Picto Diary - 27 April 2016 - The Martian

On the road... Off the Duc. Park City, UT. 27 April 2016.

View of Park City from LSDM table. Wasatch Bagel, Park City, UT.

Wha????? I return to winter? Thot it was Spring!

Left Ducati in Albuquerque yesterday. Unreliable start function. Flew home.

About 3000 miles to that point. I'll return in a month or so to finish the ride ...another 800 miles.

Tokyo Races Against Quake That Will Shake World on `X' Day

Above: Caption for Bloomberg article pulled off Facebook on 27 April 2016.

Between 1982 and 1985 I spent daytime hours in my office, on the 25th floor of Tokyo's Hibiya Kokusai building, within direct sight of the walls of the Emperor's palace.

Every three or four months, I could feel the 6 inch to 12 inch sway of the building as it responded, by design, to the regular, minor to medium tremors that are regular occurrences in Tokyo's "strategic" location on the "rim of fire."

Coming up... Break in the ongoing, rising strain of the Pacific plate, subducting (sic) under the North American plate near Seattle and Portland. And, of course, the coming mega-eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera.

Go see "The Martian." Or, read the book. You may need conceptual preparation for mankind's challenge to save itself.

Addendum:


Fascinating . . . buy Toyota . . even jihadists in the deserts rely on them

:-) Hand,
San Jose, CA


I'm thinking about a new bike a R1200RS no premium package due to the keyless technology and the boatload of other useless technology including the navigation system. Standard package gives you everything you need. Except for a center stand and you can get that sounds like you may be at home for a while. Breakdown s suck particularly technical ones.

ITYW San Angelo Texas


It can happen to all of us….After returning from an Eligio guided tour of Corsica & Sardinia and hearing Mrs. B announce she had never been so comfortable on a bike as the big BMW GS 1200 the same model we rode in Turkey, I ordered a new one. On my first second road trip I pulled in to gas up and shut the bike off. When I tried to start the bike after the fill up it was completely non-responsive. I called the family shop and they said there were reports that sometimes the uplink on the gas pump credit card reader interfered with the key signal so push the bike at least 200 feet away from the pump. 2 hours later i was in the front seat of a van with the bike in the back headed back to Chicago. BMW finally admitted they had a faulty ignition switch module.

Mickey,
Aspen, CO


I know how you feel. When the engine on a boat gives you problems 10 miles out to sea, you get the same loss of confidence. Fortunately, there is the Sea Tow membership to the rescue. Would your AAA gold membership cover your bike? Gold membership gets you 160 miles of towing.

Nathans,
Massapequa, NY

I have AAA with 120 miles of towing. Nearest reasonable tow place from where I was was 180 miles... El Paso, where there is a Ducati dealer and service. Phone service spotty where I was. Flag down rancher truck? Wouldn't have been pretty and I wasn't looking forward to it. Still, at the end of the day, its a first world problem, isn't it?

Above: "Steve, are you in there?" Dr. G. image and caption for this send.

Sad tale, your finely tuned Italian made machine letting you down there in Albuquerque. Reflecting, I pondered a similar problem I had with three different motorcycles: Russian, German and American. All three would not start at one point - key problems.

The 1970's Russian Ural problem was solved by popping off the headlight and connecting two wires, and I threw the key away. The 1960 German BMW problem was solved by using a nail, jamming it down into the key hole. That key I didn't throw away - it was one of those Bring Mega Wallet items. I think it is still laying on my work bench in my studio. The third one was a bit more tricky, and on a very expensive motorcycle, my 1946 Indian Chief. For that fix I used a spare key some guy had for his cheap garage twist door handle opener.

Saw the attached bus pic, should have asked the attendant, "Hey Saul, my pal Steve has a Ducati, you got a spare seat for him in there?"

Just having you on of course. Some of my motorcycles let me down well beyond my shade tree mechanical skills, like my 1988 KMX 200 over here in Siam. It would die when 3-5 kilometers from my start point. Since it was never imported here, no parts and no trained mechanics. $250 USD got the generator and CDI ripped out and thrown away, replaced with a mag. At the same time the guy tossed the old carb, installed a new Honda carb. Even got a new thermostat tossed in with the deal, plus a new $20 sealed battery. On the downside, it took the guy about 3 months to get around to it, but during that time I was on that 33 year-old Honda GL650 riding around South America, so no real down time, and other than the 3-4 times I had to push that KMX home in 100 F heat, no bus rides.

So cheer up, those air con bus rides home aren't that bad. The one in the pic was playing FAST ANF FURIOUS 7 on the video system, in English with Spanish sub-titles. My luck, it would have been a chicken bus in Mexico with the passengers regurgitating lunch, sometimes out the windows.

Best,

Dr. G
Chief, World Adventure Affairs Desk, CITY BIKE Magazine
Crow Agency, MT

Excellent post. I flew back, not bus, but the point is well made.