The ebb of chaos

It is not, as I had hoped, an affordable fix. The radiator, where the cap screws on, has somehow been warped or bent. I suspect this happened the last time someone was removing the cap or putting it back on which would have been just before this trip. Meanwhile, the guys at Wood's Fun Center (a huge motorcycle shop which sells all makes of Japanese bikes and Spyders as well) knew I was on a budget so they bent it back into shape until it no longer leaked. Is it fixed for good? No. Is it manageable for now? Yes. Have I been eating enough vegetables lately? Methinks not.

Rather than have to drop 7-hundo on a new radiator for my bike, for now it only cost me an hour of labor. Just have to keep an eye on it. I may end up having to hole up somewhere and get a job after all.

I got to hand it to Wood's Fun Center (off IH-35 in Austin, Texas). Given my budget constraint, they did everything that could possibly be done, and I get the feeling most places would have just said "bad radiator, buy a new one".

One of the employees of Wood's Fun Center has a Honda Rebel 250 chopper. My first bike was a Rebel 250 and I'll always be sentimental about that model, and anyone who has taken their 250 and turned it into a bobber gets a LOT of respect in my book.



Not just time, effort, and money; love has been put into this bike.

Saturday I actually woke up sick and got worse throughout the day. I had a cold that peaked at around midnight so I woke up yesterday feeling better, and today it's all but gone.

So my bike is back and ready to go and I'm healthy again but to make my friend's lives easier I agreed to babysit their 6 year old while they go away for 3 days next weekend. Least I could do since I've been freeloading on their couch for the last month. So I'm staying in Austin until the 28th.