the second spare clutch cable purchased in st. louis was quickly of use halfway between chicago and madison, wisconsin. the last pull of the clutch lever allowed me to make a short right turn into a convenient citgo station to find a sliver of shade, a cold gatorade and to allow the change of my frazzled and useless current clutch cable. a slight modification in my method of installation will, hopefully, allow me to go much further without a three-peat of this all too-familiar mechanical failure.
following this, about halfway between madison and minneapolis i was slightly delinquent in filling my fuel tank at my predetermined benchmark of 150 (or so) miles and was forced to switch my fuel to ”reserve.”
having done this before, i was sure i had at least 20 or so miles that i could easily travel without worry of running out. when i hit 30 or 35 extra miles, i admit i was concerned. whether or not the tank actually held 5 full gallons of gas and would carry me 200 miles total was always an estimate, but never proven by experience. i was sweating a bit when i saw no gas station at around 189 miles. winona, minnesota was still a few miles away. at 191, i was cursing my careless passing of several stops miles back.
i roared into the farm and fleet fuel up with 193 miles to a single tank of gas and no visual of any petroleum left when i was able to refuel.
it definitely held 5 full gallons.
now for the western expanse…