Honda Goldwing Oil Change

First off, I'm an accountant not a mechanic so this is shade tree at best...  But this is how I did it...  I have a 2012 Audio Comfort..

The basic tools I used are below...  The T handle is 5mm and the socket is 17mm...  Oil filter wrench is an F.

The front panel has to come off to gain access...

I used the T handle to remove the 5mm bolts and watch which holes they come out of as one is longer....  There are 4 more fasteners on the other side as well..

This thing is always all grungy so its a good time to go clean it up....

The plug is 17mm and requires a shallow socket and extension, as a deep socket will interfere with that vacuum canister...

Now for the filter...  I used the smaller F filter wrench that I had to go get at the Auto Zone....  My Suzuki wrench was just slightly too large..

Of course the wrench stuck on the old filter and had to be tapped off with a small hammer....

Here we are ready to pour in the 4 quarts of Honda GN4 which is standard mineral oil based oil....  The guys over at the Honda dealer strongly recommended that I wait until the 4,000 mile service to change to synthetic...

If you are a fan of Amsoil, they say that is a bunch of bunk... That you can use their synthetic right from the beginning.........  But in my mind since this thing is brand new and we are doing a 600 mile change to remove any filings and the like that might be present...  May as well put back the same oil that Honda had in it in the beginning..

I did use 10w-40 as I had read on some of the forums that it makes a slight difference in the shifting CLUNK that you get, especially from first to second gear......  And perhaps will lessen the false shifting into neutral, if you are at all tentative with your shifting..

Seems like that only happens when traffic is down your throat and you need to get the heck out of the way..  Before some cager runs you down...  And then let the clutch out and zoooommmm...  Neutral...

I tend to write these as just a record of what I did today, but when I did one on the Honda outboard motor, it ended up being one of my all time most visited posts....

Remember this is just what I did, and is in no way anything beyond information for amusement only..  But if your careful you might be amused to keep the extra $100 in your wallet..  But it will cost about $40 for the oil and filter...

Retired Rod

Still cold and reading the internet about the motorcycle...

I shouldn't read so many forums about the Goldwing motorcycle....  They are a massive time consumer and give me all kinds of ideas about how to modify the motorcycle...

So today when I got out of bed, it was fairly quickly sunny outside...  But the electric heater was still running in the bedroom...  That should have been my clue..

But when I made it to my chair and found my glasses, the electronic thermometer barely read 40....  We had been down to 36 earlier in the wee hours of the morning...  Biscuit just looked at the open door and refused to go out....  Wonder what she would do back in Kansas.....?

So after breakfast and morning coffee, those darned forums jumped up on my computer.....  All by themselves.......honest!   Well......... they are in the bookmarks anyway..

And in reading the recommendations, under oil changes, almost to the letter, everyone wonders why Honda has removed their instructions to change oil at 600 miles.....  And longer readers know I am an oil change nut.....



I was thinking that I should do this without encouragement, even though I was surprised to not find it in the owners manual..   And then to read that many forum contributors agreed.......!  Well, now it was a foregone conclusion...

The idea behind this early change is to remove any machining bits of metal that might be left over from the manufacture of the engine and mechanical parts...  And if you have ever had a magnetic oil plug on these engines, you will find all kinds of powdered metal attached to it...

Also, if you cut open the oil filter and look at the filter media, it will be coated with this left over metal....  So to me it just makes sense to toss the  filter and the initial oil fairly quickly....  Ok its settled......  do the initial oil change......



So that meant I needed the oil....  Again there is a big controversy  as to when the engine can be changed to synthetic oils...  And Honda usually says after 4K miles......  And on my Honda outboard, that dealer says never use synthetic...  Something about the outboard being stacked in the upright position with its crankshaft aimed at the sky...  Too slick and flat spotting lifters......  Who knows...

Anyway it wasn't getting any warmer outside as we only had 55 by two in the afternoon...  So I dressed with all the clothes and headed out on the bike anyway...  Went over to the motorcycle shop and bought a filter and regular mineral motorcycle oil..  Genuine Honda oil...

I got the 10w-40, as some on the forum said that the thicker oil when warm lessened the clunk when shifting gears.......  Remember the engine oil is also the transmission oil on a bike..



I rode for a while, and then purchased a tank of gas, as our prices here have been going up almost daily...  We were under $3 a month ago, and now it is $3.34...  Its not even February yet.  We will likely see $5 by May...  Get ready...

After some lunch at my favorite burger place and a stop at the Auto Zone, I came back home to read the computer some more...  And it got cold immediately when the sun went down...

We are to be in the mid 30s again tonight so perhaps it could get this out of its system...  But the Midwest is bracing for another snow storm and high winds and weather including tornadoes in the lower Mississippi River valley..  and on into Eastern Texas........

So I'm not really complaining about 35 degrees....  It's just usually warmer here by now...

Tomorrow is oil change day for the new bike and then Thursday is a quilt show.......  And I get to chauffeur..  But Loyce went with me to the big tent, so I can't say anything....LOL

Retired Rod

A gassing experience...

Another one of these goofy days where it starts cloudy/sunny and then as the cold weather comes in it turns off to the worse....

I had the dreaded high noon dental appointment and the dentist is over in the middle of Mesa as I acquired them  while we were staying in Mesa Spirit a number of years ago....



We had a relaxed breakfast, and a bit of computer time before it was an all out push to get ready for the appointment....

Once at the dentist, I had about an hour of the gas......  It never seems to do much for me, but perhaps it does cause a relaxing effect....  I think I breath too much with my mouth and not enough thru my nose...  But I withstood the scratching and polishing...

Once back at the house, it seemed like the day had slipped away, but at least my mouth wasn't numb...  But the clouds looked like rain again and the temperature was only 54...

Aw, what the heck lets go for a bike ride anyway...  So I dressed with sweatshirt and liners in the riding jacket and the big full face helmet...  After some quick lunch I rode back over into old Apache Junction and the Wal Mart....

And wouldn't you know it, as I was grabbing a few quick groceries inside, the clouds moved in and shrouded the big mountains North of town...  When I came out of the store it was noticeably colder too..

You could see the rain coming down from the foggy clouds only a couple of miles away, so I packed things quickly and high tailed it for home....  I managed to stay in front of the storm, but not by much, as I was being overtaken by the sprinkles as I zoomed into the garage..

When Loyce arrived from her errands a while later, she thought for sure I had been rained on as it must have been much worse where she was...

So a boring day under the gas at the dentist turned into a race against the clouds...

Tonight we are to be in the lower 30s again which will cause our heaters to take off running in the early morning...  Darn, I just paid those utility bills from the last cold snap....!

Will this rain ever get over with?  But look at the bright side the desert plants are totally loving it...  And once it gets warmer, the countryside will turn green and lush......   Except for the frozen parts........

Retired Rod

Rain 50 percent of the time....

I waited all day for that time that I wouldn't be stuck to the house...  But the 40 percent chance of rain went up to 50 percent before morning....  And the clouds were Unrelenting...  Biscuit of course went running out in the rain and wouldn't come back in....

So we just closed the door and left her out there....  It wasn't long and she was sitting right beside the closed door under the patio and out of the rain...

I got all showered and dressed like I might be able to leave at any minute... but the rains stopped and started...  Eventually I gave up on riding the motorcycle and just took the car...

