Reno

The flight up from LAX was really smooth and only took a little more than one hour.
Taking off and headed north we crossed over Marina Del Rey and Malibu.







There was some snow on the higher elevations as we crossed into Nevada.





The hotel is more busy than I thought it would be for a Monday.

There was a domino handicap going on by the pool, but I was to late or too well known to get in to the game.

Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to get a picture of the players.

Tonight in the Terrace bar they had entertainment.
Victor and Penny were playing.







Old thought for you guys from the other side of the pond!


Can you remember Dickie and Dottie performing at La Strada or any of the Bailey's clubs?




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Heading for Reno

On board taxiing through lots of aircraft waiting to take off.
The flight time is expected to be about one hour to Reno.





They even have Cat graders lined up on the runway!
Push back from the gate was at 8:10 looks like take off will be about 8:40.
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Location:LAX

Laughlin 2014

The 2014 Ride to Laughlin

The ride did not get of to the best of starts!

We loaded up the bike for the ride up to Jeff Lidwin's house, only about 16 miles.

We met up with Girvan and Fiona on the way and they were following us up to La Mirada.

Just before we got to the turn off from Valley View to Alondra, Anne started banging me on the shoulder.

The small suitcase had fallen of the luggage rack!

Fortunately, Girvan was not too close so he was able to stop before he ran into it.

Traffic stopped and allowed him to run out into the road to retrieve it.

Once we got to Jeff and Kellie's house,  the girls and the suitcase got in the car and we 

headed for Laughlin. The rest of the trip was uneventful, the usual stuff,we stopped for breakfast at Peggy Sue's and the headed back across to the 40 for the ride to Goffs road on Old Route 66.

We arrived in Laughlin and checked in to the hotel.

During the afternoon we took a walk over to the Colorado Belle for a couple of brewskis and a bite of lunch. The food was actually pretty good in the brew pub.

So here we all are at the river.
The first night the crap gods were good to me, I was up several C notes.

It went downhill in a hurry after that.

The guys from Reno called in their markers and my hit level went to Hell in a hand basket!

Soooo! Jeff and I decided to take on the Blackjack table. Before we started, we made a pact that if they brought out a certain dealer of Asian heritage we would pick up our money and leave.
Sure enough after about 20 minutes of play they brought her out, knowing our last encounter with this lady when she cleaned our clocks and never cracked a smile we picked up our chips and headed for the bar.

We rode down to Lake Havasu so that the English crew could see London Bridge, which of course they never saw when they lived in England.

On the way down we headed into Topock by the river just for a pit stop.

On to Lake Havasu and lunch at Shugrues.

This guy from Pirate Cove was headed in to pick up his crew!!!!


More Soon.
Norm

Getting Ready For Laughlin

One Day To Go!

The weather on the route looks good so far.

There is a possibility of strong winds tomorrow but it should taper off by Thursday morning.

The temperatures shown are predicated on a 7:00 AM departure from Jeff's house in La Mirada.

At the weekend I was practicing for the the time in Laughlin.

I think that we will have a great time.
We have a good group going along for the ride.

Jeff Lidwin, Girvan Nicholl, Frank ?, (Jeff's Buddy and a great guy)
The girls are riding part way and then getting into the car with Kellie.

We will miss Barb and Leon as they cannot make it this year.

Tonight I gassed up the bike, only $4.50 a gallon! Choke!

The tool kit is prepared and packed. The security stuff, lock and cable etc is packed.

The camera and GPS are mounted to the bike.

Tomorrow night it is just last minute checks, oil, tire pressures, billfold etc.

Thursday morning Girvan and Fiona meet up with Anne and me at 6:30 AM ready to rock.

Well as ready as a 65 year old can be ready to rock.

But hey! Mick Jagger is even older that me and he can still rock.

Of course he's not as good looking!

More soon.

Norm

The Next Day

With the broken pieces of the shifter lever, I visited my friend, the world famous welder J.B.

So as a temporary fix the shifter is back


in one piece .

I tell you that guy J.B. knows his stuff.
We are off to Laughlin this weekend so the next beach trip will have to wait until we return.

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Location:HB

Nellie

It Always Ends In Tears!

I started up Nellie on Saturday and decided that Sunday we would go for a spin to the beach.

Just the two of us, me and Nellie.

We got our buckets and spades and put them in a bag with a bottle of water and some cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Nothing but the best for Nellie and me.

So after a bit of a spit shine she was ready to go.

I decided that discretion being the better part of valor we would go round the block before setting off to the beach.

No problems, she was running like a top.

So off to the beach we headed. As we made the turn from Springdale to Slater I went to make the upshift and felt that there was something terribly wrong.

No shifter lever could be found!

Knowing that I had shifted up into 2nd as we came down Springdale, I figured that's where it had to be.

We turned around in 2nd gear and headed back to to look for the missing part.

The wayward part was soon spotted in the middle of the street.

