d.c. on

so d.c. was really hot...98 degrees...hotter than anyplace so far.  we called ahead to modern classics the day before and dropped laru off there around 11:00 am on last thursday...just want say hell yeah thanks again to wellesley and greg at modern classics http://modernclassicsdc.com for squeezing us into their booked schedule (5 weeks out!!).  they're new to the ural game and i would guess about 75% of their focus is on scooters (vespa, etc.)  chris and i checked the sites around our nations capitol on thursday and booked the nearest but certainly not the cheapest motel (motel 6 $130 for a single.)  after taking the efficient metro to ford's theater to see the lincoln assassination display and walking about 5 miles around the obvious places, i headed back to the motel while chris took in more sights.  i was able to try a five guys burger and fries, and man was it good...chris got back around 8pm.  we watched the office and fell asleep early where we promptly received bed-bug bites that night...even though they could've been shady and rip us off, (because the nearest ural dealer was in richmond, va. and the rear tire wouldn't have made it), they didn't...and greg knows his shit....this was greg's first time servicing a ural and it didn't show....they changed the rubber on the back, i also grabbed another tire that's now strapped to the front of the sidecar, and they did the 10k service which included spark plugs, all fluids changed, adjusting the brakes, tightening all cables, etc.  after we paid and took a couple photos they hooked us up with a cooler of beer....after shotgunning a hile life we headed out into the comnstruction-plagued, heat-stifling city streets around 1:00 on friday....

the alignment on the bike is still an issue, but i've given up on it...my body is startinmg to adjust the constant amount of force to keep laru on track....later friday night we landed in west moreland state campground (near the birth places of george washington and robert e. lee).  as we rode around to pick our site for the night we couldn't believe it but we saw another ural gear-up and pulled into the site next to it....turns out a biker named greg was there with his 2 daughters...they weren't there but as we began to unload greg and his daughteres come running over from another site kind of frantic...the daughters thought we were on their dad's bike and he wanted to know what the hell was going on.  after the initial meeting the daughters were bummed out and kept saying "hey no copying!!"  we haven't seen a ural yet!!  his ural was rad and had some nice tweaks to it (custom seat, large axe and mount, etc.)  they were a really nice family, and greg saved our asses that night by letting us borrow his compact camping stove to cook our dogs...after a couple beers we were starving and almost burned down the park not once but twice trying to get my stove lit....apparently a gas leak...no fire due to the ban, so after dogs we went right to bed to read...the next morning we took off early said goodbyes to greg and family and headed to the outerbanks (obx) of north carolina

---jleep