| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
If I ever get into a situation where I'm on trial, I would certainly hope I have at least one person like you in the jury. | ||
| Crusty |
If You Don’t Like The Weather… If you don’t like the weather in “—“, just wait a minute. I’ve heard that just about everywhere I’ve been to in the US. Growing up in Massachusetts, I heard it about New England. I thought we had quickly changing weather, but it was the only place I’d lived, so I didn’t give it any mind. When I started Traveling, it took a while before I noticed weather changes. I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a couple of months in 1969, and every day was about the same, weather wise. Sunny and hot. A couple of times, thunderstorms came through, but that was it. I did a little traveling after that, but I didn’t notice fast weather changes until I moved to Colorado Springs in 1973. Colorado had the most bizarre weather patterns I’d ever encountered. I regularly saw 70º days in January and February, and it would usually snow at least once in June. The weather would also do some really fast changes. One day during the winter in 1975 or ’76, we had one of those magnificent warm days, and I rode over to Doc’s BMW shop on the east side of town to hang out for a while. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was in the mid 70s. I was in the back shooting the bull when Doc came back and said that I’d better get home before the snow hit me. I laughed and said something like, “Yeah, Right!”. He told me to go look at the mountains. When I looked west, I couldn’t see the front range. It was a wall of grey. I beat it out of there (I was living on the west side of town), and it was snowing heavily on me before I got home. It went from a flawless day with idyllic temperatures to a freezing Blizzard in less than 45 minutes. I was down in Louisiana in 1981, traveling with my friends Ron and Melia, and it was a beautiful sunny day in June. Suddenly, a downpour started. It freakin’ poured for about 15 minutes, then the sun came out, and everything dried out. An hour later, it did the same thing again. It went from hot and sunny to one hell of a downpour instantly, then back to sunny just as fast. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to never fully trust weather forecasts. In 1996, I went to the DuQuoin Mile. The forecast was for sunny weather and no rain. As I was passing through Indiana, I got hit by a cloudburst. It passed, but left me soaked. Then I got hit by another. I stopped in a rest area, where the Weather Channel was on a TV inside the building. It was still saying sunny and hot while it was pouring outside. Once I got to the track, it poured there for a while. The races were delayed, but eventually, they managed to get the program in. When I travel, I usually bring my electric jacket liner, even in the summer. In 2015, When I woke up in Yellowstone Park, it was 29º, and there was ice along the sides of the streams. It had been in the 80s when I set up camp the day before. I was glad I had the liner with me. I wore it for a few hours until it warmed back up. No matter where I’ve traveled, I’ve found unusual weather. The worst ride I was ever on was down the Burringbar Range in New South Wales during the wee hours of the morning in a Cyclone (the South Pacific’s version of a Hurricane). Heavy rain, strong wind, very slick pavement on a really twisty pass that had no pavement markings whatsoever. I was going maybe 20 MPH, and that was too fast for conditions. I couldn’t see anything. My headlight was useless. I’m still not sure why I didn’t run off the road or hit anything, but that ride is firmly lodged in my mind, and I won’t forget it. Anyhow, I wanted to hack out a Snippet about weather. Today, it’s supposed to be nice, with temps reaching the low to mid 60s. I hope that’s true, but I’ll have my rain gear in the saddlebags, just in case. } | ||
| Ourdee |
Eating during deliberations. Have the court cater in from a high end place, if you are there through supper. We had large boxes from Shapiro's in Indianapolis. Filled with piles of everything. | ||
| Crusty |
It’s Over I’m exhausted. I’m sitting here listening to Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris and I’m working on my third cup of Kenya and thinking about what I’m going to do today, and also about the trial I was a juror on. The trial is over. We found the Defendant Not Guilty on all 8 charges. It was not at all cut and dried. There was a lot of heresay, and we had the duty to try and sort out truth from all the information given. I’m not a religious man. However, every morning for the past few days, I found myself praying for wisdom. It’s one hell of a responsibility to have the ability to ruin somebody’s life in your hands. And it seemed that somebody’s life was going to be ruined no matter which way the Verdict went. However, the Premise of American Law is that a man (or woman) is innocent until proven guilty beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt. While many of us thought the Defendant was probably guilty, there was a lot of room for doubt. It took us over four and a half hours of discussion, rehashing and dissecting the various details and facts presented by the attorneys during the trial. In the end, we were all agreed and we were Unanimous in declaring him Not Guilty. One thing I’m sure of is that if I'm ever accused of committing a crime, I know which attorneys I don’t want to defend me. Personally, I felt that I could have come up with a better defense. Anyway, it’s over. I hope I made the right decisions; I know that I did my best to be fair and impartial, and I also feel that the other members of the jury did their best, too. One nice thing is that I won’t have to do it again for at least three years. Now, on to lighter matters. Today, I’m going to hit the quarter car wash, then put a shine on the Roadster. She’s filthy and dull looking. Some elbow grease will go a long way. One of my fork seals has started leaking, so I hope things aren’t too busy at the shop yet, and I can get her in and get the seals changed out; hopefully on Monday or Tuesday. I have to change my focus a little and channel more money toward the shop instead of the plastic this month. My tab is getting way too big and I need to bring it down. Tomorrow’s Easter Sunday. It’s a holiday of Hope and Re-birth. I’m going to spend a laid back day and hit an AA Meeting, then fix a nice Rib eye steak (I bought a beauty, last night!) I’ll also have Mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, gravy, some Birds Eye California Blend Vegetables and I think I'll get some flaky biscuits to go with it, while I'm out today. I also bought a quart of Brigham’s Strawberry Ice Cream (which I consider to be the absolute best Ice Cream I’ve ever eaten) for dessert. The nice part is that there’s no way in hell I can eat all of that in one sitting, so I’ll have to eat half tomorrow, and have the left overs one night this week for dinner. Wah-Hoo! I hope you all have a Blessed Easter, full of Love and Hope and Joy! Oh, RD; they fed us Pizza and soda for lunch, while we deliberated.. It was good pizza, so I'm happy (Message edited by Crusty on April 15, 2017) | ||
| Ourdee |
Unanimous not guilty. That is impressive. Trial I was on was pretty simple. Dirt-bag was trying for a lesser level of the type of murder. His lawyer did pretty good considering he had a lost cause to start with. Probably best his client didn't talk. I do envy you relationship with the shop. You are a blessed man. | ||
| Tootal |
The only trial I've been on was a Lemon Law case where a contractor was driving his Mercedes around construction sites and tearing his exhaust off. He blamed Mercedes and wanted a new car. They had just had a model upgrade that year. He claimed he took it in for the same thing 3 times and it was a lemon. Well long story short, the lemon law in Illinois says you have to have brought it in for the same problem 3 times in 6 months. He did not meet that requirement so he loses the case IMO. But we had these nutjobs on the jury that were whining that since he spent so much money on that car it shouldn't break! Are you kidding me!!! It took us 12 hours of deliberation before we got the whiners to concede. One note, Mercedes uses a bicycle chain molded inside their rubber exhaust mounts. They are the best on the market as they can only expand so far and they won't break! This guy was just trying to get the new model, period. But he had no case, period! | ||
| Crusty |
I Have An Idea So I’m not going to make it to the Arctic Ocean this year and it’s taking longer to buy my dream house than I thought it would take and it’s taking longer to pay down the plastic than I had expected; so what am I going to do this summer? These are the thoughts that have been running through my head today. The weather today was magnificent. It was up into the mid 80s , and it felt heavenly. If I didn’t have a leaking fork seal, I probably would have blown off the Easter Dinner and went to Vermont or New Hampshire. Instead, I only did a 40 mile loop around central Massachusetts. I went by my favorite waterfall and rode past Mount Wachusett and circled around eventually getting back to Hudson. But still; the question remains. Tomorrow is when HUD is reviewing bids on my latest hopeful house. If I get it, I’ll be pretty busy for a while moving and getting settled in and fixing the things that need fixing. But I don’t know if they’ll accept my offer. I might be putting in offers on other places and playing the same silly hurry up and wait game. In the meantime, I’m getting itchy. I guess that a series of short trips might be the way to go. I was looking at the Flat Track schedule, and even if I don’t have a house by Memorial Day, I could ride out and see the Springfield Mile. The Saturday after that is the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky, so I could see the Springfield TT and the Springfield Mile and the