First Day

Day one is done. We started out in the rain and stayed wet until south of Corvalis Oregon about 3:30 in the afternoon. There is not much to enjoy about I-5 in the rain except that we were on our way. The camera stayed tucked away in the interest of keeping it dry. We pulled up for the night in Grants Pass where it was not only sunny but the AC was on in my motel room. What a difference. We chanced to talk to another rider who was also getting a room. His Name is Jason and he started out from Broken Arrow Oaklahoma riding a Kawasaki enduro to the west coast on the Trans-American Highway. Don and helped (watched mostly) him change out all three bearings in his rear wheel in the parking lot and put on a new tire as well. He sure knew what he was doing. Nice guy and good entertainment. We wished him luck on the last leg of his journey to the coast and a safe return home.

He borrowed a bearing puller from the Auto-Zone  store next door to remove the old bearings. He put the new bearings in a plastic bag and placed it in a bucket of ice. Then he used his camp stove to warm up the wheel so when he put the cold bearings in they were easy to tap into place. Pretty slick for a parking lot job.