Remember “‘Mater“ from the Disney movie, “Cars?” He was the rusty old Tow truck, hence his name from Tow-Mater. Well today we were on our afternoon ride on “Purple” when we passed a big shiny new Red and White ‘Mater and his big brother Big Blue ‘Mater. Big Blue ‘Mater had his cable strung out into the desert near Mojave, California. In fact it disappeared into a very deep drainage ditch alongside Highway 14. Read More
‘Mater Goes Fishin’
January 7, 2012
Tandem Migration:
October 24, 2011
It is not what you think. We are not riding the tandem bicycle south for the winter. This year for the first time we are taking our Honda Civic, “Little Blue,” south with us. Since I still insist on taking my trailer with my shop along, that means Judy has to drive the Honda in tandem with the coach. Read More
Tandem Milestone:
October 5, 2011
Today I finally was able to install the key assembly in the power train for the new tandem. This assembly is a jack shaft that allows the blending of power from the rider and the auxiliary electric motor. That is the rider can power the wheel with no auxiliary power. The auxiliary motor can power the wheel and the rider can coast. Finally both can power the wheel at the same time.
At the same time the shaft itself functions as the pivot for the rear wheel suspension. This is good because the chains don’t vary in length as the suspension flexes. Read More
Tourist Destinations:
July 16, 2011
Yes, we often show up in odd ball destinations like Wickenburg, AZ, visiting obscure attractions like the “Jail Tree.” This week, however, we set our sights on a top tourist destination, Mackinac Island in the Mackinac Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in upper Michigan. By the way up here it is pronounced “Mackinaw,” the “c” at the end of the word is silent. The name is a shortening of the original Indian name Michilimackinac which means “place of the great turtle.” Read More
Oklahoma!
June 2, 2011
I woke up this morning with the first phrase of Oklahoma spinning through my mind. I searched the net and came up with the real words. Here is a quote of the first verse.
Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain
And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Oklahoma, Ev’ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Makin’ lazy circles in the sky.
Look Ma, No Brakes!
May 5, 2011
We are celebrating today, Cinco de Mayo, but is has no connection to the 1862 battle of Puebla when the Mexicans defeated the French. Instead we are celebrating a milestone in the construction of the new bicycle. Read More
Trial Fit:
April 10, 2011
Today I reached a significant milestone in the design and construction of the new bicycle. I put the major components together this afternoon for a trial fit. There is a photograph of the new bicycle on the blog. The components are the wheels with tires, the front fork, the main frame with a small front sub frame and the rear suspension frame its Fox Vanilla Shock and one seat. Read More
Rage Over a Lost Penny
February 11, 2011
I guess I know about how Beethoven felt when he wrote the piano rondo, (“Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio in G major, Op. 129”, better known as “Rage over a Lost Penny”.) I have been making little doo-dahs for the new bicycle. I needed a dozen or so braze-on binder bosses and a dozen or so water bottle bosses. What I have been doing on the cold mornings is to get in my trailer with the electric heater. I set up the Smithy Lathe with a steel rod and start turning out bosses. Today I was finishing up some water bottle bosses. They are three eights of an inch in diameter necked down to nine thirty-seconds. They are about five sixteenths of an inch long and are drilled and tapped for a five millimeter bolt. I whack it off with the hack saw and dress it up a bit with a file. It takes me about fifteen minutes to create each one. Read More
Something New
January 29, 2011
In six years of travels we have never leased a lot for a whole month and stayed put. Oh yes we have stayed in one area for a month or longer, but always in places that limited our stay. We would have to move every couple weeks to go to the dump station, or to reset the clock. These locations always are close to our children’s families homes in Hillsboro, OR or Gilroy, CA. Read More
2010 in Review:
January 1, 2011
Here is a very brief summary of our 2010 travels. We have been traveling in Arcturus, our 2001 Alpine motor home since 2004. That is going on seven years now. 2010 is the lightest year of travels yet. We drove just over 6,000 miles, about half our normal rate.
Read More
