My first rally of the year

I haven’t posted anything since last Tuesday because I was preparing for the 17th Annual European Riders Rally in Burkesville, Ky., then attending the rally in a location that Sprint doesn’t care much about.

The Indianapolis BMW Club handily won the award for the club with the most members present (I think there were 38 of us). The rally chairwoman opined that they couldn’t even have a rally if the Indy Club didn’t show up in strength.

Attendance was sparse – fewer than 200 people, compared with more than 600 last year – because of the threat of rain, much of which failed to materialize. The rain finally appeared Saturday afternoon and continued off and on through that day and overnight.

A light turnout meant enhanced opportunities to win doorprizes. I put all of my tickets in the running for a set of ROK Straps (brilliantly designed tie-down straps that I’ve been using since 2003) and I actually was a winner. I think it’s the first rally doorprize I’ve won since the BMW MOA rally in Monterey in 1986. That was a dumb-looking t-shirt that was too small for me. I just realized that’s almost a 30-year dry spell.

It was the debut of my Eureka! Tetragon 5 tent – a voluminous thing that has room for me to stand up and also have a camp chair next to my air mattress with space to spare. It was wonderfully luxurious and handled the rain flawlessly. I packed it wet yesterday morning, so I must remember to pull it out to dry in the garage to avoid mold and mildew.

Burkesville is a little under 400 road miles from home. I left home at 7:23 a.m. on Thursday, which was accurately forecast to be rain-free and was the first club member to arrive, dropping my sidestand about 2:40 p.m. Several of us arrived a day before the Friday start of the rally to assure that we could set up our tents before Friday’s predicted rain, which ended up holding off for a day.

Yesterday’s ride home started out about 9:30 a.m. sunny and humid, but things started to go downhill when I ran into rain on the west side of Nashville, Tenn. The rain slacked off until about 20 miles east of Jackson, Tenn. when it turned into the most intense deluge I’ve ridden in for several years. The Olympus gloves I had attempted to waterproof with Nixwax quickly became saturated and I soon noticed that I forgot to close the vents in my waterproof pants.

I finally exited and took shelter at a truckstop on the north side of I-40 about 10 miles east of Jackson, making the acquaintance of a French Canadian couple from Montreal touring the U.S. on a Harley-Davidson.

My GPS wanted to take me through Memphis to catch I-55 northbound to home, but the weather radar showed more storms in that direction and I didn’t relish getting stuck in traffic should some hapless driver crash in Memphis.

Happily, U.S. 412 which goes to Paragould crosses I-40 at Jackson, so I left the interstate and headed northwest on 412, finding myself in sunshine after about 5 miles. I gassed for the last time at Hayti and pulled into my garage a little after 5 p.m.

Kathmandu at last

My Kathmandu riding pants arrived today, just in time for what may be a rainy weekend. Good thing they’re waterproof.

As you may or may not remember, I returned the brilliant hi-viz Icon Patrol riding pants because there was no way I could adjust the legs so as not to be clownish and prone to snag on footpegs.

I was chagrined over the weekend to receive an email from MotorcycleGear.com acknowledging receipt of the Icons and giving me a store credit for $231.01 instead of a cash refund.

So I phoned them this afternoon and the customer service guy cheerfully canceled the store credit and refunded the money to my debit card. I love dealing with those guys. Every experience I’ve had with them has been a good one.

Checking tire pressures

The mechanic’s creeper and Craftsman air compressor have proven to be very useful over the years.

I checked both tires in anticipation of the season’s first rally and found they were both about 5 psi low. Now they’re back up to the recommended 36 psi front and 42 psi rear.

My Nazi sports eagles are looking for a new nest

These two eagles once comprised the front and back of a banner for the Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (NSRL), meaning: National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise.

It was the official sports governing body of Nazi Germany and organized the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The eagles are metal (aluminum or silver) bullion on black wool with a canvas-like backing and they measure 18¼” tall and 13½ wide. I bought them in an online auction 14 years ago, but I have no recollection of how much I paid.

The craftsmanship, as with most Third Reich items, is exquisite. I don’t have any emotional attachment to the pair and our cash flow would benefit from their sale, so I’m offering them on a WWII militaria site for $500. I put them up for sale a couple of years ago and had a prospective buyer, but he was apparently not serious because he stopped answering emails.

Why so much? Well, in my nearly 40 years of Third Reich collecting, this is the only such NSRL banner I’ve ever seen and NSRL stuff is very rare.

