Planning for Cane...

Geri and I took the Harley south of Missoula to Hamilton, Montana today. This was the city of my birth some 56 years ago. The day was beautiful and at about 70º and a light breeze, the weather was perfect for a day out on the motorcycle.
Earlier in the morning, we took Geri’s Subaru to a local trusted mechanic to have him connect his computer to the car to read the code the car’s computer was putting out to make the dash light ‘Check Engine’ illuminate. It had been coming on consistently over the past week or so. I has checked and replaced the PCV valve and the light went out for awhile. The mechanic’s computer was showing the code related to the ‘knock sensor’ and advised how to fix it other than direct replacement. We may have to finally replace it but when we got home, I removed it, cleaned it and reinstalled it. We will drive the car over the next few days to see if the dash light does go out. If not, I will order a new one in and replace it.
Geri and I arrived in Hamilton in the early afternoon after our leisurely ride south on highway 93. We passed several small streams that drain into the Bitteroot River and they did look inviting, although they may be running a little high right now.
My goal was to stop at The Montana Fly Fishing Center
(http://www.montanaflyfishingcenter.com/). We had read an article written by the proprietor, Dick Galli, about fishing in his area, the services and supplies he offered through his shop. What intrigued me was that he is an accomplished bamboo fly rod maker. I wanted to see and FEEL his work as I am very interested in a bamboo fly rod of my own, but the pricing I was finding for new rods on the internet were upwards of $1500 to $4000!!! As Mr. Galli’s advertising on his website was offering newly made bamboo fly rods at the $500 level and up.
We stopped in and Mr. Galli introduced himself. He made us feel quite at home and was very congenial. I related my interest in cane (bamboo) fly rods and interested in one myself. He allowed me to cast a couple rods outside the front of his shop. I tried a 3 weight and a 4 weight and was amazed how nicely they both cast with a weight forward line at the distances I was interested in reaching. I told Mr. Galli I would be inclined to purchase a new cane rod in late fall or winter sometime, finances being what they are. He offered to let me finish my own bamboo rod from his blanks as he teaches people how to complete their own rods. I was VERY interested in the opportunity. I will follow up with this splendid opportunity late in the year!!!!
With advice from on of Dick Galli’s friend and fly tier, Ted Trowbridge, we stopped at a local bread store for lunch. ‘A Place to Ponder’ bakery made us a great couple sandwiches and Geri ran into one of her dialysis patients there also have lunch. We then rode back North again then at Lolo headed west to Lolo Hot Springs to dip into their pool and soak in the hot springs. We had a great afternoon there as there were not many people there in the middle of the week. The hot springs have been enjoyed by the native American Indians for hundreds of years. Lewis & Clark also took advantage of the natural hot springs as well during their trek across the USA. There is a large outdoor pool and a smaller natural hot spring fed indoor soaking pool and we took full advantage of both while there. It was so relaxing lying in the pool and watching the huge billowy clouds just drift across the blue sky above the mountains.
We drove home in a warm afternoon and I tried to shoot several photos along the Lolo Creek area.

You can click on some of the images to make them larger.
Later…

Nice weekend…

Today was the second day of my ‘weekend’, which for my schedule is on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So I had another day to put some more mileage on the ’07 Harley-Davidson Road King. I drove out to Lolo and stopped by the new business out there called Iron Horse Garage. Montana Harley-Davidson gives them special pricing on their parts and accessories they use in their repair shop. I have delt with them a couple times since they opened their business, but never took the opportunity to go out and introduce myself till today.
Their retail area is well laid out with a nice selection of custom add on accessories, t-shirts, leathers and other doo dads. They also had 4 used motorcycles available for sale. I chit chatted with the owner and his wife for a little while and the owner was lamenting over not being able to get out of his 1200 Custom Sportster what he has into it in order to trade up to a new Road King Harley. I suggested he put the bike up for sale on eBay. He thought that sounded like a good idea.
I left there and headed on up Lolo canyon along Lolo Creek, which has a very high water flow about now. Probably way to much water for comfortable fly fishing. The weather today was in the mid 70º range with big billowy clouds and a light breeze. I took the opportunity to stop at all the roadside historical points and read the information about the injustices the Calvary inflicted on the native American Indians trying to heard them all onto reservations and off their native lands.
This valley that extends westward to Lolo pass and on into Idaho was also part of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805. The camp grounds were still locked out and will open May 15th through September 30th, so I was a few days early. I still stopped and shot a few photos and enjoyed the ambiance.
I traveled further west to about 7 miles east of Lolo Hot Springs and turned around as I had other chores to attend to in the afternoon. As I was heading back towards the town of Lolo I noticed the fuel warning light on the speedometer face was on then glanced at the gas gauge mounted in the left fuel tank and the needle was nestled up against the ‘E’ mark! I made it back into Lolo OK but not before collecting a small stinging insect near my upper left temple where my helmet met the skin. Ouch! It wasn’t enough to take my attention off the road and I was able to remove said insect and continue on into Lolo.
I gassed up at the Exxon station and the tank took 4.59 gallons to fill it. I whistled on up highway 93 into Missoula and home. I had some grocery shopping to do for our bar-b-que for supper and completed all that long before Geri got home.
All in all it was a very pleasant day!

