Just following my nose (good thing it's not crooked)

Hey I forgot to post up a "way to keep your shock cleaner" solution when you were at Jeff's. :huh
Next chance you get to work under a roof or on a clear day...
Take a piece of thin plastic kinda like a milk jug or slightly thicker. (I used thin rubber once but using plastic now)
Drill or punch a pair of holes in the bottom flap of your airbox where it hangs down a bit in behind the shock.
Cut the plastic wide enough to wrap around the curve in the swingarm and long enough to hang down about to the lower shock bolt.
Put two matching holes in the plastic, then slide it between the shock and the swingarm and ziptie it to the airbox.

This will keep all the rocks, dirt and debris from flying into your nice smooth shaft.

Here's a pic of the swingarm and shock opening, I have a neoprene boot over mine too...


I'll look for pics of the actual piece hanging uner the box or go out and take a couple for you of my bike now. It will extend you shock life...ALLOT!

Peace,
Jim
Edit took pics of guard...




This newest one hangs just past the lower swingarm box...

Good idea!
Is that a gen2 swing arm on a gen1 bike Jim? Looks like a gen1 kickstand.
Regards....justjeff

Yup yup, Gen2 swing arm with about a 3/8" relief ground into the front gusset to clear the 18" wheel mounted on my ol' 2005.

Cool Jim, Yep might just do that once I got the new Ohlins in my bike

This ride report is proof of how diligent I am in keeping up with it! I actually have to pay here at the library in The Pass to use the internet. $1 per half hour!
But as I am a firm patron of the library system I figured I’d help.

Where did I leave off??
Oh yeah, I left Big River heading to Meadow Lake Provincial Park.


Big River, it reminded me of one of my nicest costumes I’d made, that required 14 yards of fabric. It was one of those “Scarlet O’Hara” dresses

The weather was nice and I was glad not to be riding in rain again, kinda had enough of rain for a while.
Pretty soon I got to the shortcut to the park, which turned into a dirt road, Hmmm, the Harley guy said it was paved.


It looked pretty dry so l kept riding.

Yeahhhhhhh, I had to stop and lower the tire pressure. It wasn’t all that dry in places, and in other places it was super dry and sandy. I don’t like sand, have I mentioned that before??


After a while it turned pretty good and before I knew it I hit pavement again.
The pay booth was not too much further.
The lady at the booth asked if I planned to stay, and I said no, just passing through on my way to Flin Flon. She let me pass without paying a fee.
The road itself was nice, but not spectacular though. I pulled over at a campground to inflate the tires again. I so love my green slime inflator!!



Gorgeous view before the end of the road

After about 40 minutes of easy riding I came to Meadow Lake Town.
What a shock! After being in nature all of a sudden I was in touristville!!!
There were little shops and restaurants, cafes with chairs and tables outside, very cozy! This was really a high-end resort!
Kinda got lost cause my GPS didn’t see any of this, so I asked for direction back to the Hwy.
I was curious about camping prices so at the little exit booth I asked how much the overflow was to pitch a tent for the night. Not as bad as I had thought, but with the entrance fee it would have cost me $25, so I opted not to.


I parked right in front of this deer, and it just looked at me!

Pretty soon I hit Hwy 2 (I think) and headed North to Weywatkin, the last place to gas up the Harley guy told me, before I got to La Ronge.
By now it was pretty late and I was tiring

The sun was fast on its way down, and I really don’t like riding at night, not only that, I discovered to my dismay that only one setting of my headlight works.
Seeing as I painted over the little drawing I don’t know if I now have my regular or my brights on. I have the top part of the button pressed down.

I kept turning in little side roads and one after the other turned too muddy or sandy, and almost all of them had bear poop on the tracks. Hmmm, nope, so not going to stay here!

