Better Late Than Never, Right?

Yeah, I know it's been a while since I posted, but that's just the way it goes.

There was kind of an odd twist to the heater core part I ordered last weekend when I tore the Neon apart. I mentioned how it was "cheaper than buying local." Turns out, it was local. It shipped so fast I had it in my hands on Tuesday, and that's when I noticed that they shipped it right from a warehouse right here in Auburn! How 'bout that. Even though I had the core by Tuesday, I didn't get it put in until Saturday. It actually went together a lot faster than tearing it apart went. That's because I kept having to refer to different parts of my book for information when I took it apart. It probably only took about 2 hours to put it together, but I spent considerably longer than that because of cleaning and fixing other little related things. At the time of this writing, I still haven't finished it 100%. I'm missing a fairly important little nut that holds the coolant overflow bottle under the hood, and I don't dare drive it without it and chance breaking the one remained hold-down ear off the bottle. It's unique enough that I didn't have one in my stash of spare hardware in the garage either, so I'm going to stop by a junkyard on the way home from work today and grab one off another car. While I'm there I'm also going to buy a fan blower motor for the heater. All the time the heater had been leaking took its toll on the blower and seized it up.

I did a lot of domestic chores yesterday. How fun, right? Multiple loads of laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming, changing bedclothes... You name it.

One thing that I really wanted to do yesterday was to lie out in the backyard nude and get some sun, but it didn't work out. Working on the car all day Saturday wearing only loose shorts added more color to my back, making the contrast of my white ass even more striking. I wanted to get some color on my ass as well as take a nice relaxing nap. I hauled my blanket out there and stretched myself out, but was only there 10 minutes before I called it quits. Why? Well, yesterday was a big day in the Seattle area, the Seafair Unlimited Hydroplane races. Anywhere you went in town you noticed how dead it was because everyone was home watching the races on TV. It also gave a lot of people the excuse to have gatherings at their houses, which is apparently what was going on next door. After lying there only 10 minutes, there was just too much talking and laughing wafting through the open windows in their house, and I didn't feel comfortable at all. More people in the house means more chances of someone looking out one of the windows and spotting me. What made it even worse was how totally perfect the temperature and the sun both were.

Dammit. I'm having sun withdrawals...

Buncha Dang Copycats...

I doubt if a lot of my friends know I had a personals ad running on Craiglist.

It wasn't your usual personals ad like someone looking for their ideal mate--It was me advertising my wish to wash my car in the nude at someones house. Yes, you heard me. My landlord had written a "no car washing" rule into the contract because of something a prior tenant did, so I can't wash them here. It's such a simple little request isn't it? You would think so, but evidently not.

Well, I did get a few well-wishers, such as people that wished they could take me up on it but didn't have the space and things like that, but no takers. I ran basically the same thing last summer as well, again receiving the same sort of replies with no takers.

Here's the most recent version of it as it appeared in Craigslist:

Nudist will wash your cars! - m4w

Yes, this is on the level. I posted a similar ad last summer, but only received a few good luck wishes, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

I love to be out in the sun wearing nothing but a smile, and I also have a very dirty car and no place to wash it (it's a landlord thing to prevent water abuse). If you let me wash my car at your secluded location, I'll wash your vehicle(s) as well.

I don't have any other motives than to enjoy being outdoors au naturale and to get my disgustingly dirty car clean. I don't care if you watch or help. I'm not going to do anything bad, nor am I a strange/unusual/lecherous person. I'm a decent-looking genuinely nice guy with a penchant for breezes and sun. Maybe there's some other outside chores you need help with?

I would like to limit myself to the South King/North Pierce County area.

Give it a shot!

Now it seems like there are a whole lot of people jumping up with off-beat requests. Here are a couple of recent ones:

nude housecleaning - m4mw

I am offering nice nude housecleaning you get a very nice looking nude male cleaning up a bit while you touch and play???twenty per hour...email for pics and times???

Location: Anywhere

nude housecleaning and or light body work - m4mw

I need a hair cut and would love to be naked while you cut my hair???Let me know very nice looking male????

Location: South Seattle

working at home in the nude - m4mw

I am working from home in the nude any ladies and or couples want to stop by and lend a helping hand. email for pic and location

Location: Kent

I'm thinking the last 3 ads might have come from the same guy. What's pathetic is that in each one he has loosened his criteria just a little bit. Finally, at the end he didn't care what someone came over for... Just so they came over.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Okay, if that's the case, I'm flattered. In the meantime, I sighed deeply and deleted my ad for the remainder of the season. I didn't want to look like just another copycat.

Meanwhile, my car and my truck get dirtier, and dirtier, and dirtier...

A Saturday of Mechanic Work

The stars spoke to me and the planets must have aligned yesterday, because I finally attacked the heater core replacement job that I have been dreading on my Neon. The thing is, I don't yet have a new heater core on hand to put in it--I wanted to get the old one out first so I could verify the physical dimensions and make sure I got the right one to replace it with.

I was mentally prepared for the undertaking and was in a very methodical and relaxed mood, which is necessary. Also, the weather was perfect: Lower 70's with a breeze every now and then. All day to do it with no time constraints. I started it at just before noon and had the whole thing apart (yes, only apart) by about 4pm.

I have done a lot of heater core replacements in vehicles over the years. I have done a lot of repairs of many kinds to many vehicles over the years. I have never encountered anything like this Neon. I truly had to take the interior almost all the way down to the naked firewall under the windshield to get the heater core out. Seats, console, steering wheel, steering column, complete dash--All had to come out. It was layer after layer of things... All interwoven together to fit into a tight little space. I was so amazed at it after the fact that I snapped a few pictures:

Click here to go to the Neon disassembled

I ordered a replacement online, so I won't be able to put it back together until at least next weekend. They were a lot cheaper than buying local. I guess I'll be riding the Harley all week for sure. Maybe I'd better get the truck working a little better for backup...

When it comes time for reassembly, I sure hope I can remember where all those pieces go!

Be Gone!

That's what I finally said the other day when I looked in the mirror at my moustache.

Yeah, some people change facial hair once a month or so, but for me it's more of a careful consideration. I guess I'm just a weenie for change. I figured, what the hell... I got new glasses so why not lose the 'stache?

I did, however, keep the little patch below my lip...

How's this for a short post?

The Writing Void

I must be in it. I haven't had any desire to write anything down in quite a few days.

All last week was rainy. Rain, rain, rain. Twice I got up and almost rode the Harley to work only to be very glad I didn't a couple hours later when it started raining and never stopped the whole day.

Teresa called right after I got home from work on Friday and asked me if I'd ride with Sarah when she takes her boyfriend back home. She has been sick all week and still wasn't up to going out of the house. Because Sarah only has a learner's permit, someone has to ride with her (in Teresa's car.) After that quick jaunt, she asked me if I would drive her to Southcenter in an hour or so. Evidently there was a big Harry Potter party at the Barnes & Noble store there and a bunch of her friends were already there. They were going to hang out and be teenagers until the book officially went on sale at midnight.

Friday was also one of the worst times I've seen the leaky heater core in my car dump water on the passenger floor on the way to work in the morning. It's obvious I need to address the issue right away. So when Sarah called later on for her ride to Southcenter, I told her we'd have to drive with a window or two open (it was getting moist in there) and she'd have to keep her feet out of the way of the drips. What a great car. I'm still toying with just getting rid of it and keeping the one I bought Sarah...

Saturday I had the big party to attend up in Lynnwood, so before I left I got under the hood of the Neon and disconnected the heater core. I looped one hose back to the engine so coolant still flowed--It just didn't go anywhere inside the car any more. That means no defroster or heater any more until it's fixed, but also no more leaking.

The party was good, but not great. The reason was totally my fault. I didn't eat hardly anything all day, and when I did start eating, it was too late. In other words, I got too drunk too fast. I ended up taking a nap on the couch in the living room at about 10pm. The party was out in the back yard for the most part, so it was okay. I was pissed at myself though. There was a great turnout of people, some of which showed up a bit late and didn't stay long, and I ended up missing a few of them. I ended up staying overnight just as I planned, but didn't have to use my sleeping bag as there was a crappy fold-out bed in the first bedroom. Overall, I had fun, but I'm still pissed at myself.

