A Redleg's Rides

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 10: Patton Museum at Fort Knox, KY

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Fri, 08 May 2026 23:33:00 +0000

We are not too far from the outskirts of Louisville, KY so we drove the CR-V to see the offerings at the George S Patton Leadership Museum at Fort Knox.

Fort Knox is an active army post but you do not need to clear security to see the museum. You used to have to go through that bureaucracy but now they've made it so that the museum is outside the controlled areas of the post.

I was embarrassed to learn that Fort Knox is no longer the home of the army's armor school. They apparently move that to Fort Benning, GA in 2011!

The post is now home to the army's recruiting command and the ROTC command, hence all the ROTC leadership information and emphasis within the Patton museum. Seeing the ROTC displays confused me at first.

Of course, there were tanks and armored vehicles on display since the primary focus of the museum is Patton. There's no fee for admittance to the museum.

As usual, here's some of the stuff that caught my eye.

Patton was part of the Army first

motorized attack.

During large scale training exercises...

I'd always read about the general's matched pearl handled pistols that he wore with his uniform. Turns out, that's not the case, they were two different pistols and they were ivory handled.

General Patton often said his one true friend was his dog Willie, who accompanied him throughout the fighting in Europe. I found it amusing that, per protocol, Willie "outranked" then Lieutenant General Patton (3 stars) when Willie was issued his ID tag for his collar.

Yep, armored vehicles and tanks were displaced along with small arms from both sides.

Armored Artillery

Lee Medium Tank, used early in the war

Patton's home in the field

Sherman Tank

Some memorabilia:

All the major commands that Patton commanded while in command of the US 3rd Army:

No, the WTF initials in the flag below do not mean what they mean these days. Patton commanded the Western Task Force during Operation Torch, the US invasion of North Africa.

I am sure you heard or read about the incident where Patton lost control and slapped a couple of enlisted men who were suffering from shell shock. The general seemed to always be in some kind of trouble with the brass but the fact that he got results and fought always counted for more as well.

I then learned about the last disciplinary action taken on Patton by then Supreme Commander General Eisenhower:

Not too much later from when he was relieved of command of Third Army, Patton was injured in a traffic accident involving an Army two and a half ton truck and a limousine similar to the one below in which he was riding.

Patton suffered spinal injuries along with other injuries and would end up dying of a aneurysm soon after the accident. There was doubt before his death that he would ever walk again so I guess it's just as well he went out that way.

Outside the museum, there were three tanks on display. I'm only posting the one showing the M60 Patton tank which saw service in the '80s when I was posted to West Germany while on active duty. I saw many of them during my time with the First Armored Division.

After the Patton museum, we drove further into Louisville so that Martha could tour the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. Parking was a nightmare as there was a horse race going on, so I just dropped her off at the entrance and went off to have lunch at a quiet park while she did her stuff. She will be blogging about it next week.

We return to the campsite with no further issues except occasional examples of idiot drivers on narrow country roads. The weekenders are showing up and I expect all the sites will be full by tomorrow.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 9: Laurel Branch COE Camping

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Fri, 08 May 2026 00:33:00 +0000

A short drive today, only 242 miles. We got out of Illinois first before tanking up the VRRV and saved .76 cents/gallon for 87 Octane gasoline by buying it in Indiana!

The last 22 miles or so were on a series of narrow two lane county roads, and we got to the campground with no issues except some slight wandering around due to minimal signage.

We're in the Laurel Branch area of the Rough River Recreation Area run by the COE: Corps of Engineers.

Our site isn't waterside but just a very short walk away:

Unlike other COE sites, this is a river, not a reservoir created by a dam managed by the Corps of Engineers. Still, pretty nice so far. It helps that we're in a warming trend finally in the next couple of days should be nice and warm.

While walking around checking out the area I found the Rim Rock trail, The trail header which is located really close to our campsite.

It's just a small loop but I could not find some of it so I ended up returning the same way I went in.

Yep, some shitbird defaced the sign but you get the idea:

Nearby the signs and directly overhead, were some colorful rocks basking in the sun-dappled shade:

We rested the rest of the afternoon away, some tourist destinations planned for tomorrow so stay tuned.

Deployed the gazebo and the RV awning to let them dry out from Tuesday's rain.

Follow up: not a repeat camping area. Sure it's got electricity and water but sites are clustered tightly together with campers within speaking range of each other's sites.

We lucked out in that site to our right vacated the evening we got there and remained empty for weekend.

Dam repairs had water levels down significantly.

Spring Fling 2026 - Days 7&8: Rain and Chores

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 07 May 2026 01:21:00 +0000

Tuesday, May 5

We spent the day inside the VRRV, it rained on and off most of the day and night. I think the high temperature was 52°F. We did get some camping logistical planning down and we have a plan for campsites and visits with friends for the rest of the month.

