Cruisin' whith Pablo

"The days keep on gettin' longer, the desire to leave keeps on gettin' stronger." "Worlds Away" by Pablo Cruise, one of the best forgotten bands of the 70's.

It's January and the days are getting longer. Thank heaven. But with every snowfall my desire to leave Flagstaff keeps on getting stronger. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? Well, I hate snow! My brother Jeff says snow is white fungus. I think its God's punishment for all those people who rode their dirt bikes on Sundays in the summer. Well I didn't ride my dirt bike on Sunday, how come I have to be punished?

Part of what I do for a living is push the fungus off the interstate. Some of what happens out there is just weird. Remember the joke about the not so bright girl who follows the snow plow and follows the snow plow? After a bit the plow driver stops and goes back to ask the young lady what she is doing. She tells him that her dad had told her to follow the snow plow and she would be safe. The driver says "Ok, but I'm through with the Wal-Mart lot and now I'm going to do K-Mart." It's true; people follow the snow plow.

I plow I17 between Flagstaff and just south of Kachina Village. We've had some pretty significant snow storms this winter and during the worst of the storm people will line up behind me. I look in the mirror and see a line behind me for what seems like miles. And in reality it could be miles, I can't see the end of the line. Well, I plow the left lane for quite a while but eventually I need to turn around and go back the other way. I slowly move over to the right lane in order to take the exit and of course the entire line of cars moves over to the right lane with me. That part's ok, but when I take the exit and the first 17 cars follow me up the exit ramp I think that's pretty funny. When I turn left and go over the bridge across the interstate and 6 of them follow me, that's hilarious. But then when I get across the bridge and stop on the on ramp to clear my windows and they wait behind me, that's just stupid.

I'll let you in on a little secret: Plow drivers can't see any better in the snow than you can. In fact you can see better! Consider these parameters: A civilian's headlights are down below his line of sight. The lights illuminate the road in front of the vehicle less than the snow. A plow driver's lights are up high, above the plow when the plow is raised. That means that the lights are shining on the snow more than they are the road and the driver is looking down through the lit snow trying to see the road. I get white out conditions long before you do.

One more little fact: These days we are putting out SALT behind us. Not cinders like the old days. Salt is not a good traction device. In fact, I'm plowing off the snow, leaving a thin layer of ICE behind me. Until the salt has a chance to work, sometimes as long as 15 minutes, right behind me is the worst place to be. Move over into the other lane. Even if it's slushy. Slush will give you more traction than ice. Slow down! Everybody just slow down! I see way too many accidents out there. Cars and trucks upside down with families standing out in the snow wishing they had slowed down. That is those who CAN stand out in the snow. Some folk aren't so lucky. They are trapped in the ride or worse. Plow drivers hate to see accidents. Please slow down in the storms. Your safety and that of others with you and in the cars around you, is more important than getting to your destination sooner.

One other fact: snow isn't good for riding motorcycles in. I've had a ride planed with members of the Flagstaff 6 for several weekends. We've not been able to go for various reasons, not the least of which is the danged SNOW! I hate snow. And then on one the nicest weekends of late, I am on call so I can't leave town. The whole idea is to get out of here; go south where it's warm and there is no snow. Dang fungus. I'll have to content myself with making a modification to The Beast. I'm playing with some extra lights in the rear. I'll post pictures when I'm finished.

Off to sleep now. I don't get much of that lately. I've got a supraspinatus problem in my shoulder which makes it difficult to sleep due to pain. I can't take heavy duty pain killers because I might get called out at any time and I have to be able to function. Whine, whine, whine. I'll go get some cheese to go with that.

The Pepsi and a Pickle Day

Ever tried a pickle in your Pepsi? Everyone should try it once. I had a chance to have lunch with Lela and Mary Lynne today. As they get older I realize how precious these times are. They will become fewer and fewer as the days go by. My gosh they are growing up! In fact grown up would be a better description.