I took them to a local precious metals dealer in the hope of getting a definitive answer on whether it’s aluminum or silver bullion, but he said he had no way to determine it. Since silver is down to $15.69 an ounce at the moment, its historical value trumps any value in terms of silver content.

Here’s a detail shot of the front eagle’s swastika:

Lazy Sunday afternoon with the pack

We’re spending a lazy Sunday afternoon on the porch with our pack.

Morgan brought her bulldog Samantha and red heeler Tucker over for the weekend and Jack and Dora thoroughly enjoy their company.

My other high-dollar wireless headphones, the Bang & Olufsen H8s, couldn’t pair with my iPhone this morning, so I did the same thing I did to remedy the problem the other night with the Parrot Zik 2.0 headphones.

I opened the Bluetooth controls in Settings, clicked the circle “I” in the Bang & Olufsen option, then erased it by telling the phone to “forget” it.

Then I turned Bluetooth off and on and a moment later, my phone paired with the B&O ‘phones. I expect this will continue to happen at least until the next update of the IOS 8 operating system.

Sick Parrots? No, just a wonky iPhone

The Parrot Zik 2.0 wireless headphones I received from the Amazon Vine Program on March 27 refused to pair via Bluetooth with my iPhone 5 this morning.

I tried rebooting the phone, removing and replacing the headphones battery, and re-installing the firmware, all to no avail.

I know it's not the iPhone, because it still pairs perfectly with my Bang & Olufsen H8 wireless headphones.

I have requested help from Parrot and got email confirming their receipt of my query and promising a response within 48 hours.

As Indianapolis News Managing Editor Wendell Phillippi used to say, we'll know more later.

LATER: Maria was talking on her cell phone, which has also been paired with the Parrots when I turned the headphones on in the next room to see if I could pair them with my phone. Suddenly her phone connection with her daughter went wonky and she said it looked like her phone was pairing with the Parrots.

Well, well.

So the problem, it seems, was with my iPhone’s Bluetooth software.

I opened the Bluetooth section in Settings and deleted the reference to the Parrots, then took phone and headphones out to my car (to avoid confusion with Maria’s iPhone). I reacquired the Parrot Bluetooth signal and voila, it paired just fine.

What a relief.

Capt. Phil Kroon’s V-E Day letter

Seventy years ago today, Capt. Philip C. Kroon, an artillery officer with the U.S. Army's 144th Field Artillery Group, took pen in hand in the garden outside an Austrian hotel and wrote a letter to his young bride in Redlands, Calif.
It was V-E Day - Victory in Europe Day - and the young captain from Grand Rapids, Mich., had been in combat since his unit came ashore in Normandy a few weeks after the June 6, 1944, invasion. He was looking forward to coming home, but mindful that the war against Japan seemed far from finished and that he might be needed in the Pacific Theatre.
Here is what he wrote on a sheet of Adolf Hitler's personal letterhead, liberated a day or two earlier from the Führer's Berghof retreat at nearby Berchtesgaden:

My adored wife,
Finally the work of the past year for me and over three years for the nation is completed. The war here is over completely. Of course, we are glad it is over, but to us it is sort of an anti-climax. For nearly two months now, we have completely routed the Germans. During the past few days we have seen steady streams of German soldiers marching to the rear. At some places, even the super-highway is jammed. It was a sight never to forget and one that only happens once in a lifetime. I wanted to get some pictures of it, but my camera was stolen some time ago. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry. I now have another very good German camera that I took from a German soldier, so am better equipped than before.
Now that we are no longer at war here, I should have more time to write you and expect to get off better than one letter every five or six days. In fact, it's now been seven days this time. I'm sorry, darling. I'll try to make it up to you.
About a week ago I went through the Dachau concentration camp. Any pictures you see or stories you hear are only a small part of the picture. The stench was indescribable as well as the actual scenes. I saw some of the toughest soldiers nauseated. I won't tell you any details for they shouldn't be put on paper. It was the most terrible thing I have ever seen.
In contrast, a couple of days ago I went through one of Hitler's palaces -not the one at Berchtesgaden, but an old Hapsburg palace that he took over. It was a paragon of beauty and symmetry. In the two main floors was not a sign of Nazi Occupation except that most of the furnishings had been looted, mainly from France.
The walls were covered with priceless tapestries, the floors with thick pile rugs. We were nearly the first soldiers in the place and looked through it by ourselves. We went snooping in the cellar and came across two storage rooms. One was nearly filled with medals, of which I have a few choice ones. I also found one silver knife (not table) in the house - the only one there, so I suppose it belonged to Hitler. In another room, we found some stationery, of which this is the choicest. His personal. I have quite a bit of it and will send it home. You can give a sheet to various people, but save some of each kind, especially this with just "Der Führer" on it. I also came across some other excellent souvenirs - One pair of field glasses - the best I have ever seen - fifteen power - this may not mean much to you, but they are two and ½ times as powerful as the ones I and Pop used to have The must be worth three or four hundred dollars. I also have a pair of Luftwaffe swords that are not in the best of shape but will look good fixed up and crossed in my den if I ever have one.
Guess what, Sweets. I shaved off my mustache today - because the war is over. No one noticed it so I guess it couldn't have been so good. I'm not making any plans for a quick return home, beloved, nor am I getting any fancy ideas about it. I would give anything just to spend a few weeks with you, but there is much to be done, both here and in the Orient and I'm sure I'll be one place or the other.
Some will get to go home on their way to the Pacific and rumors are already afloat, but I'm not counting on anything - then we won't have the disappointment.
These Bavarian Alps are really beautiful, dearest mine. They are all snow covered yet, although we are not very high and last week we had snow in Munich. Today was marvelous. The view of the mountains is similar to that from our front yard, though the mountains are much closer and not as high.
During the last mad rush we have been getting practically no mail and I'm way behind, although today I got the letter you wrote on the eve of our anniversary. Sweet - just as they all are - but why not, with the sweetest wife in the world writing them. I wish my letters would get there more regularly. You probably have had a batch since that time, but it is nicer when they come spread over a long time.
Darling, I adore you completely. I don't dream of you often, but that isn't my fault. When I'm awake I can control my thoughts and they always include you. Always I wish you could share the beautiful scenery and the old German cities - Worms, Nurnberg, Augsberg, Munich, Saltzburg and the rest with me. Maybe, in future years, after they are rebuilt we will see them together. Anything we could do together would be wonderful. One thing in particular - I miss you so, Jeanie. I'll always adore you.
Your only Phil
P.S.
A little picture of you know who.
Capt. Kroon came home six months later. He made a career of the army, taking a reduction in rank to sergeant in order to remain in a downsized postwar military. His last duty post was as an instructor in the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Purdue University. Following his retirement, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He died of cancer in 1988. Diane, the first of his three daughters, was born Oct. 30, 1946, and grew up to be my first wife.

Diane offered this correction today: Just a couple of clarifications, maybe. He was an officer in the Reserves on active duty until about the late ‘50s, then refused his majority because it meant another 2 year extension on his present overseas tour. Joined the regular army as a master sergeant then. His last tour of duty was actually in Panama for a year. He loved Purdue, hated Panama so he hung it up.

70 years ago tomorrow

ETO, for the history-impaired, is European Theatre of Operations.

Changing pants

The Icon Patrol waterproof riding pants that arrived April 22 are on their way back to MotorcycleGear.com.

Their description notes that my waist size only comes with a 34 inch inseam. I’m more of a 29” inseam. The description says, “You can also adjust the inseam on the Patrol pants by using snaps in the lower legs. There are three positions to choose from which can take up to 5” out of the inseam.”

I tried it and the pants still looked ridiculously long and I worried about catching a cuff on a footpeg while coming to a stop and toppling over.

I bought them because my first choice, the FirstGear Kathmandu waterproof pants were out of stock in my waist size and a 30” inseam. I was given to believe they wouldn’t be back in stock until late this month, which is why I pulled the trigger on the Icons, so as to have something to wear to a mid-month rally in Kentucky.

Everything changed yesterday when I got an email from MotorcycleGear.com notifying me that my size was back in stock. Woo-freaking-hoo!

I got a return order voucher from the web site last night and sent the canary pants back to MotorcycleGear.com this morning. The web site says my Kathmandus have shipped, so I’m a very happy camper.

For all their conspicuity, I thought the hi-viz Icons were a bit much and would look silly walking into a restaurant. Also, I figured they would show road grime more and look filthy faster than the Kathmandus.

Also, the Kathmandus appear to vent better and come with a cold weather liner.

