Still fixing on that broken mirror....

I always reflect on my activities of the day trying to find something that was the most interesting out of what I have done...  But some days there just isn't much that is interesting....

I think I explained in a past blog how the full length mirror on our motorhome's wall became lose and fell when I was driving last summer...   In the desert heat while the coach was stored, the glue that fastened the mirror to the wall melted..  Also the glass was too heavy for a few remaining brad nails to hold it up.

So I had left this mirror and frame at my son Chris' neighbor's house...  He is a proficient wood worker, building many different things and selling them at country shows here in the midwest....  We would call them flea markets out in the Southwest...

So I went over to Larry's today to pick the re assembled frame and glass mirror back up....  He had installed steel angle brackets on the back of the frame and had re glued the corners and filled he crumbling frame.  It looks as though nothing has ever happened to it from the front.

Together we cut the hardened glue caulk from the back of the glass and reinstalled it into the frame....  And then Larry knew just the place for me to take the mirror to get it recaulked..

After driving to the glass shop and explaining my needs, a fellow came out with a glue gun and climbed into the back of my pickup and re glued the glass into the frame...

I have decided not to put the mirror back into the motorhome for a week or so in order to let the caulk become hard and solidify the bond.   Perhaps one day next week it can be reglued into place on the wall.  But I want to use some screws to hold it in place as well....  It may not look as clean as a factory job, but perhaps it will stay on the wall for a longer time......

And I did go over and get the motorhome, which is parked out at the curb in front of the house tonight...   That breaks the rules, but since it is now midnight and the police haven't come yet, perhaps we will be good to go for a while tomorrow.....

My son Ben and I loaded the portable air conditioner out of the side door tonight, as we probably will not need the unit again this year....  But next summer it will be ready to rip when we travel in the heat again...

And yet again we had the scrub brush out with soap and water washing those pesky black streaks off of the painted sides of the coach.  Seems like I am always washing this dark colored RV....  Do your self a favor and don't purchase a rig with lots of navy blue and black in the paint scheme....

Of course tonight we watched the debates, and then the news coverage after the  candidates were done....  I am amazed at the lack of objectivity in today's news coverage.... MSNBC might just as well have the Democratic party as their network logo....   And we all know that Fox leans far to the Right....  Its like they didn't even watch the same event.!

But not being a political blog, I'll leave my own views out !!

Retired Rod

Sister's and Friends, Hume, Mo.

You see that tan building behind the stop sign?  Its the restaurant that was the object of today's Romeo Rider ride.  But more interestingly do you see the grain bin to its right?  Its part of the restaurant.....  Its called Sister's and Friends....



We are in Hume, Missouri, a little town about 70 miles South of Kansas City along the Kansas and Missouri border.

The aging pictures on the wall in the restaurant show coal mining activities and the loading of rail cars with the mined coal.   The train tracks still go North to South thru the center of town.  But I didn't see any coal activities today...  That probably ended many years ago..



This picture was taken in the grain bin dining room.  The Romeos were in attendance in numbers that filled the entire room.

Its hard to get an accurate count, because some come for breakfast and arrive early in the morning, and others come for brunch and still others for lunch arriving around 11 AM.  Mostly the bikers are gone by noon before the usual town folk crowd would arrive.

They felt that there were 60 to 70 Romeos during the morning, in addition to the normal local crowd..  That should make a big difference in this tiny community.

I have to admit that I didn't have any sensation that we were in the grain bin when I was eating my scrambled eggs, sausage and biscuits and gravy #1 breakfast...  I think it was $5.49  and if I had ordered ham it was a dollar more.



As usual, the picture that I am in is of my back, as I am the round fellow at the left of the picture...  But my son across from me seems intently listening to my line of bull.....  Even the waitress in the middle of the picture had a Romeo T shirt on....

I didn't have any lunch after that...  But as I was leaving town, looking at the outside of the establishment, I realized that we had to be out in the steel bin...  I scratched my head at that one...

Today my son Ben came over at about 8:30 and rode with me out of Overland Park down the divided highway of US 69.  We moved right along in the cool but brightly sunny morning.  We exited the good road at the town of Prescott, which is on the Kansas side of the state line, but sister to Hume.