Some quick Wendy's for lunch and then over to Home Depot..   I talked to the folks in the garden shop...  Inquiring about frozen plants...  No I didn't want to buy any, but rather when would the big shipment of new replacement plants come in...

The fellow informed me that they had loaded several trucks full of frozen plants out in the past week, and that management wasn't too happy...  I would think not....  So they weren't taking any chances by shipping more plants in....

He said it would be the first of March before they had the big trucks arrive to fill the garden center and its parking lot with new stuff....  Of course that will be a no brainer, as everything is frozen and dead around here......

All I was after today was furnace filters, which was another reason that I brought the car, they would have been a little big on the bike...  And as I was leaving the store, the sidewalk was soaked...  The heavens had opened up again...  I had to trot to the car...

Now the weather folks say it will be colder tomorrow and the next several days.... So that will probably chase away the rain..  And if it freezes again perhaps the man at the garden center of Home Depot has good reason not to bring in lots of new plants.......

Retired Rod

Raining all day long....

It was raining this morning before it was light, and it rained almost all day..  Sometimes just a sprinkle, but for most of the day it ran off of the roof enough to be seen along the sides of the house in the puddles...

Tonight it is quiet, but our yard which was just rocked last summer is completely soft...  If you set foot off of the concrete into the rock you sink in the soft red mud instantly...

Biscuit of course doesn't sink because she is too light weight, and she seems to know that we can't come after her when she goes out to do her thing...  So she kind of taunts us by not coming back when we call for her...  She likes to torment Loyce this way, requiring me to come out and tell her to get in the house...

So no motorcycle riding and no outside activities of any kind unless your on the hard..  Kind of like house arrest....  Even going somewhere in the rain in the car seemed boring, so not much to report...

Tomorrow the rain percentage goes down to 40 so maybe there will be some times that we won't be stuck to the house....

Retired Rod

Raining on the motorcycle ride....

Tonight my blog page is as blank as the day was around here...  Just not much happening other than reading the blogs and looking at the TV...  Not me so much, but Loyce likes the daytime shows...

It was overcast and almost raining all morning long but it stayed warm..  I thought about the motor cycle but it looked like it could rain at a moments notice...

Then in the mid afternoon I remembered that prescription I had over at Target, so surely I could at least go get that....  On the way I stopped by the real estate office to thank our broker for letting me show the models to our friends from Iowa, and it began to sprinkle while I was inside..

So I should have gone home, but of course I didn't...  I rode over to the store in the sprinkles...  It didn't take too long and I had the pills and was on my way back home...  I rode closer to the old part of town as it didn't seem to be raining to the North...

I got back to the house in time to go with Loyce on one of her Jo Ann fabrics runs...  And about then the skies opened up...  We are to have several days of this dreary weather.  And to top it off, it is to get back down into the 50s again for daily highs...

And even into the 30s for lows again.... Ya, right above the freezing mark..  But then it is still late January....  Excitement might be at kind of a low around here though while it rains....  But the pink antifreeze is still in the motorhome so a freeze isn't a bad thing...  The bushes and trees are already dead...!

Retired Rod

Whirlwind trip...

With our friends here from Iowa, and Loyce's quilting activities we were having difficulty deciding if going to Quartzsite this year was in the cards...  I always want to go, but Loyce not so much...

She isn't interested in RV gadgets so much, as she doesn't boondock in her dreams....  Were more full hookup pavement queens...  And not too far from the city either........

Still I managed to convince her that we needed to see the big tent this year since we haven't been in a couple of years due to my health issues...

So at the crack of 9 AM we jumped in the car and drove to Q...  Didn't get there until noon....  We are way out here almost in Apache Junction and it takes forever to get thru Phoenix...

We heard that the crowds were down this year in Quartzsite and found that to be true in town...  The big RV lots seemed to not have many folks around them as we drove by...  But then this was a rainy day and that might have dampened the crowds some..  The RV lots are bulging with used rigs and salesmen were standing around...

The consignment lot had a bunch of rigs too...  Even the traffic wasn't nearly as bad, but it was stop and go when we turned West at the Tyson Wells swap meet corner...  But I managed to pull in behind the big tent and we meandered around in the West parking lot.

I thought we were going to have to go out in the desert to the West, but about when I was giving up, suddenly a couple came out of the main gate and we followed them as they made their way to their car...   Bingo!! Score!!

And in the third row right outside the porta potties  too....  It was overcast and raining slightly but barely 60, so Biscuit elected to sleep in the car... If it had been sunny or hot she was going to have to go with us in the tent...  She would have gone ga ga with all the people, so we lucked out..

I've seen this entrance when it was shoulder to shoulder, so the rainy day was helping us out....

It never seems like much of a deal from the end of the tent, but once you are inside it seems to go on forever...

I have taken this same picture for several years, but today is the first time that I had a camera that could handle the complexity of all the lighting inside the tent....  I took this with the High Definition Range setting where the camera takes three shots with different exposure values like -1, 0, +1 and then electronically adds the pictures into one correctly exposed shot...

In past years, those lights that they shine up onto the inside of the tent mess up the exposure something nasty...  They still overexposed the hot spots, but the camera did much better...

We spent about three hours walking the rows inside the tent and then the outside rows...  Loyce was right it is the same old stuff, but at one point we talked to the manager of Mesa Spirit RV Resort and he wanted to know why we left for Valle Del Oro...  That conversation went on for quite a while, and he really listened....  I think he is making improvements, but has his work cut out for him as customers that are gone are usually gone forever...  JMHO...

Eventually Loyce was tired and sat in a food court outside while I made one more pass on the South Side...  I bought her a big ice cream, so I was good for a while...  Then I found the Kettle Corn stand that makes the splenda corn....

We drove around some in town, but didn't find anything that was an attraction...  So about 3:30 we lit out for home...  Got back right in time to drive thru downtown and sky harbor at evening drive time....  Phoenix's  traffic jams are dead stop affairs at the major intersections  Like the I 10 and US 60 South of the airport...

But at least I got to go to the big tent this year so all is not lost.......

Retired Rod

Goldwing Brake Lights!

Honda evidently has a lot of countries and their laws to contend with...  And while the bikes used to be made in the US, our recession and other troubles has caused Honda to return the bikes to Japan for manufacture..

The bikes we get shipped back here to the US are now for world wide delivery..  And because of this, only some of the above bulbs are wired for stop lights and tail lights.. based on world wide laws...

It takes two conversion kits to wire it all up again...  I received the first kit last week and wired the upper lights in the top case then...

They always lit as stop lights, but the outer tail lights didn't have tail light  wiring so they looked wrong and dimmer even when the stop lights did light up..

The lower light above the center where the license plate is, was just wired to be a tail light without brake lights....  But the bulbs were there and the little pins were in the sockets too...    But no wires......

This one is a little harder, as there is no brake light power down in that light bar...  The kit with wires and plastic covers and the correct little pins to go into the sockets arrived yesterday....

So this morning, I was taking the top case apart where the wires are for the brake lights...  The interior liner of the lid has to come out with 19 screws....  The seat has to come off and the back light bar has to come out...

The wiring needs plugged in and routed along the existing wire loom and cable tied...   It takes a long straight coat hanger to fish the wires from under the seat to the tail light cavity...  Again everything needs taped and cable tied...  And then reassembled...

