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Yesterday I had picked up the parts that arrived at Krista & Deb's house
from Portland, and today I was ready to put it all together. Before I put
in the new parts, though, I wanted to prove to myself that, if I really
had to, I could have fixed the problem while still out in the wilderness.
After disassembling the regulator, I found the relay points were badly burned,
and set about cleaning them with a set of small metal files. The regulator
was apparently not the original, but a third-party aftermarket part, and
point gaps were not as easy to adjust as the original one pictured in the
manual. The battery was definitely charging now, though perhaps a little
too much, and I didn't want to spend too much time fiddling, so I installed
the new voltage regulator at this point. I also installed the new generator,
just so that I know I have an entirely new charging circuit.
I also looked briefly at the fuel gauge problem, and at first thought it
was a faulty ground wire from the tank, but after reassembly, that did not
fix the problem, and Herb and Lori had mentioned something about biking
to a bar, so I cleaned up and put away the tools for the night. Alaska is
such a wonderful place to work on your car-stays light outside forever!
I unbungied the old blue beachcruiser from the tailgate of the truck. The
portion of the front tire that poked around the side of the truck was covered
with mud, but otherwise it was in good shape. I originally received this
bicycle from my friend Art, who now lives in Redlands, CA. He was moving
and offered it to anyone who would fix it (it basically had no bearings
left). It is a great old bike, with only one gear, large handlebars, large
whitewall tires, and a honkin' big cushy seat.
Lori set a mean pace, and it was a little difficult to keep up with no high
gears, but soon we arrived at a ballpark where their friend Dana was playing
in a softball game. She was up to bat as we arrived, and hit a high pop
fly to left field. We pulled around to the players and Lori ragged on Dana
for the out. It must have worked, because the next time Dana was up, she
hit a long double that scored three players. We watched the game for a while,
as Lori heckled the umpire and made comments about players on the other
team.
Lori really knows how to enjoy herself at a softball game. We let Dana know
where we were going and headed to a bar called Humpy's, which is another
name for a pink salmon. I ate salmon(of course) and sampled a couple of
local Alaskan beers, which were pretty good. I guess they have to import
the wheat. The salmon was excellent-much better than the Sea Galley.
Herb and Lori weren't hungy at first, but ordered a salmon spread appetizer
before Dana arrived. After a little while we walked to another, smaller
bar called Darwin's. We sang along with some familiar songs as we waited
for a waitress, which was quite a while. Herb knew all the words to "Bad,
Bad Leroy Brown", and the rest of us sang the chorus. I think I heard
some others in the bar singing as well.
As we left, Lori turned the wooden placard in front to an angle that was
"more visible", and took the opportunity to correct the angles
on all standup wooden signs that we passed on the way to another bar called
Rumrunners. There we deliberated a couple of minutes on whether we should
pay the $3 cover charge, and then went in and danced to a live band in a
space close enough that my elbow knocked the singer's microphone and I reached
around to steady it for him. He didn't say anything, so I figure that wasn't
the first time.
As it grew later and later we finally left and retrieved our bicycles from
Humpy's. We fit them all into Dana's car (which wasn't easy, since I don't
have quick-release wheels) and scrunched into the front seat for Dana to
drive us home.
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Copyright © 1995 by Patrick
Malone