Hanging With the Locals - 3 April 2018

3 April 2018 – I decided not to travel today. I should have and I would have like myself better if I had. I wasn’t prepared. I found an ATM and resupplied my Pesos. I should be in good shape for a couple of days. I walked over to the grocery store and refreshed my stash of food I carry with me. On the way back from grocery store I stopped in the gas station and asked if they knew where there was a motorcycle shop. They gave me directions and come to find out it was no more than 100 yards / 100 meters from my hotel. The hotel guy told me the shop didn’t open up until 6:00 p.m. I went and found the place and then returned again at 6:30 p.m. I got lucky and they had the oil I like. They also said I could go ahead and change my oil there. I thought that was a nice gesture. I had to pay the last time I changed my oil.

I went back to the hotel, got my motorcycle, and took it out for a short ride to warm it up so the oil would drain out of it. I parked on the side walk in front of the shop and changed my oil. What has amazed me on several occasions is that the motorcycle shops don’t have drain pans. They mostly use 4 liter plastic bottles as drain pans. It’s the same old story cutting corners trying to save a few Pesos.

I got my oil changed and was packing things up when the young guy started talking to me. He asked me how old I was and How I could afford to take a motorcycle ride like this. I told him what he wanted know and two other guys were there who had questions. One guy asked if I did any machining on diesel engines. I told him I mostly worked on airplanes and aerospace. It’s really hard to get technical when you can’t communicate.

I showed them my 1941 Chopper. That set them back in their chairs. They were so interested I got their e-mails addresses and sent them a set of pictures that I e-mail to people who are interested. I gave them a card with my blog addresses on it. They gave me some stickers to put on my motorcycle. This town and hotel was the perfect place to do that type of work. Small town and friendly. I sure wished I could have communicated better with those guys. They were so interested. I rode my bike back to the hotel and put it to bed. I went inside and proceeded to e-mail those guys all my 1941 Harley-Davidson pictures. I didn’t get to bed till after 1:00 p.m.