There is a story behind this shot of Roe riding toward the rainbow.
In this case the gold at the end of the rainbow is Fort Nelson, British Columbia.
We had filled up with gas at Toad River and ridden about 10 miles before Roe pulled over to the side of the road. I rode up ahead and waited for him to catch up. When he didn't come along I rode back to find him down on his knees working on his bike. The engine light had come on and the engine had simply quit running. Roe checked the oil, replaced the plugs, checked the air filter and found nothing wrong. He restarted the bike and it ran, but very roughly. We started off down the road. A couple of miles later Roe's bike quit again. He still could find nothing wrong.
Taking inventory of our location and situation, we found we were about 90 miles from Fort Nelson and 500 miles from the nearest Harley dealer. We had just passed a small gas station about 3 miles back. I went back, asked about towing, and bought water and candy bars in case we were out in the woods for awhile. By the time I got back to where I had left Roe, he had gotten the bike started and moved on down the road. A few minutes later I found Roe sitting alongside the road again.
By this time it was getting late in the day and we were becoming concerned about having to have Roe's bike towed or not getting in to Fort Nelson until after dark; or worse, spending the night in the wilderness. We had seen only one other vehicle in the past several hours. After a few minutes Roe got the bike cranked again and we tried to make mileage toward Fort Nelson. This time Roe's bike ran roughly but continued to run. We had no idea if it would continue to run or quit and we were still many miles from Fort Nelson. Every mile we traveled was one mile closer to help in Fort Nelson.
As we neared Fort Nelson it began to rain big, very cold, drops. Roe was babying his bike, trying to make it last until Fort Nelson. Sputtering and coughing, the bike continued to run. Suddenly a rainbow appeared. It seemed to be ending directly over Fort Nelson. We rode for the rainbow hoping against hope that the bike would continue to run. Finally the town of Fort Nelson appeared on the horizon! We had reached the gold at the end of the rainbow!
After unpacking and drying out we walked to dinner trying to figure out things that could be wrong with the bike. After dinner we took a chance and put the symptoms on Microsoft's Harley Tech Talk discussion group. We went to sleep still worrying about the bike.
The next morning Roe went out to try to figure out what could be wrong and I checked the Harley Tech discussion group. Someone had answered our plea for help! A guy with the discussion group name JBOARD44 had replied that he thought the problem was a cylinder temperature sensor failure. His solution was to short the sensor plug out with a 180 OHM 5 Watt resistor.
Meanwhile, Roe called Phil at Longbranch Harley Davidson, his local dealer in New Jersey, to discuss the problem. Phil put two technicians, Jim and Bob, on a speaker phone to brainstorm fixes. One suggestion that came out was to short the temperature sensor!
No 180 OHM 5 Watt resistor was to be found in Fort Nelson. Roe shorted the sensor plug with a large paper clip. The bike ran! At speed it ran pretty well. At low speed and idle it still ran roughly but at least we could make mileage toward a Harley dealer.
So, paper clip fix in place we headed down the Alaska Highway toward Dawson Creek and the nearest Harley Dealer in Grande Prairie, 400 miles away.
Fort Nelson, British Columbia and the rainbow at the end of the day. We were so happy to see this sight!
Fort Nelson Super 8 Motel. We stayed here going up the Alaska Highway and returning. It is a brand new and modern hotel.
Super 8 Employee Val (left) builds electrical and pneumatic Halloween displays at home. Of all things, she had a collection of resistors and electrical parts and insisted on going home to get a resister to fix Roe's bike. Unfortunately, she didn't have the correct size.
Fort Nelson mechanic.
Everywhere we went, people were anxious to help any way they could.
We traveled a short distance out of Fort Nelson when we saw this black bear eating clover on the road right-of-way. We both stopped and I started taking pictures. The bear kept eating.
The bear finally turned and looked at me. I kept the bike running in case the look was more than idle curiosity.
Roe got off his bike and kneeled in the middle of the highway to take a picture. At this point the bear turned and gave Roe a warning look, then turned away and ran off into the woods.
We made a gas stop in Grande Cache and just before we left a Harley rider from Mississippi came in. We started talking about the trip we had just made and I mentioned the bear. The rider was following us down and saw the same bear in the same place, again eating clover. He pulled out his digital camera to show me the pictures and it was definitely the same bear in the same location.
Facilities along the Alaska Highway are
sometimes basic.
Gas stop and RV park.
Most rural gas stations accept Visa and Mastercard.
A few accepted only cash.
None are "pay at the pump".
The beginning of the Alaska Highway at the end of our trip up and back. Wiser, more tired, and certainly more respectful of people who make the trip on motorcycles.
A broken shifter, a busted running light, a ding in my helmet and paint chips from flying gravel.
Mementos of a trip on the Alaska Highway.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Patrol car mount that is. We were fortunate not to meet one of these guys up close and personal along the Alaska Highway.
Once again Roe works on his bike.
About 50 miles back the oil light had suddenly come on. Roe stopped the bike quickly. The dipstick showed no oil in the crankcase. Four quarts down in 100 miles! Where was the oil going? The consumption hadn't changed. No more oil than on previous parts of the trip was blowing out the tailpipe. Only drops were coming out a leak from a small seal on the crankcase. Where could 4 quarts of oil had gone? We added about a quart and a half of oil alongside the road and headed for Grand Cache on pins and needles.
At a friendly garage in Grand Cache, Roe tightened the seal, added four quarts of oil, bought more oil and a $60 quarter-inch drive and socket set. Off we went 100 miles to Hinton.