Home from Galena

[Freebird]

Eileen and I got home around 4:30 today. Great ride home. Left Galena late Friday morning and got caught in some TERRIBLE Chicago traffic along with some heavy rain. It was brutal. Only rode a couple hundred miles and checked into a hotel in Portage, IN for the night.

 

Only about 300 miles to get home today and the weather was absolutely perfect. Really enjoyed the ride.

 

Had a fantastic time In Galena. Those of you who didn't make it really missed a great rally.

 

I can't thank the committee enough for the wonderful job that they did.

[Long Tall]

Donna and I had a GREAT First Rally. Met a bunch of new folks and mad some friends. Donna's ready for B2Dad & B2Mom's May event and next years rally wherever it is.

 

Spent the last few days here in Platteville, WI as some know so Donna could visit her cousin. Heading out tomorrow AM and will take a couple of day to get home. Overnight somewhere in Indiana or Kentucky. Weather is perfect for the next few day.

 

PS. I went to gas up for the trip and immediately two guy came over to the bike and commented on my brand spankin new DIAMOND CUT FINS. :-)

 

PSS. I did not know I needed to haul a #4, 15# Pickle Crock from her grandmothers estate home to Ole Virginia. Oh Well!! Life on the road.

 

 

Long Tall and Donna

[dacheedah]

Those fins look awesome on your bike, a nice touch. Ride safe

[eusa1]

Set your gps for Oglesby Illinois and i will buy you that root beer!!

You have my number!

Mike:cool10:

[Trader]

Got home about 10:15 tonight. Total distance travelled (including rally rides etc) was. 2630 miles.

 

 

I think my problem was just the battery.

 

It seemed fine all the way home. Mind you I don't have all the incandecent running lights or the 55w. driving lights hooked up!!!

 

I'll be ordering LED for as many bulbs as possible after I recover from this trip.

[IH Truck Guy]

Glad you made it all the way home Steve.

[Flyinfool]

Got home about 10:15 tonight. Total distance travelled (including rally rides etc) was. 2630 miles.

 

 

I think my problem was just the battery.

 

It seemed fine all the way home. Mind you I don't have all the incandecent running lights or the 55w. driving lights hooked up!!!

 

I'll be ordering LED for as many bulbs as possible after I recover from this trip.

 

Glad you made it, we were wondering what happened to you after your HELP post.

[Huggy]

Glad to see you made home in one piece Trader!!

 

[icebrrg3rd]

We got home Sun at quarter to 9, didn't go straight home after the rally. Total miles was 1,673 on the Venture & 1,957 on the Caravan. I pulled 45.8 mpg on the bike and 17.1 mpg with the Caravan (it had the pop-up hauling duties). We were also camping the week before the rally, so that's added into the totals.

 

-Andrew

[saddlebum]

Well I finally got home today as well. Quite the trip to say the least. On the way home as you know we had issues with Traders bike. First we replaced the tire on Trader's trailer, because of what appeared to be a shifted or broken belt. Then when we went to leave, Traders bike would not start. We checked it out with the limited resources we had at hand and concluded the battery was not taking a charge and a voltage drop test during cranking seemed to verify that. Since the place we were at to buy the tire, also had battery's, the decision was made to replace it. Talk about disappointment when it would not crank. Well it was a dry charged battery, to which we had to add acid to and should have sat for a bit before using it. We decided to push started it in hopes that it would build up while driving, no such luck. Carl and I would push start Traders bike at fuel and rest stops which gave us a bit of a workout. Actually Trader being the aware person he is, must have noticed that I put on a pound or two at the rally and being the concerned friend he is, allowed me to push by myself. To add to the workout he even left the key off while I pushed so I would gain maximum benefit from the workout he so kindly offered me.

That night at the motel we took the battery out of Carls bike and tried it with a voltmeter connected to measure voltage drop while cranking and determined the starter was not faulty. We decided that we need to get Traders Battery properly charged. That night I suggested to Steve I would buy a battery tender in the morning and at the next Motel stop we would remove his battery and charge it all night hoping this may work. To be clear, I needed to buy a battery tender for a backup sump system I was building anyway for the house, I just bought it now rather than later. Of course it was another day of push starting Traders bike. The following morning after removing the battery from the bike and leaving it on the battery tender all night the bike seemed to have gotten over its starting issues.

