Not So Brief...Legal Brief

I asked my niece to help massage the info I needed for the legal brief I had to submit by the 22nd (yes, I know its this coming Tuesday) since she worked in a lawyers office.  It turns out, that due to rules specific to Thurston County, and evne more specific to which Judge it is going to, it has to be a specific font style and size.  The margins have to be such and such, and a whole list of other shit that has to be done just so it can be accepted.  She even told me there are Thurston County specific rules for how it has to be submitted.  A normal fucking person wouldnt know ANY of this shit, so guess how many pieces of paperwork dont get filed properly...I know mine wouldnt have been.  She even said she had to get the rules on paper so she could get the brief typed up properly, with everything the court says it needs to have on the page for documentation that it was submitted properly.  It figures, that Thurston County would be the one with so much stinking red tape and BS...it is where all the lawyers gather to make new laws...the State capitol is in Olympia, in Thurston County.  They wouldn't want a normal guy to be able to get anything "Legal" done without help...it sure explains why there are so few regular folks working cases in the legal system.  It is supposed to be done tonight, and emailed to me this weekend so I can print it up and deliver it it on monday (I had to take a day off work) to the court and the Asst. Attorney General who is reresenting the State in this.
Makes me want to punch something sometimes.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Legal Brief

Heading out this morning to get the brief for my appeal worked on.  Hopefully it will get done, or at least have a good enough start that I can finish it.  I was going over the record of the hearing, and noticed the boss made bogus statements that I didnt catch at the time...like that I was hired "on call" so didn't have any set hours per week.  Or that it was "3 or 4 months" before I was given a route to drive.  I am hoping to catch more bullshit statements from him.  Even though it means I will probably have to send in a formal request for my personnel record and payroll.  I am going to see if I dont still have my pay slips for that 1st year at least.  I so want to nail this fucker.

Catch ya on the road sometime...

"Just Keepin on Keepin On"

Just when I thought I was getting a handle on things...he handle broke off.  I had to buy some tires for the front of the wifes SHO so i could drive it in the snow to and from work.  So it takes most of the money I had set aside for bike parts so I could ride this winter.  I figured I could cover it next month.  Then I remembered about 3 weeks of Christmas vacation...which means no work for 3 weeks...so no money.

So then I figure I will jsut get the bike up and wont do anything major to it this winter.  no problem...until I blew out the rear tire doing about 60 or so on the way to work thursday morning.  Luckily work is only a 1/2 mile from a tire shop, so I got another pair of tires for the rear of the car.  I wont have to worry about a blow out or snow traction now...but not so sure about being able to afford anything else.

I'm just gonna have to keep trucking on, and not letting anything get in the way.

See ya on the road sometime...

A Mission From God

ok God dammit, this transmission is turning into a real MISSION!!

I was making a quick putt to check on something a couple weeks ago.  (luckily it was only a 5 or 6 mile round trip) when I got back to the house I found out one of the studs for the transmission had come out going down the road. 

for some reason, the stud hole runs all the way into the tranny case.  so when the stud backed out, it was just like removing the drain plug.  ALL THE 80/90 WT FLOWED OUT!!!

when I went to the bike shop to get a new stud, they didnt have one in stock.  they got on the phone, and online and hunted around for me, and two shops in the state had the studs.  each of them was about an 8 hr round trip drive in the car.  not worth it to pick up a $4 stud.

a week goes by, and the stud arrives at the shop, and I go get it.  the nut for the stud is another $2, so I had to get it.  let's see; $80 in gas from two trips to the shop just to get $6 worth of hardware.

when I went to put the new stud in place, it threaded right up.  that is, until it was to the point it needed to tighten up.  it seems the threads were hashed at that point so it wouldn't tighten.
I figured if i put a washer or two on the stud, it should tighten up BEFORE the hashed threads.  it didnt...instead, the stud just wouldn't tighten up, and the threads seemed to be coming out in pieces.

so, it looks like I am going to have to pull the tranny AGAIN!!

yes, it is the same tranny, that had the shiftr alignment spring break off two days before a week long ride with friends.  the same tranny that broke off a tooth on the mainshaft 5th gear, and the same tranny that had the wrong seal put on it, and needed to be replaced.
so let me see...since July, this tranny has been pulled out of the bike....oh, Hell..let me think.....4 times?...or is it 5!?!

so now I need to pull; the oil tank, primary, clutch and compensating sprocket (again), and the tranny so I can repair (hopefully) the threads in the case.  even if I have to put a helicoil in its place, I have to do something.  I just cant afford a new tranny case, or even a used tranny at the moment.

I guess it is time to be like the Blues Brothers...cuz this transmission is turning into a "Mission From God".

catch ya on the road sometime...

Ride Map

This is a map of the places, and roads that I remember going to over the past 30 years.  A lot of the other places, I can remember parts of the roads, but not most of the way...what can I say, a lot of those years is a bit fuzzy...I also placed red stars on the places, or runs I want to go to.  Sort of a road Bucket List. 

Some of them, are close enough in time and distance to one another that one big cross country ride could hit several of them.  And, I have enough friends scattered out across the country, I would love to be able to meet and ride with.

And if any on my friends know of a road, or a run that might be tool good to miss, that I dont know about, hell just let me know.  It just might make it onto the map  lol

Catch ya on the road sometime...

Flaw in the design?

Ok, I just have one question for the Harley engineers...why would you have the hole for the stud that attaches the transmission to the plate that mounts it to the bikes frame go all the way through the tranny case? 
Apparently, when I put the tranny back in the bike after replacing the 5th gear mainshaft, and mainshaft oil seal, I didnt use loctite on that one stud.  Somehow it backed out going down the road, and I lossed all my tranny gear oil.  Thank fucking God I was only on a very short couple mile putt and didnt screw up the tranny...or go down as the 90wt flowed out in front of the rear tire.

To top it all off, the damn mounting  stud had to be ordered, because non of the shops within an 8 hr roundtrip drive had the damn thing!!  I wasnt gonna waste a day, and about $100 in gas to run and get a $4 mounting stud.

Oyster Run

Well we made it to the Oyster Run over the weekend.  All in all, it was a pretty good trip.  Met up with a couple friends in Olympia, and we rode up US 101 to Port Townsend with a couple stops along the way.  We stopped in Brinnon, along Hood Canal for something to eat, and I suggested we make a little side trip to Rockybrook Falls.  A really cool waterfall hiddden from view but just out of sigth until you are right at the bottom of it.


Rockybrook Falls

 Then we headed up over Walker Pass through Quilcene and the back way into Port Townsend.  Going over Walker Pass we caught up with, and slid into a group of bikes that were also heading to the Oyster Run.  Obviously they didnt know the area real well, because when we all got to Quilcene they stayed on the main road while we took the back way.  We reached Port Townsend and caught the ferry to Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

We rode up Whidbey Island to Deception Pass St Park.  Its only about 10 miles from Anacortes.  And we planned on making it an early ride in the morning.  We got there early enough that there was blocks of open parking, but within 30 minutes or so that had changed completely.



early at the Oyster Run



30 minutes later

The wind and threat of rain didnt keep too many people away, as downtown Anacortes was filled with bikes for ten or twelve blocks.  With every side street filled for a block with vendors.  There was a huge mix of stockers and dressers there, a good number of billet brage "choppers", crotch-rockets, and a few cool looking homemade chops and some trikes. 

Even after fighting the high winds on the way back home, I am still planning on going next year...but maybe I will stay over until monday.  So I can enjoy the full day of music and fun on sunday instead of riding home.

Catch ya on the road sometime...