Urals, Coffee And Gremlins 27 May 06: The Eastern Ontario Division of CURD Riders (Canadian URal/Dnepr) met for coffee and an enjoyable ride today. Okay, so it was just my friend Cam with his '05 Patrol and me with my '05 Tourist, but we did have a great time. The plan was to meet at the Hillside Coffee Company just outside the village of Sydenham at 10:30am; from there Cam would lead the way to the village of Battersea and then I would take over and bring us into Gananoque via the back roads. We'd then pick up Hector and decide where to go from there. I arrived a few minutes early at Hillside and hung around in the parking lot to wait for Cam. As I sat there, a guy pulled up on a brand new, gleaming black Harley Road King. He was grinning from ear to ear as he ambled over for a chat, turns out he had just picked up the bike yesterday and it was his first ride. Despite his euphoria he had noticed the Ural and spent a few minutes asking questions about it until one of his buddies showed up and dragged him back to his bike. Shortly after that, a car pulled in and parked a couple spots down from me; as he passed I saw a sticker on the rear fender that I just had to ask him about. It was one of those magnetic "We Support Our Troops" ribbons, only this one was done up in the Canadian Army camouflage colours with a small Canadian flag at the top. I'd never seen one like this before and I asked the gentleman where he got it. He said his son-in-law was in the military and had given to him and when I told him I'd love to have one, he just peeled it off the car and handed it to me without a moment of hesitation. I was surprised and told him I couldn't accept it but he insisted it was okay and that he could easily get another. I then told him that I was ex-Army and it meant a lot to me, at which point he shook my hand and thanked me for my service to our country. That totally made my day!
	I had just finished placing the ribbon on the sidecar when I heard the familiar purring of an opposed-twin engine and looked up to see Cam pulling in. He took me inside and introduced me to the owner of Hillside Coffee, who gave me a detailed rundown of the operation and took a few minutes to personally select and grind some freshly roasted beans of a blend he thought was equal to the Kenyan coffee that Angie normally buys from a specialty shop in downtown Kingston. He was very enthusiastic about his trade and I learned quite a bit about it in the short time we were there. Cam and I weren't ready for a coffee just yet, so we decided to ride a bit first and then stop at a restaurant in Battersea for a cuppa.
We went back out to the bikes and just as we were getting ready to leave, a guy in a pickup pulled up next to us. He asked where we were going and then offered us a detailed map of the region to help plan our ride. Turns out he is the owner of the Desert Lake Resort, a popular nearby tourist spot. The map he gave out was the most detailed one I've seen of the region and showed all the neat little back roads and lakes that are just begging to be explored. We thanked him and then fired up the bikes and headed out.
	Cam led the way into Battersea, but unfortunately the restaurant we were to have a coffee at was closed. Seeing as how I had a pound of fresh-ground beans in the truck, I suggested we continue to Gan and I would brew up a batch. I went into the general store to buy some extra batteries for the camera and then we carried on. I took over the lead and we went hurtling down Burnt Hills Road, a twisty, hilly, part gravel, part pavement, bumpy bit of back road nirvana that was well suited to the Ural's capabilities. You just can't help but smile when you're on a road like this one and boy, was I smiling!
	Eventually the road hooked up with HWY15 and we headed North, but when I looked in the mirror I noticed the headlight on Cam's bike was burnt out. I pulled off onto the next sideroad to let him know, but it became apparent that more than a headlight was at fault, as he also had no running lights. We suspected that the bumpy ride must have knocked a wire loose, so we did a few quick roadside checks. We found a burnt fuse and replaced it with a spare, but it immediately blew. So because we were only 1/2hr from my home we decided to head there for a coffee and a garage session to see if we could find out what was wrong.
We made it to Gan without incident and were greeted by a very happy Hector The Wonder Dog when we walked in the front door. Angie had left for an art show a few hours earlier so the poor, neglected dog was obviously feeling lonely and unloved. I put the coffee on and we tried the Hillside Coffee Company "Paddler's Perk" blend. Oh, Mama, I got's to testify - it was GOOD! I will be a repeat customer for sure. Besides, it will give me an excuse to ride up Cam's way for more Ural adventures. We went out to the garage after java and a chat and started a thorough examination of the bike's electrical system to see if we could cure the problem. We removed the fairing, headlight and bucket, side and fusebox covers and then mercilessly poked, prodded, pulled and twisted various wires and electrical components without success. I had a copy of the schematic, but quickly discovered that it was totally useless as none of the wire routing, fuse locations or colour codes matched what was on Cam's bike. I did find three wires that were chafed and pinched, though, with some relevance to the circuits we were troubleshooting, but other than that we just couldn't find anything obvious. The Russian electrical gremlins had struck hard and deep. Finally, after much beard-tugging, wire pulling, thoughtful pauses and frequent "hmmm's" there was nothing left to do but remove the gas tank and check the main wiring harness underneath.
	But just as a last ditch, long shot, Hail Mary and damn the torpedoes effort I replaced the burnt fuse one more time and plugged in my spare headlight.... and damned if it didn't light up when the key was switched on. In fact, everything worked now (including Cam's original headlight) and we had absolutely no idea why. Best guess is that one of those chafed wires or one of the other ones we pulled must have been the culprit and all our mucking about must have cleared the fault. Cam took this action shot of the Gummi's Garage head technician in action, then we packed everything up, loaded Hector into the sidecar and away we went.
	We stopped at Tichborne Auto Supply on the way out of town and bought some fuses to replace the ones we had burnt during the troubleshooting session. Then I took Cam down my favourite back roads to Kingston, ending up at Motosport Plus. They had closed a scant five minutes before our arrival but a few of the staff were still milling about in the parking lot, so we chatted with them for a bit while Hector basked in the adoration of a couple of ladies in the crowd. By now it was close to 4:30pm and time to head home for supper, so Cam and I said goodbye and headed our separate ways.
	I had promised Hector he could visit with his brother Jess, but when we pulled into their driveway we discovered they weren't home. Either that or they heard us coming and were well hidden. But after a few minutes of playing "Where's Waldo" it was obvious that they weren't around, so I took this pic of their bitchin' new Airstream Bambi trailer and trailer load of firewood and told Norbert the Navi-Duck to lead us home. And so endeth another chapter of the Ural Adventure.

(rides) (home)