Snippets

[Crusty]

Mid-Summer Thoughts


Today is August 6. It’s about as mid-summer as it gets. I’ve had a relatively laid back summer, so far; but I think it’s about to get a good bit busier for the second half. The Tramp in me is awake and is wanting to stretch his legs. The trip up to New England woke him up and now, he doesn’t want to go back to sleep.

Tomorrow, I’m riding up to Indianapolis to go to El Corcel and have a Burrito Loco for Dupper (or is it Linner?) with RD. I’m also going to borrow his bearing puller; that way I can change out the bearings in the rear wheel for the Cussed’em. I don’t like the disc rear wheel that it came with and I have a cast spoked rear wheel for it. I just have to change out the bearings, which I’ve had for a few months. I’m also thinking about hitting the Swap Meet in Springfield (Ohio) in the morning. The catch is that I’m broke this month and even if I see some smoking’ deals, I don’t have the money to buy anything. Still; I like Swap Meets, even when I’m just looking and I’m curious about what a Waldeck’s Swap Meet is like. They hold one in Springfield about 4 or 5 times a year, but there’s always been a reason I couldn’t make it to one. I’ve been to a variety of Swap Meets in the Northeast (Mass., Conn, New Hampshire and New York), Colorado and even Florida during Bike Week. I’d like to see what a Swap Meet in Ohio is like.

The WVBR is coming up in another week and a half. That’s my favorite rally. Two Wheels of Suches is my favorite campground anywhere, but the WVBR is better in an “Old Time” kind of way. It’s purely a camping rally with truly varied but really good people. It has its own spirit and I always have fun there.

I’m really hoping that Dark Horse will have my engine done by then. They got the rods a week or so ago and are building the crankshaft. Andrew (the Customer Service Rep) is on vacation and won’t be back until next week, but he said he’ll call me as soon as it’s ready.

After that, there’s the Springfield Mile weekend. They’re holding Miles on both Saturday and Sunday and that’s something I’m really looking forward to.

After that; well; I have a flock of medical stuff to endure. Blood tests, visits with an Eye Specialist and my Primary Care Doctor, and even my Cardiologist.

I also have my Birthday in September. I’m going to do my usual - go to Aglamesis Bros. and have them make me my favorite sundae; sliced banana discs, strawberry ice cream, hot fudge and marshmallow toppings. I’ll grill a Rib Eye over Charcoal for dinner, then I’ll light off a few hundred little rockets. Since my birthday is on the Equinox, it’s a great way to celebrate both the end of my favorite season and the day I entered this crazy world.

Tonight is the Half Mile from Sturgis. I think I’ll be watching it and hoping that Jeffrey Carver wins it. He’ll be on the only XR 750 in the field. That would really tickle me.

Since it’s Saturday, I guess I’ll have Hot Dogs and Baked Beans for dinner. That sounds good to me.

[sportsterpaul]

Nice again John, thanks for the post. Got back home, again, this afternoon having only spent one night in my own bed through the last month. Will start sorting wires and prepping for the WVBR, fingers crossed.

[Crusty]

Just Another Ride




Yesterday, I rode up to Indianapolis to have lunch with RD at El Corcel. I had a bit of confusion when I got off I-465 to go to his house. The road was closed and the bridge over the Interstate was being replaced. I took side streets until I was able to get on the south side of the highway, then eventually made my way to streets that I recognized and rode to his house.


RD was waiting when I arrived and showed me the latest improvements to the Good Guy (his Himalayan). I especially like the little boxes he’s mounted to the engine crash bars. We talked for a few minutes, then rode over to the restaurant.


El Corcel is a Mexican/Peruvian restaurant and it must be really good, as once again, the place was full of people speaking Spanish, eating and enjoying themselves. It has to be both good and authentic to have business like that. Both RD and I ordered Burrito Locos. It’s a large flour tortilla filled with little strips of marinated beef, Chorizo, onions and I don't know what else, but it tastes really wonderful. There are no beans in it, which is different from what I’m used to, but it’s a treat for my taste buds. I thought RD and I were the only people in the place that didn’t learn English as a second language, but RD spotted three people I didn’t see; a young couple and a cop. Everyone in there was friendly and the food was in a class of its own. I’ll be back for more.


We got back to RDs house and I strapped the bearing puller to the sissy bar. RD is lending it to me so I can change out the wheel bearings on the replacement rear wheel of the Cussed’em. Tracy (RDs wife) arrived home just before I was going to leave, so I stayed a little longer and we talked a bit before I set out for my adventure ride home.


I had done my usual planning for a Meet & Eat. I rode up the shortest and most direct route (Interstate), but planned a longer route home on secondary roads. I was doing fine until I saw a detour sign, then I went the way the sign said. That wound up putting me on I-69. I rode that south until the city of Martinsville, then I got off and rode east across some beautiful countryside. Google Maps calls it, Painted Hills, Indiana. The road was very lightly traveled and very twisty and it had good pavement.


I stopped and got gas in Trafalgar and asked to see a map at the gas station. I had been on State Route 252 East, but east is only a suggestion. I remember being at an intersection in Amarillo, Texas, once and saw I was on routes going east, south and north, all at the same time. The gas station didn’t have a map, so I asked a lady who was going in if she was a local, and she gave me directions to US 31. That put me back on my original planned route and I took it to US Rt. 50 which brought me back to greater Cincinnati.


