Sunday, August 19, 2001
made it to the reunion!
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| OLPH reunion | class picture 2 | Trike shop in Grove City |
...all I could do to get ready and go! Had an absolute blast except for not
eating anything all day except a piece of jerky, not getting enough sleep,
riding the motorcycle across the country AND drinking too much whiskey in all
the excitement. I missed the ending, darn it!
Who can guess the other guy besides me in the OLPH reunion picture?
Found a trike shop in my old home town!
Next couple'a days spent on motorcycle mtce, gonna ride my mom to her race car
practice tomorrow morning...
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
rode mom to race practice!
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| mom going into her favorite corner |
Marian Stalter champion racer |
mom coming out of her favorite corner |
Dennis getting a ride from the champ |
cardboard champ - beat her time for free laps |
...I knew she was into this Malibu Grand Prix racing but she's a freaking celebrity there! Rode her up on the motorcycle (her first motorcycle ride ever!) and then she talked them into getting one of the 2-seaters out and took ME for a ride! I was worn out just from holding on by the time she was done with me!
Over to the trike shop after that and got squared away on a new front tire and gas tank leak fix. Hoping Triksie'll be back on the road by Thu; hoping...
Friday, August 24, 2001
Triksie mtce complete!
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| working on Triksie 1 | working on Triksie 2 | a stowaway | Sarah inspecting Triksie reassembly |
Madonna-Sarah- Dad-Dennis hairdo |
...new front tire, gas tank leak fixed and even took the engine half-way apart to fix the oil leak! Discovered a dead stowaway in the engine compartment; when will they ever learn? Still have to do an oil change and grease the axle, but that's nothing compared to the last 4 days! Fingers crossed the test ride is successful.
Got my computer fixed too: space bar quit working somewhere in Utah or so and it's been slow typing till now. (What would you do if your space bar quit working?) Compaq customer service gets my vote - shipped me a new keyboard in 2 days and it only took a few minutes to replace.
My old friend Phil's old girlfriend Linda was in town for the reunion and staying with her parents for the week and called me up wanting to get together before she left, maybe go for a ride. I had a brainstorm that maybe she'd like to come over and play in the garage like old times and she was here in a flash! (How long can you just hang out with your parents, after all?) Turned out to be the best mtce assistant I've ever had, I'd only be half done if it weren't for her help.
Assuming the test ride is successful, it doesn't rain, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, this could be the day we go for a ride down some memory lanes. Family reunion on Sunday, no clue what I'm doing Saturday yet...
Saturday, August 25, 2001
the test run was a blast, but..
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| Pike Lake nature lesson | Pike Forest road | top of the hill | motorcycle mtce lesson |
...had a great time on the test ride, took Linda down to a place in southern OH called Pike Lake where we used to go when we were kids and holds lots of fun memories for me. Got to ride Triksie on the same roads I got my first real road riding experience on with my Sears 106 motorcycle when I was teenager, man was that fun! 4 of us camped out there for a week and one friend was 16 so he had his temporary motorcycle license and rode it down then us 15 year olds took turns sneaking out of the campground with it, seeing how far we dared explore without running into a cop! I went to find the camp site we stayed at and remembered an incident where the ranger had to come tell us to quit using a nearby tree for axe throwing practice because we were really hurting it. Another nature lesson from Pike Lake: there's still a big scar in the side of the tree where the bare wood is exposed after almost 30 years!
Then we went to Chillicothe to Linda's favorite drive-in, Sumburgers, and when I checked to see how the oil leak repair was working I got yet another lesson in motorcycle maintenance: don't put too much silicon gasket gook between the parts and don't let it dry too long before putting them back together! Now the inner primary case is cracked so I'll have to take it all back apart and find some place to get it welded before I continue my trip.
Off to go back to the place that recommended the silicon gasket gook in the first place to see if they know where I can get the engine case welded. Also taking Linda over to visit our old friend Bill tonight...
Sunday, August 26, 2001
weekend of reunions
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| skateboard-band- pizza party |
Dennis & Bill reminiscing | Bill&Karen& Linda&Dennis |
Bill & Dennis after too much reminiscing |
...took the motorcycle back to the place that recommended the silicon gook but they were closed so that was just a fun ride and reminded me that I wanted to fiddle with the ignition timing some so came back and did that then went over to Linda's to visit with her parents (don't remember actually ever meeting them when we were teenagers) and her dad told us to be careful and not have any fun and her mom made her wear a helmet! Pretty funny.