It was rather cool as we left town with readings of 51 on the bike temperature gauge.  I adorned my full finger gloves right at the start of the ride, and after about 10 miles, I put an additional liner in my jacket as the wind up my sleeves was becoming quite cold.

On our way back home, Ben and I enjoyed a leisurely ride thru the towns of La Cygne, and then thru the country side to Osawatomi, and then Paola where I was last week in the rain.. It was drop dead gorgeous in the low 70s with little wind.  We didn't want to come home....

But our freedom came to an end by about 3 PM as we had daily activities and responsibilities to pursue, but we hope the weather will continue so we can do this again.......

But the forecast for next week is for much colder, and Loyce wants to go to a quilt show up in Des Moines..........  But this day will be one for the memories, especially because Ben rode with me to enjoy it.....

Retired Rod

Pictures from the Romeo weekly ride web site...

Finished at the lake, and Apple Ipad update...

Ah yes the pontoon boat, was covered in spider poop and web upon web from the countless spiders that have lived in it over the second half of the summer.... nasty!

We never did get to use the boat over Labor Day, as it rained and rained all that weekend...  And it was quite cold...  The grandkids were turning blue just trying to swim from the dock.

So the power washer had to come out and I spent about three hours with it and a scrub brush on a pole...  It  was sort of cleaner, but as I took off the cover anyway...   it became  power wash the parts under the cover, but eventually I gave up and  had to do the fuel pickle and get the engine started even though it remains  so dirty.

I made up a mixture of stabil and sea foam using 50/50 8 ounces of each in a gallon of gas..  I added this mixture to the gas in the tank, about 12 gallons....  I am sure that the gas wasn't overly fresh either.

I cranked for quite a while, but it finally caught and coughed into running...  I let it run on a fast idle for quite a while, and then took off around the side of the lake....  After about 4 miles, I declared that the treated gas was now up into the injection system...  It was running as smooth as I have ever heard it, so that means the Sea Foam was doing its thing.

Back at the dock, I tied up and put the cover back on once I had the battery tender installed and plugged in...  The battery was dated 04 of 09, so its about on its last legs, perhaps the tender has its work cut out for it.

We had all the normal cleaning tasks  as well once the dock was secured..  Oh, I had to drain the water line that goes from the house out onto the dock...  Its plastic pipe out to the sea wall , and from there it is ordinary hose...  I didn't get it drained right one year and the plastic pipe shatters when frozen water is inside!!

Tonight we are back here in KC and I have been going round and round with Verizon and Loyce's Apple Ipad.  Seems that they cut us off since our card account had a new expiration date...   But they couldn't renew the card because our software wasn't the newest version.... on the ipad...  What?

But we didn't have a connection to get the newest version because the bill wasn't paid.....  I spent a couple of hours with the tablet hooked up to our cable internet wifi updating the operating system, which then locked up because it couldn't find the verizon connection......  See the circle of no return here?

So I don't have that cult like feeling about Apple.....  It isn't just better....  The verizon tech told me that he couldn't fix it...  Call Apple, who is closed by now and will have to be called in the morning..........

Once off the phone with verizon, I kept repeatedly clicking on this continue button and it kept freezing, until I tapped it about ten times in a row out of frustration...  And boom!  it went to the next page wanting me to agree to the conditions and agreements....  I answered a few other quick questions and bang I was updated and on the new system with our verizon connection restored ........  Yes you too can purchase an Apple tablet..  But be sure to keep your credit card info up to date.............!!!

Retired Rod

The Lake Again

Tonight we are down at the cabin on Lake Ozark.  In keeping with beginning our preparations to leave this cold part of the country, we need to winterize some of thde lake toys.
After we went to town and our favorite barbecue then, Wal Mart provided two additional battery tenders to keep things charged while we will be gone.
Tomorrow my sights are on the pontoon boat, which has been used very little this year.   First I need to get it started and warmed up to see what needs to be completed to put it back to sleep.
I haven't even got out the laptop computer tonight, so this short blog is coming from the tiny keyboard on my cell phone.  Using my thumbs to type seems to not be my strong point, so I'll quit before I make any more non correctable thumb gaffs!
Retired Rod