I was hoping to find a spot with trees, so I could have some shade, and put up my tarp in case it rained
Then I saw a little tent sign with the letter 2 Km underneath.
I kept my fingers crossed that this place wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg.
Two Km later I saw the turn off…………
?????
This is a campground? I rode Spirit around the little loop and saw 2 open spaces between the trees, and 2 toilets. No sign anywhere about having to pay!! Yippee!!
One of the open spaces had a teepee frame on it, so I picked that one.


My tent fit right inside of it, and I fixed my tarp over it just in case.

Pretty soon a car showed up with a canoe on the top, and the guy picked the other empty spot. My did would be happy I had a fellow camper and was not all alone.
After I finished setting up it was dark, and I cooked my dinner quickly as I was hungry to the max!
Then I checked my cell phone. I had reception!!! Awesome!

Around midnight I crashed, and I slept like a log.
I vaguely heard the canoe guy leave early in the morning, but I fell right back asleep again.
As I had such a nice spot I decided to stay for a day. It rained on and off, and I spend the day knitting (again) and reading.

Started on Brain Sanderson’s Way of Kings, pretty awesome book so far! I now the sequel is out, but probably not yet on e-format at the library.


I walked around when the rain stopped and saw why there were sooooo many mosquitos at the campground


Interesting little (actually pretty big) bug in the tent
I packed up everything I didn’t need and put it in my cases. According to the weather forecast it was gong to be sunny the next day.
I woke early and packed up the rest. I wouldn’t say it was sunny, but it was dry.

When I got to Weywatkin I found the gas station, but it turned out that the pump was no longer in use. Shucks! I would have to go to La Ronge now to gas up.
Luckily it was only 20 miles further than the turnoff to Hwy 165 that headed to Flin Flon.

I got to La Ronge a couple of hours later and filled up my gas tank. It took me a while to get out of there as people kept coming up to talk to me and ask me where I was going and where I was from. Finally I said my goodbyes and rode away.
They had a huge grocery story in town I was told so I headed there in search of some almond milk. It was closed on Sunday! Bummer.
I turned around and headed back to the gas station to get some paper towels and fill up my water canteens.

As I headed to Hwy 165 I was both nervous and happy. At least I didn’t totally ex out the route I wanted to take. I hoped that the road would be dry.
As I turned off unto 165 I was happy to see that the road was in really good shape. l kept my fingers crossed.



I just had to take a pic of Spirit and the open road!
The speed limit was 80 Km an hour and I kept it at 70 pretty much, until the road got tricky. Again I stopped to let the air out of the tires, down to 20 Psi
I thanked my lucky starts that it had been dry for a little while, cause I saw what this road would have looked like when wet! There had been some heavy cars that left their tracks and I pretty much kept Spirit riding over their tire tracks, which were about a foot wide. Left and right of the nicely flattened area the dirt was sometimes a foot high, but mostly about half a foot of mud, gravel or sand, depending on how wet it was.
Occasionally I had to fight to keep Spirit upright as the tracks crisscrossed, but other than that it was really easy.


Hit another easy stretch

After about 100 Km (really short road) I hit pavement again.
Stopped again to put air in.
I kept on noticing oil on my bottle and the frame, and I couldn’t figure out where it came from.
I figured as I had spilled some on my engine guard that it must be flying off it and unto the frame. I really should not have assumed and looked, but I’ll tell you later why I was leaking oil. I did check the oil level and it was good.
The weather was really nice, even though my android weather told me rain, rain, rain in Flin Flon and surrounding areas. I am so not going to look at that thing again!!!

The road to Fin Flon reminded my of a patchwork quilt!


The closer I got there the more rocks I saw. This was exactly like going to Yellowknife!


It was very pretty driving by all that water.

