So Now I Have Begun

I've been busy these last couple days between doing repair work on the concrete in front of my garage to the electrical work on the 71 R5. Last night I drove my wife to her sisters house so she can fly down to Florida with them in the morning for a week and visit family. This frees me up to work on my bike but it's always something and last night was no exception. We headed out and all of a sudden my little 2000 Chevy S10 pick up has no heat. I'm looking at the gauges and the engine isn't warming up. I just said the hell with it and continued on the 30 mile ride. Got her delivered and turned around for home. Still no heat and a cold engine. Very puzzled I went online when I got home. I figured it was a bad thermostat that is stuck in the open position. If it was stuck closed I would have overheated in short order so luck was riding with me. I go on a couple of sites and read all these horror stories and got ready for the worst. This morning I dug out the service manual and am reading low coolant level can cause this too. I go out and pop the radiator cap and sure enough it's low so I put in 2 qts of fresh anti freeze, take it out for a ride and it's all good again! So I used it all afternoon to run errands and fully tested it. By early afternoon I was back at it on the R5. Pulled out the old harness and the instruments, the ignition switch,the battery,and totally disconnected all the other electrical stuff. After this I was out of the garage and down in my basement shop digging through boxes of parts getting all the little bits and pieces I need. So now I have a week to get this done and do a transmission and engine oil change on my wife's car. It's nice being able to focus like this with no interuptions.

So now I get to spend a week playing with my toys in my play room down in the basement and the other one outside with the kerosene heater blasting away keeping me warm as I dive into this job on one of my most favorite things,MOTORCYCLE REPAIR! I really do love this shit.I sure hope this is the start of a very productive winter of motorcycle restoration. I have a nice little 1970 Yamaha DS6 with only 5000 miles on it waiting for me in my storage garage and it's next on my list.Aint she sweet!

Working On My Bikes

My 1971 Yamaha R5

After that incident with the deer back in July I just rode and didn't really do much else.It's important to ride lots after you go down to keep those imaginary fears at bay so ten days after I hit that deer I was healed up enough to start riding again.Sure felt good. While out on my 1971 Yamaha R5 a problem developed. At first I thought it was fuel related but soon came to the conclusion it was electrical. I'd go out on a good running bike and after 20 miles it acted up again and again.I changed all sorts of parts one at a time ,test ride, and no luck. So,I just put the R5 away for a bit and rode other bikes like mt 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T and my 1988 BMW K100 RS. After the deer hit I stayed off my really nice older stuff. I figured I'd wait until Fall when the leaves are off the trees so I can see into the woods on the edge of the roads I ride looking out for deer.I see then almost every time I go out. They have become a real threat here in Long Island. Well,enough about the deer. The other day while out riding I was thinking about this electrical problem and just how frustrating it is to find the cause. I decided to just rip out the entire electrical system on my R5 and replace it all. So, here I am now taking apart a spare wire harness to get all the correct color coded wires to rebuild another one I have. I'm finally reaping the fruits of all my labor over the past winter doing an inventory of all my motorcycle parts.I now have over 180 boxes of parts for all six of my riders all organized by make, model, and type of part in numbered boxes on shelves,with the contents entered in a book so I can easily get at anything I need. Shit, it only took me 60 years of riding a motorcycle to finally get organized! Well,I had my fun riding and traveling all over the place camping and wandering down all these incredible roads so I can't complain really but it's nice having all this stuff in order. Today it's back to the basement and the wires.With a bit of luck I'll be back up on my old friend by the end of the week and all will be well back in the land of two wheels. I've also started gathering all the parts needed to fix the bike I was riding when that damn deer crossed my path. Lifted out the dent in the side of the fuel tank. It's going to be a busy winter this year out in the garage. My shop and the work that happens there :

This is my life! Motorcycles are the air I breath and here I am at 76 years old playing with my toys like a child of 10. Well, at 10 I was no different really. I could be found down in the basement dismantling the washing machine or out in the garage tearing apart my bicycle or out in the woods down by this pond catching frogs and turtles. This is the bike I've owned the longest. It's a 1969 Yamaha DS6c that I bought in 1972. As you can see,I still ride it today. She's all restored now after the years of abuse she saw. I rode this bike to Newfoundland back in 1975! Well here she is in recent times with the old goat who rides her still after all these years. I'll be a biker 'till I draw mt last breath!

