First full day in the Picacho KOA. While we had planned on getting the bikes on
the road today, there were things that happened or didn’t happen that need to
be attended to. So it was mostly a day
spent in the park, checking off items on the ‘things to do’ list.
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When we were exploring Arizona last year, Kim
visited Stellar Vision Astronomy on our way out of Tucson; one of his
telescopes needed to be collimated, which is a fancy way of saying the mirrors
needed to be lined up correctly to do what they do. Then sometime during the trip home, a
different scope got jiggled around and its mirrors actually came loose. So, on this trip Kim wanted to take that
scope into Stellar Vision to have it collimated also. As we hit the Arizona state line, Kim called
Frank (the owner) to let him know what he needed, asked if he could drop it off
and ended the conversation by saying that we were a couple of hours out but
should be there by closing time (6 p.m.).
Rapunzel said we should make it by 5:40, which is before 6 but didn’t
leave much time to dilly dally. In an
effort to make sure we made it on time, I didn’t mention my intense need to
stop at a bathroom. Make it to Stellar
Vision with 15 minutes to spare only to find that it was locked up tight. Didn’t know why as Kim had said we were on
our way but nothing we could do about it.
It would have worked so well to drop it off on the way through, so that
was disappointing….but more than that, we could have stopped at a gas station
so every little bump wouldn’t have felt so excruciating to me. L Dropping
the scope off yesterday was something that didn’t happen; it got pushed to the
list of things to do today.
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Last year a time or two, we had an issues with
the bikes coming loose from their tie downs when traveling over bumps. One time Pegasus fell against Bernie causing
major dents and scrapes in Bernie’s gas tank.
Made me sick. Kim came up with a
new tie down system for this trip and to ease my mind, he put foam padding
between Flame and Zeus but he was still very diligent about checking the bikes
at every gas, food or overnight stop.
Both bikes arrived in Picacho looking as pretty as when they went in the
trailer. However, both had dead
batteries. Seriously? Now what?!
Kim figured it out. Both bikes
have security systems and one of the alarms is the lights flashing 3 times if
the bike is moved when the key fob is out of range. While both bikes stayed in the locked and
upright position all the way out here, I’m sure those lights were flashing at
every bump and curve that caused any kind of movement. And, sure enough, right there on page 120 of
the owner’s manual, it states that “when transporting the motorcycle, place the
security system in the Transport Mode.
Otherwise, the alarm activated by motion detection can discharge the
battery.” For sure, they’ll be in Transport Mode on the
way home. But in the meantime, dead
batteries are something that happened; charging them got put on the list of
things to do today.
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Kim has modified our trailer a bit to accommodate
us staying in it. There’s a power cord
that comes inside the trailer from an outside power source so we can plug in
the heater, the fan, computer, his sleep machine, etc. Well, the inside power cord shorted out last
night….big flash, nasty smell, black mark on the floor. He was able to do a work around to get us
through the night. Having a cord short
out was something that happened: doing the repair correctly was put on the list
of things to do today.
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Kim ran out of clean jeans. Two bags of dirty clothes is something that
happened; washing them got put on the list of things to do today.
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While I knew I’d be keeping a trip journal, I
really hadn’t made up my mind about putting it on the blog. For me, the blogging part takes some time since
I only do it every year or so and need to reacquaint myself with the process
each time. After giving it some thought,
I decided to do a blog but didn’t have reliable internet service the first 5
days of our trip. This campground has a
good signal in or near the office, which closes at 7 p.m.; however, our
campsite doesn’t get any signal so getting started on the blog was something
that didn’t happen last night; figuring out the blog was put on the list of
things to do today.
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So, it’s been a full day: while waiting for the bike batteries to charge,
Kim also set up his telescope in preparation for tonight’s star gazing…I was up
at the clubhouse doing the wash and working on the blog. Then Kim made the 40 mile trip to Tucson to
drop off the scope and pick up some groceries and other needed things….I
finished the wash and the blog, then took Zeus out for a ride to a nearby town
to get some pictures printed. Then Kim
replace the power cord in the trailer….I went up to the office to post some
pictures on Facebook. Then we had supper. J Nighttime has
descended, the skies are clear and Kim is out with his telescope. I am in the trailer, typing the journal on
the computer.
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Temps hit in the high 70s and the sun was out all
day. I was planning on taking a ride
after finishing the blog; Kim knew I’d be out riding while he was in Tucson. Got
back to the trailer, put riding gear on and got all necessary stuff arranged in
the saddlebags. I was ready to ride…except
it turns out I wasn’t. I couldn’t
remember how to start the bike! The
controls on Zeus look different than on Pegasus and I was hesitant to hit the
button with the lightning bolt on it after last night’s fireworks with the
power cord. It was just the magical leap
my brain made. So I made a quick call to
Kim. “I can’t start my bike.” “You mean the battery is dead again?” “No…no…it
makes noise so the battery is okay. I
mean I don’t remember how to start it.” I
swear I could hear him grinning and
shaking his head over that one. 😃
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Last year we did some shopping at the IGA in
Eloy, AZ. Eloy is a town that looks
impoverished and prosperous at the same time….the town center has new
buildings, new wide roads, a well-kept ball park, and a spacious park but the
homes around the center are not new, fancy, updated or sometimes even
well-kept. It’s a strange mix, for
sure. Anyway, on the way home from
Coolidge today, I made a side trip to Eloy to see if the IGA still sold that
tasty little treat they labeled Mexican bread.
Ate a piece of it on my way back to Picacho….it wasn’t easy but I made
it work. J
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I did take a picture today on my bike ride. This cactus reminded me of the Pokemon character Pikachu. 😊
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