Sunday, January 8, 2012

Where have we been?

Hey again, Ed here.

You may be wondering where we have been for the past several weeks.  Well, we took our family on a vacation for Christmas this year.  Where did we go?  We took a cruise on the Carnival Conquest from Christmas Eve to New Years Day, so we were able to celebrate both holidays on the ship.  We went to Belize, Roatan, Cozumel, and Progresso.  It was a wonderful time.  We are very fortunate to be able to explore our world, it is a very exciting place.  I will let Devon fill you in on the details of the cruise, but here are some photos of my favorite moments.

Devon enjoying Beignets at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana. Yummy!!
We enjoyed cave tubing in Belize.
Devon had a monkey fall asleep in her arms in Roatan.
I found a friend at a beach in Cozumel.  I was able to rest for several hours in that hammock while Devon and the rest of the family went snorkeling.  Sitting there petting this dog was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  It was awesome! 
Devon and I on the deck of the Conquest on New Years Eve.
We had a really great time.  It was nice to spend time with Devon and our children.

Upon our return I had a couple of day before I had to return to work, so I was able to finally get to changing out the brake and clutch fluid on the Wing.  I change the DOT 4 brake fluid in both systems every 2 years or 24K miles.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the procedure for the blog.  The process is very simple and takes me about two hours to complete, but I move slow.  If you ever need help with this procedure, drop me a line and I will help you out. 

Over the past few days, I have started to notice a fuel smell coming from the Wing when it is shut off.  I knew immediately what it was as I had this same thing happen with my 1990 Wing.  The rubber in the fuel petcock has worn out and it is starting to leak.  This is a very easy repair.  On my 1990, I purchased a rebuild kit and repaired the petcock.  This time, I had to order an entirely new petcock.  I was able to find rebuild kits for the older (1988-1996) 1500 Wings, but none for the 1997-2000 Wings.  I read on the internet that the kits were no longer being produced.  After additional research on line, I found Shinywing.com out of Ireland might still have a few in stock, so I contacted them.  They advised the production plant for the kits is in Japan was was destroyed by the earthquake there.  They did indicate that they still get some in from time to time and that they did have the 1988-1996 kits in stock at the moment. 

I went ahead and ordered a new petcock from ronayers.com along with all the filters and other components for a major service.  I will complete a major service just before we leave for Alaska to make sure the Wing is in tip top shape.  I usually order parts from Ron Ayers as they typically are very fast and always seem to be the most cost effective for OE parts.  I should have the petcock in a few days and will post the installation.

Devon and I are continuing our quest for textile riding pants.  This has been quite the challenge for us as we usually can find pants we like, but fit always seems like an issue.  Yesterday we went to the local Honda dealer and looked at the Fly Butane pants.  These pants were very warm.  They had a removable quilter liner, a waterproof breathable membrane, knee and hip pads, and air vents.  They completely fit all the parameters of what we were looking for (multi seasonal, water proof, plenty of pockets, and comfortable), but they were too long by about an inch for me (I have a 30 inch inseam).  Devon did not have much luck either, so we will keep looking.  It seems like the selection (style and size) for women riders is not nearly as good as the selection for men, so we have reached out to Denise Maple of vavavroomonline.com to see if she can help us to find a pair of pants for Devon.  Vavavroomonline.com specializes in riding apparel for women.    

This week, we secured the Canadian insurance card for the Wing.  It is my understanding that this card is needed to get across the border into Canada.  To secure the card, I contacted our insurance agent, to request the card, it was very easy.


We also secured some heavy winter socks for Devon as her tootsies tend to get cold.  Well, time is ticking away, it will not be long until June 2, 2012 is here.  We still have much to do, so stay tuned.  In the next few weeks I will be fixing the fuel petcock on the Wing and cleaning/re-packing the wheel bearings on the trailer.  We are well on our way.

Talk to you soon,
Ed

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting about the Canadian insurance. Almost forgot about that! My husband and I are in the middle of planning our trip to Alaska next June so there's a never-ending to-do list.

    Tam

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  2. taminator,

    Glad to hear from you. We're glad to hear you planning is moving along. Have you settled on your route yet? Perhaps we may run into each other up there.

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