Lessons

  I remember the ride from Glacier Nat'l Park through western Montana being beautiful - especially through all the winding foothill roads.  It was a shame when my clutch began slipping more and more.  My adjustments got more extreme and before long I was out of threads and still had a LOT of play in the clutch lever.
  Once the land leveled out I was impressed with the expansive farmlands, quantity of huge hay bails and 'big sky'.  It's like you're always on top of a hill looking out over a valley and all your peripheral vision sees is sky!
By mid-evening I made it to Fort Peck Lake, MT, where I set up camp and put the stresses of the day aside.

  The following morning I set out for Sturgis, SD, where the local BMW shop would surely square me away.  Hey, still new and didn't want to take risks concerning bike maintenance and reliability.
  I rode easy, the roads were smooth and my clutch held out the whole 400+ miles.  I suspect patting it like a 'good puppy' ever so often was the right touch...
  After a lengthy discussion with the service manager of all the possibilities I checked into the Super 8 behind the dealer for two nights - I expected this to take a while.
  The following morning my bike was good to go!  No clutch replacement and leak to fix!  Somehow the adjustment screw down on the transmission had backed off six or seven threads. 
  Seems to me I should have known or thought about something like that if I were truly a responsible bike owner.  It's like I joked with the old man - we're men, we learn simple things the hard way sometimes!
  With daylight burning and a guaranteed place to sleep I hit the roads for the rest of the day and enjoyed the Black Hills area!