| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
Belatedly enjoying a tipple of the brown spirit from a special unmarked bottle, in glasses sent to me by a friend, acquired along his journey in a distant land.  Run on sentence, I know. Followed by fragments. | ||
| Ourdee |
So, You know why I want one. | ||
| Crusty |
If it's the bike that speaks to you, then you should get one. Everybody has that one magic bike that calls to them. Don't ignore that call. | ||
| Ourdee |
I haven't sat on one yet. | ||
| Pwnzor |
It's a supreme riding experience. The power rolls on immediately and the torque curve isn't really a curve at all. Smooth, agile, fast. | ||
| Crusty |
Better Get a Bucket It’s a March day out there. It’s snowing, but the snow isn’t sticking to anything. Everything is too warm for the snow to stick. Even the air, but it’s close enough to the freezing mark that the flakes survive until they make contact with the ground. There’s a work crew in the street putting in a new Water Main. They have a barricade set up at the end of the street saying that the street is closed. I have a five gallon bucket of water sitting in the kitchen just in case the water gets shut off. They broke the main, a couple of days ago and I was without water for a while until they got it repaired. It didn’t really inconvenience me, ‘cause I was busy with the 78 Sportster for most of the time it was off. It’s a good idea to be prepared, though. That was my old Boy Scout motto and it makes sense. I’m typing this on my old MacBook Pro. It’s old and tired, but there are some things that I prefer over my newer and faster Dell laptop. I prefer the Apple Text Edit to Microsoft’s Word. Overall, I prefer the MacBook, but Apple wants big money for a new one, so I’ll continue to use the Dell. Don’t get me wrong, the Dell is a neat computer. It has a screen that flips around to become a tablet. However, it’s schizophrenic when it comes to connecting with my WiFi. I don’t have to manually tell it to connect every time I boot up, but it happens often enough to be an annoyance. The Dell is also a little smaller than the Mac. That makes it preferable for carrying on the bike. But the biggest advantage of the Dell is that it boots up quickly. I don’t know why, but the Mac takes a long while to get to the point that it’s usable. I’m talking a sizable fraction of an hour. Once it’s booted up, it works OK, but I tend to shut the laptops down when I’m done using them. That’s something that’s developed over time. It used to boot up quickly, but those days are in its past. I wonder if it could have its memory wiped and many of the programs removed and reinstalled, if that would speed it back up again? Another thing I should mention is that both laptops were gifts. My daughter and Son-in-Law gave me the Mac back when I was preparing to hit the road. I had only had desktop computers to that point. It took me a little while to get used to the Mac, but once I did, I really got to like it. The Dell unexpectedly arrived at my house, one day. It was a gift from a friend who had noticed that the Mac was slowing down and he felt that I could use something newer. Both the Mac and the Dell were used and both were very helpful. I hope I don’t sound like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth. That’s not my intention and I appreciate both the thoughts behind the gifts and the gifts themselves. And they both have their strengths and weaknesses. In a little while, I’m going back down to the basement to play with the 78 some more. I bought a can of spray Carburetor Cleaner and I think I should give the carb a little more attention I want to make sure that the jets are clear. That black tar was really nasty. I had a hard time getting it out of the float bowl. I hope it isn’t plugging the jets, though it probably is. If I have to, I’ll buy new jets. But I want to do what I can to be sure the rest of the carb is clean and working properly. I can also do a little more cleaning on the bike. It needs it all over. I’ll put on the local Classical Music station and just relax and make the bike look prettier. It’s not a bad way to spend a cold, wet winter day. | ||
| Ourdee |
I just got back from the post office. I went out in the lovely manna from heaven to ship a birthday package to South Korea. The 11:00 o'clock sirens are wailing. I hope it is not an air raid from those sneaky Ruskies. No bright flashes. Must be another blessed day in Merika! Having a great late breakfast here: Left over stone baked pizza, Coca-Cola, and Jelly Belly jelly beans for dessert. I really need to get my gear and luggage sorted for Twos but the garage is a little chilly right now. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I wonder if it could have its memory wiped and many of the programs removed and reinstalled, if that would speed it back up again? John, I'm sure we can speed that old Macbook up by replacing the old hard drive with a SSD (solid state drive). Cheap, too. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Speaking of Macbooks...I run my audio company on a MB Pro, 500gb. I've doubled (maxed) the RAM with new chips, but it still locks up and maxes out the memory when I run my audio editing suite. Ideas? Would the SSD help me in a situation like this, or do I need to just get a new machine? | ||
