You only live once...

New friends at Las Cocos beach.  Three visiting French girls. 2006

Unless of course your name is Bond... James Bond. 

The VX 800 Shaftie over looking a small cove.

As of late, the topic of discussion has often centered around friends, family, celebrities passing away into the great beyond.  Let's face it, death is a part of life.

Another oft mentioned fact centers on the increasing cost of our using motorized vehicles.  Again, in our society, it would be difficult to give up the family car and of course having a garage/shed/barn full of motorcycles has costs associated with them.

I visited last  Friday with my former competitor Layton Johnson.  Layton (LJ) started in the business like many of us old timers did, and I was surprised when he told me his age.  Not going to repeat that here but he's older than I.

My honey, the woman that 'captured me'

Because I have a "young" wife, a good triple bypass that's nearly 10 years old now... and a shed/garage full of bikes, I still feel I can tackle those gnarly Arizona desert tracks and kick ass, albeit slowly. I still feel like I can bend a corner with at least some aplomb!

Some feel this is appropo for moi!

During my latest visit with LJ, it struck me how uncannily similar our stories are.  We both got into the biz for primarily the same reasons, put our money where our checkbooks were and provided services to encourage others to ride.  I truly hope he and I get to go out for a ride or three this year and yak a bit about customers,  distributors and experiences riding.

My 71 CL 350, pretty mint!

My garage includes mostly older models (my newest is an '08 scooter) and I was thinking this past week of which machines I would put on the road in 2014.  Cost of course is a major consideration, and here on the Island, it is expensive to ride a bike or drive a car.  Not only is there a 14% tax collected each time you buy/register something, but there are higher costs for insurance, plating each year ($100/car and $40/bike) and that other tax grab... the annual "safety inspection".  Of course all these measures are to bolster the "public" purse, after all, there is little in the way of fossil fuels in these parts to depend upon.

T Bird on Honeymoon in Lunenburg.

Now that we are pretty much settled in and the apartment building we bought last May is ticking along fairly well, I feel I will have more time available and may actually feel retired and not just tired!  I was going over the cost of using the road system and of course there is the maintenance of cutting several acres worth of grass and putting fuel into dirt bikes too.  It ain't cheap.

I do love those triples!

On the other hand, using my philosophy of riding in Europe and Baja and the SW USA, and now here on Prince Edward Island, I'm tabulating which bikes and how much it will cost to have them tagged for the year.  I have to have some justification for placing a half dozen bikes on the road.  After all, there has been no paycheck for three years!

Hearing of so many people dying around me as I had alluded to, just makes me realize, yet again, life is finite.  Years ago when asked how I could take so much time off to spend months in Baja living on a beach, my answer would be simple... "I may not be able to do this when I'm 65!" 

Palapa numero ocho, Bahia Conceptione, Baja Sur.  Mi casa!

And, that's the truth.  Last year when I bought the 955 RSi, I knew it was an unusual bike to have here at this age.  After all it is a sports touring bike with the the lean towards sports.  Not near as radical as the 919 Honda sitting next to it, but none the less, still pretty 'cafe'.

Fireblade.

I am going to put it on the road even though I despise having to pay through the nose for all these taxes PEI forces on us.  I will ride it for a few years and likely sell it at some point to someone deserving of such an incredible bike, only because I'm not destitute (remember I started over twice) and because physically... I still can. 

After all... life is finite.

Just another fabulous Island scene.

Flashback, Euro!

MOST of you don't know it, but I was born in Hungary in 1955.

My father, who had defected to France in 1947, had come back the following year and was arrested and placed in a detention/concentration/camp for political prisoners and spent the next 6 years at hard labor. 


After "Uncle Joe" died in 53, Nikita Khrushchev came into power and denounced Stalin, declared an amnesty and he was released in 54.  I was born the following winter.




Hungary revolted in October 1956 and the Hungarian communist party called in the Russians to 'stabilize' the situation.  Of course what followed was a very bloody revolution that was beat down by the military.  Tanks in Budapest, Molotov cocktails, a shooting war.



At this time a quarter million Hungarians fled the country, my family included.

DURING my travels in Europe, I found many vestiges of the cold war.





Old military blocks, border check points now rusting and decaying, military equipment and museums.


 

On the outskirts of Budapest there stands a park dedicated to that era.

You can view black and white period films depicting communist superiority, how to rat out your neighbor/family, the procedures for spying on your friends, where to search for contraband, in the flour jar, the sugar bowl, the false bottomed drawers.  How to clandestinely record the discussions of dissidents, where to contact the secret police.



