6 Sat's, 1 Sunday

Retirement is like being on vacation, but staying home. What day of the week is it. Who cares? Only the true Sat. has any meaning, when I can organize and go riding with 1 or more of my biker friends.

Sunday's are for family, swimming and/or a movie.

Monday's are for running errands and working around the house. Weeds are growing like crazy, have to pull several a day or maybe 50 a week. Wish my neighbors would.

Tuesday is for riding, but so is any other day it looks like it may not rain. Up to 7" inches now and caught part of 3 hurricanes this year. 2 off the Gulf, one off the Pacific.

Wed. is for bike maintenance. But so is any other day. The day I organize the Sat. ride.

Thursday is for relaxing, but so is...

Friday is for, well you get the idea. And then it starts all over again. Too many stressful days lead to finding time to do what I want.

But the worst part there is no payday, the best part is there are NO BOSSES!

Decided to slow my spending on bike parts and more on gas. Hard decision.

Hard to tell but the photo but it about the Milky Way black holes, many are there.

Well almost finished another...

bike. Lowell bought a 1988 Yamaha Venture touring bike like mine except...

Mine was in way better shape, red, cleaner, less problems, closer to home, less miles but has smaller bags, no cruise control & 100cc less.

His is a 2 tone gray, from Columbus OH, has a shifting and rear end problem now. The previous owner said it was in good enough shape to ride to El Paso, but had no brakes, ran rough, no fluids were changed, low tire pressure, handled (wobbled) bad, was filthy, some instruments did not work, fork seals leaked, battery low and on and on. Glad I turned down riding it to EP.

Edger's bike, I talked about previously, will not run when it gets hot. Waiting for him to get it out of here. Gave him 4 hours free service.

Mark's Suzuki 1100 I sold him, which I never could get good gas mileage on, I finally gave up on, told him I don't want to work on it anymore.

My Venture, in which the main fuse keeps blowing, did not blow the last time I drove it. I think the fuses were bad and wires were stressed (pulled too tight).

My 2 Suzuki 1100's are still rock reliable, as my 400 dual sport. The Brown 1100 now is at 98600 miles.

The Yamaha Virago I bought last winter would not start occasionally, the emergency stop switch was dirty, fixed that.

Will need batteries for Virago and 400 soon.

By the way we still have not taken the Accord in for service, nothing wrong in 20 months!

WaY ToO BiG

Miles of Miles, of Miles of Miles. Dang this state is big. 650 miles to DFW, 725 to Indio CA, 1400 miles to Springfield, 1600 to Madison, 1700 miles to the twin cities, were too far from our family.

10-11 hours to see Tori in Garland and she is the closest. Benny's pick up is the best truck I've ever ridden in but it's still a truck. Harder ridding, seats uncomfortable for me, back and hip aches both ways. It got 19mpg, not bad at 70 mph but the car gets 29. $275 for gas 1300 miles. Dang!!

Glad to be rid of the extra 55"HD TV, an air compressor and exercise treadmill. in 2 days we got 20 projects done around her house and watched an entire Battlestar Glalacita season episodes. but the 2 other days driving are a killer.

Tomorrow Lowell gets his 87 Yamaha Venture like my 84. Got another bike to work on soon. Missed my bikes.

Doesn't look like I need those winter clothes pictured on my Virago above right now. 96 out.

Rain, rain, go away!

Enough is enough. We must be over our rainfall average by now. Very limited in what we can do.

Hurricane Dolly has been sitting over us for 3 days. Winds are very low, but the clouds are low and just keep feeding themselves more moisture.

Pool is almost overflowing and cold. Rain and no sunshine did that. Might just give up for this year going swimming anymore.

Wanted to go to Hatch Sat., but the streets are wet continuously.

Linda is home thankfully safe, she is doing better. Been 5 weeks now since her surgery.

I walk out into the garage just staring at the bikes, looking for something to do or thinking when can I get out on one of them.

Maybe going to Garland soon to take Tori's TV, assorted stuff and treadmill.

Crude oil maybe going down, (so they can go back up?) Gas prices dropping slightly. Hurray!

Linda said Europe is paying $10-12 per Gallon, guess we should not bitch. Hope the greedy buttholes get it for price fixing. They are under investigation.

I spend $100-15o a month on bike gas. The car gets used less and less. 8000 miles in the last year.

