The Flight of Bear Canada

Day 15 - April 27th
San Diego, CA

Time to play tourist. I visited the Old Town section of San Diego. And boy was it cool. It was a case of Mexico lite. (and intact, complete, clean, functional...)

0211

The Sheriff's Museum.

0219

Inside the kitchen in Casa Machado, Old Town.

0223

A table setting in the Casa.

The Old Town is a wonderful mix of really cool stores and stalls and intermixed at one end with museums and historical displays. It does have a cool mix of American and Spanish influences.

0230

0237

The Fiesta del Reyes. Very Spanish, very cool.

0238

A concord stagecoach.

0239

A really old Studebaker. 1858 to be exact. Studebaker was the largest wagonmaker in the US.

0243

And this is what a V-Strom would have looked like in the 1800's

Day 16 - April 28th
San Diego, CA

OK, today is just a regular routine maintenance day. Well I wish it was routine. First off I had to find a place to do an oil change on the Strom. The store where I bought the oil wouldn't let me do it since there was an issue with their landlord. Fair enough. I went to a quick lube place to borrow a pan. They wouldn't let me do it there, stating that management counts the cars that go in. The place was empty at the time. Then I went to a Harley shop, and they wouldn't do it because of insurance issues. And here I thought Harley riders were rebel anti-establishment types. So I broke down and bought a nice closeable pan and set about changing the oil in a parking lot. I sealed up the container and took it to an AutoZone parts store. They would take the oil, but not the oil containers and the filters. They also told me I would get in crap if I threw it any of that in their garbage bin. I was starting to get pissed. I walked out, and the clerk came out with the pan. I almost lost it. I mean what kind of stupid system is there that takes oil, but not the filters and containers. They have oil in them. One of the other things that steamed me is the, not my problem attitude. I would get a rejection, but not suggestion on what to do instead. Even threatening to dump the oil didn't work. I then abandoned the pan, filters and jugs on the rack at a quick lube place. Here I was thinking that doing this in Mexico would be hard.

In Canada, I had to get my oil change done in St.Johns. The local Suzuki shop was closed, so I rolled into a Kawasaki dealership.
"I need to do an oil change on a Strom", I said.
"Don't have filter for one", he replied.
"Don't need one, just three liters of synthetic"
"That I can do", he said cheerfully, sold me the oil and pointed towards the garage.
Once in the garage, I decided to help the mechanic out by removing the skid plate, then I pulled out my oil filter wrench. I was halfway through the change, when I realized what I was doing, and look at the mechanic. "Shit, sorry for stealing your job"
"No, worries, I hate doing oil changes anyway", he said.


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Contents Copyright (C) Michael Fodor 2012.