Starting to prep for Florida ; Lancaster day-trip
(posted from home)
(This post covers 9 – 16 January, 2011)
---------------------------
Monday, 16 January -
Martin Luther King Day. I'm afraid the great man would not be pleased with what has become of our country. The Great Conservatard Backlash continues.
Today was a cold, windy and threatening-rain day and I spent much of it on the web researching various topics for the Florida trip. I did get out a bit in the afternoon to run over to the Giant for a few items but otherwise it's one of those days that makes me want to go to Florida just to feel less cooped-up. We received an flyer from Cabela's yesterday touting a Cabin-Fever Sale. My immediate reaction was it's too early for that but now I'm not so sure. We've been very lucky to have fifty and forty-degree days recently but the trend is of course downward now.
That evening we watched 'Big Love' Season Five episodes. I was wondering how the writers would keep us interested in this ever-downward-spiraling tale but they seem to have done it.
-------------------------
Sunday, 15 January -
This morning the temperature was only 18 so before dressing for my Sunday motorcycle ride I went out and started the Concours to be sure it would run. I've ridden it temperatures as low as 12 degrees but have also had problems getting it started in temperatures below 30. Getting it started depends not only on the condition of the battery (how new it is) but also how much I've been riding that bike lately. The battery is only a few months old, I've been careful to use StarTron additive on gas fill-ups, and I've been out on it a good bit in the last few weeks. The bike started up on two tries, an easy one. I left it idling while I went in to don my safety gear.
I rode down to the Tollgate Startbucks on this gusty morning (wind-chill of 13 degrees), careful to take a route less likely to have ice from frozen run-off. I spent the rest of the morning catching up the blog, this time using the laptop rather than the iPad. I've found I can't rely on the iPad for this. Two weeks ago I spent an hour writing up a blog entry only to have the iPad screen momentarily go black and lose everything I'd just done. I'm not sure if that was an iOS or email fault but the fact that the system isn't keeping backups as I work tells me the iPad isn't yet ready for prime time.
After Starbucks I rode over to a nearby Five Guys for a quick burger, then on to Rocky Ridge for a brisk walk. (1:47 today).
That evening we watched “A Thief of Time”, a Masterpiece Theater film adapting Tony Hillerman's novel featuring Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo Tribal Police officer. I'm a fan of Wes Studi, Adam Beach, and Gary Farmer's films.
-----------------------
Saturday, 14 January -
Today we drove up to Harrisburg to visit our friend rar and wife. We've not seen them in years and it was great to get together to catch up. We spent the afternoon and evening looking at travel pictures, chatting, and having an excellent meal (and wine!).
We arrived back home around 2100 and watched two episodes of 'Mad Men', Season One. We're into it.
----------------------
Friday, 13 January -
Today Labashi and I drove into town to run a few errands. We hit the Wal-mart, lunched at Five Guys, and then did some grocery shopping on the way home.
That afternoon I got back to researching a sport-model ATV and the OHV(Off-Highway-Vehicle) trails in Florida. I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth the hassle of trailering an ATV to Florida to explore the trails there. After seeing a map of the Ocala Adventure Trail in the Ocala National Forest and the trails in the Withlacoochee River and Osceola National Forests, I'm thinking it would be worth it. Perhaps I could hit the Hatfield-McCoy trails in southern West Virginia on the way home ; I've long wanted to try them. But I don't have a good place to store the trailer back here at home .
That evening we diddled around on the web, then watched our weekly 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' shows.
-------------------------
Thursday, 12 January -
Today I took Dad's car in to the Honda dealer for inspection and to have an outside mirror installed. Somehow the mirror completely disappeared. We're not sure if it was knocked off by a vandal or what-- it was just gone one day. During the inspection a load-test of the battery showed it was on its way out so I went over to the local Battery Warehouse and had a replacement installed.
That afternoon I took care of a few errands then watched two more episodes of 'Better Off Ted'. I think we're going to pass on this one.
We watched three more episodes of the latest 'Big Love' season. I'm interested to see how the producers turn this around. At this point it's unrelentingly depressing.
-------------------------
Wednesday, 11 January -
This morning I took the Ody in to the Honda dealer for an oil change and to repair a tail-light. Labashi had backed into a tree limb overhanging a parking-lot space and it had, fortunately, only broken the tail-light lens. That wasn't cheap (almost $200) but much better than body-work costs.
I didn't get back until mid-afternoon and was running late to take a walk. But once I changed clothes and went out to the bike, I noticed we had incoming rain-clouds. I abandoned the idea and instead watched a Gordon Eastman movie from the early Seventies called 'Savage Wild'. This movie is reminiscent of the wildlife movies we used to have come around to the local junior-high when I was young. Some guy goes off into the wilderness with his camera and self-produces a film which he then travels the country showing it to small audiences at schools, churches, and YMCAs. This one was about Gordon spending two years in the Yukon raising some wolf cubs and then releasing them. I used to love seeing this type of film for its footage of the wild and the gear used by the guy and his buddies.
I also watched two episodes of the TV show 'Better Off Ted' to see if we'd like it. Not sure yet.
