A Picture
You're driving down a road. It's dark - darker than most places you've ever been. Your headlight shines ahead, a lonely spotlight illuminating the surroundings. The soft rumble of the engine fills your ears.
You slow down. Pause. Look around.
The stars shine bright overhead - you can see the Milky Way. It's utterly silent around you - wait. There. You hear an animal - a sheep. Two sheep, one old, one young.
Fog drifts past.
Present Day
Bairnsdale, 11:12 AM
I freaking love repairing things. Repairs are great!
A memory flashes through my mind - my first car, a 1985 Chrysler. Thoughts of hours spent grumbling about failing engines and enigmatic problems - vacuum tubes with mysterious leaks and a failing ECU.
Okay. Maybe not. But, this time, the motorcycle gods have smiled upon me.
Remember when I was griping about the motorcycle not really being able to go above 95? Let me explain for a moment.
The problem: When the motorcycle reaches ~95 km/h on a flat road, or is on a hill, any further throttle will result in a loss of power.
Supporting observations: This loss of power feels like the engine running out of fuel. However, this time, the engine doesn't die - it just reduces in RPM until I throttle down. Also, the throttle is generally around 2/3 engaged.
This feels like a fuel problem. Which is awesome!
See, in my search for answers as to the death-by-fuel-starvation issue, I learned a fair amount about the fuel system. If the throttle consistently dies around 2/3 engagement, this seems like it might signify an issue with the carbuerator - maybe it's dirty?
So - I drove to Steve's house. Steve is Tim's brother, and lives in Bairnsdale - he kindly agreed to host me for a night while I reassembled and cleaned the carb. I'll detail the repair later in this post. But Steve was great - he owned a Harley, and apparently the Shadow is sufficiently Harley-like to be agreeable! We sat and talked motorcycle shop for a few hours while we worked on figuring out the carb, then watched Andor. It was great.
Also, Steve, has, a dog, named Jethro.
Jethro was the best boy.
When I'm back in the States I'm getting a dog.
Expect the deets on the carb later.
Lake Tyers, 16:13 PM
Made it to Lake Tyers!
It ... is ... really windy outside. It's awesome to see the bike is now able to make 120. But 120 km/h + 40 km/h gusts means 160 km/h gusts.
Driving in windy weather in a car gives rain-in-a-cafe vibes.
Driving in windy weather on a 2-wheeled deathtrap propelled by 91 unleaded and angular momentum, less so.
I'm camped next to the Lake Tyers Beach Tavern. This place has it figured out - the Tavern is huge, has free power, free camping, wifi (remote work friendly!), an awesome selection of beverages and really, really good pizza.
Also, it's sitting on the ocean. If the Earth was flat and had no atmosphere and I had a really good telescope I could see New Zealand from here. Of course, I'd probably be too busy dying to bother with that.
Anyway. Finished the Martian a few days ago, and I'm continuing with Nichomachean Ethics and Left Hand of Darkness.
Hoping to make New South Wales, the state where Sydney resides (and Canberra sort of) by tomorrow - it's a 3 hour drive to Eden, hoping for better weather beforehand.
Hmm, scratch that.
It's apparently snowing at the border between Victoria and NSW tomorrow.
Yeah. Might be here another night. Will check in tomorrow.