In the center of Albuquerque on Route 66

While preparing to ship an old book that I sold on Amazon.com, I found this card – both sides of which are reproduced here – from the Albuquerque Travelodge. Forty units, cooled by refrigeration, with phones, free TV and a heated pool.

It was in an ROTC textbook that had belonged to my first father-in-law, Phil Kroon, who taught U.S. Army ROTC at Purdue University in the early 1960s and it dates from a time before the interstates when U.S. 66 was the preferred route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

According to Google Maps, the motel is still there, including the pool, but it’s a Days Inn now. Central Avenue N.E. is also the old Route 66.

Practice run

My 2003 BMW K1200GT has a rather narrow luggage rack – narrower and more troublesome than the one on my old 1991 K100RS.

If wide objects like camp chairs and tents aren’t properly secured, they can move around and hang off one side or the other at a crazy angle that causes anxiety among those with whom I share the road.

I’m about to embark on a ride to a BMW rally in Kentucky, north and east of Nashville, Tenn. and it will be the first one for my new Eureka Tetragon 5 tent – the largest tent I’ve ever carried to a rally. I also have a Walmart canvas chair and an oversize Browning sleeping bag to strap onto the luggage rack. I don’t really expect cold enough nights at the upcoming rally to justify the heavy bag, but I’m reasonably sure I’ll want it for Billings, Mont. in July, so I might as well see how it rides.

I consulted old photos to refresh my memory about successful strapping strategies from the 1990s when I had my RS and made slight changes in the attachment points for the forward ends of the ROK straps, crossing them over the tent and chair bags and cinching them down. The result is a satisfyingly solid fit. The green tent bag is slightly off center to accommodate the weight of the tent pegs on the right side.

And I’m reasonably confident that the yellow cargo net will hold the sleeping bag securely.

Changing over from a Thermarest to a saddlebag packable Big Agnes Q Core air mattress further simplifies matters.

Vandals!

This is why we've been without cable and Internet since 9:21 am today.

Some malignant imbecile drilled a hole in Fusion Media's fiber optic cable at a rural junction box. Disgruntled past or present employee?

Breakfast with the Masons

We skipped breakfast and hustled down to the first Saturday of the new ASU Farmers Market season where we scoped out the offerings and Maria bought a bar of vegan homemade soap.
Then Maria remembered that we had bought a couple of tickets to the Jonesboro Masonic Lodge’s pancake breakfast scheduled for today. I checked my wallet and, sure enough, there they were.
So we drove across town to the Masonic Lodge where we found Morgan’s next-door-neighbor Curtis Pace flipping pancakes.
Three pancakes and generous helpings of bacon and sausage patties, plus coffee for $5 – a way better deal than we could have gotten at McDonald’s and it was fun supporting a good organization.
This little girl sat next to Maria and accepted pieces of pancake from her.

Steve Flora in Showstoppers

My son Steve is playing bass for the Showstoppers at the Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip.

You can find him in this caricature just to the right of the conductor’s left hand. Not a bad likeness.

Dora is 2 years old today

Dora, aka Cedarbrook’s Dora Flora, was born two years ago today. Here she is with her littermates and her mom, Cedarbrook’s Mercy Rain. Her dad was the handsome Stormy Nights Barker.

She has a wonderful personality and we love her dearly.

She really wasn’t into wearing the $2 birthday princess tiara I bought for her at Dollar General.

Welcome guests from Indiana

We took Maria’s parents, Gene and Sandra Bayless, to dinner last night at Avanzare in Paragould for some serious Italian cuisine.

That was the conclusion to a relaxed day that included lunch at Morgan’s house, a trip to Barnes & Noble and a visit to the Arkansas State University Museum.

It’s a nice little museum, but the German part of the World War II display was a bit disappointing to me.

Company’s coming

Maria’s parents, seen here on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in November, 2012, are on their way from Thorntown, Ind. and could show up in our driveway any minute now.

It’s been a couple of years since their last visit.

80-year-old grandma

Maria is substitute teaching today. I think she has 5th or 6th graders at a middle school.

She posted this image on Facebook, saying:

Just caught this note being passed. Told you they all think I'm their grandma. She apologized. I told her I'm 51.

It this kid thinks Maria’s 80, I shudder to think how old she would guess me to be.

Quilt Weekend

Last weekend was all about quilts and fabric.

Maria and I set up shop Saturday morning at the Craighead Public Library’s arts and crafts fair where she made some good contacts and sold a couple of things.

