Trials and Tribulations

So the weather today was rather nice.

I slept in this morning and watched some TV before setting out to change my oil.

Changing the oil turned out to me more of a task than I had thought. It turns out that when I had it in the shop last, they tightened up the nut a bit tight.

I burned my arm twice before I got the nut loose.

But I did get it loose, and I did get it tightened again.

I also put fresh oil in it.

It was when I went to start it up that I realized that I had left the key on for about an hour and a half and now I had a dead battery.

I hooked the battery up to the Battery Tender and took the liner out of my jacket while I waited. While I waited, I wondered if I would get too cold during my ride.

An hour later, I had the battery charged enough to start and then I discovered that I couldn't keep it started. It kept dying.

I decided that it would wear off and put my gear on and started out. Apparently I thought that the problem would just "go away".

It kept dying.

Dejectedly, I turned into a parking lot and reflected on the fact that my cell phone was dead and that my motorcycle was not working because the problem did not "go away".

Then it hit me.

Someday, I will truly, honestly and deeply remember the purpose of the petcock before I decided that my motorcycle is broken.

After turning the fuel to reserve I went merrily on my way to the gas station.

20 min later, I finally got my gas.

There was only three cars there when I pulled in and it was while before I even saw anyone.

Just after I saw the guy, a pickup pulled in behind me.

Finally the guy comes and says that there is only one of him.

I think that the problem is not that there is one of him, but that the 'one' employee is mismanaging his time.

So he punches some buttons and hands me the nozzle and then goes to help the guy in the truck behind me.

Now that I finally have service, I have no gas pumping into my empty gas tank.

I point this out to the attendant and he leaves the guy (they were just talking anyway, gas can pump itself) and pushes some more buttons and gas finally comes out.

When my tank was full, I put my gascap back on, and waited.

And waited.

And waited while the guy behind me left.

I waited some more.

Then the attendant finally came up and asked if I wanted a receipt. (I refrain from stating a rather sarcastic "No, I just thought I would hang out at your gas station for a while because it's a happening place").

Finally I get to actually go.

Half the day is now past, but I can finally go somewhere.

I decided to wander out past Crabtree and then through Lyons.

It was a nice ride and I lost count of how many motorcycles that I passed.

There is a nice store in Lyons that I stopped at to get some water.

After Lyons I went to Salem. The pace was a bit faster, but the road was still not well traveled so I wasn't forced to go faster than I wanted.

In Salem, I passed the State Penn and stopped at the downtown mall for some Cinnamon Rolls.

I was waiting for a stoplight and I reflected on how hot I was, and remembered that earlier I was actually concerned that I would be too cold.

On the way back from Salem, I went up Commercial, took the Sunnyside Exit and then turned on Enchanted Way. I turned left at the end of that road and went through Jefferson to Scravel Hill road. Scravel Hill took me straight on to Hwy 20 and I took it all the way home.

All said and done, I spent about 86 miles of fun. Here is a link to my ride.

But the guy at the gas station still makes me mad.