Wednesday, May 6

Rains tapered off towards dawn and we finally saw the sun in the late morning. Today we drove the CR-V into the town of Centralia, IL for chores.

Laundry got done, just a small load.

Groceries were procured, just a few items.

A different doorknob was bought at the local Ace Hardware, to make it easier to open the bathroom door in the VRRV. The common style round doorknob was proving hard to turn from the inside and in my case my knuckles would sometimes hit the door trim, painful.

Now it's a push down lever handle on both sides, much more ergonomic. I had to do a little trimming of the existing hole in the door to accommodate the slightly larger mechanism but it worked out.

This was the sunset we got today, our last day here at the Coles Creek COE campground.

Tomorrow, we head into Kentucky!

Follow up: though lakeside spot, boulder lined shore precludes access to water. Sites were somewhat spaced apart but could be better.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 6: Churchill Museum

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Tue, 05 May 2026 02:08:00 +0000

We are now in Illinois after driving 320 mi from the Kansas City, Mo area.

Along the way we took a slight detour to the small college town of Fulton, Illinois. British prime minister Winston Churchill made a famous speech here on March 5, 1946, a speech where the phrase: "An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent" effectively marked the startup the Cold War.

Westminster College had invited Churchill to speak there, and when President Truman endorsed the idea, the former prime minister accepted. Truman would accompany Churchill to the event.

The church at Westminster College is the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, a 17th-century London church designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It was dismantled stone-by-stone, shipped across the Atlantic, and reassembled in Fulton, Missouri, to serve as a memorial to Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech.

The museum is located below the church:

Martha and I toured the exhibits which were laid out chronologically ending with the speech event in 1946. The life of Churchill was covered pretty well I thought and I learned a few things that I had not known from my previous readings about him and World War II.

These are the things that caught my eye or that I learned, there was of course a lot more information in history about the quite accomplished life of Winston Churchill!

This is how Churchill became a known public figure:

Sir Winston Churchill was a direct descendant and the grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill. He was born at the family's ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, in 1874.

Martha got a chance to pose at Sir Winston Churchill's desk:

We also visited the church, which is accessible via a set of winding stairs from the museum:

Info on the church and it's rebirth in Fulton, MO:

I found this graphic interesting, it shows London in 1945 depicting all the bomb damage suffered by the city during the war. If you look for the soul spot of color you can see where the church was located back then.

Outside the church, there are five pieces of the Berlin Wall that were shipped to Fulton for the museum:

After we left Fulton, it was about 2 and 1/2 hours and we crossed into Illinois and I now camping for a couple of days or so at a US Army Corps of Engineers campground near Carlyle, Illinois.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 5: A Truman Kind of Day

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Sun, 03 May 2026 21:02:00 +0000

President Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the USA came onto his post with FDR's death during that president's unprecedented 4th term in office.

Kept out of the loop mostly by FDR while the vice-president, Truman had the job of president land on him suddenly and he soldiered through to successfully prove his critics wrong.

Martha and I visited his home in Independence, MO first. Don't find out as we did though, you have to buy the tickets for the tour, which run on a scheduled basis, five blocks away in the visitor center. So, we got our steps in today shall we say.

Anyways, a short 10 block walk later, we joined a tour of a people led by a tour guide from the US Park Service. Sorry, no pics of the inside as they were not permitted and the guide made sure that we kept to the specific carpeted path and touched nothing while inside the house.

Here's some views of the outside:

Across the street from the Truman Home, is the Noland house, which used to house relatives of the Truman family. It is now owned by the National Park service and contain some more exhibits and you could take pictures inside.

Since I know little about Medicare and its history, I was surprised to find out that Truman had worked on its creation but had not gotten it made into law before he left the presidency. President Johnson, who did sign the Medicare legislation issued the first two cards to the Harry and Beth Truman.

A young version of Truman and his future wife:

We then went to lunch at a local burger joint, nothing significant to report of that place, just a place to fill one stomach while waiting for the presidential library to open up at noon.

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library had its interesting points but it wasn't as impressive to me as the World War I museum had been. It is well laid out and plenty of history to read and view especially if you are a fan of Truman's presidency or his history.

The museum was also hosting a special America 250 Year exhibit, with the basement level of the library showcasing photographs and descriptions of American events throughout its history.

A pretty nice mural depicting themes of the westward migration of Americans

Vehicles owned by Truman, from a horse drawn buggy to automobiles

The president and the first lady are buried on site at the library, in the courtyard.

A replica of the Truman oval office:

The saying that Truman is famous for:

Martha at the current main entrance to the presidential library.

We think this used to be the main entrance to the presidential library before they expanded it.

