The rest of the way to New Hampshire.

Not much else happened on our way to New Hampshire.  We wanted to get here before Mother's Day so we had some miles to ride.  The first few days was rain and wind and we finally had a good day for riding so we rode from Maryland to southern New Hampshire... Somewhere around 550 miles.  It was a good riding day until the mountains of Vermont where we hit some thick fog, a bit of rain and it was getting dark.  We took it slow and made it to Michelle's family that night.  We spent a couple days there and then headed to where we are now in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire.

It is beautiful country here in the White Mountains.  I'm having a hard time staying still this long but we are half way done.  We've seen a few things in the area that I'll share with you with plans for many other adventures before leaving here in October.  I can hardly wait and have been working on a few things with my travels to help fund my way so I don't have to sit this long in one place.  Hopefully this will be the last of that.

So if you are in New England keep a look out.  You just might see us around. :)

The People We Meet

We meet a lot of different people from many different places and backgrounds.  I always enjoy a good conversation and learning something new.

While in Kentucky my dad, Michelle and I went to the auto parts store to get a couple of things for Blue.  While there this guy started talking to me.  I told him we were getting things for my motorcycle and he went on about this car he was rebuilding.  He asked if we wanted to go check it out.  Since my dad was with us we said sure.  So we followed him to a hanger on the outskirts of town.  He had this old car he was rebuilding and showed us all the little parts and what was original and what he had to find to replace with original parts.  It was looking pretty good.  He even started up the motor that was just on the frame.

Also in the hanger was a biplane... The Triple Nickle.  I was in awe.  If you have been following my blog for a while you know that it is my dream to fly in an open cockpit biplane.  I was pretty excited to see one up close.  I didn't ask him for a ride but now I know where he is and hope I run into him again in town.  

This is a picture of the Triple Nickle I got from the Internet.

He was retired but he use to build factory grade mixers.  I guess he invented a new type of mixer that didn't brake where they usually broke... he showed us a picture and told us some of the factories around the country that use his mixer.  It was pretty cool to learn about.

After a few hours of talking to this guy we headed home... We could of spent all day with him learning all types of stuff.

Then the next day Michelle and I went to town to ship a few things to New Hampshire for our summer gig.  We went to this Insurance/UPS place (small town) and the guy who helped us ship started talking to us and I told him we were riding a motorcycle pulling a teardrop and heading to New Hampshire.  Next thing we knew he took us to the garage behind the counter and showed us his old truck he was fixing up and telling us all about what he has done so far.  Michelle and I just laughed... what are the odds??

On our way thru West Virginia we met the mayor of Albright WV who had followed us from Albright to the interstate just to talk to us.  He told us how he had black lung disease and his doctor wrote a note saying riding his motorcycle at 80mph helps him breath... He even showed it to us.  He talked to us for quite some time and while talking he started folding money.  He pulled out what looked to be a check book but it was a book of dollar bills. He ripped one out and folded a shirt for me then he ripped another one out and made Michelle a heart.

He then told me to give Michelle the heart and to confess my love.  Haha... I'm not sure but we may be married in the state of West Virginia.  

I love meeting people and learning about what they love.  These guys were all great. Michelle couldn't believe that people would just stop and talk to us and show us things like they do.  Life is about sharing experiences and I love that I get glimpses from people I may never meet again.  Life is good!

Time with my dad

We spent a few days at my parent's house so my dad and I could do some work on Blue.

First, we took off the primary to get the gasket behind there where the shift lever connects.

The shifter was shaking like crazy and we had decided while I was still in California we were going to take it apart to see why.  Then the mechanic in Arkansas said there was a leak back there.  Changing out the gasket was a cheap, somewhat easy thing to do.  

Funny... Sometime my dad and I get a little occupied in our thoughts and we forgot to unplug the battery...  When my dad was loosening up the primary from the other side he hit the cables that run right there... Here I am on the other side looking in... 

Me: I see smoke, why would there be smoke?... oh crap, I see fire!! 

It was just a little flame and it went out right away.  We cracked up the rest of the day about that one.

We also checked the chain while it was out and there isn't any loose spots so it is good to go for a bit longer.

Then we checked for other oil leaks.  We took off the Oil Bud Oil Cooler because that has been my suspicion.  We pressured washed it since you can't get a good clean from between the top of the Oil Bud and the bottom of the bike... Since there has been an oil leak for quite a while now it was full of gunk so we washed everything off to get a better view...and let it sit while we worked on the forks.

I started to get a fork leak in Nevada... Too many potholes and off roading. Haha.  So we took apart the forks and changed the gaskets and refilled the forks.

All of this is pretty simple once you realize exactly what the service manual and YouTube videos are showing you.   With the forks you obviously have to take off the front tire, fender, front of the faring and the fork lock.  The fork lock took a bit but once we got it it wasn't an issue.  Same with getting out the gasket in the fork.  The first one took some time but then we figured out what was going on and now we will be able to do it quickly.

The frustrating thing about this "American Made" motorcycle is that it is more "Assemblesd in America".  Gotta love it when you pull off a factory part to see "Made in China" or have to find a metric tool to take off a part.  Luckily, my grandpa was a Honda and Kawasaki rider and when he passed away my dad got his tools.  It saved us a few times from having to buy a new tool.  There were a couple of tools my dad still had to buy to finish the job.  He started working on his own Harley after playing with mine so the tools will be used... It is quite addicting.