Along the way, I had passed several displays indicating the temperature was either 89 or 90º F (32º C). It was fairly warm (I was sweating constantly), but I guess I’m getting used to that. It will really suck when winter arrives; I’ll be freezing my butt off. And I’m planning to ride to the Arctic Ocean next Spring?


Anyhow; I made it back home. I drank a lot of water last night. I probably should have stopped more often and drank more during the ride.


But, I had a good time. A good lunch with a good friend and a good ride over beautiful roads.


That works for me.

[Crusty]

More Short Stories


I was reading a series of very short stories written in the 1950s by Arthur C. Clarke. The general theme was the building of space stations around the earth. In one of them, there was a statement that weather was accurately forecast because of the ability to see how the clouds were moving.

We now have weather satellites that are pretty advanced; yet the forecast is only accurate a small part of the time. For example, the 10 day forecast for the Cincinnati area was for rain on 8 of those 10 days when I looked at it a couple of days ago and again, yesterday. In fact, yesterday was supposed to be very wet all day long. Instead; the only rain I saw was when I rode over to get gas and hit the supermarket. When I set out, it was sunny. Within a mile, it was completely overcast, and by the time I got to the gas pumps at Sam’s Club, a couple of miles later, it was pouring and I was soaked.

I rode from there to the supermarket, and the rain stopped and it was sunny again when I arrived. When I left with my groceries, it was sunny and remained sunny all the way home, but it was also raining on me almost the entire way. Once I was back home, it remained sunny for the rest of the day and everything dried out.

This morning, the 10 day forecast has changed. Now, it’s supposed to be sunny for 8 of the next 10 days.

I checked the weather for the area around the WVBR, next week and it changed from rain every day to rain for only a couple of days. We’ll see.

Once again, if you believe the weather forecast; you deserve what you get.

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I replaced the stripped gear in my garage door opener. The new gear is going to be chewed up within a couple of months. I’ve decided that I’ve had enough. The manual lock that was available is a royal PITA to use, so when the present setup fails again, I’m just going to replace the opener. If I was more affluent, I’d have a company like Overhead Door come in and replace the whole door, opener, etc and be done with it. Maybe in the future, but for now, just the motor head.

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I borrowed RDs bearing puller on Sunday. After I got the garage door opener working again on Monday, I decided to pull the old bearings out of the rear wheel that’s waiting to go on the Cussed’em. Ha!

The bearings wouldn’t budge. I grabbed the propane torch and tried to heat the wheel hub. Still wouldn’t budge. I walked away before I did something stupid. Yesterday, I sprayed some penetrating oil around the outer race of the one bearing. In a little while, I’ll go down to the basement and see if I can get the job done. I’m hoping that the PB Blaster, along with some heat will be enough.

At one company that I worked for, we used to heat aluminum parts at 350º F for 45 minutes and bearings would drop right in. I wonder how long it would take for the smell from a wheel to go away from the oven in my stove? I’d hate it if my Shake & Bake pork chops tasted like an old wheel or PB Blaster. It’s an electric stove, so I could run the oven clean cycle for a few hours afterwards. I bet that would do the trick. I’ll keep that in the back of my mind if I have no success this morning.

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A vulture was on the sidewalk in front of my next door neighbor’s house eating a dead squirrel the other day. It was a big, ugly bird and it stood about two feet high. It was completely unconcerned that several of us humans were standing around watching it tear off pieces of rodent and swallowing them.

There are a lot of wild animals that are coming into cities, anymore. A few years ago, three deer walked up the middle of the street and stood watching kids playing in a yard a few houses up the hill. Then the deer walked down the sidewalk and went down the side street and out of my sight. When I lived in Massachusetts, a moose had walked into downtown Framingham and became panicked when it got to the end of an alley and it was surrounded by buildings. I also saw a coyote in Hudson, mass when I worked there. I won’t go into details about the various skunks, raccoons and rats the size of a small dog.

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The other day, I wrote that I was burning out on writing these Snippets. Since then, I’ve cranked out a few more. I guess it was just a temporary lapse. On maybe this spurt is the temporary condition. I don’t know.

I know that I enjoy hacking them out and that there are some people who enjoy my babblings; I guess that I’ll continue until it’s no longer fun.

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Joe, who gave me the lift, is having serious health problems. If you pray, please add him to your prayers. He’s a really good guy.

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Well; It’s time to function. I’ll either fix brunch, or go play with the wheel. I hope I don’t have to use the oven to get the old bearings out.

[ChinCactus]

Well, at least you aren't married. Women tend to frown on MC parts in the oven.

I remember 10 or so years ago when the National Weather Service got their new super computers, a spokesman said they would be able to predict the weather a year in advance with "pinpoint accuracy."

Apparently no one told that to Mother Nature.

[spoon]

I for one enjoy your snippets. A view of the world from someone else's eyes is enjoyable. And you don't paint things in a negative color.

[ChinCactus]

Originally Posted by spoon

I for one enjoy your snippets. A view of the world from someone else's eyes is enjoyable. And you don't paint things in a negative color.

+1

Also, we need to follow the Arctic Circle trip!