The weather was perfect, but most of the musical groups were too loud and short on talent to the point where it seriously interfered with customer communication.

We drove to Batesville yesterday for the first visit to Marshall’s Dry Goods in about two years where Maria bought some fabric to use/resell on Ebay.

Tucker

Police log cartoon

From my favorite California weekly.

Tucker!

Morgan shot this cell phone portrait of Tucker wearing his cone when she went home to let him out at lunchtime.

Tucker got neutered Tuesday morning and, since he’s supposed to take it easy for a few days, we’re hosting his big girlfriend Samantha this week.

He was a little loopy Tuesday night and yesterday, but seems to be getting back to his old self today. He looks remarkably happy for a boy who just lost some important parts.

88 Times Hillary Clinton Said 'Mmm Hmm' in New Hampshire | SUPERcuts! #188

Another club member down

Dallas Peak, a doctor at Indiana University Health -Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and a stalwart member of the Indianapolis BMW Motorcycle Club, is in the hospital as a patient today after getting hit by a car while riding his bike to work yesterday.

Here’s what he posted to Facebook last night:

I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me today and to have me in their thoughts.

First of all, I'm fine. You can see the fracture. Fortunately, that is all. The gear really did its job so well. I was on my way to work.

It was the classic car turning right into my path of travel. It all happened so fast. I was on the ground is the next thing I remember. I knew my (left) arm was broken. But otherwise fine.

And wonderful first responders took great care of me. The ER staff was, horse, just absolutely awesome. Because it was compound, I went straight to the OR and had surgery. I am in my room now. I need to sleep! More to come later. Thank you to everyone here who took care of me,all of you rock!

He was up and on his feet by 8 a.m. today, walking laps around the fourth floor of the hospital where his room is.

His wife Pam is also an M.D., so he’s in good hands in and out of the hospital.

In the meantime, club member Andy Clark, who suffered serious brain injury a couple of weekends ago when he was hit in the head by a spare tire that fell from an oncoming horse trailer, is showing some progress.

Theresia Shearer wrote on the club’s message board:

It's been a rough two weeks for the Clark family but Andy is showing some improvement. They have moved him out of ICU.  He's no longer on a ventilator but does have a trach.  Friday he had surgery to place a more direct feeding tube.

The medical team is working towards getting him strong enough to move to a rehab center, though at this time he's not ready for an aggressive therapy facility like RHI.

So, a few more steps forward in a long recovery.

Your prayers are working so keep them coming.

It’s news like this that – as Hunter S. Thompson used to say – gives a man paws.

Insert tasteless play on words involving “sucks” here

Maria wanted a vacuum cleaner – preferably bagless - that was light and could reach high out-of-the-way places.

So when the Amazon Vine Program offered me the Samsung VU10H3021PR/AA VU3000 Lift and Clean Bagless Vacuum Cleaner, Red to review a couple of days ago, I jumped on it.

The UPS guy delivered it a little after 2 p.m. yesterday.

I unboxed it, read the owner’s manual that is mostly pictures with little text, and turned it on.

Using suction only, with the beater bar turned off, I made quick work of the tile kitchen floor. It did a great job of sucking up dirt and the little fur tumbleweeds that come from having dogs that shed.

The canister wasn’t full, but I emptied it anyway, holding it over the kitchen waste basket and pushing the button that opens the door on the bottom. Nothing to it and way easier than the nasty, messy job of changing a bag on our Hoover.

When Maria got home from work, we removed the beater bar attachment and used the hose and canister to go after some long-neglected dust that had accumulated on the tops of the kitchen bay window frames and into crevices along the baseboards.

I plan to see how it works on carpets later this morning and then I’ll get busy on my review, which will likely include some of the observations recorded here.

From the archives

Here’s a photo I shot at the Rock Hut in downtown Leadville, Colo. back in the 1990s.

It’s just down Harrison Street from the Golden Burro where John and Sally Mohringer and I had breakfast one fine summer morning. We strolled down to the Rock Hut and bought gold panning kits before setting out on a fun, but fruitless, afternoon of panning.

29 years ago in November

Sorting through my filing cabinet this weekend, I came across some photos including this shot.

It’s my 1981 BMW R100RS at a campsite at the Hammond, Louisiana KOA. I sewed the tent from a kit that came from Frostline, a Colorado company that catered to backpackers on a budget who wanted to make their own gear.

