That’s right! We managed to pick up our lawn chairs at about 6:45 and walk the half mile down to the town park where a “Greenstock” concert was to be held. The lawn was beginning to fill up when we arrived, but an ominous dark cloud approached, threatening our evening festivities.

People were spreading blankets…

And taking pictures…

Some even brought their dogs…

When out of the blue..Captain Recycle arrives riding a segue chariot…

He handed out a few recycling hints on cards and made his way to the stage where he opened the concert.

Then the rookie cops arrived…

After which a group of acapella singing ladies, aptly named “Better Than Therapy”, sang the National Anthem as we all stood at attention.

Finally the show began….And so did the rain!

I wasn’t afraid to get wet. I just didn’t have any way to keep my camera and photo stuff dry, so we quickly packed up and walked back to the house. It never did rain very heavy and we probably would have been fine, but we were both really tired anyway.

When we got back home we took the car to the grocery store for some provisions and a cool drink for the game. That was what completed a great day: Watching Florida beat Miami until 11:30 at night.

As we readied for our geocaching expidition I was told we had to make a stop at the post office…for stamps.

Well, we got to the post office and I saw this beautiful yellow Lamborghini…It was worth the wait. We left the post office and headed for our first search. The coordinates took us to this old chimney in the bushes.

We looked all over the place among the rocks and rubble but just could not locate the hidden box. Stepping back for a minute is all it took, because when I went back I went right to it. We signed the log and headed out of the bush for the next one.

After a brief drink of water and cooling off, we drove to the next location. It was inside a subdivision and down in the very back where we found a nice little park with a playground and lots of grass.

After walking past the hide we circled back through the park and came in the back way. Jenny found this one, which was a small film canister with some bark screwed to the top to disguise it. The log was very small …and damp…but we signed it and took off back up the trail.

From there we rode over to the third and last for the day. This one was in a different subdivision but down behind the tennis courts and pool area. The trail took us down to the Little Lazy River bank where we searched among the bushes for a medium sized ammo can with lots of goodies inside. We located it eventually and signed the log. We forgot to bring along some trinkets to swap so we didn’t take anything from the cache.

Here’s Jenny checking the GPS and holding my stick in her hand.

I’m glad I didn’t type that wrong!!!

When we finished we were quite hot and hungry so we went up to Hickory Flat and ate a sandwich at Beef O’Brady’s.

Tonight there’s a concert at the Woodstock Park. We are thinking about walking up to see that.

This past week I’ve been riding the little 650 almost 35 miles to work and back each day. It is running sooo nice now with that fresh oil and the clutch seems to make the shifting a lot easier and smoother. The seat still gives me problems. I don’t know if I would ever be happy with any seat on this bike. It seems to be an ergonomic issue: My feet on the pegs are a little too far forward and high..and the space between the sweet part of the seat and the handlebars is just too close for me. I still like it though. It runs nice and rides like a dream. The more I ride it the better I like it.

Also this week I’ve been plotting some more geocaches to visit this morning. Three in fact, just to get my feet wet again after so long not doing it at all. When Jenny gets up from her sleep-in we’ll get the GPSr ready with my notes and a pencil…and some trinkets…and head out. Afterwards maybe a nice casual lunch would be in order. Results later!

I think today may bring the 6,000 mile service to an end. I went for a ride in the truck a little while ago to find another quart of oil and a 8mm hex key socket for the next time I have to check the valves. I couldn’t help myself. I also bought a pair of nice 10″ channel lock pliers, just for the heck of it…and I needed a pair.

I made it back home safely after a short loop through Woodstock and got the bike started to warm up the oil.

I pulled the flimsy bottom bash plate off to access the sump drain, located my trusty oil drain pan under the area and after locating my 22mm socket I popped the drain plug…along with “popping” my hand in the process. Busted knuckles are part of the deal. I knew that going in. It was expected. BUT IT STILL HURTS!

The oil reservoir tank up top was already loose so I just positioned another little pan underneath and undid that plug. EWWW! All black and ugly! While that was draining I went to the other side and pulled off the cover for the filter….OOPS! I don’t have a new filter. Oh well. Back in goes the old one. I’ll change out the filter next time. I DID drain all that old oil out of it before reinstalling it.