| Ratbuell |
Forgive the hijack...  | ||
| Pwnzor |
SSD replaces the hard drive and everything will work faster, but it will not help you with your RAM problem unless your software is capable of addressing a part of the SSD as Virtual RAM. But... SSD's are still not as fast as RAM. | ||
| Tootal |
John, if your pc is slowing down you might try downloading CCleaner. It takes out a lot of CRAP, that is what that first C means, and helps speed things up. https://www.ccleaner.com/ My friend that does internet security at a bank told me about this. They have a FREE version that is all you really need. I've used it for years and my computer is still fast. It may take a while for the initial cleaning but then I run it before I shut off the machine and it just takes a few seconds. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Crusty if you want to bring that Macbook with you to Suches and leave it with me, I can replace that HDD with a SSD and ship it back to you for next to nothing... or maybe even nothing. SSD's are super cheap and my labor in this case would be free. | ||
| Court |
I’ve got a 6 year old Mac Air doing the same thing. I love the machine and it’s small size but, alas, have considered going Mac Pro. But every time I hoist one it feels so heavy. | ||
| Crusty |
Keep a Record! Yesterday, I went by David’s shop. The crew putting in the new water Main in the street all stared at me as I rode up the sidewalk from my driveway and past where they had an open trench in the street . Maybe the street was closed to four wheeled traffic, but not to me. Anyhow; I got to David’s shop and I was telling him about how the 78 was draining my finances. Even though I’m on a tight budget, I’ve spent way too much on nickel and dime items. The oil line, the muffler bracket, the ignition switch and all the rest. I won’t do a complete list, but considering what I owe the shop right now, along with the things I got from other places, I’m over two hundred bucks. And the bike doesn’t even run, yet! David asked me if I was taking pictures as I went, and I haven’t taken any. It makes sense to keep a record. I’m already forgetting a lot of the little details, and I’ve got several hours just into cleaning he bike. If I take pictures as I go, I’ll be able to track my progress. It’s probably going to take a year or, most likely, two before I get the bike to where I want it to be. That’s how it was when I built the 79 that I shipped to Australia, back in the mid 90s. I bought the bike in 95 and shipped it in early 97. That turned out to be a major undertaking, but the difference was dramatic. When the bike came into the shop, the carb wasn’t even attached to the engine. All the sheet metal was bent and painted a greyish purple color that looked like regurgitated wine. When I got done, though, it really was a pretty bike. Anyhow, I’m at the early stages on the 78. I’ve been pretty worried that the internals of the engine will have been maintained as poorly as the rest of the bike. I was talking to Ernie about it, last night and he said that if the maintainer was as poor as I believe, he (or she) was probably afraid to do anything to the engine. I hope that’s true, but I doubt it. So I’m going to slow down work on the 78, but I’m pretty sure I’ll keep nibbling away at it. I want to see if it’ll run. I have the gas intake fitting for the carb on the way, and Guido told me the easy way to get the old remains out of the carb. I’ll go ahead and buy a cheap battery when everything else is ready and see if it runs. Then it’ll be time to start on the refurb. It’s going to take a while, but it will be a fitting tribute to Bill when it’s done. I just have to remember to take pictures. | ||
| Crusty |
Spring Is Sprung! Today is a good day. It’s the first day of Spring, which brings hope with it. Also, I saw some proof this morning that the Corona Fear that’s been pushed on everybody is overexaggerated and there were some facts to prove that. I also say a news clip where some immunologist has found a cure. That’s amazing, if true. It would be only the second cure for a virus ever discovered. The first was for Hepatitis C. Yesterday afternoon, I fell asleep with the Idiot Box on. When I woke up, a couple of talking heads on the evening news were discussing that the Administration wants to give everybody a thousand bucks. I hope they do. Or at least give me a thousand bucks. I would use it to stimulate the economy. Some would go on the 78 and the rest would go on the plastic. While I won’t plan on getting it, it sure would be nice if it happened. Also yesterday, I decided to forego the March Badness rally. Weather Underground was showing rain from the time I left Cheviot until when I left Suches. With restaurants limited to take out only, it would be miserable to not be able to stop and have a meal or just to sit and have a coffee inside and get warm all the way to Georgia. And if