Starting To Think About The Next Ride West

It all begins by looking back at previous trips and letting my mind wander.The plan forms and then I see a way forward. Well now it’s October of 2014 and I had somehow managed to get on track with my work and am able to fly out to Las Vegas, rent a car, head south to Kingman Arizona, and begin a two week trip with Celia all over this part of the word. We wanted to check out Kingman to see if we could live here but it really didn’t suit us so after two days looking around we headed out across the Mojave Desert to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a long day of driving across the desert but really interesting. I stopped often to take pictures and the rental car had good AC so it wasn’t bad at all even though it was around 100 degrees F outside.At the end of the day we were here at the entrance of Joshua Tree Nat. Park Where we would spend the next two days exploring.

After a good nights sleep we headed into the park to explore. What a great place this is. As we hiked around we found all sorts of cool places. Incredible rock formations, beautiful plants, long distance views, a spring where we saw some birds, it was really nice. Took so many photos it’s hard for me to decide which ones to put in here. It’s 2025 and as I look at all these photos I’m transported back into 2014. It’s motivating me to get busy and start prepping for a trip back out here. Been talking about going with my friend Ron in a truck with our motorcycles in tow behind us next year in the Fall of 2026. Ah, planning another adventure. I’ll be 77 fucking years old then ! Hey, may as well go for it if I’m still in this world. It helps that I’ve been out here before. On the 2014 trip it was mid October and still hot as hell so it will be a bit later in the year for the next trip out so riding will be enjoyable. You know, the plan now is to use a truck and camp here and there for days at a time while exploring the area on motorcycles. A bit more civilized than the way I used to go on the bike lugging all my shit behind me on the seat and luggage rack.That was fun when I was younger but too damn hard now. So, here are some photos of this wonderful national park.

So it looks like this winter I'll be working on a bike to use for this trip.I think it will be my 1971 Yamaha R5 350cc 2 stroke twin.As I get old it's easier to ride than the Moto Guzzi and definately easier to tow being a couple hundred lbs lighter.

Back In The Saddle

Well I actually stayed in the saddle but didn't go out as much as usual as I waited to heal up after hitting that deer. I rode a few days after the encounter with the deer but kept my rides short to give myself plenty of time to heal up. Did a brake job on my little Chevy S10 yesterday and been working in the garden. Life goes on. Went through my inventory and gathered all the parts I'll need to fix my bike and who knows what I'll find at the bike show & swap meet this coming weekend.I'm a lucky guy!This is what I was thinking this morning as I rolled down the road on my 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T . The other day I was on my 71 Yamaha R5 Life has been pretty good to me in these 76 years I've been here on Planet Earth.

The Battle With The Buck

This morning, July 5th I got all ready to take my 1965 Yamaha YDS3 out for a ride. It was a beautiful morning for a ride and after having my last cup of coffee off I went. Got about 2 minutes into the ride when this huge deer ran out of the woods right in front of me about 10 feet away. I hit it going between 35 and 40 mph and went down hard. The bike left me and slid over into the other lane as I slid along the road to a stop next to the deer. The deer died in under a minute and I got bad road rash on both of my forearms and one hand and both knees . People stopped Some guy from the fire dept wanted to get the ambulance and I said no. That would cost a couple thousand bucks and then there would be thousands more for the ER. Been there done that. I knew I was ok . I was thinking straight. I was able to lift the bike up and once I did that a guy helped me roll it to the shoulder of the road. The cops showed up. I told him what happened and that I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. There were no other people or cars involved so it was my call. I was real close to home so I called my wife. She came and the cop left. I got the bike running and rode it home with my wife following me and blood dripping down my arms and one hand. Put it away in the garage and went inside and showered. Boy did that hurt! Got all the wounds real clean with soap and hot water then put anti biotic cream on everything before bandaging it all up and here I am 2 hours later sitting here in my chair all fucked up but OK ! The deer died and I rode home so I fucking won. It was painful that night and I got no sleep.The next day I went to this urgent care place and let them check out the wounds.I had done a good job on them and all was well.They gave me a tetanus shot and bandaged it all up again.Told me to go to this Wound care thing.I decided to deal with it on my own and last night I took all the bandages off like they told me to do after two days.I did it in the shower so I could get the stuck ones off without hurting myself any more than I already was.Let it air dry after a good long wash out in the shower with soap & water, put lots of Neosporin on it all and re-bandaged it.Now its starting to heal up and doing pretty good.Changing the dressing daily at this point and it's all good.I got real bad road rash on both arms but other than that I came through it ok. So,here I sit dead in the water. The bike came through it pretty well too.It will need paint work on the white part of the gas tank and some body parts. The chrome work was undamaged so it's all fixable without too much effort. Here are some photos of the bike and what road rash looks like. It looks nasty and it is but things happened so fast my brain couldn't process it so there was no fear or pain. It was a blank from the instant after I saw the deer to coming to a stop on the road next to this big deer. I hit it straight on while on the gas getting ready to shift into 5th gear. The impact slowed me down really fast and is why I wasn't hurt much worse.I was probably only going 10 or 15 mph when I hit the ground and the bike took off on it's own. It's always something !