I was in Flin Flon before I knew it, and nowhere did I see a sign saying Welcome to Manitoba! Sniff

I did find the tourist info center and got a map of Manitoba. The kid didn’t know anything about camping or which routes where the nicest, so I left to crass the road and go into Walmart for some almond milk.
They had just closed!! Oh well, I still had one little 8 ounce carton.
They also had camping in Flin Flon, but camping right in town just doesn’t do it for me, even though I would have like a shower.
I headed South toward The Pass, looking for a place to camp. Another campground was also $25, nope!
After a while I noticed a sign saying picnic area, and I turned off into the dirt road.
I was really a short road and ended up at the lake.
There were no tables or anything, so it didn’t look like a picnic area, but boy did it look like the perfect camping spot!
I decided to just pitch my tent and if I got booted out, so be it!


It was the perfect spot, and even better was the fact that there were hardly any bugs!!


View from my tent door

I was really comfy and happy there, the sound of the water lapping was very soothing and not having to swat away mosquitos in my tent was just awesome!
After cooking dinner and eating I walked around a bit. There was a hill behind my tent and I walked up it



The sun was setting and I got a pretty nice shot of the sunset

I slept like a rock and woke around 8, but really 9 Manitoba time.
I took it easy and made pancakes, but before too long it got too hot. There was not a cloud in the sky!! Amazing!
I did my morning check for Spirit, checked the oil, still good but a little lower….. so I added a little.
Check the tire pressure, both good, and waxed the chain.
Then I looked at the oily frame and water bottle again. I had just wiped those yesterday!
Then I saw why!! “#*^%oghlfjb32)!lgrrrhidssht*&%!!!”
My stupidity is going to kill Spirit one of these days, if it hasn’t done so already!
I could have cried!!!
Dimwit I told myself! I had totally forgotten to reconnect the fat hose that goes from the engine to the airbox, and oil had been leaking out of there.
I took it of and checked the inside. The part that had been hanging out was dirty with oil and sand, but the inside near the engine was just oily, and I could not detect any griddy stuff. Maybe the pressure coming out of it stopped dirt from going into my engine. I sure was hoping so, but what worried me was the fact that it had rained with that hose out. I can only hope that because it was kind of under the seat somewhat, that no water got into it.
I cleaned up the inside of the hose with paper towel, and put it back on.
Maybe just to make sure I’ll change the oil in The Pass if they have a Walmart or Canadian Tire that sells Rotella-T

I left around 11 Manitoba time, and headed for the pass.
The road was pretty boring, but still nice.
The pass is a nice size town but I still had no reception. Then a lady told me, yep, Telus has no service here. Shucks!!
I found this library and figured I’d type up my report first and the pay for the internet to upload the pics and my report.
An hour later, paid for internet and I couldn’t upload the pictures. The guy at the library was a jerk, didn’t even offer to return the dollar.
Went back to McD and uploaded everything there.
No Walmart or Canadian tire here, not sure if I can find Rotella-T here.

I’m gonna head south and see if I can bypass Winnipeg.

I continue to enjoy your reports and love that you take the time to do them. Here is hoping that you have no issues with your engine. You are on a wonderful adventure.

Flin FLon the only town in the world named after a fictional character, I slept for free at the campground in town as I had met the postman and his wife who worked there at a bar one RAINY night, great couple. She gave me a key to the washroom and I left it under a rock near the office. Actually it was raining SO hard that I just threw my bag on the bathroom floor and slept right there! Quite a sight I was to the ol' men coming in for their morning seat time, good thing I had lost my smell in the accident. :eek1

"The town's name is taken from the lead character in a paperback novel, The Sunless City by J. E. Preston Muddock. Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin piloted a submarine through a bottomless lake where he passed into a strange underground world through a hole lined with gold. A copy of the book was allegedly found and read by prospector Tom Creighton.

When Tom Creighton discovered a high-grade exposure of copper, he thought of the book and called it Flin Flon's mine, and the town that developed around the mine adopted the name.

The character of "Flinty", as he is locally known, is of such importance to the identity of the city that the local Chamber of Commerce commissioned the minting of a $3.00 coin which was considered legal tender amongst locally participating retailers during the year following its issue. A statue representing Flinty was designed by cartoonist Al Capp and is one of the points of interest of the city. In 1978, the National Film Board of Canada produced the short documentary Canada Vignettes: Flin Flon about the origin of the city's name."
Flinty here near the Campground...


