Think Spring!

Well here we sit ... December 28th ... the year 2020 is mostly behind us. I was hoping to tell you how excited I was to be here on day 3 and-a-wake-up ... getting ready to head south for the winter. But alas it isn’t to be. With the COVID numbers as high as they have been for the last year and every state trying to out shutdown their neighbor — it seemed the prudent thing to do was to just sit here in Maine for the winter, watch the snow fly, tinker on my motorcycle project, and await my turn for vaccination. I said it was “prudent” ... not enjoyable! Assuming I can make it through till spring this will be the first winter we have stayed in Maine since 2008!

I also note that this is my 1055th blog entry since I started this method of communication back in 2008. I had a different blog running in 2005 when we started RVing but swapped to Blogger in 2008. I also note that this blog finally made it over 10,000 page views! Since we started using Facebook in 2009 to help keep our family and friends up-to-date on what we were up to while RVing America ... and the fact that we have been RVing less these past few years ... the need for the blog has gotten smaller and smaller since I share the blog with all my Facebook friends anyway. Regardless, I think I will keep on trying to get in at least 1 post in per month while not traveling and more when we are on the road.

We had a joyous Christmas in spite of all the Coronavirus limitations. We got to see the Maine kids/grandkids for short - socially distanced - visits and managed to enjoy the holiday. We did miss visiting with the NJ Gang this year but we will make up for it this spring when we head that way for Alyssa’s College Graduation Ceremony. That’s right! She is scheduled to graduate after only 3 years and hopefully they can have a nice ceremony this year!

I have continued to work on my Superhawk II motorcycle project. I am pretty much taking the whole bike apart piece by piece, cleaning it all, replacing what must be replaced to make it reliably functional, and then putting it back together again. For now — I am doing my best to keep it as original as possible — but I may break down and repaint it. 

So that’s about it for us Maineiacs this last week of 2020. Hunkering down for the winter and hoping for a pandemic breakout in early 2021!

Think Spring!!!

Ready For Whatever Comes our Way!

Hello there from the cold and blustery State of Maine where winter has begun (it is after Halloween you know)! Winter usually starts right about now and this year is no different. We have already had many nights with temperatures below 32 degrees and even a few days with highs below 35.

Fortunately, I am pretty much done with my pre-winter chores. The leaves are mostly down and picked up, WTT has been winterized and is back in its storage spot waiting for whatever comes next, the lawn tractor is put away, and the snowblower is ready.

Now we look forward to a fun Thanksgiving holiday with the celebration taking place at Stacy and Kaj’s place this year. I’m sure we will have a great time in spite of keeping the numbers of family down and doing our best to keep the Coronavirus at bay!

We remain on the fence as to whether or not we load up WTT and head south for the worst of the winter months. Our plan is to keep an eye on all there is to keep an eye on ... and make a decision sometime in early December. The travel restrictions being put in place in the various States along our travel path ... and at our planned destinations in Florida will certainly play a factor — as will the availability of a vaccine ... but mostly we will do what makes the most sense to us.

In the meantime we will watch winter arrive and enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

With the now red 1965 Honda Super Hawk project mostly done and awaiting spring I’ll bet you were all worried about what Mikee will do with all his “free” time .. especially if he stays hunkered down in Maine for the winter. Well worry no more!

I won’t bore you with the long story ... but it seems that I just couldn’t resist buying yet another vintage motorcycle project. The latest one looks an awful lot like the last one. This time a 1966 Honda 305 Super Hawk has found its way to Mikee’s Motorcycle Restoration and Maineiac Madness Workshop! I was telling myself that the last one was ... the “Last One.” Apparently it wasn’t!

The latest acquisition, now known as Super Hawk II - is a mostly complete and original version in black with only 5,444 miles. When it arrived in the shop neither the kick starter nor the electric starter worked but I was able repair the electric starter in short order. The kick starter issue looks like an easy repair ... but does involve removing the engine and some serious disassembly ... so that will wait until warmer weather (maybe!). The good news is that Super Hawk II appears to run well and has most of its original parts. My initial plan is to clean it up, get it reliably roadworthy, and find a new owner ... time will tell how this plan works out!

So that’s the way it is here at the Maineiacs In Motion Winter Chalet this 24th day of November 2020 .. 38 and A-Wake-Up (Maybe) and ready for Turkey Day. 