Yesterday was mostly a sit around recovery day. I got home at about 11am, but was never really worth a shit all day. I did manage to get a little work done on the Harley at least. I'm just making some adjustments to the saddlebags to let them nestle in closer to the sides of the bike. I chose to do it in the nude as usual. I almost didn't do it because it felt pretty muggy in the garage. I would have loved to be able to open the garage door while I was working, but I decided I would rather be nude and slightly uncomfortable. I guess in retrospect, I should have just opened the garage door for a while before I started working... Then closed it again. Oh well. I think summer is supposed to return this week, so I need to get it finished up as soon as possible. Maybe tonight. I need to buy a few bolts to finish it.

I uploaded all our vacation pictures from mine and Sarah's vacation yesterday to Glowfoto.com. I chose them because they keep the pictures in their original size. The trouble is that it seems to keep wanting to rearrange them. I fought and fought with them off and on and still never seemed to get anywhere. There are still some that need to be rotated and stuff like that, but here's the links to em:

Rick's pictures Sarah's pictures

Hump Day

You know, Monday was exactly what I expected at work: A mess. That's actually to be expected though. To go back to work to a clean desk after a week off would be very suspicious. I wasn't in the best mood because of the shock of going back to work, but I made the best of it and things went fairly smoothly. I got a lot done.

After work I stopped off and picked up my new glasses. They work great--I can see a lot better at the intermediate range now. The distance and close-up portions (they are progressive lenses of course) stayed the same, but the doc made changes to my reading/computer range. It helped a lot! They are also much more stylish than the old round ones I had before.

I changed the oil in Sarah's car and gave it a good vacuum job. It was totally filthy. I was going to take it back over to exchange it back for my car after dinner, but I didn't feel like getting dressed again. Dinner was a steak I had in the fridge. I decided it was BBQ time so I fired up the grill.

A weird thing happened during my cooking time though--For the first time that I can recall, I almost went outside naked without thinking about it. I caught myself as I was going through the sliding glass door. Weird. You know, a person should be able to do a simple thing like that if they want to. I guess that just goes to show you how comfortable I am in the nude. Actually, the only thing really limiting me (as far as I'm concerned anyway) is the open access to the building right next door. There is a walkway around the corner to my back yard and there is no door or gate on it. In addition, the fence is a little short in height. I should take the time to build a gate for my yard at least. The problem is that the gate needs to look like the fence it's hooked to (white siding like the apartment) and also has to be able to be opened from the outside so the landlord can mow the yards. I'll see what I can do this fall maybe.

Yesterday I wanted to ride the Harley to work, but was disappointed to find it raining in the morning. Work went worse yesterday. My shipping/receiving work (my main job) went well, but we had a no-show and the owner had me running a press for about 4 hours. My neck and back were killing me. The repetitive motions of going back and forth to the press and it's controls ruined my day. On the way home I stopped at Sarah's and exchanged cars. Now I have my old ugly Neon back. I called the insurance company and cancelled the insurance I had placed on it for our trip.

I hope I have a better day today. I woke up during the night with a helluva backache and had to reposition myself carefully to get back to sleep. I'm fine now, but I don't need that kind of aggravation.

I'm looking forward to a party in Lynnwood this Saturday. It is a bunch of chat room friends, most of which I had met at a meet/greet in Everett a month or two ago. It should be a lot better than the last one though. This time it's actually a housewarming party and most of the people are staying overnight. That means drinking and naughty behavior!

Sometimes it's great to be an adult...

Home!

Yes, I'm home. It's great to be back... Able to shun my clothing once again. How I get used to going back to work tomorrow remains to be seen though.

As I said we were about to, Sarah and I headed downtown to check out the night scene Wednesday night. We spent a few hours wandering around taking pictures of cool stuff and watched a water show in front of the Bellagio Hotel. We barely made it back to the drop off/pick up point to catch our shuttle, and beings it was the last one of the night, that was definitely a good thing.

The next morning we finally left Las Vegas.

The drive to Los Angeles went without a hitch. It was hot as we knew it would be, but we had ample water to keep is hydrated as we always did. Along the way we stopped at the little town of Seligman, Arizona and browsed through some cool shops there. We actually detoured off the freeway there because it's one of the historic towns on Route 66. I wanted to check out the t-shirts at the Road Kill Cafe, but didn't see one that I liked so we ambled on down the street and looked at a few others. We each bought a couple things. It's cool when you see that town--You can tell it was part of the inspiration for the Pixar movie, Cars. They even had the same tow truck parked out in the street in front of one place.

We also stopped at the little town of Baker, California. It's the home of the world's largest thermometer, but the reason we stopped is that I wanted to investigate the store called Alien Fresh Jerky. Their jerky was just okay, but their trinkets were way cool.

We drove to Mark's house in Thousand Oaks very easily. I had a little cheat sheet with my freeways on it, and that made it a no-brainer. We got there at about 2pm and called Mark. He was still at work but was going to leave right then. In the meantime Sarah and I went down to a local Mexican restaurant and had some excellent appetizers. A half hour later we went back to their house and met them all at the door. Emma is so big! She talks real well, and I never got tired of hearing "Grandpa Rick" over and over. She took a little longer to warm up to Sarah, but before long "Auntie Sarah" was a familiar sound. We ended up staying at their house, with Sarah on a pullout in the living room, and me on a couch in the family room. Dana's parents only live a couple minutes away (maybe a mile as the crow flies) and they came over to meet us and visit after dinner. What a great and warm family!

The next day (Friday), we left Emma with Dana's parents while Mark and Dana took us on a tour. We went downtown to Hollywood for a little while and took a few pictures. There's really very little in Hollywood, and most tourists are probably very disappointed. I wasn't because I really didn't go to see Hollywood. We walked around Grauman's Chinese Theater and looked at all the famous hand prints and footprints in the concrete. They had just unveiled a brand new one that was done a few days earlier for Harry Potter, and Sarah was pretty thrilled to get to see that with the red carpet and stuff around it. We also walked around looking at all the stars in the sidewalks there too, and took a few pictures of stuff. Hollywood really doesn't take long at all. From there we went to Olivera Street, which is a cool shopping area, and home to the oldest brick house in Los Angeles. We ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant there, and then headed back out on the road. From there Mark drove us out to Malibu so we could get a good look at the beautiful beach and how busy the area is. It was a great little tour and he did it very quickly. I would have spent all day doing half that much.

We all went to Dana's parents' house for dinner that evening. We all got plenty of time to swim in their pool, enjoying the perfect temperature for it, then capped it off with a great dinner out there next to the pool. The "after dinner" is quite the ritual to them, and they ended up bringing out tons of things to nibble on, not the least of which were fresh-picked (I picked them myself) green seedless grapes from their back yard. It was a great meal and it was great company.

The next morning we said our goodbyes. It was sad, but Sarah and I both agreed that the visit there was the highlight of our trip. She really enjoyed everyone--Especially Emma. We both took a bunch of pictures to treasure the visit.

We left there at 8:30 in the morning, and we got home here at 1am at night. It was a long, exhausting trip, but we were both so glad to be able to sleep in our own familiar beds for a change. When it was all said and done, our final leg of the trip from Marks house to home was 1,142 miles, and the total we drove on the whole vacation was 3,483 miles.

Whew.

The Las Vegas Saga Continues...

This morning we were feeling better when we woke up.

