Yes, Those are Tassels on my Levers

I went home to Tennessee this week to visit family for the 4th of July holiday. On a lark, I went ahead and threw my helmet and one of my riding coats, my boots, and gloves into the car. Turns out that was a good call.
When we visited with my mom on Tuesday, one of the first things she asked me was if I wanted to go for a ride. She recently purchased a Honda Shadow 1300cc for her girlfriend and so she has TWO bikes under the carport. It didn’t take much convincing. The next day I was at Goodwill purchasing a pair of black denim pants for $2. Riding pants were the only thing I forgot in my haste.
I spent Wednesday night on Google Maps coming up with a good route. My mom does a lot of riding in the area but could not remember being on the Blue Ridge Parkway since maybe back in the 70’s when her and my dad were together. So the BRP was my goal. See the route details below. We would take the back way to Gatlinburg (via Cosby) and then take 441 into Cherokee, NC. Get on the BRP there in Cherokee (where it starts, by the way). Take the BRP for maybe 60 miles or so, then get off before Asheville and head north. Through Canton, then Hot Springs, then back to her home in White Pine, TN. See route details below. (See the Google map HERE.)

We left my mom’s place at around 9:30am. That was a bit of a scare. I had never ridden this behemoth bike before. My mom’s first instruction was to ride the bike out of the carport, uphill through about 40 yards of wet grass, and then out into the gravel driveway. Ugh! But….I watched my mom do it with no trouble and I executed the same bad idea as effortlessly as she had.
The first few stops were pretty standard stuff. Nice sunny weather and pretty easy riding. The road from Gatlinburg to Cherokee (441) is pretty busy, but it’s still a very winding, twisty road with plenty of vistas. It sprinkled on us a few times on the way to Cherokee, but we didn’t get soaked.
It was well after noon by the time we got on the BRP and we had only gone maybe 85 miles by that point. We weren’t setting a blistering pace. We were taking plenty of breaks and just enjoying the ride. My mom smokes like a chimney, so she never complains if I stop. See below a pic of my mom at the very start of the BRP in Cherokee, NC.

Once we were on the BRP, I was in heaven. That big heavy V-twin is quite a different ride from the smooth power delivery of an inline four. The Shadow I was riding has handlebars that sort of swoop back like the old vintage bikes, so it was easy to imagine I was riding an old Indian. We sputtered along between 35mph and 45mph most of the time. And on a bike like that, it’s easy to get into an enjoyable rhythm and savor the curves even at that slow speed. It was quite a leap from the start of the day when I was utterly flummoxed as to how one goes about riding a bike with no tach.

We ran through a decent amount of rain on the BRP and that’s where I eventually got soaked. But we also had some sun and I took some great pics of us, the bikes, and the view.



Pounding Mill Overlook is very close to where we had planned to exit the BRP. We stopped there and took shelter from the rain under an overhanging rock. At that point, you could see a very ominous “cloud” tip toeing around the next corner from where we were parked. All of the bikers there, including a couple of squids in ripped blue jeans were eyeing the cloud and debating on just turning and heading back the way they came. But my mom and I suited up and rode on…..heading right for the “cloud”.