I'm slow and very deliberate, so it took me about three hours to get it done and all back together....   But the really good news is that I didn't break anything!!!   And as you can see, it all lights correctly......!!

I haven't seen anything on the forums about this not being legal in the US, but no one in the States I frequent will ever know one way or the other....

Lower Brake light wiring kit
Look at the video on this below the picture of the wiring harness... It explains how to install the kit...

Tail Light jumpers for outer lightbulbs in top box.

Otherwise it was a mostly down day here after our big day yesterday....

Retired Rod

A Farm Grill

Today was the day that we again hosted our friends from Iowa up here in Mesa..  Since they have been staying down in Tucson, we have been going down to their place and doing Southern Arizona activities...

But today we lured them up here to Mesa..   They hadn't seen or been to our new house out here in sticks ville....  So with address in hand, or rather entered into their GPS, they arrived mid morning...

We spent an hour looking all over the house and Roger and I ended up in the garage messing around with the motor cycle...  He rode years ago, but succumbed to  spousal pressure to desist....

He was amazed and the number of push buttons and switches on the Honda...  We had to go thru most of them deciding what each controlled..   That was kind of a test for me as I had to explain each of them..  And that exposes weak spots rather rapidly...

But by lunch time we decided to head over to Joe's Farm Grill....  Over on Ray Road and Higley, this is an old time family farm that has been converted to a produce garden...  Most of what they grow is organic and is used for input to their restaurant..

They have a coffee shop and a grill...  The grill has all kinds of salads and  eclectic  menu items like a Portobello Mushroom sandwich...  The place was swamped,  with a line hanging out of the grill building on the sidewalk in front...



We had to wait about 45 minutes just to order...  Once our orders were in, we went out to the rear of the building where there were picnic tables set up under giant trees that had to be several hundred years old...  We had buzzers to alert us when to go to the delivery window..

I had a burger with bacon blue cheese and barbecue sauce...  The blue cheese was in a crumbly heavy cream sauce....  I can't remember the other meals, but I think Roger had a portobello mushroom salad...........



It was about 75 degrees as we sat in the shade of the big trees and about a three mile an hour wind from the South....  It is peaceful and quiet with the open fields all around you as you dine...  The fields are not planted yet and some of the things that are there were frozen off and brown...





This freeze got us all...  We came back to the center of town afterward and did a post office run.. We drove around for a while and went thru the RV park but our friends are not RVers and aren't much interested in that style of life..

Once back home we sat out in the back yard enjoying the afternoon and each other's company....

A relaxing and wonderful day....

Retired Rod

Pictures linked as HTML code from other sources on the web......

Thoughts on a nice day.....

Its 10:30 here in Arizona, and I am playing around with the National Weather Service reporting web site...  Minneapolis is -6, Des Moines is +5 and Overland Park is +17..  That is ten or 11 degrees between the locations as you get farther South...

I was really happy when we moved from Des Moines to KC because that extra ten degrees meant a lot to us..  But even in the spring of 2007 we left KC and drove out here to Arizona for a couple of weeks in the first part of February...  We didn't have an RV yet, so we were in motels.....

The following winter we were in the RGV of Texas in our RV, but the wind and humidity made the winter 35 degree cold down there seem almost like Kansas...  So we have returned to Arizona every year ever since....

Yes, it gets colder here in Az than in Texas, especially at night..  We saw temps in the 20s this past month at night...  But the sun always shines!  And the wind never blows and it is always dry...  And there are never any bugs...

So when I just checked the temperature here in Mesa and found that it is still 61, I know why we still keep coming back here..  It isn't the best, as perhaps Florida would win that honor...  But in Florida, the bugs are back and the humidity is never far away...  And it rains, sometimes for days on end..  Occasionally it gets cold, but not for long, so that wouldn't count..

So we have decided that Arizona is the best compromise...  And now that we have built sticks and bricks, the cold nights are not nearly as much of an issue either...  With good insulation and a good heating system temperatures in the 20s late at night aren't much of a problem..

As I was out riding the motor cycle this afternoon and I had 79 for a high temperature, I was thinking all of these things thru. I realized that our choice of Arizona, is for us still the right one..

I had my liners all out of the motorcycle clothes just like it was summer and the lighter helmet on as well...  And the long range forecast calls for at least 70 degrees for each of the days next week.... Ahhhh............ Are we beyond the cold?

But on a serious note, we have lost almost all of the plantings that we put in our yard last summer...  Even the big trees are frozen and brown....  They were pricey to put in and we are just sick about it...  Most of the small bushes are gone as well...

Cover them was the watch word, but when it is a solid freeze for 12 hours in a row, covering them did little..  Had the trees lost their leaves and gone dormant like they do in the Midwest, the cold wouldn't have mattered, but that never happens here, so they are severely effected...

The local news people have warned, not to immediately replace all of the lost plantings, as they can not rule out another cold snap during February..  So we will sit here and look at brown bushes and trees for another month...  And perhaps it will be until next fall before we have things replaced...  Will any of it come back?

Our friends from Des Moines are coming to our home tomorrow...  We will get to show them around some and go out and get a meal as well... But sitting in the back yard and looking at dead bushes seems fairly wrong....  Oh well........... its single digits in Des Moines...

Retired Rod

Sunday's Pace....

Today........  Loyce went on some of her quilting shopping trips, and Biscuit went nuts because her mommy just left her...  Came running and jumped into my lap...  Whining and crying....

I was going to go out on the bike, but that would mean leaving Biscuit alone....    She is sooooo, spoiled..  And I hung around for another hour reading more on the internet and messing with the motor cycle...

But I had some shopping that I wanted to do up at Wal Mart... So I just left from the garage while Biscuit was in the house...  And low and behold, I ran right into Loyce at Wal Mart...  That's good because we sometimes will buy the same things... But not today..

After Loyce returned to be with Biscuit, then I went out for a long ride on the bike..  I'm probably beyond claiming I am practicing riding, but still I spent quite a bit of time riding thru the neighborhoods at very slow speeds...

I have over 500 miles now, so its becoming familiar and more automatic to react to the nutty drivers and their antics...  They simply do not see motorcycles....... They look right thru you as though you weren't even there..

And I did stay away from that darned swap meet...  It always seems to cost money to go over there...

The dancing flute playing Kokopelli Indian rug....  And no Rick the room doesn't move and the flute playing doesn't bother the TV programs... But Biscuit seems to be approving of laying in the sun on it...

And for Butterbean, the Wal Mart battery tenders are about $22 and put out about 1.5 amps... They are electronically controlled to sense when the battery is fully charged and do not go beyond that...  So I have never had the water boiled away un necessarily... 

Retired Rod

The last couple of days.....

Friday..........  Turned into a motor cycle day...  It was our first really nice day since the cold snap, because we were down in Tombstone on Thursday, which is at 4500 feet..  It was considerably cooler there...

But anticipating the nice warm up, I was dressed and out the door on the new bike as soon as it was about 55 outside....  I rode around the town some, but eventually ended up going North on Ellsworth up thru the Usery pass...

Once out in the desert, I turned North East and rode to the Saguaro Lake Park on the Bush Highway...  This is kind of a twisty road, and twisties are all new to me on this much heavier ride.

I find myself being kind of wooden in the corners like I am afraid to lean the bike over enough...  I think it is the size and weight of the big ride that has me spooked....  I need more time out on the road.....  So rather than come right back the way I came, I followed the Bush Highway around to Power Road and came into town that way...  That gave me more twisty time...