We took our time and finally got ourselves moving and checked out at 9:30-ish. I still felt very, very bad at denying Sarah of the one thing of this vacation trip that she wanted to do: Experience Las Vegas. I decided to drive us around town so Sarah could take all the pictures she wanted. After about an hour, I noticed a smell coming from somewhere, and at the same time noticed that the temp gauge was rising quickly and I had a coolant level alarm light on. I took a few quick turns around the corners to get us off the main drag, and ended up on a small road behind the strip. I investigated it and found the coolant bottle was empty. A bicycle-riding security guard from the Hooters casino (we were parked behind their place) came by and gave me some water, then went for more. Then a Mexican guy that was working on a project nearby came over and gave me water. Between the two of them, the car got cooled down, but was still losing water. I decided I would head onto the freeway to see if it would cool down... Gambling on the chance that the leak would only let the water leak "so far down" before stopping. Wrong. I made it about a mile before the light came back on, and the gauge pegged out again. I barely made it off the exit and shut the engine off, coasting to a stop in a safe place within a pylon protected area of a new road lane that hadn't been opened yet.

I was beside myself. A feeling of total helplessness overwhelmed me. Here I was in a strange town with a car that was broken down. I had no idea what was wrong, no idea who to call, and no idea what to do next. It was close to 95 or so out, so Sarah and I walked two blocks or so to a Jack in the Box so I could gather my wits. My AARP card had some numbers on it, so a call to them gave me the number of a local repair company. The repair company gave me the number of a towing company. The tow truck driver recommended a different repair company--One that was closer, but yet had a good reputation. I went with it.

Still fearing the worst. I kept thinking, "What do you do when you are 1000 miles from home, and are hit with a major repair that is more than the car is worth?" Do you have it fixed regardless? Do you sell it for a good price on the spot? See, I feared something bad like a blown head gasket, or cracked head. Another issue: If they could fix it but it would take a week, what to do? Fly home and fly back next week? Sure, just add that to the cost of the whole thing. My mind was reeling.

It was a pretty good sized shop and the guys were pretty nice to deal with. They did a check on it and found that it appeared to be a simple fix but would have to delve into it a bit deeper. In the meantime, Sarah and I walked over to a local El Pollo Loco restaurant and ate lunch. After returning and waiting for a while, they informed us that it was simply a factory "quick-connect" plug that had come undone under the engine. They repaired it, refilled it, and checked it out well before handing it back to us $84 later. I felt so relieved.

We hit the road.

I hoped to hit a convenience store on the way to the freeway. I wanted to buy some more ice and drinking water, and Sarah wanted to get a Las Vegas postcard. We were on a road paralleling the freeway, about 10 minutes out of town, when Sarah turned to me and asked how far I was going to go before turning around and going back closer to town for a convenience store. I drove a bit longer before turning around. On the way back she said, "Couldn't we stay one more night? I don't want to get to Los Angeles at 10 o'clock tonight." The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the right thing to do.

I had an epiphany and turned around. After all, had it not been for Sarah wanting me to drive us around to take pictures this morning, we would have been a good hour or so out of town before it burst... Way out in the desert. That would have been one hefty towing bill! I figured that it was a sign so here we are at the same motel that we had last night. The difference is, this time we arrived early enough to take advantage of the free motel shuttle to The Strip.

We're hitting the town in a few minutes!

What A Nightmare

I hate Las Vegas.

Yes, that's where I'm sitting right now. We got into town at a decent time--Around 8pm or so. We took the exit off the freeway and went right for The Strip. We enjoyed looking all the sights and sounds for a few miles, but then tried to focus on finding a motel. After getting totally frustrated by the gridlock and roads that didn't go through, I did endless circling around the town. I kept ending up in giant parking areas, or on-ramps or anything but the roads I wanted to be on. At about 9pm I finally found a motel. After we unloaded all our stuff I went out for some beer and supplies and came back only to find that our room had no refrigerator! I was pissed and went down to the desk and argued with the guy there. Every motel I had ever been in had a fridge until I came to this town, so I was sure he was trying to fuck me. In disgust, I told him to cancel everything, that I was going to get my stuff and I was leaving.

Boy was that a mistake.

They don't have many "motels" in this town. They are are huge hotels instead. After driving around for two hours and making a few inquiry's, I was literally crying out of frustration. I was totally frazzled. Sarah was crying too, and I felt so bad for her. I uprooted us for a stupid fridge. We were going to go downtown later and look at lights and sights. I even resignedly went back to the same motel with my tail between my legs, hoping to get my room back. No, it was gone. One of the motels I had inquired at earlier was a bit overpriced, but we went back and got in. We finally were settled at almost midnight. While Sarah was getting settled, I went back out to get us something to eat. I went to In & Out Burger, which she had expressed a desire to buy a t-shirt from (a lot of her friends had them). I bought us a couple of burgers and bought her a shirt like she wanted. I felt it was the least I could do. She seemed pretty pleased when I finally found my way back to the motel. I'm so sorry Sarah... I blew it big time and screwed you out of something you wanted to see on this trip.

I hate this town.

From where I left off in the last blog entry, we had headed back out onto the freeways through still-smoky air around Salt Lake City, and went to Antelope Island State Park, which is smack in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. We walked out to the lake so Sarah could go into it. Neither she or I felt like going swimming in it because we had just gotten dressed a short time earlier, but in retrospect, we probably should have. After all, they had showers and everything there. Although if we had, we would have gotten to our next destination even later than we did. There are very few things alive in and around that lake. It's full of brine shrimp, as well as packed with birds that feed on them. It is also completely lined with a thick carpet of brine flies. It's a weird phenomenon watching them rise up like a blurry dark wave when you walk through them. They also make a humming noise when they do because there are so many of them.

From there we drove south of the city and cut east through the mountains. Destination: Moab, Utah. The terrain got more and more beautiful as we went. The road cuts through canyons of red colored rock, and the surrounding terrain looking like it was fresh out of an old western movie. We were actually headed to the Arches State Park near Moab, and the closer we got, the hotter it got. By the time we reached The Arches, I'm sure it was a solid 100 or better. We explored The Arches for a couple hours in awe. I have never seen such natural wonder in my life. After we saw all that, we mentally scratched Bryce Canyon off our list. I mean, how could it compare? It was basically the same sort of formations, only not colored the beautiful deep red that The Arches area stuff was. When we finally got a motel in Moab, it was almost 7pm. It felt good to lie down. Especially to Sarah, who had been feeling sick the last few days.

She had been hot, tired, and not wanting to eat or drink enough. After watching her and trying everything I could do to make her more comfortable, I had pretty much decided that there wasn't much more I could do. I decided that she was feeling homesick and that it was really taking its toll on her. I even offered to take her to an airport and send her back home as soon as possible if she wanted, but she didn't want to do that. As our trip progressed, we kept getting farther and farther from home, and she kept feeling very badly. My suspicions were confirmed when she actually voiced the same conclusion that I had come up with about anxiety and homesickness. When we left Moab and headed south to The Grand Canyon, she was exactly the same--Listless, not hungry, feeling sick. But when we hit a point in the road where we were actually turning West, in other words, the furthest point in our vacation, she took a total 180 turn--Becoming her usual talkative and cheerful self.

We left Moab early in the morning. The day before I had wondered who in their right mind would live somewhere so far out like that, but when I saw the cliffs highlighted by the morning sun I was in awe. It was truly a beautiful sight. We left at that time because it was cool outside and we needed to take advantage of that. As we headed south toward Flagstaff, she was marginally better, but mostly because the air temp was comfortable and we had lots of sights to marvel at as we went, like Monument Valley for example. When I made a turn onto a highway that led o the south rim of The Grand Canyon, Sarah got teary eyed, asking when we were going to head to Las Vegas. I told her that as of that moment we were indeed headed toward Las Vegas. In her mind, when we turned at the Grand Canyon Park sign she thought that we were going to detour off the highway for miles and miles to see The Grand Canyon, then have to backtrack miles and miles to get back to where we turned. When I told her no, that this highway a "through" road and we were indeed heading to Las Vegas at that point, she turned suddenly cheerful, and enjoyed every minute of the rest of the trip.

The Grand Canyon was a sight to behold. Neither she or I were prepared for the scale of it. You can look at pictures all your life, but until you stand on the rim and look down at it, you will never know. The rim drive we took had several spots to pull off and take pictures, so we did at every one. It was very cool! Naturally we stopped at a store and bought a few things at the end like all good tourists do.