Pic is of ice crystals in northern sky.

Not much new News

Linda's been gone a week and half now. Lonely days, lonely nights, where is my honey?

Been riding longer distances though. Been to Van Horn, and Pecos. And YES Pecos is even more depressing. The desert s green, much rain everywhere.

Finished Edger's 96 Suzuki Sport 600cc bike today. Made some money. Is hadn't run since 2002. Carbs and tank were extremely dirty. Needed, mirrors, turn signals and a front tire also. Now it needs painting. He took it home in the rain tonight.

I'm eating well. Salads and/or fruit every day. Trying not to eat or eat out too much. Except when I'm with the guys then... mostly salads.

Raining most every day. We're still .25" below average. Pool is very full, over the edge between the 2 pools.

Tomorrow think I'll go to Cloudcroft then on to Carlsbad, back to El Paso. Love the Venture, in the pic above, it's so comfortable. 380 miles to Pecos and was only tired because it was 95 out. Lowell my conductor, Air Force Corneal, and Utep administrator liked it so much he bought an 1988.

Was out 140 miles when the speedometer stopped working. It came loose on the bottom side this time and lost the inner cable. $7 at Pepboys. It gets 46+ mpg too. Was in Van Horn and a Pruis owner asked me what kind of mileage I get. His car gets the same!! We both agreed, many people are stupid having gas guzzlers, several SUV owners were present.

Something Different

Ok, weather. Average winter, low 30's at night, 50's late afternoon. Spring winds came in early March, lasted until Late May. Usual hot June 100's worst was 106. Now rains, started late June usually starts about mid July. If this is a trend, fall will start early too. My favorite time, cooler, drier, low humidity.

Linda is improving daily. Can do most things except pick over 10#'s and bend far over, but she is not exercising enough. She will be able to go on her trip. Her appetite is back, and weight down.

Out of projects on my bikes right now. I'm waiting on parts for a Suzuki 600 crotch rocket I'm getting going for a friend of Peter Faraone's.

Been in pool 4 times only. Rains really cools it and makes it hard to control chlorine levels.

Was going to Tori's and Dorothy's but with $4 gas it would be $300 in gas even at 45+ MPG.

Decided to do more long distance day trips around here on my new to me Yamaha Venture touring bike.

Sat. rides vary a lot in the number that go. Sometimes 3-4 then we might get 10, always different people. One husband and wife, she has her own Harley have gone 3 times this year.

No changes in neighborhood except on both sides of us they don't take care of their yards, called city several times.

TV is worse this summer than ever! Watching more PBS. Several good concerts with older groups from 60's-70's have been on and our TV broadcasts in HD and 5.1 audio.

Going to be way too quiet after Friday when Linda leaves for 2+ weeks.

Still want to fill in more states we've been in on a motorcycle above, but....

700 Miles and counting

The Yamaha Venture is running better with every mile. The engine now slows down between gear shifts, it's idling better, has more power, gets 49 MPG, and is riding smoother/softer. The 2 leaks of oil and antifreeze have nearly stopped.

The seat is the best I've ever ridden on. After 200 miles my butt did not hurt at all.

It has forward hi-way pegs so I can stretch my legs. My right knee hurts if I leave it bent too long. The handle bars at the perfect level and bend back.

I'm using the backrest off the Suzuki 1100. It is a cooler from Walmart and foam pad we made. It is at the perfect angle and fore/aft position on the Venture.

The Saddlebags and Trunk hold plenty. They are like suitcases, they key release from the bike. The BMW liners I got for my birthday, fit in the Ventures.

The only things it needs is a cruise control and the radio AM/FM tuner does not work. It uses Cassettes, which are really outdated. They unwind when not in the player or in their storage case.

Even in 84 they had computers. It monitors the kickstand, the brake fluid levels, engine oil level, battery acid level, headlight and taillights if they burn out, gas low level, has a digital bar gas gauge. If any are wrong, a red LED flashes. The engine water temperature, voltmeter speedometer and tachometer are analog.

If either headlight filament burns out it automatically switches to the other and a white light on the dash comes on indicating so. And it has a digital gear position indicator, dash lights dimmer, a stop watch, clock and headlight up and down adjuster when a passenger is on/off the bike.

AND the turn signals self cancel. After moving a certain speed and distance they turn off automatically.

Did I say I really like this bike?