Then it was out of town on Power to the South where the stinky cattle feeder lots are located...  I had too many clothes on and was getting hot so it was back to the house.

In the late afternoon, I was working on wiring the second set of tail lights in the Honda top case...  Seems that Honda only wires the inside set of tail lights, as some countries don't allow more than two tail lights...  Australia was mentioned in one of the forums.

Of course an industrious aftermarket company had a kit to fix this...  It was only a couple of little jumpers but they had the correct metal clips on one end to slip right into the socket connectors....

It took more time to take the tail lights out of the bike than it did to wire up the second bulbs..  They were there already as they were used for additional brake lights, but now both filaments light..

Additionally there is a lower tail light that has brake light bulbs in it as well and of course they aren't wired either...  But that kit was back ordered, so maybe next week..

On Saturday, we reached 75 degrees and I went out without nearly as many clothes...  And even then I ended up taking the liner out of the riding jacket in the afternoon.  But by then I was over at the flea market swap meet..

I have been looking around for an area rug to go in the TV room den here in the house...  It has a laminate wood floor, but the room echos too loud and needs a throw rug..

Anyway I knew of a rug dealer at the swap meet, and couldn't remember where his booth was......  And of course I guessed wrong and parked at the opposite end of the sale...  I walked a long ways before I figured out that it was in the other end..

And I found just the rug I was looking for..  its a Kokopelli Indian figure rug where the humpbacked Indians are dancing and playing their wooden flutes...  These figures are very popular in Arizona...



I had to go get the car in order to go buy the rug as it is 6 x 8 and was rolled and wrapped...  Tonight I have chairs and phone books stacked on each corner trying to get the curl out of it from being rolled so tight...

I did come home and ask Loyce if she wanted to go look at it, but she knew the indian figures and trusted the colors as I was describing them..  I knew if she hated it she would make me take it back, but perhaps all I could have gotten was store credit.....

Anyway she likes it so that makes things a lot easier...

Retired Rod

Tombstone

I asked this fellow if his horses were Percherons?  And he sat right up in his seat and pushed his chest outward...saying "Why yes they are!!"

They were the most docile well mannered fellows, almost wanting you to hug them... and their hair was as soft and fluffy as Biscuit's fur...

They're really big animals and pulled this stage like it was made from feathers....  The horse on the curb side in front of the driver seemed to be the leader while the other took his cues from the first...  The driver asked me how I knew about Percherons but I could only explain that I was from Iowa and was familiar with the breed...  He said most folks wanted to know if they were Clydesdales.  Well no, not when they are all white... and these are too small for that too...

But we were in Tombstone looking all around in the stores, because our friends from Iowa had never been there...

Over on the other side of the street is Big Nose Kate's bar, and our friends were hungry....  And since we usually go there because the food is about average, which is good for this town, we jay walked right behind those horses...

This bar is the original one from the 1800s... But we noticed a touch screen cash register over on the back side right next to the mirror... Nice touch of old vs the very new...

 Had live music too...  They played all the 20 year old cowboy favorites like ex's live in Texas..  After lunch it was time to wander the town...

 I've never eaten in here, so I can't vouch if it is good or not... But we were looking for salads and light stuff, so this seemed more like steaks and potatoes.....

Loyce took Biscuit into the Crystal Palace to look around...  I wonder what they thought of that....?  But she said they didn't say a thing...

Along with being an Antique store, I am told there are 4 Hotel rooms upstairs in this place...

 At the very South end of the street is the Bird Cage Theatre... This is the only original untouched building in the town...  Today it is a museum of the times of 1880s....

This old fellow was explaining what had taken place in this theatre in the days back then...  It is named the Bird Cage, because the hall is lined with 14 balcony boxes that had curtains which could be drawn..  Where the ladies of the evening plied their trade.....

Historic American Building plaque.

This was all while the show was going on, on the stage below...  The bar that the fellow is leaning on in the picture is the original from that time....

He was pointing out bullet holes in the walls and talking about the ladies....

There are gambling rooms in the basement that are accessed from behind the stage....  It is said that the poker game went on continuously for 8 years....

This place is supposed to be haunted.... with sounds of the party going on late at night....... and other apparitions... It costs $10 to go back into the old theatre part of the building and then down stairs....  But this place makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I have never had the nerve to pay the entrance fee....   Birdcage history..  It is very much so for real....

We drove on down to Bisbee after the Tombstone visit just to look around as the day was getting on...  And then once back in Tombstone went to the cemetery as the day was waning..  Again kind of eerie in the long shadows, standing in front of the graves of the Clanton's and McLaury's... It all seems kind of surreal, but its not...

We didn't get back home until way late at night as we also went to supper with our friends...  Then we had about a two hour drive back up to East Mesa..  So last night's blog was sacrificed.......

Retired Rod

Haircut?

They tricked me....  Asked me if I wanted to go on a car ride......  !  Well sure I want to get out of here... but... they didn't tell me that I would be going to the dog shop to get washed and all my hair cut off.....!

I had to stay there almost all day....!  They shaved me and then I had a bath.......  They put me in a harness and I had to stand there and get dried with a scary hair blower drier thingy.....

Then they put the most awful stinky powder on me and some fruity bows on my ears.... And I had to sit there in a cage waiting for my mom.......

When I got home, I ran and ran rubbing my ears on the carpet...   Gotta get those bows out!!  Dad tried to take my picture but I wouldn't let him.. He finally snuck up on me and took some pics with his phone....  But they aren't very good  because I don't sit still ...

I'm too clean and smell awful  but I'll lick it all off in a day or so....  Why do humans want me to smell so bad?      But maybe they'll let me sleep in their bed tonight!! Do you suppose..?

Biscuit for
Retired Rod

Looking for a little rivet clip....

If the cold weather is to end, it isn't tonight, because its already down to 37 and its only 10:30...  Again we are to be below freezing but only in the upper 20s rather than the lower 20s so that's a step in the right direction...

When I was putting that accessory socket into the fairing pocket the other day, I lost one of the little rivet clips that are made out of plastic..  It has a little button in the center that you push and it expands...  Then if you push the button on into the rivet it contracts again...  Tiny little things...

But one must have fallen into the engine compartment when I took it off...  I only had three and there were four... I looked and looked with a big lantern light but it was gone out of sight...  Well no problem, I'll just go buy another one....  Ya, right, good luck....

Not at my dealer anyway, as I called with the exact part number and again was told they hadn't sold one for the last two months so the part number had been eliminated....  So I called their competitor, Ride Now, which is a larger company with more dealerships here in the valley...  And they had 6.......  Over in Chandler.........  130 blocks away from out here....

It was still 42 outside, so I took the car.......  Sissy,!!!  But a warmer one...

And to my surprise, this little plastic rivet that was so small that it was in a much bigger plastic bag so as not to be lost, cost $5..   Of course I spent much more than that in gas and mileage on the car, but hey I had one now...

I also checked on the price of the windshield that we broke on the trip back to Kansas and that will set me back hundreds.......  And you can save $25 if you take the car to the garage, but its clear over in the center of Mesa....  Maybe on an afternoon when I don't have anything else to do...

I didn't make an appointment because tomorrow Biscuit has a hair appointment at noon, and needs picked up just as soon as she is done...  That will be stressful for her as she has about 2 inches of hair all over to get shaved...  It was right before Christmas that she had her last doo, but she evidently grows fast in the colder weather....