As soon as we rounded the corner, we were in the “cloud” and I was assessing visibility. I looked back and all I could see was my mom’s headlight. That fog lasted maybe a mile at most. In another couple of miles we were exiting the parkway onto 276 and heading north toward Canton. However, at that point, we were in a heavy, steady rain. And as most of us well know, all roads leading to and from the BRP are typically steep since the BRP runs along the ridge of the mountains. So now we were descending on 276 in heavy rain. I saw a yellow speed advisory sign that read “15mph / Next 4 Miles”. I dropped it into first gear and we crept down the mountain. I kept an eye on my mirror and could see a car behind my mom the whole way down. With rain too heavy for me to see through my visor, I raised my shield and just drank in the rain. I was hyper focused on not wrecking this big Shadow and then it dawned on me that my Mom was behind me doing the exact same thing. She’s got 20 plus years on me. I know she’s in her early sixties, she wears glasses, she surely can’t be as strong as she once was, and here she is riding this cruiser down a mountain in heavy rain. When it finally leveled out, we pulled over and I told my mom she had earned her merit badge. We were both soaked to the core, but both very relieved to have made it down in one piece.
We made our way toward Canton, NC. We merged onto 215 at some point. We fueled up in Canton. (I don’t go on and on about all of these roads, but they were ALL good. Western North Carolina is replete with great riding.) At Canton, I needed to be on the lookout for a small side road that would allow us to wind our way over to 209 and into Hot Springs. I kept looking for this Thickety Road that I had found on Google Maps. Finding Thickety would keep us from having to resort to interstate travel. Luck was with me and I found the road. It took us right over Interstate 40 and I gave a middle finger salute to the interstate traffic as we crossed overhead. Thickety took us to Crabtree Mountain Road. Ah…….Crabtree Mountain Road…..a meandering little road on the Google Maps that gave no hint at the adventure it held in store for us. Crabtree Mountain Road was just supposed to be a back roads route for us to get to 209 (a GREAT road) and then into Hot Springs. It wound up being a generous reward for having ridden in so much rain a half hour earlier. With almost no warning, the road turned into steep switchbacks, the goat path of all goat paths leading to the top of the mountain in the absolute shortest distance possible. The inside corners were scraped by cars’ undercarriages……as we have all seen before. It was probably only two or three miles of road, but it was a first-gear climb that required courage, finesse, and a smile. It was very much like Mount Judea in Arkansas, but it went on for longer. When I finally crested the summit, I HAD to pull over and get my mom’s reaction. She went on and on like it had scared the shit out of her, and I do believe it did, but it was also something she seemed to enjoy. Quite an adventure. All I kept thinking and repeating to myself was that the “road had redeemed itself.” Riding in the rain earlier had sucked, but climbing this mountain goat path in the warm sun of late afternoon had been the reward.


We eventually got back on the bikes and made our way down the other side of Crabtree Mountain Road. Luckily the other side wasn’t quite as steep and we were able to safely control our descent. At the junction of 209, we tried to take Max Patch Road (107) over into TN instead of taking 209 (a road that we have both been on previously). But Max Patch turned to gravel and we had to double back about 5 miles. We (the Hoolie Crew) have all been on 209. It goes over into Hot Springs where a lot of Appalachian Trail through hikers stop for respite. 209 is a great road. I think some people in the area call it the Snake or the Rattle Snake, or the Rattler, or something like that. My mom and I stopped there in Hot Springs and ate dinner at a little diner she remembered was there. See below a picture of how my hands were inked blue from a day of riding with wet gloves and a through hiker who had been eating at the diner.


We left Hot Springs at about 8:30pm. As we made our way back home, we crossed over the French Broad River as the sun was setting. A beautiful view to end the day. We rode along the river most of the 25 miles back to Newport. We finally returned home at around 9:30pm. 12 hours on the road. 257 miles on the trip meter. One hell of a great day of riding.

There, I Fixed it.....

For anyone NOT familiar with the official "There, I Fixed it" web site, I highly suggest giving it a look. I love receiving their daily emails. Something about that mentality of fixing things on the fly and making do with what you've got really resonates with me. That's actually one of the many reasons I enjoy hanging around with my buddy John. As he puts, he was 12 or 13 years old before he realized you could just BUY things; his dad was the type to fix or fabricate anything they needed or needed repair. Anywho, my family is very much like that. I still remember being with my cousins at my grandparents house and trying to ride an old bicycle that had no tires.....just bare rims. Not an easy task on pea gravel. My papaw saw us doing this and he took some old, thick, rigid, pink fuel hoses and mounted them on the rims. Not an extremely pleasant ride, but it was a hell of an improvement over bare rims. On a recent visit to see my grandparents, I noticed this old lawn mower body in the shed. I asked my granny about the mower and she explained that my papaw used it to cart a water pump to the creek when he need to pump water out for the garden. Notice the piece of wood so the pump mounts up just right.