Bring it on!

The Big Reveal

Well folks, we made it to mid October! In spite of the increasing level of political advertising, the craziness of social media Supreme Court fear mongering, the actual and hyped up danger of the COVID 19 virus pandemic, and all else that attempts to daily bring us down ... we are still here!

We managed to finish up September and then entered Evringham anniversary season. Peggy and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on October 4th, Eric and Jen celebrated #14 on the 7th, and Brian and Nicole celebrated #25 on the 14th. Congratulations to us all - it’s a bigger deal than you may realize! Peggy and I had hoped to have a bigger celebration party but the pandemic made that pretty much out of the question. Our kids did throw us a mostly close family party on the 3rd. It turned out to be a nice fall day here in Maine so we were able to have it outside. Everybody seemed to have a great time — a few may have had too much fun — but it was great having “the  whole gang” over to help us celebrate!

After taking a few days off to breathe after the Party it was time to move on to fall chores. The beautiful fall foliage started its fall to the ground, the annual vehicle oil changes needed to be accomplished, the vintage vehicles needed to start their annual pilgrimage to their respective storage locations, and it is time to winterize Winne The Two. The “get ready for winter” chores will continue over the next month ... but the process has started.

Of course it hasn’t been all work and no play for Mikee! I did manage to almost complete the reassembly of the engine for my 1965 Honda Superhawk Project. And then my painter friend Glen decided to complete his part of the project! So faced with a bunch of freshly painted parts what else could I do!? It had to start going back together!

Standby for the big reveal ....

It’s RED! Well RED and silver anyway!

Now all I have to do is place this into that frame ...

I’m thinking I will wait for next spring to accomplish this final step. The plan is to take the frame and engine out of the basement separately and then reinstall the engine. I have removed whole bikes from the basement In the past ... but I’m thinking it will be safer for everybody (and the bike) to do this one in pieces!

So then what? Once the pre-winter chores are done and the bike project is on hold ... what do we do for those next few months of real winter?

We could just remain here in snowy, cold Maine —- burning heating oil, shoveling snow, and hiding from the coronavirus. Or we could load up WTT on New Years Day, drive rapidly south, and hang out in Florida for a few months. Although door #2 sounds really good ... and I feel pretty confident that we could make the trip and “hide” from the virus just as easily in Winne in Florida as staying here ... a lot depends on what happens with the virus “flare ups” and what the different governmental groups along the way decide to do. If it becomes more hassle than its worth to make the trip — we’ll stay home. If not — we may go. We have the reservations we need ... now we will watch and see.

One-Day-At-A-Time

 Summer in Maine is pretty much over and we have moved on to Fall with lovely days and chilly nights.

With Fall comes fall chores. The leaves haven’t started their color change and fall to the ground yet so I have a few more weeks before that chore begins ... and it isn’t quite time yet to start getting all the summer toys placed into storage — but it is getting close! But before I move on to those projects I thought it was a good time to get my Fall/Winter motorcycle restoration project ready for the next phase.

Last week I took the 1965 Honda 305 Super Hawk for a short ride and then started its disassembly. It took me a few days but the Super Hawk is now in many many pieces.

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The parts to be painted are ready for their next phase;

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The parts to be detailed and prepped for reassembly are ready for that work;

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And the engine/transmission has been completely disassembled and inspected.

The engine itself was in pretty good condition internally but the transmission was a real rusty mess. 

It was so bad that I declared it trash and found a used replacement on eBay that will replace it completely. With the addition of a few new bearings the whole rotating assembly is ready for reassembly.

So ... that ought to keep me busy for a few months!!

And then there is that whole 50th Wedding Anniversary thing coming up in a few weeks! How did that sneak up on me! One-Day-At-A-Time that’s how!

The Dog Days of Summer

 It appears that the “dog days” of summer 2020 are just about behind us. Today was a very nice day with a high in the low 80s but the humidity was fairly comfortable. The forecast for the next few weeks shows highs mostly in the mid to high 70s and lows in the high 50s ... so it appears we are heading towards fall here in Maine ... in spite of the leaves that will be falling come early October ... this is my favorite time of year.

Most of our home improvement projects are also now behind us. The new siding is on, the new seamless gutters are on, and the driveway sealcoating is done and is curing. Hopefully the new garage door will be delivered to the installer on Monday and we can get that accomplished next week.

