Memorial Day Weekend 2014

A wonderful weekend.

This was one of those weekends where each day we had an event planned or a place we planned to be.

Saturday, I was invited to go to the Los Angeles Live Steamers event out near L.A. zoo.
So after a trip to the plant (unplanned)  I headed out to meet the people I know at the steamers event.

To say that this is a bunch of guys playing with trains is taking a lot away from some of them.
The design and engineering that goes into the locomotives is just as exacting as that used on full size versions.

Of course the real fun is in putting them to work.

 

 

Although I'm not sure that you would call this work!

On Sunday we went to the California Science center near USC to visit the Endeavor and the Pompeii exhibits.
Considering that we have lived in SoCal for over thirty years, I am almost embarrassed to say that this was our first trip to the science center.

There are some stunning things to see!

From the SR 71 as you walk in and the fighters hanging in the entrance atrium.



Moving on, we went into the Pompeii exhibit.

These artifacts alone are worth the visit, the Pompeii is a temporary exhibition so if you want to see it you need to check out the dates. As with most things like this, buy and print the tickets on line to save time waiting in line when you get there.

 

 

Of course some of the pieces are more colorful than others!!!

For me the star of the show was Endeavor.

As usual, I'm interested in the nuts and bolts and Anne is interested in how the people lived.

 

She is particularly interested to know if the female astronauts could wear spike heels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, Memorial Day, my first job was to take the flag to half staff just before dawn.

 

 





This picture of course was taken later, it's a bit tough taking pictures before dawn.

Then we headed off to the USS Iowa .
We were invited to attend a ceremony at the ship to honor veterans on Memorial Day.

The news crews somehow heard that we would be there and turned out in force.

 

There were some very important guests on hand for this event:

 

This gentleman,  Bill Thompson was a World War II veteran with battleship service. He not only spoke very well but had a great sense of humor. He led the assembled group in The Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Rosie The Riveter was on hand to help out.

 

 

Boy there is some "Scrambled Egg" on that hat!

It is a great pleasure and honor to meet these guys who have served the country so well.

A good compliment of crew lined up along the rails.

 

The Seal Beach Sea Cadets formed the Honor Guard.

 

 

The usual raft of politicians were in attendance, Janice Hahn congresswoman for the 44th district; and Eric Garcetti , Mayor of Los Angeles along with various council members etc.

When you have friends you can get some seriously preferential treatment.

 

One final event of the day.

 

 

Take the flag back to full staff at noon.

This is unusual as the flag is at half staff during all daylight hours for most occasions.
Today it is at half staff to remember and honor those veterans who died, but it is then raised to full staff to honor those veterans who are still with us,
 and currently serving members of the military.

All in all a great weekend.
Ciao Bella,

Norm

 

Leaving Reno

After a few days in Reno I am now headed home.
Of course no trip would be complete without a trip to the Harley store.








Of course if they hired someone who could spell to paint their signs it would help.







The airport here in Reno is very quiet, it is easy to get in and out.
In fact you could fire a shot gun and not hurt anyone.






How can you tell that you are in an airport in Nevada?

Gaming machines of course.

This has been a good trip, the weather was just right not too hot.
Not like it has been at home, where the Santa Ana winds have made conditions super hot.

I'll be home this afternoon.

Ciao Bella
Norm

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New Job

As most of you know I plan to retire at the end of this year.
So I thought that I should find a new career.

Here I am at my new job.








Jose on guitar and me on Uke.





The entire team taking a bow.

We talked about music for a long time and found that we all love the music of Pokey La farge.

You can check out the music of Victor and Penny at
www.victorandpenny.com


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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.