Artwork showing President Truman's house:

The back of the above heart shaped artwork shows the three main migration routes taken by settlers as they move towards the west coast.

We were quite done with touring by 1:30 PM so we headed back to camp. We leave tomorrow for Illinois, stay tuned.

I did go for about a 15 mi ride with Yagi but the plethora of forest around the area precluded much in the way of scenery. Here are views of the dam that forms Blue Springs Lake.

Oh, and we had a visit from one of the locals at our campsite:

Touring the National WWI and Arabia Steamboat Museums

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Sun, 03 May 2026 01:45:00 +0000

Today Martha and I drove the CR-V into Kansas City, Missouri to check out two museums

The first museum was the National World War One Museum. It really was very well done and laid out, and the almost 3 hours we spent there were quite educational and enjoyable. The best part was that it wasn't very crowded either.

Some of the things that caught my eye among the many well curated exhibits:

Today's moto content:

After the main exhibit level, we went to the top level and climbed a few steps after exiting an elevator to the top of the tower you saw in the first few pictures. You can get quite a view of the city:

Then it was time for lunch at the nearby barbecue joint called Jack Stack.

The barbecue was pretty good!

Next it was a very short drive to reposition that car closer to the City Market. The museum that showcases the recovered steamboat Arabia is located there. The Arabia, or the Great White, as it was known was one of many hundreds of steamboats that plied the Missouri River in the early to mid 1800s.

It sank in 15 ft of water after it struck a sunken log. It then quickly sank into the river's quicksand bottom overnight leaving only the smoke stacks showing above water in the morning. Even the stacks would eventually disappear into the river. Fortunately all the passengers were taken off and saved with the exception of one poor mule who was found tied up at the stern of the boat.

The Arabia was forgotten and as the river twisted and turned over the years, the wreck ended up almost a mile from the river over 25 feet under a farmer's cornfield.

More information about the Arabia and museum here: Link

Sadly, the museum will be closing its doors come November of this year as the city will not be renewing their lease for the property.

One of the Arabia's paddle wheels, it spins slowly to demonstrate the mechanism involved to get it moving and rotating.

Samples of the varied pre-civil war cargo carried by the Arabia.

Part of the tree trunk that ripped up the steamboat's bottom and sunk her.

Scale model of the steamboat:

The steamboat's boilers:

I found this map interesting, it was used to illustrate the migration routes in the early to mid 1800s. Of interest to me was how it did not show the future states of Colorado, Wyoming, etc. notice the spelling for Kansas.

The actual stern of the steamboat. You can see the tiller mechanism headed towards the rear of the boat:

Here is the rear or stern of the boat and you can see the rudder which was attached to the tiller mechanism.

Cool Artwork

A pretty good day of museum learning, and only one close call in terms of traffic.

Although sunny, temperatures never reached the mid-60s and so it was cool when the breeze would pick up.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 2: Truckhenge Visit on way to Kansas City, MO

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 23:28:00 +0000

Another long day in the VRRV, driving. We left the quiet little dispersed camping area near Wakeeney, KS at 0830 or so, and by 5PM we were set up at the Blue Springs Lake Campground. Since we wanted to be somewhat close to planned activities, this meant a pay campground instead of dispersed camping. The Kansas City area is quite large and crowded so there's a dearth of public lands for camping.

This is a pattern I am sure will be a recurring theme as we head further into the more heavily populated half of the country.

Enroute we stopped for a break and a tour of Truckhenge, a site that Martha found on roadsideamerica.com. it sounded interesting as I've been to Carhenge in Nebraska and the Cadillac Ranch in Texas.

The reality was a bit less than expected, still, it was definitely something one has to see in person. The amount of junk stored on the property was quite overwhelming.

Here's the vehicles which inspired the Truckhenge name:

The owners home I think

Following pics by Martha:

There was even a peacock onsite, struts about but it disappeared before either of us could get a shot.

The campground isn't too crowded and the sites are not stacked up next to each other. I will be using the privacy screens though as the sites are within easy line of sight of each other.

We'll be here through the weekend.....

Follow up: significant periods of road noise, will probably not camp here again.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:19:15 +0000

We left the overcrowded cesspool that is Denver metro at 7:30 a.m. MDT this morning and by 3:00 PM CDT we were settled near the Cedar Bluff Reservoir at the Mossyhorn camping area in Kansas.

Mileage start for the VRRV: 122875. We drove 319 miles today.

Nice 6 spot camping area in the Cedar Bluff Wildlife Management Area:

It was overcast and gloomy with temps in the low 40s when we left and it would warm to 65°F and partly cloudy by 6PM in Kansas.

Before dinner, we headed out in the Honda CR-V to check out the Cedar Bluff Overlook.