She's going to be wacko when the fur is gone....  Well for a little while...  And then we hope to go back and visit our friends from Des Moines back down in Tucson, so we are busy for the next little while...

It is to start warming up tomorrow with a high in the 50s and then warmer again on Thursday...

It did finally make it to 50 by 3 PM today so I went with the bike in the warm sun...  It looked like it should be warm, but it wasn't...  I went over to old Wal Mart in Apache Junction and parked for a few groceries...

Then I rode until about 5 PM ducking back into the garage before the sun went down...

Another winter day...

Sending parts back..

I have several helmets to ride the motorcycle with and brought two of them with me this winter... And one of them is a full faced flip up helmet that I wear on cold mornings and days when I ride long distances...

And I have been wearing it on these cold days here in Arizona..  And that is what has allowed me to ride in the upper forty degree afternoons... But today, I went out at about 2 PM and it was just barely 40, even though it was sunny and bright...

I was headed over to the post office  to return one of the brake pedals I ordered and the temp kept bouncing back to 39 so I had taken the car... No sense in freezing completely even with the big helmet.

The brake pedal needed to be packed back up and the company had to be called to get a return number.....  I just hate it when stuff isn't right, because it is such a procedure to send anything back...  But it was my fault for not reading the product description well enough as it clearly stated that the pedal required their replacement arm to go along with it...

It took about 2 hours to pack and ship the whole deal  all just to get $32.95 back.... And if they think I hurt it any there will be a 20% restocking fee....

Other than that, we had a quiet day here as Loyce worked on her fabric projects and I came home and read the internet, until a nap came about..

Tonight we made another home made pizza and the grand kids called Loyce on her iphone using a video app...  We enjoyed that a great deal..  And then after bed time, my younger son Ben called and we talked about the Denver football loss, and the new motorcycle and and and .....

Now its way late at night and I don't have enough sense to go to bed, because I had that nap.....

Retired Rod

Accessory socket and a long quilt shop run

Along with that brake pedal extender that I received the other day came the 12v lighter socket accessory to go inside the left locker pocket on the motorcycle...

It makes sense that the socket is inside the pocket as you can put your phone in there and plug it in to charge while closing the door completely... but what doesn't make sense is that on a big price tag motorcycle, why this wouldn't be standard!

Who doesn't have a cell phone these days?  But no its an option... and my dealer didn't have the little socket and cord in stock and told me to just order it...  The parts guy was apologetic and cited inventory reduction for the winter on orders from higher ups...

So this morning I was out in the garage installing this feature... Of course I found the exact video on You Tube to show me how to do it...  And that goes a long ways to making things a bunch easier...  With some tricks in the comments section..

Like, since it takes a 1 1/8 inch drill bit which is hard to find, use a flat spade bit and run it backwards until it rubs its way thru the plastic.. And yes it did catch going forward and make it almost impossible to drill, but going backwards it just kind of wore its way thru...

Once cleaned up with a file, the socket fit right into the hole..  The part had a key on it so I had to file a notch in the plastic for it and now it won't spin or rotate un necessarily..  And the wiring is already there in a boot, so it was just plug it in and just like that it worked...

But today it was just way too cold to go anywhere on the bike..  But never fear, Loyce wanted some fabric from a quilt shop.....  way the heck up in Sun City..........  That's 60 miles from here....!!

We left about 2:30 and drove on the freeways at 70 mph all the way.  It was Sunday and the traffic wasn't too heavy...  The place closed at 4 so we couldn't tarry...

I came back at a more leisurely pace around the North route of the 101..  And then the North side 202 or Red Mountain Freeway...  We got off at Dobson Rd on the very East end of Mesa and went to the Cracker Barrel..

By now it was about 5 PM and the home cooked meals they serve were calling us..  Loyce likes the Chicken and I like the big burger steak...  I think I still have some gravy on my shirt.......  And the fresh biscuits...........

I've been reading blogs and the internet tonight since booth of the teams I was pulling for in Football lost yesterday...  So the TV has been off all day.... for me anyway... Loyce runs hers all day everyday....

Its below freezing as I write this and the heater is droning on and on...  That's gonna make this months gas bill a bunch more......  Its supposed to warm up some on Thursday......

Retired Rod

Still cold here..

The national weather service is calling for 24, 24, 25, and 30 for the next four nights...  We had 28 last night and for an hour 27...  All I measured here at home was 30 but that is with the sensor on the back deck which is covered...

So it only took me about a minute to think that I didn't want to lay here at night and wonder if the motorhome was freezing and breaking stuff...  The peace of mind alone would be worth a couple of gallons of the pink stuff...

I wondered if RV antifreeze was sold here in Arizona....  But I went to the local Wal Mart I was greeted with a big pallet full of the stuff in the automotive section...  Wow.....  I bought three...!

In the storage lot, I took off the water filter canister and found a small ice cube swimming in the water...  I tossed it!  After only a little while with the pickup hose and some judicious running of the pump at all faucets, the pink stuff is in...!!  And now I can sleep better....  Even if I didn't need it..!

As the afternoon wore on it didn't get much warmer as I waited for it to get at least 50...  Remember I usually wait for it to be 60 to go riding the bike...  The 60 degree temperature thing was going to need revising today...  But I didn't think it would be clear down to 50....

Well 50 was going to be all we would get to today and if I was going to go, it was now or never...  I had a long sleeved T shirt on under everything else so I was good to go..

I only went about 4 miles to the Home Depot where I purchased a spade drill bit..  While inside it warmed me some so I was good to go again..  A couple of more miles and I was over to Wendy's  for that small burger..

By now, I was accustomed to the cold, so I rode a while longer and then headed for the house..  I was riding quite slowly working on my control of the bike at speeds of about 15 miles an hour.   Anyone can ride fast in the higher gears but keeping a 900 pound bike upright and under control at 10 mph is a harder skill.

I received an extended brake pedal in the mail yesterday and installed it this morning, so I was using this for the first time today as well.  So the cold wasn't going to stop me..

I'm watching the game in Denver as I write this, and I looked up the Denver temperature which was 3 degrees...  So me worrying about 50 doesn't seem like much of a big deal.....

Retired Rod

Tucson Quilt Show for another year..

We spent the day down in Tucson, while Loyce went to the Tucson Quilt show that she goes to every year...  I've lost track how many years this makes, but that's OK..

I spent the time in the car parked along one of the adjacent streets..  I had the cell phone set up as a wifi and tethered the android tablet to the phone...  It was working almost like I was at home...  Eventually I got the call that she was done, and moved back over by the front door...

Our former neighbors from Iowa are here in Arizona for the month of January and are renting a house just North of Tucson...  So once done quilting we headed over to their house...

We haven't seen these fine folks for over two years, so it was like old home week...  We have many things in common and have so many memories from years back, that we seem to pick right up where we left off..

We went to a Mexican cantina style restaurant and ordered a pitcher of Margaritas...  That made things a lot looser and the discussion even faster and funnier....  But Roger refrained and drove the car back to their house...

We eventually left around 7 PM and had to drive back up to the very East end of Mesa the back way..  I ended up coming around the San Tan mountain again on the Hunt highway...