HUGE underground mines are under the city the size of football fields. Mining still being the main employment there: "Today, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Limited (now known as HudBay Minerals Inc.), is still the major employer in the area and mining is at the heart of the economy."

If you go East out of town on 10 toward the Cranberry Lakes and Cranberry Portage you can see the Worlds Largest Tipi:
( http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/northern-manitoba-community-to-erect-giant-tipi-1.675507)
Then take a left onto hwy 39 for a ways past many more lakes, then scoot down hwy 6 which will spit Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis BIG WATERS! And lotsa great Walleye to eat!

North of Winnipeg you can start cutting across to the East and Southeast missing the greater part of town.
I loved that ride up there!

Hi Esther!
Don't worry about the crankcase vent hose being disconnected. It vents the ring blow-by to atmosphere and the flow is OUT of the crankcase so there is no issue. Before there were emission concerns, crankcases were vented directly to atmosphere but now are routed into the airbox/air intake so the crankcase gasses are burned in the engine reducing pollution.
Ride Safe....justjeff

Great report, thank you.

Jettin Jim - Awesome mod.

You guys almost have me talked into a KLR with all the ease of fixing break downs, parts availability, knowledge and such, the only thing I don't like is the tubed tires. Is there a cost effective way to run tubeless tires?

Keep on keeping on nomadgal!

I have a friend that is throwing away his tubeless tires on his KLR and installing IRC's. Tubes are a pain but I prefer them over breaking a bead or setting a bead on tubeless. YMMV. There are pro's here that may chime in but I would rather look at photos and read more of the streaming McDonald's update.

I just noticed......You still have your stitched wind screen!

Thanks Jeff, still, it spit out quite a bit of oil!

I almost took a photo if the statue too! LOL
I'll eventually get to Hwy6, but decided to take the dirt road into Duck mountain, Manitoba's highest mountain, lol 2800 meter or so.

I love my KLR, hard to imagine another bike for me, though Just Jeff has a KTM that looks really awesome too. No idea how easy it would be to work on that one though

Yep! I love my Frankenshield!!

I just spend two blissful days at a beautiful and free campground half hour north of Mafeking on the lake.
It was just gorgeous and peaceful!

My ride from The Pas was uneventful, and I rode for quite a while. Funny how thoughts pop up in your head if there is nothing to do other than riding, especially if the scenery is really not that captivating.
I've even had total strangers talking to me, and suggesting I write a book about my travels. To me it would just seem like a boring book, but it seems many disagree. Maybe I should take a go at it and see if I can even write anything logical

It was getting late as I had spent way too much time in The Pas, and again I started going down little roads, but nothing felt right to me.
I almost pitched my tent in an acceptable spot, but the mosquitos were bad. I had to pee, and my butt looks horrendous now! I envy guys!!
Somehow I felt that I needed to keep going, that I shouldn't settle for something less than I found so far.
The road all of a sudden got really bad, they were redoing the tar, and had made the sand wet. It was now thick almost hard mud with lots of groves. No fun! Glad it was only a short while.
On the map there was a small icon of a tent way north of Mafeking, and I thought I'd just pay for a campsite and take a shower. When I finally got there I was stunned. It was awesome!!




Not a soul in sight


No idea what flowers these will become


Had a dragonfly land on my sleeve and stayed there for a long time, until I accidentally dropped my camera on him, oops! Was trying to take a really close shot and it slipped out of my hands.

I spend the day dong nothings, like knitting, Finished Spanky's hat, drawing, reading, eating and relaxing. Even though I love riding and seeing beautiful things and surroundings, I love pitching my tent and doing nothing the most.
LOL, probably not something a lot of people do when traveling. Everybody seems to be on the go all the time, it sounds exhausting!