There are just a few remaining of the thousands of mammoth statues dedicated to the USSR, the communist party, Stalin, the worker.



Just before returning to Canada, we had a chance to view this unusual exhibit and believe me, it was frightening.  There was no opportunity during the occupation to travel, to operate a business, to worship as you pleased, to talk without recriminations.  In essence, there was no freedom.  You could be turned in at any time for any reason.  In fact many people did just that.

We have no idea what that was like.

Of course in due time, the "Iron curtain" as Winston Churchill called it after WW2, fell into a crumbling mass of rubble and for all intents and purposed into history.  Walking through the communist park was a grim reminder of living in an oppressed society, and made me glad my family had fled the country and allowed me to grow up in an open age, where I could earn a decent living, play out my dreams and ambitions and make my own choices.

WE joked about it, poked fun at it, while we were there, most of us too young to remember, but of course, for those that lived through the decades after the war, I'm sure it wasn't a laughing matter.

Global Warming.

I believe in that.



I also believe in Global cooling.  Just the past few months, I've experienced unusually cool temperatures in Arizona, lots of early snow and cold sub 20 degree temps in Canada, and the last couple of days, well above zero with lashing rain, high warm winds and melting snow.  Yup, global warming and cooling all within a month.



As I pulled into my driveway yesterday after an afternoon in Kensington, I very nearly boo booed my pick up truck as I slid in slo-mo downhill.  Came within feet of bumpers kissing! 

 

With overnight temperatures around 10 C and the accompanying wind, my driveway is virtually free of ice today. 



Brenda and I have been in at the apartment building this past week doing small touch-ups and fixing/cleaning units that tenants left in poor order.  I don't understand people that deliberately or even unwittingly damage property that is not their own.  I've long come to the conclusion that for many, they don't view property or relationships the same way as I do, that is respectfully. 

We may have spare time this year to do some things we want to do.  Daytime's sitting having a coffee on a sidewalk in Charlottetown, maybe an afternoon picnic in a city park.  Riding more of the Confederation Trail, hopefully an overnight or two by motorcycle to Moncton or Cape Breton or the Fundy shore.

It would be great to do more canoeing, the Island has a plethora of shallow, quiet estuaries to explore. 

Some scooter rides in the country with one of my machines.  Perhaps even a visit to New England and the Gaspe as well. 

I'd like to do several street and dual purpose overnight trips myself through the back roads of N.B. or N.S.  And... I have put it on my list to ride my TTR's at least twice a month on my own little grass MX track.  2014 is also the year I get my TY 175 (that I brought with me from Alberta) serviced and ride-able. 

 I have a sand pit that will serve me nicely as a simple trials course.  Steep loose short climbs, some run off cuts and with some pallets and a bit of reconstruction, I'd have a 5-6 section trials course to fart around with. 

Looking back is great, but it maybe more fun to look ahead:)

I'm 59 now, and still have the energy to do these things.  While that's true I plan on taking advantage, after all, this move to PEI was in part, a way of fulfilling a long time dream of having a large enough chunk of property to do these things.



Yesterday was spent in Kensington as I'd mentioned, puttering around in friend Mike's garage/man cave, giving his son Chris a hand.  Chris is motorcycle crazy and although  a relative neophyte, he is absorbing like a sponge.  I helped him buy an '89 Virago 535 last fall for not too much money and young Mr. Smith is busily working on creating a very nice small bore Island fun bike to ride.  In the plan are new shocks, tires, brakes, clutch and a home paint job for the little girl.  I'll post some photos soon.

 

A worthy ambition I'd say...

Frank comes face to face with winter in PEI

Ever flown into Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island?

Didn't think so.  Well I can tell you it's very similar to Atlanta, S.L.C. Frankfurt or Madrid!

Except it has a shorter runway, and only one.

There's 3 gates instead of 103...

and to top it off, when  you step off the plane, you enter the atmosphere and whatever weather it happens to be having at the time.

Another foot since last week.

As I was on the last row of the Bombardier short haul jet, and I'd left Phoenix Arizona just that morning, I took the time to unpack my windbreaker to wear before I deplaned.  Let me explain this more fully.  By windbreaker, I mean one of those cool little nylon numbers that you can roll up into it's own back pocket, or conversely fit into the your tank bag with room for a camera, spare gloves, three Snickers bars, a pocket book or two, with a little room left over for the odd postcard!

