15 Days to Departure

July 17, 2011

G’mornin

            Wow….another ‘What a Day!” day!

            Paperwork in the morning, then over to Great Indoors to return about $400 of Danze bathroom accessories that will not be used.  Up to Fountain Valley to meet with Mounir of Floor Expo and place the order for the upstairs carpet and downstairs travatine tile.  Mounir has been great and very patient working with me….we only started this whole process about 2.5 years ago!

            But now we’re reaching completion.

            From there to Costco to turn in about 3-400 negatives and slides that I found when cleaning out the attic.  Costco will take about 2 weeks to convert them all to DVD.  From some of the negatives I could tell they went as far back as 1963….should be very interesting to see what comes from those pics.

            Once home I then undertook hooking up the trailer to the Expedition on my own.  Didn’t turn out to be all that difficult and was successful in getting it hooked up.  Then It was unloading the trailer of all the lumber I purchased yesterday, attaching the Pingle E-track chock, running Sophia into the chock, and then strapping her down.  In between hooking and loading I chatted with friend, dau and bro.  Finished strpping Sophia down around 2200….I’m pooped. 

            Don’t know what the wine label is and I don’t care….tastes great to the sip

            I have 15 days to do to departure date for Sturgis.  In those 15 days I have to build shelving in the trailer, order netting, acquire remaining camping gear, complete the Master Bath tile, cabinetry, granite, flooring, complete MBdrm tiling of fireplace, install baseboards on all 2^nd flr, complete all drywall repairs and texturing, paint, install carpeting, Install acrylic for stair railing to make them safe.  Arrange for downstairs bath remodel and complete first floor tile installation while I am gone…to be supervised by my dau and SIL.

            No wonder I like drinking a glass of wine in the evening J

C ya mañana

Gonzo

twitter:  @GonzoCrossUSA

What gives with twitter????

July 14, 2011
Lake Forest

It seems that everyday when I log into twitter for the first time I need to enter username and password….and each time the password will not be accepted.  I end up having to reset the password.  Except that when resetting, I then get prompted to prove I am human and have to type in two “words” they have made up consisting of letters, numbers and/or symbols….well, maybe not numbers.  The two are separated by a space.

            So I enter my username @GonzoCrossUSA and type the 2 “words” and the words never take. 

I type the words with or without the space and wont take. 

I type gmail address and that wont work…

Now I am locked out from my account.

What is going on with Twitter !!!!!

C ya mañana

Gonzo

twitter:  @GonzoCrossUSA (which ain’t WAF at this point)

A Glorious Tribute for the 4th !

July 4th, 2011 Irving, CA
Verizon Amphitheater   

What a day!   And a family day at that!  It started off with watching my grand daughter #1 (gd#1, 5 yrs old going on 18) jump of the diving board into the deep end of the club’s pool then swimming over to the side.  She did this about 3,786 times (+/- 3,700).  A year ago we could only get her into the wading pool.  Hats off to Waterworks Aquatics located here in Irvine (also located in Beverly Hills and Carlsbad).  They have superb swim instructors whose goals are to teach children how to swim…..and they have succeeded immensely with gd#1 !

            Back home was a hot dog lunch courtesy of my daughter then off on Lil’ Baby (’99 Harley Dyna Low Rider) to take care of a number of errands, and a good excuse to go for a short ride.  Around 4 pm I got a little hungry so I treated myself to an In-N-Out hamburger with onion and chiles at the El Toro Rd stand.  Chatted briefly with a gentleman heading back to San Diego after visiting some friends up in LA.  Now there’s a switch….I thot only LA and OC people traveled down to SD….not the other way ‘round.

            Had to get home to shower and dress up for a fun night with the family…..my son-in-law acquired tickets to the Pacific Symphony’s “A Symphonic Tribute to Elvis Presley” and I had decided to go with them.  Altho I had reservations of being in the crowded place and yadayada, it was time for me to get out and have some time with the family.  I am so glad that I did…..had a blast of a time.

            There were many thrills encountered this 4^th.  First, I got to stand next to the Camp Pendleton Marine Honor Guard as they awaited their call to march thru the audience onto the stage.  I was doing the typical Marine thing…getting a bottle of wine for Landon and I to partake during the show.  Heading up the ramp to return to my seat with my prize bottle I got stopped by security to wait for the Marine Guard to present the Flag.  Hence, I got to stand right next to them while they waited and then wish them “Semper Fi Marines!” as they marched forward thru the audience.  These Marines did a flawless presentation of the colors...and the audience awarded them with applause, admiration and appreciation.

Runnin the I-90 Slab

July 4, 2011

Lake Forest, CA

Happy 4^th of July everyone.  I’m back in Lake Forest now and realized I didn’t post a story on my last northwest ride for June.  So here goes.

27June11

Woke up to the sound of the Wenatchee rapids heard thru the open balcony door.  The bed and room here at the River Valley Inn was very comfortable and I slept well.  The Inn serves breakfast so I had two boiled eggs, sausage, croissant, pastry and coffee before heading out.

            From Leavenworth I continued east on ol’ 2 and turned south on WA97.  This is a continuation of the scenic route displayed in the Harley Davidson H.O.G Touring Handbook.  The scenic route goes all the way to Ellensburg but I turned off onto WA970 heading for Cle Elum for fuel before getting on the I-90 for the run back to Bellevue.  I was thinking this Cle Elum leg of the run was only around 30 miles or so but it actually clocked in at around 52 miles.  The skies were overcast so I was a little concerned that rain would be hitting me before pulling into Eastside Harley.  But for now, there was no rain and the temperature was pleasantly in the 60’s or so.  97 didn’t have as many climbs and turns like the 2, but it too is beautiful.  Once out of the hills more farmland became visible. 

When I left Leavenworth I forgot to tank up….but I had over a quarter tank of gas on the gauge so I felt Skyblue was good for 60 miles.  However, heading down the 97 the indicator suddenly dropped to a white dot above the ominous ‘E’…..about 10 miles later it was back to almost a quarter but then back to the white dot shortly thereafter.  I was confident in my calculations of endurance….but the eyeballs sure liked to scan that fuel gauge almost every mile.

           

U.S. Navy in the Cascades

June 26,  2011

Leavenworth, WA

G’Mornin,

            Tis’ ‘nother beautiful day in the great North West.  Heading up the 405 for the WA522 cutoff to Monroe and connect to Hwy 2 and run that out to Leavenworth.  This is one of the scenic routes in the Harley Davidson H.O.G. touring handbook.  The enjoyment of this ride was immeasurable with beautiful Cascades all around the highway, small Americana towns to pass thru, sweet air of the Pacific enriching itself as it passes thru the foliage of the Cascades and barely any traffic to hinder or push me.

            At Mt. Index Village there was a chalet styled coffee shop on the south side of the road so I pulled in for a break.  Met the owners, Mark and Sandy, and enjoyed my favorite coffee treat..latte with no foam J. When I pulled into the parking space Mark was standing by the spot and commented on Skyblue, the 2011 Electroglide rental from Eastside Harley in Bellevue.  He was ready to buy it on the spot.  This seems to be the coffee stop for a lot of folks traveling Ol’ 2 either direction.  The pines are tall all around the chalet and there is seating out back to rest.  I stood out front by the bike.

            A big 4 wheel pickup pulled in and a tank shirted man got out of it with his sweetheart and got into the line that seemed to build up after my arrival.  The back of his shirt showed “Virginia Beach, VA”.  Well, that got my attention since my brother Joe is a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer and Norfolk was his home port….I think he was on the enterprise as the Chief of Intermediate engine maintenance.