I was debating staying another day at the campground when the crew came to clean the bathroom and mow the yard. I decided that maybe I should just mosey on. One of the crewmen was also a rider, and he gave me some info on routes to take. He shared his cherries with me, which was really sweet. He said he was jeoulous and would love to find himself a girlfriend just like me. I didn't quite know what to say to that! :eek1
I told him that he would one day, seemed to be the only thing appropriate.

I took my sweet time and must have gotten another 20 or so mosquito bites. I look like I have contracted the chickenpox!!
Trying not to scratch is quite a challenge!

After having packed up and saying but to the crew i headed for Swan River.
Along the road were tents,


I am guessing these are the beehive tents too, even though they look way different than the other ones in Alberta.



The only bummer right now is the there is no Telus service here in Manitoba!! I looked for one of those cheap go phones at a gas station or supermarket, but I guess it's not as common as in the US.
Looks like I wil be able to have reception once I am north of Winnipeg.

Well, this is all for today folks, till later, I am heading to Duck Mountain….

You mean "Its Alive"?

Of course!!

I'm in Gimli now, and no, I did not just get eaten by the dwarf! (I think only Lord of the Rings fans will get this joke!)

Anyways, after posting my last RR, I walked back outside to find the heat just blasting me!


Just to show how warm it was, the asphalt was melting!

I headed to Duck Mountain, and hit the dirt fairly soon


It was real easy riding though, nice and solid with not much gravel.
All in all I found the road not too impressive, I had hoped to see more hills and such, but other than a slow incline at times I did not realize I was on a mountain.
The area definitely draws a lot of locals in the summer. There was a huge campground with swimming area in the lake, a playground and such, even a boat ramp.



I didn't stay long as I just wasn't feeling it.
The road through Duck Mountain PP was rather short, and before I knew it I had gone through it.
The last 10 miles or so were freshly grated! I discovered that a certain speed lets you go through that stuff without too much wobble, so I kept plowing on. I've got to get better at riding it!!
One of these days I'd like to ride the Himalayas, and that's really gnarly roads, so I'd better toughen up!!

I stopped at a small gas station on my way east (I think it was in Dauphin) where I got some gas and batteries. I got a shock to find out that in Manitoba the tax is 13% The owner of the gas station, and Indian feller, felt sorry for me, and gave me the batteries for free! Awwwww. We had been talking for a while about my trip and where I was going, and he figured I had to be low on funds.

I kept riding for a while but it was getting darker.
All of a sudden in the corner of my eye, I saw a little gravel road going up and disappearing. I made a quick U-ey and rode up it. It was a gravel pit, or should I say gravel mountain!
I kept riding on the grass around the mountain of gravel and behind it was the perfect camping spot!!



There was a little broken down storage shed or so behind it, with some odds and ends furniture strewn all over the place.
Left and right of the grassy field where barbed wire fences with cows behind them. I felt really safe there so I pitched my tent in the high grass, which is quite a feat really!
I loved my little spot!

I fell asleep in no time and slept really well.
The nice thing about having no time frame is that I can do whatever I want to do, and I didn't want to pack up and move again, so I stayed. Not having shade is a bit of a drag, but that day was really windy, so I sat outside most of the day (and got sunburned) and relaxed.

As I am rather trigger-happy as far as the camera is concerned and decided to snoop around and see what I could find that might be picture worthy.
It's amazing the wealth of beauty one can find in a wild grassy field!















It's funny how I am so used to seeing things at large, but really looking into the little things in life, the things not seen unless really looking, those things are just as amazing as the highest mountain tops and the biggest lakes.
There is so much beauty in the small things, not only that, but every little thing, be it a bug or a small flower, it feels as if I've discovered something never seen by anyone else. Which is both true and silly. Of course people have seen a grasshopper or a nettle flower, but it is also true that nobody will have seen that particular one!
So I really enjoy looking at the world up close, as well as from far away.