In spite of all the disruption and the inevitable dealing with contractor issues ... we are very satisfied with how it has all turned out and we are looking forward to many years of enjoying the new low maintenance feel of our new home exterior. Color-wise it may look pretty much the same ... but I reckon that is because we liked the colors it has been for the last 40 years ... so why change? Besides ... with our advancing age we might not be able to find our way home if it were changed significantly!

I still have a few small maintenance items to take care of ... like painting the steel bulkhead doors leading to the basement ... but that is small potatoes so to speak.

As we finish off summer and move into fall of this crazy year we remain optimistic. The collective WE ... will figure out how to safely navigate this pandemic, restore saneness to our society in general, and will continue to prosper.

After all ... what other choice do we really have?

Summer Chores

Here we are ... August 2020 ... still here, still well, and still sorta isolating. I say “sorta” because we watched Taylor and Aiden for about 6 days. We survived quite well and so did they. And we hosted Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily up from NJ for a week ... and we all survived. And we continue to be doing well as we listen to the sounds of banging and clanging as the siding crew busily replaces the siding on our house. The new Cedar Impressions vinyl siding is looking good and we are looking forward to seeing the finished product!

I was hoping to have the siding work done a few weeks ago but the contractor was waiting for materials which arrived last week. With about 5 minutes notice we suddenly had a crew of guys in our front yard and the old cedar siding was being ripped off and walls were being prepped for the new stuff. The NJ Gang got a rude awakening for sure! Oh well ... I think that’s pretty expectable when dealing with construction type contractors. They show up when they have materials to work with, they work hard, and then they are on to the next job. I’m pretty impressed so far. They seem to know what they are doing, they work pretty steady all day long, and they do a pretty good job of cleaning up after themselves each day. I’m happy to be supporting the local economy ... but I’ll be happier when they are done and we can have our house back!

Once the siding work is completed and the new garage door is installed it will be time to complete my next house maintenance project ... seal coating our asphalt driveway! Another periodic chore I never look forward to! Mmmm ... perhaps another contractor I can look forward to working with! That job has to be completed soon ... certainly before all the local trees start dropping their leaves!

And then there will be motorhome maintenance to accomplish.

Sure glad I’m retired!

Summer Projects

Welcome to July 2020! Peggy and I continue to survive amongst the hue and cry of the outside world dealing with pandemics, civil unrest, and all around social anxiety. We know it is all out there ... but so far we have been able to cope just fine.

Since my last post I have continued on-and-off on tinkering with my 1965 Honda Super Hawk ... and 1966 Yamaha Big Bear motorcycle restoration projects. The Yamaha is pretty much done and the Honda is improving a little each week while it awaits its Autumn complete disassembly for some engine work and new paint. Actually, the motorcycle projects have taken a rest for these last few weeks while I have been busy getting ready for the house siding work that should start in a couple more weeks.

Although the upcoming siding work is going to include wrapping all external window frames with metal to eliminate even more periodic painting needs ... that really only helps with the house windows since the windows were replaced several years ago with vinyl framed windows. The garage windows were the original wood framed and wood sash type that seemed to always need re-glazing and re-painting. So it made sense to me to replace them with new vinyl windows as well. It seemed to make sense at the time ... until I counted them (6 total) ... and then realized that each one of the openings would have to be slightly modified to accept the nearest “standard” sized and generally available window. So Mikee got to play carpenter for a couple of weeks.

And then of course there was the “issue” of what to do with the 60 year old wooden garage door. Yup ... that needs paint too! But this time Mikee smartened up a bit at found a local contractor to handle that replacement! So once all the contractors finish doing their thing ... the external house maintenance chores should be greatly reduced. That’s the plan anyway!

That brings us up to today when Peggy and I start our grandkid watching duties. Stacy decided that she and Kaj needed to venture out into the world for a much needed vacation so we get to try and corral and keep entertained Miss Taylor and Young Mr. Aiden for a bit over 5 days. All prayers for all involved are greatly appreciated!

Papa and Gramma are ready ... bring ‘em on! But be ready for the consequences!