My toys, ummm... tools.

In other words... it's a wind breaker for the slightest possible breeze, usually made for strolling down Melrose Avenue in Hollywood on a cool September evening.

To say I was shivering in my boots by the time I walked the hundred yards to Gate 1, would be deceptive.  I wasn't wearing any boots!

The flight (scheduled for Friday 11:30 pm) got in Saturday morning at 3 A.M.

Brenda was somewhat bright eyed and bushy tailed, I think.  It was hard to tell under that big winter overcoat she was wearing.  Outside, the Blazer sat under the dim airport parking lot lighting pretty much covered in snow.  The wipers were frozen solid and she mentioned that she had removed the windshield brush earlier in the fall and not replaced it.  Ever watched those helpful suggestive videos of a guy whose wife had taken the scraper one day and used it to stir paint, so he ends up using his Visa card... well that may work for L.A. frost, but it sure don't work in a full blown PEI winter gale, which is where I found myself wearing only a pair of Khaki's, a T shirt and a breeze blocker.

At least if the Sun where shining, the black nylon would have garnered a little warmth, but after all, it was the middle of the night.

I think we hit Hunter River before the heater got the better of the frost and I was just beginning to feel the heat in my toes as I closed the garage door at home.  This after negotiating the barely passable cut the local farmer had made at Brn's request on our snow covered driveway.

Yesterday morning... -24

I spent at least 2 hours a day over the next 5 days with only a brief respite during Christmas morning, widening the drive and measuring the snow depth for the Christmas tree cut from the yard.  It was in fact... three feet deep.  How can I be sure, well it was up to my waist!

Last year, lulled us into almost believing that global warming had actually caught up to the little Island in the Gulf... but that was just nature fooling with us.  Our civic number perched on it's post the regulation height of 40 or so inches, is currently under about 12 inches of snow!  I will go out and clear it tomorrow (again) after the nights 8-10 cm stops snowing. After all... it would be good for the ambulance crew to find the right house, if I were to collapse shoveling!

Like a mountain chalet, without the mountain or the crowds.

Okay, I jest, sort of.  Really there is about 4 feet of snow in the yard, and I do have a powered Cub Cadet 208cc blower, backed up by a 350cc Yamaha Big Bear with snow blade, so I really only have to do about an hour's actual bending the back shoveling... still, the early winter has caught pretty much everybody by surprise.

It's a new year.  2014.  A number that George Orwell probably would have had something to write about, had he looked farther than 1984, most likely some science fiction about missile armed drones flying around, people talking to one another via video phones, and computers taking over the earth.  If not G.O. then certainly G.R.*

Tomorrow is the third of January.  My deceased father's birth date, oddly enough, also my own.  In a few short minutes, I will officially be a year older.  I got out of bed to write this blog, after all... I am not getting any younger.

I once again, look back on the year passing.  I pull out my 2013 goals for myself and see I did pretty well actually.  Given all the stress that began the year past, it's truly a wonder.  Just to name a few... I kept my weight to 150, did several rides off Island, put the canoe in the water once, and got married... also once.  The canoe I would have liked to try several times, but the getting married part (something I said I would never do again) I kept to a minimum.

I've already made up my goal sheet for the coming year, something I have been doing regularly for a couple of decades.  Just to mention a couple... I want to set up the tire changer Hance brought back for me from New England, go back to Phoenix in the fall, work on the newly purchased Ascot, and stay married for another 12 months.  At my age, that's a Big Goal!

Stay healthy.  Make a point of getting out, and if you feel like a little exercise and are in the hood, my driveway could stand some further widening.

BYOS**

Cheers.

* Gene Roddenberry

** Bring your own shovel

Like you need another resolution right?!

Here's a couple of suggestions, if you don't already have one...

1)   Get that old bike dusted off this winter and ride it this year!
2)   If you don't have one, get one, dust it off and ride it!
3)   Take a Motorcycle training program if you're new or rusty, and go riding!
4)    Make some memories with your bike, go to the beach, to the mountains, to the desert!
5)    Try something new, do something different!
6)    Forget about buying a gym membership, get a dirt bike instead and go exploring!
7)    Get some phone numbers and get your friends out to ride!
8)    Start a club.  Could be trail riders, corner carvers, Mad Max's or even scooters!
9)    Do something nice for someone today, tomorrow and every day!
10)   Do something nice for yourself... !

     HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!