Not a bad overlook point for the reservoir:

Tomorrow, the Kansas City, MO area for about 4 days.

Home for a bit....

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:16:00 +0000

Not too long, then it's eastwards.....

Hot Days at the Prewitt Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:55:00 +0000

Tuesday, April 21

I woke to a temperature of 42°F at 7:30am so I knew it was going to be a warm day as forecasted by the weather guessers.

The plan wants to hang out at the campsite, enjoying the warm weather, and doing some minor cleanup on electrical contacts on Yagi.

The high temperature would end up being 96° F reported in the nearest town though my RV thermometer reported 82°F/87°F inside the RV.

In the morning, I was visited by locals:

Canada Goose

Red-winged Raven....in flight, they're distinctive red circles with yellow

trim reminded me of Japanese aircraft insignia during WW2.

Blue-winged Teal Ducks, male+female

Around 3PM, a fisherman showed up and parked his car lakeside across the inlet from me....it was quite warm but he felt a need to sit by a fire he started. You have to wonder.

Seen but not able to photograph: a Bald Eagle soaring overhead and later on what appeared to be a snake swimming on top of the water! Quite fast too as it left a visible wake behind it. Google Gemini said it was probably a Northern Water Snake, not venomous.

This YouTube video shows the type of snake I saw, except the one I saw must have been much bigger since I saw its body doing the S turns from at least 200 feet away!

Wednesday, April 22

I woke to an outside temperature of 57°F. The forecasted high was 90°F. It was going to be a hot one.

I watched a couple of small ducks fly up onto the higher branches of a nearby Cottonwood tree and perch there. I didn't realize they did that, figured them for ground level waddlers when not afloat.

Some more test riding with the TW200, it was failing to start again but I think I narrowed it down to a loose connection after thoroughly cleaning the positive terminal on the battery. 6 miles of testing, stopping and restarting the engine every .2 miles. That's 30 starts in a row with no issues.

I had to make do with misc nut/bolt for the POS terminal as I managed to lose the nut while cleaning things up. The replacement bolt had a narrower width and it required a lock washer to keep the battery cable tight to the battery terminal.

I'll get proper sized bolt/nut once I get home, no hardware store near me here at the SWA.

The place really emptied out today, which was great for me. I think there are only two van campers and myself in the area. There are no campers within line of sight of camp!

True to the forecast, it started getting very windy here which precluded the u. se of the awning! The winds are supposed to last now till noon tomorrow. Red Flag Warning conditions: strong gusty winds and low humidity, a fire can quickly grow and get out of control in these conditions.

On the plus side, the winds kept the hovering clouds of gnats away!

Wednesday's sunset concluding a pretty good day.

The high temperature reached only 82°F, warm enough but not even close to the forecasted 90°F.

Hanging Out at Prewitt Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:42:00 +0000

Monday, April 20

4/20 day, greetings from the Stoner State.

I woke early, as usual, and caught a decent sunrise shot:

Sunrise

View from inside while I wait for warmer temps

I woke to 33°f but things warmed up gradually and around 10am or so, it was already in the low 60s!

I walked over to the next campsite to get a view of my campsite:

My campsite from neighboring site

Didn't do much of anything, some minor chores in the RV, a lot of audio book listening. I might have even caught a brief snooze or two as I sat under the awning shade warmed by the sun.

Only glitch so far, besides fishermen picking nearby spots for fishing, are the clouds of some small flying midges/gnats that appear as the temperature rises. Luckily, they're not biting insects....just annoying as they hover in clouds near you.

I did a quick ride with Yagi, my Yamaha TW200, and saw the place is about 65% occupied in terms of campers. Most of the people I saw, were fishing.

I decided to ride to southern edge of the SWA, the Prewitt Inlet canal.

Right after the above pic was taken, I got back on Yagi only to find she would not start! Damn it. I could hear a buzzing noise coming from the starter relay and it reminded me of the time I had starter issues and it turned out to be corrosion on the terminals.

I tried bump starting it but to no avail and quickly tired of that. Sighing heavily, I huffed and puffed as I pushed her along the 1.3 miles back to the campsite. Luckily, the way what's mostly flat with only very very slight inclines to deal with at times. Temperatures were warm enough that I was sweaty by the time I got back to camp so a quick shower was due. On the bright side, I got my exercise points for today!

While consulting with Chris Z., since he had helped me with the last episode of the starter not working, I tried hooking up a jumper cable from the RV battery to the terminal on the starter. Yagi fired right up, so it wasn't the starter.

I did some clean up on the negative terminal of the battery which did have some corrosion. I also cleaned up the other end of that cable that connects to the engine for ground. That connection was oily, so that's my theory at this point in terms of why it wouldn't start. Regardless, I'll be carrying jumper cables with me in order to start Yagi in case the starting problem resurfaces as I work to regain trust in Yagi.