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Welcome to summer 2020! Yes, I know ... 2020 has generally been a bummer ... but it is time to move on folks! Get used to wearing your mask in public places, get used to weird protocols to eat in a restaurant, and get used to COVID 19 Statistics, Lies, and Damn Lies. Just don’t get used to the “Government” telling you how you must live you life. I have a healthy respect for any disease that that can kill me ... but I definitely fear a government that believes it knows what’s best for me and is determined to show me how much it loves me! 

Peggy and I have been generally doing well these past weeks as the weather has slowly improved and turned down right warm these past few days. We are in that stretch of early summer where the lawn needs mowing at least once a week, it is best to get any outdoor work done by 10 AM or after 4 PM, and the roads are full of “Summer People.” All that is true except the last part! With all of the COVID restrictions in place ... the summer tourist season here in Maine is a real bust! The traffic is still busy out there but tourism is way down. I hope these businesses that rely on our summer tourists can survive but I fear many will not.

I have managed to stay busy on my various “projects.” I have continued to tinker on my 1965ish Honda 305 Superhawk. It runs more reliably now and I have done a lot of cleaning of 50+ years of grime and yuk off just about every piece. This is the not-so-fun part of restoring these old machines ... but necessary. Necessary just to improve it’s look and necessary because you tend to find problems that really do need repair under all that yuk! Lately I have been working on the wheels and suspension. A bunch of cleaning, a little polishing, a few new parts here and there and she is beginning to clean up quite nicely!

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A related project was to tackle my storage space problem. I thought I had solved that problem back in 2104 when I build my shed out back ... but that was before I bought a Lawn Tractor and before I started on my motorcycle restoration hobby. Having gained up to two lawn tractors and up to 5 motorcycles I created a whole new problem. Where do I store them in the winter, where do I put them in the summer, and most importantly ... where do I work on my next project!

Last year I sold two motorcycles to help with the problem ... but then bought another one this spring ... and then of course there was the whole lawn tractor debacle last fall which found me owning not one but two LTs! As soon as I could after we returned home from our winter travels I advertised and got the Craftsman LT sold so that helped a bit. But I still had two motorcycles that I had to get out of winter storage and two here at home! 

The home storage plan included selling another two bikes but I needed to get them out of winter storage and put somewhere first ... so a “temporary” storage solution was required. After some time on the internet and some time convincing Peggy that my solution was “temporary” ... I purchased a 6’ by 10’ “Shed-In-A-Box” ... built a platform to put it on ... and installed the new SIAB next to my other shed. Viola! Now I could bring those other two bikes home and get them advertised for sale.

It didn’t take long to sell the first one ... my 1974 CB350F. This one was restored back in the winter of 2015/2016 and was one of my favorites to ride ... but it was time to move on to it’s new owner.

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The 1964 Yamaha YA-6, my first restoration project from back in 2014/2015 is still up for sale and I have had a little interest ... so we’ll see how that works out. But until then she has a home in “temporary” storage.

Then there are the house projects! Back in 2015/2016 I painted our house. I should say Bailey, Kyla, and I painted our house. Nonetheless - it is time for it to be done again ... and I said last time that that was to be the very last time! So over the past few months we have been talking to contractors and have recently decided to have our house resided with vinyl siding. The siding will sorta look like the cedar shakes that we have now, will still be red and white as it is now, and the job will include all new trim, soffits, and gutters. So we are looking forward to getting that job done next month.

But before that work gets done I did want to repaint/re-glaze the daylight basement window frames and repaint the cement foundation and entry steps ... so I did. And then the deck was due for a re-staining ... so Peggy and I did!

I know I can’t eliminate all my homeowner maintenance chores but my plan is to severely decrease any that take a lot of work!

Now that summer is really here it’s time for “soda and pretzels and beer“ as that song goes. I’m ready ... are you!

Springtime, Snowstorms, and Superhawks

Well I’ve gone and done it ... zero blog posts in the month of April 2020 and half way through May with none as well. I suppose that is because I subconsciously want to erase the month of April 2020 and not save it for posterity in any fashion ... yep that’s what it is!

But I’ll recap the last 6 weeks for you anyway ...

• We quarantined
• We survived a few spring snowstorms
• We quarantined some more
• Peggy planted a small garden
• I tinkered on a new motorcycle project
• We quarantined again

Real Spring has finally arrived here in Maine! I can tell because Dairy Queen is open and Fat Boy Drive In Restaurant opens tomorrow, Dandelions have appeared in my lawn, and leaf buds are finally beginning to pop out on our various hardwood trees! The next thing you know I will be starting up the new John Deere and mowing the grass for the first time this year!

