Jason shows up to drop off his camping gear for the chase mini-van to deliver.
Friday morning, rain all around, let's hold off a bit.
Jason came over to get going. He got rained on pretty hard.
Rally point 2. Jason doesn't miss a gas station running that tank.
Pick up Trent and get back on the road.
Trent says, "If you love your gear enough, use a ratchet strap not a bungee cord.
First side of the road stop of the day, and it wasn't a shovelhead's fault. Some kid turned his rental car sideways and put it in the ditch. Luckily we were quite a bit back from that scariness. We stopped to help though.
The car almost got out of the ditch and stalled out. So we took a look at the manual to see if there was an inertia fuel cut off switch, but there didn't seem to be one. It finally fired up and the dude was gone. And we rolled on.
I was leading and everything was going fine until we lost Pib and Trent off the back. So we stopped to see what was up. Jason had lost his axle mounted tailight/tag set-up. Pib and Trent watched it happen and stopped to retrieve the tag. The bracket and taillight were goners though.
Good thing we stopped. Jason's Half@ss Shovel had more issues than just a taillight. The e-starter was falling off and something else was wrong with it and the starter gear was banging the ring gear.
The idle and accelerator pump were gone, too.
Pull the starter and go on.
Pick up Ed at Gainesville.
Eat lunch at the Ranch House in Gainesville.
I think they mean it.
Man, I just can't keep oil in the crank seal of this motor. I have to get this figured out. Oil on the belt is not a good thing.
Almost to the campsite and Jason's shovel is getting worse. Blue smoke, topend noise, pretty bad vibrations, and a leaking gas tank. I'm kind of getting tired of kickstarting it for him, too. The ignition is just a bit advanced.
Texas Mark was waiting at the campsite for us.
Hanging out.
HDLiz did show up. Yay! We thought she wasn't going to make it.
Working Jason's bike. One of the ignition plate adjusting screws had broken and the ignition plate had moved out of place.
Finding the leak.
JB Weld should fix that.
"Oh mighty shovelhead gods we present this tank and a smoke offering to please be smiling on his bike."
Big Orange needed a castellated nut for it's swingarm.
Max is doing his thing.
Chow time.
S'mores.
"I don't believe I have ever had a s'more before." Pib
Max says bitty boy will be the chef next year.
No caption needed.
Better call home, Max. Your wife is worried.
More cooking, Caddo Grassland Potato Salad is basically everything left over from lunch.
I think the outhouse really makes this picture. #nofilter
Sunday morning breakfast.
Ed talked bitty boy into each a tabasco pepper. There was a lot of drama on that one, but he survived.
"Ed's one of my best bros." Bitty Boy
Sherman, Texas: The Half@ss Shovel is done. Topend noise, bottom end vibration, and still leaking tank. A trailer ride and another full teardown.
It was a good time.