Monday's Sunset:

Small Camping Fix-Prewitt Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:57:00 +0000

Since the weather is forecasted as very warm the next 4 days, I decided to get a little camping in and myself away from the city.

This was very much a last minute decision, as it had snowed just one day ago!

The temperature is supposed to hit the mid-80s for highs!

The drive to Prewitt Reservoir was without incident and by 4 PM I had done a good recon of available sites.

The reservoir is located in a State Wildlife Area, I've camped here once before and liked it.

Some sights as I relaxed in the stillness of the area. Once in a while acar would roll by and there's several people fishing all along the shore.

My neighbor

Sunset was nice, cloudless but nice reflections made up for that.

Adding a Bigger Inverter to Umarang

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:37:00 +0000

Over the last few days, I worked on installing a Renogy 2000 Watt Pure Sign Wave Inverter in my motorhome: Umarang or Uma the VRRV.

What is a inverter you ask? Well, it basically takes 12 volt DC electric power from the house battery and converts it to 110 Volt AC electric power. I stayed with a pure sine wave system in order to continue to provide clean electric power to Starlink and my electronic devices from my house battery while boondocking.

Previously, I had used a 500 watt inverter since I basically just used it to power the chargers for all our electronic devices, and lately, Starlink. It worked fine.

Theoretically, if I had the battery capacity, this larger inverter could be used to power just about all the appliances in the RV. For the foreseeable future though, I installed it to have a quieter working inverter since these smaller inverter's cooling fan ran all the time when the inverter was on. A bit annoying.

I almost ended up not installing this inverter since it was so much larger than my existing 500 watt inverter. Finally figured out a location for it with Martha's help. I got the inverter from Chris and Lori of BlazeourWay.

I ended up using the lower pantry cabinet to the left of the stove where basically I have been storing consumables, bags, junk in a unorganized manner.

Here's what the cabinet interior looked like after I removed the panel in the rear to expose the wiring runs and heating duct run by the manufacturer of the RV. The inverter would end up extending slightly past the panel.

Here is the new inverter extending slightly past the rear panel, clean air will be sucked in from the blue panel in the front and blown out into the wiring run compartment behind the panel. The white short extension cord connects to a four foot extension cord that connects to the existing extension cord that goes to the power outlet in the front half of the RV.

Top down view of the inverter showing the battery cables, both of which go off through an access hole to the right and connect to the rear of the existing 500W inverter.

I placed a thin fiber board panel on top of the inverter leaving perhaps a half an inch of clearance or so. This way I can stack stuff on top as well for storage.

Finally a shelf in the middle for better organization of items within the entire cabinet.

I mentioned that the battery cables from the new inverter go to the power terminals on the 500 watt inverter. From that location, the previously in use battery cables go directly to the house battery underneath the floor.

This shows the 500 watt inverter, the wall it's mounted on is the wall to the right of the new inverter. The new inverter's cables aren't installed yet. The red and black 4 gauge cables coming from the rear of the inverter and into the floor go to the house battery.

The extension cord plugged into the front of the 500 watt inverter goes outside via the same hole as the battery cables, runs along the right side frame of the chassis and underneath and into the rear dinette seat bench where there's another dedicated for 110 via the inverter. It now plugs into the four foot extension cord from from the new inverter.

I chose to do it this way to easily switch to the 500 Watt inverter should the new inverter fail for whatever reason. Not to mention, I didn't have to cut any cables, or use the butt connectors I had purchased previously and so was able to return them for a refund.

Testing confirmed everything appeared to be hooked up right. Starlink went online with no issues. I'm a big fan of redundancy so two inverters give me peace of mind.

A couple of Gatherings

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:39:00 +0000

April 6-10

We had a visit from Blazeourway's Lori and Chris Z. They were having some stuff done to the Bowen truck bed of their new camping rig.

April 11

There was a meeting of Uralisti up at the 300 Suns Brewery and Pub. I got there an hour too early due to a "senior moment" on my part. Once I realized this, I drove Scarlett West a bit for this view of still distant Long's Peak:

I returned to the brewery and got these pics of before the others showed up:

Randy, the former Ural Dealer and who had helped keep all our sidecar rigs running, was there as I arrived. john S. (spat) Showed up as I was parking Scarlett:

Randy and John

John's BMW with Watsonian sidecar

The rest of the guys showed up soon after and we went and got a table. Tasty food, craft beers and tall tales were enjoyed as we caught up with each other.

Now that's a bunch of friendly looking riders huh? From left to right: Dan, Dezo, Jay, Tim, John and Randy.

The ride home proved longer than the ride up. Google Maps took me almost 20 miles out of the way and I was too trusting of it. Oh well, at least it only sprinkled on me a couple of times as the skies darkened overhead with storm clouds.