Later…

Perks of the job....

One of the perks of my job is the opportunity to ride the new Harleys that come to the dealership. This one is a new 2007 FLHRI Road King that is one of the rental bikes we offer in the fleet of rental and Fly and Ride program. We will be getting several more new ones in over the next few weeks and all of them will need some road miles driven on them prior to rental. I was a bit envious of ‘Shine’, one of our performance mechanics riding one of our new 2007 FLTRI Road Glide models (one of my favorite designs, and the style I have my ‘eye’ on to replace my Heritage Softail) over the past couple weeks.
Here I am in the garage this morning in my ‘morning’ apparel. Geri is up early getting ready for her day shift at the St. Patrick’s Dialysis lab so I though I would bring my blog up to date as well as plan my day off. Hopefully my order for new fishing waders will arrive today!
I got home last night on the rental Harley (I left my personal bike at the dealership yesterday) and drove into the open garage. Geri had the day off and had been mowing our lawn, so the garage door was open when I arrived. When I walked into the house she mentioned the bike sounded ‘different’ some how so I invited her to come out into the garage and see ‘our new bike’…. Of course it was not ‘ours’ so to speak, but it was for the next couple days anyway. She looked it over and said “Where is the backrest for the passenger?”. I said “It could have one added but is not supplied on the base model. You’ll just have to hang on tighter to ME, honey!”. “Are you going to take me for a ride?” she asked. “Absolutely” I responded “In fact, my love, if you will get ready to go, I’ll take you our to dinner tonight on the Harley!”. So she got her riding duds on and I took her out to the Nine Mile House out west of town for a steak dinner. We had a nice trip out and back and a great meal. The air was still a bit chilly this time of year when the sun goes down, but not very uncomfortable at all, and since the Nine Mile House restaurant is just up in the canyon hills a bit, as soon as we got out of the canyon the air temps were a comfy 65º to 70º again. The bike ran very smooth on the freeway, and the 6th gear selection makes the bike purr along nicely. A couple drawbacks I noticed however is when your stopped at a stop light the isolastic mounted engine-transmission does vibrate more than my Softail, which is a solid mounted drive train inside the frame. I also noticed a bit of noise from the drive train in 5th gear on city street driving around 40-50 miles per hour.
My 90 day probationary status with Montana Harley-Davidson was fulfilled on Sunday the 6th of May so yesterday, Tuesday the 8th I asked my manager to do what he needed to do to make me a permanent employee… or fire me! It was a busy day at Harley-Davidson, so Bill (my manager/supervisor) managed to print out and complete a performance review for me, which he scored me highly on, I might add. I saw the forms he completed but we did not have an opportunity to discuss the review documents or for me to sign them and get my copy. I had also asked Ashley, our “personnel” person to prepare whatever paperwork I would need to apply for health insurance and/or other benefits of the permanent position. She could not get them ready in time by quitting time, so I will have to go in today, my day off, and pick them up from here. Hopefully Bill will have completed all he needs to do as well to finalize my permanent position status.
One of my fellow Parts and Accessories Associates broke off a plug end in the earphone jack on his laptop computer, and asked if I could help him get it out. He will bring his laptop into work today so I will check that out for him when I go in to pick up paperwork from Ahsley.
So, I better get some stuff ready to go for today. Geri’s cars ‘Check Engine’ light on her dash is coming on regularly so I need to check that out today. I found the hose to the PCV valve off the other day and reattached it, and the light went out on her dash display and thought that was the end of it, but NNNOOOoooooo….. More troubleshooting. I let her take my car to work this AM. I also have PACE tapes to do, laptop repair, work on Chris’ family pictures I scanned weeks ago, fishing…. Where will I find the time????

