Dam Number 2

Well yesterday I decided to grab the Ochoco Dam just out of Prineville. After going to

work and finding out about THAT situation and then going to one of my co-workers

house to "discuss" the situation with work, thanks Dave for letting me vent. I figured the I would take

the drive to Alfalfa and Prinville res. (the twisty way). The road wanders through the BLM land east of Bend, and then along the Crooked River into Prinville, this is a great MC road with lots of corners.

I could not have picked a more perfect day for a ride the Temperature was just right. The only thing that

was bad was the the wind was blowing from the north in Prineville and by the time that I got back

to Bend, it was blowing from the south, go figure, this IS Central Oregon.

The Mighty KLR at Ochoco Dam (I like the way the sign says
No Parking)

I think the next Dam Or Dams that I am going to do will require an overnighter, I can't wait..



Started the Damtour

       Got the information and placard for the Damtour 2011 yesterday. I looked over the info and decided to just get it started, so I geared up and went for a ride, even thought it was only 8 miles to the first one, it's a start.

         For those who do not know what the Damtour is, it is a self guided tour of dams in both Washington and Oregon and some bonus dams in Montana, Idaho, Nevada and California. There is 8 in WA and 8 in Ore.

I am planning to do the ones in Oregon only, If you do all 8 you receive a pin from the state that you did them in, if you do all 16 you get a trophy, and if you do the bonus dams and all 16, you get a special trophy.

You need to go to the dam of choice and take your placard and take a pic of the bike and the dam and then submit it and then you are credited for the dam.



North Unit Diversion dam in Bend, Oregon



I found that you need to place the bike in a manner that the sun does not reflect off the placard and blot out the number on the placard, I had to take about 4 pics to just get one that came out.

I hope that when I go to the other dams, I am aware of that and do not mess up!

So, until the next Dam run.....

My Son's wedding was this weekend.

   Well we all got back safe and sound from the trip up to Kenniwick WA for the wedding of my son Trenton and new Daughter in-law Erica, It was a great time of getting to know some of her family. The weather could not have been any better, the accommodations were great. 



Trenton and Erica at the rehearsal dinner.



I just wish that a few more of my family members could have been there. I will just have to send them some pics of the activities that happened.

Teresa and myself at the rehearsal dinner.

The room in the church that we had the wedding, we had a nice view
facing east.



Erica and her family.

That is about all I have to say today, so thanks to all who made this a wonderful weekend, and we wish Trenton and Erica the best in there new lives together.

Damtour for me

This year is the year to do it, The Damtour 2011.

This is a self guided tour of dams in the states of Oregon and Washington with 4 bonus dams

in Idaho, Montana, Nevada and California. I will only do the ones in Oregon as because of time and MONEY will limit me. There are 8 in Oregon and 8 in Washington.

Yesterday I sent in my registration form and this morning I was regestered on the tours sight. I wanted to do

this a couple of years ago but was unable to, so this is the year.

I will be posting up as I visit the various points of interest (Dams).

Happy Fathers day to me!

   Well as we all know, yesterday was fathers day. I got a very good phone call from my middle son Trenton, It was good to here from him. My oldest son, Devon came over as he does almost every Sunday, and helped celebrate the day.

  After a wonderful lunch of hamburgers, chips and potato salad, Teresa, Kacie and Devon gave me one of the coolest camping chairs that I have ever seen, I saw on at the TD in Nor-Cal last week and was able to test sit on it and thought that it was although unconventional, very comfortable.


   The Monark chair is made by a company called Alite Designs, it is very light and small, the stuff sack is 4 x 13 inches and the whole chair weights I think about a pound, I am really excited to take it camping and hope that I can take it with me on one of my future adventures.

The stuff sack that the Monark Chair comes in.

This is a very quality product and well made and did I say comfortable.

Unfolded and ready for assembley.

The legs pop together with shock cords.

When I first saw one of these chairs I just scratched my head and said huh?



So once it is assembled you sit down in the sling.



Sorry for the Cheesy grin...

You actually sit in the sling and balance on two legs, it is very much like rocking back on your dinning room chair, It is as I mentioned earlier it is very unconventional but it works great!

Thank you all...

My ride to Nor-Cal tech days

  To those that do not know, I like to ride my Kawasaki KLR 650, which is a dual sport motorcycle, that means that I can go just about anywhere I choose, dirt roads to interstates. That being said, last week I went down to northern California for what we call a tech day. People from all over the west coast showed up. About 50 guys came for the weekend. It was hosted by a guy and his family.



The Mighty KLR

Getting ready for "THE RIDE"



   The cool thing about this kind of event is that most everyone that comes contributes to the overall collective of knowledge and ability's for working on the KLR's. Everyone learns what and how to do certain mechanical fixes and mods, or whatever they want to do on their bikes, free of charge and a lot of fun to boot.

 

Just some of the bikes for the "Group shot" mine is the 6th on from the right, they
were lined up acording to year from right to left

   The KLR has been around for about 20+ years and only changed the style in 2008. The parts are interchangeable with almost all years, which make one of the most popular bikes in the world. There are known problems with the klr but if a person gets involved with the various forums on the Internet and other sources, you can learn any thing that you want.


 

Moded kickstand


   One of the mods that I was able to do was, with the help of Tim (bug) who was the host of the TD, was to make and weld on a base plate to my kickstand, so that when I am at home in the high desert (AKA Sandville) the bike will not sink down into the ground and tip over, that would be BAD because the bike weights about 400 lbs and is very difficult to pick up without the help of another person. I was also able to adjust what you call the SAG, when you set on the bike, it will sag or settle down with the weight of the rider, and it needs to be equal both front and back, mine was fine in the rear but needed to be adjusted in the front, so that was remedied. and the last thing was to lube my clutch cable, now it is nice and smooth thanks to Les.
  
   I did not do as much as other people did because I do so much of my own work on the bike at home, so not much else to report on this subject.

   These bikes are so simple to work on just about ANYBODY can work on them so until next time.......



Welcome to Woodnigma

  Well, this is my first installment of my new blog "Woodnigma". My personality is one that I am constantly changing my interests and musings, so one day I may be interested in one thing and the next day I can be onto something totally different, variety is the spice of life right?