Dec 2 - back to two

I went for one of my usual rides yesterday, taking advantage of a wind from the southeast. Well, I took advantage of the wind on the way home, heading south into the 20mph wind was not exactly easy, but I plodded along at 12-14 mph and eventually made the turnaround point. I only needed a sail to get home !

I was concerned that I might get caught in the predicted thunderstorms and clouds were gathering as I rode home. As it turned out we didn't get any rain until late in the night or early in the morning, depending on your definition. The line of thunderstorms is out to sea at this point so we might have a rain-less day. It's cloudy though.

Before leaving on my ride I said my goodbye's to Angelika, who was going to heading to the airport. She and Sandy went out to do some shopping and I headed out shortly afterwards. I got back home before they left for the airport though ... Angelika was taking advantage of the warm weather to sit out in the back and the two of them were yakking. We were joking the night before when I said that we always enjoyed her company and Angelika said that it was harder on Sandy than on me ... and I replied that Sandy was happy to have someone to talk to who listened to her ... all in fun of course !

I said my goodbye's again and they headed off. On the way home from the airport Sandy stopped at Costco and wasn't home until 7:30. We had a late dinner -- hog snapper or hogfish, depending on your reference. It was excellent. Add green beans and rice and we had one of our "normal" meals.

During the day a voicemail was left on my cell phone by the BMW SA to say that my car was ready. I didn't bother calling back figuring that they weren't about to keep track of me. Late afternoon my phone buzzed from a text message coming through -- BMW again to tell me that my car was ready -- ok, so I left a message with the SA that I'd be in the next day. That is the plan -- Sandy has her dermatologist appointment in Ormond Beach this morning and she'll drop me at the dealer on the way.

Back to biking -- looking at the weather predictions I expect that I'll do my December 200km Permanent on Monday. Which way I'll go will depend on the wind direction.

After Sandy and Angelika left for the airport I headed out on the Harley to Home Depot. Ok, I didn't really need to get the porcelain drill bit right away but I wanted to go for a ride and the drill bit was something that I could fit in my pocket. The motorcycle is great for shopping trips for small items, wouldn't be good if I needed a few 2x4's. I'm almost at 300 miles now, 1/3 through the first maintenance perios and 3/5 through the break-in period, not that I really expect to ride any different once I get beyond 500 miles.

I did order the windshield the other day and it's due on Monday the 7th. That will change the riding experience I expect.

While waiting for Sandy to return from the airport I did some bike maintenance -- bike being a neutral word. I checked my chain wear, cleaned my chain and checked the tightening torque on my stem bolts on the Litespeed; checked the oil and cleaned off some road dust on the Harley.

Today, after picking up the X5, I'll do a test install of the hitch rack that I had delivered a couple of days ago. When I looked into this item last year on an urgent basis it was quite expensive and was going to cost around $50 for delivery. This year I found a very solid one for $99 with free delivery. It was a breeze to assemble but of course it weighs a ton. If it didn't weigh a ton it wouldn't be strong enough to be useful. I'm planning on using it for the trip north, carrying some old shelves with me. On the trip back, if the weather is bad I can bring my summer tires on the rack and leave the winter tires on the car (they're in the barn at the cottage right now). In the spring we need to bring some tires up for Sandy's car and since we're not towing a boat anymore, I need some other means of conveyance for large items that don't mind getting dirty.

We got an email from Bonnie yesterday, saying that they were back from their trip to Nashville that they did over U.S. Thanksgiving. I'm sure that they had a good time -- this is nothing new for them. We'll be seeing them two weeks from now. While I was thinking of it I called Al Nichols to ensure that he was going to be clearing driveways this winter -- yes, and we're now on his list. So far, however, there is no snow. While I'd like to see the lake frozen when we get up there, I doubt if that is going to happen at this point. There would have to be a really deep freeze for many days for there to be enough ice on the lake for me to ice-fish. I expect that it will be frozen when we get back in January, but not in two weeks time.

That's it for now ...

Onward.