At least it is for those of us south of the Mason Dixon Line!
Here in TN, we have been receiving tremendous amounts of rain, much more than last year at this time. That's a good thing for us. Last year, it was gray and dreary, but not enough rain to fill up our lakes for the summer. Maybe this year will be better? One can only hope!
I'm not really a big fan of spring rains...it's at this time of year, the warmer temps get me itching to ride...not because I have to, but because I can smell fresh life in the air...and I want to experience it all.
The rains are cold, bitingly cold, and while the air temps say ride without a care...the rain makes the bones still creak. (I'm 52 and did little in my younger years to insure maximum bone contentment for my "senior" years.")
Yesterday, was a beautiful day, I rolled the bike out from under the cover of the carport...changed out the license plate from Florida to TN...looked her over with a critical eye and decided I should do what someone recommended I do...listen to the engine cases and heads with a screwdriver to my ear...I wish (almost) that I had not. I would rather have gone on "thinking" the noises I had been hearing for the last 80 miles or so were from some kind of weld that had let loose in the exhaust pipes. No such luck. With this old fashioned listening device pressed against a bone behind my ear, I listened to the rockers. They sounded like a sewing machine...as they should...I listened to the jugs, nothing sounded amiss there. Then I placed the screwdriver down near the rear of the cam case on the right side...ouch...the noises I had been hearing...thinking it was a rattle type of vibration from the front exhaust pipe was indeed coming from the cam case...not the exhaust pipe.
Talk about hopes dashed like a Spanish Gold ship being crushed beneath the pounding waves and driving wind of a category 3 hurricane in open water! My heart is wounded...very wounded. Fortunately, I am able to swim from the wreckage...I've saved all winter and I am able to get her to a good wrench to put her back to rights...but the disappointment is daunting to say the least.
I am taking myself over to someone who comes highly recommended to me...I'm not from this area, haven't needed a mechanic who was familiar not only with HD...but with the different animal that is the Sportster. Just cuz a guy is really good with the big V-Twin, don't make him good with the internal parts of a Sportster. The animal is not the same. Besides that, I have run across many a wrench who detested working on Sportsters...and the work showed it.
My contact tells me this guy is proud of all the work he puts out...and not to worry about his character when it comes to R&R work in my cam case. I have complete faith in his recommendation, so I will seek this warrior of the V-Twin combustion engine out...and pray he will take my bike on Monday...and return her to me in good time!
I've noticed the daffodils are out now...the tulips have poked their greenery out of the ground...the creek in my back yard has risen by almost two feet, and the days are not only getting a tad warmer, but a tweaking bit longer too! Soon the mountains will be in their budding stages...and the aromas of spring will be all around me...and I want to experience the mountains in this state...not from the car window, but from behind the lenses of my sunglasses!
I'm ready for spring...but the old girl who is my constant companion is not...she needs so much attention...May the warrior surgeon who opens her up...have his ears, fingers, and knowledge given to him as a gift from God...that my girl will be home again and ready to roll the open roads of the hilly South East!
OK...done for now. Guess I will get outta here and go count my change...
Chessie
