Sunday, December 30, 2012

John and Wendie Come to visit...

...and work progresses on the utility trailer rebuild. My riding buddy, John, and his wife, Wendie, came up from St. Paul on Saturday. John brought with him a few gifts he had been making.... Gifts in the form of Oak stakes for my trailer. John was able to locate some Oak pallets, bust them apart, and salvage some nice pieces. He trimmed them to length, planned them down, and even cut notches in them. When he was finished, he had 12 pieces that were 29.5" x 2.75" x 1.75". A little hand fitting with his custom made sanding blocks and my belt sander and we're in business! I used 10 of them on the trailer and have 2 for spare parts.



Next, I need to get some 5/4" x 6" x 8' Cedar decking to use for the sides.

John works with wood and and also does custom engraving. He's very meticulous, so the pieces look like something from a furniture factory!

Last night, the 4 of us went out for dinner and had BBQ at "Famous Dave's". Nancy and I also gave them the tour of the Christmas light displays in Hayward.

Thanks John, and thank you too Wendie... You guys are the best!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas...

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!

It's been an very interesting year for Nancy and me.

I had a lot of fun meeting a bunch of my fellow bloggers this summer on my road trip to Oregon. Thanks for inviting me.
I got to meet fellow blogger Doug this summer. We met up at a local diner to talk of riding and blogs.
I also got to meet another fellow blogger George, from New Jersey, when he was on his epic ride to Alaska. George spent the night here and we swapped many stories.
I got to really pile on the miles with a road trip to Arizona. Thank you John, for riding with me all these years. I plan to ride many more!
I attended my 14th Sturgis rally in as many years. Lyle and Garth, if you see this, I'll see you again this summer in SD. Kent, may God bless you and comfort you and your family.
Bob, you're more than welcome to stop by anytime if your riding brings you by this way.
I've also gained quite a few followers this year. Thank you for coming along!

Nancy and I are headed to MN to visit my sister and her family on Christmas Day, so we decided to exchange gifts a little early.
I got Nancy some warm Sorel boots and a couple of Franklins (Bob, do you need a translation?). She sure surprised me! She bought me the GoPro Hero 3! I love you dear! She also got me a new hat to bring along on trips. Is there really any other color for it??
Bob, notice the blaze orange Toque? (AKA: stocking cap, or watch cap)


I wish you Peace, Happiness, and all the very best,

Erik.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

I Love Small Towns...

Tonight, Nancy and I went down to Hayward. The city has decorated the fronts of many of the businesses in town, most of them on Main Street, and is heavily promoting the display. They've even set up a web site to list all the activities and "specials" at local businesses. Here's a link. I was impressed! We walked up and down Main Street and looked at the displays in the windows. There was even a small table in front of a couple of the shops with self-service hot chocolate. How small town is that?


I had a SnoWing just like this when I was a kid. It's heavy steel and was a real pain to drag back up the hill. It was frequently left behind in the garage in favor of the plastic mini-boggan.

They decorated the gazebo at Shues Pond (city park).


After checking out Main Street, we walked in to Angler's Bar & Grill for Pizza! I forgot the obligatory food picture, sorry. Even Angler's was in the Holiday spirit.


Earlier in the day I was busy cutting and splitting more firewood. I had a nice stash of 4' long logs in the garage. I cut up most of them. With the 2 pallets full outside, and this in the garage, I might have enough to get through this winter. I'd rather put in a little hard work and burn some wood, than pay for Propane!
The 4 following pictures are before-afters...

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Missing the Winter Storm.. Now With Video!

I think we're on the edge of this big winter storm. It's been snowing all day, but the accumulation is only about 3 inches so far. The fireplace has been burning wood since 6:00 a.m. and the furnace has not been on since then. The cats are content to watch the Squirrels and Crows and even take a nap.

This little guy is curled up next to one of my Grandpa's decoys under the Christmas tree...


We've put out some Bird and Squirrel feed a couple of times today...


We're going into "town", 20 miles away, to get a few things. I'll update with more pictures if there's anything interesting going on.

