Beat the Rain

In fact, the prediction of rain might have been a bit overblown.  We've had a few sprinkles, but not much.  It is still in the forecast, though, and our gardens need it.

It was such a beautiful day with perfect riding temps that I just couldn't take the most direct route home.  I came up over Mt Hood and down a normally great curvy road into the town of Hood River, but the road was messed up by a lot of cinders left over from the last effort to provide traction in snow and ice.  So I rode backwards on the road that provided the view in my first day's blog, and then added the Vancouver area racer road from Carson to Cougar.  It was a great way to end the ride.  Today was 260 miles and I got home about 1pm.   The total trip miles was 2,353. 

I've got the bike cleaned up and on the lift ready for a bunch of maintenance, the most intensive of which is a valve check and adjustment.  Based on the comments yesterday from Mike, I checked the charge going to the battery at high rpm and found it to be normal, so I guess I just happened to have a couple of burned-out bulbs and not a voltage regulator problem.  I have been planning to install a voltage gauge and was just waiting for the valve check to give me a chance to install it.  My last bike left Carolyn and I stranded outside of San Francisco when the stator fried itself and the battery went completely dead.  A gauge will give me some warning about these problems. 

I'm thankful for a fun and safe ride for both myself and Jenny, and that Carolyn is not suffering too many after effects of the accident.  It's also good to be home.