4th June
I’m on the road at 1000 it’s a cloudless sky and it’s going to be hot later – although I’m now in the high desert (above 4000ft) and it’s dry with a light, but very warm, breeze. I’m riding Highways 24 & 12 again – they wind through the canyons of Utah – the part of the palette where God mixed his reds and yellows…
I pass a signpost to Capitol Reef National Park, advertising a scenic 10 mile drive. On a whim I turn down it and find myself, after a few miles of asphalt, on a rough and, in places, very sandy track.
The canyon walls start narrowing, until it feels a little like a scene from ‘Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade’…
…the rock walls are pock marked – I’m not sure what causes this effect – leaving the appearance of a sponge…
I rejoin the 24 and start climbing into the hills towards Escalante. The last time I came along this road, there was still snow in sheltered spots and the aspen trees were bare. It’s now pleasantly warm and the aspens are an incredibly vivid green
The views are spectacular…
I stop for lunch at the Burr Trail Grill in Boulder – an excellent little eatery
…
I ride on, stopping to take in the view at Calf Creek…
…the great switchbacks at Grand Escalante…
and Powell Point…
…before riding past Bryce Canyon, stopping to take some pictures at Red Canyon – the pics I took when I was last here were lost when a Compact Flash card corrupted the data
…
I head south and then turn west into Zion National Park…
…by which time I’m tired and, in retrospect, probably a little de-hydrated, despite regularly drinking throughout the day. I set Betty to the task of finding me a motel and, 30 minutes later, I pull into the car park of Motel 6 in Hurricane. I unload the bike, crank the air conditioning up to max and have a cool shower. Parked in the car park are eight or nine Gold Wings.
I come back out to my bike and can smell petrol – I’ve had an idea that I’d smelt it a couple of times earlier in the day, but (with blind optimism
) had assumed that it was coming from another vehicle. I have a poke about near the fuel lines and, sure enough, find one of them wet with fuel…
There was nothing for it, tired as I was, I had to strip the bike down. Actually, my main concern was that I was going to have to fix the bike in a car park full of Hondas…
The Adv is soon looking like it hit the car park at 200mph…
…and it’s not long before I’ve found the culprit. The plastic fuel crossover line has split near the right side, as the pipe moves when the suspension is compressed, the split opens and allows fuel to leak – thankfully it’s not one of the high pressure lines…
After much head-scratching, I ring Jorge Carbo up in Oregon, whose innovative solutions to problems encountered on the road have always impressed me. He doesn’t let me down and suggests I use a nitrile rubber glove…
…and some duct tape…
…to seal off the right hand end of the cross tube, until I can get the fuel level low enough to remove and replace the hose. As I’m doing the job, whilst chatting to several of the Gold Wing crowd, who turn out to be a great bunch of people, I actually manage to put the tank into such a position that the leak stops. I remove the pipe and cut off the split part. There is, thankfully, enough length left to replace the pipe and make a good seal. Here’s the guilty party…
I grab a shower and open a beer - and fall asleep before I’ve finished it…
I’m on the road at 1000 it’s a cloudless sky and it’s going to be hot later – although I’m now in the high desert (above 4000ft) and it’s dry with a light, but very warm, breeze. I’m riding Highways 24 & 12 again – they wind through the canyons of Utah – the part of the palette where God mixed his reds and yellows…
I pass a signpost to Capitol Reef National Park, advertising a scenic 10 mile drive. On a whim I turn down it and find myself, after a few miles of asphalt, on a rough and, in places, very sandy track.
The canyon walls start narrowing, until it feels a little like a scene from ‘Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade’…
…the rock walls are pock marked – I’m not sure what causes this effect – leaving the appearance of a sponge…
I rejoin the 24 and start climbing into the hills towards Escalante. The last time I came along this road, there was still snow in sheltered spots and the aspen trees were bare. It’s now pleasantly warm and the aspens are an incredibly vivid green
The views are spectacular…
I stop for lunch at the Burr Trail Grill in Boulder – an excellent little eatery
…
I ride on, stopping to take in the view at Calf Creek…
…the great switchbacks at Grand Escalante…
and Powell Point…
…before riding past Bryce Canyon, stopping to take some pictures at Red Canyon – the pics I took when I was last here were lost when a Compact Flash card corrupted the data
…
I head south and then turn west into Zion National Park…
…by which time I’m tired and, in retrospect, probably a little de-hydrated, despite regularly drinking throughout the day. I set Betty to the task of finding me a motel and, 30 minutes later, I pull into the car park of Motel 6 in Hurricane. I unload the bike, crank the air conditioning up to max and have a cool shower. Parked in the car park are eight or nine Gold Wings.
I come back out to my bike and can smell petrol – I’ve had an idea that I’d smelt it a couple of times earlier in the day, but (with blind optimism
) had assumed that it was coming from another vehicle. I have a poke about near the fuel lines and, sure enough, find one of them wet with fuel…There was nothing for it, tired as I was, I had to strip the bike down. Actually, my main concern was that I was going to have to fix the bike in a car park full of Hondas
… The Adv is soon looking like it hit the car park at 200mph…
…and it’s not long before I’ve found the culprit. The plastic fuel crossover line has split near the right side, as the pipe moves when the suspension is compressed, the split opens and allows fuel to leak – thankfully it’s not one of the high pressure lines…
After much head-scratching, I ring Jorge Carbo up in Oregon, whose innovative solutions to problems encountered on the road have always impressed me. He doesn’t let me down and suggests I use a nitrile rubber glove…
…and some duct tape…
…to seal off the right hand end of the cross tube, until I can get the fuel level low enough to remove and replace the hose. As I’m doing the job, whilst chatting to several of the Gold Wing crowd, who turn out to be a great bunch of people, I actually manage to put the tank into such a position that the leak stops. I remove the pipe and cut off the split part. There is, thankfully, enough length left to replace the pipe and make a good seal. Here’s the guilty party…
I grab a shower and open a beer - and fall asleep before I’ve finished it…