I turned off Nellie and was walking to the part as a car was approaching. I waited with bated breath! Now as any of you who have driven on Springdale know, it is wider that most freeways in Europe.

However, this numb-skull managed to hit the lever!

I retrieved the two pieces and walked back to Nellie.

Having turned off the motor with 2nd gear selected there was no way to restart.

Unlike most modern bikes you cannot kickstart with the clutch pulled in.

So with the broken end of the lever I got her back into neutral and fired her up.

With the clutch in, I got first gear by hand with the broken end.

Then with the broken lever in my pocket, we limped home in 1st gear.

All was well and Madame helped push Nellie back up into the yard.

No problem I thought, I'll just go to Draganfly and order a new part.

When the error message "Part Not Found" was returned my heart sank.

Now I have to wait until Tuesday for a response from Draganfly.

Because as you know those Europeans have another day off on Monday.

Happy Easter, Ill keep you posted on the progress.

Ciao Bella, from Norm & Nellie

Seal Beach Run / Walk

Getting Better With Age!

Norman Cain

Huntington Beach, CA
Bib #: 1717 | 65M

Time: 51:46:00
Pace: 16:36/M
Division: 5K Walk

Overall Place: 285/755 | 37.7%
Age Group: M 65-69
Age Group Place: 4/9 | 44.4%

My best time so far.

The goal for next year is to get below 50 minutes, not exactly the four minute mile but still a challenge. 

I would have done better this year except I got behind this cute chick and could not go past her.







As you can see there was a great turn out, in fact every event was sold out. When I picked up the shirts and bibs they were not accepting any sign ups.

Back In The Saddle

Back at work!

In more ways than one.

I got the first few days at the plant over without too much mishap.

At the weekend it was decided by the management of Hotel Americain that the shed need some work and that the apricot tree needed to go.

A course of action was decided upon and I got the shed duties and Mr. Flores got the apricot tree.

This is what was left of the tree after the first day.

Here is Mr. Flores as seen from the webcam cutting  out the roots.

This is what it looks like now that he has finished.

I must admit that the shed still does not look quite how I would like it.

The generator has been moved to a new home and that was the main purpose of the work.

So now there are two bikes and the lift in the shed along with my drill press and sundry other tools.

At least the generator is accessible if needed.

I installed the new Ariel sign given to me by Richard and Jan on our recent visit to the UK.

Ciao Bella,

More soon.

Norm.

Durham, a city both ancient and academic.

Durham ancient and academic.

When we were in the city of Durham, we walked almost everywhere. This gives you the opportunity to see things that you would normally miss if traveling by car.

I decided early in the trip to choose a course of study, which if I were a student it the city I would like to follow.

On the first night my choice seemed obvious:

It would be long legged good looking chicks.

But then I thought Naw! too much like hard work.

So I looked more toward academia for my major.

How about this, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, now there's a period into which I could really get my teeth .

However upon reflection I thought that perhaps literature would be more my strong point. 

So I asked a few literary looking types where I might find an institute of higher learning in that field.

I was recommended a place in Saddler Street.

Yes, Shakespeare, now there is  a topic worthy of study.

So having found this fountain of knowledge I ventured inside with some trepidation. 

Who knows, perhaps there would be some literary genius waiting to floor you with his knowledge.

But, no it was just the usual Saturday afternoon crowd.

I thought carefully about the period that I should study and came up with a particular year.

There was available in this establishment a somewhat precise vessel designed to fit exactly such needs.

So here it is, I am part way through my studies of the year 1664, two years before the Great Fire of London and 48 years after Shakespeare's death when I thought Hmmm!

 This is wrong, what is it that you should seek in the city which is home to the third oldest university in the UK?

Only knowledge?

No!, wisdom.

So after more careful thinking, another course of study sprang to mind, what is it that makes you wiser?

And for years the answer has been staring me in the face!

So here I am, older Budweiser.

A great place Durham.

They even have a clock for people who cannot tell the time.

More soon,

Norm.

Earthquake !

You may have heard about this on the news.

This morning at 6:25 AM there was a minor earthquake in the greater Los Angeles area.

This is a small part of a longer article from the L.A. Times:

The magnitude 4.4 earthquake that struck near Westwood early Monday was a "rude awakening" for Angelenos who remain vulnerable to being caught unprepared by a major temblor, Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

The earthquake that struck in Sherman Oaks at 6:25 a.m. was the most significant shake in Southern California since a 5.5-earthquake hit Chino Hills in 2008. It was followed up by seven smaller temblors, with two registering as magnitude 2.5 or greater, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

As we were still jet lagged, we got up very early around 3:30 AM, neither of us felt anything.

The news media have been in a feeding frenzy trying to make something out of this.

The best they could come up with was some woman who had an ornament fall off the shelf and was broken.

However, now you know why we have the earthquake cupboard.

More from the UK trip soon.

Best wishes,

Ciao Bella,

Norm