From there we headed back out on the road. Sarah suffered another slight relapse until we got to a point were we started seeing the mileage signs to Vegas, then she perked up again. The highway we took led us right over Hoover Dam, so we got lots of pictures of that as well. It's VERY hard to get pictures of that thing because it's so big, but we tried. We were lucky we got there when we did, because they actually close the highway over top of it every evening at 8pm for construction.

Then we got to Vegas...

Canyons and Wildfires

Today was a day of bad air. You have no idea how bad stagnant air can be until you are in an area that has been hit with massive wildfires in addition to high-90's temperatures. The bad air just sits there. Maybe the fact that the Wasatch Mountains are alongside it makes it worse too. At any rate, by the time we got here to our motel in Salt Lake City, I had a headache and my eyes were burning.

Earlier in the day we made a few stops around some really cool scenery in lower Idaho. I think they were all part of the same canyon actually, and from what we saw, the whole canyon probably looked a lot like a long scar in the flat ground if you viewed it from the air. The best part of the stops we made were of Shoshone Falls. We got some great pictures of that.

After we entered Utah, we drove right smack into a huge wildfire. We could see it looming in front of us as we neared it as it was sending a huge plume of smoke so high into the air that the top of it looked like a cumulus cloud. As we got right up to it, they stopped us (the traffic) saying that the fire had jumped the freeway just ahead. We sat there about a half hour, taking pictures of the fire right next to us. We could actually see the flames jumping out of the brush and the firemen chasing it down. It was pretty impressive and awesome to be in the middle of something so strange as that. Luckily, we were the second car from the front when they stopped traffic, so when we got a "green light" we got to hammer it pretty good. I have no idea how far back traffic ended up being backed up, but I'm sure it was a long ways. A few miles farther up the road, we ran smack into the residual effects of all the fires, in the form of a totally yellowish/brownish cloud that obliterated the sun. It was the most eerie thing I've ever driven through. It was at that point that the air got bad, and it never really recovered. It was so hazy all the way down through upper Utah that we could hardly see across the valleys. It's no wonder I got a headache.

We took a quick look at the Great Salt Lake before getting our motel, but it was horrible where we were--Looking all the world like a huge, nasty mud puddle. Tomorrow we'll go slightly back North and catch the little road that takes us over to Antelope Island in the middle of the Salt Lake. Supposedly, it's a lot nicer than just the nasty edge of the outskirts of the lake.

Tomorrow we'll also be heading to Moab to the Arches State Park, then on to Bryce Canyon.

Sitting Here in Boise Idaho...

Yep, it don't get no better'n this does it? Livin' the American Dream... Hanging out at the pool at a Best Western motel in Boise, Idaho, typing on my laptop. Nah, I don't think so... Even the name Boise, Idaho sounds cheesy to me.

I'm sitting out by the pool listening to kids running all around and being kids. Just now I was reminded of he fact that there are no helmets required in Idaho when two Harley's went roaring by with riders' hair flying. Oh well... Some day I may ride my bike out this way so that I can enjoy it. Sarah was out here too, but just went inside to watch TV.

Our trip today was good. I could have been great, but it was HOT. To tell you the truth, I enjoyed it, but Sarah was pretty miserable. We had lots of nice cold water to drink, but even with windows down and going down the freeway, it was hot. When we pulled into this place this evening, the thermometer across the street said 102 and it was about 6pm then.

The car ran superb! I couldn't have asked for a more comfortable ride either (well, other than maybe AC). I totally love the cruise control! It also gives you a feeling of security when you pass a speed trap, knowing you're totally in the right. When we finally stopped for gas in Idaho, we had logged 452 miles on the first tank. It got a hair over 34 miles to the gallon. Not bad!

Tomorrow we're going to be checking out the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats. I'm not sure how far we'll get tomorrow either, but it really doesn't matter... It's all good.

Well, the only way this could be better is if I could do it nude I guess, but it'll do!

A Potential Car Crisis

I drove Sarah's car to work yesterday, and of course it ran and drove just fine and all was well.

That is, until the drive home when I decided to test the air conditioning.

I'm not saying it didn't work. It worked... If you can call cool air instead of cold air working. In others words, the system is totally functional, but is in BIG time need of a recharge. I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner now. I can drop it off at a place today at 3 and wait for it, but it could take up to two hours to get finished. It's very obvious though, that a well-working AC will make or break this vacation. It's going to be in triple digits during much of our trip.

When I got home, I changed the oil, aired the tires (and spare of course), and spent some time vacuuming the interior out. It still had tenacious dog hair in the back seat. It's pretty common really, as not everyone has a shop vac, and a standard house vacuum just doesn't have enough power to suck individual hairs out of seat fabric.

Another thing on my list was the satellite radio. I went into the garage, turned on the computer and went to the Sirius site to get the info I needed to have to start the service. Her car came equipped with the whole system for satellite radio that the people didn't need because their new Lexus SUV had it built in. Anyway, I read the setup instructions online. It said to write the number on the back of the radio down, turn the system on, and tune it to channel something-or-other. I go out to the car, plug it all together and turn it on. It's on already! Could it be that the people didn't stop their service? Hmm... Could be. I played with it for quite a while and it seems to work just fine. That almost countered the fact that the AC didn't work.

Almost.

I was going to go to the biker bar with Steve and Maria, but decided that I had too much to do, not to mention I shouldn't be blowing any more money. It's not going to be a cheap trip after all...

I spent the rest of my evening getting a few little odds and ends done. I still haven't packed a single thing yet though, and one thing I've meant to do but still haven't, is iron a few of my summery, cotton, button down shirts. I'm a t-shirt man, but I own a lot of lightweight cotton shirts that Teresa had bought me over the years. They're very comfortable and look good, but require ironing. I should take a couple of them. I also would like to have a baseball cap that looks decent. I'll look into that as well.

Well, last day of work for a while... I hope it's a good one!

Humans Are Like Bacon...

...They keep cooking after you take them off the fire!

I wanted to eliminate my white ass for a change this season, so I decided to get some nude sunning done yesterday. Because of the walkways on both sides of my yard, there is only a certain little spot in my yard that is away from prying eyes in either of those two directions. It's still sort of a gamble though, because even that little spot isn't out of view from someone looking through the back fence or from the bedroom windows of my next door neighbor, Gayle (who was out of town--I checked). Anyway, at about high noon I went out with my sunning blanket. I got almost a full hour of sun, carefully rotating myself to different sides and direction every 15 minutes (I took my watch out with me.)

My intent was to to stay home and naked all day yesterday and relax, but after a while I started to get a little stir-crazy. I decided to take the Harley over to Steve's house and maybe get a dip in his pool. I grabbed a swimsuit (I hate those things now... haha) and put on my overalls. About this time I started to notice a little color showing up on my skin. Good, I thought--I got enough sun this time. I rode out to their house in Puyallup, enjoying the 90+ degree day weather dressed as I was. When I went to the bathroom and dropped my overalls off, it was apparent that I got a little too much sun. Yep, pretty nicely pink... And almost every square inch of myself too. The only spots that didn't get much are on my sides. I stayed a couple hours, drank, swam in the pool, and at their insistence, stayed for dinner.

The day before I had called my insurance people and had Sarah's car added to my policy, intending to remove it once again after our trip next week. After I left Steve's house I went home, swapped the Harley for the Neon, and went over to Teresa and Sarah's house and swapped cars. I'll drive Sarah's car to work today and tomorrow as kind of an evaluation before the trip, to see if it needs anything looked at. I should have done this maybe a week ago--There's not much time left.

Back to work today for two more days. I may take the Harley tonight and go to a biker bar out in Cumberland that I went to a couple weeks back. Steve and Maria said they were going tonight, so if I feel like it I may also. Actually, I'd much rather not even get dressed at this point...

I sure hope I don't peel...

The First "Friday"

Well, with July 4th being a holiday and being a Wednesday this year, it is like having two Fridays this week, and this is the first one.

