Monday, April 22, 2013

Visitor!

We rarely get visitors especially those that travel up the Alaska Highway, and even fewer that venture up before the tourist season "officially" starts on Memorial Day. Last year it was Chris from everydayriding.org and this year its moto-blogger and adventurer, Charlie6 from redlegsrides.blogspot.com. He arrived yesterday evening after an uneventful ride on a typical Alaska Spring day. If you want to hear what really happened, you need to check out his blog.

Today was maintenance day and a fellow rider, Solarmoose on ADVrider helped change several well worn tires in his shop. Later in the afternoon, I got my first sidecar ride (as a passenger) during a test ride to "make sure the wheels didn't fall off". The Ural has a much lower first gear than my Beemer and I was impressed by the acceleration and comfortable ride. More maintenance needed tomorrow.

I also took the opportunity to remove the screw in studs from my rear tire. They were really worn down again and some of them were pretty difficult to remove.  

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for putting me up Richard, you all are great hosts!

    Dom

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    1. I think you have that backwards! Thank you for putting up with the craziness that is our home. And thank you visiting.

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  2. Wow, you are getting at least one visitor a year. I wonder who'll venture North to see you next year.

    How did you like your first sidecar ride?

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    1. I really enjoyed the ride. Kind of what I expected though you really do sit low, kind of like a sports car.

      So when are you and Brad visiting?

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  3. WooHoo! Hi Dom!

    So how did you like being the monkey? Did the tires fall off? ;)

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    1. The tires did not fall off and it was a fun ride. I like it a lot better than riding behind someone.

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  4. Richard:

    Yep, another Monkey. You're not an easy person to visit, esp this time of year. It's always good to see a familiar face when you are far from home

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. I think the biggest challenge is getting through Canada. But riding up at this time of year is definitely an adventure.

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  5. Thanks for taking good care of my husband. Now, I kindly ask that you hose him down with the garden hose if his eyes start to get glazed over and he thinks about "well, a BMW side car rig would be fun to own". As for side car ownership, he is "two and through". :)

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    1. Thank you for sending him up our way. We don't get many visitors. I have not heard any mention of BMW anything. Plus our garden hose is still frozen...

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  6. Glad to hear Dom arrived safe and sound at your place. If it weren't for our intermission in Germany we might have made it up to Alaska in summer... well maybe another time.

    Don't you find the monkey seat extremely comfy? I liked it very much!

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    1. Since I've only ridden a bike with a huge barn door faring and windshield, I was unprepared for the wind pressure. The seat is very comfy.

      Alaska is still on your list?

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  7. So funny, your's and Dom's photo was almost the same. You are brave though, to be the test monkey for the side car (nah, not brave, just confident in your abilities.) Well hosted! Wish somebody would come visit me in the sunny south/east ... wait a minute, I think someone is headed this way, hopefully the snow will be gone by then (ha, ha).

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    1. When you are at the end of the road (in this case snow covered and some gravel), visitors are rare.

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  8. It has been so much fun following Dom's journeys and his visits. He has good taste in friends.
    ~k

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