Today I installed a new chainring on the Caf
Dave’s Visit Part’s II & III
Part II
Five months later I am adding some more pictures of my brother Dave’s trip to AZ in December 2015.
We visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale and it was a cool place to spend a day. We could have spent 2 days as it closed on us before we saw everything.
The accordion display
Accordians
Dave doing his best sneer and the Evis suit.
Dave rockin the see me feel me room
Dave standing in for the tour guide
Part III
The white Tank mountains and the waterfall pool
BEWARE!
Scenic Information
Petroglyphs
Dave and the saguaro
Close to the waterfall
Bird bath
At the pool
Waterfall pool II
Dave and I
Fun days on Dave’s vacation
Caf
In the search for a all purpose city, trail, path, and commuter bike I sprung for a 2016 Motobecane Caf
Dave & Castle Hot Springs Road
My Brother Dave visited from Michigan and it was a blast to hang out with him for a week.
We took a day trip up to Lake Pleasant and drove the Castle Hot Springs Road.
Primitive Road Warning
It was a nice sunny day around 54
Turkey & Tie Rods
Thursday I cooked my 24th annual Thanksgiving turkey on the grill. Delicious. I am contemplating one more next year to make it an even quarter century and then letting someone else do the cooking.
Grillin da bird.
Today after recuperating from stuffing myself I tackled my tie rod and drag link on the jeep. A total pain but seems well worth it.
tie rod
drag link
That’s it for now, gonna go make a plate of leftovers for a late lunch.
Mongoose Wheels
I broke off the back half of my front fender on the Mongoose Hatchet this morning.
I put on a new wheelset and cassette on the Hatchet yesterday. WTB Freeride 29 Dual Duty’s with Shimano hubs. Shimano 7 speed cassette and spacer, 13-34 T. I took it out last night for a ride after the temp got down to 103 or so and dropped the chain 3 times. Adjusted the RD and went out this morning, nice and crisp shifts except for indexing the #4 sprocket on an upshift. It hits 4 fine on the downshift. I don’t know if its just a sticky cable or what, but no dropped chains and all other gears are right on. So I snapped the fender off hopping over the stupid landscape rails in my front yard, dang it.
I put some low tread tires on the old wheels too.
And some fenders on the Network , I am really liking this bike around the neighborhood and paved trails.
More Biking
So I have been riding this bike now for a month, it is a great city hybrid bike with 38cm tires. They do not blink turning in wet sidewalks or get caught in expansion cracks. It is a Schwinn Network 3.0
But today I felt the need for speed. I took out the Talon. What a blast. It is so light and the acceleration blows me away.
And here is a close-up of my frame decal.
2015 Spring Garden
Peppers, Tomatoes, Corn, and 2 Potatoes.
2″ Higher
WOOOOOOOOOO! I finally got the lift pucks on the jeep. It is a subtle lift but makes it look so much better. It also gives the radiator and gas tank 2″ more clearance. The stance is awesome and I really like the fact that my tires still look proportional, instead of like little donuts.
I’ve got about 90 more miles to drive to set in the pucks and springs and then I will have an alignment done.
Check it out.
After2″ vs. Stock
Gotta love the rain in Arizona.
Mining Lynx Creek in Prescott National Forest
I took a ride with my friend Carlos and his uncle up to Lynx Creek north of Prescott Saturday,11-29.
It was pretty chilly when we arrived about 9 AM. It was a beautiful sunny day with the rays streaming through the pines lining the creek valley. The creek itself was littered with previous man made pot holes of various sizes. Many people had been looking for gold before us. There was plenty of water trickling down the stream and pools upon pools of iced over digs. A few people had made rock dams, I saw perhaps 5 or so in the mile I covered that day.
First look.
Sunlight filters in.
Using my “Garrett AT-Pro” I spent about an hour doing some metal detecting. I uncovered a few shell casings and a couple of rusty cans, and 1 bottle cap. So much for the big nuggets! We headed back to the truck and had a quick bite to eat and loaded up with pans and picks and shovels. It was a trek to get passed the many pot holes close to the parking area but soon the smaller holes thinned out.
Small frozen pot hole.
The 1st hole I dug yielded nothing in 3 pans except very cold fingers. The second hole perked me up as it had 2 really nice tiny glittery golden pieces in the 1st pan. The next 3-4 pans had some flour gold in them but not much. I moved on upstream. Carlos was having about the same luck. We hit upon a previously dug hole and he took a sample and panned out a nice little gold piece in the layer just at the red clay line.
Carlos and his uncle try the clay layer.
I found the same depth on the creek wall about 10 feet away and started my own hole.
My dig.
Water is freezing cold.
We finally moved on to a different spot. We found a granite rock face on the bank that was crumbling and took some samples. We ended up picking and chipping the granite and getting gold out of the veins.
Carlos’ uncle.
Flecks!
All in all it was a fun day. The weather was beautiful. I would say that Lynx Creek is definitely worth the trip. I think I would spend a couple of days though and seriously do a dig I could concentrate on.