Now I’m inside typing and nursing my right hand where I gashed it while all that nasty oil drains and drips outside.

Times passes….

The last item on my maintenence agenda is to clean the chain good and re-lube it.

I did that….Now I must put all the covers and pieces back on and go for a ride! Bye bye!

Yesterday after doing the coolant change, I decided to go ahead and start the tedious removal of parts to access the clinder valve cover head so I could check my valve shims.

I got so worked up doing it I plumb forgot to take any photos of the process, but it required that I take off the air box, detach the oil reservoir on the left side along with the coolant overflow reservoir, battery and battery tray, coil, accessory power bracket and spark plug caps along with their br

acket. I also had to detach the throttle cable and firewall at the front of the bike behind the radiator. It was time consuming as this was my first go at it on this bike and I had to constantly refer to the instructions.

I finally got it all opened up and hung on each side of the bike by the hoses and wires

. It reminded me of those autopsy photos where a person’s chest is opened up and folded out to each side where the doctor can access the chest cavity. Eww! Gory allusion.

This morning I got up and began pulling off the valve cover. I had a little bit of a difficult time figuring out where TDC was, but finally got it and measured the valve lash between each cam and

the shims on the two intake valves and the two exhaust valves. They were all still within tolerance so I quickly buttoned it back up and replaced all the parts…up to a point. Tomorrow I need to change the oikl out again so I left the oil tank unbolted so after I heat up the engine it will be easy to drain all the old stuff out from that side. That shouldn’t take me long tomorrow morning. I just need to go get 3 quarts of oil for it.

That will just about complete the 6,000 mile service. I need to clean, check and maybe adjust the chain along with the spokes on the wheels.

I’ve had fun getting into it so far with a few frustrations along the way, but it has saved me several hundred dollars at the dealer.

Last Saturday was the club tech day, and I spent all day helping other guys. This morning I decided to get some things done to the F650GS that needed doing.

I got the seat and faux tank off and got busy draining out the old coolant. That daern radiator cap is so

solidly childproof I ended up shaving a little of the plastic retaining tab off with my utility knife so I could get the cap to turn past it. As hard as I could press down on it, it would not clear the childproof tabs. Now it does it a little easier but is still “childproof”. I guess it depends on how strong the child is.

Last weekend I helped a fellow F650 owner drain his coolant, and my mechanic friend came over and after looking at the situation, explained that the water pump drain was most likely the bottom bolt on the waterpump cover. I followed up on that thought, and undid the bottom bolt! VOILA! the old gray water from the pump drained out! After replacing the drain bolt, I loosened the bottom hose on the radiator and drained that as well, then siphoned the old coolant out of the plastic reservoir. Cough! cough! gag! gag! There go my kidneys!

On recommendations from the Chain Gang forum I had already purchased a bottle of Honda coolant, and used that to refill the system. It’s a green color instead of blue, so I hope I haven’t set up some kind of cosmic color conflict inside my bike.

I started the bike and let it run as I refilled the radiator with new fresh Honda coolant.

After that little task, I used my new vinyl cleaner to clean and condition my seats on the F650 and the R1150R. The label on the bottle says it all!

My last mechanical task this morning was to get my greasy rags soaking in Greased Lightning for cleaning later. This stuff really does the job.

Yes, I got it all together yesterday and its now posted in the “Slideshows” section with the link at the top of this page. Check it out, but beware. It is almost 7 minutes long!

Here’s another faster link!

I got up this morning and after a quick cup of coffee and toast with Jenny, I headed across town to Hoschton, GA where our club was having a tech day at the work place of one of our members. It was a nice garage area with plenty of room and there were quite a few who attended and worked on their bikes doing various chores from brake bleeding to throttle body synchs to valve adjustments. In some cases there were screw-ups but we all got each other’s problems sorted out and managed to be able to ride the bikes home later in the afternoon.

