I'm NOT obsessive! and they ARE out to get us!

Ok, this is what solved the problem well enough for me to get back to the border in a precautionary bailout from my trip.
It held the (replacement) oil in and didn't fall out.
What more could I ask?

This is my 'solution' after 400$ for a 3 day trip to Saltillo NL Mexico and back.
Oh, and 300$ for new bearings and seals and 'guidance', plus half a day in the parts washer, and a day on the bench.
The neutral switch only gets changed with the transmission out, and the transmission drain plug is accessible enough to wire during any fluid change.
Now my motto (at least for drain plugs) is "What, me worry?"

Yes, I'm going to do the Engine Oil Drain Plug too. And then maybe the final drive and drive shaft.

12NOV08 Re-entry......

After a nice meal of shish-ka-bob on rice and frijoles, I retired to my room to listen to Spanish TV and the sound of 18-wheelers roaring northbound. One small veniette I forgot at the beginning of this trip:

The morning clerk at La Hacienda, as I was checking out, told me to be careful in Mexico. Having been repeatedly warned of the dangers of kidnapping, drug cartels, police on the take, etc, I launched into my "going across the border as quickly as I can, heading away from danger.." yadda yadda speech.
She said, "no, I mean watch out for the truckers. It's dangerous on a moto"
All she was trying to to was to tell a motorcyclist to be careful of big trucks. Again, this just put the trip back into perspective - first things first: drive carefully!

As promised, I waited only until dawn was blushing to the east and I could see hazards on the road before heading to my buddies who were, at that moment, sleeping in a Nissan pick-up in a parking lot in Laredo. I was further south than I had thought, so it was almost an hour before another 30$usd in toll and then the city traffic of Nuevo Laredo towards the vehicle immigration depot.
I had notice on the way in that the departure or cancellation booth stood alone in the parking lot, and did not require lining up for paperwork (or questions). A quick swing through the lot allowed the scanner (!!! pretty high tech stuff) to check my tag, the operator to check vin and pull said tag (most of it, anyway. Seems some always stays on the windshield as a badge of honor) and viacondios I was on my way to the bridge.
This morning I was IN traffic over the bridge between countries, and it was rush hour. Fortunately I noticed that bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles all seemed to take free advantage of their size to filter through sidewalks, blocked lanes, etc (even to the point of passing between the Federales and their armored car and the barricade) to rejoin the line when a slow accelerating car provided room. No one seemed to mind, so I did like the Romans. Not the Greeks.

Citizenship? US!
Whatcha doing in Mexico? Trying to get out!
PASS! Welcome Home!
and another 3$usd.

Sure enough, there were James and Jeff, all set to load the bike in the back and be off. I'd say they looked no worse for wear, but then, they always have a worn look about them.
After a short demonstration of spontaneous engineering (no ramp) we strapped the bike down and headed north for 7 hours.

Thanks again, guys.

11NOV08 and Dallas We have a Problema

I am constantly amazed at how the mind works.

There I was, standing in the cockpit door of my airliner, talking to the people as we flew over Paris in sight of the Eiffel Tower, trying to locate my pants when suddenly I woke up and knew I needed to unplug the GPS power cord or risk draining the battery. Weird.

La Hacienda was a perfectly adequate motel, particularly for the price, and the internet and free breakfast were icing on the cake. The only tarnish was that breakfast didn't open until 8am, and I really wanted to be on the road by then. Oh well, free breakfast to an airline pilot is like a sardine to an aquarium seal. We'll do about anything for it. So I wasn't until 9 that I was in que for the first check-point in the border crossing.

From the hotel one simply gets back on I-35South and heads, uh, south to the bridge. Bridges. There are 3 bridges at Laredo. One, two, and Columbia (for commerce). I crossed on #1 and went immediately to the customs booth. Here you play the odds with a green/red traffic light. Push the button and get green - you are good to go. If it shows red, however, you will be among the (un)lucky few who have to unload and open all your bags for inspection. Verde, gracias.

From here if you intend to explore the interior beyond 25km, you'll need to visit the immigration/vehicle immigration station, which is not connected to the customs building. In fact, you get your first taste of Nuevo Laredo traffic by winding this way and that through the streets just south of the border following blue 'vehicle inspection' signs through some amazing intersections that defy verbal description.

The immigration depot has a large parkinglot and two doors at opposite ends far apart. How long it will take to transit from one to the other is up to the gods, your preparation, and luck. First you show your passport and fill-out the personal application for tourist card. Then you get copies made of your passport and the application, and if you have a car (motorcycle) of your drivers license and registration. Now you move to the Bancijerito line. Here is where the real fun begins as you make payments and leave deposits. Mexico wants to make sure that if you were to leave your vehicle they would still get the tax on it's sale, so you will pay 1) a fee for your personal travel card 2) a fee for your vehicle travel sticker 3) a returnable deposit of about 10% of the vehicles value according to their sources. Also, more copies and stamps. If your name is spelled the same on all your documents and all the dates are correct and and and, you will receive receipts for the above as well as a paper personal travel card (never asked for it again, but keep it safe anyway) and a sophisticated and important looking sticker for the windshield of your vehicle. I do not know what you do if your bike doesn't have a screen, as it is like the registration sticker here in Texas with the numbers/info on the sticky side so as to be visible from the opposite side of the glass.

Gracias.

Now slap that bad boy on your windshield, carefully store all your documentos, and drive out of the parkinglot. Not bad. Really.

