Hurray, home sweet home

I like being home, almost no hassles. Traveling is a pain in the tush. Just ask my offspring visiting from Wisconsin. Even going to Ruidoso in the winter can be no fun. I've got things to do at the house. I can almost always find something to do on one of my 5 bikes. Simple chores around the house. Male friends I can call or get together with and my best friend is here, you know her.

The Internet is my filler, but biking is my main interest. Dahh. You've got to have a strong interest to stay alive after doing that wage earning thing. Can't wait for 62 when Social Security kicks in. We'll have plenty, to do almost anything we want then.

I'm actually running out of things I want to buy. I went to Mr. Motorcycle yesterday and could not see a bike I wanted. Then I went for a ride on my Red 92 Suzuki 1100 and it was a blast. Why would I want another bike? Well things change, I'm looking.

Waiting still on a tool to check the valve clearances on the Venture, then I can put it all back together. I hope I did everything right! I want to put a lot of miles on it. It is so comfortable and smooth riding. Until then I do have 4 other bikes. Poor me...

Still don't miss the Vette, but that's "Home Sweet Home" behind it.

Remind me not to do this too..

Well, it was not windy Sat. and Sunday in Ruidoso. But Monday thru Friday it was. 65 mph gusts 2 days. So bad I brought my bike home Wed, windy but not as bad as the other days.
Boring and expensive. Didn't do anything except watch TV and read some. BIG waste of money could have done that at home much cheaper. Condo was cold on the upper floor, no heat. Owner/operator had two "so called experts over to fix it" "We don't know what's wrong, HVAC is not like anything we've worked on before". Guess we'll get you 2 space heaters?#$!
I fixed it! The thermostat had a wire in the way of the mercury switch so it could not come on. Dahhh! HVAC system was so noisy it kept Wes awake and waking me up.
Dishwasher door fell over when opened, " we'll be back tomorrow to fix it, WHICH TOMORROW? . Toilet would not shut off, Smoke alarm and TV remote needed batteries.
4 floors and many steps. Floors creaked badly. Bottom floor was claustophobic.
Linda's mom could not get out so no one did. "BORING" I came home early.
In the winter go where it is warmer not colder!!!! I'll make the plans next time, thank you.
I'm not going to waste time and money and be bored.

Last one for awhile

Going on vacation but real close by. Got a cabin/condo for a week in Ruidoso in the winter??

I'm riding a bike, but we will have 4 cars or more up there, you know we can't live without our own transportation. For me if it gets boring and I know it will, I can get out and drive to a few places I normally can't get to especially in the winter.

I'm taking some magazines and Linda's taking her computer so I can keep up with emails and Ebay motorcycle parts as they come up cheap. Hope they do have internet service and cable TV.

Suppose to be in the 30's at night and 50's during the week. Windy one day.

I'm taking my "Old Reliable" because the Venture is still apart, the battery on the Red Suzuki is dying, The Virago is not comfortable long distances and it is way too far for the Dual Sport 400. Choices and decisions made for me.

We have a 5 bedroom condo for 10 of us. Hope the Living room is big. I'm planning a White Elephant gift giving for Christmas, It should be fun because I changed every normal rule. In addition, cash awards will be giving for the closest, furthest, worst wrapped, biggest, smallest, most like you, least like you, cheapest, expensive,etc gifts. We'll see....

And the pic IS NOT where we're going, but that is The Cloudcroft Inn. Linda & I stayed at several years ago, had a great meal.

And yes we are still getting ready for Ruidoso. "I bought the Rum and put it with all the other stuff. But I had to go to Columbus NM to get it"

Progress

Well the engine is back in the Venture. I had good help today. The bike is about 1/2 back together. Then we worked on the carbs on Mike's Venture and fixed his gear shift indicator. After that we put crash bars on Lowell's VTX 1800. I'm very tired. 6 days of working on it. That's it all apart in the pic.

At least there's some more room in the garage now.

I got to take a break. Also waiting on some special tools to check the valve clearances, next.

Been real nice last couple of days. In the mid 60's.

Were getting ready for our trip to Ruidoso.

I'm doing it

Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm tearing my Venture 3/4 apart to fix 2nd gear. The engine has to be taken totally apart to get to the gear box. To do that it had to come out of the frame. But to do that the entire rear end had to come out. All the wires, cables, hoses, filters, carbs, exhaust and lower fairing had to come off first.