But now I am not so lost out thru there and we rolled right up Ellsworth once we arrived at Queen Creek...  But its been a long day so I will put a cap on this, rather than ramble on....

Retired Rod

Nutty weathermen and Oil what oil!

The weather people are going nuts, as they think we will have 4 consecutive mornings when it will be at or below freezing....  This hasn't happened since 1988...  Cover your pipes and all of your plantings....

Our neighbor lady came down to talk to Loyce and was worried about her underground irrigation system...  Telling us that it had to be turned off or it would all freeze solid....   But she didn't have a key..  The little cabinet is locked with the infamous 751CH key that all of us RVer's have on every key chain..

That is the key that opens about 90 percent of all RV lockers and boat lazzerette's..  We did get a key with our sprinkler box, but evidently she didn't get one or didn't know what it was for if she did...  I had my RV keys in my pocket and went down and unlocked her system and turned it to off....

Of course I didn't and don't think a few nights at 28 degrees for a couple of hours will freeze the irrigation...  But what it might do is freeze the incoming pipes that are above the ground where they go into the house..

But if it freezes them, it will freeze all of us for miles around...  We all have the exact same plumbing...

But back to why I had the RV keys in my pocket, I was over at the storage lot where I opened up the water storage in the motorhome...  All low point drains and the waterheater as well...  I did take the bottom hose off of the water pump too....  I do think the motorhome itself will not freeze inside unless we would get several days where the temps didn't get above freezing....  but draining the outside locker and outside waterheater seemed prudent...

None of it would freeze if we were actively living in the coach... as we would have the heat running inside and the heater warms the water lockers too...  But all locked up in storage without any heat what so ever is a different story...

Perhaps even draining the tanks and low point pipes is overkill but we will see what tomorrow night brings...  The forecast is for 24 by morning..  with a high of 48 or so...  We had that way back in November in Kansas...  4 to 6 inches of snow at Flagstaff and through out the white mountains to our North...  Snow down to 1700 feet...  We are at 1400 here...  Winter is here too....

Didn't ride the bike at all today as the clouds looked as though they could dump a bunch of rain at any moment... But I did pry the engine cover off of the right side of the foot pegs...  And just out of a lark, I unscrewed the oil check dipstick....   Wiped and stuck back in, it came back  DRY!!!

What the Heck!!  I put the bike up on its center stand which is quite heavy but I got it done....    Still dry...  I screwed the stick back in all the way which causes the stick to go down another half inch...

This time it looked like there was oil on the very tip of the stick, but not much...  I was in the car instantly headed over to the cycle store....  Remember I only have 300 miles on this thing..

The salesman wanted to know if I had checked it in the beginning..  Well no, you folks serviced it didn't you?  But the explanation was that they come in dry and they dump in exactly 4 quarts as per instructions from Honda...  But since things are completely dry it may take a little more to read on the dip stick...

I didn't even argue with him...  it would have been wasted breath.  I purchased another quart of Honda 10w-30 for $7 and came back home...

It took about half of that quart to make it register on the dipstick as full.  Think I will need to watch that level for a while to make sure it isn't using oil somehow...

But would you send out a new vehicle with the oil low enough to not show on the dipstick???  Even if it did have all 4 quarts in it...

They are on the news again explaining to folks that it might freeze, like the world might end.....  I'm amazed.....

Retired Rod  

Much colder and dust.... And the longest bike ride yet.

Loyce made the comment this morning that if I was going to go ride the bike, I had better go get it done today...  The next several days are forecast to be highs in the upper 40s...  And lows in the 20s....  And along with that we are to have winds that kick up the dust, like last summers dust storms...

The temps today shot right up to the 60s so I went out almost at once when it became noon...  Today I decided to up the speeds a little, and hit the freeway US 60 to the East..  Out thru Gold Canyon and on to the Florence highway 79...  This heads off down towards Tucson...

I was rolling about 65 and at times 70, but that seems to be no problem for 1800 cc's of boxer 6 cylinders...  Once down to Florence I turned back  North on the Hunt Highway..

This is a small road that is narrow and somewhat rough.  It winds up from the Florence area thru a Del Webb community called Anthem...  They come up with some of the oddest names for these places....

Eventually we came back to the South end of Queen Creek about 10 miles South of us here...  I rode back to the Wendy's up at the North end of Ellsworth Rd...

At the Wendy's, I was called by the broker that I use in West Des Moines, so we got in quite a discussion about anything and everything...  He knew about the motorcycle because his assistant had to send some money for me.... so he had to know all about that....

You can't hide much from your banker.....LOL..  Anyway I was tired from the ride, so I went shopping at Wal Mart and back home...  About 70 miles today, which makes the total mileage over 300 now for about 6 days...

As the sun was going down, tonight, it became really cold...  In the 40s rather quickly....  It is to stay that way for the next several days...  They're talking low 20s at night...  That will be the end of quite a bit of our summer vegetation we planted last summer..

If I am going to ride with the Romeo's next spring, I had better get used to riding the bigger bike, up to two hundred miles at a time...  Those guys are viscous...  Many of them are members of the Iron Butt club, where they ride 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours....  Unless something changes rather drastically, you won't have to worry about me joining a ride like that....

Retired Rod

Looking back to last year and forward to Tucson

The excitement seems to be wearing off, as I only rode the motorcycle about 30 miles today..  But in that 30 miles I stopped for a Wendy's sandwich and also went thru an old RV park from last year...

We started again in the temperature cellar this morning at 34 degrees..  Seems like we are paying for the long period of very nice temperatures we had in November...  I had hoped it would get warm faster, but again it was almost 2:30 before we made 60...

I was out with a bucket and wash mitt in the garage giving the cycle a quick bath, when I adjusted the windshield into the very top extended position...  After drying with a chamois it wouldn't go back down........  No way!  I wiggled and knew if I pushed any harder it would break...

So then it was back inside with the owners manual looking for the exact page where those instructions were hiding....  After a while, I found that you had to extend the screen just a little farther until you see a couple of small holes on each side, and then that resets the locking mechanism so it will go back down...

So much to learn here and most of the winter to get it done.....  

We have some friends that came from Iowa, and are staying at a friends home down by Tucson, and I spent some time on the phone with them again today... We hope to meet up later...

Stopping by the RV park where we stayed during the Month of March last year just to drive around a bit, found our neighbor from last year back on his annual site..  Gary is from Colorado, and we easily struck up a conversation again...  But his wife just looked at me and went into the RV...  Must not have made much of an impression on her last year... LOL

We finally made it up to 63 by late in the afternoon, and I headed on back to the garage...  If it would warm up some, perhaps I wouldn't have to wear so many sweatshirts under my riding jacket and could stay out longer....  But I am sure that will come....

I am somewhat envious of Rick over there in Hot Springs Ca going to the swimming pool and stuff...  But by the time we get really nice here, then it gets rather too warm over there, so we each have our respective times....

One day closer to the big quilt show in Tucson......

Retired Rod

Dealing with the Doctor's so I gave up and went for a ride.

I was just reading Butter Bean's comment from yesterday, how he fell asleep with the cruise control on his cycle....  Its a wonder he is here to tell us about it...........

Today was kind of a non event day, as I was on the internet researching medical contraptions for my handicap...  I had tried to get the doctor to order me some, but somehow that failed....  I have called repeatedly but couldn't get thru....

