Road Trip 2005
National Park Run
Day 04
Day 04
With an early start before sun rise, we hit the road hopping to get a hundred miles behind us before the temperatures climbed.
Once
out of Death Valley we stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant. A
restaurant that was run out of the front of one's home. A breakfast
that took time. Time to heat up the grill make coffee. A
breakfast well worth the wait. Not only because of the good food but
also because of the kind visit from the owner and the pleasant setting.
From there we toured some more of California stopping at a few places along the way to enjoy the sights. Sights that were quickly changing with the altitudes as we climbed mountain after mountain.
It was not long from there that we entered into Sequoia National Park that we would encounter our first problem with the bike on this trip.
Not moments after driving through the gate of the park, in the middle of one of the first hair-pin turns that the clutch cable broke.
With Lisa standing beside the road warning traffic, I quickly searched for a quick fix. The thought of being towed out of a National Park was not my idea of a pleasant vacation nor was the idea of causing a wreck.
After a few minutes looking over the
problem and inventorying what I had in the tool bag I quickly found a
solution. Fist I would need to cut out about three inches of the cable
housing in order to lengthen
the
clutch cable. Secure the extra length around the clutch leaver and tie
it all down so that it would stay in place and still function properly.
To this plan I am happy to say that it worked. Within 15 minutes we were back on the bike and moving out of the way of traffic. Which was good because Lisa was starting to get a bit worried and started to show signs of stress.
After pulling over in a safe place to look at the work in hand and the self-engineered fix, I was satisfied with the way it was staying in place and elected to continue on with the trip until we could find a dealer and have it fixed properly.
The camp site for that evening stood in great comparison with that of the night before. Instead of the unbearable heat, we had the shades of the great sequoia trees and a large creek of melted snow behind our tent. A creek that's water was so cold you could hardly keep you feet in it for more than a few seconds, yet we would try again and again.
It
was also at this park that I found out that Lisa has a great fear of animals
that she has never seen. This being of bears. Not that we saw
one, even though I was hopping to, we didn't. It was when we were
driving into the camp site area and checking in at the gate that the man in
the guard shack said, "Keep an eye out for bears."
With those words I felt the bike shake as Lisa just about jumped off with fear... "Bears?"