The end of an era.

Yes it pains me to say it, but the Motorcycle is no more. I know you are probably thinking that I wrecked it or something, but that is not the case...I sold it. To some that may seem like a betrayal of a loyal friend, but for me I think it was a great bike, but I needed to make room for a different one. Yes I said a different bike. I am now in the market for a motorcycle and hoping to find something soon seeing as it was 80 and beautiful today.

Here is Harry acting like...himself at the auction.

Last weekend we had a school auction which is always a memorable time. This year was especially memorable and is going to be talked about for years to come. No, it is not because I ad to much wine and danced on the table top (something Kevin Schenk would say), but is was because no less than 40 people ended up with food poisoning. I was really ill on Monday as was supposed to go on a 5 day road trip for work, but while standing at the door at 5am on Monday I just could not go out and want back to bed. I started the vomit routine at about 8am and continued every hour on the hour for the next 5 hours. Most of the day was a blur, but I was very sore and thought I had pig flu for a while. When I heard that a bunch of people from the auction were also sick, I was relieved that I was not contagious. I also missed work on Tuesday as pert of my recovery and was able to eliminate a few of the pest squirrel in our backyard with the help of an air rifle.

Here is another classic Harry shot.

The "gals" had a great time as always.
I have no idea why I have so many Harry photos, but here is another.

Last week Thursday I ate some rattlesnake on the grill. I killed one at work and thought I would give it a try and it was not that bad. I hope to get a bigger one and have it again someday. Brenda conveniently went out for the night so she did not get some and I know how bad she wants to eat it.
Is it bad that my wife is obviously stronger than me????her guns are huge...and hot.

Ventura with Friends

This weekend Brenda and I went down to Ventura for to meet some friends and have a good time. Ryan and Emily Baker were out for a wedding in So Cal and we thought it would be a good time to meet and visit the Channel Islands. We met down in Ventura, but right off the bat the boat bringing us to the island called and cancelled due to “high winds”. Stupid government regulations will not allow them to go out in high winds. Thanks big government for messing with our weekend. With the cancellation we thought it would fun to do some hiking so we visited the nearby National Forest. After a fun morning hike we went to Santa Barbara to visit a mission.
Brenda at the Mission.

Outside of the Mission.

Brenda Checking out the rose garden in front of the Mission.

Shake and Bake and his old lady on a hike.

Nice viewpoint on the hike.

Inside the Mission again. I am not sure what i was expecting, but the Mission tour was pretty much a bust. I wish I would not have wasted $5 on it.

More Bikes

No your not imaging things. This is a BMW 1200gs. I have now become a big fan and part of being a fan is taking a ride one (fan is the step right before ownership). Two weekends ago I went to the BMW dealer and hopped on a brand new bike for a test ride. I took it over to my apartment and pick up my wife for a little ride. When you go in for a test ride they let you have it for an hour and say "enjoy". The top speed of this bike is...higher than mine.

I think I am built for this bike. The one I test rode had a lowered seat, but being a big guy I would have liked it a bit higher. The difference between this bike and my 650 Vstar is crazy.

After the test ride, I took my bike out for a few hours and cruised some of the roads we have around here.

San jose from the top of a ridge.

Cruising along the hwy 152.

With the motorcycle in my blood pumping the old lady and I went us this past weekend to Ft. Bragg CA. This is a small town on the coast up hwy 1 about 220mi. It is a long haul (about 7hrs), but Brenda was a great sport and the riding was fun.

Easter services were at the Mendocino Pres. This is the oldest active church in CA.

On they way back we stopped for some oysters and chowder.

And decimated them in short order.

One of the many great scenes along the water. We had great weather.

Coming over the Golden Gate on the way home.

Very clear day for riding an just killin' time.

I think this bike is still pretty cool (even though it is not a GS).

Motorcycles and big wind...Perfect

I am pretty sure that they do not make Saturdays better than today. I am sitting here so tired because I had so much fun today. The day start6s out with my wonderful wife making breakfast in bed for me. This is not a rare occurrence mostly because she loves breakfast and I don't', so if she wants some she makes it for herself and I get all the benefits as well.

Then after breakfast I was off to the all British motorcycle show in San Jose. The bikes there were awesome. These bikes are just so beautiful, and yet so functional all at the same time. I have included a few pics so you can also enjoy...but they are way better in person.I can just imagine smoking around some back country corners on this sleek machine.

Classic AJS

Most of the BSA's here were older, but I think this one was by far the oldest.

Look at that chrome and try not to drool...why even try... mmmmmmmmm.

Nice closeup. I have many other pics, but I think this is enough for those of you who do not like motorcycles (aka weirdos).

Today I also had a sailing regatta and went to Santa Cruz after the show. Here is one of our competitors getting hoisted in. If you look closely at the rudder you can see a girl in a bikini on it. Brenda thinks it is ridiculous, but I remind her that it could be a painting of his wife (it isn't). The weather was perfect for a nice motorcycle ride over Hwy 17.

I don't have any pictures during the race (to freaking wet out there), but this was one of those days that you wait the whole year for. The wind was big and we were screaming down the swells and having a blast. On the second downwind leg we gybed, but had some problems and ended up sideways and halfway in the water. A minute later we had recovered and didn't loose and positions so it was all good.

We ended up getting second in our division and fourth overall. That was pretty good and a whole heck of a lot of fun as well, so we were all smiles.

After at the Yacht Club having some refreshments.

My captain is pretty old and not spry anymore, but here he is accepting our trophy ( a bottle of wine).

All in all it was a great day and to top it all of my wife got the new Bond movie for us to watch tonight...I don't want to make you all jealous, but I sure got it good.

X-skiing

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, but I was out of town last week and my computer for work is not working so I could not even respond to simple emails. Last weekend we went to Sequoia NP to check it out and do some cross country skiing before the snow is gone. The weather was great and we only saw two other people out on the trail so it was ice to get away for a while.

As I stated earlier I was out of town in Porterville Ca last week doing a job down there. This job just happens to be in the middle of an orange grove during the peak season. These oranges were just perfect and there is nothing like getting them right off of the tree. They were so good I would have about 4-5 per day.

While getting lunch one day at a Burger King I went into the restroom and was standing at the urinal when two little kids (ages about 4 and 6???) came in. They were saying a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand and then all of a sudden I looked down to the floor drain about 4" from my foot and the little kid on thee other side of the partition was pissing in the drain. That set me off and I started yelling at the kid asking him what in the "heck" he thought he was doing and told him to use the urinal or get out of here. He left rather quickly although I seriously doubt the kid understood any of my ranting. This kind of crap makes me so mad and I was about to tell his mother, but she probably would not have understood either. You never know what is going to happen next and this at least made me laugh intermittently throughout the day.

MMMM.....good

It has been great weather here and this is evidence of spring...I think I may have missed winter.

Mammoth oranges.

Today we too the motorcycle out to the coast and relaxed out on a blanket for a couple hours. It was very windy and I was wishing I was out on the water in a sailboat, but on the shore with my lady is a great way to spend a Sunday.