The first 8 miles or so is just city traffic. Watch out for taxis and busses, follow the signs for Monterrey 85 Cuota, and keep moving. I like to get out of town ASAP and out where people are friendlier. After that you are on the Autopista, a fine brushed concrete road for about 100 miles of poke me in the eye boredom until about 20 miles north of MTY when the mountains begin to appear from the smog. You'll also pay about 300p for toll as you leave 85 and turn west on 40Cuota to Saltillo.

Note that many of the signs are vague as to the route number, but pretty specific on destination. You'll need to look at your mappage in a slightly different way than you may be used to doing.

Right turn and I'm heading around MTY and it's concrete plants. I joked that what you see from the highway is a facade - once you get around the back side the mountains are being carved away hollow to make concrete to put up the buildings on the front.

Another 150p fee and a turn south onto 57Cuota and it's just about to get interesting. Really interesting.

I was cruising towards a tollbooth at about 65mph, when the bike felt a little squirrelly - like a tire gone flat (had one of those last year, for comparison), quick visual showed nothing amiss, but at stopped at the booth I noted oil drops on my boot and the center stand was shiny. Hmmm, not good. So I pulled over into a service plaza . Well, it was a row of tiendas, panadarias, and towel snappers (window washers). When I got off the bike I saw immediately that the entire rear end was covered in oil - not just any oil but the highly fragrant transmission oil! Including and especially the rear tire. I got on my hands and knees and saw the cause - the transmission drain plug had vibrated off and fallen away! NOT good. Not good at all!
So now what? Well, to make a long story short, the towel snappers and I fashioned a replacement plug from a pipe fitting (peened over to close it), the tienda (store) happened to have 80-90 wt transmission oil, and I filled it back up. Rather than continue into the mountains and rough roads on an uncertain patch job and questionable transmission bearings, I called my rescue team of Jeff B and James P who volunteered to meet me in Laredo (neither has permission to leave the country). I turned about and headed north. Dammit. It was just getting good.
I may be overly conservative, but I'm not a Ted Simon type who can suffer a breakdown and just sit by the road and wait for karma to deliver salvation. It had, in the form of a plug and oils, but now I needed to not over tax it's abilities by breaking down a second time in the rough mountains of MX.
I got to the end of the northbound Cuota 85, 60miles south of Laredo and stopped at dusk at hotel El Rancho, which is sort of an oasis park with hotel, restaurant, store and gas station. Like Howard Johnson's on the interstate when you were a kid and your parents made you go swimming in your underwear.

An interesting day.

10NOV08 DFW to LRD and all is well, so far

Anybody try the link? I know it has worked today, but I'm curious as to what will become of today's track tomorrow. Do the little cookies get eaten like Hansel and Gretel? I have to reset the device to track every 24 hours, so I suspect the website resets itself as well.
It is a mixed blessing to know that the guys are waiting at the coffee shop to send you off with their good wishes. One hurries when one should be contemplating the lists.
The lists.
You have a list for packing - which can take months to create and is sometimes nearly as much entertainment as the trip itself
You have a list of things to do in the morning before you leave. Those things you wake up and write down in an illegible hand.
And you have the list of things you remember about 40 miles from home when it's probably too far to go back, but maybe not, geez is it that important, can I live without it?
Hopefully the lists go from most important to least, and you can buy a spare whatsis at the Wally world when you go by.

ANYWAY, it was great of John B, Wolf T, James P, and Jeff B to meet me at Starbucks and walk around the bike pointing out unclosed zippers, drips of fluid and questioning the integrity of my tires and sanity.
Jeff even rode the first 40 miles with me.
After that is was due south for 6+47, or about 422 miles at 62 miles per hour average. Why so slow? Why any faster? Comfortable speed, cool day. Ran into a few showers between Austin and San Antonio, but didn't even need to add waterproofs.

It gets a little long after S.A., but eventually the White and Green Border Patrol vans become increasingly frequent, and the license plates more foreign. I'm esconched in La Hacienda at exit 3A, just a couple miles north of the border. 45 a night, all included, free internet and breakfast. Cool. When the receptionist said to hold on while she made a key, I was expecting the mag-swipe plastic card that so befuddle Richard Gere in Pretty Woman. Wrong. She went to a cutting machine and CUT a METAL key blank and then took dies and stamped the number on it.
She didn't look much like Julia Roberts anway.
Right across the street they sell MX insurance (60$ for 4 days) which is literally a 'get out of jail free' card and YOU NEED ONE. It took longer than I expected (get used to that, Randy), so I didn't have time to cross over and get my tourist card and vehicle card. The ins agent suggested that it might be better to do in the morning and just keep going anyway. I think she meant for the continuity of it, but also it follows my own idea of hitting the border at 90 degerees and keep on going AWAY from any trouble. Not like I've seen any.

Ok, so far I've see no trouble. I have cell coverage, GPS mappage, SPOT following, and internet.

Not much of an adventure.

9NOV08 The night before departure

How could I have left all this until the last minute?

Food? Clothes? Tools? Parts? Packing? and now this tracker thingie.
It's called SPOT and if you'll got to this website:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0HSRss2qR9qs52jNN8q7yJe2UgnFTgDIh
you should be able to watch my progression. Should being the operative term as I am borrowing the unit and have a limited amount of time to play with it and modify it's e-signature...
I'll flesh this out more later (yeah, right, like I'm gonna finish the trek to Machu Picchu!), but theres the site.
Suerte!