The day started out with me being at work by 6:15 am. I wanted to get some work done before the guys got there. I can do as much in an hour with no one there as I can in three during the day when I have the constant interruptions. I had to leave for a while because I had a PT appointment. Linda's tired of my whining so earlier in the week she drug me by my hair down to the Physical Therapist. So far so good. I hope the shoulder is responding but only time will tell.

Lela and her babysitting charge, Alora, 19 months old, met me at the therapist's clinic and watched while I was twisted and pull on. Afterwards we decided that Brandy's would be a good way to commiserate. I sat in the booth opposite Lela and Alora. Mindy came to join us during her lunch break. Lela had hot apple cider which came in a large mug. Alora decided that she needed the mug. After a bit of a discussion with her it was agreed that she could have her own mug. The waitress brought us an empty mug into which Alora promptly spooned some of Lela's cider. When my Pepsi came, Alora wanted to play with the straw. Soon the straw wasn't enough and the Pepsi was the only thing that would do. We put the Pepsi next to Alora's mug and she used her spoon to put Pepsi into it. I figured it was just a spoon and a little apple cider. Cider wouldn't be too bad; might even be good. I continued to drink the Pepsi.

Our lunch came. I had an egg on top of a pancake and Mindy and Lela shared a nice sandwich. The sandwich came with a pickle on the side. Alora likes pickles. And Pepsi. And pickles dipped into Pepsi. After sampling for myself I decided I didn't like the combination all that much. Alora got the rest of the Pepsi. Despite the loss of beverdge, I enjoyed the time with my daughters and will cherish all that I can manage to have.

It's Alive!

Frankenbike lives! Mike the Bike delivered it late this evening. When I pulled around the corner and saw it sitting in the driveway I was thrilled. I got off of The Beast and jumped on Frankenbike. It is totally different but so nice. The Beast is a V-Twin and has the attendant sound and vibration. Frankenbike is an inline 4 with stock exhaust which just sounds sweet. There are some other glaring differences as well; the seating position, the foot pegs, the narrowness of both the handlebars and gas tank. The most glaring difference is the positioning of the foot pegs. They are much further back than I'm used to. It's the same position as my Yamaha 250 dirt bike. Good for standing up on the pegs while going over the bumps and rocks off road but a little uncomfortable on the highway. Highway pegs mounted to the crash bars are in order. Possibly even forward controls. The latter are to be determined at a later date. The other differences are just differences, not annoyances. Like driving your '55 Chevy for awhile and then jumping in your Mustang. All the controls are there, they just look and feel different. Pictures of both bikes will be forthcoming. Give me a bit, I'll need to get both scooters out in the yard to take pictures. And do it before the snow flies.

The Flagstaff 7 went to Cottonweird today. When we left Flagstaff it was 26 degrees. Below zero. I had on a turtleneck, a pullover shirt, my thick Harley sweater (thank you Linnea!)my leathers (with the fringe) and my leather coat. (Without fringe.) It was still cold. I was glad we were heading south, off the mountain. As the journey began I wondered if it would be worth the cold. It only took a few minutes on the freeway to make me know that it was. The feeling is just unexplainable. The only way to make a person know the feeling is to make them experience it. If you really want to know what it feels like come and take a ride.

I took both of my helmets with me; the full face and the 1/2 helmet. The full face covers all the way down past my chin. The 1/2 only to just above my ears. I keep my Ipod on full blast and scoot along to the likes of Steppenwolf and George Thorogood. Of course when I hear "Bad To The bone" I have to sing along. With the full face helmet I can hear myself sing. I've discovered that I'm a much better singer with the 1/2 helmet on.

We had to have an excuse to ride, so ostensibly we went down to Laurie's dad's house to talk to him about his trike. He and his wife Carrol, have been riding trikes for quite some time. Lin and I are thinking that maybe it would be more comfortable for her if we had a trike. I'm having trouble with the thought of giving up the two wheels. There are some alternatives but we don't know about the compromise it would take to do those. If I could afford it I would get Lin a Goldwing trike in a heartbeat but I can't. In any event, Lin and Lela both got a ride on Dan's nice machine. They loved it, to say the least. The picture at the top of this entry shows the rear of Dan's machine. As we are currently discussing it they both say that they would jump on a trike for trips to the store. I may have to give up both The Beast and Frankenbike to get a trike. As an aside but not of lesser importance: We weren't at Dan and Carrol's for more than 10 minutes when Carrol went into her house and returned with a really nice leather jacket for Lela. It was very nice of them to think of Lela as a recipient of the jacket and Lela is thrilled with it. She didn't want to take it off.