Anywho, I am always saving containers and reusing them when I can....often in the garage. But tonight I needed a way to preserve a can of sweetened condensed milk I had opened. (I use it for my coffee.) I had a plastic peanut butter jar in the cabinet. The can fit in nicely, but how to retrieve it each time. The solution gave me a little giggle when I figured it out. There, I fixed it.

Scrabble Turns 37!!!

I swear to Jebus it felt like I was 36yo FOREVER. I even did the math at one point a few months ago to make sure I wasn't adding it up wrong. But it had to end sometime, and that sometime was Saturday. I celebrated by getting a haircut, having a late lunch at Houston's on the Plaza. Houston's makes the world's BEST veggie burger in house, and they also serve a crazy good roasted artichoke. I LOVE their artichoke. There's not a lot of "meat" on the leaves, so it winds up being all about the taste.

What better way to spend a summer evening than at a dirt track. We drove out to Grain Valley, MO, which is just a few miles outside of Kansas City. Valley Speedway has a 3/8 mile dirt oval. They had Modifieds and Street Stock racing last night. The heat races were a little bit better than the actual races. As you would expect, the more cars, the more cautions. I uploaded and embedded some video below. I use to go down south to Adrian, MO. There was an awesome little dirt track down there that was only 1/3 mile. Seeing modifieds race around that tiny track was quite the spectacle.

The End of an Era: Corobra Finds New Home

I knew this day had to come. I sold her tonight. I won't use this time to reminisce too much. We had a good run with lots of great memories, but it was the Corobra's time to go. I knew I was selling it to a good guy, but I was for sure when I went to lay the money down after the sale and noticed he had kept with tradition, scibbling on the bank envelope simply "Corobra $".

Newest Member of the Vibrator Club

About three months ago, I started looking for a new car. I knew I wanted a small 4 cylinder, something that would get good gas mileage, and preferably a wagon. I also wanted something with dark interior, an automatic of course, and something with AIR CONDITIONING. I looked at a lot of cars and did a lot of searching and researching over the last three months.

I kept coming back to the Pontiac Vibe. 1.8L, 4cyl. Rated at 29/36 mpg. The Vibe has lots of neat features like the 110 volt outlet, fold flat rear seats, the front passenger seat that folds flat (ideal for a laptop). The Vibe also sits a little more upright that most compact sedans, so it's a little easier to get in and out of. This one even has the sunroof!

Now I am the LAST person who would recommend owning a Pontiac / GM product. However, something you may not know is that the Vibe was built alongside the Toyota Matrix at the NUMMI assembly plant in Fremont, California. And the Vibe and Matrix are built on the Corolla platform with the Matrix power train and drive train. The is the closest there there is to a contemporary Corolla wagon without buying the less attractive Matrix. I'm all about the Corolla, as you all know. The Vibe gets good reviews, has built a good reputation for itself, and is less expensive that a Corolla of comparable age and mileage.

So, I located a good one at a large Chevrolet dealership up in Des Moines, Iowa. I drove up today (420 miles round trip) and pulled the trigger. Found this beauty with a mere SIXTY THOUSAND miles on the odometer. It's a 2003 model. I talked them down from retail and basically got it for what Kelley Blue Book considers "private party price". That's okay with me. Clean one-owner, no-accident CarFax and I was allowed to inspect it closely on the lift prior to purchase.

I'm the proud new owner of this 2003 Pontiac Vibe and the newest member of what my two female Vibe-owning coworkers fondly refer to as "The Vibrator Club".

Blizzard at Chuck's House!

Blizzard at my house too for that matter. The "Northern Alliance" constituency of the Hoolie Crew is collectively screwed. An actual blizzard is forecast. 10 to 15 inches of snow in the works. Hold on to your hats.

A True Comedy of Errors....

I put wrenching into at least three categories. I'm sure there are more, but the ones that come to mind are (1) plumbing, like radiators and such (2) precision stuff, like valve adjustments, and (3) knuckle busters, like struts and other suspension issues. I knew it would be a knuckle buster going into it today. Start with a hammer and then get a bigger hammer.