For lunch, there were grilled brats and hamburgers with ice cold Cokes and water on hand. I am very sore this evening from getting up and down on the floor all day, doing a variety of tasks to several different bikes.

But it was fun!

I’m trying to put together a slideshow of my ride this past weekend up to Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia. I rode up with a local friend (Marvin) and hooked up with the other guys at the park for a two-day event including camping for two nights, riding all over that area of Virginia and the long ride there, and back on Sunday. As soon as I get the pics all organized and into a slideshow format, I’ll be ready to publish.

We departed very early -about 6:45- on Friday morning, since I had a doctor’s appointment in Marion, VA with my psychotherapist at about 6:00 PM and we needed plenty of time to arrive there for that very important medical appointment. Our ride took us up 575/515 through Ellijay and Blue Ridge, GA. to Young Harris where we crossed over to North Carolina on Hwy 69. We connected with US 64 and headed east through Franklin on our way to Asheville. Once in Asheville, we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and made a quick stop at the Folk Art Center on the Parkway.

The parkway was under construction in that area so we had to get off on Hwy 70 and work our way north on US 221 up through Boone. We took a short cut on NC 194 at one point and then got back on 221 to 58 and up Hwy 16 to Marion, entering the Hungry Mother Park at just before 6PM. My therapist, Mark Cooperstein, a registered nurse was there to greet us and he took me over to the side for our session. What a great visit!

Some other guys were there as well, including Vann from Asheville, Wayne from Stauntan, VA, Brian from Bluefield, VA, Chew from Raleigh, NC, Jeff from Ohio and Charley from Pennsylvania. We had a crew!

After our pizza dinner we visited for a long while into the evening then retired for a great night’s sleep in 50ish temps. I awoke refreshed and we all got ready and rode to the Appletree for breakfast, after which we broke up into groups for the day’s riding.

I went with JB, Marvin, and Challey up Hwy 16 and over to Burke’s Garden. What an extraordinary place! Leaving that area we continued on a loop taking us eventually back to the park, where the others finally all convened also. The night’s dinner festivities were held at the Tuscan Italian place in town. JB didn’t show up so we called him and found out he had dropped his bike in the parking lot of his motel and broke the clutch handle! He couldn’t ride! He had to call his wife to come up to fetch him in their truck on Sunday.

Saturday night was another long night of talking and telling jokes by the campfire. After retiring, I slept like a baby the entire night. On Sunday morning we all got packed and headed our separate ways home. Marvin and I got back to Woodstock at exactly 84 hours to the minute from the time we left!

What a weekend!

Back in June and early July as I was getting ready to make my grand trip out to Wyoming, I began transferring the electrical devices from my Roadster over to the small F650GS. One of those devices is my Roady XT XM radio and its accompanying power converter which is hot wired to the 12 volt battery and sends the required 5V of power to the unit.

Well I pulled the thing off the big bike without noting which wire was positive and which was negative. It just didn’t occur to me since I was in a hurry at the time. I suppose I figured one would be copper colored and one would be silver colored, like speaker wires. They weren’t! Both wires were silver colored and when I went to hook them up to the little bike, I was stumped! One clue was a still-attached piece of paper with the word “input” on it. Somehow the little “+” or “-” sign on the back of this little piece of paper had worn off and I assumed the word “input” meant the positive lead and not the ground wire. I was wrong! When I hooked it up with the reverse polarity, it promptly stop working and I had to end up using the XM radio by plugging in the little cigarette lighter adapter to my accessory port on the bike. This was awkward, clumsy and didn’t work sometimes because the connection would flop loose on the highway. At the rally I ended up taping it together with black electrical tape for the trip back.

I now have a new power supply for the radio and will hook it up again later.

The question that is nagging at me is how could one tell the positive lead from the negative lead on a power unit like this without frying the unit? Is there a technique with a voltmeter to do this? This is a minor problem since most items come with the leads properly marked as you see in the photo. However some “bozo” like myself may inadvertantly remove the markings and, after taking the wires out, not know which end is which! Trust me! I will find out the answer to this. I have connections with people far smarter than I am about such subjects, and I will tap their brains for the answer.