Catching up..

Not sure what I have been doing all week, but I have been keeping busy...   Mostly notifying folks of Loyce's passing..  That's dreary duty as you have to explain over and over..

Took all day to get a hold of the social security commission to shut off those payments..  I waited on the line for over an hour and finally put my name in for a call back..  That took over two hours longer.  And then I found out they already knew...  Seems the funeral homes are in cahoots with the government.......

On Thursday Biscuit and I drove to Lake Ozark with the car and trailer..  We loaded up the black 650 Suzuki Burgman Scooter and brought it back to KC..  It was about 7 hours of driving for the round trip..

Then on Friday I took it to a shop over in Missouri to get its oil changed and a new back tire..  I could do the oil change here but the tire requires the wheel to be removed..  That requires a lift to hold up the bike once the wheel is off the ground...  Due to safety and bigger tool requirements, that one is for the professionals..

If I end up taking one of the bikes to Arizona, then I will need the other one here in KC..   Assuming we have winter days that will be nice enough to ride..   I don't do snow or ice....

Yesterday was spent calling the cell phone company and cancelling the contracted phone and ipad service..  Verizon let me out of the contract on her iphone, which I thought was rather nice..

And today was the Iowa Hawkeye game at our oldest son Chris' house...  We played Minnesota which hadn't lost yet this year..  They were sure that Iowa wouldn't be any trouble..  But we got ahead in the beginning and stayed that way thru out the game..   But I won't crow any because the Big Ten has a lot of tougher teams on our schedule in the upcoming weeks..

It did feel good to have the kids win the game, as we got to keep Floyd of Rosedale..  A bronze pig that is the travelling trophy..  He was here last year, and will stay again for 2014, until we meet again..

Being completely alone has been tough for Biscuit and I, but we have to adjust, as the alternative isn't acceptable...

Retired Rod

Gallatin with the Romeo's

We had a good day riding up to Gallatin, Mo on Tuesday...  Its about 95 miles up there.. which is almost to the Iowa border..  The town is East of I 35 about 7 miles or so..

Romeo web site  is where all the pictures are loaded..  Some of the folks went on to Jamesport, which is an Amish community about ten miles to the East of Gallatin...  Go look at Don's tenderloin.....!

We decided to go back to the South on Highway 13 and then West over thru some of the other communities we have eaten in this summer...  Just for a nice ride going back home....  Places like Polo, Lathrup, and Plattsburg...  These were on a Missouri country road numbered 116...  Eventually we were back to Highway 169 which is North to South, and goes down thru the center of KC...

But as we rounded the corner, I thought to myself that is seemed much cooler than it was a few minutes ago...  I pushed the info button and the bike reported 68 degrees...  It was just 78 over in Gallatin...

Scanning the Western Horizon showed a line of thunderstorms with ragged cloudy bottoms....  Rain and wind...

We had planned to stop at a Mc Donalds in Smithville for our coffee, but those plans were scrapped instantly...   It appeared to be much lighter on the Southern horizon...

Riding down thru the center of town on the freeways, we managed to stay ahead of the storm cell, until...  We crossed the Missouri River and it became dark and as we crossed the Kansas River the rains pelted us...  I closed up the front of my helmet and ducked down behind the windshield..

Interstate 635 ends and dumps you out onto a city street of Metcalf.. in Overland Park, where we found another McDonalds.   As we parked the bikes and looked back North, it was a solid wall of dark blue black clouds..  Ya we just rode thru that.....

The storm tracked on East and never did much more than sprinkle on our McDonalds refuge, but there for a while I thought we might have to wring out our underwear....

Retired Rod

More Road Trips...

The day was gorgeous as the sun was out and it was 73 when I left the lake at 11 AM...  I rode directly back to the KC home without stopping, except for gas in Windsor, Missouri..

But that much exposure at 70 mph is hard on me as I fell directly to sleep in the big recliner once I arrived home...  Just sat down to enjoy a can of pop and read a little on the internet...  Ya right...... ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

My riding friend Al called in the middle of the afternoon, and we hatched a plan to go after the CRV that was done at the auto body shop...  We ran several other errands on the way as well...  Stopping by Sam's Club for fruit for his guests, and then on to a Hy Vee supper at the local deli inside that grocery store...

So tonight I am killed from too much activity, but I need to get rest, because tomorrow is another big Motorcycle ride with the Romeo's..  They are heading out to Gallatin, Mo about 85 miles North of here up by Iowa....

More riding, when I was already tired from this weekends trip...  Oh well, it should be fun...

Retired Rod

Lake Projects

Ok, right off the bat I should answer a question from the comments....  How do I connect to the internet when I am travelling with the motor cycle...?

Last fall on Black Friday, I purchased an Asus tablet computer from Best Buy down in Arizona...  Its a Tf 300t but only has 16mb of ssd ram...  I think it was $279 on that Friday...  It didn't take me long to realize that I needed the keyboard docking station as it made typing on it much easier, and it had a much better battery in it too...

So with that addition and a 32 gb micro SD card for more storage, I have this little 10 inch fold up tablet...  It runs on android, which is another flavor of Linux..   I also have a MIfi from Verizon that I use in Arizona and in the Motorhome..  They fit nicely into my overnight bag under my shirts and such...  So I'm not packing around a big W8 laptop on these junkets..

Yesterday and today I have been working on changing the oil in our pontoon boat..  It wouldn't be that big of a task except we have this big hill we live on here at the lake, so a lot of my time was spent climbing the 90 steps up and down from the garage..  Sometimes when the kids are here I can get younger legs to go after that different wrench...

So just because things are sad around here, the fall weather means the chores must get completed...   Believe me, I have wondered why I will need all of this stuff with Loyce gone, but they tell you not to make any decisions for at least a year, or you will wish you hadn't..

The grandkids really like our lake place, and so do our their parents, when they are not camping....

Retired Rod