Why? At about 50,000 miles second gear starts slipping out under hard acceleration. Which gear takes the most punishment, 2nd of course!

These engines were manufactured from 1983-1993. After the first ones got some miles on them, they found this problem but did not fix them until mid 1985. Guess what I bought, a 1984. I knew it before I bought it but went ahead anyways.

Good winter project. And it was today, started out 53 degrees and went lower into the 30's and SNOWED/rain mix!! I was cozy in the garage.

Got the engine apart today. Only 35 bolts holding the 2 halves together, I numbered each one because most are different. Had to buy tools I sold a year ago.

I'm up to $200 in parts and tools. ALL FOR A $1.00 washer that was too soft. But of course I needed 2 and only ordered 1 so I have to wait a week or 2 for it to come in.

But what to hay, it's keeping me busy. More soon. The picture is nothing compared to how much is actually apart now.

Last group ride of the year

We had 6 touring bikes today. The 3 Yamaha Ventures, Benny's Honda Goldwing, Larry's BMW and Charlies's Yamaha Cruiser Tourer, 4 Yamaha's total. Went to Alamagordo, NM via boring Rte. 54. It is very safe now, not much to see, but lots of time to dream. This group rides very conservatively and courteously. We're all in our late 50's to mid 60's. It was about 40 degrees when we left and mid 60's coming home.

So far I've driven over 22,000 miles on my bikes this year. Sold one bike, bought 2 better ones. I try to alternate between them so they all get driven every week. It's hard on seals, batteries, and carbs if they are not.

Yesterday I drove to Columbus, NM about the same distance, 90 miles, as Alamagordo. They are building the fence along the border. It's not very high so I think it could be jumped over easily. Or lean a primitive ladder on it and jump down. Total waste of "Millions of Dollars". Did the Great Wall of China keep out the Mongols?

Right now there are many dump trucks along Rt. 9 Columus Border Hiway, so it's not isolated from traffic as usual. This is also a primary route for oversized loads, some very heavy and wide. Used to be no traffic at all 5 years ago.

Montana (or Carlsbad Hiway to the East) now has many trucks especially Walmart's, so it is much busier too. My 2 favorite roads from Carlsbad Rd to I-10 are still isolated, luckily.

I've slowed down but most vehicles have sped up, as well as most speed limits are up. I get passed a lot now. Rte. 20 from Socorro to McNary was 55 mph 2 weeks ago, is now 60. I-10 from El Paso county to Big Springs is all 80 mph. In the winter it has even more trucks and RV's than usual. Carlsbad Hiway is 75.

The above is my Suzuki 400cc dual sport (road and dirt) I don't use as much as I did when I got it. Only put 7,000 miles on it in 4 years, 14,000 the 1st 2 years. It has a large plastic box on it so I use it to pick up parts, go to bank, and a rare trip into the desert. Picture was taken right after several carpets got washed after the cat pee'd on the them. Bet you needed to know that!

Bla, Bla, Blog

Since I haven't heard from my offspring in weeks, I thought a HELLO from me might get some action. You'll be here in a few weeks so I guess it's "OK" to not say anything.

This was our least celebrated Thanksgiving ever. We took prepared plastic dishes to the hospital with Turkey and most of the other stuffing's. No one even thought of saying a blessing.

Friday Linda did what's she's been doing for weeks, caring (good thing) for Mildred. I worked all day on a friend's bike and Sat. we did it again. Sunday was probably the same, can't remember it was more than 20 minutes ago.

It has been warm here, low 60's to low 70's so I can ride but windy. If I stop for a break it's for a very short time because it's warmer riding behind the windshield than standing in the wind.

Soon I will be tearing my Yamaha Venture down to fix 2nd gear that goes out before 50,000 miles. Much cheaper now than replacing many gears, seals, etc. later. It has only 19500 miles now. Wes said he would help, right son? The guy I helped last weekend is going to help me but at different times. Just found out I order 1 part short, $6, but is $16 shipping! May wait to find out if I want/need something when I take it down.

That's my brother in law (without the hat). He and my 2 sisters are off on a Panama Canal ship tour for 2 weeks.