Still in Fairbanks

Sunday - A nice 75°F day today with partly cloudy skies and no rain.

Monday - Today, my youngest son headed out of Alaska. His Subaru is pretty well loaded. Hopefully he makes it through Canada without any problems. 

Bridget has been busy selling things on FB Marketplace in advance of her garage sale this weekend. I gotta admit that I really dislike garage sales. But, it’s probably better than just throwing things away.

Tuesday - I went to coffee this morning at the Sunsprout Cafe. A good group of friends that meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And the coffee is pretty good. I moved most of the motorcycle and moto-camping gear onto the trailer. I need to add some more tie-downs for both the boxes as well as the Ural. Off to Lowe's again!

Wednesday - Bridget got rid of a few more large items and the garage is starting to look emptier (finally!). Today's “project” was making a deconstructed California roll. Sushi rice with crabmeat salad, furikake, avocado, cucumbers, Japanese mayo, and toasted sesame seeds. It turned out pretty tasty!

Trip South

We headed south partly to take a break from the de-cluttering effort. We stopped at at a gift shop between Nenana and Healy. They had this fish wheel on display. 

We met up with friends, Gary and Stacy, at the Houston Lodge and met a few other RV couples for dinner. These were some folks that are part of the RV to Alaska FB group. 

This is the view from their back deck. We spent the night in their guest room of their fabulous new home. 

Friday - We headed through Anchorage in the morning to visit with my nephew and his family. 

Saturday - After spending the night at my nephew's home, we headed north back to Fairbanks. BTW, his overland RV project is progressing with the shell built onto the bed. The trip was pretty uneventful with only a couple of short stops, 

Another Trailer Project

Sunday - A quiet day. My only "project" was attaching the spare tire to the utility trailer. It didn't come with a spare or a mount but Lowe's carried both. I attached it to the passenger side as the driver's side would be heavier due to the motorcycle's weight distribution. The only problem with this mounting location is not being able to fold the front of the trailer down. I shouldn't need that feature anymore as I can now drive the Ural onto the trailer without the need for a come-along (hand winch).

Monday - After a visit to the dentist, we headed back to continue the decluttering process. In the evening, there was another Airhead get-together as there were out-of-town visitors one of whom was an officer of the national Airhead organization. The visitors were also at D2D (Dust to Dawson).

Tuesday -  Another doctor visit is done. Gradually plugging away at the to-do list for when we are back in town. 

Fairbanks, AK

Monday - This morning, I met with JedR for coffee. I hadn't seen him for a couple of years since we worked on his Ural. It was good to see him again. I arrived back home in time to participate in the later test session then back to decluttering the garage. There is a lot of junk in there.

Tuesday - Morning coffee at Sunsprout Cafe followed by a short visit to the university barbershop. I then spent most of the day shredding old papers. 

Wednesday - An eye appointment and more shredding. 

Friday - I picked up a wheel chock and installed it on the trailer. And, I removed the upper sides of the trailer. Now, I can simply drive the Ural up onto the trailer and into the chock. No need for the come-along or extra blocks. After the Ural is loaded, I can re-install the sides. There is room on the trailer for four large bins and four smaller bins. 

So busy. I’m feeling exhausted. 

More Tasks…

Friday - We met with Tim and Sue for lunch at Pioneer Park aka Alaskaland. I had a taco salad at the souvlaki place. It was pretty good though not spectacular. After lunch, we walked around the park and the stern wheeler Nenana is definitely in need of restoration. It’s been closed for quite a while.

Saturday - More work on the trailer getting some boards bolted to the deck. And, I made some removable blocks for the front wheel to ride up on when loading so the cylinder head clears the side. 

Sunday - A few more house things dealt with. The zone for the hot water maker was on continuously. It turned out to be simple. The thermocouple for the thermostat was not installed. I simply put it back into position and the zone shut off within a minute. 

The downstairs toilet needed a new shutoff valve and the water supply hose had a ton of iron built up. A straightforward fix. 

I need to examine how the circulating pump is wired up on the boiler as it seems to be running continuously. Even with all of the zone valves closed. 

Trailer Shopping

Monday - I went trailer shopping this morning after the early test session. Home Depot and Lowe's both have 5'x10' trailers in stock. This is the Lowe's version. It is made from galvanized steel with a steel deck, torsion suspension, steel fenders, and 13" wheels. The inside width is exactly 60" so the Ural will barely fit between the fixed sides. 

The Home Depot version is steel tubes, a wooden deck, leaf spring suspension, plastic fenders, and 14" wheels. Both are similar in weight and price. The inside width is 58½" but the sides fold down for loading.

With either trailer, the ramps look barely adequate to support the weight of the Ural and will probably need to be reinforced. The Lowe's version has tie-down points built into the deck but the open sides of the HD version make tie-down simple enough.

Monday evening was the monthly get-together of the BMW Airheads. One of the vehicles was a newly restored 1958 BMW Isetta 300. It was only its second time out on the road and it looked fabulous. 

He also brought a Citroën 2CV, also nicely restored. There were about a dozen bikes not all of which were Airheads or even BMWs. After all, the Ural was there. 

Tuesday - I finally made a decision on a trailer. This is the one from Lowe's and is 1½" wider than the HD trailer. When I picked it up, it looked like the electrical connector was a little damaged. Fortunately, I had the magnetic lights with me, so getting home was no problem. Now to see if my measurements were even close.

Wednesday - The Ural does fit on the trailer but it’s a pretty tight fit. I have two 2”x10” planks for the tires to sit on. Plus, I needed another 3” of boards of height for the front tire near the gate for the left cylinder to clear the side. Today, I finished the licensing and title and got a permanent tag. 

I need to bolt the planks to the trailer deck so they don’t move while loading the bike. And I think I know how to make the other planks temporary as I only need them for the front tire.

Farmers Market

Saturday - It’s still kinda chilly but at least it’s not raining. We went to the Farmers Market on College Road. Not too crowded though most of the booths just had touristy stuff for sale. Some food booths, some baked goods, and several coffee and tea booths. It’s still a bit early for any produce. 

Afterwards, I took some stuff to the electronics recycling place. It was an opportunity to ride the Ural as there wasn’t a mountain of stuff. After I returned home, I noticed the DVD and VCR players that needed to go.

Sunday - I took the Ural on several small errands today still trying to determine whether there were any problems with the rig. After two years of sitting in the garage, I expected there to be some issues. 

Fairbanks, AK

Wednesday - I joined the early test session just to see how well Zoom worked. I suspect that it's going to work really well given the SpeedTest results. I'm going to get spoiled...

Today's project is continuing to clean the junk out of the garage. A lot of junk has accumulated over the last 40 years of living in Fairbanks.

Thursday - I went to morning coffee again and there were six others there. It was nice to catch up with them again. I did ride the Ural this morning as I needed to fill up the tank. Plus, I wanted to make sure that it ran okay. After all, it's been a couple of years since it was last ridden. It ran great.

It never did warm up much today. At 4pm, it was only 45°F. But we didn’t get snow like they did in Tok and Delta. The forecast for next week is highs in the 70s. Back to normal.

Friday - The Lock Screen on the phone still shows your location and the sunlight. That is dark when it’s dark outside and sunlit like shown here. I think that’s kinda interesting. 

Decluttering continues. After the morning test session, I tackled the workbench in the garage. But  after a few hours, I was starting to feel overwhelmed. There is a lot of junk. 

I needed a few groceries for today’s dinner, so I took the Ural out. The light rain prompted me to dig out the Roadcrafter and I am still amazed how easy it is to get in and out of it. A good design.