2002-05-13

Xuzhou City

It is raining today but I am grateful for it as my fan isn't running and the cool rain keeps the engine from overheating. We will install the "air dryer" switch tonight when we get to the hotel to wire the fan directly to the battery.

I have discovered my gloves and boots are not watertight.

We are out of the city and passing through rural areas now. We stopped for lunch at a family restaurant where some of the people had never even seen foreigners before. What a sight we must be for them!

A bucket of fresh eels. Yummy...

I tried to catch one but they are slippery things. It escaped from my hands and slithered around madly on the floor.

It looks like I've almost got this one but it keeps sliding through my hands and I am racing, hand-over-hand, to manage a grip on it. Roy is watching with great amusement.

I won't give up and they finally show me how it's done. You hold it between your index and middle fingers, gripping the eel behind its head. It works!

We may be soaked but our spirits are high.

Hey, Ma, what's twitchin' in the kitchen? Crispy pidgeon!

Guess which part of the chicken I am nibbling on...

Mans' best friend is rewarded with a treat.

The pigs live just out back. This one seems to be saying, "We got it so lucky. They bring us food every day. Don't have to do a thing except eat and sleep. Oh, yes indeed, we got the life! Hey, anybody seen Phil? Wasn't he here this morning?"

Jim, in front of the restaurant.

Homemade three-wheeler seen at a gas stop. I don't know what the sign says.

Close-up of the three-wheeler.

Jim's Atlanta Falcons balloons are a big hit with the children.

Working on the KLR in the foyer of the hotel. It's raining and there is some kind of party going on in the hotel restaurant. Friendly drunks come out every few minutes and introduce themselves. Everyone is curious about the motorcycle-riding foreigners.

No point in keeping the screws in that mount the seat to the frame. I'm getting adept at removing and installing the fuel tank too.

Everyone in our group has given me a great deal of help and encouragement. Helge works on my problem child for several hours every day and though the technical problem stubbornly persists he always maintains an optimistic outlook. "She'll be alright", he says. His good attitude rubs off on me and keeps me from despairing over it.

Helge does most of the work himself but I help where I can. It is good experience for me.

I downloaded and printed a copy of the KLR's wiring diagram from the hotel's computer. The internet is wonderful!

Helge cuts out a hole in the fairing for the "air dryer" switch. As he goes to hook it up a tiny piece of plastic breaks off, the spring pops out and the pieces of the little switch scatter about on the wet ground. Ah.... what more can go wrong? But we gather up the pieces, go inside to sit down in better light and Helge reassembles the switch.

The "air dryer" switch is installed. I can reach down with my left hand and turn on the fan when necessary. I hope, I hope, I hope this will be enough to keep my little KLR going.

We put everything back together and I wheel the bike to the parking lot. Can't wait to get to bed! Then I come back to clean up our work area and notice one of the rubber mounts for the gas tank on the ground. It must have fallen off when I put the tank back on. Ok, bike back to the work area, tank off, rubber mount on, tank back on.