Yesterday's work day flew by. I was totally swamped in work. It's the first time in a long time I've had what most people consider a "typical" Monday. The good part about that is that the day went by quickly, although at a few points it seems just the opposite...

I managed to grab another hour of sunning right after I got home. It's kinda creepy lying out there on a blanket in the nude sometimes. I think it's because when you're doing something naughty your senses are on full alert, and add that to the fact that when you're lying down and hear voices or noises it's hard to tell which direction they're coming from. I would have like to be able to take a nice nap out there, but it just wasn't happening. Oh well, an hour here and an hour there... Better safe than sorry.

After dinner I put a congratulations card for my niece, Emma's graduation in the mail with some money in it, along with paid a few bills. I then sped to Wally World and bought a little 3-piece luggage set, some motor oil & filter (my car is overdue) and a giant road atlas. On the way home I stopped at Sarah's and gave her the atlas... Calling it her homework. I just want her to have an idea of where we're going and for her to give me some input. While I was there I got the registration for her car. I'm going to try to get it added to my insurance, and if they'll let me (I'm not the owner) I'll need the VIN and license number. I'm also probably going to hook us up with the Sirius satellite radio that came with her car. That will be excellent to have out on the open road.

Well, I think I'll take the Harley to work today. It just seems proper.

A Pretty Durn Good Weekend

Friday nights are almost always good--Mainly because the work week just ended. Not much to report there.

Saturday morning was spent naked as usual, doing laundry and chatting with my online friends. An excellent way to start out the weekend. Unfortunately, there came a time when I had to finally get dressed, and at about noon I hopped on the Harley and boogied on down to Chehalis to visit Melinda and her husband. It was a beautiful sunny day with floating clouds, and the forecast was for the upper 70's.

When I got there they were both out at the site of the new barn they are building, standing on the second floor level, waving their arms at me. Their new barn is one of those standard "3-section" type barns where the two sides are one level and the center of it is taller, containing a 2nd floor for hay storage. The center (2nd level) floor, all the vertical posts, and the concrete floor were all that was done at this point, and they were in the process of putting the angled rafters (big boards!) across the tops of the posts. It involved hanging over edges, hefting heavy boards and holding them, and handling a big-ass nail gun. I took over from Melinda and Danny and I spent the next several hours doing them all and finishing that part of the job. He thanked me profusely, noting that the rest was easy after getting all those up. I know it certainly was a warm day, and it's a good thing I took other clothes to change into. I opted for my overalls only... Giving myself plenty of flow-through ventilation.

About the time we finished that, Mike and Margo came over from next door, and we had BBQ steaks, salad (made with all home grown ingredients), and key lime pie for dessert. Although Melinda wanted me to stay overnight, I didn't feel like it and hit the road right as the sun went down. Right as I was nearing Auburn I saw the very tail-end of the giant fireworks show that they have at the Emerald Downs horse track every year. I'm glad I saw that because it served as a reminder for me to go a different way home. The area all around Emerald Downs would have been packed with cars, cops, and traffic snarls. As I came into downtown Auburn near my home there was so much smoke from those big fireworks it looked like fog. My headlight was cutting a swath through it. When I got home I noticed I had a text message on my phone from Sarah that was send at about noon right after I left, asking me if I would help get her pool up and running.

Yesterday I planned to do some nude sunbathing. The weather was supposed to be conducive for just such a thing, and I was looking forward to it. At about 11am I put some clothes on and went over to their house with my portable air tank. After making several trips and refilling the air ring around the top of the pool, we finally found the two leaks that were causing the problem and got them patched. We straightened the bottom of the pool out and started filling it back up. While it was filling, I took a trip over to the store for beer, and bought Sarah's favorite flavored tea as well. We all stood around watching the pool fill up, and talking about the upcoming trip and stuff. After I finished my beer I headed home and was naked once again. Ahhh...

While the day became very overcast, it was still perfect for sunning. It was nice and warm with a cooling breeze. I spent the rest of my day and evening alternating between chatting online with friends and laying on a blanket in the back yard. I was pretty sure the next door neighbor lady (the only one with an upstairs view of my little back yard) was gone again so I wasn't worried about being spotted.

It was an excellent weekend!

Thank Goodness it's Friday...

The week has been fairly ordinary, with the usual "hot spots." Tuesday was crazy as usual of course, but yesterday was even more so. I have SO much work sitting in my inbox, and so many things that are keep me running in all different directions that I am having trouble getting my regular work done. I heard yesterday that they are going to need me to get all my material receiving (that's what's in my inbox) done by the end of today because it's the end of the month for accounting reasons.

Next week is going to be even more nuts.

• Independence Day is right smack in the middle of the week, and I know they're going to make us all work 10-hour days.
• Add to that the fact that my supervisor, whom I share a lot of duties with, will be off all next week.
• Elaine, who does all the part-marking of our aircraft parts before they go out, will be off two of those 4 days, and I will be filling in for her supposedly.
• I am leaving on vacation with Sarah next Friday, and I have a ton of things to worry about.

The other day when I was putting the battery in my Harley, I was pulling awkwardly on a cable with pliers with my face very close to it. The pliers slipped off and hit me hard in the glasses, knocking them off and putting a big gouge in the left lens. I have been meaning to get new glasses for some time, and now is that time because I'm looking through a nice scratch. I guess I'm lucky. On one hand, if I already had new glasses I would have ruined them, and on the other hand if I hadn't had them on I might have damaged my eye (yes, I hit it that hard). I stopped last night and made an appointment for 4:30 today for the eye exam. Sarah will go with me today so she can help me pick out some new glasses. I want something in the smaller, rectangular style that's popular, and I told her I value her input and would like her to help me choose. She seemed eager.

(Sigh) Well, it's time... I hope today goes okay... I want a good weekend without dread of Monday

Will Wonders Never Cease...

If the world starts turning backwards or something weird like that today, it's because (brace yourself) I actually washed my Harley yesterday!

I haven't washed it since right before we went to Anacortes Oyster Run last year. I think that was in September. Wowsa.

School ends today, but Sarah is only going for a couple hours if even that. I'm officially off "pick her up from school" duty, so I'll be riding to work most days now. Yippie!

I put the new battery in last night. Because most batteries are made in third world countries and are metric in dimension (this one is made in Viet Nam) they don't fit exactly like an OEM one would. It's a little less thick than the original so I had to cut some pieces of hose to take up the slack under the hold-down strap to keep it from bouncing around. I'll tell you what, that baby really turns over now!

Back in the saddle!

The Last Day of School

Well, not officially. Sarah said tomorrow is actually the last day, but hardly anyone will be going (her words). I told her she might just as well go whether anything is going on in the classrooms or not. Gives you lots of social time to say your summer goodbyes and stuff. I'll just be happy to not have to pick her up after school any more for a couple months.

That means Harley commuting to work!

Speaking of Harley--I got my new battery yesterday. I always have my UPS stuff shipped to me at work for obvious reasons. The last thing I want to see when I drive up to my home is a box sitting "naked" on the step out in the open. I got home and put it on the charger and pulled the old one out of the bike. Side-by-side, the old one is thicker. Sort sorta worries me, partly because it will rattle around if I don't put a spacer of some kind in with it, and partly because maybe it isn't as strong of a battery as the thicker one. If nothing else, the new one will be easier to get into the little hole it lives in. I need to figure out what I can use to take up the extra space to make it fit nicely. I hope it's got the juice I need to turn that baby over...

When I took Sarah and her boyfriend home yesterday, I saw that they had put Sarah's old pool up in the back. It's the kind that uses an air ring around the top, and it hadn't been filled up. The water can only go so high without the air ring to "float" the sides all the way up. I drove home and filled my portable air tank and came back and filled it up, then put the hose in the pool to add more water. When they set it up, they didn't get the bottom smoothed out quite right, so it the bottom had big wrinkles in it and one side of the pool was a little lower than the rest. They had also lost the big rubber o-ring that seals the top of the filter, so it would never really stop leaking.

