After spending the winter in the desert chasing Bluegrass Festivals, hiking and bird watching, we just finished a week of something completely different. We met with our son, Glen and Barb and Bryce in the white hot intensity of life in Los Angeles. We chose a park on the northern fringes of the LA metropolis, in Santa Clarita. Glen and his family were in a hotel in Studio City. With me as navigator and Judy driving we tackled the freeway system. Down I-5 and I-405 to the 101, we tried to leave three car lengths ahead. That was quickly occupied by another car. That was nothing compared to the drive back to our coach at eight or so in the evening with headlights and taillights everywhere and not really seeing the exits until you are right on them.
Continue reading Something Different:
Golanth Flies!
Today was the big day, the unveiling of the new recumbent tandem bicycle, the Bronze Dragon, Golanth. His namesake is Golanth in the Dragon Riders of Pern series by Ann McCaffrey. This mythical flying, fire breathing dragon was ridden by F’lessan. They were good friends of Mirrim and her dragon, Path.
So this is the first time we have ridden the bicycle fully assembled and painted. I first rode solo to get the feel of the bicycle. It is quite lively and easy to steer compared to Path. Judy then joined my and we rode a couple miles around the North Ranch park near Congress, AZ. I then completely re arranged the seat placement and set Golanth up for Judy to be Captain. She soloed a few times, but I am afraid we pretty well wore ourselves out before we succeeded riding tandem with me stoking. We will try again soon, for that was the purpose of this exercise. Judy will become the Captain as my Parkinson’s becomes more pronounced in the future
Things are a poppin’ here. Today the new tandem ride, tomorrow I will visit one of my Neurologists, Dr. Habiger, in Sun City, West, (Phoenix.) I have another team I visit in Portland at OHSU.
Then Wednesday, Judy and I will celebrate forty eight years together. The weatherman is promising us a special treat that day. S**w. Yes s**w to celebrate our honeymoon in Minneapolis Minnesota and the minus 10 degree weather there. Why? You ask. Well I worked for the Northern Pacific and that was as far as they would take us for free. Made perfect sense at the time. Besides Minnehaha Falls was beautiful all frozen and piled up crystalline sculptures.
Take a look at the gallery of photos below and we will keep you posted on our progress.
Love to all,
The riders of the Bronze Dragon, Golanth.
Gary and Judy
Painting Party:
This week has been perfect for a painting party. Each day when the temperature soared above 50 degrees, Judy, Glen and I spent time disassembling, wire brushing, sanding and priming the frame of the new tandem bicycle. The weather stayed clear and sunny all week. Thursday Judy and I moved the coach to the street beside the Wings of History Museum in San Martin. Whenever we are in town I volunteer at the museum. This week I was helping with the assembly of a Curtis OX-5 airplane engine first built in 1910. Continue reading Painting Party:
A New Goal Is Reached:
I have been working on a new bicycle design for three and a half years now. Today with the help of my Grandson, Patrick, we have created a mount for the auxiliary motor drive. The drive systems are all complete. It is now time to take everything back apart and paint the frame.
I recognize that there has been a long silence from our end here on our blog. With all of the rain this fall there has been very few good opportunities to progress on the new bicycle and we have been spending our time with the family here in Gilroy, California. Continue reading A New Goal Is Reached:
What Were We Thinking!
Here we are at Stub Stewart State Park, up in the Oregon Coast Range at 1,200 feet elevation in October going on Thanksgiving. We just walked down to lock up the Day Use restrooms at seven o’clock, one of our regular chores. It is totally dark and the temperature is 42 degrees with a 10 mph wind out of the south west. I am dressed in high top shoes, woolly socks, long pants, regular tee shirt, long sleeve tee shirt, long sleeved sweatshirt with a hoody, a fuzzy vest and a wind breaker over it all. I have my volunteer hat and volunteer vest and my hands jammed deep in my pockets. Judy is dressed similarly except she has her woolly gloves on. Continue reading What Were We Thinking!