restaurants have to remain closed, it would also suck to be sleeping in a tent in the cold rain with no option to go inside the lodge and warm up with a coffee in the morning, once I got to TWoS. So I’ve decided to take the money I would have spent on gas and food and buy a battery and a couple of quarts of oil for the 78. I really want to get it up and running. It needs a lot more before it would be rideable, but it would do me good to know it’s capable of running. Unless it starts banging, knocking or making crunching sounds; if it does, then it’s going to be a lot longer before it runs and the project will be put on hold. I have a strong suspicion that the engine’s going to need work. The way the rest of the bike is, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t. But I’m hoping that it’ll only need fairly easy and relatively inexpensive work. But I don’t want to project negativity. Once I can get the bike to start and run, I’ll now more. Wolfridgerider on Badweb suggested I start a thread, but It would be a pretty boring thread. I took a picture of the bike the other day, and you really can’t see any of the problem areas. I’ve spent a couple of hundred dollars, so far, as well as put quite a few hours in fixing problems and none of it is really visible. I suppose I could give a blow-by-blow description of what I’ve done, but that would only lead to curing insomnia. To dwell on the fact that it took me several hours to clean the black tar varnish out of the carburetor isn’t going to make for fascination reading, though I was feeling pretty good when I finished with it. So; what I’ve accomplished so far is, I replaced the motor mount studs with studs that are the right length. I straightened out the bent Highway peg mounting plate, I’ve replaced the oil line that was leaking all over the floor. I straightened out the screwed up wiring to the tail light and I’ve wired in the turn signals. I put in the new generator/regulator and wired that in. I had to remove the carburetor, because the manifold clamps were improperly installed, which led to me cleaning out the nasty varnish. I smelled that varnish for days afterward. I’ve seen old varnished gasoline before, but it was never black tar like this was. The indicator lights for oil pressure and generator need to be replaced. The generator light just doesn’t work and the oil light had broken in the past, so they filled it with clear silicone and stuck the lens back on. It popped off when I was testing the Generator light. The flasher doesn’t work, but I’ve got on on its way with the carburetor. I sent the Carb to the shop to have Guido put the fuel fitting on it. I don’t have a bench vise, or even a workbench to put one on. I tried removing the old fitting, but couldn’t. Guido is the best Iron Motor mechanic I’ve ever dealt with and he has a fully equipped shop, so the carb went to Massachusetts. It’s on its way back and the USPS says it’ll be delivered tomorrow. The most visible thing that I’ve done is to put the original 2 into 1 “Chrome Salami” exhaust on it instead of the Staggered Dual pipes that everyone (except me) loves. Well, the other noticeable thing to me is all the cleaning I’ve done on the bike. I’m the only one who’d notice it, but I’m the one who counts. It’s nowhere near as clean and polished as it will be, but I’m working at it. I think I’ll get some Mother’s Mag Wheel and Aluminum polish and have at some of the more noticeable pieces like the primary cover, cam and sprocket covers, rocker boxes, brake backing plate and, of course, the aluminum rim on the back wheel. Future items are to replace all the cables. The throttle and clutch cables are way too long and the speedometer cable is way too short. I also want to replace the rear brake cable. I want to get an aluminum front wheel rim and have it laced to my front hub. I also want to put a Superglide gas tank on it. This is going to be a Tribute bike for Bill; his original 78 had a super glide tank on it. When Bill died, his sister gave this 78 to me. Bill regretted selling his original 78 almost immediately and he was hoping to make this bike what his old 78 was. I’m not going to make this bike an exact duplicate. I put the original exhaust on it, and I will eventually put better brakes on it, as well. But it will be close, when I’m done and I think even Bill will smile when he sees it. Here’s what it looked like when it was sitting in the garage  And here's Bill on his old 78 back in 1982  | ||
| Crusty |
