Oldwing

EBAY EXTORSION!

So I get an email a few days ago stating that my Ebay Account has been restricted. Confident that there could be NO reason for that to be the case I dispensed it as spam. Then I went to check an active auction for something I am selling and see the same message in my Ebay message folder, so apparently this restriction is real. I called them immediately, after all, with over $45,000.00 in Ebay sales since my membership began in early 2002, and 100% perfect feedback how could they possibly think I have an issue. Here is where the Ebay deception occurs. According to Ebay "Trust and Safety" Supervisor "Jason" a family members account is somehow "linked to mine". That person owes $9.00 and that is the reason for the restriction to my account. So I asked how these accounts became linked in the first place, they claim that the contact information is the same. I asked "which contact information?" they said they could not tell me that. Hmmm. So some account that is NOT mine, has the same "contact information" as mine but they refuse to state what that is? REALLY? I proposed that if the $9.00 was paid would they separate the accounts so that this could never happen again, they said they would not, effectively making me their collection agent whenever they feel someone owes them money. Neither the family member in question NOR myself have EVER linked these accounts, this activity was done by the nefarious actions of Ebay itself and conveniently there is NO path to resolving the matter. Imagine if you had a credit card and one day you notice it does not work, you investigate and find out someone else owes the company money and Visa is going to hold you hostage until you make the other person pay their bill. Is this REALLY where we are headed? Please help me raise awareness to this by posting this everywhere you can. People need to know what sort of extortion Ebay is up to, this NOT the way we do things in America!

Guess what? My interview on Hog Radio is now available for podcast or listing online. You can find it here: Hog Radio

We talk about Gaurav Jani's film work and all manner of things motorcycle related.

If you like it and would like to get me on Hog Radio again email Steve Johann the producer and request me to come back.

ssjohann@verizon.net

Man what a night!
          We had close to 80 people crammed into Old Strokers on Hewitt in Everett WA. and the place was absolutely electric. Gaurav, Sobby and I took turns with role of MC and made the requisite introductions. The entire face of the block was covered with bikes, two deep in places, there was no doubt that motorcycle folk had shown up to support one of there own. Gaurav and Sobby joined me for a breif ride on the North Cascades Highway earlier in the day joined by their friends Will and Jim. Karen was kind enough to lend her GL1500 to the cause and Jim lent a very nice GS1100 Paris/Dakar BMW, we couldn't let our guests suffer on lesser equipment. Sobby really liked the Goldwing exclaiming that it was far smoother than he had ever though it would be. The boys traded off bikes like kids on Christmas morning each taking a turn on the new rides. I wish we could have spent more time together, but we had to get back to Strokers to record their interview with me (which had a laundry list of technical issues, mostly my fault...) Despite the poor audio quality of the interview I'll be posting it here soon. I may publish it as text or caption the video, I haven't made up my mind yet. Here are some pictures from the day...
 

Sobby and I riding the GL1800 on I-5.

 Sobby with the GL1500 in Granite Falls.

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I have so much material to share it's almost overwhelming. I hung out with Elephant seals in the wild, rode one of the finest motorcycle roads ever (Named La Honda road of course, seriously!). Escaped a thug in Tijuana, got my picture taken with a 50ft woman, and more. The trick has been by the time I get to where I'm headed and dump the files from the cameras I'm pretty well exhausted. I'm headed for the Salt Flats now, should be home in a few days, then I'll get this stuff up quickly. Stay tuned! 

Day two brought me from just south of the Canadian boarder to the western most point of the Olympic peninsula, Neah Bay. Then south to Humptulip, Wa and no, that is not a typo. I took some shots at Deception Pass and at the Port Townsend ferry dock:





 I met some pretty interesting characters on day two. First a friendly toy Fox Terrier named "Goliath" and a fellow who claimed to have worked for US Army Intellegence and had more stories than a NY skyscraper.





He did tell me that the Korean conflict was due to US intrest in the sizeable tungstun deposits in South Korea and had nothing to do with, freedom, democracy, or any other noble pursuits. I plan to dig around and do some reasearch on this when I get home. He had many interesting tidbits that I want to look into further. We chatted, or rather he chatted for over an hour and I had simply stopped to take some pictures of the beach, go figure...The one thing I could not reconsile was how someone from an intellegence organization got to be so chatty, don't they dispose of those types with rather brutal efficiancy? I went out to Neah Bay after I left my new friend who now was a photographer from Arizona.


So I was making tracks down 101 making pretty good time when I passed a sign in the Olympic State Park that simply said "Ruby Beach". I flew past it and thought, no more pictures, make up some miles, but that little voice in my head kept nagging me to check it out, Finally I subcummed and fliped the bike around and as I pulled into the entry way this is what I saw:
So
 How does a town come to the conclusion that Humptulips is a suitable name? It's just wrong on multiple levels.

