Or That's Too Long On A Ural.
Took the Ural over Labor Day Weekend to visit my Dad in Cameron, WI. Not many pics because Saturday was an icky day. Pretty much all day.
I left home about 5:15 am Saturday morning. Figured on it being cool, so I threw my rain jacket over my armor and hit the road. I didn't figure on it being COLD and FOGGY. Made the first stop at Country Donuts in Crystal Lake, IL for coffee and a couple of French Donuts(my fav). Wolfed down the first one and stuck the other in the tank bag. Put the coffee in the cup holder and took off.
Hit Woodstock and grab the coffee cup at a stop light. Go to put it back in the cup holder and drop it.
Turn on the hand warmers. (C'mon, it's Sept 2nd)
Sun comes up around Darien, WI and it has some warmth in it. Decide to turn off the hand warmers and find out that they were never on. Forgot that I have to place my finger behind the switch and press the button with my thumb to turn it on. Turn them on medium for a few minutes. Head north on WI89 to Whitewater and decide to run straight up to Eau Claire on US12 instead of the route I have mapped out.
Sun is up and it's starting to get nice out. First gas stop is in Madison, WI. Get another coffee and inhale the second donut. Swap out clear glasses for sun glasses. Get to Wisconsin Dells around 8:30 and it's dead. Breeze through town. Run through Lyndon Station, Mauston, and New Lisbon and think about stopping to eat, but I don't. A few miles outside of New Lisbon, cloud cover is increasing and it's quite dark ahead of me. Get to Camp Douglas as the clouds open up. It starts coming down in buckets as I hit my second gas stop.
By the time I'm ready to go, the rain lets up a bit. I get on the bike and see my untouched coffee.
Hit the road and the sky opens up again. I pull into a wayside and throw on my rain gear. Tomah, Millston, Black River Falls, Humbird, Fairchild, Augusta, and Fall Creek. Rain, no rain, rain, no rain. Get gas again in Fall Creek.
I usually get gas at the BP but there was some 'Police Action' there, so I opted for the 66 station. Had a little UDF action there while getting gas. Take off. Towards Eau Claire, it starts to get hilly. Suddenly, I have no power for said hills. Also notice that the left cylinder is running much hotter than the right one. Only seems to be a problem in the hills, not the flats. There is still a pretty good gap in temp but I slog on.
Get through Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Bloomer. I'm also hurting in places I forgot I had because it still hasn't hit 60F and both my hands and feet are wet and cold.
I get through New Auburn and my windshield starts shaking. "Aw, dammit. What fresh hell is this?" The left side mount has broken. Arrgh! Only twenty miles left, press on regardless.
Get to Dads' and park the beast in the garage. Ride with Dad in his truck to my brothers place, snooze there and back. In bed by 6:30 pm.
Check out the problems Sunday morning between projects my Dad has for me. The broken mount is five minutes prep and 45 seconds of mig welding. Spot of paint and that's fixed.
Pull the plugs. Left one is fine, right one is sooty. Problem is on that side. Clean and regap the plug. Put the plug back and notice the pipe from the air cleaner to the carb is disconnected. So, I'm thinking I sucked in some crud and it hung up the needle. Pull the carb apart and clean everything. The pipe is basically a radiator hose, is pretty beat up, and has a through cut in it. Some RTV fixed that and a credit card ordered two new ones.
Take it for a short ride and it's all good.
This morning, after the first fill up, things fell into place. Think I must have gotten some crappy gas in Fall Creek. The bike ran great all the way home. CHT never exceeded 400F and and there was never more than 50F between them. Saw up to 28 mpg. Don't hurt. Much. So uneventful that, save for the pics, I'm done.
Mileage when I left Dads' this morning. Ended up with 1343 when I got home.
At the Wisconsin Veterans Memorial
Splat. I felt that one.