Red Mile and still keep a fairly low profile, financially. I’m hoping to have a place by the time Mark’s West Virginia Rally rolls around in August, but even if I don’t, I’ll be in Harrisville for that. If I’m still in Taxachusetts in July, I’ll do my Vermont ride. I didn’t take that trip last year, though in 2015, I did a more involved ride through northern New England. Maybe I should do like I did one year with my Ex and ride along through Upper State New York and make my way to Syracuse to eat at the Dinosaur. The Syracuse Dinosaur is the original location, and it’s still my favorite. Of course, I’d have to ride over to the Mohawk Power and Light Building and pay my respects to Iron Mike while I’m in the neighborhood. Where else? Well, if the mood strikes, I could see a large number of races. It’s only the West Coast tracks that are out of reach. But I’m kind of at a loss. On the one hand. I want to keep a low profile and pay down the credit card ASAP; on the other hand, however, I want to go places and see things. Part of me is saying, “Screw the house, just get on the bike and ride!” but the bigger part of me is saying, “ Have a little patience; you can have your cake and eat it too.” Knowing myself the way I do, I’ll want to say, “Screw it!”, but I’ll sit and wait until the right house appears at the Right Time. And I’ll try to keep the Tramp side of me mollified by doing short trips. Next year, though, I’m riding to Tuktoyaktuk; house or no house. (Message edited by Crusty on April 17, 2017) | ||
| Etennuly |
The book's title reads: "How Stress Can Kill the Retired Man", by Crusty Rider!  | ||
| Griffmeister |
There's always the ADK starting May 19th. If you can't make a long trip, you could check more local tracks for some race action. Oakland Valley Race Park in NY has a little flat track in the back. They cater to all skill levels, but if it's on two wheels it can't be all bad. | ||
| Njloco |
(Message edited by njloco on April 17, 2017) (Message edited by njloco on April 18, 2017) | ||
| Griffmeister |
Okay, so I'm a little on edge about Lake George, I missed last year and now the bike's in pieces so I have to get it together by May. John was just talking about maybe having more chances to take short trips. I mentioned Oakland Valley because it could be done in a day from west of Boston, or even better to overnight in the area and meander back through the Catskills on the way home. After all, it's all about the ride. | ||
| Crusty |
Just A Few Random Thoughts HUD picked someone else’s offer for the latest house over ours. That makes something like nine houses that I was interested in that got away. To be honest, we only put in offers on four of them. I’m starting to think I’m not meant to get a house. I’m not quite ready to give up on getting one, but it’s looking more likely with each failure. The left fork seal on the Roadster is leaking. Business at the shop has picked up. The Spring Rush is on, so there;s no available lift for me to use. That’s OK, but I have to figure out how I’m going to change out the seals on the side of the street in front of the storage garage. The worst part is that I have no power there, and pulling the bolt that holds the damper rod to the lower leg is going to be a royal PITA. Another problem is that the rear brake pedal is binding a little bit on the footpeg clevis. I’m going to go by American Harley in Leominster and get one, along with a couple of exhaust nuts. The two nuts for the front pipe were missing when I went to put the new muffler on the other day. It just seems that the Roadster is having one problem after another, all of a sudden. It’s nickel and dimeing me into poverty. I was hoping to hang onto it for at least another year, but maybe it’s time to get a new bike. I just don’t know what I’d get, right now. If I get an EBR, I could get a deal, but I’d have to put a lot of work into making it Right and I don’t want to do that at the present time. I’d consider a new Roadster, but they have that freakin’ short rear fender that almost guarantees me getting a skunk stripe on my back every time it rains. I could change it, but once again, I don’t feel like having to put in the work. I mean, I’d have to figure out how to modify the saddlebag frames to fit. Another bike that's caught my eye is the new 750 Street Rod, but it’s the same story. I'd have to make some serious modifications, and I'm just not up for that, right now. I guess that if I buy any new bike it’ll be an EBR. Nothing other than the three bikes I mentioned has any appeal at the present time. The unusually warm weather is over for now. The temps are supposed to be just a little cooler than average for the next 10 days. It’s a hair too cool for enjoyable tramping. Oh Well; I’ll just have to hang on for a while longer. I can’t really enjoy riding ant distance until I get the seals changed out anyhow. Well, I think I’ll ride over to Lemminstah and get the nuts and the footpeg clevis. That’ll give me something to occupy my afternoon. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I assume you tried the old hook-shaped film trick on the fork seal? Roadgrit this time of year sucks pretty bad. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Crusty, this may fix your leak... http://www.sealmate.net/forkseals.html | ||