Like usual, I just broke down and ordered the things with my credit card..  Its so much work to get the medicare system to do all the paperwork, its not worth it...

We have had a turn for the colder here today, and it was 2 PM before we had 60 degrees.  I usually wait for 60 to go ride the bike...  But it was waivering from 59 to 60 and then back....  Better go ahead and go as this maybe all we get today...

I was only gone about an hour and a half for about 40 miles, and I came back as it was getting colder as the day progressed...  Sure hope it gets this cold stuff out of its system....  fairly soon...

Tonight I mad a small pizza from scratch with Italian Sausage, but didn't have any mushrooms...  We like mushrooms, but the grandkids claim they hate them....  I'm not sure they have ever tasted them... What does a mushroom taste like?  I'm not sure it has much flavor....

Well anyway Loyce had a can of black olives open, and I chopped up a bunch of them into small pieces and used them in place of the mushrooms....  A little bit more salty, but still it was kind of good and different....  You can't beat fresh pizza from hand made dough....

Oh, and while I was out riding, the Doctor's office called and Loyce straightened out the problems it about 10 minutes...  Of course she is a nurse.....  But then I had to endure the aftermath..... LOL..

Retired Rod

Black Bear Diner and Quartzsite Possibilities

Another  50 miles on the Honda cycle this afternoon..  It was overcast and then partially sunny during the morning...  We were sleepy heads and didn't get up at first..

I thought about watching the football game, but wasn't really pulling for either team so that never happened...  But as the afternoon was shaping up into the upper 60s the motorcycle won out...

I was over in Chandler and then up into Old downtown Mesa...  Then back out to Apache Junction on University Drive...  Its called that because it comes from Arizona States campus in Tempe... Apache Junction changes its name to Superstition Blvd, because it runs right into the mountain range at the end...  But I never went that far...

I was learning to use the cruise control when I was out in the country..  It feels really weird to have the throttle on automatic speed on a cycle...  That is a first for me..  Touching anything like either brake or the clutch lever cancels it and it doesn't work under 30 mph..  But for going down the highway on long monotonous stretches like the interstate, I can see where it might be a good thing..

Tonight we were right back over in the center of Mesa at the Black Bear Diner...  We met Jim and Sandie there at about dusk for a quick evening dinner..  Being winter, we all opted for a small steak and mashed potatoes..  Mmmmm, comfort food....... They sell a large steak, but I was way glad to have ordered small......  It was huge...

 Sandie took our picture for her blog, so I had to follow suit, but I only had the phone so this isn't too good of quality...  But you can tell from the happy smiles, we were having a great time telling some fast ones......


We were discussing the possibility of joining them later this month out on the BLM land South of Quartzsite when the show is going on...

Most of you know about the RV show over at the town of Quartzsite, and how it attracts thousands of RVers...  We didn't get a chance to go last year, so thought we might make up for it by taking the Motorhome over for a day or three and see what is in the big tent that we can't do without.

I think the camaraderie in the desert will be better than the show....!  But then that is just my opinion......

Retired Rod

Stopping by a new park model..

I know everyone doesn't hold the overwhelming enthusiasm for the ride of the new bike like I do, but again today that was most of what I was doing...  Riding another 50 or so miles around town at 50 miles an hour or less.

I really don't think it would hurt anything to go faster than that, but perhaps the city founding fathers wouldn't approve...  Anyway taking it easy while things set in isn't the worst plan...

I rode over to the West end of town and past a restaurant we want to go to tomorrow.  I didn't know exactly where it was, but finally spotted it after riding right past the place.

I returned to the motorcycle shop and inquired about an accessory power socket.   Honda doesn't include this socket for some reason... Its under $40 but they choose to save that little bit of money...  But my dealer didn't have the part...  They told me to order it myself.....  Nicely of course...

After that I ended up in the Valle Del Oro RV park where I rode around some and then stopped by our friends Keith and Andy's new to them park model...  They purchased it at the end of last season, but didn't get to occupy it until the old owner left for the season..  We were gone from Arizona by then..

So we renewed our friendship briefly as they looked over the new Honda..  And then I got a tour thru their new digs...  Andy is another quilter, and she has an area in the Arizona room where she has her sewing  machines and an office all set up...  Another utility room has the ironing board and her stackable washer and dryers, cupboards line the walls... She is in the sewing business more effectively than she was before in their 5th wheel...  She was quite happy about it as well..

Back home, Loyce arrived from her shopping afternoon, and we decided to go back over to Fuddruckers for a burger, since we had both skipped lunch..  The place was packed as they had all the TVs on the Packer vs Viking game..  The line was out the door just to order, but we hung in there and eventually got a table..

Another day in the winter life...  It is to be back down near freezing again tonight...

Retired Rod

First Day on the New Toy

So you know exactly what I was up to today just as soon as the temps reached the middle 50s  right...  Usually I wait until it warms up to 60 but today I couldn't wait that long.

I did manage to pay a few utility bills and stuff in the morning, as well as read some more of the owners manual on the Goldwing...  but enough with that, I didn't need to know every little thing about it right off the bat..

There's plenty of time to trip over stuff I can't figure out and then research the owners manual...

I pushed the bike out of the garage and rolled it out in the street down our steep driveway...  And off I was in first gear.. The transmission was really stiff and tight, clonking into gear as I shifted it..  I tried not to be tentative but rather kick it right up to the next gear but it clonked every time..  I went slow and it clonked, and I shifted much faster and it clonked...

I rode over into the vacant lots where the block is a big circle getting the feeling of this bigger machine..  The handlebar is much wider, as is the windshield and fairing..  Seems sort of massive, but the bike's extra weight only felt like the scooter with a big passenger on behind...

They were building the foundations for a couple of the new houses, so there were pickups and concrete trucks and trailers all along the vacant lots...  I had to stop and wait while the concrete truck backed in..

So I gave up and left the neighborhood.. But not very far.. I just extended the circle to the outer perimeter of our housing development...  After almost an hour I had 10 miles on it and it was not smelling as hot and brand new...  The initial paint on stuff was beginning to burn off and sweat in..

I came back to the house and rested for a while, as this thing is much more of a handful than I am used to..  But it was only for a while, and I was back out on it again...  I decided to ride it back over to the motor cycle store and ask about the hard shifting sound of the transmission..

Its ten or more miles over there, and the people there informed me that it takes a while for new transmissions to work themselves in.  Just shift it right thru to the next gear and as long as the clutch is in I would be fine.

By now I was out in the traffic of the city streets, and was getting along fine..  Actually the bike is bigger and commands more of the road..  Cars seem to keep their distance as it looks more substantial as a big full dresser.

I began to ride all over the town, as by now I wasn't having to think so heavily about my every move.. It was becoming more natural even with its large size..

Eventually I stopped at one of the Wendy's and had some lunch...  When I came back home it was almost 4PM, but I didn't know it..  The clock was set to Eastern Time Zone, and said it was much later...  I kept telling myself that had to be wrong but didn't figure it out  that it was exactly two hours off.

My watch was buried under layers of riding clothes, but we did make it into the 60s but I hadn't determined how to check the temp on it yet.  Setting the clock and finding the temperature took some time with the maunal later in the day..

I went with Loyce to several of her craft stores in the car as the sun was setting, so that gave me some time to read the manual....

So the wing now has 55 miles on it and it doesn't shift quite as hard as it started out...  But its still quite foreign to me when I jump on it, but then as I ride a bit I have to remind myself that I need to shift..  Beyond that, its still just another motorcycle...