I spend a really blissful day there and was ready for another day on the road the next morning when I woke up.
It was drizzling a little so I took my time packing. After a little while the tent dried (there was lots of wind) and the sun came out.
Once back on the road I headed East again. I needed a shower (baby wipes help, but not where your hair is concerned).


As I was riding through Manitoba Narrows, I saw a touristy spot with a store and a huge camping area.
I stopped in the store and asked the guy there if there was a laundromat, and the owner of the store let me use the one in the camp ground.
The washing machine was only a loony and a half!!! Awesome, but best of all, there was a shower in the ladies bathroom!!
And not a coin one, just a normal shower. Yippee!!! I tossed my dirty clothes in the machine and took a nice leisurely shower!! Once clean I scrubbed my jacket, as it was no longer high vis yellow!!!
I spent a long time there, as the dryer did not work too del, and required more coins than the washing machine did.
Still at around 5 my jacket, mu clothes and I were clean!
I had also purchased a bunch of snacks at the store while waiting, so that way I felt I gave them at least some of my money
I hit the road again and was aiming for lake Winnepeg.

As I got to the lake I realized that this might not have been a bright idea. This was a very touristy and populated area!
I wnt on some dirt roads leading to the lake, but there were no camping signs everywhere!
At one spot I stopped to take a picture, it was beautiful there



I walked through the grass to take another shot, and got assaulted by bugs!!!

I closed my helmet really quickly as I didn't want them in my face.
You can imagine how fast I got out of there!!

I stopped at one camp ground, but it was expensive and too crowded. I didn't realize that it was Friday…..
As I kept going south on 222 toward Gimli I noticed another sign saying Camp Morton Provincial park.
Turns out that the office was back 2 km, and already closed as it was late.
I stopped to ask someone how much the camp ground was, and was told $17. I decided to just stay there.
But now I faced the question where to stay, as the list of sites still available was from the day before.

I got really lucky then, as campsites 9-12 were already taken by a big family gathering, but 9 was still empty as those friends never made it. I was offered to take their spot!
That was so sweet.
Kate made a run to Sobeys and asked if anyone needed something.
I asked if she could pick me up some tofu, and handed her some money.


I pitched my tent and made some dinner.


Fran is the gal who offered the spot to me (in orange shirt), and Kate is the young girl to the left.
Later on we all played a dominoes game (involving trains) It was cool, and I won the second game (beginners luck I guess).


Thousands of dragon flies hovering in the night sky


close up of a bug, the same kind that were on my helmet earlier. Fran told me they only live 24 hrs and don't have a mouth!
Now what would the purpose of their lives be? To live and not eat? Are they only some other bugs food? Very odd!

I went to bed around 11 but had a tough time ring to sleep as a girl started screaming at the top of her lungs, and her dad was cussing at her telling her to stop.
Then he hopped in the truck and left!!!! She screamed even louder for about half an hour. I felt like calling the cops, but had no cell phone reception. She fell asleep after a while, and the dad returned.
I think she was mentally challenged, as her sounds were high pitched and didn't sound like a language at all, as if she couldn't talk.
Still, what a way for a dad to react to a situation like that! (I am guessing it was a dad, if it was a nurse or so, or camp leader, well, I'd have his ass fired!!!)
After she quieted down (it was midnight by then, some campers showed up and pitched their tent next to mine, making a lot of noise and then decided to make a fire and drink. :huh
I put some earplugs in and went to sleep!

Today I decided to go into town and find some internet.
I headed to Gimli (which is really a touristy place) and took a bunch of pictures.






This one was definitely my favorite!

There was a little tent site with booths selling all kinds of stuff
This one made me laugh!!!



Hopefully tonight will be quieter, and tomorrow I'm heading to Sellkirk, as I have been told it has a health food store.
Afterward Ontario!!
Yep I am getting closer to Labrador!!

Before I end, I want to say (again) to John S (Arrghhh can't remember who you are on here ) thank you soooo much for another donation. You are spoiling me!! Glad to know that I'll definitely make it to Labrador now, it will fill my tank quite a few times!