Who'd a guessed it?!

I have no explanation, period.

Truthfully I thought when I handed over my passwords to the guys buying my business three years ago, that I would have much more spare time on my hands.

Yet... I don't.  Maybe when I turn 65, I will feel more retired, but not so far.

Seems there are always things going on, like fir instance...

V-7 Sport... our fave!

I've been giving Chris Smith a hand working on his fall acquisition of a Virago 535.  Although he was able to use it last fall, it's needed some desperate neglected work and repairs.  A very good cleaning, tires, brakes, a clutch assembly, exhaust, shocks, as well as a new paint scheme. 

Lots of school breaks for Anna has put extra pressure on my own spare time.  The apartment building of course has stuff to do, and if nothing else, huge snowfalls beginning in November have required much more work and equipment maintenance than last year. 

Good looking R-6

Add all this up and you'll find I don't get much spare time.

Boss Boxer.  My kind of bike.

In the last couple of weeks, several of us including the girls, spent a weekend in Moncton N.B.  Often I think how different my life would have been, had I moved to that nearby city, where I had opened a third branch of my Freedom Cycle back in 1989.  Would I have done all those Baja trips, the European Diversion adventure trips, the home in Phoenix, all the time spent in L.A.  Most likely  not.  Funny how life just kind of happens around you isn't it.  I would never have met one of my greatest friends Tommy G. or Dan the Man or Unca Ronnie.  I would never have had those romances with Deb, or Karen or Arlene or Barb.  I would never have reconnected with ancient friends Judy and Dr. Dennett, or Rusty.



Sure I would have had other trips and other romances and other friends, but that didn't happen.



We went to the Moncton motorcycle show on the weekend of February 15-16th.  As luck would have it, Mother Nature, unpredictable as some ladies are, smashed us with a typical winter storm.  I got up Sunday morning, the Blazer had simply "disappeared" the only evidence was a mound of snow front to back in the shape of a Chevy Blazer.  The mall was near empty and the grapevine brought news of the show being cancelled.

Now here is a Bolt that appeals... YMUS colors.

After some discussion amongst ourselves, we decided to go anyway, after all... I was a legitimate PhotoMoto Journalist and I have a card to prove it.  After driving on near deserted streets across the city to an empty parking lot, we arrived amidst the down.  For the next hour we wandered about, taking photo's talking to a few people and when all was said and done, in some ways, it was better than had it been open.

I drove home on very good road conditions.  It wasn't until we neared the North end of the Confederation Bridge that winter hit us.  The visibility was very poor, it was obvious the roads hadn't been plowed for at least 24 hours, yet we slowly made our way home.  It wasn't until we reached the last few kilometers of the Irishtown Road, where we encountered single track with 15 foot high drifts.

Love those triples!

Once turned down County Line Rd, there were bare patches with some hard pack drifting.  We got to within half a mile of the house when the Blazer high centered.  Fortunately we were across from Erna's place and although she couldn't help us, I did borrow her snow shovel and with me shoveling with that and Brenda lending a hand with my emergency shovel, I was able to back the little 4x4 down and into Erna's driveway, where it stayed till early morning. 

The three of us, walked the final few hundred yards home and after the snow plow went by at 1 am, I bundled up walked back and retrieved the truck... only to get stuck again right in my own driveway.

By 3:30 a.m. I had blown out enough snow, and unstuck the vehicle for the second time that night, and had it parked safely back in the garage.

Retro 750 Guzzi

As for the "show" itself, it was unusual not to see and Kawasaki's nor Suzuki's.  Apparently some last minute disagreement had them pull of of the event.  Never the less we were able at some leisure to wander around sitting on this or that. In our little group of four, we agreed that the V-7 Guzzi was our favorite bike, and from there opinions were mixed.  Some of us (Chris and I) really love the Triumph line, Trevor and I were equally giddy about the Beemers, and Mike would have been happy to take anything home had they been giving something away.

Lots to look forward to this year, and hopefully (cross fingers here) I won't have to wait 6 more years to feel retired!

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