Well a 7 year relationship has ended and I will soon be starting a new relationship. I am talking about my bike!
I have spent a lot of time with my bike, a gold painted “Diamondback Wildwood”. Not the best bike in the world, but a good bike for me. I got it in December of 1999, and have ridden it faithfully ever since, with some long absences and some major repairs! I put over 6,000 miles on it, so at 10 miles an hour, that is 600 hours with it! Considering my actual speed, it is probably more than 600 hours.
It gave me good service, but yesterday (Saturday, April 22), I took it out to ride and realized it was hopeless. There was just too much wrong with it to make it financially feasible to fix. I will donate it to a local group that fixes bikes to give free to children who need a bike and hope it provides a good bike for a child to learn the wonders and enjoyment of riding.
I have my eyes on a Trek Multitrac 7300, and am looking at others. I need to get another bike pretty soon-I’m missing out on super bike-riding weather! The Trek 7300 is cheap enough I can upgrade to a better bike if needed, but it will be good for my type of riding.
I have enjoyed my old bike, but I realized I was trying to keep it too long, especially when I almost ended up pushing the bike back 3 miles yesterday! Something went wrong with the gearing, and I did ride it back, but my maximum speed was about 6 milers per hour and it wasn’t any fun. This happened several years ago, and it cost me about 50% of the cost of a new bike to fix the old bike, so it's just not worth it. Hopefully a volunteer can fix it up so a child can enjoy it.
Of course, I’m looking forward to my new bike, while saying goodby to my old bike.
I’ll keep you advised!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Grand Canyon and "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona"
We went to Arizona last week and I finally got to the Grand Canyon, and I found it truly is a GRAND Canyon! We saw a big part of the canyon and enjoyed our drive to the Canyon.
We flew out Wednesday (April 12) and met Aliene’s mother at the Phoenix Airport and drove her to see her sister in Tucson.
Aliene and I then drove to Flagstaff where we stayed in Flagstaff and went to the Grand Canyon Thursday and the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert (as well as “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona!) on Friday and had a lot of fun. We went out to the Meteor Crater, but didn’t stop when we found it cost $15 apiece to get in! (It wouldn’t have been so bad, except it closed at 5:00 p.m. and it was 4;15 p.m. when we stopped by.) If any of the pictures come out (especially the “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona”) come out, I’ll try to post them to the web page.
We went down to Tucson Saturday and picked up Aliene’s mother and went back to Phoenix.
It was an enjoyable trip. We discovered there are millions (yes millions and that is putting it lightly) of bugs at the Grand Canyon. Fortunately they didn’t bite! We heard that they will all be gone the next week when the sparrows come! Our white rental car actually looked black with all the bugs on it!
Overall, we enjoyed the Grand Canyon-I always wanted to see it, but we probably won’t go back except with Grandchildren etc.
I had always wanted to see the Petrified Forest since I was a kid-I remember my parents had a small piece of petrified wood, although I don’t know where it came from.
Overall the weather was great, except for Friday, when it was exceptionally windy and rained Friday night (after we were safely at the hotel!).
We barely got back Monday, when I had to go the Nashville for the Tennessee City Managers Conference Wednesday. We were reminded we were in Nashville when we went to a “writers session” at the hotel and suddenly realized it is a Song Writers session, not a “writing” session!
Enjoying the conference. They have some excellent sessions. I’ll be glad to get back to Lakeland though!
I am so glad Spring is here! Our back yard is greening up and it is beautiful to look out.
We flew out Wednesday (April 12) and met Aliene’s mother at the Phoenix Airport and drove her to see her sister in Tucson.
Aliene and I then drove to Flagstaff where we stayed in Flagstaff and went to the Grand Canyon Thursday and the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert (as well as “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona!) on Friday and had a lot of fun. We went out to the Meteor Crater, but didn’t stop when we found it cost $15 apiece to get in! (It wouldn’t have been so bad, except it closed at 5:00 p.m. and it was 4;15 p.m. when we stopped by.) If any of the pictures come out (especially the “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona”) come out, I’ll try to post them to the web page.
We went down to Tucson Saturday and picked up Aliene’s mother and went back to Phoenix.
