I'm going to try to keep this page going

[Millietant]

After a few days of rain, quite a bit of it heavy and temperatures sitting around 40F, most of the road salt had washed away and the sun was out today, so I managed to get for a couple of hours and get my bike dirty. Not much in the way of hills in this part of the Midlands though .

Tomorrow is getting busier by the moment and now I have to add wash, lubricate and polish the FJ, to the list of jobs - which include being an Elf on the community Santa Tour, delivering gifts to the local children (we have 480 registered to receive the gifts!!).

Anyway, a couple of gratuitous FJ photo's from today. Apologies again for the less than spectacular countryside vista's 









This pic just shows the latest position I'm trying out for my Go-Pro type camera

[Waiex191]

Very nice pictures Dean and I'm glad you got out. All I did with my FJ today was to store my coat and gloves on it while I was working on my electrical system. Plus I started teaching my youngest how to use the MIG welder.

[Millietant]

Despite it being mostly dry today I didn't get out on the bike at all, a little bit too busy putting together and decorating the Santa Sleigh and then walking with it on our community Santa Tour today.

457 very happy children who each got a gift of candies (sweets) from Santa's Elves.......and yes.....embarrassingly.....I was an Elf today....hat, bells, green jacket etc  

It took us 6 hours to walk round every street and make sure everyone got the chance to say hello to Santa

Christmas does bring out the best in people !!

[andyoutandabout]

Dean, brilliant job spreading Christmas cheer.
Most community spirited

[Millietant]

There were a couple of streets we couldn't get down due to parked cars (and our small roads) so we're out tonight for another hour just to make sure every child saw Santa.

And as they used to say on a TV show a few years back......"And tonight Matthew.....I'm going to be SAanta Claus....." - photo's will follow.   

[Millietant]

I am not this fat in real life.....honestly, it is a pillow 

But the kids we missed last night were very, very, very happy 

[Millietant]

With new Covid rules meaning no motorcycling, I got my final bicycle ride of the year in today, with my little pal Jim (who rides the Can Am Spyder). Just a little one as it was a bit nippy out there (33F). Hope everyone has a safe and settled New Year "celebration".

[Millietant]

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[Waiex191]

We got big snow so the bikes are stuck in the hangar for a while. I am on my final road trip to Florida to get a free catamaran from a former coworker.  We socially isolated in the $200 Buick. It was 75 F down there.

[Motofun]

Love it!  Those Buicks and others of the same ilk were great cruisers.  Our Euro friends wouldn't understand I'm afraid.  Something about floating down the interstates, disconnected from reality, is pure Americana.

[Waiex191]

Love it!  Those Buicks and others of the same ilk were great cruisers.  Our Euro friends wouldn't understand I'm afraid.  Something about floating down the interstates, disconnected from reality, is pure Americana.

It's a great Canadian built car for long trips. The boat has a bit much drag for the Buick to tow. We are keeping it in 3rd and only pulling down 18 mpg as compared to the normal 30.  I could have taken the truck but at 13 MPG my free boat would have cost another $300.

[aviationfred]

Casper got some New Pirelli Phantom Sport-Comps.  Period correct tread pattern, in a modern radial tire. The tire add photo is from the May 1990 Motorcyclist Magazine.


Fred

[Millietant]

Love it!  Those Buicks and others of the same ilk were great cruisers.  Our Euro friends wouldn't understand I'm afraid.  Something about floating down the interstates, disconnected from reality, is pure Americana.

Oh, don't worry, we do understand...............Americana rocks, in America 

Driving the 15 hour non-stop each way journey, from Chester NJ to Kokomo IN, when we visited family in the US back in the 90's was made all the bearable by the flotation device otherwise knows as an Oldsmobile 88 that we travelled in 

Did the journey once in my father-in-laws V8 engined front wheel drive Cadillac (I think it was a Seville) and it was almost surreal, with the engine seemingly never doing anything more than "ticking over" for much of the journey (with a lot of 55mph cruising).

Those cars would be absolutely useless on European roads, but European market cars of the time would have been equally as useless on American roads - horses for courses !!

Over the last 10-20 years, most of our longer distance journeys from CT to the Midwest, down to DC or Myrtle Beach SC, have been in either an Olds Cutlass Ciera (unbelievably boring), a Chevy Avalanche, a Dodge/RAM 1500 Hemi (both bouncy and thudding) a Chrysler Pacifica (gutless and wheezing i6), or a Subaru Forrester (practical for the winter drives). Although they all seem dynamically "better" than the old Olds/Caddy, I'd probably still prefer one of those older cars for those journeys today - great tools for those journeys - although it was a touch easy to fall asleep at the wheel if you weren't careful 

[Waiex191]

Over the last 10-20 years, most of our longer distance journeys from CT to the Midwest, down to DC or Myrtle Beach SC, have been in either an Olds Cutlass Ciera (unbelievably boring), a Chevy Avalanche, a Dodge/RAM 1500 Hemi (both bouncy and thudding) a Chrysler Pacifica (gutless and wheezing i6), or a Subaru Forrester (practical for the winter drives).

We have a Ram 1500 with the little 4.7L V8. Not as much power as the Hemi but fuel economy just as bad or worse. My free boat will be costing me about $300 in gas. It would have been twice that cost in the truck.

This $200 car had a rotten bumper and spare tire well, which is where the hitch is supposed to bolt to. I welded in a patch and sourced a clean bumper from the junkyard.

[Millietant]

Over the last 10-20 years, most of our longer distance journeys from CT to the Midwest, down to DC or Myrtle Beach SC, have been in either an Olds Cutlass Ciera (unbelievably boring), a Chevy Avalanche, a Dodge/RAM 1500 Hemi (both bouncy and thudding) a Chrysler Pacifica (gutless and wheezing i6), or a Subaru Forrester (practical for the winter drives).

We have a Ram 1500 with the little 4.7L V8. Not as much power as the Hemi but fuel economy just as bad or worse. My free boat will be costing me about $300 in gas. It would have been twice that cost in the truck.

This $200 car had a rotten bumper and spare tire well, which is where the hitch is supposed to bolt to. I welded in a patch and sourced a clean bumper from the junkyard.

Yeah, those trucks are expensive to run, even at US gasoline prices. They were both bought primarily to haul the trailer that the Chaparral 235 SSi sits on, and they did that job admirably, with the 4WD coming in handy to get the loaded trailer back up slimy launching ramps