I was back home for an hour or so when Teresa called. She said she heard a whoosh noise and looked out back to see that the pool had practically emptied itself, turning their parking area into sort of a shallow moat! I guess the one side that was a little lower is what did it. The water level got to a certain point and the pressure against it allowed it to "roll over" and empty itself. The only way to fix it right is to empty it enough to where you can straighten the bottom of it out, and I doubt if she'll do that. It just goes to show you--If your foundation isn't straight, neither will anything else be.

I'll be eating leftovers for a week! When I emptied my crock pot last night, the roast beef and the fixins' that were in the pot with it totally covered a big oval serving dish. It was excellent too. I added a salad to my meal so I could pretend I was eating right. Anyway, add the clam chowder leftovers to the roast beef and I've got lots of stuff to eat on for a while. I think I'll have hot dogs tonight for a change.

It's going to be a warm day, so I'll be simultaneously wanting to strip naked, drink beers, and ride the Harley. I guess I'll just have to prioritize...

Chat Party!

I had never been to a chat party until last night. That's kind of weird actually--Partly because I have been chatting on Yahoo of and on for several years, and partly because I have a hard time passing up a party invitation. I guess the planets aligned this time.

I wasn't going to go because it was all the way up in Everett, but then I got to thinking, "Hey, Everett isn't far... Jeez..." The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go and meet these people. I decided that a blast on the Harley was just what I needed, so I checked the weather: Cloudy with a chance of showers was good enough for me.

Yesterday morning I amazed myself by actually getting dressed and going out grocery shopping. I have a bad habit of staying naked all morning (sometimes all day) and not getting much done. I was very low on lots of pantry things, so I decided to blast out and beat the usual Saturday crowds. It worked out well. One of the items I bought was a huge beef roast that I'm going to put into the crock pot today. Yum! After I got back, I put all my groceries away then ran back out to McDonald's and grabbed a couple of their "Two for $2" egg McMuffins. When I got back, I stripped back down to my comfort level once again (I can't help it).

I still had the passenger seat on it from Thursday night when I took a friend to a biker bar out in Cumberland for their Taco Thursday event, so I wanted to take that off and put it back in "solo" mode. Also, because the battery on the Harley is on its last legs, I had to charge it so it was ready by the time I was ready to leave. Anyway, I went out to the garage (duh, of course I was still naked) and changed the seat and put the charger on.

At 6:00 it was getting close to time to go and I was starving again, so rather than make something I opted to drive to Wendy's in the car before I left. I didn't want to do any drinking on an empty stomach, nor did I have any idea what they had to eat at the bar. After I tanked up my stomach, I drove back home, changed into my riding duds, and put the seat back on the Harley (the battery is under the seat). I left at about 6:45 or so.

It was a great ride even if it was all freeway. I guess the reason was that I was comfortable, and I had the carpool lanes working in my favor. I made the 50-mile trip in about 45 minutes. The party was slated to start at 7:00, so I was just barely even "fashionably late." I did a couple loops around the place to assess the parking situation, then ended up parking my bike in a perfect spot right out in front of the main window.

It's weird walking into a party that is made up of chat members because chances are you don't know what anybody looks like. It's weird. As I walked in, a couple gals were there near the bar ordering their drinks and I overheard, "So who would that be? Gray?" Grayhaird is my Yahoo chat name. That's basically how it went. People would walk up and say, "Hi, I'm GNS, or hi, I'm Missi, or hi, I'm SeaBreeze" etc. Nobody used their "real" names. It was a lot of fun.

The party actually took place at a sort of outdoor addition that they had built onto the bar. There was a nice thing out there with a bunch of furniture and mood lighting, and had sort of a tropical flavor to it. Also, because most of the chatters were smokers, it enabled everyone to be able to smoke as they saw fit. There were people there from the Everett area, Spokane, Tri-Cities, and down around my area as well. All in all, I'd say about 25 people or so showed up. The coolest thing was that everybody was very uninhibited and loose. We were all adults and all fun-loving. Because we had all done all the suggestive chatting that people do, it was like we sort of already knew each other's personality a bit. It was cool. A lot of playful ass-grabbing and stuff. I must say, it was the most hugging and touching I've ever seen a bunch of strangers do at a party. I loved it. Lots and lots of pictures were being taken too, so I'm curious as to how those will turn out. One guy, Junkyard Dog (we call him JYD) rode his bike all the way from Spokane, and as he got into town there in Everett, his throttle cable broke. I hope everything works out okay for him getting it back on the road for his 6-hour ride home. It looks like it's going to be a soggy ride too.

I kept my drinking in moderation, and said my goodbyes at 11:30. I went out to the bike, unlocked it, and sat down. I turned the key on and hit the starter button. It groaned once and clicked. Dammit! Harley's haven't had kick start levers on them for a couple decades so kick-starting it wasn't an option. After sitting there for a bit, I tried it again. It would "almost" start, but I was lucky to even get half an engine revolution out of it. Finally I gave up and pushed it around the corner into their parking lot alongside of the building and went all the way to the back to where the alley intersected with it. Their parking lot had a slope down to the street so I figured I could "bump-start" it. I gave it a shot, but didn't quite get it. I pushed it back up to try again, and this time a nice older guy named Roger who was out having a cigarette gave me a push. I got a lot more speed that time and it fired right up. Thanks Roger, wherever you are. I owe you one.

It was an excellent night to blast back home on a midnight ride. The night was clear, and I was riding toward a bright half moon lighting the sky. The city of Seattle looked awesome, but riding at night at 75mph with a good buzz on requires a little more focus than is allowed for just looking around admiring the lights and sights. Still, I was able to enjoy it--After all, unlike a car I have an unobstructed view . The air in the face while you're on a Harley really helps you keep clarity when you're riding under the influence too. I guess that's why I have so much fun with it.

On the way home I got to test my new fuel petcock. About halfway home the engine started to sputter, so I reached down and slid it over to the "reserve" setting. The engine immediately caught and smoothed out again as gas resumed feeding it. I didn't want to stop for gas on the way home just in case it refused to start again. I knew I had plenty of gas left in the "reserve" portion to get me home, and of course I did arrive with no problem at about 12:30. I shined a flashlight into the gas tanks and there was still gas in there. I would venture a guess that I could probably get about 40 miles or so out of it on reserve.

All in all, it was an excellent night. Now I'm up and only had a very mild hangover which is already gone. I wonder how long it will be before the rest of them show up online? Noon?

Wood

Yes, I'm talking about that kind of wood...

I know I've written about it before... How we men almost always wake up with wood. Today was a little different though.

Lately, the temperature has been such that I haven't even worn a robe in the morning when I go downstairs to make my lunchtime sandwich while my coffee is brewing. Yes, I spend the whole 15 minutes standing naked in the glaring light of my kitchen, slapping my crappy sandwich together.

Anyway, today I get up and it's solid. I mean solid. I sit on the edge of the bed for a minute. Nothing. I stand up and turn on the bedroom light. Blinded momentarily, I stumble over and turn the computer on. Still no sign of it diminishing.

What could I do?

Well, I went downstairs and did my usual routine, that's what. The whole time I was down there it never drooped one iota. It was sorta weird. I finished all that and was up here with my coffee, surfing the web for at least another 20 minutes before it finally went down!

Sure it's fun to play with and I do it often, but this time I really didn't feel like it. Like I said before, it's kind of like our little guys truly do have a mind of their own, and today it was asserting its independence.

Although it was 4am, I couldn't help but feel weird standing in the kitchen that way. My curtains are always open to the back yard, and you would think that bit of apprehension would have stifled it. Nope. Oh well...

Good ol' penises...

Vehicles and Maintenance

It seems to be a time of machine breakage.

My car needs front brakes and a new heater core. It also needs new struts, but I can deal with a lousy ride. I just want it to be safe and for the heater/defroster to work. It also runs like crap, so tuneup parts are also in order. I ordered some brake parts last night and I'll pick em up today on the way to pick Sarah up and slap em on tonight.