Thoughts After Being Scoped I went over to Christ Hospital this morning and got my annual Cystoscopy. it wasn’t as painful as usual, though it sure as hell wasn’t fun, either. Everything looked good. It looked fine to my untrained eye and the doctor also said it looked good to him. Getting into the hospital was interesting. We were stopped at the entrance and I had to explain why I was there, tell them if I had any cold symptoms, tell them I hadn’t been out of the country in the past 30 days, sign my name and put on a mask. David, who was my ride, also had to go through the same routine. Everything seemed surreal. Traffic was about as heavy as a normal Sunday morning at 6:00 AM. But it was at 9:30 on a Wednesday. There had been a cancellation, so I got in to the Procedure Room (Scoping Room?) a bit early. I just want to say here that if you’ve never had a Cystoscopy, you should count your blessings. If you have, you know what I mean. Why do they tell you, “You’re going to feel a little pinch” when the reality is nowhere near that? It’s kind of like someone telling you you might feel a little pain as they drop a two ton safe on your ingrown toenail. In any event, the cancer hasn’t returned. Yay! David dropped me off at the house afterwards and I just kicked back. I was tired and sore. The Lidocaine wore off and I started feeling the pain that was absent during the procedure. All this is normal and I wasn’t surprised by it. I took a nap for an hour or so, then woke up feeling restless. I wasn’t sleepy any more and the pain had subsided quite a bit. So I went down to the cellar and played with the 78 for a couple of hours. I got enough accomplished that I think I’ll try to start it before the weekend. I have to check the ignition timing and mount the gas tank, put a couple of quarts of oil in the oil tank and a gallon of gas in the gas tank and see if she’ll light off. I’ll be honest; I’m hoping it’ll fire up and run, but I’m kind of scared that something really bad might happen. It probably won’t, but the fear is there and it’s real. Tomorrow is when I’ll static time the ignition. With a little luck, it’ll be close enough. Then, all I’ll have to do is put the gas tank on. Then add oil and gas and pray while I hit the button. I cranked it over a little today. I wanted to see if the battery and wires were all working properly. The turn signals blinked, the High Beam indicator lit when I flipped the switch, the horn beeped and both brakes lit the brake light and the tail light works, as well. Putting the seat on was a seriously challenging task. I had to remove both shocks and let the rear wheel drop so that there was room for my hand between the tire and the underside of the fender. I really need to spray the whole bike down with Gunk and give it a good bath. Once It starts and runs, that’ll be my first priority. David had suggested that I take pictures so people could see the progress, but you wouldn’t really be able to see anything. Once it’s all together, I’ll take some. In the meantime, you’ll just have to take my word that there’s a shitload of work that’s gone into the bike, even though none of it is really visible. When it starts and runs, the feeling is going to be exquisite. I know how much I’ve done. Handlebar damping rubbers, lots of playing with wiring, Cleaning the carb of that black tar varnish, lots more playing with wiring. Figuring out how to run the wires to the battery, replacing oil line, disconnecting electrical connectors and changing out some wires. sorting out the screwed up hacks that were done and making it all work properly, lubing things that needed it, getting the brakes to work, and OH!, playing with more wiring. There’s more to do, as well. IF it starts and runs, then I need to replace every cable on the bike The throttle cable, the clutch cable, the rear brake cable, the tachometer and speedometer cables (and the drive unit). That’s just so I can ride it around the block. It will need new tires before I can ride it anywhere. There’s big cracks in the sidewalls of the tires. Once that gets done, I still need to get a Superglide gas tank and a front aluminum rim. After that, it’ll be time to make her pretty. And that’s just the 78. I need to build my Gentleman’s Express. First, I have to get the bike, them modify it. That will take precedence. In the end, I’ll have two very different, but very beautiful Sportsters. Life is looking up! | ||
| 86129squids |
Time and tide, my friend. You probably already know this, but a few cold motor runs with a strong starter (no spark) listening should tell you something, hopefully good things. Or something else. | ||
| Tootal |
Yep, pull the plugs and let her spin to get the oil a flowin! You might want to wait for that oil light bulb! I'd hate to start it if you don't know if you have oil pressure. | ||
| Crusty |
As The Brake Rotor Turns Welcome , dear friends, to today’s chapter in our continuing drama. When we last left our hero, he was valiantly trying to resuscitate and old tired XLH that had lived a long and abused life. When the day dawned, all he had left to do was check the ignition timing, button up the headlight and install the gas tank. Then put in some oil and gas and see if it would start. The timing was spot on when I static checked it according to Dyna’s instruction sheet. Putting the gas tank on and connecting the fuel line was a challenge. The gas tank is a “King” Sportster tank and the petcock is right over the carburetor. To get the fuel line on the petcock, I had to remove the air cleaner. There isn’t any extra room, but I was successful and nothing’s rubbing. It looks like a motorcycle. So I jumped on the Roadster and first went to Auto Zone and bought a bottle of Gumout. As bad as the varnish