Several years back when we lived in Thousand Oaks, my wife celebrated the upcoming Mother’s Day with a few days away with a girlfriend, I figured to pop a surprise for her return: installing a new faucet for the master bathroom. Several complications soon arose. Previous owners had done some funky modifications to the old house over the years, and one was the drain trap, a strange conglomeration of plastic and brass and mismatched parts. The threads were stripped, and it took four trips to Home Depot to finally get the correct set up. Eventually I had to…
Read MoreOffer Help
The British Columbia coast can be pretty chilly and cloudy and wet even in the summer, so the sight of a Tim Horton’s restaurant in Vancouver, BC put smiles on all our faces. We parked our six bikes, walked inside, ordered coffee and pastries, and waited for the life-giving warmth the coffee would produce in our bodies.Yet we’d barely taken our first sip when…
Read MoreWhen Fear Cost Me a Beer
In God, a Motorcycle, and the Open Road, Chapter 3 told how I pulled into Groton, Connecticut, looking for a bar to view Nixon’s resignation during Watergate. If you have the book, pull out Chapter 3 to get the story in detail, but briefly, this long-haired hippie biker walked into what looked like a redneck bar, realized he better get out of Dodge, reversed course only to be accosted by a burly guy at the other end of the dark hallway, became VERY concerned, only to discover it wasn’t a burly guy, but my own reflection in a mirror. Yeah, one tough biker!
Then…
Read MorePlan for Plan B
Over the last five years or so, Brad proved himself as “the Wizard of Waze” on our Gray Hogs trips—he’d enter our ultimate destination, calculate in any traffic issues, add in some stops along the way, and we’d blissfully follow his lead, never worrying nor looking at our maps, just riding. We got spoiled, until…
Read MoreStrange Goals, Strange Steps
Hyder, Alaska is a strange town: a United States town that uses Canadian money and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for law enforcement. Even though you can only enter Hyder from Stewart, British Columbia, Canada, you need no passport to get in this sovereign US territory. Just to get out. And yes, it looked like a ghost town as Rich and I rode our bikes there on a foggy and drizzly morning. We saw none of the fourteen people who supposedly live there. But if you look carefully and…
Read MoreAngel Wings
A few years back while living in the Conejo Valley, one Friday at about 6 AM I walked out to get the morning paper and found clear, calm blue skies, and a nicely temperate temperature. Why so many move to SoCal. By 10 AM, everything changed. The typical slight southwest wind reversed itself into a Santa Ana condition, a high gale coming from the northeast, with gusts up to 70 mph. And I was headed into the wind that afternoon, leaving for a…
Read MoreAngel Wings
A few years back while living in the Conejo Valley, one Friday at about 6 AM I walked out to get the morning paper and found clear, calm blue skies, and a nicely temperate temperature. Why so many move to SoCal. By 10 AM, everything changed. The typical slight southwest wind reversed itself into a Santa Ana condition, a high gale coming from the northeast, with gusts up to 70 mph. And I was headed into the wind that afternoon, leaving for a…
Read MoreA Time to Sail
OK, I may get the nautical terms wrong, or just not use them, but I AM a landlubber with limited sailing experiences. My first came when good friends and former neighbors, Ray and Carol Ann, invited Sheila and me to join them for a day on the waters of San Diego with their sailboat. The air rushed past my face as we flew into the wind. One side lifted as we turned, reminding me of taking a tight turn on my motorcycle, but somehow even more thrilling. Then Ray invited to experience the joy of “driving” it, and encouraged me to take a wild turn as one side cleared the water. My wife screamed “Slow down!” in fear, even as Ray encouraged me on. I confess, I listened to…
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