When I was out on my ride to Chelan a week and a half ago, I lost the little knob off my speedo for resetting the trip odometer. I use the trip meter to keep track of how many miles I ride in between gas fill ups, so I need to be able to reset it each time I fill up. I bought a new one a few days ago at my local bike shop, along with a few carburetor parts I needed. Last night I went out to install it and found to my dismay that the whole shaft the knob was hooked to was gone as well. After my initial "being pissed" about it mood wore off, I wondered how I could make it work some other way. I rummaged around in my big box of miscellaneous hose and tubing and came up with a piece of rubber tubing that was just teeny enough inside to fit over the little nubbin that was left on the speedo and I epoxied it on. It seems to work fine. It's flexible enough that it should never break, but rigid enough that I can easily spin it each time I want to reset my trip odometer. The carburetor parts I had on order are to fix the problem it has of overflowing gas if I accidentally leave the fuel petcock on when I park it. I'll come back to a big puddle of gas on the ground. Imagine having that happen in the garage? No thanks!

I also bit the bullet and ordered a new battery for the Harley yesterday morning. I had done some research already so I knew what I was going to buy, but still hadn't done so yet. I kept hoping that the bike would not leave me stranded on our trip but wasn't overly concerned because I was with other folks. I could have gotten a push should I have needed to (thankfully I didn't). There were a couple times it turned over slow, but because it had been ridden a lot, it started very easily. Anyway, I remembered yesterday morning I still had money in my PayPal account, and my favorite online Harley superstore has that as an option. I was able to damper the $85 bill down to $22 out of pocket. I should have it very soon. Considering I've had the bike now since September of 2003, I've been very lucky the battery has lasted as long as it has. Some people are lucky to get two years out of one. I think it's because they end up sitting so long in between rides.

The truck still sits... Still not being driven. Still insured, still leaking oil on the driveway, still has a bad engine, and still only starts when it wants to. It's dirty and the paint looks horribly oxidized from neglect. It needs a bunch of stuff, but I just wish it would go away. Trouble is, you can't sell something that doesn't work right--You'll lose your ass.

Sigh. Put it on the list...

I'm Just Not Into Today

Yeah, I know... It's Father's Day. What does that mean to me?

Not much.

At the risk of being cynical or apathetic, I just don't care for Father's Day and I don't think I ever have. It's just another of what I call "obligatory" shopping days. Dad's aren't the same as moms, and I don't think we get the same warm feeling that women do on their day of celebration. Don't get me wrong--I treasure all those special times that all dads do, like holding your child, reading to them, teaching them to ride a bike, or all the other multitudes of things that come with fatherhood. I just don't like the day of celebration I guess.

What did I get for Father's Day? I got the opportunity to get up this morning and make breakfast for Sarah and I. She stayed over last night--The first time in over a year--Because Teresa was going to someones wedding in Bellingham overnight. Well, although we had a good visit, I knew if I wanted breakfast I would have to cook it myself. I forget what time she got up, but it was at least 9. She did say "Happy Father's Day" at one point, but that's it.

I just got back from my parents' house... Paying the obligatory visit to the old man. I stopped at the store and bought him a nice, big steak and a package of strawberries. I got no reaction from him, and really didn't expect any. After listening to him rant about all the things that matter to him (and nobody else) and of course repeating them umpteen times each, I had to listen to them all over again when my brother and his family showed up. I swear I wish I had a big piece of gauze to bite down on sometimes... I couldn't wait to leave.

This week was fairly uneventful. Nothing went wrong or badly at work all week, which is very good indeed. I did manage to take the Harley out for a ride on Thursday night, and went up to Enumclaw to the Yella Beak Saloon. They have a Thursday biker event every week, and I wanted to check it out. I wasn't too impressed. Nice folks tending bar though, and that's always good. Of course I ended up drinking more than I should have. On the way home I stopped at my brother's house and talked to him for a while, and of course had another beer. I told him all about the weekend in Chelan and stuff. By the time I went to bed I was fairly well lit, and wouldn't you know it--Forgot to set my alarm clock. I woke up at 5:20 instead of 4:00, so had no time for coffee, but I did at least have time to make my sandwich for lunch. Even though my day got off to a shitty start, it ended up being an okay one.

Yesterday I drove up to R.E.I. in Seattle and bought myself a new chair to take to work to replace the one my coworker ruined. It's almost the exact same dimensions and design as the old one, and it's the only place I found one. It was $25, which isn't bad. Now all that remains is to see if the guy will step up and pay for it like he said he would. Hell, I'll even take $5 a week if he'll do it that way. I'm just happy to get a nice, comfortable snooze chair back.

I never did get a call or email or anything from Mark, but I don't get my hopes up. After all, I was absent from his life for 26 years... You can't expect me to be all that high on his list. He has said though that in the short time we've known each other I've been twice the dad that his "dad" ever was, and that will have to suffice. He has his own loving family right there to shower him with praise on this, his third year as a father.

I hope he had a good one!

A Great Weekend of Riding!

I got home Sunday at about 12:40pm... 659 miles after leaving here at 11:45 on Thursday morning.

Seven bikes made up the group of us that went over there, three of which were couples. The weather was very, very good for riding--Not too hot, not too cold. Everyone's bike performed well, and nobody had problems with their bikes. Well, unless you count somebody's brake light being stuck on for a while... I was very surprised at how many times someone complimented me on the look of my Harley throughout the weekend. I like it, but I certainly didn't expect any compliments on it. After all, it's pretty nondescript. Evidently I underestimated the appeal of the "hot rod look." As usual, I was the only rider with no windshield (my macho thing). Although everyone calls me brave, I know in their minds they're probably saying, "What a fucking idiot." Fine by me... I have an unobstructed view, and in my opinion, it's worth the occasional B-52 bug or needles of rain pain.

It seems that every year we end up stopping at a meat market somewhere. Not just any meat market, but a jerky/pepperoni type market. This year was no exception. We were led off the beaten path to the little town of Roslyn to a little bitty nondescript meat market called Carek's Meats. Everybody bought themselves a hefty supply of "mystery meats" to get them by. Great stuff! I told Steve we should rename this annual event the Beef Jerky Run.

Thursday and Friday were both excellent weather days, but Saturday was drizzly and rainy. That didn't stop myself and Steve and his wife Maria from riding. We went to see Chelan Falls and explored the length of road that runs along Lake Chelan almost to the end, stopping at the "summer place" of one of Steve's coworkers for a visit. We ended up getting very wet on the way back. Although Steve has a windshield on his bike, neither of them had their chaps on like I did, and ended up getting pretty wet. Back in town we stopped at a Mexican restaurant to warm up and get some drink and food. When we arrived back at the motel, I explained to everyone there that we had just earned our rain riding merit badge.

The main reason for the ride on this weekend was the Mansfield Rally as I've said before. Mansfield was about 25 miles out of Chelan, across the Columbia and up on the mesa on flat land. We rode up there to scope it out and register on Friday morning and spent a couple hours wandering around the town and exploring. It was a very sleepy little farm town, and according to some, not everyone there was happy about bikers "taking over" for a few days. Others welcomed it. Anyway, the main reason we wanted to go was to see Edgar Winter perform on Friday night. We were not disappointed! We went back that evening just to see his show at 6pm, and let me tell you, that guy put on one helluva show! His band was very tight and precise, and it was made up of some very, very good young talent. Because of the small size of the event, it was a very intimate setting--Even for an outdoor event. We were able to walk right up to the stage while they were performing and stand only 3 feet from them. I got some great pictures!