Later……

The fishing bug has bitten, again! Last summer I had the opportunity to fly fish for the first time in many years after we returned here to Montana. I got to fish in lower Willow creek near Phillipsburg only a couple times, but had fun catching some Cut Throat trout.
I have been getting my gear in order for this season, and actually went out and fished a small area of the Bitterroot River just south of Lolo on late afternoon. I did not catch anything but it felt good to get out for a couple hours.
I need some essential items for this season such as a good pair of waders, a fish net and would like to get a smaller 2nd fly rod, in the 4 or 3 weight class. Something in a medium fast pole for some small stream fishing. I have been studying a lot of websites and visiting out local sports equipment stores to check out all the equipment. Oh, yes, I have to make more money to purchase these items.
In order to get some expert help and guidance, I am considering hiring one of the many local fishing guides to take me out fishing as well, on one of the local rivers.
I had bit fished since the early ‘70s here in Montana, and of all the fishing equipment I had back then, the only single item I was able to retain was an old Perrine automatic fly fishing reel. I had all my old equipment as well as my fathers, including some lake fishing equipment for many years, but at one point threw it all away. I know wish I had not done that, but the equipment of today is much better. I will make some deals here and there and possibly pick up some bargains on eBay.

Update: I did get to go out fishing today after some chores on the computer for Chris’ family photo project and getting the exhaust pipe replace on the Acura (a little hole had developed in it). I drove out to Rock Creek and up Rock Creek road about 5 miles before pulling over and getting my rig set up. I used my old Perrine automatic reel on my cheep-o Chinese made Caddis Creek fly pole and off to the creek I trod. I had a fairly good time and the trout were taking my dry flys even though a May Fly hatch had begun. At one point I was casting right into a pool were they were raising to the May flies but NOT taking my lures (no, they were NOT May fly lures….go figure) so I just sat there on the bank wondering why I didn’t have the right flies with me!! I was successful in landing some small Brown trout on a parachute Adams and a Mahogany Dun however. So, after taking a few photographs of myself in my 'garb', I called it a day and headed home to my loved one, who had a long day at work!

Weber wonder

Six weeks into my new position with Montana Harley-Davidson, Buell and Ducati and I am enjoying my work there. I have come to realize that the many diverse personalities I work with on a daily basis is affording me the opportunity to learn a great deal about myself as well. My position allows me plenty of contact with retail consumers of our product line on two full days of the week including Sunday and Mondays and a mixture of customer service in the retail area as well as service desk sales directly to the service technicians in the shop area. The two types of parts and accessories sales are quite different from each other on a large scale.
I have worked in small dealerships and large dealerships (judged by staff levels and gross sales), and see differences and parallels here. I guess I tend to judge the overall picture as I see it and do wonder a bit about the direction of this dealership as well as my own.
I know there is still a lot to learn in my position, including logistically, personally and professionally in this employment.
I have Wednesday and Thursday off for my free time from the dealership, and this is nice to have ‘business days’ to get my stuff done. Geri also has many of the same days of as I and we take advantage of the together time that gives us. We don’t always have the same days off and that also allows us ample ‘alone’ time as well. It has been a good mix for us overall.
We had to finally decide who she would pick to fix her car. There has been a bad oil leak somewhere in the front of the engine for several months… even before we move back to Montana from Wisconsin. We took the car to a mechanic recommended to us who lives ‘out in the toolies’ so to speak. Today we got the call from the mechanic..”I can’t get the oil leak to stop!” I guess he tried a couple different oil seals on the crank shaft that comes out of the oil pump assembly, and yet the damn thing still wants to leak oil when it warms up. Geri and I will drive out there sometime in the next couple days and discuss what options are available to us. She is not too pleased about this situation, and may be looking to car payments in her near future for a replacement vehicle. In the meantime, she is welcome to use my car as much as she needs too, and I will use the Harley for transportation.
UPDATE: Geri’s car is NOT leaking oil any longer. We got a call from the mechanic and he says that he was able to finally get the oil seal to do its job. We picked up the car and drove it home without oil loss and smoke! Guess we don’t have to plan on some immediate car payments after all.
I got us a new Weber Performer grill and tried it out on Thursday with some chicken we had in the freezer. Geri made some home made bar-b-q sauce for our first grill out here in Montana. We also prepared a nice little lettuce salad to accompany our first grilled meal.
YUM!!!!!