Once the forks were done we started putting everything back together.  We put some lock tight on the front connection of the Oil Bud as it gets loose and I believe that is where the leak is coming from.  Then we put everything back together and my dad took her for a ride and so did I.  No leaks!  She was good for a couple of days on the trip to New Hampshire and then a leak again from the front... The Oil Bud connection, I believe... I need to find something better to lock that connection tight.

So in my mechanic journey so far I have changed oils and other fluids, brake pads, spark plugs, changed out the fuel lines in the tank, fuel filter, primary chain tensioner, completely taken apart the primary, taken off the front tire, changed the front fork oil, done a little bit of electrical work... Where it concerns the trailer, and who knows what else... Pretty good start.  I can a least give her a good tune up.  :)

My dad and I have a good time and this time neither one of us swore... Which is quite the miracle. Haha

Update: Goings on in New Hampshire

Before going on about our trip across country I wanted to share a few things happening while here in New Hampshire.

One thing I do like about having time in one place is it allows me to get some other things going for my BlueRoad project.  So here are a couple things I have been working on.

1. This might be obvious but I changed the layout just a little on the blog. If you check out the right sidebar ----> you will see a list of pages and links to visit.  

2. I updated my artist website with more information about the BlueRoad Project and other projects I have worked on... There is even a page dedicated to Yoska!  You can check that out at jaclynheyen.com or the "website" link on the sidebar --->

3. I finally got it together to get business cards.  Michelle designed them for me and I LOVE them. Even Vistaprints wants to showcase my business card.  If you see me on the road be sure to tell me you want one.  I will also be sending them out with donations and sponsorship packages.

4.  I am refining my ideas about sponsorship and public speaking.  The more followers I have on my blog and Facebook and other social media helps me be able to get sponsors for my journey and hopefully some speaking engagements about my project around the country.  My goal is to live off of living.  So, hopefully by the time we leave New Hampshire I will be on a roll with this.  I will keep you updated!!

5.  I am completely excited that I will have about a ten minute segment on Wild Ride Radio that should be aired this coming Saturday.  Check out their website for affiliated stations and we will also be able to get it off of iTunes.  This is an awesome step towards number 4 and had a fun time speaking with Dallas.

If you have any ideas that might help me towards my goals please let me know.  I'm feeling hopeful that my dream will come true.  Being on the road like I have for almost 4 years... I think I have put in the research time with many more things to learn and share.  I thank you all for your support!  

Graceland and heading to my parent's

We got up nice and early to be at Graceland when it opened.  Rain was in the forcast so we were hoping to be in and out and on the road before the storms.  We got there right at the time it opened and they already had the first tour on the bus heading across the street. Quite the efficient place.

I have been to Graceland three times.  I do love Elvis.  I have been to his birthplace in Tupelo and drove by his home in Palm Springs... They don't do tours at the house in Palm Springs anymore because it is now privately owned. I have watched most of his movies... My favorite being Change of Habit... Mainly because I do love Mary Tyler Moore and I worked with people with Autism and I shake my head every time I watch those scenes.  Of course, I have listened to a good chunk of his music.

My first time at Graceland was with my dad the summer before heading to Nashville for college, 1996.  We made a trip from Nebraska to Nashville to get everything sqared away for the fall semester and made the detour to Memphis on the way home.

The second time was in 2000 when my roommate from college came down to Nashville and we spent a few days in Memphis... It happened to be a couple weeks before going inpatient for my Eating Disorder.

Here we all are in another part of Memphis.  (I'm the 2nd from the right with the overalls)

Michelle had never been to Graceland so we had to stop.  When I went before it was an audio tour with a tape deck... Now it is all on iPads.

It is really a lot of information and I wasn't much of a fan.  Too many things on the iPad to see while going thru the house and trying to see the actual stuff right in front of you.  It was busy but no waiting on people so not much time to stare at the screen.

We did the tour with all the little museums and the airplanes.  My favorite is the airplanes.  You can easily spend an entire day at Graceland alone... Then you have Sun studios, and all the other cool places to visit in Memphis.  We spent the entire morning and the beginning of the afternoon seeing everything.  We didn't have time this Memphis visit to see anything else but we do want to come back.

Of course we didn't beat the storms... While wandering around the sky opened up and rain came down... Flooded streets and the whole thing.  We hung around checking everything out hoping it would pass but no such luck.  We headed out when the rain calmed a bit but was still riding thru flooded streets and rain.  I wanted to take all back roads to Kentucky because of the weather and I accidentally picked the right one.  We missed the turn to the road I thought we were going to take but the road Graceland is on goes north out of Memphis all the way to Kentucky.   After getting north of Memphis the rain finally stopped and we were just to the other side of the storms for the rest of the ride.  It was another long day but we made it to my parent's house right after dark.  

It always feels like it takes forever to get to my parent's house because coming from the west there isn't an interstate or a direct route to their house but it is a pretty ride on the back highways.  After the rain we had pretty good weather and didn't get wet again.  

Now time for my dad and I to work on Blue...