Wrenching Sunday...or

How many Mac-Pac members does it take to change a light bulb? Well, we shall find out. Saturday night Jack put out the call that he would have donuts and coffee because he had some "wrenching" to do on his K75. I perked up right away. Wrenching? Cool. See the Mac Pac advertises itself as a "Eating and Wrenching" society, but in reality most of the guys just wrench. Last year I held a "wrenching" day at my house and had one other guy show up. All the others were out eating I guess.

I left home with a vision of a spline lube or at least some other major service taking place. Maybe we would change all the fluids and then adjust the valves. Maybe install some aftermarket goodies. I was bound to be a bit disappointed.

The start time was 9:30 but due to helping get the girls ready for church I was a bit tardy and arrived around 10 ish. There was no one else there. Jack came out to great me and we chatted a bit and soon Matt P. arrived, followed quickly by Dave H. In the picture below you see Matt casting dispersions upon Dave's choice of ride. Next in was Jim R. on his bicycle. He lives close by and is going green. Rounding out the group was Rolly B. We swapped lies for a bit and then went out to the garage to wrench. It seems that Jack's tail light was burnt out and it needed to be changed.
Here is Jack explaining the problem slowly to Jim and Rolly. "See went I turn the key on this bulb doesn't light up."

Jim shows Jack the proper way to remove the taillight from a K75. Of course we had our theories about the job. We were all sure that had the Spoonmaster been there he would have scowled and snarled viciously that we were doing it all wrong and then beat upon us with his fancy signed spoon.

Rolly confirms Jack's idea that this device is indeed the tail light.

Out comes the taillight assembly. But of course we didn't have the bulb that was needed. Jack said he would run out and get one on his own. He was fairly sure he could handle the job. This just left the question. If a job does not involve a wrench, is it still considered wrenching? I am fairly sure that Jack will ponder the question at the next lunch meeting.

So I rode 64 miles to help Jack change a light bulb, but I had a great time. Heck, he had me at donuts.

Of Bald Eagles and BMWs

It was quite a weekend. Started out by camping at a near by camp ground called Eagle's Peak. Very nice and a lot of fun with good friends and family. But no Eagles. Then on Saturday we had a neighborhood block party which was a lot of fun. While I was cooking burgers on the grill I looked up and spotted three soaring birds. At first I thought they were the common as all get out Turkey Vultures, which I see every day. But I watched them for a minute or two and then I realized that in fact they were Bald Eagles.

There are four ways to tell them apart from a distance. The first is the head and tail being white, but the closest was a juvenile and so it didn't have that coloration yet. Another is size, Bald eagles are big, but Turkey Vultures can be big as well, so you can go by the head shot. Looking at a vulture head on you can see a distinct V shape in the wings and body. Eagles and hawks are almost flat across the top as you can see in the shot above. The last way is speed. Although the three that I watched did not flap their wings once they are visibly faster than other soaring birds. Baldies usually do not hang out long, and true to form these were gone in minutes, but I enjoyed it while I could. Amazing and beautiful animals to watch.

Sunday was the third Sunday so it was time for the Mac Pac Breakfast. Lots of bikes and people gathering for a meal and the swapping of lies. When was the last time you saw 3 K1100 RS bikes in a row?

Plenty of airheads there too. Some of them where motorcycles.
A beautiful R80/7.

Yummy Duc.
Another tasty Duc.
An MV Harley. Sorry, couldn't resist. Looks fast sitting still doesn't it? Batman rides one too you know.
An overall shot of the lot. The concrete barriers were put in a couple of years ago to keep cars from speeding through to cut the light. The owner made sure that there was an open lane big enough for bikes to fit through. Good guy.

More bikes on the other side of the barrier. We make the Gold Wings park there. Ha!