that had to have been one of the most surreal storms i've been caught in.

i was riding toward boise, about an hour out. the rain clouds on the horizon looked ominous, but i've been wet before.

and then the lightning. that was cool too. except that i was heading straight into it. i thought it might be a good idea to pick up some rain gear, so i turned around and headed back to the walmart in mountain home, idaho.

and that's when i noticed the rest of the storm. what i thought was a storm on the way to boise was behind me as well. in fact, i was almost surrounded by this crazy, dark thunderstorm. it was odd that it was still so warm and dry right in the middle of it all. but i wasn't about to complain.

made it to walmart, found out they didn't have any rain gear, and about then the rain let loose. it seems the storm wasn't all that small. it was about 50 miles wide, and went from twin falls idaho to portland oregon.

there was no way i'd ride through that.

so i found a hotel. i'll get a fresh start on things in the morning.

the border patrol. what an untidy group of little fascists.

i think they take some sadistic pleasure in making sure as many people as possible have an unpleasant experience crossing the border.

my experience started out okay. a few quick questions. i think they're required to ask them in the sternest voice they can muster.

"where do you plan on going?"
"how long are you staying in canada?"
"did you really ride that thing all the way from utah? how fast does it go?"

saturday afternoon, beautiful day. i stopped for gas in buellton california.

the only gas station in buellton. when i pulled up, there was an RV and another car... they weren't filling up though.

it turns out that on the pump it said "Please See Attendant". so did the rest of the pumps. the only problem was that the door was locked. no attendant in sight. on a saturday afternoon.

i chuckled to myself... the other people were getting frustrated. i was mostly amused. maybe it was because i wasn't in as much of a hurry. maybe because i think that's a lame reason to get worked up.

so i went over to the classic car lot next door. chatted with the two older chaps sitting in the shade. watching the frustration of everyone that drove up, looked at the pumps, looked around in confusion, then left.

i guess the person that was supposed to open that saturday never showed up. so people came and went, using their credit cards until one by one the pumps stopped working. by the time i got there, the whole station was shut down.

about an hour later, the owner showed up. obviously he wasn't too happy. got everything working, unlocked the bathroom (i was pretty stoked about that).

but i'd had a great break, and a great chat. i'm glad i stopped for gas at a station that was closed. i got to meet a couple of great guys... that wouldn't have happened if i'd just filled up then been on my way.

for those who haven't yet heard, i hate stella.

well, not really. but i am a bit irritated with her at the moment.

i was cruising from hollywood to san francisco the other night when she exploded.

i guess 'exploded' isn't quite the right word. it looks like she overheated and sprayed molten bits of aluminum all over her insides. the piston doesn't move anymore. it's seized pretty good. the kick start doesn't move. there are little beads of aluminum in the spark plug.

she is a sad, sad stella.

and she's stuck at a gas station in pismo beach.

this has not been my week. or month. or whatever.

ever since my ipod died... and now my external hard drive makes evil noises and doesn't read. and stella. whatever am i going to do with you?

more on this later, once i figure out how to get her to sacramento and get her taken apart. do a biopsy, see what the damage is.

the best part is that i can't really afford any of this right now.

poop.

i think this is the end of the road, kids.

school starts on tuesday, and i'm still in sacramento. i've been holding on to the idea that i can still make it back. while that may be a possibility, it's looking less and less likely.

yesterday i finally got the last of the parts i was waiting for. i spent the evening putting everything back together.

i even macgyvered the wrist pin from my old piston to work in the new one...

and then i broke a piston ring.

saturday night, labor day weekend. i need to be in utah on tuesday and i broke a part that i won't be able to replace until tuesday at the earliest.

i think i must have used up my lifetime allotment of luck.

so what do you do? i mean, things have sucked before, but this is the first time that i don't have an answer.

i think i'll have to head back to utah. leave stella in sacramento to fend for herself.

i don't like to quit, but i don't think i have much choice.

someone on stellaspeed suggested that i limp home with just one piston ring. there are two, after all... my only worry is the run through nevada. 100 miles between towns. desert in the middle of the summer. that wouldn't be a good ride even with a healthy scooter. i don't know if i want to risk it.

