Sunset above Kakabeka Falls

After staying in Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, we made it a short day and rode to Rushing River Provincial Park the next day.  It was mostly nice and sunny, so we tried laying out all our gear to dry out from the daily rain since we'd hit the road.  Unfortunately there were sun showers about every hour, so we gave up on the idea of dry gear and went for a swim in Dog Tooth Lake. 

Campsite at Rushing River

The next day we got up early with the intent of riding to Moose Jaw SK to see family.  Unfortunately, the day began with Dad's battery being flat, for some inexplicable reason.  He hadn't left the key in, or any accessories on.  After getting a boost from a park ranger, the bike seemed to charge fine, and it hasn't been a problem since.  Still, the first stop of the day was to Canadian Tire for some booster cables to carry.

A tank of gas later in Winnipeg, I was looking over my bike as I had a drink, and I noticed evidence of quite a bit of oil weeping from both seals of my final drive.  It took some calling around, but I found a BMW dealership in Saskatoon and ordered the additional spare parts I'd need for the repair.  (I was already carrying one of the seals I'd need).

 Weeping final drive.  Shed a tear.

Not knowing how much oil had leaked out, I wanted to top up the final drive to ensure it wasn't running dry.  That was the second trip to Canadian Tire for the day.  That's when things got kinda bad.  The speed sensor on the final drive doubles as the plug for the fill hole.  It's a small plastic piece, known for cracking if you over tighten the bolt that holds it.  I was literally saying "don't over-tighten, don't over-tighten, don't over-tighten" out loud as I apparently over-tightened it.  I didn't know I'd cracked it, so we put it all back together thinking all was fine.

Looking smug, thinking we'd made a nice fast final drive oil top up

A tank of gas later, and all the final drive oil had leaked out the now empty fill hole, and was spread all over the back of my bike and gear.  We pulled around behind the Esso in Grenfell SK (pop. 947) and ran through our options.  We were no longer going to make it to Moose Jaw for the night, let alone the BBQ where three families had gathered to see us.  By the time we completed a roadside repair that we though would hold, it was getting dark and it sounded like heavy rain was coming.  We had a steak dinner at the local bar, and stayed at the local campground for the night.

The sign above the pool table read "Last Chance Saloon"

The next morning we hit the road to test the fix we'd made the night before.  Twenty km later I had oil all over my bike and baggage again; the fix was a fail.  Family in Saskatoon offered to come get my bike with a trailer, but we decided to try a similar repair one more time.  This time I used a bit more instant gasket, and we found a "spare" bolt somewhere else on the bike (which itself was replaced with a tie wrap) to replace the missing bolt that used to hold the speed sensor / oil plug.  This time the fix held, and we were able to make it the rest of the way to Saskatoon under our own power.

Broken speed sensor, and lots of instant gasket

We're staying with my mother's brother and sister-in-law, and I got to see their daughter (my cousin) for the first time in 17 years!  She was 12 last time I saw her.  She's getting married on Aug 5th (my anniversary, which is how they picked the date she assures me).  Hopefully a cousin and his family can make it up from Moose Jaw to see us tomorrow, we'll have breakfast at a favourite spot of the cousin who is getting married, and we'll focus on getting my bike repaired.