was in the Carb, I felt that a strong mix of Gumout and Premium gas would be good for the gas tank. Then I went to CinCity H-D and bought 4 quarts of 20w - 50 and a quart of Formula +. The new owner has filled the showroom with bikes. I didn’t see any familiar faces, but there were quite a few cute little chickies who wanted to sell me a bike or parts or something. At any rate, I got the oil. I also had a very interesting conversation with the sales manager. More on that shortly. David had brought a small gas can over for me to use and I stopped and filled both the gas can and the Roadster. Premium is now down to $2.12/Gallon. I filled both for Four bucks. I got home and had a hell of a lot of fun getting the 78 out through the cellar door and out to the driveway. One of the discoveries I made is that the seat is the wrong seat for a 78. It’s almost impossible to get the cap off the oil tank and pull the filter out. I put in just enough out to reach the low mark on the dipstick. I’ve seen a few Harleys that had full crankcases pump a bunch of oil back into a tank and the overfill made a real mess. I was just trying to see if the bike would run. It did. It started and didn’t sound too bad. So that was a success. However… There are a few oil leaks and something is up with either the transmission or the Primary. I’m going to have to bring it back into the cellar and tear into the primary. and see what I can find. And the generator light was on even while it was running. It dimmed a bit when I revved the engine, but it never went out. That’s something else I have to check out. While it was out in the driveway, I sprayed it down liberally with Gunk, then hosed it off with a lot of water. I’ve been looking forward to being able to do that. Hopefully, I got all the oily mess off. So the verdict is that it runs, but it needs a good bit more work before I can ride it. I also need to get some help getting it back into the cellar. Maybe I can get David to give me a hand with it. Now, back to the Harley shop. The Sales Manager helped me carry my oil out to the Roadster. We discussed it and I told him that I was planning to buy a new Roadster next Fall when I get my debt paid off. They have one on the floor. He told me that with the Corona crisis, the owner had instituted a program where they pick up the first six months payments. In other words, I could pay off my debt before I have to make any payments on the bike. That really has me thinking. I’m also wondering how much they’ll jack up the price of the bike to compensate for the payments. Then again; the showroom was packed with bikes, maybe they’re a little bit desperate and want to move some. I don’t know. Maybe I should just jump. Or maybe I should stick to my plan. But the Goddess of Good Luck favors men of Action and I could be in the right spot at the right time… Well; I’ve got his card and maybe I’ll go back and talk to him some more. Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of As The Stomach Churns… (Message edited by Crusty on March 26, 2020) | ||
| 86129squids |
Take. Your. Time. Examine the "Roadster" platform, see what features and benefits would befit you out of the most current catalog of options/farkle. I've followed you up and down WPG, your current steed is still very worthy. I'll take a bird-dog if I could put you on one here. Popcorn? | ||
| Crusty |
Fear and Loathing in Cincinnati Every so often, I just want to bitch (or whine) about stuff. I think this time it’s caused by the enforced isolation this Wuhan Virus has caused. It just seems like there are a lot of little things that are getting to me. Things that shouldn’t bother me are really bugging me. And not everything is small. A couple are really Major. I guess I’ll start with the big ones and work my way down. Two of my good friends are dealing with an impending death. Kathryn’s partner Sandy has terminal cancer and Kathryn has to watch the person she loves suffer with no hope of recovery. Dondi’s mom is heading downhill fast. She’s 92 and has decided that she’s ready to die. She won’t take her medications any more and she refuses to go to the hospital or even let the EMTs treat her. There’s nothing I can do to help in either situation. I can make myself available if either Kathryn or Dondi want to talk, but that’s about it. It sucks to watch your friends suffer. On a much lighter note is the 78 XLH. Every time I work on it to correct some problem, I find more and more things wrong with it. It’s sitting in the basement with the clutch completely apart. The Primary cover has a dent and a crack in it, so I’ll probably have to find another. The oil that oozed out of the primary/transmission drain hole was black and stank to holy hell of burned something. I almost couldn’t get the primary cover off. Two of the Pozi (Phillips head) Screws wouldn’t loosen. I kept on them with the impact gun, though and they finally backed off. I think I’ll replace the Posi screws with Allen heads when I put things back together. The clutch needs new plates and many other small parts that are either worn or rusted. How in the hell a part can rust