but now i've been presented with an alternative. this is one of those life defining choices. 'what flavor of ice cream' pales in comparison.

if you admit that you've bitten off more than you can chew, buy a plane ticket and head back to utah, turn to page 42. if you stubbornly finish up the repair and risk riding it home, turn to page 60.

not because the end result would be any different. both pages in the choose your own adventure that is my life end with me and stella safely back in utah. eventually.

the reason this choice is important is that it defines my moral fiber.

do i throw in the towel? do i admit defeat? i mean, 5500 miles is an admirable run. but is it enough? i'm only 700 miles from the end. and a lousy piston ring is keeping me from it.

the high school gym coach answer would be 'never accept defeat'.

but is it more rational to accept that sometimes things are simply beyond my control? i know that they are.

i just never like admitting that any given situation is one of those times.

i stopped by the scooter lounge the other day to change the fuel tap on my scooter.

some background: a fuel tap is a little lever with three settings (on, off, and reserve). "on" stops working a bit before the tank is actually empty, so that you can switch to "reserve" and still make it to a gas station. on older bikes and scooters this is the only way to know when your fuel is low. newer bikes (like my stella) have a fuel gauge as well. but the fuel tap is still there for backup.

except that my fuel tap stopped working last summer, about the time my gas gauge died. so i had no indication when i was almost out of fuel. pushing my scooter to gas stations every time i ran out of gas was getting annoying, so i broke down and ordered a new fuel tap.

and i stopped by the scooter lounge the other day to change the fuel tap on my scooter.

well, "stopped by" seems pretty nonchalant. "pushed my scooter ten blocks to the scooter lounge after i ran out of gas" would be a bit more accurate.

i spent a couple of hours replacing it (a complicated process that involved taking my scooter most of the way apart so that i could remove the gas tank). while i was at it, i adjusted my shift cables, did a bit of odd maintenance.

got it all bolted back together and realized that i couldn't find my gas cap. poop.

it's inside my scooter.

i think i'll just order a new one.

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edit: dave at the scooter lounge says he found my gas cap!

i'm mostly excited because it means i won't have to take my scooter apart again.

the stock mirrors on a stella (or just about any other p series, for that matter) are worthless. they give me a nice clear view of my shoulders. definitely less effective.

so i got a legshield mirror. you know, those little mirrors that clamp on down by the floorboard?

yeah. one of those.

after a couple of months of riding with it, i feel like i can give it a solid review.

i'm working on a writeup on how to prepare for a scooter road trip. until then, here are a couple of thoughts from my trip to logan and back last weekend:

+

+

=

the hydration packs don't really mean it when they say not to put soda in them. it worked just fine for me. :-)

my fuel reserve works again! you have to idea how cool this is. i've run out of gas far too many times... i don't really like pushing my scooter to a gas station. it looks like i have about 25 miles of gas left after switching over to reserve.

sardine canyon wasn't quite as cold as last time. no complaints here. in fact there were times when it was downright warm for three in the morning. of course this was offset by the looming rainclouds and the occasional threatening sprinkles.

my stella scooter goes downhill just as fast at 1/3 throttle as wide open. i realized riding down sardine canyon that my scooter would go about the same speed downhill whether i had the throttle pegged, or i just gave it enough to maintain speed.

cache valley smells like poo. it's the truth.

having a properly tuned scooter makes a big difference. i know i've been running rich, but i just bought a set of boyesen power reeds for my stella, and i didn't want to adjust the jetting twice. so i rode to logan rich, and it made a huge difference. my top end suffered, i'm sure my gas mileage suffered. my spark plug was a bit ugly when i got there...

there are a lot of people who want to buy my scooter. for about 500 bucks. no thanks. i ran into another one at the logan walmart while i was investing in the mountain dew lifeline featured above...

if you hadn't heard, my scooter's a bit broken. the exhaust has a crack in it, and it doesn't work very well like that.

so in honor of blog action day 2007 (theme: the environment), i would be more than happy to reuse someone's unneeded Sito+ instead of buying a new one. if you've got one laying around, let me know. it's good for the environment. and for my almost empty bank account.

did you hear? stella's back. the scooter lounge has a handful.

the new light blue is especially gorgeous.