First Night In Durham

No time to catch your breath in this trip.
We checked in, spread our stuff around the room making it look like a bomb site.
We had dinner in the hotel accompanied by the most mournful dirge like music you have ever heard. I thought that there must be a funeral directors convention in the hotel.

After dinner I was waiting in the bar (where else would I wait) to meet up with Eileen (Anne's sister) and her family. As I looked out of the lobby through the giant revolving glass door, I saw a cab arrive and from it emerged the longest legs you have ever seen, followed by some more and some more, then cab after cab arrived all with the same cargo!









I thought this was a cruel trick and I must have died and gone to heaven, Budweiser and tall leggy girls!!!!!


Where was I, Oh yes, waiting for Eileen and family.

When we talked to some of the guys who were attending this function we found that it was cricket club event.






Of course I had to get in on the action!!


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Arrived

We have arrived in Durham, a quick trip over from Amsterdam.
The flight was delayed by about forty minutes due to technical problems!
So, they brought out another plane.
It was a bit bumpy on the way over and even worse as we came in to land.
As we left the airport to go to the rental car the wind picked up and the ice cold rain started.
As we were walking toward the car we passed a guy going the other way just as the wind blew his glasses off.
We got to the car like drowned rats, as we tried to open the tail hatch to put in the luggage, we found that the car was parked under a sign and there was not enough clearance to open the lid. So we had to drive forward a bit then get back out and put in the suitcases.

Once we got to the hotel and checked in, we got to the room and found that there was a care package for us.

The Cairns and Docherty families had left it!

One component of the package is pictured below.







Hey, Leon check out the ALC rating!


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AMS

Arrived in Amsterdam after a fast flight.
Then of course thee was the25 munute taxiing from the runway to the gate.



Check that speed.



Cheaper in Amsterdam than LAX!

More soon from the UK.


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Leavin on a jet plane

Parked the truck at Wallypark.





We took the Wallyshuttle to the terminal and after the usual search and rescue experience we got inside.
We to Wolfgang Pucks as they sell Bud.
Yeah they sell it for the low low price $9.00!
Now we are on the plane and ready to go.








At least we have a little room and in seat entertainment.


More soon from the UK.



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Location:Service Rd,Los Angeles,United States

Seal Beach

I decided to take a quick trip to Seal Beach to check out the surf conditions.

It was pretty wild, there were lots of guys in the ocean, no stand up surfers, I think that there was too much of a shore break. It was all guys with fins riding Boogie boards.

It was really rough but great fun to watch from a safe distance.

Check this short video.

Apologies to Jimmy Buffet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvq9_ou9Bfk&feature=youtu.be

This was just before the rain started again, around 10:30 Sunday morning.

Look where I got a parking spot, of course I wasn't going to the Grill otherwise I would have had to park five miles away.

I stuck my head in the door to say good morning to Adrian and Manny.

Adrian told me the the power had just come back on in time for them to open.

Just a few days to go before the UK trip and we are getting ready.

Bob has his bag packed for a vacation with Brent and Jake.

We are fortunate to have found another company to look after Missy and the house.

Watch for the next posting from LAX.

Surprise Visit

We arrived Friday after a bit of a stressful trip.
I left a carry on bag in the terminal.
It had my iPod my camera and my earbuds in it.
Luckily I talked to a police officer and he found where it had been handed in. The officer went back through security and brought it back to the gate.
The flight was uneventful and very fast.
The car rental center was packed, fortuunately I had prepaid so we were out of there pretty quickly.
We met up with Barb and Leon, then we all went over to the Scarberry's house.
Of course we got a warm welcome from the dogs.










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Travel Season

We are within a week of the 2014 travel season.

Friday next week we head for Arizona to visit with Barb and Leon.

We will also meet up with the Scarberry family.

Anne and I are looking forward to the get together.

We have found a new company to look after the dogs and the house.
It's a great comfort to know that someone who loves the dogs as much as we do will be staying with them.

When the guy came round to set up the stay, we were trying to figure out how to decide if he was a fit for us, no need to worry, the dogs took to him in a heart beat.

Even Missy gave him some love, now that's a first. I must admit that she likes men more than she likes women, but even so she is more likely to ignore you than give you any attention.

As most of you know, Missy does not like to have her picture taken.
I managed to sneak this one without her knowing.

Ciao Bella
Norm

The Bike Lift and other stuff.

Sunday 1/26/2014, A real work day!

The plan for today was to get the bike lift set up in the shed with a bike on it and to test the lift.

All of this was accomplished along with a few other tasks.

I took the HD to be detailed and it really turned out well.

I don't think that it has looked so good since Leon left for Arizona.

On to the lift,

I moved everything out of the shed and into the yard to create room for the lift set up.

Here is the shed ready for the next step.

The Triumph was moved in alongside the lift to check clearances and it worked just fine.

Then the Ariel was positioned on the lift, with a lot of help from Madame, it was set in place and tied down.

Next, the moment of truth!

Well as you can see it works, the next phase is to set the red chopper on the lift and remove the starter motor. 

I'll let you know how well that works next weekend.

More soon,

Ciao Bella

Norm

More about the bikes

About the Bikes

Some were real classics some were questionable but they were all interesting.

As you can see there was some serious money being asked for these things.

Some bikes were incomplete, some were prototypes without internals, one was a rolling chassis only with no engine. That bike was built by Bourget as a styling exercise.

If you ask me the next picture shows the best rolling chassis on display in the whole place!

Of course if you want to talk about silly money being paid for stuff, look at the number 7 picture below.

This piece of scrap iron brought $32,800.00 at an auction in the UK recently.

This trip taught us that we really need to do a bit more homework before we go to the next event.

If we had been handicapping horses instead of trying to set auction prices, we would have been run out of Vegas on a rail.

More soon,

Ciao Bella

Classic Bike Auction In Las Vegas

WOO HOO

What a trip!I have never seen so many bikes that I would love to buy in one place.
The trip started out with a drive up from the plant on Thursday afternoon. It went very well and was a sub four hour ride. No stops, just press on through.
We checked in at the South Point Hotel and then headed for the auction.

There were acres of bikes, some classics some not so classic but all with their own story to tell.

How about this six cylinder Honda CBX from 1980, 1,000 CCS and six carburetors just to drive you nuts trying to get them all in sync.

I rode one down to Newport Beach with Anne on the back, that thing was a flying machine!

It was owned by my good friend and colleague Harold Kie.

The first night there I put $100 down on the crap table and walked away with $203, I figured that was a good profit for a weekend and quit gambling right there. (Well almost)

Then I hooked up with my buddy Elvis Knievel, big guy wasn't he?

This was the first stay at South Point, a bit out of the way but a nice hotel, if you are going to be in the center of action on The Strip, this is not the place for you. The rooms are spacious and with high ceilings making them feel very roomy. There are lots of facilities such as a cinema, spa, 10 restaurants, a million slot machines, you know the deal.

The view from my side of the hotel was very good too.

More about the auction and the bikes soon.