in an enclosed space that’s got oil flinging around baffles me, but there are several things that need money thrown at them. I guess the next thing is to pull the transmission. The way things are going, I’m almost afraid to. I really hope Bill didn’t pay a lot for the 78. If he did, he really got hosed. Of course, I don’t have to restore it. I could just put it back together and sell it, but I want to do the Right Thing. And building it as a Tribute bike is the Right Thing to do. It’s going to take a lot longer and a lot more money than I originally thought, though. I don’t watch Cable TV; I watch broadcast channels. Channels like Me TV, Movies!, Comet, H&I, and even the network channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, the CW or even NBC. The ads on the “secondary” channels really get to me after a while. If I was molested by a Catholic priest, got Mesothelioma from Asbestos, used double ended 3M earplugs in the Army and got non Hodgkins Lymphona from using Roundup, the Significant Financial Compensation I’d be eligible for would make me as rich as Mike Bloomberg. Or it would make the attorneys that rich. I’d probably get the green weenie. And Joe Namath hasn’t aged well as he tries to sell me on some medicare supplement plan. For that Matter, neither has Pat Boone. And I have absolutely no interest in a walk in tub with water jets and a heated seat. And while I like watching Jeopardy, once in a while, I have no interest in Alex Trebeck pushing Colonial Penn life insurance. I did the math, once. If I pay 10 bucks a month and I survive a few years, my family will get a whole $800.00 to help with my final expenses. There are other things that are bugging me this morning, too. Matthew (a friend) is going to be driving a load of medical stuff from Atlanta to Chicago. He was going to drive back from Chicago via Cincinnati so that he could get a meal of Burnt Ends from Velvet Smoke. However; they’ve “Temporarily Closed”. This Chinese Virus is really getting on my nerves. I don’t care if it’s something that escaped from a biological warfare facility, or if it’s from eating Bat soup, somebody over there needs to pull their head out of their ass. I’m also tired of getting e-mails asking me to either review a product that I bought, or take a survey about my recent medical procedure. If they want me to spend my time helping them “Improve their service”, they can pay me just as they pay any other consultant. I just talked with my brother and he told me a very interesting little factoid: Did you know that Winnie The Pooh and Jack The Ripper both have the same middle name? Coincidence? I think not. Have a nice day. Or Somethin’… | ||
| Pwnzor |
We'll get those burnt ends some day... and some Skyline Chili too. Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin' | ||
| 86129squids |
I'm with you John. Here lately its been a variety of shit sandwiches, I just gotta figure out what sauce to add. Having my neighbor's tree lay down on my house last Sunday was a new flavor of fun. Just got my interderp service back, will catch up as i can. | ||
| 86129squids |
Oh, and Matthew- God bless you for your work. | ||
| Crusty |
Habits I’m a creature of habit. I’ve been thinking that I wasn’t going to do much that’s Special for Easter. I was just going to treat this Sunday like any other Sunday. I’m not very religious and even if I was, there will be no services at any church that I know of. The Corona Pandemic has everybody afraid to go anywhere or do anything. Then yesterday, I was at the noon AA meeting in the park (we all stand in a big circle and keep at least 6 feet away from each other) and while I wasn’t listening to a harmless nut case, it hit me that I am going to fix a Meal. Actually a couple of meals. I’m going to have Pillsbury orange rolls for breakfast. That was a standard Easter breakfast that my ex used to fix, along with a plate of rolled up prosciutto and provolone with olive oil. I’ll pass on the meat & cheese, but the orange rolls are something I only eat once a year and I like them. They’ve become my own Easter morning tradition. For dinner, I’m going to do the predictable thing. I used to try to vary holiday meals. Turkey, Capon, 2” thick pork chops, Rib roast, Ham and such, but it seems like now, I just want my “Standard” meal. Rib Eye steak, mashed potatoes, beef gravy, asparagus, and biscuits. For dessert, Blueberry Pie a la mode and fresh ground coffee. It’s my favorite meal and I see no reason why I shouldn’t have it. I like all the other main courses, but I just flat love the meal I’m planning. So after the meeting, I went by Kroger and picked up some of the items. This morning, I went by Meijer and got the items that Kroger didn’t have, then I stopped at Wassler Meats and picked up the steak. I have all the ingredients ready. I was going to have a baked Yukon Gold potato, but I couldn’t find one big enough in both stores, so I’ll use a few smaller spuds and make mashed. That’s an acceptable substitute. Last night, we had a Tornado warning. A brutally strong front came through and it was freakin’ pouring Real hard with really