 

All was well until Trader started questioning what he perceived as excessive movement with Carl's trailer as we are going down the highway, followed some time later by Carl hearing and feeling something odd in his bike. The next day we headed down the highway when Carl pulled over certain something was wrong with his back wheel. We put it up on the center stand and sure enough a wheel bearing was gone. We made our way back to a service centre and after some inquires Carl concluded he would have to trailer the bike home.

 

While trying to work out a solution to the situation, A fellow in a jeep pulls up to offer some help. Carl explains the situation to him and the fellow reply’s he has a shop we can use and an old venture we can rob parts off of, so we head to his place. Once there he first checks to see if he may even have a new bearing on hand, which he did. With a little bit of assistance from myself and the kind stranger. (I say little because Carl does not usually require a lot of help) Carl was soon mobile again but too late to catch the ferry. So another night in town preceded but a visit to the bush plane museum was in order.

 

After spending another night in town the rest of our journey was trouble free.

 

Last but not least thanks to Carl and Marca allowing me to join them on their alternate route home. I enjoyed some spectacular scenery and riding.

Combine this with a wonderful time and beautiful scenic rides made possible by the committee members I had a great vacation week I will never forget.

 

EXCEPT FOR THOSE TRAINS THAT CONSTANTLY RAN THOUGH THE COMPGROUND ……OOOooooOOOOOHHHHH THOSE TRAINS !!!!!!!! :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head:

Edited August 6, 2013 by saddlebum

[tomephil]

Well I finally got home today as well. Quite the trip to say the least. On the way home as you know we had issues with Traders bike. First we replaced the tire on Trader's trailer because of what appeared to be a shifted or broken belt. Then when we went to leave Traders bike would not start. We checked out with the limited resources we had at hand and concluded the battery was not taking a charge and a voltage drop test during cranking seemed to verify that. Since the place we were at to by the tire also had battery's Steve the decision was made to replace it. Talk about disappointment when it would not crank. Well it was a dry charged battery too which we had to add acid to and should have sat for a bit before using it. we decided to push started it in hopes that it would build up while driving, no such luck. Carl and I would push start Traders bike at fuel and rest stops which gave us a bit of a workout. Actually Trader being the concerned person he is must have noticed that I put on a pound or two at the rally and being the concerned friend he is, allowed me to push by myself. To add to the workout he even left the key off while I pushed so I would gain maximum benefit from the workout he so kindly offered me.

That night at the motel we took the battery out of Carls bike and tried it with a voltmeter connected to measure voltage drop while cranking and determined the starter was faulty and drawing too much currant. We decided that we need to get Traders Battery properly charged. That night I suggested to Steve I would by a battery tender in the morning and at the next Motel stop we would remove his battery and charge it all night hoping this may work. To be clear I needed to buy a battery tender for a backup sump system I was building anyway for the house, I just bought it now rather than later. Of course it was another day of push starting Traders bike. The following morning after removing the battery from the bike and leaving it on the battery tender all night the bike seemed to have gotten over its starting issues.

 

All was well until Trader started questioning what he perceived as excessive movement with Carls trailer as we are going down the highway, followed some time later by Carl hearing and feeling something odd in his bike. The next day we headed down the highway when Carl pulled over certain something was wrong with his back wheel. We put it up on the center stand and sure enough a wheel bearing was gone. We made our way back to a service centre and after some inquires Carl concluded he would have to trailer the bike home.

 

While trying to work out a solution to the situation, A fellow in a jeep pulls up to offer some help. Carl explains the situation to him and the fellow’s reply’s he has a shop we can use and an old venture we can rob parts off of, so we head to his place. Once there he first checks to see if he may even have a new bearing on hand, which he did. With a little bit of assistance from myself and the kind stranger. (I say little because Carl does not usually require a lot of help).

 

After spending another night in town the rest of our journey was trouble free.

 

Last but not least thanks to Carl and Marca allowing me to join them on their alternate route home. I enjoyed some spectacular scenery and riding.

Combine this with a wonderful time and beautiful scenic rides made possible by the committee members I had a great vacation week I will never forget.

 

EXCEPT FOR THOSE TRAINS THAT CONSTANTLY RAN THOUGH THE COMPGROUND ……OOOooooOOOOOHHHHH THOSE TRAINS !!!!!!!! :bang head: :bang head: :bang head: :bang head:

 

Hey, glad you guys got back OK. It was great meeting you. See ya next year.

Tom