I have a romeo friend that just traded his off with 140 K miles on it, so I have a ways to go to wear it out......!

Retired Rod

Fiscal Cliff Legislation

Are you interested in the legislation on the Fiscal Cliff...?

This is written for the Journal of Accountancy, a magazine by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants..

Fiscal Cliff Legislation Explanation

This gets somewhat techincal as you read farther into the article, but shows just how far reaching this bill really is...

But the big news is it makes the Bush Era Tax reductions permanent!!

Rod

Something new..........

When I left the Verizon store yesterday, I didn't go right home.....   Well I should have, but I needed to go check out if that motorcycle that I was wishing for was still at the store......

I have been arguing with myself every since I saw that darned thing back in November........  that I didn't need a big motorcycle like my brothers at the Romeo Luncheon...    But it was still there............ gulp...!

The bike in question was a 2012 Honda Goldwing hold over that hadn't sold in 2012...  It had absolutely zero (0) miles on its clock...  Never been ridden anywhere....  And it was marked way down.....    Gush, love,  upchuck..... take deep breath.....

And if I waited until 1/3,  today, the interest rate was 1.9%......   Salt was appraised...........  and............ we argued price...

Its in my garage....  call me weak..... or dumb, because I have to start all over learning to ride something as big and heavy as this....  It has a flat opposed six cylinder engine... 1832 cc with a 5 speed transmission...

I think it weighs somewhere over 900 pounds, but at that weight the small numbers don't mean much...

Loyce has known about this little lust of mine since back in November, but didn't think I needed such a machine....  And I don't, but I could have something bad happen to me so the time is now...  Tomorrow isn't guaranteed......

My son asked if I was still going to call it salt, since pepper is back home in his garage, not knowing he has perhaps been relegated to pasture time...   Its two tone black over silver, so perhaps it is salt and pepper....

Isn't that what you call black hair that has turned half gray?  Well maybe some of you can suggest a better name....

I picked it up with the car and the trailer, in order to make sure that it fit in my little trailer and to perhaps mask my poor riding skills...  Need to start out in the neighborhood, with only parked cars for traffic while I get the size and weight under my control...

Kind of reminds me of driving the motorhome for the first few hours... You have to get used to what you are doing and then you are fine...  But it will take a bunch of miles before I fight with the city driving folks around here...

Retired Rod

New Mifi reboot, reboot, reboot..... well you get the picture...

Right before Christmas, I purchased a couple of new phones for our use out here in Arizona...  Our old phones were three years old and Loyce's was even older...

She likes Apple and I like Android, so she got the Iphone and I got a Samsung...   But at the same time we decided to upgrade our wifi air card that was from 2008...  It still had 1x speed which is dreadfully slow...

But we had a Cradle Point Router that the whole thing ran with and it connected everything in the motorhome or at the lake or here with no problems....

In the process of getting new phones, they need a data plan, so we went with the share everything deal where it doesn't matter what device uses the data, you all draw from the same allotment...

All of this was somewhat expensive, but we decided to grab a new mifi to replace the router and air card...    They had a deal going for Christmas..  It arrived overnight and seemed to all work nicely in Kansas...






Well, once set up here in Arizona, the little mifi didn't like this town at all.....  For the last three days, it has disconnected from the tower almost every 5 to 10 minutes...  It needed a complete power down with the power switch to come back on line.. And then I couldn't get more than about three lines of blog written before it was gone again... Frustration!

So this morning it was no longer the holiday, and I called in to see what could be done about it....  Of course they don't believe that you know what you are doing or talking about, so it took quite a while for me to go thru doing everything again with the tech...  Hard reset, and reprogram the router and reset again...  Then he put me on hold and he did a lot of stuff from his end...

Then he had me connect to the tower again, and almost within the minute it tossed me off again...  Right with him on the phone...  And he could see that I was no longer there...

We have a store about 3 miles North of our location here and he sent me to the store to get another mifi...  Just put your sim card in the new box...

Well the tech up at the store immediately knew that that wouldn't fix anything.....  The store was beyond busy and I had to wait around for a while to get helped...  A guy with a tablet logged me in as waiting and they came for me by name...

But once the tech came out, he wanted to see the mifi...  He took it apart and removed the sim card...  He said these are bad some of the time and went back to the back room for another one...

He was carrying an Ipad that had some fancy scanner devices on one side...  He scanned the mifi, and then the new card...  Found my account in the Verizon database and performed magic so they all went together...

After putting the whole deal back together, he booted it up right there in the store...  I had my Asus pad with me and we logged onto the mifi and began to browse at random...  He had me wait for about 10 minutes to see if we got kicked off the system....  But no it stayed rock solid...

So tonight we have been on for the entire writing of the blog and haven't had to reboot once...  I can see by looking at the software that we have lost the connection a couple of times during the day, but it signed back in a few moments later......

These Verizon guys seem to know their stuff!!  It took a couple of hours to get it sorted out, but in the end we are working for now...  Knock on wood or something close..... as my fingers are crossed...  And my toes too....

Retired Rod

New Years day, and the fiscal cliff deal....

Last night as we were in the middle of the New Years Eve celebration Biscuit was in the closet, and then crawled under the bed all the way back to the wall under the headboard....

The neighbors over the back wall were having a party in the back yard shooting off roman candles...  At first they were just sparkler type balls that shot bright sparks in all directions once up in the air...  But then they started with more traditional balls that flew up into the air and burned in colors, like green and red, purple and blue...

Biscuit is only two and didn't understand these devils..  She has seen fireworks at the lake before, but they were the more commercial kind the went hundreds of feet into the air...

The smoke that we smelled in the house wasn't from the fireworks, but rather they had a traditional wood fire burning on the ground or perhaps in a metal fire pit.  We couldn't see over the tall concrete wall...

But we could see the smoke and embers rising in the night cold damp air..  The folks were partying around the camp fire just like we would in a campground...  You could hear the music from the stereo on the back patio, and people were talking and laughing...

At midnight all heck broke loose in our subdivision, as we are a couple of miles from the other parts of housing divisions...  Boom, boom, boomboomboom....  The New Year is here....

When I went to bed, Biscuit was under the covers with Loyce..    She doesn't care too much for the parties, and has no idea about some date on the calendar....  What's a calendar anyway....?

Of course this morning in the sunshine the party was long over, but we couldn't get Biscuit out to go potty....  It was right down to freezing here last night as I recorded 34, but I think she was looking at that smoking back wall expecting booms any minute...  Who says dogs can't remember anything....?

Today was our typical New Years day with the Rose Parade and the Football games, and the internet, messing around with I tunes this afternoon trying to understand syncing and using the program on a Windows laptop as well...  That came to a halt, as Loyce got a call from her sister, which stopped the messing around... with the phone....  but she always enjoys talking to her sister...

The sun seemed to go down all too quickly, as I was out grilling those steaks that we decided not to do yesterday....  Steak dinner with baked potato and fresh muffins that we baked along with the potatoes...

Just in as I was typing, the tax increase with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts has been averted...  Nothing was done to work on the debt ceiling or the reduction in spending...  Congress kicked the can down the road for two months more...   We'll be right back here again on February 28...

Since this isn't a political blog I'll stop before I offer any opinions...

Retired Rod