strong winds. First, my phone started screeching the warning sound, and the emergency alert said take shelter, then the sirens went off. So I retired to the basement for an hour and listened intently for an oncoming train sound. While I was downstairs, I played with the 78 for a while. I tried to remove the clutch hub nut, but wasn’t successful. I guess I’ll just have to get one of those clutch locking plates. It locks the hub and outer basket together and my jam bar will hold it all from moving. Sometimes, I wish I had an air impact wrench, but then, I’d have to get a bigger compressor. The one I have works well for tire changes, but it isn’t big enough to run air tools. I don’t know how much more I’m going to accomplish on the 78 for a while. I seriously want to get all my debt paid off, and now that I’m close, I really want to throw as much as I can at the card to get it paid off ASAP. Once I’m out of debt, I’m going to focus on my next bike. It’s going to be both pricey and require a good bit of labor to get it set up the way I want. The Gentleman’s Express is going to be both beautiful and seriously functional. It’s going to take some Real effort to make it right, but it’ll be well worth it. The 78 will get done eventually. I’ll pick and scratch at it as money allows, but it won’t be a reality for a long while. I’m not abandoning it; I just don’t have the money to do everything I’d like. It will happen; it’s just going to take a lot more money than I thought and a lot more work, too. And in the “It’s getting lighter on the horizon” category; this morning, there was toilet paper and paper towels on the shelves at Meijer. Not enough, and not much variety, but there were packages for sale. Things are starting to get better. | ||
| Crusty |
Nightmares This morning, at roughly 6:00 AM, I woke up from a particularly vivid nightmare and it’s left me a bit rattled. In the dream, I was riding down a highway in the middle of a large group of bikes. I wasn’t actually riding with them, I was riding alone, but we were all heading to the same place and I was behind one large group and another was right behind me. We were all in the right hand exit lane getting ready to turn off when a dark green tractor trailer that was passing us turned into our lane. There was a bit of a gap between myself and the group ahead of me that the Semi was sailing over into and I hit my brakes to let him in. I was a bit annoyed at the driver, but there was enough room for his rig and I figured that it was probably the only space he could pull into if he wanted to take the exit. However; he not only pulled into our lane, he continued drifting to the right, off the pavement and up a very steep grassy hill and kept on turning right until he was perpendicular to the highway. At that point, the whole rig flipped over and began tumbling and started rolling over and tumbling down the hill. All the bikes got stopped, so none of the riders got hurt, but the truck and trailer tumbled across the highway and median, then across the other lane and ended up off the side of the road. As I said, the dream was particularly vivid. It was a color dream. Most dreams are in black & white, but I remember the colors and the sounds. The green of the grass on the hillside, the dark green of the older Freightliner and the white of the trailer and dull silver of the edging on it and the multicolors of the bikes and riders and the brown dirt on the other side of the road where the truck finally came to rest. The dream really spooked me and it’s still very present in my mind. It reminds me of another vivid dream had years ago; not the details, but in its nature. I was in Louisville, Kentucky and it was the night before I was heading out for Colorado. I dreamt that I was riding along I-70 in rural Kansas and I was going to take an exit and get gas. As I approached the exit, a car in the break down lane just past the exit started to back up and ran into me as I was in the exit lane. That dream was another very vivid dream. However, the next evening, as I was heading west on I-70, I decided it was time to stop and get dinner and fill the bike and take a bit of a break. However, I got into the left lane to pass a car and as the exit approached, I was in the left lane and couldn’t take it. Just as I was passing the exit, a car that had missed the exit backed up into the exit lane. If I hadn’t decided to pass that car, I would have lived that dream. That spooked me a Lot, but I’ve kept it mostly to myself with only a couple of exceptions for over 40 years. I really hope this morning’s dream is just a nightmare and not some sort of Twilight Zone prophetic occurrence. And maybe by sharing it, it won’t come to pass. | ||
| 86129squids |