Called my friend Bill and no answer so left a message and decided to head for his place by cruising High Street through Columbus, past OSU and on up north. It was a great night for a ride. Went past a pizza place that was putting on a party in its' back lot with a band and a skateboard ramp and hung out there for a while enjoying the youthful energy all around. White boy rap music playing, can't repeat the lyrics here!
Couldn't find Bill's street on any map and hadn't heard back from him so got as far as we could and called and finally got an answer and only about 5 minutes away - good navigation! They were in the process of moving to a new house so had everything packed up in boxes and we sat out on the back deck and had fun remembering old stories (cool how 2 different views can produce memories of things either view alone had forgotten) and catching up with each other after almost 10 years. Good to see neither of us had changed much, still the same old pals. Ended up taking some group pics (things went down hill after the flashing, if you can imagine!) then realizing it was 3a and me and Linda had a long ride home! Bill had wanted to give me an old leather jacket he used to love but didn't fit any more but it worked much better for Linda and she got to wear it home. Now *she's* talking about wanting to get a motorcycle!
Took the back roads around Grove City to get her home then slid into my mom's garage around 430a; it was a great feeling, sneaking in like I was a teenager who'd been out all night! Finally hit the pillow around 5a then had to get back up at 8a to get ready for a family reunion. Was gonna ride the motorcycle to that but it was raining and not worth getting wet over so went with my sister, Madonna, and neice, Sarah in their car. That was fun too, hadn't seen the cousins I used to play with as a grade schooler for at least 30 years. No pics this time, forgot the camera in its' holster on the motorcycle! Back home around 630p and fell into bed and didn't wake back up till a loud clap of thunder around 930p. Man, I haven't had 8 hours of sleep since I can't remember!
Plan to start the motorcycle mtce rework tomorrow, that should provide another adventure...
p.s. notice how much more verbose I am now that I got the space bar fixed! To be removed from this mailing list, send a reply with the word "unsubscribe" as the subject ; )
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
on the road again
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| moms favorite place 2 | Kevin & Jill's spread | Kevin & the boys | morning coffee on the veranda |
...miss me?
Took Triksie over to the shop and got a unanimous decision to just run it and fix the broken case later when I had to take it off for some other reason. Boy did that take a weight off my shoulders and all the sudden I felt like I could continue my vacation now!
Finished off the oil change and axle greasing and stuff Monday night + tried to catch up on bill paying and stuff (been on vacation a long time!) and managed to catch mom in her favorite place. Went shopping to replenish traveling supplies on Tuesday then down to visit my brother, Kevin, and his family near Lancaster. I forgot how beautiful their place was, even though I had seen it before and knew it was beautiful! Got some pics and had dinner and visited then to bed early enough to get plenty of sleep by the time the boys got up and woke me before they went to school. Couldn't resist the picture off the veranda.
Pointed toward Cleveburg next, then maybe PA, then maybe NY...
Thursday, August 30, 2001
RE: on the road again
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| Bernie&Pam&John&Dennis | twin cat |
...off to a kinda late start yesterday afternoon and took the scenic route north toward Cleveburg and didn't get there till almost dark but boy that highway 93 was a beauty! I kinda wanted to take road pics but it was one'a those where you gotta use both hands on the handlebars all the way up! Went through Amish territory and passed at least 7 or 8 buggies running down the highway; it was a great ride.
John and Pam's cat looks like the twin of the one at my brother Kevin's!
Off to PA this afternoon, then NY after that and maybe still thinking of NC after that; we'll see...
Friday, August 31, 2001
headin' for Niagara Falls!
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| 322 toward PA | Amish just west of PA | visiting with Tom | Moby Dick on the fire |
...off to a kinda late start yesterday afternoon after doing some supply shopping. Ended up at a smoke shop and yakked with the guy there about too much government, too many taxes and too many whining citizens. Got my cigarettes and then he threw in a really cool container of organic cigarettes, the kind I had been wanting to try for a long time! It was great! Another GW man, for sure.
Off to PA and got a picture of the road this time, way over yonder is PA in the first pic. Then, to my good fortune a stop light in the middle of nowhere turned red and I coasted behind an Amish carriage while getting the camera out and capturing it. I was back there for so long a little girl stuck her head out the side to see what I was up to, boy would that have been a good pic!
Made it to Tom & Ann's around 8p or so and was promptly served some whiskey, my favorite end of ride pastime. Such a nice night we decided to make a camp fire and me and Tom sat out back catching up with each other until I couldn't drink anymore. No clue what time it was but gonna be another late start today!
Decided Niagra Falls was the ticket for today, never been there and can't think of a better time to do it! Maybe I'll make it to NYC tomorrow. Maybe...