Click here to see me starting off



Well I'm finally in it! It's almost surreal, I've wanted to do this trip for a very long time and it's really happening. I had not been further north than Sedro Wooley before today. The riding in the northern Cascades is spectacular. After crossing the boarder into Canada I tried scouting some banks to exchange some currency to cover my campsite, every one I checked was closed. I wasted an hour asking around and finally decided to get back to Washington and camp there, at least my money was good there. The last time I camped a site was $10 to $15 dollars a night, the KOA I stopped at was $38.50 AND the restrooms would not be open till May 1st. Plus there was no one working to check me in. I could believe they wanted that much money for a damp patch of ground. I thought about leaving but the sun was setting and the next place was 20 miles out, so I pitched my tent made some fried Spam and red beans and rice then crashed for the evening. the combination of my old mattress pad AND my 40+ skeletal system made for a poor nights sleep. It rained for a little while and the tent stayed dry so that was a success (I had waterproofed it the night before). The little camp stove I picked up has been great, Breakfast the next morning was eggs and bacon and it tasted great after a long night. I hope to replace the tent and the mattress pad before the end of the trip as the pad no longer holds air and the tent door has an issue with the door zipper, no fun when you have to pee at 4 in the morning. The sun rise proves to be spectacular over my little pond next to my site. The air is crisp and I get on the road by 8am.

Here is my campsite!

Here are some more stills:





 

Well as luck would have it the trip Karen and I had been planning since we rode west had the time table pushed up. While on a "temporary" furlough from work it made sense for me to sneak the trip in now and burn off some vacation time. Karen really wanted to go and I would have loved to have had her join me but it just wasn't in the cards this time around. I'm still packing so i'll keep this entry brief. The trip leaves from Marysville, WA tomorrow and heads north to the Canadian boarder then southwest to the coast in Washington and follows the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) all the way to Mexico. The route home is set to go through Las Vegas, NV and then up to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. I'll ride around the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake and head for home. Since this is largely an unplanned vacation the budget is tight so I'll be camping most, if not all, of the way. Here is a shot of the route, it's roughly 3,800 miles so we'll get those wings stretched out pretty good. I hope to complete and entry each day, internet connections and gods willing. I may have to compose entries and upload them in batches as resoaurces become available. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions so use the comment link to reach me.

Karen and I left the condo on the bikes with just enough time to meet Brad and Elisha before the "That 1 Guy"/Panda Conspiracy show Saturday night. We had both been working long hours and rarely, if ever, got to see each other anymore. Here it was Valentines Day and we where both riding our own bikes trying to make good time to Ballard for the show. Not 1/2 mile into our journey Karen pulls up on my left side pointing to the left side of her bike yelling that it's smoking. Being the typical male I assume it's just the normal smoke from a Boxer engine that has been left on its side stand for a week or so. On Boxers the oil will pool in the low hanging head and seep into the combustion chamber through the valve guide. No big deal, they smoke for a bit then everything is fine. The next light she pulls up on my right, obviously agitated at my having dispensed her issue, pointing to a wall of oil cascading down the side of the block, onto the now fully heated exhaust header. The expression perpetuated by the pair of super sized eyeballs peering at me from the narrow portal of her full face helmet meant that she would not tolerate being dispensed again. Now I'm thinking "Holy crap! Thats brand new $7.00 a quart Mobil One oil spilling all over". We quickly got the bike shut down in the neighboring parking lot and I had to tell her that I knew EXACTLY what was wrong with her bike. My friend Dave had been over the week before so I could help him adjust his valves. On a Goldwing the access hole to the flywheel is in the top of the block, normally capped by a screw on cover. One unscrews the cover and screws in it place a "Timing Sight" Tool. this is a glass window with a cross hair on it used to line up the timing marks. Now Karen's bike, the 1977 GL1000 never had the cap, so I always kept the tool in there instead (You see where this is going don't you?) Dave and I took the sight glass out of her bike last week and I failed to put it back. Naturally I did what any red blooded American Male would do in such a precarious position on Valentines Day, I blamed Dave! Yes this was all Dave's fault. Not that she was buying what I was selling, but it was worth a shot. We left her wounded machine there for the night and rode two up to meet Brad and Elisha, Karen's left leg of her First Gear riding pants dripping with really expensive oil, and almost as much smoke coming out of her ears as there was coming off of her bike. She aired my dirty laundry with disdain as she wove the tale into dinner conversation and again I tried to blame Dave, couldn't make it stick. Heck, I even tried to change the topic of discussion to her recent speeding ticket and I still could not shake the shame of it all. Oh well, guess I had it coming... Soon the evenings events where upon us and we ventured to the Tractor Tavern for the show.

Panda Conspiracy was the first act and they where so much fun to see live. I had already bought their CD from the merchandise counter because of what I heard on their MySpace page, but I was not prepared for the stage show. These guys know how to work a crowd into a frenzy. They fired on all cylinders for the entire set and left us primed for the main event. If you've never seen That 1 Guy it will be very difficult to explain the experience to you. Many experiences in life are like this, mountain climbing, sky diving, sex, you can only communicate the experience with those that have a common frame of reference. Mike Silverman (aka That 1 Guy) has added much to his show since the last time I saw him. He has stepped up the heavily animated humor that comes off him so effortlessly, he has added some REALLY cool slight of hand which integrates seamlessly into the act, on top of all that he is an astounding musician with original music you will not hear anywhere else. If you see his DVD, know that it will only show you a portion of what his recent act brings to life. We met with Mike after the show and he remembered me from the Philly show last year. He signed piles of DVD's and CD's for folks and posed with us for pictures. This guy is the genuine article, fantastic talent, selfless and always giving to his fans. Go see him, buy his stuff, if you like genuine, innovative, original music you will not be disappointed. Here are the pics from the evening:

PS - I also have a cool video of PandaCon that I will post on YouTube and link here soon...