Yeesh. As a boy growing up, we had a creek out back that I'd always be playing in. Once had a dream where my best buddy and I were fooling around, looking for crawdads and stuff... I saw him bend over to grab something out of the creek. So, naturally, I kicked him in the butt. About 2 or 3 weeks later, as my foot was swinging towards his butt, my memory of that dream and the moment's reality merged. I kicked him in the butt, he fell over. When he looked back at me, puzzled, he said I had the strangest look on my face. And yes, I was dumbfounded. Another time, I'd dreamt a similar dream as you had, Crusty, that I was on my bike rolling fast, and something happened where I'd crash. Again, my memory and the pure identical moment in reality merged- I was completely terrified for about 10 seconds, rolling. These instances of deja-vu have only happened a very few times in my life, but they certainly make me wonder about the hidden capacities of the human mind. My high school girlfriend claimed deja-vu happened to her all the time. When I wrecked my first motorcycle, a Suzuki TS125 as some ai$$hat did a classic left-turn against traffic, she came to the hospital frantic, saying she could feel it that I'd went down. On a more positive note, and to speak to your Easter Sunday plans, at 1PM EST you can watch/listen to Andrea Boccelli sing from the Duomo cathedral in Milan for free. Youtube has his channel. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-upda tes/2020/04/07/829098870/andrea-bocelli-to-perform -in-an-empty-duomo-cathedral-on-easter-sunday | ||
| Buellish |
I'm a bit late to the Snippet discussion as I've been reading John's snippets via email.I just read from the beginning and had a couple of thoughts +1 on Neil Peart's books,they are a bit like John's snippets.I'm with Matthew,if you haven't read anything by him you should.I've read all his books except the one he wrote about riding a peddle bike in Africa. On the subject of the Indian FTR,my friend John C. has one that I road at a disadvantage one day with cramps in both hips.I should have stopped and dismounted to relax my hips but I was leading a group of riders to a lunch spot and didn't want to interrupt the ride.I could tell on that ride that the engine is amazing and it handles great as well.Coincidentally,today I ran into John on the FTR and he was waiting on a friend riding a Yamaha GTS. John J,as long as you write these snippets,I'll keep reading them! | ||
| Crusty |
Eye-Talian Sausage and Roasted Spuds It’s been an interesting couple of days for me. Yesterday, I got my $1200.00 from the Guv’mint. I had all kinds of ideas on what to do with it and waged quite a lovely war in my head about it. While the war was raging, I took the money and put it all on my credit card balance. That created an Armistice of sorts and the arguments quieted down. For the record, all of the arguments had their valid points. One thought train had me buying parts for the 78 with some of the money and using the rest on the plastic. Another had me buying a POR 15 kit and paying for the Soul Red paint, so when I get the new bike, the parts will be painted and ready. And a third and very serious argument was to use the money as a down payment on a used Roadster that I’ve had my eye on for a while. That was the argument that almost won me over. And it’s the one that’s still reverberating around my skull. However; I put my conscious mind on autopilot and I just stuck to my plan of getting my debt paid off before I buy my next bike. The bike I’ve got the hots for is a 2016 Roadster in Wichita, Kansas It has 2450 miles on it and it looks 100% stock. It’s at Freedom Road cycles and they want $6999.00 for it. The listing on Cycle Trader recently has a little yellow highlighted “Make An Offer” beside the price. I started entertaining thoughts about buying it and I even checked out the cost of a one way flight to Wichita to do a Fly&Ride. It’s very do-able. Then, I was talking to David about it and he commented that there are a few Roller Coasters out that way he’d like to ride and he could drive me out, then he’d go ride Coasters and I could ride my new bike home. I also have been thinking that I didn’t make a lot of changes to my current Roadster at first. The first year, I kept the stock tank and the wire wheels. I didn’t put the cast wheels or the big tank or the hard bags on until the next spring. Maybe I should do the same again. It really has me thinking. I’m so tempted it’s almost painful. However, when I looked at my balance this morning and saw how it was well under a Grand I felt more like I’d done the right thing. But still; I’m very sorely tempted to make a call to Wichita. Maybe tomorrow… In other news, I got the transmission cavity of the 78 cleaned out. Everything looks good to my inexperienced eye. I took a few photos of the bike and I’ll hopefully include them in this Snippet. I say hopefully, because I’ve been having trouble with being able to move photos lately. I don’t know what changed, but things aren’t working like they used to. Tonight, I’m going to have a Sausage burger for dinner and I think I’ll have Roasted potatoes with it. I have a bottle of Sprecher’s Root Beer in the fridge and I think it would be quite delectable to sip while watching the idiot box this evening. Now, let’s see if I can put some pix in here. First, here’s the Roadster in Wichita:  And here's the 78 with the transmission sitting beside the bike:   And here's a shot of the right side of the bike:  |
