Departing Arizona by way of Globe found me on wide 65 mph highways with light traffic. The direct route to my next destination of Alamagordo is only 3 or 400 miles by Interstate but by Ruckus I was forced to zig zag around an additional 200 miles. Not complaining but enjoying the lower truck traffic and fewer campers than in AZ. Approaching the continental divide, I noticed some loss of power, actually a few days earlier I felt that surging similar to what stranded me in CA. Pulling onto one of the many BLM access roads over a cattlr gate, I propped the bike on my new sidestand (thanks Dan) and replaced the variator and belt. My mistske was to choose the variator taken from my friend's Metropolitan from my choice of four. After multiple trial and error sessions I learned the two look much alike but the Metro variator has a much longer center shaft forcing it to protrude into the kick starter.
arcing coil ground
It ran fine once I installed the right variator and carried me up to camp in the Tonto NF right on the continental divide over 6000 ft. The sandy road was hard to see as darkness had set and the wind blew among the 20ft juniper bushes. I fired up the twig stove and made a nice meal of curried rice and lentils under the stars.
Come morning, I descended to Silver City and knew something else was wrong. Sure enough when I stopped in town at the visitor center it died. The ground for the coil had evidence of arcing and half the tab was missing. The gap between the disconnected wire was grounding across that gap. No wonder my mileage was down to 89mpg and had a little blowby.
Come morning, I descended to Silver City and knew something else was wrong. Sure enough when I stopped in town at the visitor center it died. The ground for the coil had evidence of arcing and half the tab was missing. The gap between the disconnected wire was grounding across that gap. No wonder my mileage was down to 89mpg and had a little blowby.
This.train and I passed each other all afternoon as we struggled uphill then finally reached the pass. In the morning when I left camp, a new train was waiting for me turning downhill.
Nutt, NM
Nutt Mountain
The following day I road down to the Rio Grande and had to head north sinze US70 from Las Cruces to White Sands is an uphill climb with high speed traffic. Nope, I'd head upriver through scenic and verdant valley land reminiscent of the San Jaquin with cottonwoods and oaks. Soon it transitioned back into creosote bush, sage and grass. Eventually the interstate crossed a wide canyon and I was forced to either take it or keep to the dirt track. Not 10 miles of bouncing on Monticello Point Rd sheared my exhaust bolt and cracked the header from the muffler! Third muffler destroyed. I continued on for another 120 miles at 30mph with no muffler.
Dude where's my muffler?
Fortunately out here there wasn't anyone to complain about the reverberating blat of my thumper. Even with ear plugs, I had a ringing so I put on some headphones and cranked up the tunes. Regular traffic for these desert roads but great visibility and ample passing room makes going 30mph a joy. Two fuel stops saw 130mpg with no muffler!
To my relief, the bike held in there until Alamagordo where I roared into Ara's driveway. It was excellent seeing him adjusting well to his new world here, having the accessibility of services and stores nearby and a full kitchen. The sunny and warm early February days are great for projects like painting the roof trim. Anything to help and another state to add to my "places I painted" : VA, AL, WA, TX, AK, NM.
Having been welcomed here is a special privelage and I appreciate the abundant hospitality my friend has shown here. Delicious lamb chops pan fried or a sweet nibble of the saucer-sized chocolate chip cookies have been a welcome break from road cuisine.
I was able to do some service on the scooter and surprised myself that it has about 1700 miles on it since leaving LA and 2000 since the last oil change. After reuniting the muffler and scraping the crud off the magnetic drain plug, and a headlight allignment, Tortuga should be ready to Mess With Texas!
I was able to do some service on the scooter and surprised myself that it has about 1700 miles on it since leaving LA and 2000 since the last oil change. After reuniting the muffler and scraping the crud off the magnetic drain plug, and a headlight allignment, Tortuga should be ready to Mess With Texas!
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