| Crusty |
Wow. Both Two seasons on Badweb and Chin Cactus on the XL Forum recommended the seal mate, so I just ordered one. For the price, it's definitely worth giving it a shot. If it works, it'll save me a lot of aggravation. Thanks, guys! | ||
| Griffmeister |
Wish I'd of thought of it at Toymakers. I keep one in my tank bag. Sorry. | ||
| Crusty |
The seal wasn't leaking then. I bought a pair for ten bucks with shipping. If it works, it will be a big help. If it doesn't work, then I'm out the price of a Combination C-15 Dinner at the Peking Garden (General Tso's Chicken, Crab Rangoon, Boneless Ribs and Pork Fried Rice). I'll stay home and have Hot Dogs for dinner. (Not just any Hot Dogs; Kayem Natural Casing Franks. My absolute favorites) (Message edited by Crusty on April 19, 2017) | ||
| Damnut |
John, you are more than welcome to use my garage whenever you need it. I have every tool imaginable, including air tools. I also have a lift, welder, torches, tunes and a fridge full of beer and soda. And don't forget the 3 badass Buells and a kick-ass EBR in there so if you didn't get your shit done by the end of the day you could take your pick of bikes to get home. I don't even have to be home, I'll give you the code to my garage to get in. Don't be a stubborn prick. lol Come down, get your shit fix and go home happy. You won't owe me a thing, that's what friends are for. | ||
| Crusty |
Jim; I might just take you up on the offer. Let me try this Seal Mate first. If it works, I won't need the use of a garage. If it doesn't, and I have to swap out the seals, I'll call you. I still have your phone #. AS far as being a stubborn prick; it's what I am. I earned the name Crusty a while back. | ||
| Crusty |
Great News!!! I am about to become a homeowner! The offer we put in was accepted, so now the circus begins! I'm so excited that I can't focus my eyes! Here's a link to the listing on Realtor.com, if you want to see the house: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4 030-Saint-Martins-Pl_Cincinnati_OH_45211_M44330-71 424 I feel like I could walk on air! | ||
| Buellish |
Neat house John,congratulations!Is there outside access to the basement?Is this in a suburb of Cincinnati? | ||
| Buellish |
I see it say's Cincinnati on the link,look before you ask,Powell! | ||
| Ocbueller |
Looks about perfect. Best of Luck with the purchase. SteveH | ||
| 1313 |
KICK ASS!!! Cincinnati is a pretty good place to end day 1 on my annual trip up to Homecoming. Just sayin'... Just remember to keep focused on the end goal (a place to call your own) when the purchase process gets irritating. But I have a feeling that you'll do just fine! 1313 | ||
| Crusty |
Mike, There's a door into the garage. I don't know if there's another outside door to the basement . I haven't been in it yet. My brother David went and checked it out for me and gave me a pretty detailed report. he gave it a Thumbs up, so I said let's go for it. It does need some work, but it's all doable. I have to give a big Shout Out to my brother David. He lives in Cincinnati, and he's been doing all the running around for me. He knows the City and what areas I would or wouldn't want to live in and he's been going to the houses and checking them out for me, giving them either a thumbs up or down. He took a ton of pictures at each house he went to and made very detailed reports for me. I definitely couldn't have done this without his help. After I lost the house in Leominster, I thought I'd never be a home owner again, and it really hurt. To see this happening is such a rush, I can't even begin to describe it! I'm Extremely Happy and Excited!!! | ||
| Crusty |
Brankin, Once I'm in, you have a place to stay. I don't know how long it will be before I'm in. Real Estate deals sometimes take a while. Oh; that offer is good for any Badwebber. Once I get the NoMar bolted to the floor, I'll also do free tire changes. (I'll probably throw in a meal cooked over charcoal if I have a grill by then) | ||
| Buellish |
John,I saw the out building,is it the garage? | ||
| Crusty |
No; the garage is in the basement. Front entrance. | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
That doesn't even look like it needs a BadWeb roofing party. Maybe a BadWeb painting party. Congratulations Crusty! | ||
| Court |
Crusty . . . well done! Now we have to hasten the foodie gathering at the undisclosed location before you skate out of the area. I really like it. It cries out to be painted but everything else looks sound and ready for you to hit the ground running. Here's my hint . . . let the Badwebbers help you paint . . . but have someone else choose the colors. :-) I mean . . .look at the folks we hang out with?? Congratulations ! |
