and two dogs. We shared a beer and talked while Freya got a full checkout (air filter change, spark plugs checked, all connections and hoses) and since we're gonna be at a higher elevation, I switched my main jets from 130 to 127.5 (idle jets still 40).

The effects of drought are being felt all over the area. What used to be a creek which always had water in it is now dry and barren (and has been since the drought started around last year). The area sits atop some water underground, so now instead of diverting stream water to feed the crops, Adolfo now has to spend extra thousands of dollars a month to buy fuel to run a pump. While we were looking at it, Adolfo noticed the oil drip throttle assembly was clogged, so the pump was getting no oil. We took it apart, cleaned it, reinstalled it, and solved it. I didnt do anything he wouldnt have done himself, but it felt nice to be apart of preventing a major problem (pump seizure, no water for crops).

Back at the house, I got to meet his son and friends. I spent most of the afternoon at Adolfos farm, and regret none of it. Just one more example of great people being found all over the USA, just trying to make it no matter what nature throws at them. If you're reading this Adolfo, thank you again.

After saying goodbye, the road to Spaceport America was ahead. Mostly paved and on the highway, it was somewhat uneventful. Down the road, I happened to come across Elephant Butte Dam and powerplant. Where the level of water has gone down, the giant area looks like a draining bathtub, leaving rings around it as it slowly goes away.

Lots of winding paved roads after seeing this. The road wasnt great, and eventually led me to a fork in the road. Southward to spaceport america, and the road became fantastic! Obviously only a few years old, it was smooth as could be while driving by Ted Turners ranch (I didnt see any buffalo however) and on to my destination. Somewhere, out here in the middle of NOWHERE

Ah-hA! I"m close... Just further down the road and there was the security checkpoint. The guard who came out seemed used to working so far from anything. Talked my ear off! Most of it about spaceport america, which we could see from where we were. This also happened to be as close as I could go, since its still under construction:

This is the rear end of the spaceport. The front (I'm told) has huge glass doors andwindows. Turns out theres a bit of controversy about building this port, and its nearly at a standstill now. Funding is from tax payers, and from what I gather it wasnt expressely sold that way. On top of that, the area has near constant winds, sometimes dangerously high, and they built the giant runway to always have a cross wind. The security guard mentioned that for better information, check out the website of the state newspaper and search for spaceport america, instead of going to spaceport americas website.

Pretty underwhelming I guess, but I had fun. I really wanted to see the site with my own two eyes, but didnt get to see as much as I hoped for. Onward to Las Cruces, NM. The security guard told me the way there. The pavement ends, and its gonna be all gravel, sand, and dirt. Its gonna be rough, but he said I'll be fine. The last best piece of advice was "do not get comfortable on that road, do not get a false sense of security."

How right he was!

Middle of nowhere, again, this time on a road that seemed DESIGNED to be a dangerous pain in the ass! Mostly caliche and gravel, with constant horizontal ridges, made the entire 24 miles of it rougher than most trails I've ridden on. Not pictured is the several washouts, massive potholes, and declines leading to very soft sand followed by an incline. This was a dangerous road, requiring full focus. Then something happened..

COW ATTACK!!!!!!! These guys were all over the road, some of them not caring while I drove around them, others following me. They actualy kept their distance, but I couldnt be too careful. I've read that cow attacks kill about 17,000 people annualy. I read that in a book, seriously. I also saw the biggest rabbits I've ever seen, the size of dogs, but too fast to grab a photo.

Nightfall on the roughest road I've been on. I'm hoping nothing shakes itself loose, or even shake something off. For most of the road, I had to stand up because sitting down was intolerable. Finally, I met up with the main highway leading me to Las Cruces. Several miles later, bikes still running great, and I pull into a motel for a hot shower.

And boy did I need it! Light tan dust covering everything so completely, that even though my boots are black, you couldnt tell. They were now tan! Freya was mostly tan too! I rolled up to the motel looking just filthy, and feeling absolutely fantastic since I made it safely.

It was then 10pm and I found out its Cinco De Mayo. I had no idea!

Hatch, NM. Chile capital of the world

Didn't realize the motel I stayed at in lordsburg had trains running next door every half hour. Not the best sleep!

On the road en route to spaceport america, stopping for lunch in Hatch, Chile capital. Here at Sparkys, showing down on their famous green chile burger and green chile cheese fries! This might hurt later...

Leaving Arizona

Spent more time than I probably should have visiting friends in Phoenix, AZ. Great times all around, I dont regret a minute of it, and to all my friends reading this: you made it hard to leave, and I already miss (most) of you. :D

That being said, it was time to hit the road on my way to Las Cruces, NM, to see Spaceport America in person! I didnt make it all the way thanks to a late start. Question: is it always a late start if I've rarely if ever started before 11am-noon? I dont know. Anyhoo, I'll reach my first New Mexican destination tomorow, or manana (squigly n!)

No pics to post of the day, as it was mostly uneventful mostly barren high desert. I got to get better at taking pictures!

As for Freya, she now has a full set of brand new Avon tires and is fresh from her 5000km service all thanks to the great people at Logans in Mesa, AZ. She's still running great, I *might* play with the carb jetting a little bit but if it ain't broke dont fix it!

In response to the comment, I've read about the Power Arc ignition but I dont understand the benefit from it. I kind of do, but not even to justify the price tag. As for carbs, I've yet to do any shimming, nor do I fully understand that. Changing jets is easier and faster, and accomplishes the same goals right? I've seen the needles with the adjustable "thingy" on the end which I guess acts like shimming.. I have more than enough fuel going in with 130 jets, she's running just a little bit rich (which is way better than lean). I guess I need to read up on stuff, but again, it aint broke!