That evening Labashi joined me in watching two episodes of 'Big Love'.
---------------------------
Tuesday, 10 January -
Labashi wanted a break from her Ebay-ing today so we drove over to Lancaster for the day. We took a walk through Central Market, then lunched at Carr's Restaurant nearby. We then walked over to the Lancaster Art Museum for their local-photographers exhibit. Afterwards we toured the shops of Gallery Row and the gallery at Millersville University's Lancaster building.
On the way home we stopped for our favorite ribs at Texas Roadhouse and a look through the new Books-A-Million store nearby.
That evening we watched 'Powwow Highway', a good Native-American-produced movie with Adam Beach and Gary Farmer. The story is a friendship-story of two guys from the Coeur-d'Alene rez who take a road trip to Santa Fe after the death of a father. Well done!
We then watched a Netflix-Instant movie, 'Lebanon, PA', mostly because of the location. We were surprised how good it was though it did have a controversial point of view and treated us locals too simplistically.
-------------------------
Monday, 9 January -
I spent the morning scheduling appointments for car maintenance and researching a motorcycle hauler for Mocha Joe. I have a discount certificate for a Harbor Freight hauler which looked suitable to the task. But once I read the owner's manual I saw it wouldn't really work for me.
Most of these receiver-hitch-mounted models suggest you have two people in order to get the motorcycle up on the ramp and in place and tied down. I need to be able to load and unload by myself (since I travel alone on my winter trip). That seems possible with some type of design which would allow me to roll the bike into a front-wheel grip and therefore steady it enough to get my front-end straps on, then deal with the back end. But the Harbor Freight design has you run the motorcycle only halfway across the back of the vehicle, then remove a pin so the motorcycle's back wheel can roll into a slot. The pin is then put back in place through the wheel spokes to secure the bike. Well, that just won't work. I also looked at Versa-Hauler models but once I saw how heavy they are I lost interest. I'm also betting I'd need to put air shocks on the van to use a hauler.
I hate to think of towing a trailer all over Florida just to get a few motorcycle rides in so it looks like I'll just forget about taking my bike down. I'll need to do some research on renting motorcycles down there. Come to think of it, if I'd be able to find some interesting bikes to rent, that would even be a better option. If any rental shops were to have the current Triumph Thruxton 900, I'd jump on that opportunity. That seems unlikely but I might find an interesting BMW rental. I know there are Hardley Abelsons available so I can always do that if the rental terms aren't too onerous.
That afternoon I walked at Rocky Ridge (1:48 today).
****** END OF POST *********
(posted from home)
(This post covers 9 – 16 January, 2011)
---------------------------
Monday, 16 January -
Martin Luther King Day. I'm afraid the great man would not be pleased with what has become of our country. The Great Conservatard Backlash continues.
Today was a cold, windy and threatening-rain day and I spent much of it on the web researching various topics for the Florida trip. I did get out a bit in the afternoon to run over to the Giant for a few items but otherwise it's one of those days that makes me want to go to Florida just to feel less cooped-up. We received an flyer from Cabela's yesterday touting a Cabin-Fever Sale. My immediate reaction was it's too early for that but now I'm not so sure. We've been very lucky to have fifty and forty-degree days recently but the trend is of course downward now.
That evening we watched 'Big Love' Season Five episodes. I was wondering how the writers would keep us interested in this ever-downward-spiraling tale but they seem to have done it.
-------------------------
Sunday, 15 January -
This morning the temperature was only 18 so before dressing for my Sunday motorcycle ride I went out and started the Concours to be sure it would run. I've ridden it temperatures as low as 12 degrees but have also had problems getting it started in temperatures below 30. Getting it started depends not only on the condition of the battery (how new it is) but also how much I've been riding that bike lately. The battery is only a few months old, I've been careful to use StarTron additive on gas fill-ups, and I've been out on it a good bit in the last few weeks. The bike started up on two tries, an easy one. I left it idling while I went in to don my safety gear.
I rode down to the Tollgate Startbucks on this gusty morning (wind-chill of 13 degrees), careful to take a route less likely to have ice from frozen run-off. I spent the rest of the morning catching up the blog, this time using the laptop rather than the iPad. I've found I can't rely on the iPad for this. Two weeks ago I spent an hour writing up a blog entry only to have the iPad screen momentarily go black and lose everything I'd just done. I'm not sure if that was an iOS or email fault but the fact that the system isn't keeping backups as I work tells me the iPad isn't yet ready for prime time.
After Starbucks I rode over to a nearby Five Guys for a quick burger, then on to Rocky Ridge for a brisk walk. (1:47 today).
That evening we watched “A Thief of Time”, a Masterpiece Theater film adapting Tony Hillerman's novel featuring Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo Tribal Police officer. I'm a fan of Wes Studi, Adam Beach, and Gary Farmer's films.
-----------------------
Saturday, 14 January -
Today we drove up to Harrisburg to visit our friend rar and wife. We've not seen them in years and it was great to get together to catch up. We spent the afternoon and evening looking at travel pictures, chatting, and having an excellent meal (and wine!).