Yagi Maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:16:00 +0000

Since I'm home for a bit, it was time to do some maintenance on Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 DualSport.

I replaced both the front and rear sprockets, managing to break both mounting bolts on the front sprocket while torquing to spec! I'm guessing it was time to replace them too huh, luckily the local hardware store had same and they didn't break during torquing actions.

The rear tire was exhibiting a small cracks caused by age and weather so it got replaced along with a new inner tube that has that slime sealant already inside, put in by the tire mounting guy at the local motorcycle shop.

The chain was also replaced. I don't do this often so the operation was a bit time consuming since there's a specific order in which one installs a chain and the rear wheel but in the end I got it. Some YouTube research led to the technique of using a nut and a c-clamp to help press in the new master link plates together so the clip can be mounted:

The oil and oil filter was changed as it was due since Yagi has reached 24,000 miles.

I checked Yagi's valve clearances and they were spot on! The intake was at .003" which is midpoint of the range spec. The exhaust valve was at .005" which also is in the middle of the spec.

Bought a stubby 1/4" drive 5mm Allen socket for the torque wrench tightening spec of 10 newton meters. Regular sockets are too long you see, given the closeness of the valve covers too the motorcycle's frame at different points. Now, no problems!

A neighborhood friend noticed the bolt that covers the access port to the automatic cam tensioner was missing, no idea for how long, and it was replaced. It kind of functions as a dust cover.

Same friend noticed slight seepage on the right side of engine cylinder's base and I tried to tighten the relevant boltss, but they're on tight. Probably requires new gasket for base of cylinder head ... Don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. Yagi is 20 years old, I'll live with the seepage.

The last maintenance is replacing the right fork's seals as they've been seeping for a few months now.

Home for a bit.

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:10:00 +0000

It was going to be a windy day that while mostly sunny, would only reach 68° according to the weather guessers.

Sunrise:

So instead of hanging out for one more day, I drove home, arriving at around 1:00 p.m. to an enthusiastic hug from Martha.

According to the trip spreadsheet, I camped for 71 days this time at a cost of $31.90 a day.

The largest cost, not surprisingly, was fuel for the RV at 46%, next was groceries at 25%, 17% for RV related tasks/propane/Starlink, 10% for camping fees and final 2% was gas for Yagi and meals bought while visiting friends.

About 3000 miles covered by the RV. Average MPG: 8 .

Lazy Weekend at the San Luis Lake SWA

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:35:00 +0000

I chose to do very little riding over Saturday and Sunday....sallying forth just to pose Yagi for these shots mostly.

Blanca Peak (amongst others)

Challenger Point

Bino shot at 1x

Crestone Peak

Bino shot at 1x

Sunday's sunrise:

Saturday was nice and warm with a high of 81°F, sound would turn out cooler with a forecasted high in the low 70s. It was sunny though which warmed things up a bit.

After lunch, I rode Yagi to the nearest point where one can walk out onto the ever expanding lake bed. I wanted to see if I could get a reflection shot of the mountains.

I made it all the way to the waterline, quite soft and muddy.

Sunday's sunset:

First Day of Spring at the Great Sand Dunes NP

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 15:14:00 +0000

Another warm day here in the vicinity of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The temperatures would reach 79° at their height in the late afternoon.

I rode out on Yagi, my TW200, at around 3:00 p.m. towards the Piñon Campground inside the National Park. The campground is closed for the season, so I parked near the amphitheater and walked into the trailhead for the Dunes Overlook trail.

This overlook gives you a good higher view of the sand dunes without actually having to climb the dunes themselves and getting sand in your shoes. It's about a mile to the top of the small hill that forms the overlook. The trail is littered with rocks and stones so you have to watch yourself, the switchbacks are many but not too steep.

I'll admit I had to stop a couple of times or so to catch my breath on the uphill parts.

Still, I made it and here's what one can see from up there:

Then there was time for some close-up shots using the binoculars adapter for my camera phone.i really liked the wind-created patterns in the sand.

Well most of the shots I was able to frame correctly in order to remove the curvature of the binocular lens eyepiece, some of them I could not get right and so you get to see the curvature of the eyepiece.

Can you see the people down there?

I made it back to Yagi with no issues and posed her near the base of the dunes:

Finally a video of the dunes atop Dunes Overlook Point

I wasn't very tired but I was feeling a bit sore from all the hiking, especially in my left knee. I'm sure it'll be fine tomorrow. I returned to camp and processed these pictures while sitting in the warm sunshine of the afternoon.

This being the weekend, the place is filling up with other camper rigs and tent campers.

