de tour 2006 ** day fifteen**

[Jeff Saline]

----- Forwarded Message ----- Listers, Albuquerque, NM Travel time: 0 hrs 00 mins Distance: 0 miles Steve, like always, is up when I wake up. My air mattress held air over night and I had a great sleep. I pack the mattress and sleeping bag and put them out of the way. Carol makes us a wonderful breakfast and then heads off to work. The guys will have to make do for themselves today. We have a light schedule of changing front sprockets from 14 tooth to 16 tooth, repairing my left radiator shroud, Kent is going to install a new muffler on his Mercedes and we'll generally goof off most of the day. Kent pulls the car onto the curb and has a wonderful elevated work area for the muffler replacement. Steve and I change sprockets and talk a bit about chain tension. We decide we both have them just a smidgen too tight and readjust the chains. I remove the my left radiator shroud to replace the lower front mount tab. I've been carrying two replacement tabs and four pop rivets with me for two years. I made them when I repaired the right side shroud two years ago. I use a knife to cut the plastic smooth and Kent gets out his cordless drill and drill index. I take a 1/8" drill bit and drill a hole in the plastic after I clamp the new tab in place with some vise grip pliers. The pop rivet tightens nicely and I do the second pop rivet. The tab lines up perfectly and I examine the upper plastic tab. It's cracked so I cut it off and replace it too. I make a slight adjustment to the bracket and bolt the shroud back in place. It now looks like the right shroud and I'm done carrying those tabs in the tool pouch. By this time Kent is done replacing the muffler and we look at each other with "what now" looks. I decide to do a load of laundry and since I'm doing a load Steve says he has some stuff to throw in too. We get it started and decide to head to the BMW dealer to check out the bikes and cars. This is a new location and since we all own Airheads we're interested in seeing this shop. It's neat that they'll work on them as some dealers won't work on the older bikes. Kent drives and in short order we're at Sandia BMW Motorcycles. This will only be the second dedicated BMW dealership I've ever visited. The first is in Stuttgart Germany where I bought a used 1979 R100S in 1982. Man was that a good bike. The sales staff is friendly and the bike section is very well laid out. We talk with the staff about the HP2 which is on display. The salesman is interested in De Tour and we have a wonderful discussion. Kent introduces us to the General Manager, Jim Johnson. We get to talk for a few minutes and he invites us to the service area allowing us to roam freely and look at the equipment and bikes in varying stages of repair. We have a nice chat and then he has other business to attend to. Kent shows us the upstairs section used as a waiting area and also for parts sales. He's greeted and obviously well known here. We wander around a bit and look at three motorcycles on display about 20 feet in the air. Next we wander to the automobile division in the next building. These BMW cars sure are fancy compared to what I'm around on a normal basis. We leave the dealer and head to REI. I want to look at tents and sleeping bags. My tent is pretty large and for the last year or so I've been considering getting something lighter. I talk with a sales guy and he makes a couple of suggestions. I almost get a tent and then see one erected on display. It's got a smaller footprint than I'm comfortable with. I decide to wait on this purchase. Then I head to the sleeping bag section and take a quick look at down sleeping bags. My old synthetic fill sleeping bag works well but is bulky. Even when in a compression sack it's about the size of a basketball. I decide again to wait until I've researched tents and sleeping bags a bit more. I only have probably two more nights on this tour anyway so it'll wait. Steve gets some fastex fasteners and webbing to make new straps for holding his gear to his bike. I can tell he doesn't want it to come apart again. We head back to the house as Kent has a tool box being delivered today and the truck driver said the delivery would be in the afternoon. We eat lunch on the back patio and finish the laundry. I get Steve to set up his tent as I like the size and weight of it when packed. It really does have plenty of room inside and we take some measurements. I help him pack it and then take it to the garage with his other gear. He's sitting down with Kent doing something so I grab the tent and take it to the front yard. I quickly unroll it about halfway and put the "Bolt" wrapped in a shop towel into the middle of the tent. It rolls up nicely and I can't feel the bolt. I'm thinking he won't know it's there until next time he uses the tent. Mission accomplished. I'm feeling pretty good with myself now. I get a road atlas from Kent's car and take the GPS and atlas to the table on the back patio. It probably takes me 30 minutes to decide on a route back to the Black Hills. Kent and Steve give me some great suggestions on roads to use in Colorado. I've been decided for a while that I'll ride pavement home as getting hurt in the dirt on some of the roads I'd probably choose to use could be deadly for me. I've had a wonderful ride with a wonderful riding partner and the ride home can be a new ride. I start to load coordinates for each major turn in the GPS but it's a slow process. After the third waypoint I quit and just write a list of directions on a piece of paper to place in my map pocket. Even without a map I should be fine just using the directions and the GPS. Kent and Steve and I visit some more and then the truck arrives. Kent's new toolboxes are here. They're German made and ordered in von der vaderland. Weilheim and Heinrich comt to help und dey are vast unloaded and in dee shop. Vee veger out hows to put dem togedder und et goes quick like. Then it's back to just Kent and Steve and me. The boxes are really nice with ball bearing drawer slides and a heavy finish that should last forever. Just as we finish Carol comes home. She makes nice comments about the tool boxes and shows appropriate interest and enthusiasm. What a woman! Kent's a lucky guy. We get cleaned up a bit and decide to go out for dinner. They know a "dive" and it's the same place we ate at last year. They have good food and the margaritas are excellent. After dinner we head home and Carol has cake and ice cream for us. Wow! Ice cream three days in a row. I vote "Best Trip Ever"!!! We visit in the living room and then I decide I need a picture for the record. Carol wants it on the front porch so we go out front and visit until dark and then a bit. Steve and I plan on heading out first thing in the morning so we soon get showers and hit the sleeping bags. What a wonderful way to wind down De Tour. Visiting with most excellent friends in their beautiful and relaxing home. I fall asleep happy and content. End of Day Fifteen. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT . . ____________________________________________________________ 53 Year Old Mom Looks 33 The Stunning Results of Her Wrinkle Trick Has Botox Doctors Worried http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4f26974c2e575882793st01vuc [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]