The date was Nov. 9, 1986 and I was embarking on a fool’s errand that I will not detail here. The best I can say about it is that I would not be who or where I am today if I had stayed home.

They live on in Facebook

At least four of the people among my 400-some Facebook friends are deceased, yet they live on in Facebook.

They are (from left) Leslie Collins, Becky Harris, John Mohringer and Wendell Trogdon.

Leslie was one of my best correspondents when I was chief of The Indianapolis News Metro North Bureau.

Becky was a respected member of the Log Cabin Democrat staff in Conway, Ark. We met at an Associated Press Managing Editors conference and discovered we both knew Ted Simon, author of Jupiter’s Travels.

John was a member of the Indianapolis BMW Motorcycle Club and a Boone County neighbor when we lived in Thorntown. He would occasional fly over our house.

Wendell was managing editor of The Indianapolis News. He was the city editor in 1967 when he hired me and launched my Indianapolis newspaper career.

A new life for Tucker

Tucker, the red Australian cattle dog, is officially a member of Morgan and Samantha’s pack.

Morgan has been looking for a companion dog for Sam for several months and wistfully wishing she could have Tucker, ever since he and Sam struck up a friendship at our house.

Tucker, who will be a year old in May, came to live with our neighbor Chris and his wife in their house down the hill from us in late January. He became a frequent visitor to the outside of Jack and Dora’s chain link enclosure and he and Dora spent hours chasing each other around the perimeter.

Tucker became a neighborhood favorite and got treats and pets at several of the houses around here.

But he didn’t back down from an unprovoked attack by a cranky Chihuahua-Dachshund mix – an encounter that prompted Chris to install buried electronic fence around his property.

The problem was that Tucker associated the electric shock with Chris rather than the fence. His response was either to run away from home for extended periods or to hide from Chris under their back deck.

Chris and his wife came to us last evening to say they were ready to give Tucker up. We had made it clear over the last few months that Morgan would love to have him if things didn’t work out for them.

So Morgan came up and took custody of Tucker, his igloo dog house, bag of food and some toys and took him home to play with Sam and have a well-needed bath.

We all accompanied Tucker to the vet’s office this morning where he got checked out and got his shots. He’s scheduled to be neutered on Tuesday – something I realize is probably a good idea but can’t feel happy about.

After the vet visit, we had lunch on the outdoor patio at Chik-fil-A and Tucker was the perfect gentleman, sitting attentively at Morgan’s feet.

It’s that time of year again

I mowed most of our 1.23 acres this afternoon. The only thing yet to do is the fenced dog zone and a patch of saturated ground on the downhill slope west of the house.

I was accustomed to wearing my in-ear monitors – the ones I use to listen to my GPS and SiriusXM radio on the K1200GT – but I do so at the risk of carelessly yanking the wires out of the earplugs. It’s happened 3 or 4 times since I got them in 2002.

Now that I have the Parrot Zik 2.5 bluetooth headphones, it’s a different story. The noise cancelling isn’t as effective as the earplugs, but it’s not bad and going wireless is supremely liberating.

The closest I ever got to meeting John Steinbeck

According to my Kindle Paperwhite, which tracks my progress through books, I’ve read about 70% of John Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley.”

If you’re not familiar with it, the book chronicles a road trip Steinbeck made in 1960 in a pickup truck with camper shell with his standard poodle Charley, doing a lap of the U.S., starting from his home on Long Island. The point of the trip, he wrote, was to meet people and reacquaint himself with the soul of America.

His son Thom, however, said Steinbeck made the trip because he knew he was dying of heart disease and wanted to see the country one last time. As it turned out, he lived another eight years.

I remember 1960 quite clearly and the book arouses feelings of nostalgia for that time 55 years ago. So much has changed.

Early in his travels, Steinbeck discovers and is enchanted by the growing mobile home culture in the Northeast, marveling at how it was revolutionizing the way Americans thought about housing.

By the time he got to California, however, he realized the downside to a phenomenon that was growing population, but not the property tax base, putting an unexpected strain on government to maintain infrastructure and schools.

Steinbeck was from Salinas, Calif. and spent a lot of time in Monterey. Perhaps his most famous novel is “Cannery Row,” set in Monterey. Cannery Row is a real place, but the fish canneries have been replaced by a world class aquarium and several blocks of shops and boutiques. Maria and I visited there a couple of times and she photographed me with a bronze bust of Steinbeck at Wave Street and Drake Avenue. I let Steinbeck wear my BMW sunglasses for the shot.