It was an enjoyable trip. We discovered there are millions (yes millions and that is putting it lightly) of bugs at the Grand Canyon. Fortunately they didn’t bite! We heard that they will all be gone the next week when the sparrows come! Our white rental car actually looked black with all the bugs on it!
Overall, we enjoyed the Grand Canyon-I always wanted to see it, but we probably won’t go back except with Grandchildren etc.
I had always wanted to see the Petrified Forest since I was a kid-I remember my parents had a small piece of petrified wood, although I don’t know where it came from.
Overall the weather was great, except for Friday, when it was exceptionally windy and rained Friday night (after we were safely at the hotel!).
We barely got back Monday, when I had to go the Nashville for the Tennessee City Managers Conference Wednesday. We were reminded we were in Nashville when we went to a “writers session” at the hotel and suddenly realized it is a Song Writers session, not a “writing” session!
Enjoying the conference. They have some excellent sessions. I’ll be glad to get back to Lakeland though!
I am so glad Spring is here! Our back yard is greening up and it is beautiful to look out.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The new Tennessee vehicle tags are UGLY!
I hate the new Tennessee vehicle tags! I don’t know who in the world approved such a junky looking car tag, but when it comes time for us to buy a new tag, we are going to get a specialized tag so we don’t have to have such a ugly tag on our vehicle!
The tag appears to be a mountain, I assume the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. Another reason not to like the tag. Shouldn’t a STATE tag represent the entire state, and not just a small portion?
Enough of this rant, but if you see the new Tennessee car tag, let me know what you think!
The tag appears to be a mountain, I assume the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. Another reason not to like the tag. Shouldn’t a STATE tag represent the entire state, and not just a small portion?
Enough of this rant, but if you see the new Tennessee car tag, let me know what you think!
Don't buy "low profile" tires or an Acura TL!
We’re currently watching a storm come into the Lakeland area. The tornado sirens went off, but the “warning” was just over. Signs of Spring!
We went to Conway, Arkansas to see Michael play in a soccer tournament. While there, I hit a small pothole (after a stop, so I was going very slow) and ruined a tire. On the Acura, they are $300 tires and we only got this tire two months ago.
We checked and found they couldn’t get another tire until WEDNESDAY (this was on a Saturday), but we lucked out and found a used tire that fit. The tire got us back to Memphis.
We have decided that these tires have a design defect (this is the third tire that has been ruined in less than 38,000 miles on the car). Since we can’t change the tires on the car, we are going to trade the car.
We feel the tires have a design defect and are dangerous. I can’t believe they allow them to sell such a fragile, dangerous tire.
So, we are looking for another vehicle. We love the car (an Acura TL), but can’t take the chance on such a dangerous tire, and worse yet, when we can’t get one if we need it! (The first one that blew out, even the ACURA DEALER couldn’t get one for three days!
Take that as a warning! Don’t buy any car with “low profile” tires, especially Bridgestone tires. They have a design defect and are dangerous. (Of course, they always have an excuse about the reason for the ruined tire-I “hit something” etc.)
We went to Conway, Arkansas to see Michael play in a soccer tournament. While there, I hit a small pothole (after a stop, so I was going very slow) and ruined a tire. On the Acura, they are $300 tires and we only got this tire two months ago.
We checked and found they couldn’t get another tire until WEDNESDAY (this was on a Saturday), but we lucked out and found a used tire that fit. The tire got us back to Memphis.
We have decided that these tires have a design defect (this is the third tire that has been ruined in less than 38,000 miles on the car). Since we can’t change the tires on the car, we are going to trade the car.
We feel the tires have a design defect and are dangerous. I can’t believe they allow them to sell such a fragile, dangerous tire.
So, we are looking for another vehicle. We love the car (an Acura TL), but can’t take the chance on such a dangerous tire, and worse yet, when we can’t get one if we need it! (The first one that blew out, even the ACURA DEALER couldn’t get one for three days!
Take that as a warning! Don’t buy any car with “low profile” tires, especially Bridgestone tires. They have a design defect and are dangerous. (Of course, they always have an excuse about the reason for the ruined tire-I “hit something” etc.)
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