The first strut installed was really pretty easy. The only tricky part was the brake hanger. I tried chiseling it off there, but that didn't work so well. Trying to break the metal off the side of the strut with the chisel seems like it would work, but that was unsuccessful. I found that starting a cut with the hack saw and then using the chisel as a cutting tool was the best method. That chisel cuts through the metal quite well. And the nice thing is that it left a downward pointed barb toward the end of the cut. That barb then went down into the eyelet on the new strut (the eyelet meant for the brake line). Once the strut was installed, I just set the old part on top of the new, the barb held it in place, and then followed with a hose clamp. The hose clamp was Joe's idea and it worked like a charm. Very solid mount. Great solution.

One fun trick I learned / used was that the bolts on the top of the strut, since they didn't line up just perfect with the holes in the strut housing of the car, had to be coaxed into place. I could see the bolts sort of start into the holes, but they wouldn't go. It was just slightly too tight of a fit. So, I attached the bottom of the strut and lowered the car down onto the tire and the force popped the top of the strut up through the holes. POP! All done. Then just put the nuts onto the posts.

The first side took me about two hours. Pretty good I thought. The way these things go, I was kind of thinking I would burn through the second in maybe half the time. "Sit back, relax, enjoy this, Douglas," I thought to myself, "You've got this job under hand."
Well, wouldn't you know it. I sort of suspected maybe I got lucky on the first side. I didn't use a torch or anything and I was able to break those two big bottom bolts free. Just a pipe on the end of a regular 3/8 inch drive ratchet did the trick. But, on the second side, I actually broke the ratchet. It just jammed up. I guess the internals get jammed and it's dead after that. I tried a second ratchet and actually broke the nub off the thing where the socket attaches. Okay....so this isn't going well. I read in some forums and I was told by some people that I might need to use a torch on those big bolts to get them loose. Oh well, to be expected. I don't have a torch, so I ran to Walmart on the ZRX. Bought a new ratchet and a torch and some of the spray lube for loosening rusty parts. In this next pic, you can see one of the two big bolts to which I am referring. Actually, this is a pic of the side I was having trouble with.

Torch, torch, torch. Push, push, push. Bolt isn't budging. Spray some of the stuff on. Bang with hammer. Torch, torch, torch. POW! There's goes my third ratchet. Broken. That's okay......that wasn't the new one I bought. We're still good. One more left. No biggy. I AM LITERALLY RATIONING RATCHETS AT THIS POINT BECAUSE I AM BREAKING THEM SO PREDICTABLY. Torch, torch, torch. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Time for my ace in the hole.....my new ratchet. I bent a pipe I was using as a breaker bar, so I scavenged a HUGE pipe off my front work stand. New ratchet, enormous breaker bar. POP!!!! Fourth broken ratchet. Fuck!
Hey wait a minute..... I turned the car around to do this side. I was pushing on the other side, that means I should be.........pulling on this side. Jesus H Christ, I have been tightening this whole time. It took me FOUR ratchets to realize....oh yeah, righty tighty, lefty loosey. Below is a pic of the four broken ratchets....casualties of an idiot mind....

So I'm out of ratchets and down to my box wrenches at this point. I torch and low and behold....with a LOT of whacking with the hammer on the open end of the box wrench I was able to get the top bolt free. Luckily, I hadn't had much access to the bottom bolt, so I didn't get a chance to tighten it beyond belief like i had the top one. Also, another little bit of silver lining here is that at least I broke the ratchets instead of breaking a bolt or rounding the bolt off. No parts on the car itself were actually damaged in this tsunami of stupidity. THAT I consider to be QUITE A BLESSING and is what allowed me to retain my sense of humor about the whole ordeal.
Okay. So, we're cooking now. I use my top strut mount bolts trick and that works like a charm. I attach the brake line, sway bar, the two big bolts. And then back on with the wheel. I give the lug nuts one last good tug and the whole assembly drops like something broke. OH SHIT! This can't be good.
Of course it didn't take me long to realize I had not actually bolted the strut in at the top. I had gotten the posts through the holes and then moved on to the bottom because that's the order the book suggests. Only I never went back and actually screwed the top in.
So back off with the wheel. Only now I can't find the nut and the bolt that secure the top of the strut. They are NO WHERE to be found. In fact, I can't even remember taking the new ones out of the top of the strut. That's when I hear the faint laughter. I inspect the strut housing and discover that I left them IN the new strut. I cannot believe this! I immediately worry that I am going to have to COMPLETELY remove the new strut ENTIRELY. Luckily.....by the grace of JEBUS almighty, I was able to just pull down on the whole assembly and remove the two nuts and the one bolt. It was a tight fight, but I was able to jam my arm and hands up there to retrieve them. And low.....the offending bolts....

