Let the Repairs Begin

After a long drive on Monday, I had a short 2.5-hour hop on Tuesday to arrive back at Keith and Laurel’s place in Cottage Grove, my PNW home base. I felt quite accomplished as I passed the Bonneville Dam, where Darryl and Marilyn had taken me during my visit last year. Officially, I was back in known territory, only on the Oregon side of the dam instead of the Washington side where we’d visited before. Darryl was right — the Washington side is better.

I bypassed Multnomah Falls and the other scenic areas I’d enjoyed on my last visit, mainly because my van and trailer would be much more difficult to fit in the small parking areas than my motorcycle. Soon traffic picked up significantly as I approached Portland, then fought my way through the city onto I-5 South. Before long, the driving got easy again. I made a quick stop in Creswell to pick up my replacement trailer jack at Tractor Supply, as well as my new inflatable kayak. It was a short drive to Keith and Laurel’s from there.

Almost immediately, I installed the new trailer jack. It was an easy job with only three bolts. I also kept the old jack’s larger foot pad instead of the small pad that came with the new jack. I sometimes park on soft ground, so the larger footprint will be helpful. Then I detached the trailer, which will allow me to drive the van around town by itself.

I unpacked and clipped my new Givi tank bag onto the motorcycle, which I also unloaded from the trailer to park in the barn as usual. It’s not as nice as the worn-out bag I’m replacing, but it was still about $100 for the least expensive one I could get, and I really didn’t feel like paying more. Less expensive bags exist, but Givi uses a proprietary attachment system that clips to a ring around the fuel filler that my bike already has. It works extremely well and I wanted to keep using it, so I had to get another Givi bag for that. It’s just holding my phone, charger, insurance card, registration, and EZ-Pass, so I don’t need the extra space or multiple compartments that the bag that came with the bike had.

Not shown is a new pair of rear brake pads. While swapping my tires, Kate noticed that mine were still good but getting a bit low. She recommended picking up some brake pads to have on hand for when they finally wear out. Kate’s a better wrench than I am and I trust her, so now I have them, ready for an easy repair when the time comes, no matter where I am.

Most importantly, Starlink is fully operational once again, thanks to a new cable. I’m seriously considering ordering yet another cable to keep on hand as a spare in case this happens again. Though I’ve also figured out a way to leave the cable plugged into the dish all the time. Since it’s the lousy connectors that fail, not plugging and unplugging it from the dish regularly should help it last. It was originally designed for home installations where you set it up once and leave it, so if I can do that I should be fine.

I didn’t bother taking a picture because it’s boring and looks exactly the same, but I’ve also replaced the bad circuit breaker between my solar panels and the charge controller. The previous one failed long outside the 30-day return window, but after posting a not-so-good review on Amazon, the company contacted me directly and sent me a new one at no charge. It’s working fine, and I’ve upgraded my review to four stars (five would be if the original worked perfectly, but it’s better than the two-star review I originally gave it).

I also spent several hours yesterday morning engaging in intellectual combat with unarmed opponents at Verizon to replace my “refurbished” iPhone that they never actually repaired. I finally reached a competent human being who did exactly what I needed with no hassle at all, but it took a long time to get there. I should have a replacement phone in the next day or two, then ship my not-refurbished one back to them. It’ll be so nice to (hopefully) not have random crashes anymore, especially while I’m driving and using my phone to navigate.

All of my repairs are already done, so it’s time to make some upgrades while I’m at it. Since my Revzilla order was already big enough to qualify for free shipping, I got some handlebar risers. These move my handlebars higher and farther back, making them easier to reach particularly while standing, the preferred technique for dirt riding. Since my KLR’s handlebars got bent in a crash I replaced them with taller ones, but since there’s nothing wrong with the V-Strom’s handlebars I used this method instead. Of course, I was forced to take a test ride after installing them, one of my favorite loops in this area that goes around Dorena Lake.

Speaking of which, that’s where I intend to take my first paddle in the kayak. I got it all set up for the first time last night to figure it all out on dry land. Since right now I have space in both the trailer to store it and the van to transport it, I left it inflated until I get to take it out on the water. I also need to reorganize the shelves inside the trailer to clear one of them for kayak stuff. It won’t be a problem, just the time and effort to reorganize things a bit more efficiently than I have them stored now. I’m sure I can make the space.