Doing the to-do list

This is half of a pair of table lamps that I inherited from my parents.

They date from the late 1950s or early ‘60s, so they’re easily a half-century old. The lamps, a couple of leather-topped end tables, a coffee table and a round table – all matching and from my parents’ living room in Delphi, Ind. – make up the bulk of our living room furniture.

I know Maria would rather have new furniture and lamps more to her taste, but there are other demands on our cash flow that come before furniture.

Over the course of the years, the three-way switches on both lamps have fatigued from daily use. The one that lives on my side of the couch crapped out about six weeks ago and I repaired it with a switch from Ace Hardware.

The switch on the lamp that sits on Maria’s side of the couch flickered and died this week, so my to-do list this morning included picking up a replacement switch and installing it, which I did, as evidenced by the photo.

We had some brass lamps that came from a friend’s parents’ house and we used them in our Thorntown home, but they were thrown away or given to someone in connection with our move to Arkansas seven and a half years ago.

My to-do list also included getting a couple of little plastic bear-shaped bottles of honey for my milk-honey-cinnamon nightcap and a cartridge of black ink for my Canon Maxify printer/copier/scanner/fax because it ran out of ink while printing copies of the new lease for our Thorntown tenant.

The honey was easy, the ink was not.

The kid at Office Max/Office Depot (they’ve merged, you know) searched diligently for a PGI-1200 cartridge and came up empty. So I followed my first impulse and ordered one from Amazon.com.

Two out of three isn’t bad.

Tucker is back

Tucker is back in his yard.

It turns out the red heeler who lives down the hill from our house wasn’t nearly as lost as we supposed yesterday.

Apparently, he just went walkabout for a day or so.

The biggest surprise was that I didn’t see him hanging out with our Aussies.

We were greatly relieved to see him back in his fenced yard when we left for dinner last evening.

The riding pants saga continues

As instructed, I called PartsZilla.com today and confirmed that Tucker Rocky has pushed back the delivery date on my size of the Firstgear Kathmandu riding pants until at least the middle of next month.

Consequently, I cancelled my $260 order and went to Plan B.

MotorcycleGear.com has their $300 breathable and waterproof ICON Patrol pants on closeout for $240 and they have them in my size, so I end up saving $20. They come in black and what they call Mil-Spec Yellow, which should come close to matching my Hi-Viz Firstgear Kilimanjaro jacket and Hi-Viz CamelBak hydration system.

Features:

• Removable Icon CE field armor impact protectors at knees and hips
• Waterproof seam sealed construction
• YKK waterproof zippers
• Magnetic storm flap closures
• 3M® reflective panels
• Six storage pockets
• Full-length side zippers
• Removable bib suspender system

And, the inseam of the Patrol pants can be shortened by up to 5 inches using a 3 position snap system.

My aging old version Kathmandu pants have no pockets and a broken zipper fly, so this will be a significant improvement.

Let the UPS vigil begin!

Happy Birthday, Morgan!

My stepdaughter Morgan Sallee is 30 years old today.

It’s easy for me to remember her birthday because it’s on Tax Day, and the anniversaries of the sinking of the Titanic and the death of Abraham Lincoln and I’ll always remember her age because we 40 years apart.

She’s a remarkable young woman with a brilliance she tries to hide. I’m proud to be her stepdad.

Where is Tucker?

My neighbor Tony Micenhamer reports that Tucker has been missing for 24 hours.

Tucker is a red heeler from the house down the hill. He is a playful, friendly little guy who loves to hang out with our Aussies. He and Dora spend hours chasing each other around the perimeter of the chain link fence – him on the outside and her on the inside.

Apparently one of the neighbors complained that Tucker was playing too rough with their dog, so his owner has kept Tucker in their chain link-fenced back yard for the last couple of weeks.

Morgan’s dog Samantha loves Tucker and we’ve told Tucker’s owner that Morgan wants the red heeler if he doesn’t.

Nobody’s buying what Hillary is selling

Eighty-five percent of the respondents to yesterday’s MSNBC poll said they do not plan to vote for Hillary Clinton for president next year.

Couple that with her pathetic book sales and it becomes obvious that she is all media hype and no substance.