We were gone about 3 hours, an I'll say that there's a distinct difference in the snowfall totals in the 20 miles between, "town" and home. There's a LOT more snow in my back yard!



The snow is still coming down and the wind has picked up!



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

2012 Mileage Totals...

I'm pretty sure the riding season is over for this year. I've made it a practice to record the yearly mileage on my blog.

The highlights of the 2012 season included, buying a new-to-me Wr250x, a road trip to Arkansas for an FJR rally, a trip to Oregon to meet some fellow bloggers, and my 14th annual trip to Sturgis and beyond. This year it included New Mexico and Arizona.

Starting mileage on the Zx-14 was 29,209...ending was 38,716 = 9514 mi(15,311 km)

FJR.... starting mileage was ....25,145....ending was 29,647 = 4502 mi(7,245 km)

Wr250x...starting mileage this spring when I brought it home, 1561, now 2442 = 881 mi(1418 km) for the year.

All totaled, that's 14,897 mi(23,974 km)on motorcycles for the year.

My riding buddy, John, is a bit more OCD than I am, and could document so much more information than I can. He could tell you not only how many miles, but also, how much gas, the high and low price for it, the average fuel price, the life time MPG, the high MPG, the low MPG, the total gas ever purchased... and so much more. The information is saved on his hard drive and a paper copy gets printed frequently!!! LOL
John, you know I kid you,...I wish I was that anal, disturbed, detail oriented!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Sunday Night's Snow

Those of us that live in the mid-west and not on the tropical we(s)t coast had to deal with snow this weekend. I spent the morning clearing the driveway. But first I had to fix the tree. The cats did a number on it last night... and I think this is the guilty guy..


I figure we got around 5 inches(12.7cm) last night.
By the time I finished, Nancy had a fire going and the Christmas stocking were hanging from the mantel.. 5 little ones for the cats.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

Our 5 Dollar Christmas Tree!

The Sawyer County Forestry Department has a program where a person can cut their own Christmas tree on County Forest land. Nancy wanted to find a tree out in the woods rather than buy one from any of the roadside tree sellers. So, after paying our $5 permit fee to the County, we were off to the forest.

We drove out into County forest land and started looking. A little while later, I parked the truck on the side the road and we walked down an ATV trail towards a promising patch of green.


It took a little looking...

But we found a nice tree.


Once we got it home the cats were all over it! I think if it survives the night and is still standing in the morning, we'll be OK.

3 of the 5 cats under the tree!

Monday, November 26, 2012

An Early Christmas Present for Myself

Like most of us, I visit a lot of motorcycle related web sites. I belong to a motorcycle camping forum, motocampers.com. A few weeks ago, one of the members posted a few pictures of some handy security cables he's made and selling. Here's a link to his thread, Click Me.

I know that the use of cables to secure items to a motorcycle is not a new idea, but the price and color were right. I gambled, and won! They arrived today.

I ordered a short cable and a long one, in neon green(is there really any other color?). The finished length of the short one is about 21" (53cm) and the longer one is 53" (135cm) The prices were right too. The short one was $3.00 and the long was $5.00. He wanted $1.70 for shipping US Mail. I noticed the postage sticker was a little over $2.00. He might want to up the shipping a bit. For $9.70 I feel like I won the lottery.



I'm happy with them, now if it weren't another 5 months until I can ride again it would be perfect.

Brandy, I added this just for you!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

End of Riding Days.

In the last 2 days I've read the blogs of at least 8 other riders. They all have one thing in common, the writers are out riding, or enjoying their weather. My riding season ended with my Thanksgiving meal. The temps dropped from the upper 50's that day to the lower 20's that evening. It started snowing later that night and it has pretty much continued since.



So, like the cats... we enjoy the fruits of my labor and watch as the firewood burns.


The bikes wait for warmer weather in the garage. Oils have been changed, fuels have been Sta-Bil-ized, tires inflated and all batteries wired for a Battery Tender.

I think they'll have a long wait...