Sometimes the absurd just gets more absurd. Today I had a little time to stop at Burger King for a snack. I'd been having a good day and I thought a small chocolate shake would top things off. Before getting my shake I went in to the restroom to wash my hands. I walked in and turned right around and walked out. There's a guy in there taking a shower in the sink in the Burger King. I've worked in bus stations, camped, been deer hunting, had cars break down where there were no facilities for many miles around, but I've NEVER seen someone taking a shower in the sink at the Burger King. I've seen things in the restrooms at the bus station which were shocking, really shocking. But taking a shower? Not a sponge bath mind you, but a full blown shower. He was standing at the sink, filling a large spray bottle with water and then spraying himself all over. He had already soaped up and was in the rinse phase when I walked in. He didn't seem surprised or startled when I walked in; in fact he didn't even acknowledge me. I certainly didn't acknowledge him. I just backed out slowly and tried to erase the image from my mind. So far unsuccessful. I had to get on "The Beast" to help clear things.

Poor Gordon, Dead and Gone

Linda and I went to Phoenix Friday afternoon to see the concert mentioned in a previous post. (Anyone know how to make these posts go from first to last instead of last to first?) The concert was fun but not good. The picture of Gordon at the top of this post should show why. Mr. Lightfoot has been dead for quite some time but no one dares to tell him. The music and musicians were very good but Mr. Lightfoot's singing, while never good, has deteriorated considerably. Almost to the point of being un-listenable. I understand that I'm old now, and that the singers I liked when I was young have aged as well, but Grand Funk still sound like Grand Funk and 3 Dog Night still sound like 3 Dog Night. Those concerts were great. And The Moody Blues could still tour as a modern day rock band. They still have the energy and vigor of their youth. Gordon, on the other hand, sounds like Katherine Hepburn in her later days. Remember "On Golden Pond"? Horrible. We still had fun and enjoyed the music. It brought back separate memories; we didn't know each other when Gordon was popular.

Our trip to Phoenix was fun. We spent the night in a motel near the freeway. Near our houses in the valley actually. We drove by them. All looks well. One is coming off lease at the end of November but we have a renter already lined up. Lucky thing in these economic times.

Steamed Vegetables

Yesterday started off inauspiciously. I headed off to work not knowing what would lie in store but then again, I never really do. When I got out to Little Antelope I got word of a scene I needed to go take pictures of. Down around milepost 302 on northbound I17 a couple of truck drivers decided to stop and steam some vegetables. Seems that they were driving from California to Montana with a load of various types of vegetables. They decided to set their load on fire, call the fire department who would then come and steam their vegetables for them while the fire was put out. I suppose that a truck load of steamed vegetables might be just some restaurants would need, but most prefer to do their own steaming. Fresher that way. Somewhere south of MP299 the refrigeration unit on the truck caught fire. It burned the trailer and truck to the point that when the wrecker pulled the tractor away from the trailer several feet of the front stayed with the tractor. It took six hours, two tow trucks, three dump trucks and one fire truck to get the mess straightened out. Oh, and five ADOT workers. I've got pictures but they aren't available to me right now. I'll get them up later.

My darling wife's birthday was celebrated in the evening. The Flagstaff six plus Mary Lynne and Lela all went to Outback for some beef. Good friends good family and good food. I surprised Linda with some tickets to one of her favorite singer/songwriters; Gordon Lightfoot. Well at least I thought he was one of her favorites. She likes him, but not better than anyone else. Last year was supposed to be Andy Williams for Christmas. I bought the tickets and was all set to go but then it snowed. Dang I hate that stuff. Want to know the first day of significant snow this year? I'm sure it'll be October 24th, the day of the Lightfoot concert.