And believe it or not, I was able to actually tighten the top of the strut down this time. Impressive...

Now, aside from breaking FOUR ratchets because I didn't remember righty tighty lefty loosey, and aside from completely failing to bolt in the top of one of the struts, and aside from leaving vital hardware attached to the new strut and then having to retrieve said hardware like I was birthing a breached baby calf.....I would say today was a huge success. The job took me about 6 hours and a few busted knuckles, but I saved myself a good five or six hundred bucks. The pair of struts only cost me $190 SHIPPED off Ebay and I had the job priced out at two shops between seven and eight hundred dollars. Well worth it in my opinion.
Took the car out for a test drive tonight and the ride is much improved and way quieter. The front struts don't look bad, but they've got 165k miles on them as well. So, I'll probably be doing those soon enough. Thanks to Joe for his idea on how to attach the brake line without opening the line.

HWY 221 ZRXOA Fall Rally Eureka Springs (09/24/10)

Following Neal back to Eureka Springs from Brushy's Corner after Roland's off.

Push Mountain Rd. ZRXOA Fall Rally Eureka Springs (09/23/10)

Push Mountain Rod. from HWY14 heading north, running it to just over the crest of the hill.

SUFJAN STEVENS

If you see one show this year, I can almost bet it will NOT be this one. You'll be missing something though. I had a coworker ask me to go to this so I checked his older stuff out on the net. Had plenty of banjo in it, so I thought, "What the heck for $35." All his stuff last night was new - and in Sufjan's words and my opinion - experimental. I knew almost nothing that was played. However, I can say that this was probably the best live show I have ever attended in my life. I had made this decision about three songs into the evening. There just seemed to be a tremendous energy in the music. At times, I would think, why do I like this so much? What are they doing up there that I dig so dang much? And it wasn't the banjo, because he put that down after this first song and never touched it again the rest of the night. What a fantastic show. Just amazing.

New Radiator Installed Successfully.

I received the new radiator in the mail Monday. Installed it Wednesday with no real problems. I put straight water in there, though Jody very wisely told me that I should be careful just not to tell anyone that. Thanks for the tip, Jody. Anywho, I rode the bike to work Friday and maybe put a total of 35 to 40 miles on the bike like that.
So today I took the time to flush the system and put the proper coolant and water mix in there. Figured I would share the process. I was able to pull the tank BACK about 6 to 10 inches and didn't even need to pull it completely off the bike....that way I was able to use the fuel source as a fuel source without rigging something up. No one has ever mentioned this, but it works fine as long as you take the fuel drain line off the back of the tank. That's all you need to disconnect. And with the bike on the rear stand, you can turn the handle bars to the left, and you have plenty of room to pour from a gallon jug into a funnel in the filler neck.
PROCESS. I removed the rad cap, started the bike, and then removed the drain plug at the bottom. Back to the top and I started pouring water in as water drained from the bottom. Turned the bike off when the gallon jug got low. Rushed down and replaced the plug. Topped the rad back off with more water. Started the bike again. Ran the bike until water in filler neck got hot. Then pulled the plug again. Filled from filler neck as water drained from the bottom. (I was careful to never let the water drain out completely, which prevented me from having to bleed from the water pump each and every time.) I did several slightly different variations of this and used a total of maybe 6 or 7 gallons of water until the water ran good and clean with minimal particulates left over from the Alumaseal that I put in there at the rally. It was interesting how when I would pull the plug, hot water would be draining at first but by the time I was near the bottom of the jug, cold water would be coming out at the bottom. Anyway..... I did have the fleeting thought....I hope these temp changes in water don't crack my head in like 12 different places. I'm not really smart enough to know if that could happen, but it just flashed in my head as an epic thread on the OA.
When I finally put the coolant mix in there, I let about 6 to 8 cups drain straight through in hopes that that would displace any straight water that might have been left in there. I did clean and refill the reservoir bottle as well. And of course I bled air from the water pump and thermostat housings. And I plan to check my ratio mix for freeze level with a tester later in the week. I'll be road testing the bike this week to make sure all is fine. But it seems to be a good fix thus far.

