Excellent ride report and photo essay on the Continental Divide trail by Stephen Golub. This was the trail that Anne had originally convinced me to ride before we left San Francisco in May, but the lure of the national parks (Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Natural Bridges, Escalante, Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon) was too strong.

Poor Beagle lay fallow for 11 days while I R'ed & R'ed in La Jolla. When I went to start her up this morning and ... nada. The Mighty Beagle battery had been treated mighty poorly by me for the last couple of months, so I bought and installed a new one today. (Careful pouring in the acid!)

The kill switch is still holding firm with duct tape, but I spotted a small oil leak coming from the drain plug. Could be time to change the soft copper washer--or maybe just some dirt/sand on the threads, keeping it from making a tight seal. I'm not too worried. Next oil change I'll make sure everything is OK. (Have I really gone 2000 miles since Moab already? Sheesh.) Another casualty: the straps on my saddlebags--the ones that attach to the lower part of the frame--are gone. The right side strap was burned off by touching the exhaust, and the left side was chewed by the chain apparently. No biggie, the bags stay put across the top of the seat just fine without them. I aired out the tent and sleeping bag yesterday. The tent was still damp from when I packed it at Jacob's Lake almost two weeks ago. (Pew!) How do you wash a tent (and footprint and rain fly)?