Monday, August 1, 2005
Leaving for WFO
I'm leaving for WFO-4 in Bow, WA (60 miles north of Seattle) on Wednesday - assuming my bike is ready.
I needed 8000 mile service and new tires before starting the long ride to British Columbia. Calling around, it turned out I could save about 40% - almost $350 - by riding the bike out to Chaparral in San Bernardino instead of one of the local shopes. The service guy said to be at the gate when they opened at 8:00am on Saturday morning. I left the house at 6:55am, and was third in line when I pulled in at 7:45am after stopping to fill up the gas tank.
Assuming it would take all day, I hoofed the mile-and-a-half up to the Metrolink station, and rode the train back to El Monte. On the ride, I got a call recommending a brake fluid flush and refill, which I readily agreed to. Justin picked me up with a list of errands to run. I got a call while we were at Petco picking up dog food - everything was done, BUT the ABS indicator light would not go out. They were going to keep working on it.
Later on Saturday, I got another call. The ABS light was still on, and they wanted me to leave it until Monday for a grade A mechanic to look it over. I had two choices: a) pick it up as-is, and ride to BC with a weird ABS problem; or b) leave it with the shop, delaying final prep for the trip. Choice (b), the lesser of two evils, seemed the logical choice.
I called in at 11:15am this morning, and they said the A mechanic would look at it before 1:00pm. They called at 12:48pm with more painful news: the mechanic checked it all out, and could not find a problem. They wanted me to leave it until tomorrow, when the shop foreman and the original Saturday mechanic would be back in to work to consult with the new A mechanic.
I called them back to okay the extra stay, but let them know that I had to have the bike, fixed and ready to roll, by Tuesday afternoon. Even that would mess up my plans to hit the road early Wednesday morning, since there's an hour or so of work I need to finish on the bike before leaving.
None of my contingency plans are worth dwelling on just yet. I need some luck on this one.
Posted by bnc at August 1, 2005 4:42 PM