And here we are in the middle of August.I'm riding , all healed up , and thinking about heading over to PA to the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet. Life goes on

Tomorrow, a new beginning I hope

Today is JUNE 13TH and tomorrow is the No Kings Day protests all over America .We get a train into NYC and head to Bryant Park around mid day and it begins. Should be an interesting day and I’m hoping peaceful as well. From what I’m reading there will be over 2000 protests going on all across America tomorrow to counter Donald Dump’s birthday bash being held in DC at tax payer expense. The nerve of this convicted felon. Well, with some luck we’ll put him in his place and start the tide turning against his fascist vision for America. Today I’m hopeful even though the state of Israel is on the brink of starting WWIII with the blessings of this fool we have as a president.I'm certain he'll make money on it somehow because that's all he's really about. He doesn't give a rat's ass about anything else but power and money for himself and his dirtbag friends.

Time To Start Writing Again

There are riots in Los Angeles over this asshole Trump’s deportation policies and his fascist agenda in general. So I write about what could very well be the beginnings of a second civil war in America. It sure looks like this is what this fool wants. What I’m seeing is his desire to crush any opposition to him or his policies just like Hitler did in the early 1930’s in Germany. First it was the Jews ( today it’s the illegal aliens) then it was political opponents and intellectuals, ( Trump is going after foreign students and schools like Harvard), protesters are being demonized. No one is safe except the mindless idiots who blindly follow this fool. It’s scary .I’m watching Los Angeles closely this week as the Hispanic community is being attacked by the police, national guard, and possibly even the US military like this fool has suggested he will use if he thinks it’s necessary. I have a bad feeling about where this is heading and I’m going into the city on Saturday to protest. I wonder how many good Americans are going to die because of this fascist asshole. I have the feeling it will be many before it’s over and we get our country back from these dirt bags. So, the next few pages will be political in nature as I go to the 50501 protest in NYC this Saturday and whatever else comes along as it ramps up and turns into a real battle. I have a feeling this is going to be on a scale even larger than the civil rights movement and the anti Viet Nam war movements combined. This time we are fighting for our liberties as a country against these entitled fascist billionaires and their all powerful corrupt corporations. I see it getting like the IRA vs the English if this fool is allowed to continue on this path. So, going forward for a while it will be this crap rather than the usual crap about cars , motorcycles, art,the woods, my travels, and so on.Well,it's interesting times we are living in anyway.I have been writing, just not here.I've been working on a bio and have around 275 pages with text and photos .I took much from here and used it in the pdf I'm doing. It's a long term project I've had this love/hate relationship with for around 15 years now. Maybe someday I'll publish it here or not. It's probably not of much interest to anyone who didn't know me from way back when I was a wild, out of control kid in total rebelion. These days there are serious issues to write about as they unfold before our eyes. So,now I'm back. Rode on my 1969 Yamaha DS6C today and enjoyed being on a 2 stroke again. Been talking with a guy I know about heading out west together. Exploring the options. Thinking about trucking the bikes across and just riding where we feel like riding rather all the way there and back. Can do that in a truck and save the wear and tear on the bikes and ourselves . Like I said, options like this one. This week I'm getting a bed cap for my 2000 Chevy S10 pick up.Then a hitch and a bike trailer. My mind is working and the ideas are flowing ! Sure hope Trump's bullshit doesn't get in the way and ruin this. Life Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness is what it's all about for me.

As Los Angeles gets terrorized by the federal government and riots break out as it grows and spreads to other cities this is Trump’s plan on making America great again! Great for who? The man is a fascist pig who has been convicted of a felony in New York State and has slipped out of the law’s hands and into the White House. IMPEACH THIS SOB ! “We’re not going anywhere. This isn’t about safety. This is about control,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who was born in Mexico. “Fear is the tactic, silence is the goal. This is not about immigration. This is about domination of all of our communities.” This guy hit the nail on the head. There are support protests all over the country and this Saturday there is the 50501 GO TO ONE NEAR YOU !!!