More Views of the Dunes and the Mountains

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:23:00 +0000

I woke before dawn and so was in place to capture early morning lighting of the Sangre de Cristo mountains visible from my campsite.

For reference:

Challenger Point 2x Zoom with binos

Challenger Point

Crestone Peak

The dunes at ten miles....using binos

of course

3x zoom of above

Video taken using phone and bino adapters:

Around 5PM I wrote out to the National Park with Yagi My TW200. It's about 20 mi or so to the visitor center. I mainly stayed in the area just before the fee gate for the following shots of the dunes as the shadows settled into them with the sun going down.

A short video to show how wide an area the dunes cover on this side:

A previous visit in 2016 by Martha and I: LINK

Views of some the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 03:00:00 +0000

Wednesday, March 18

Altitude: 7543ft

I spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and trying my hand again on using binos with my phone's camera.

The temperature only got to 75°F and while it felt quite warm in sunshine, it was a bit cool in the shade, especially the light breeze.

I thought the light was OK at 430pm, some short depth of field shots:

But then, as the golden hour took effect, the colors got a bit richer. They really came out with some post-processing. Here are bino closeups of the peaks show above. Taken from my campsite using a tripod and the bino adapters.

Roughly 21 miles away

Blanca Peak

Closeup of a visitor, sitting on my campsite

shelter's roof.

Returning to Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 19:53:00 +0000

Tuesday, March 17

I spent St Patrick's Day driving along I-25 to Albuquerque from Elephant Butte New Mexico.

I spent Monday night lot docking at Suzuki Samurai Guru Mike W's home in Elephant Butte. Dinner was with neighborhood friends Ed and Luana where I learn to play the game called Aggravation, quite a lot of fun actually.

I woke late on Tuesday, it was almost 8:00 a.m.! Coffee inside with Mike and Laura while we chatted for a while and then I left them at 9:30 to head north along I-25 towards Albuquerque.

This time though, I decided not to use the same old route of staying on I-25 all the way back to Denver metro. I thought I would explore the US 285 route between Albuquerque / Taos in Northern New Mexico.

The first BLM campground I tried was still closed for the season, damn it. They don't open till April. This was the Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area Overlook campground.

So I continued on to the Rio Grande Gorge recreation area which had four open campgrounds but no dispersed spots that I could see although there was a small primitive camping lot that was very small.

I checked them all out, I ended up at the first one closest to the highway, since it had open spots and the RV sites had electricity. No water at the site though since I guess it's still winter in there schedule even though the weather has been very warm.

It was close to 5:00 before I was fully set up, long day, lots of windy roads through hilly terrain.

After dinner I took Yagi out for a ride hoping for some kind of nice lighting. But the lighting went away pretty quickly after these pictures due to the high canyon walls of the gorge.

Wednesday, March 18

I left the Pilar campground shortly before 9:00 a.m., having waited fruitlessly for sunlight to come out enforce so I could get some pictures of the Rio Grande waters.

It was hilly driving north and I crossed into Colorado at 10:00 a.m.

About an hour after that I was nearing the Great Sand Dunes National Park area and the sign Luis Lake Wildlife Area. I am now staying at the campground there where there is free electricity at some of the sites and great Mountain views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

Relaxing near Indian Bread Rocks Recreation Area

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 01:54:00 +0000

Saturday, March 14 - Pi Day

Sunrise at Indian Bread Rocks:

Some pics from a short ride into the nearby campground area during mid-morning:

Pi Day sunset:

Pi day high temperature: 80°F

Sunday, March 15

A do nothing day, sunny but windy with a high of only 80°F.

Sunset was ok:

Tomorrow, Truth or Consequences!

Back at the Indian Bread Rocks BLM Rec Area

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:36:00 +0000

I guess I am a desert guy, happy with just medium sized bushes around me as opposed to surrounded by large tall trees.

I left the Chiricahua National Monument area this morning around 8:00 and by noon I was setting up camp at a new to me site in the Indian Bread BLM area. My usual preferred side was occupied so I decided to check out a couple of candidates, and I am glad I did.

It was a very windy day as I left Willcox, so I was glad that I decided to stop nearby at Indian Bread Rocks BLM Rec Area!

I found a wide site in a small warren of trails:

10x digital zoom of interesting rock

Altitude: 4068 ft.

Temperature high of 75°F, lovely.

I relax the rest of the day until about 4:00 in the afternoon when I went out for a short ride to see how full the camping area near here was. There were still three small sites and one large primo site available!

Here's some other rocks that were being painted by the afternoon sun:

Can you spot the rock climbing cows?

Here you go...

An update about the leak in Yagi's rear tire's inner tube. One still exists, however it is much slower now. I had pumped it up to 20 PSI before retiring for the evening yesterday; and it was at 10 PSI this morning.