We arrived back home around 2100 and watched two episodes of 'Mad Men', Season One. We're into it.
----------------------
Friday, 13 January -
Today Labashi and I drove into town to run a few errands. We hit the Wal-mart, lunched at Five Guys, and then did some grocery shopping on the way home.
That afternoon I got back to researching a sport-model ATV and the OHV(Off-Highway-Vehicle) trails in Florida. I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth the hassle of trailering an ATV to Florida to explore the trails there. After seeing a map of the Ocala Adventure Trail in the Ocala National Forest and the trails in the Withlacoochee River and Osceola National Forests, I'm thinking it would be worth it. Perhaps I could hit the Hatfield-McCoy trails in southern West Virginia on the way home ; I've long wanted to try them. But I don't have a good place to store the trailer back here at home .
That evening we diddled around on the web, then watched our weekly 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' shows.
-------------------------
Thursday, 12 January -
Today I took Dad's car in to the Honda dealer for inspection and to have an outside mirror installed. Somehow the mirror completely disappeared. We're not sure if it was knocked off by a vandal or what-- it was just gone one day. During the inspection a load-test of the battery showed it was on its way out so I went over to the local Battery Warehouse and had a replacement installed.
That afternoon I took care of a few errands then watched two more episodes of 'Better Off Ted'. I think we're going to pass on this one.
We watched three more episodes of the latest 'Big Love' season. I'm interested to see how the producers turn this around. At this point it's unrelentingly depressing.
-------------------------
Wednesday, 11 January -
This morning I took the Ody in to the Honda dealer for an oil change and to repair a tail-light. Labashi had backed into a tree limb overhanging a parking-lot space and it had, fortunately, only broken the tail-light lens. That wasn't cheap (almost $200) but much better than body-work costs.
I didn't get back until mid-afternoon and was running late to take a walk. But once I changed clothes and went out to the bike, I noticed we had incoming rain-clouds. I abandoned the idea and instead watched a Gordon Eastman movie from the early Seventies called 'Savage Wild'. This movie is reminiscent of the wildlife movies we used to have come around to the local junior-high when I was young. Some guy goes off into the wilderness with his camera and self-produces a film which he then travels the country showing it to small audiences at schools, churches, and YMCAs. This one was about Gordon spending two years in the Yukon raising some wolf cubs and then releasing them. I used to love seeing this type of film for its footage of the wild and the gear used by the guy and his buddies.
I also watched two episodes of the TV show 'Better Off Ted' to see if we'd like it. Not sure yet.
That evening Labashi joined me in watching two episodes of 'Big Love'.
---------------------------
Tuesday, 10 January -
Labashi wanted a break from her Ebay-ing today so we drove over to Lancaster for the day. We took a walk through Central Market, then lunched at Carr's Restaurant nearby. We then walked over to the Lancaster Art Museum for their local-photographers exhibit. Afterwards we toured the shops of Gallery Row and the gallery at Millersville University's Lancaster building.
On the way home we stopped for our favorite ribs at Texas Roadhouse and a look through the new Books-A-Million store nearby.
That evening we watched 'Powwow Highway', a good Native-American-produced movie with Adam Beach and Gary Farmer. The story is a friendship-story of two guys from the Coeur-d'Alene rez who take a road trip to Santa Fe after the death of a father. Well done!
We then watched a Netflix-Instant movie, 'Lebanon, PA', mostly because of the location. We were surprised how good it was though it did have a controversial point of view and treated us locals too simplistically.
-------------------------
Monday, 9 January -
I spent the morning scheduling appointments for car maintenance and researching a motorcycle hauler for Mocha Joe. I have a discount certificate for a Harbor Freight hauler which looked suitable to the task. But once I read the owner's manual I saw it wouldn't really work for me.
Most of these receiver-hitch-mounted models suggest you have two people in order to get the motorcycle up on the ramp and in place and tied down. I need to be able to load and unload by myself (since I travel alone on my winter trip). That seems possible with some type of design which would allow me to roll the bike into a front-wheel grip and therefore steady it enough to get my front-end straps on, then deal with the back end. But the Harbor Freight design has you run the motorcycle only halfway across the back of the vehicle, then remove a pin so the motorcycle's back wheel can roll into a slot. The pin is then put back in place through the wheel spokes to secure the bike. Well, that just won't work. I also looked at Versa-Hauler models but once I saw how heavy they are I lost interest. I'm also betting I'd need to put air shocks on the van to use a hauler.
I hate to think of towing a trailer all over Florida just to get a few motorcycle rides in so it looks like I'll just forget about taking my bike down. I'll need to do some research on renting motorcycles down there. Come to think of it, if I'd be able to find some interesting bikes to rent, that would even be a better option. If any rental shops were to have the current Triumph Thruxton 900, I'd jump on that opportunity. That seems unlikely but I might find an interesting BMW rental. I know there are Hardley Abelsons available so I can always do that if the rental terms aren't too onerous.
That afternoon I walked at Rocky Ridge (1:48 today).
****** END OF POST *********
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home