Feb 4 - never give up

Ok, I've slept on it.  It's time to try again.

Off goes the drivers side rear wheel again, out come the tools.  This time I'm going to try a punch, to see if I can get that screw rotating.

No go.  I hammered at that thing until I'd gone through the thin part that actually holds the rotor.  It's only 1/16" thick at the outer edge, after all.  It still wouldn't move.  Next, out comes the drill with a large bit.  I chewed away at it and hit the rotor on the other side with a hammer, rotating it around and around.

Success !  Vicegrips easily unscrewed it.  It still works, actually, but I'll pick up another when I'm at BMW next week to get the trailer hitch installed on the X5.

1/2 hour later I'd changed both rotors.  It's easy when nothing sticks.  I took it for a test drive and all's well.  I didn't bother with the handbrake pads -- there's still a lot of material left -- and the calipers are working fine.  I'd only had those in case the old ones were frozen closed.

Whew.  I didn't really need those new rotors but the old ones may very well be originals, not sure.  The new ones will stay nice and shiny for at least a couple of days :).

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I had a good ride south.  I was fully expecting to get wet but only got a sprinkle.  It looked like the real dump happened beachside.  I had a nice tail-wind on the way home.

However, there was some excitement.  USFWS was doing a controlled burn in the wildlife refuge and the smoke had enveloped the road.  A truck with flashing lights was stopping traffic.  He said that it would be a few minutes so I waited patiently.  It was smoky.  I stood there about 15 minutes.

Some cars came through the smoke heading north followed by another truck with flashing lights.  The fellow let the southbound cars through but said that they would put me on a truck through the smoke.  It was pretty dense so I didn't argue.  The truck ride was only about 1/2 mile and then I was in the sunlight again.

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Harris and Debbie had invited us over for a Warm Showers couple traveling through on a tandem.  Dave and Marilyn were interesting -- from Ohio and doing a circuit of Florida. 

Another day was done, well, not quite done as I had conversations with both Jeffrey and David who wanted to talk to me about their respective business opportunities.  Jeffrey is potentially changing jobs; David is looking to sell the dry cleaning store.  I talked to one and then the other long after my bedtime.

Onward ... no plans for today yet !