I feel did that come to 20 PSI before I loaded it on to the front rack on the RV and preparation for today's move. When I got to Indian bread rocks it was at 15 PSI. So, she's quite rideable for now until I get her home. I'm not going to replace the inner tube on the road like I did the front tire, as the rear tire needs to be replaced as well.

Friday, March 13

This morning before things got too warm, I decided to try and hike up the rocks near the campsite to get a picture of the campsite from above.

Lots of brush with spines in it but otherwise no issues.

Bedrock Mortars used for grinding

By native Americans

Getting close to top

The Ocotillo isn't blooming yet...

Cool rocks seen behind the rock below

That's as high as I got....

As I was sitting by the campsite resting and cooling off, I decided to take some bino shots with the camera phone:

Rock at highest point visit from camp

Distant Balanced Rock

The rock I climbed to....

More to follow.... weather is supposed to be warmer the next few days

Dispersed Camping near the Chiricahua National Monument, Days 2-3

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:01:00 +0000

Tuesday, March 10

It rained on and off overnight, I found standing water along with rather soft ground around the campsite where small stones/gravel didn't provide reinforcement. Not a good day to drive around the area!

The forecasted high of 48°F dictated the occasional use of the catalytic propane heater as well

Also a good opportunity to see how Starlink usage during a heavily cloudy day. Generator use, the small 2000 watt one, was required. It needed the exercise anyways.

Turns out, my campsite is located near some interesting rocks:

Due to the rain, and muddy conditions on the trail, I spent the day at the campsite mostly in the RV staying warm. I did determine, after two rounds of testing, then my house battery when that 95 amp hour charge can sustain start link for 3 hours and then it will be at 80 amp hours. 80 amp hours means there is about 40% left to the battery before it hits 50% of capacity because it's a flooded lead acid battery.

I also determined to charge it up with the small generator takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get it back to 95 amp hours. Rainy days are generator days if one wants to you Starlink with my setup.

Wednesday, March 11

I discovered late yesterday evening that the rear tire appears to have a leak as well on its in their tube. Damn it!

This morning I use the remaining amount of slime, roughly 8 oz, and inserted it into the rear tire's inner tube. At first it did not seem to seal at all, but after about 3 mi of riding after filling it to 20 psi it seems to be holding!

And then I went on a 18 mi round trip ride up and down FR road 42 and the pressure held in the inner tube on the rear tire! That's the good news, the bad news is there stretches on FR-42 that are quite muddy for now, it's supposed to be sunny for the next couple of days so maybe things will dry out. It's all doable via the TW but I have to go slow on the muddy bits. I hate mud, more than deep sand.

Part of the test riding involved riding up to the top of Downing Pass which is on FR Road 42C. The road is twisty and rough so not something for the RV to negotiate.

Notes for this area:

Canyon walls preclude/delay sunshine in the early morning and afternoon

No cell signal

Cool in the shade when sunshine is good. Probably great in summer due to shade and altitude but not great in winter when sunshine not available.

Dispersed Camping near the Chiricahua National Monument

noreply@blogger.com (redlegsrides) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:20:00 +0000

I discovered yesterday that the front tire on Yogi, my TW200, had developed a slow leak.

So this morning after breaking camp, I drove the 28 miles or so to the town of Safford and the location of Maverick powersports. Mostly a OHV dealer but they did offer motorcycle tire repair as well.

Luckily I had been traveling the last couple of years or so with spare inner tubes for both the front and rear tires on the TW200. I unloaded the motorcycle there, handed it over the inner tube and left for a grocery run while they worked on it.

Groceries purchased, I return to Maverick Motorsports and in a few minutes had possesion again of Yagi for the princely sum of $68. Not bad at all, I am really past the point of wrestling with tires and changing inner tubes on the road!

I also purchased a bottle of slime that's supposedly might prevent future flats due to punctures on the front tire:

Then there was a 90 minute drive down to the Chiricahua National Monument area where I found some dispersed camping sites along FR 42 aka Pinery Canyon Road. I went quite a ways past and uphill of the site I ended up on, having to turn around twice on narrow mountain roads when things get a little sketchy for the RV. I really should have parked the RV somewhere, and use the motorcycle for reconnaissance but nope.

All of the campsites that I spotted are very shady and we are at pretty high altitude for Arizona, the site being at 5491 ft. To give you an idea, how well dunes it's at 3400 ft so a bit of an altitude gain.

I am camping in the Coronado National Forest, and for a change of pace in Arizona, it actually has trees! In fact it's shadier than I like since I had to keep moving the solar panels around there in order to catch the sun. Perhaps I will change my mind about this once the warming trend returns after tomorrow's forecasted cold snap.

I'd say about 80% of the sites I spotted we're already occupied when I showed up.