Thursday, September 25, 2014

MN to OR

On Wednesday afternoon, my meetings were over but my flight out of MN wasn't until Thursday morning. Doug, aka Coopdway, of Coop's Corner, who was in St. Paul for the day, stopped by the hotel and took me to a wonderful restaurant called Q. Cumbers. Huge salad bar, wonderful soups and tons of fruit. They pride themselves as one of the healthiest restaurants in Minnesota. We have so few places with salad bars in Alaska that it was a real treat! It was great to re-connect with Coop since we initially met him last November at their motorcycle group's Saturday coffee. A good opportunity to get to know him a little better.

I headed to the airport very early Thursday morning for a 7 o'clock flight to Seattle. At least I got a complimentary upgrade so I was able to get at least a little sleep. It was just a short hop on a commuter turbo-prop to Portland. After picking up a car and a diner lunch (no pics so it didn't haappen, right? 0 Cal lunch!), I stopped at Raceway Ural in Salem, OR. They had some bits and pieces and I figured that I could save shipping costs by picking stuff up in person. Plus, look around. They have quite a collection of rigs in their show room. Both EFI and carburated versions.

I got a few tips and asked about rain getting in the air cleaner housing and gathered that it wasn't, at least for them, a common complaint. One of the tips from Raceway is how to increase the spring tension on the reverse shifter to help it stay in reverse. Now, if I pause while in reverse, it drops back into neutral on its own. One of the tips from ChrisL from everydayriding.org is the part number for a Napa tractor air filter that fits the Ural housing and is a small fraction of the price. On Amazon, you can find them for about ⅛th the cost of the Ural part.

The air cleaner housing on a converted diesel Toyota pickup that I used to own had fins inside the air cleaner housing that guided the air in a circle before being drawn through the filter. This allowed a lot of the particulates and water to not get sucked in through the filter and fell to the bottom of the housing where it ended up in an easily emptiable cup.. The advantage, in addition to the element not getting wet, was that it seemed to last forever. After 100k miles, the air cleaner element was still clean. Another reason it was clean is that I didn't have the engine crankcase vent connected to the air cleaner housing. One of the things that I picked up at Raceway was a different crankcase vent system.

I'll be here in Oregon visiting family and friends into the beginning of next week.

10 comments:

  1. Richard you have the perfect job. With all the travel and great places you visit it is just about as good as retirement.

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    1. The travel is a real nice part of the job. I think that I'd really miss working with the group from other research universities if I was no longer working. Or maybe it's getting to be time to move on…

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  2. So nice that you and Doug could visit for a while. Q Cumbers sound like the perfect restaurant too.

    Welcome back to Oregon. Quite the rain yesterday afternoon, but the temps should be perfect this weekend. See you tomorrow.

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    1. Q. Cumbers was a great place, A nice selection and everything tasted fresh. And it was great to visit Doug again as well. It was really raining in Seattle when I came through there as well as south of Salem. Everything still looks nice and green!

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  3. Glad you are getting to visit lots and catch a little green before you head home for the winter (though I expect you won't spend the entire winter riding in the ice and snow.)

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    1. Apparantly I missed the really warm weather. I looked today and Minneapolis was 76°F. Maybe this is their "Indian Summer". There is snow and temperatures in the teens (°F) forecast for Fairbanks after I return home.

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  4. Great to actually sit down again with you Richard; really appreciate your flexibility with our meet time. It was turning into a long day and I wasn't sure when I'd be able to get away from work.

    Richard is accurate in that I took him but he hosted, for which I'm very grateful. I agree, the food was very good and the choices almost limitless. Thanks again Richard for everything you shared with me.

    Due to the perfect weather that Richard brought to the midwest, my Saturday Tenderloin Ride evolved into a multi-day affair. A weekend of almost unbelievable weather predicted, it just seemed wrong to ride only one day. I'm in Prairie Du Chien this evening, left early this morning and made the Ascot very dusty today and will make it even worse by the time I get to downtown St. Olaf tomorrow with the crew.

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    1. Yep, it sounds like the really nice weather came after I left. Sounds like the new work schedule agrees with you...

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  5. Always nice to connect with a fellow blogger! I guess when you get back home you might have some snow to deal with. Enjoy your sojourn in Oregon.

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    1. Maybe some snow. It's still kind of early for snow to actually stay around. Especially since the high temperatures are still above freezing.

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