Saturday, July 27, 2013

Repairs on Da'mit

Today we rested and did some repairs to Da'mit's farkles.

First we retightened the windshield mounts. It wasn't about to fall off, but the constant squeaking was driving me nuts. Even ear plugs could not keep that irritating sound out. Used some self-tapping screws to tighten the mount.

Then we removed the luggage rack that was mounted on the sidecar fender. Will need it in a minute.

Now for the job that I could not do until I had access to a drill, was to replace the rack that the waterproof camera case was mounted on with the one I just removed the sidecar fender. This was not so easy as the case is wired for recharging batteries for the iPad, iPhone, and camera. Had to loosen the seat to gain access to the fuseblock in order to release the wires for the charging system.

This is the waterproof Pelican camera case mounted behind the driver's seat.

Here you can see the rack mount under the case.

Two of the legs of the old rack broke from the constant Alaska road vibrations. For weeks now I have been strapping the case down for if I lost it, this blog would die an untimely death.

On the broken rack, one weld broke. On the other leg, the metal itself tore loose.

The repair went well, Everything is back together and working again.

Was asked what camera am I using and how am I posting from the road.

Right now, only have one camera with me, an Olympus XZ-1 point-n-shoot. Is kept in the tank bag where I can quickly pull it out when needed.

For writing and posting, am using an iPad 32gig with a ZAGG keyboard, when closed it completely encases the iPad to protect it. The photos are downloaded to the iPad from the camera memory card with that white square adapter you see lying next to the pencil. Can crop and enlarge photos with the iPad program. The blogging software is Blogsy and Blogspot is the site where the blog is hosted.

The white spot is a reflection from the overhead light. Dr. Pepper Diet is the drink of choice. Dr Pepper was born and bred in Waco, Texas. It was impossible to find in Canada too. Had to drink diet Pepsi......... oh how we suffer to be on the road!!!!!!! lol

Back to Da'mit. The rain clouds are moving in so time to cover her up.

Typical in the mountains is to get afternoon showers. The weather channel forecasted rain all day, but was sunny and nice, until about mid-afternoon. Then it started to cloud up. Just like yesterday.

The clouds came in from the east. Taos is 25 miles east on the other side of that ridge. Angel Fire sits in an alpine valley at 8500 feet. The highest point in the ski area here is 10,500 ft.

There are four major ski resorts in New Mexico; Taos, Angel Fire, Red River and Ruidoso. Then there are Santa Fe, Sipapu, Sandia(?) ski areas. There might be other small ski spots too, not sure.

Taos is known for ski-apres, Red River for college-aged skiing-drinking, Ruidoso is in the southern Rockies, but one has drive back and forth from town to the slopes, no lodging there. Angel Fire is a family oriented ski destination. Many church groups in Oklahoma and Texas bring the youth groups here for skiing. Lots of places to stay and eat within walking distance of the slopes. And it is quiet. The town shuts down early each night.

Looking north across Angel Fire and Moreno Valley toward Mount Wheeler, the tallest mountain in New Mexico at 13,000+ feet. We are too far south in the rockies for there still to be snow on the peaks. Angel Fire, Red River and Taos are scattered around the base of Mt Wheeler.

That concludes today's chores. Tomorrow we check the engine valves and change the oil. To do that, we have to ride to Taos to buy oil. The only auto parts store up here only had a house brand 20w50. Not good enough for my baby.

Nite Da'mit, stay dry,

Nite all.

 

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