I have not used this forum much for promoting products however, recently I used some items from a guy who is HUGE in the classic Goldwing circles. His name is Randall Washington but he responds to Randakk on occasion. His site http://www.randakks.com/ is a treasure trove of invaluable information on these fine old machines. As some of you may know I bought a 1977 GL1000 over the summer while working here in Seattle:

I got the bike for practically nothing, in fact when responding to the Craigslist ad I drove by the bike twice, thinking it was way too nice for what he was asking and could not have been the bike I was there to see. It had a few issues, the old hippie fellow told me never to use the front brake, because it sticks. He also told be the bike was "cold blooded" as it didn't like starting in the cold. When I got it home I rebuilt the front caliper and rode the snot out of 'er all summer. After Karen and I rode the GL1500 out here in Sept. Nancy (the GL1000 pictured here) became less of a priority. I knew the carbs needed a GOOD rebuild and the throttle control required a death grip to cycle but it kept getting put on the back burner. I gave the bike to Karen as she was dying to ride her own bike again. She would take it to work here and there but the hard starting and debilitated battery where not a confidence building combination. I have been commuting to work since July by motorcycle and this past week the shaft drive in my GL1500 bought the farm and left me with no way to work. I went to start Nancy (the 77 GL1000) and she would simply not have any of that...I charged the battery and rode her down to Pacific Power and put in a new AGM glass mat battery, but now it just didn't start faster than before. I knew if I was going to get to work this week (New drive shaft is on its way from Florida) Nancy needed her carbs done. I had investigated rebuild kits for price and quality and stumbled accross the preachings of the one called Randakk. He claimed to have a kit that in many ways was BETTER than even Honda could have offered. He also had a DVD on carb rebuilding that could be had at a discounted price if purchased with his Master Rebuild Kit. I PayPal'ed him the money and within days the package arrived along with a personal note thanking me for my purchase. I watched the DVD and was amazed at how excellent his technique was. I had bought the kit in early Fall but never got around to rolling up my sleaves. Now I was in a pickle and needed a reliable motorcycle to get me to work. I was a little concerned with surgery this envasive that I might end up with two crippled bikes in the garage if something went awry. Of course I dove in head first, I would play a section of the DVD and go do that work (I had watched it twice from end to end prior) come back in, watch a bit more, and so it went on... It was like having the foremost authority on Goldwing carburation looking right over my shoulder, wait...it is was exactly that. When I got done (3am on Saturday night/Sunday morning) here is what I had:




I was WAY to tired to go any further so I left the install and tuning for Sunday. Karen and I went down to Bent Bike to get some new throttle cables as I was sure they where binding and sticky. The task of replacing the cables is much easier with the carbs removed so I swaped the cables and took the throttle handpiece apart for inspection/cleaning. There was no lubricant in the grip tube at all and it was full of rust and road dirt. I cleaned the throttle tube and lubricated it with triflow, swapped out the cables and lubed them with Cable Life (They where new Motion Pro Cables but most of the stuff at Bent Bike is really old and dusty). The differance was outstanding it was like a new bike. Next I slid the carb rack in and mounted it in place. After a few short cranks (Fuel bowls where empty of course) she fired right up...ON ALL FOUR CYCLINDERS TOO! AT THE SAME TIME! The improvement was insane. I hooked up the carb balencer and dialed in the dampners and had them synced dead on to my guages in minutes, The throttle response was wicked fast and the off idle stumble was gone as well. It was a bit chilly but I NEEDED a ride bad. I grabbed my touring jacket, helmet and gloves and headed up to Smokey Point. Randakk had mentioned in some of his writtings that the GL1000 was "Super Bike" league in it's day and with the state of tune mine had been in I was not seeing the light. Now, from traffic light to 60 is just a flick of the wrist away and it pulls like raped ape all the way there. On the highway I had to fight to keep it under 80 mph for fear that the "Man" would be lurkin around the next bend. A shame really, that bike was so smooth and well behaved at better than highway speeds and I live in an area with militant speed enforcememnt. I'm thinking a trip to Montana is in order, should be able to air that girl out over there. After my initial test ride I was so enamoured with the bike that I came back to the shop, donned my touring pants and rode down to see Karen at Sea-Tac Internationl Airport (almost a 100 mile round trip) (Did I mention it's 29 F out?). She really liked the way her bike turned out and kept asking me when the parts for my bike where coming in so she could have her ride back. In closing I want to thank Randall at Randakk's Cycle Shack for FANTASTICK products, super advice and service, you made this whole project a snap THANK YOU! Now if I could just get this silly smile off my face....