One of our little jaunts of the weekend was our trip to Dry Falls between our visits to Mansfield on Friday. I mentioned going there, and only half of the people had ever heard of the place, so off we went. The road was long and flat and after a little while I decided to shake it up a little and pulled out of the group (I was 2nd from the rear) and kicked it up to 95mph and flew by everybody. After a bit here came one of the couples flying past me on his Buell (for the informed reader, a Buell is a high quality crotch rocket with a Harley engine in it). Right after that, another rider on his Gold Wing. After we all met up a few miles farther at the "T" in the road, Jerry the Buell rider said his GPS showed 111mph and just wouldn't go any faster. His girlfriend said that was quite fast enough! Sean, the Honda Gold Wing rider, said his speedo showed 110 and he wasn't gaining on Jerry. See what kind of trouble I can cause? I just couldn't help it. We got some great pictures of Dry Falls too, and when I ever get them all posted I'll put up a link. From there we took a circuitous loop back to Chelan, taking a good hour and a half or so to get back. It was an awful nice day and a nice ride, but I paid for it by my new found need for Chapstick...

Our group had all the rooms on the lower floor of one motel wing, with myself and one other guy also inhabiting two rooms above. When anyone was there in between rides, you could usually find them outside on the lower floor. Because it was about 2 feet below ground level, we affectionately called it "The Dugout." You could usually find someone there at any given time of the day, drinking, eating, or just resting between rides. Because we had our bikes all lined up in front of the motel, bikers going past would always see our bikes, then us... And usually wave.

We left Sunday morning to come home, and the weather was flawless pretty much all the way to Cle Elum, where it started to take a slight turn. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make me wary--We were still quite a ways from the pass. Just in case, I put my "neck sock" on before we left Cle Elum after getting gas. It's basically a turtleneck sweater without the sweater. It enables you to reach down and tug it up over your lower face while riding if you start getting pelted. And boy did I get pelted. The rain really came down, and with no windshield and running at 70mph on a 4-lane freeway, you pay attention. At one point I had it actually running down the inside of my goggles a bit. Little by little, myself and Steve & Maria ended up being out in front, and after at least a half hour, we finally out-distanced the rain. We ran together until I finally exited the freeway at home.

After stripping my clothes off and wrapping myself in a bathrobe, I just couldn't get warm. Finally I ran a tub and soaked in it for a half hour or so. All better. But was it time to relax? Nope.

I drove up to Bea's house (Teresa's ex sister-in-law) for her birthday. I wanted to deliver two computer programs that I had for her, and I also wanted to see her new house and meet her significant other. She seems to have it going for her. The house is beautiful, and her boyfriend seems to be a great guy. I had a good time with them and their friends that were also there.

From there I hopped back on the freeway and sped all the way to Burien because it was also my sister Denise's birthday. Whew! By the time I got there it was 8:45. I visited with them for a while and finally limped on home... Showing up at about bedtime.

Too pooped to even properly get ready for bed, I just turned the light out and crawled in.

The Last Day of Work

At least until Monday...

I'm both nervous and exciting about the trip. There's always a certain amount of minor anxiety that hits me when I'm about to take off on a trip like this. Will I have everything? Will the bike give me any trouble? Will the weather cooperate? I know, I know--Relax. After all, the whole point of this trip is to have fun anyway.

I still haven't bought a travel bag to put on the backrest yet, and I need to do that. I screwed up by waiting this long and not doing some comparison shopping a long time ago. I guess I concentrated on finishing the bike too much and ignored it. I stopped by Bent Bike and looked at one last night, but I didn't buy it. I guess I'll go ahead and drop the $110 on it. It's a two-piece bag set--Use either or both parts. The reason I didn't buy it was partly sticker shock and partly Bent Bike themselves. They're not exactly a "high class" motorcycle store. They deal primarily in used parts, but also have a bunch of leather goods and helmets and stuff like that. Their reputation for customer service is horrible. It's a place that almost never lets you take something back for exchange. I hate doing business there if I don't know 100% about something. Anyway, the bags are made of that cordura nylon stuff that they make backpacks out of, so you know it costs like $5 to make in whatever country they're made in. I just know I need a bag to put my clothes in that will mount either in front of the passenger backrest or behind. I want it to provide me with my reclining comfort. It really helps when the wind is pushing on you to have something behind you.
This is the next best thing to having some nice, soft breasts behind me to lean on...

My day yesterday started off great, but went sour at about 11 when my tongue totally blew up like a balloon. I have no idea why that happens, but it's happened before. Yesterday was probably the worst I've ever had it. I couldn't talk, couldn't swallow well, and it also affected my breathing a tad. Needless to say, I couldn't eat my lunch either, so I worked through it. When that happens to my tongue like that, it both pisses me off and scares me as well. I get pissed because it's embarrassing and frustrating, and it scares me because until it starts to go down I never know exactly how bad it's going to get. That is a very helpless feeling. Near as I can tell, it's some sort of hives thing. I've always been susceptible to hives, and I've been into medical facilities many times in the past when this has happened, and they've never been able to figure out why it happens or how to fix it. Their anti-inflammatory injections of cortisone or steroids (they use those for bee stings, etc) never did any good, so there's not much reason to go other than the fact that my breathing could possibly be cut off. If that happens, then I'm really in deep shit.

I haven't felt much like writing the last few days. Sometimes that just happens.

I did go off on the Harley on Sunday and went down to visit Melinda. As usual, I went unannounced, and as often happens, she wasn't home. Her husband Danny was though, and I hung out for an hour or so and visited with him. She was in Puyallup at a sort of a seminar/instruction class for her embroidery business. She has a bunch of state-of-the-art equipment for creating designs on clothing. Although I'm sorry I didn't get to see Melinda, I still enjoy going to their house. They sure have a nice place, and I'm always struck by how quiet it is there. I took the scenic back roads going down there, but flew back on the freeway. I wanted to be able to give the Harley some road time to make sure it was going to be okay for this weekend.

A couple nights ago I had to retire the comforter for the season (actually I can't believe I held out this long). I woke up in the middle of the night bathed in sweat--So much so that I had to get a towel and dry myself off. I had the window open, so it was not hot in the room at all--In fact fairly comfortable--So I knew it was time. I swapped it out for a really light acrylic cover that came in that shitty bed-in-a-bag thing I bought right after I moved here. Much better. I had to finish my sleep on the other side of the bed where it was still dry. Ewww...

Well, I hope I have a better day at work today.

A Day of Sun on the Buns

Lately I've had nudism on the mind. That is, when I didn't have Harley on the mind. Actually, there were plenty of times I'm sure they were both on the mind.

At any rate, I went up to Issaquah yesterday and spent about 5 hours enjoying the day "nature's way." It was fantastic weather for it and I just couldn't say no to my inner self. I spent my time sunning, swimming, walking around, talking to people... Just generally having a great time. I used a decent amount of sunscreen so I didn't get overdone. I have a tinge of redness pretty much all over, but not too much at all. I think I did well.

I remember thinking at one point how perfect it was to be there at that moment. When you're lying there on the blanket with the sun beating down on you, and the breezes are cooling you gently--Occasionally hitting you with stronger gusts that make you sigh and smile to yourself. Add to that the sounds: Birds twittering, children squealing and laughing, water splashing, and snippets of conversation here and there. Idyllic.

Yesterday was my final introductory visit. Now I have to join or I can't go back. To me it's a no-brainer--I have to join. To be able to drop in there any time you want for even a swim, sauna, or hot tub is worth it... Sun or no sun.

I was able to ride the Harley to work each of my 4 work days this week, and the weather was perfect for it. I got a lot of compliments on its new look, and that's always a nice thing. Friday was even more interesting: The company has their van out for repairs leaving them only one truck to use. The other driver was out in it and they asked me if I would like to use my bike to pick up some cutting bits for one of the mills in the shop. I said "Duh" and threw my leathers on, gone in no time. I came back right in the middle of break and half of the company was out having their smokes, and I got a LOT of "how'd you get away with that?" type remarks. Pure jealousy.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do today, but I'm sure I'll be on the Harley at some point. Maybe I'll go see Melinda in Chehalis. Yesterday I repeated what I tried last year and put an ad on Craigslist to see if someone would like a nude car washer. Haha... Hey, you never know right? Stranger things have happened. All I want is a place where I can wash my car nude, and in return I will wash theirs as well.

I think that would be so cool.