The Kathmandu quest continues

I figured I was wasting my time trying to get a size 40 Short pair of Firstgear Kathmandu riding pants from PartZilla.com yesterday when one of their people told me on the phone that my size was out of stock.

Then I got an email from them this morning advising me that they expect to ship my order on Thursday. WTF?

So I called them again this morning and the customer service woman said my pants are, indeed, on back order, but that they expect them to arrive at their warehouse tomorrow.

I’d like to believe her, but they’re out of stock at MotorcycleGear.com also. That vendor initially said they would be available in mid-April, then revised the availability date to “late May.”

Could it be that PartsZilla is in the same boat and won’t see them until the end of May? Or will they actually receive them tomorrow.

The customer service woman told me to call back after noon EDT tomorrow to find out if they actually came in.

In the meantime, I’m searching for comparable waterproof, breathable riding pants elsewhere.

My self-imposed deadline is May 14, the day before the European Rider Rally begins in Burkesville, Ky.

In the meantime, I’m sitting here listening to the grass grow after the start of what promises to be a very rainy week.

It’s dry at the moment, but the rain gauge had 2.6 inches of water in it this morning.

My to-do list for the day includes picking up the mail, taking a hike on the treadmill (either here or at St. Bernards Health & Wellness) and dropping off Maria’s entries in next weekend’s annual St. Bernards Women’s Council Threads of Life quilt show.

Now, I must be off.

It was too good to be true

I went to my Orders listing on Amazon.com this afternoon to see if my Kathmandu riding pants had been shipped and was stunned to learn that, despite the vendor listing them as available, they are out of stock and my order has been cancelled.

I went online and found another vendor – PartsZilla.com – whose web site showed them as  available in my size, so I placed an order there.

Then I got to thinking… How do I know that their web site is an accurate reflection of what’s in their warehouse?

So I called PartsZilla.com’s toll-free number and after several minutes of horrible music-on-hold, found myself talking with Robert.

Robert did a thorough search and confirmed my worst fears – my size is out of stock.

Consequently, I’m cancelling this second order.

I did notice that Firstgear, the manufacturer of Kathmandu riding pants, is distributed by Tucker Rocky. My old friend Rick Dorfmeyer of Indianapolis is a Tucker Rocky guy and a Facebook friend, so I sent him a private message on Facebook asking if he can work some Tucker Rocky magic and hook me up with some Kathmandus in 40 Short.

Stay tuned.

New riding season, new pants

Kathmandu Pants – old on the left, newer on the right.

The Firstgear Kathmandu riding pants that I bought in the summer of 2011 for a mere $125, are showing their age and mileage. My chief complaint is that the fly zipper is tearing away from the surrounding fabric, making the zipper prone to jamming.

A jammed zipper is a bad think when nature is calling loudly and clearly.

I was prepared to soldier on with them for another riding season until I noticed that MotorcycleGear.com, which deals in out-of-date old stock, was advertising the 2012 edition of the Kathmandu pants for $260.95.

I ordinarily would hesitate to spring for pants that expensive, but the Kathmandu pants are waterproof and reasonably comfortable in a wide range of conditions. And, the newer version has pockets! That was one thing I detested about the old version – no pockets. And the waist closure looks to be better designed and more robust.

The only problem was the size I need – 40 short – is out of stock at MotorcycleGear.com. It was promised for mid-April, so I’ve been waiting impatiently. When I checked the web site today, I found the date has been pushed back to “late May.”

Crap. I really wanted them in time for the European Riders Rally in five weeks.

So I put Google to work, searching for “Kathmandu pants 40 short.” I found several other vendors offering them at the same price as MotorcycleGear.com, but they, too, were out of stock.

Finally, I found Raging Moto, a vendor on Amazon.com, has 40 short Kathmandu pants in stock for the same price as MotorcycleGear.com and also with free shipping.

One mouse click and the deal was done. Woo-freaking-hoo!

Schadenfreude

We received word this morning that another good and capable journalist has been fired by the most abusive newspaper management I have seen in my nearly 50 years of association with print journalism.

I suspect that sooner or later – sooner, I hope – he will feel the exhilaration of a galley slave who broke the chains to his oar and went over the side to freedom.

And I am heartened to know that he has powerful friends outside the newspaper who will see to it that he ends up with much better pay and far better working conditions.

I’ve spent most of my adult life watching idiots ruin perfectly good newspapers. I am filled with schadenfreude when I see them shoot themselves in the foot.