Look What Daddy Got....

It's one thing when you get a plain brown package on your door step and you think....."Oh, sweet, my radiator came."

And then it's a whole other thing when you carefully cut that boring brown box open and you realize....I just entered the world of aftermarket parts, aka the mod world. That red box is downright impressive.

I pulled the rad out completely and it looks real good. Appears to be straight; I did the Jody-laying-it-on-a-flat-surface test.

Pics of the replacement to follow, as well as other updates.

Went Hiking and almost stepped on a THIS.....

So I set out hiking yesterday. I hit Weston Bend State Park, which overlooks the Missouri River. The trail I chose evidently hadn't been walked in a few days because I fought spider webs across the trail the whole way. I hate that. I had to use a branch held out in front of me to cut down the webs so I wouldn't get tangled up every few feet. Anywho, on my way back DOWN the trail and moving at probably a slightly quicker clip, I stopped well in advance of these copperheads. They had crawled out and were lying dead square in the middle of the trail. I proceeded around them with extreme caution and only took the picture after passing safely.

I also saw this creature, which wouldn't stop moving long enough for me to take a decent pic.

MORE TO THE STORY.....

After I obtained my urban tapestry, about a week later, I passed the scene of the first acquisition, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a second tag. This time it was on the back of the mattress. So out comes the carpet knife and now I have the companion piece of artwork.

But then I started seeing this "Olivera" tag all over midtown. So I took a few pictures. Actually, most of these other tag pics were taken within a stones throw of Steve's house. (If you have to ask who Steve is, you don't read the blog often enough.)


This next pic, which is poor resolution because it was taken with a cell phone, was taken in the bathroom at Wesport Coffee House where I play Scrabble. The presence of the tag caught me by surprise, but the symbols below it were of even more significance. The "$O$" is the name of the Die Antwoord album that was recently released - their debut album. Most of you will have never heard of Die Antwoord. However, Die Antwoord is responsible for the quote on the pic at the top of the Blog: "You picked the wrong Ninjas to fuck with." And low we have come full circle. Did I just BLOW YOUR MIND???

Ken Block - Gymkhana Part 3

Wow, just wow!  Go to YouTube and watch in hi-def if possible.

Speaking of the People's Republic.....

As I was driving to and from Tennessee recently, I had a concern for my safety. Over the 800 miles, there are plenty of high speed bumps....plenty of places to loose the tail end of the Corobra because of the crapped out struts in the rear. It really is pretty bad. I haven't had any scares or close calls, but I can sometimes feel the back of the car wanting to go its own way. And the thought occurred to me that it would be pretty bad to have an accident and injure myself because I wasn't willing to spend the bucks to fix the ol' girl. What would make it worse is that I have the money; I'm just reluctant to spend the seven or eight hundred dollars to get it done.

So, I found out that one option is to replace the whole strut and spring assembly. They're called Quick Struts and they can be had on Ebay for quite a fair price. I can get the set for the rear for under $200 shipped. Anyone see anything wrong with this? I imagine this would be just a few bolts and voila! The quick struts for that price aren't Monroe or anything name brand, but the sellers have good ratings and anything has to be better than the crapped out struts I have in there. And on top of everything else, I think it would be fun to fix this. Get a little wrenching in in my kick-ass conditioned garage space.

The Hulk - Universal Studios Orlando

What a ride!

I Love China

eBay levers

Crazy good for $30 levers for the pair!  Fit like a charm.