Working at Harley

The first week back with Harley-Davidson folks at Montana Harley-Davidson, Buell & Ducati went well in my view. I learned their computer system, the layout of the building and personally met most of the staff, except for a few of the technicians in the service department. I got some time to talk about the history of this dealership with a few individuals as well. With Sunday being the exception, I have been able to not spend any discretionary funds there. Sunday and Monday were my scheduled days off, so Sunday I drove out there to pick up a battery charging wiring harness for my Harley as I had the battery out and bench charging. The old trickle charger I had gave up a few years ago and the bike still had the old wiring on the battery for that charger. I plan on getting the Harley model but not yet. I decided to put a compatible charging harness on the battery when I reinstall it, which I did on Monday. The weather was also overcast with light snow, but the bike needed a good washing, and I did THAT on Monday in front of the garage. After washing it, I rolled it back inside to dry it off. I borrowed Geri’s bathroom heater to use out in the garage and that really helped.
I feel a bit bad about not winterizing the bike in October or November but I think it will be OK. All the oils need replacing as soon as I can and I did not top off the gas tanks like I should have. Hopefully there has been no rusting on the inside of them. I would like to do something with my aging leather saddlebags as they have wrinkled and folded somewhat with age. New ones will be pretty expensive and I have considered switching to a hard bag style. Guess we’ll see how the money plays out over the next few months. Geri and I have discussed selling the Heritage Softail and getting a Road Glide instead. There are several advantages to that issue including more power to carry the both of us and all the gear we want to take with us in these higher elevations. Smoother ride with the isolastic mounted drive train. Ability to attach tour pack for added carrying capacity, just to name a few.
Now that we both have new jobs, it probably will be some time before we can both get enough vacation accrual to actually take a nice long trip. There are a lot of day trip or even two day trip places around this area that we will take advantage of this summer.
Valentines Day is tomorrow, and because I was at the store on Sunday, I brought home my sweetheart a dozen long stemmed red roses for her table. It has been way too long since I bought her flowers, and used to do so in Wisconsin regularly. She really liked them. She is working on something special for me for Valentines Day as well in one of the back bedrooms. I will not peak and let the surprise do its thing! I made reservations for us for a play that is put on by the University of Montana on Wednesday evening, and that should be very nice for us. Gets us out of the house and a little more ‘culture’ to our Montana existence!

Looking forward to Tuesday…

YES! Tuesday I start with Harley-Davidson here in Missoula, Montana!
Today Geri and I took a ride out there in the car to check out the sign up for HOG members (Harley Owners Group). Today they were having a sign up day for old and new members. I met the HOG chapter director, Karen, who provided signup, dues and meeting place info. I signed up and paid my $20 annual dues while Geri looked around the store. We ate some free cookies and Geri bought herself a new pair of leather riding gloves and a coffee cup for me. I spoke with Scott, one of the sales people, and he took me out back to see the first Harley ‘XL 1200N Nightster’ that came in. It will be on the sales floor by next Tuesday when I come in. This model Sportster from Harley is a nice unique model from the Motor Co., and I think it will do quite well.

The XL 1200N Nightster features:

• Rubber-mounted 1200cc XL Evolution engine


• Medium Gray powder-coated engine with polished and black treatments


• Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI)


• High-compression, high-flow cylinder heads


• High-performance cams


• Smooth, quiet transmission


• Light clutch lever effort


• 25.3-inch solo seat height


• Low front and rear suspension


• Black front forks with gaiters


• Bullet hole rear belt guard and front fender clamps


• Black, low rise handlebar with brake and clutch levers, turn signals and air cleaner insert


• Side-mounted license plate holder (dealer-installed rear mount option)


• Brake and tail lights integrated with rear turn signals


• Black mid-mount foot controls


• Black-rimmed, Laced Steel wheels


• Chrome staggered shorty slash cut dual exhaust


• Silver Satin finish fuel cap, headlamp trim ring and oil dipstick cover


• Optional Smart Security System
  

This bike has a riders expression all its own!!!

I actually didn’t have to go back to work at DirecTV last Thursday after my 6 days of ‘floater’ time I took starting a week ago last Monday. I went in to work at 6:30AM Thursday intending to work that day and the next (Friday) to finish the pay period, then resign at the end of the day Friday. After arriving at work I looked up my time card status and discovered I had 16 more floater hours added to my balance, so I asked my team leader to schedule me for that time and I would come in on Monday to do the exit interview and turn in my badge. He gave me the go ahead for that so I came on home again. I stopped on the way to pick up a copy of

‘Fly Boys’ for Geri and I to watch. I had a near opportunity to see the premier screening of this movie while at Oshkosh last year. They had a nice display at the Airventure Fly In with several props from the making of the film, and one of the actors was there signing autographs. As it turned out, the evening of the special screening of the film was before I got up there from Pewaukee.
The film was great and the special collectors 2-DVD set has a lot of special features will worth the extra ‘ca-ching’ I spent for it. It is as close to a true documentary as you will see in this type of film about the first fighter pilots. I’ve watched it a couple times already!

So, we’ll see what Tuesday will bring at Montana Harley-Davidson. My friend, Kerry, who works in the Motor Clothes section of the store was confiding that the ‘family’ atmosphere there would be enhanced with my presence and she was looking forward to my starting there. I hope I can bring that type of feeling with me and be accepted as a part of that special family too!

Keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up…!!!

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