Feb 24 - all prepped

Not a big deal, but I'm ready for my podiatrist appt this morning.  I took the Harley over and picked up all the intake forms ... all these forms with all these "no" answers to questions about all the illnesses that I've had and meds that I take.  Still, I'm obviously going there for something, so all's not well !  Hopefully he will listen and have ideas on my foot/feet problems.  The Jewitt Ortho guy was good, but very narrow in his specialty -- nope, don't need surgery yet.  Yup, that's what I needed him for.  Perhaps this guy, who does less surgery, will have a broader perspective.

Anyhoo ... it's a short ride but the Harley was happy to have some attention paid to it.  Sunny and hot, winds gusting to 40mph, that was exciting too on the bike !

After a nudge from David, I checked into renting a Harley for when he's here.  The local dealership doesn't rent but they do in Ormond Beach, US 1 & I95.  Unfortunately it's a ways away.  He's not that comfortable just jumping into traffic, so I'd probably drive it back.  In fact, I might end up riding that one while he rides mine ... we'll see.  The bike that they'd have for rent is  Heritage Softtail, a nice little 750 pound bike :).  We'll wait until we see how the weather is going to pan out because we certainly don't want to ride in the rain.

As for price -- it costs about the same to rent the bike for a day as to rent a minivan for Jeffrey for a week ... but that's not a surprise.  It's right up there with renting a jet-ski pwc, in terms of cost.  If David was here more; Aaron came down occasionally and Jason got his license ... I'd have a second bike !  Perhaps I could rent Chet's ... hmmm ... but I'd hate to have something happen to it.

Last night was Cassie's 6 of 7, in terms of classes.  She did some exercises well; she was silly some of the time.  She's a puppy.   Next week is graduation.  I hope that we graduate !

I played around with the Garmin; it appears to be working now.  Plugging the Gomadic charger into it doesn't shut it down.  I used some contact cleaner for that ... but will it hold ?

I was back and forth with a company that produces custom etched glasses and back and forth with Paul.  The company is  sending me a sample; I think that we have a deal.  This is for the Cracker Swamp 1200k ride.

... and that's about it.

I should also mention that the entire Randonneuring community Facebook pages are buzzing with news and no news on four riders doing a 200k who were run down by a car in North Carolina.  As far as I know, Mike Dayton is still in a coma.  He served as the RUSA president for the four years ending 2015.  Another of the four has broken vertebrae etc. etc. and will have a long haul to recovery.  Charges haven't been laid yet, pending the situation with Mike.  This appears to be clear day, clear sightline, no oncoming traffic, mow down four cyclists who were spaced out single file riding the white line.  The lady driver has five felony drug charges and is on probation.  The Facebook comments about her are naturally ugly. 

$hit happens, some say.  Well, this $hit wasn't necessary.  It never is.  Cyclists have no way of defending themselves against an errant driver who can't judge where their car is on the road.  Sometimes a bike lane or wide shoulder helps, but not always.  There have been cyclists killed who are way over on the shoulder; the driver charged minimally with not staying in their lane. 

The sooner we have driverless cars the better. 

When Sandy and I went into Daytona the other day, to Total Wine and then to pick up the ballet tickets, twice a driver in the left lane changed into ours causing me to brake hard.  One day, one trip, two incidents -- oblivious drivers.  Was that my fault for driving a sedan vs a humongous SUV ?

Speaking of accidents, a check (that's cheque in English) arrived in the mail without any fanfare reimbursing us for the deductible for the fellow with the big-ass truck (that's what he called it) who backed into Sandy at the gas pump.  Several months ago they offered to settle for half, sharing the blame as it were.  Some people would have settled but not us, not me, no way.  On principle I refused and it went to arbitration and someone finally realized that Sandy couldn't drive sideways into the truck.  That accident happened March 15, 2015 and here it is almost one year later and we're getting our $1,000 deductible back.  Good.

A parking lot or gas station accident between two heavy vehicles is one thing ... that driver complained that Sandy was in his way ... luckily it wasn't a cyclist or small child.  Of course there was zero damage to his BA truck, his bumper hitting the rear door of the X5.  I'm sure that the lady who mowed down the cyclists only has paint damage ...

Climb down off the soap box ...

We heard from Lorraine late yesterday afternoon as to their plans when they come to Florida in April/May.  Kim is coming with them for the entire time and Kyle will be down for the second week.  We're expecting to see them here as well as at Disney. 

Angelika called the day before and with luck, she'll also make it down.  Nothing has been planned as yet.

Onward ...