I can’t have a blog post without a few pictures of my motorcycle projects ...

First up the 1966 Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler as she emerges from her winter hibernation and gets to show off her new paint and chrome...

Since the Big Bear was just about done ... and since I was going to need to keep busy during my quarantine ... and in spite of not having enough storage room for my previous projects ... but mostly because I couldn’t resist ... Shortly after returning home I purchased this 1966 Honda CB77 305cc SuperHawk. This particular SuperHawk hadn’t been registered since about 1977 and was missing some important parts ... but it did run ... but just barely.

I have made some progress getting the Superhawk whole and reliable in these last few weeks but I will save progress photos for a future posting.

The State of Maine is slowly starting to break out of its Coronavirus Lockdown as well. Not only did a few more retail stores get to open last week but I was even able to score a haircut! 

Next week restaurants will start to try and re-open and hopefully be able to turn a profit and help keep people employed. We need to get back to working, spending, and traveling ... smartly and without fear. I see no reason to take undue risks ... but trying to live risk free isn’t really living in my opinion.

So here’s to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ... we need a lot more of all three!

Welcome Home Maineiacs

My how life can change tremendously in a short period of time!

There we were ... fat (well me anyway), dumb, and happy ... RVing our way back home at a leisurely pace after a fun trip to the desert southwest ... when all of a sudden the world went crazy.

The COVID19 virus had reached the US, folks were starting to get really sick, and it was spreading fast as no one was immune. As we left Auburn, AL heading north our intention was to spend an extra day in Birmingham to re-visit the Barber Motorcycle Museum, then travel north to Nashville to attend another Grand Ol Opry performance, then travel east a bit to Crossville, TN to visit with friends Darrell and Judy Patterson, then travel to New Jersey to visit the NJ Evringham Gang, then make it home — somewhere around a few days from now. Obviously - we didn’t!

We did go visit the Barber Motorcycle Museum since we felt we could do so without interacting with other people much. Fortunately, there were not many folks there and we got to enjoy seeing the bikes on display in between several applications of hand sanitizer along the way.

We left Birmingham heading to Nashville (actually Lebanon - just east of Nashville) on Friday ... the 13th of March. During our drive we decided that even though we already had tickets to the Opry performance on Saturday the 14th — we were not going to attend. It just didn’t make sense to put ourselves, and others, further at risk from receiving or transmitting what could be a deadly disease. Fortunately for us ... the Opry folks made the same decision and cancelled their performances starting on the 13th and gave us a full refund on our “non-refundable” tickets. We went ahead and stayed in Lebanon, TN on the 14th and did a bit of grocery shopping in preparation for our trip home. By this time the stores were already empty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer - but we did manage to pick up the rest of what we needed while doing our best to stay “socially distant.”

About this time we also learned that Miss Judy Patterson was having some symptoms of fever and cough so our visit with them was also going to be problematic. We did drive to Crossville on Sunday the 15th, checked in to our RV Park, and then checked in with the Patterson’s to find out that Miss Judy wasn’t really feeling much better. As she would find out the next day — she had both Type A and Type B influenza! The good news ... she is now feeling much better — a week later! So it became pretty apparent over these few days back a week ago that “things” were about to get worse nationwide. Travel was being restricted, Canadian Snowbirds were being told to get back to Canada if they wanted continued healthcare coverage, business were starting to close, and it just seemed like us being “Home” was best for everybody!

So we pointed Winne north. We made it to Fort Chiswell, VA on Monday the 16th where we stayed overnight at our “normal” RV Park. We continued up I-81 all the way to Jonestown, PA on Tuesday - a drive of about 400 miles. It was a long day but the weather was decent and if weren’t for all the Canadians heading north - the traffic wasn’t too bad. I can tell you that most people were already staying home by this time as most of the vehicles passing us were snowbirds flocking north or truckers doing their job to restock the shelves. Probably the worse thing we experienced was PA had decided to close all their rest stops. Not just closing the doors on the toilet facilities ... but barriers on the entrance ramps preventing entry! I guess they figured people shouldn’t be out on the highways anyway and that the truckers could just use the commercial truck stops!

Now came the tough part of getting back to Maine in March. We had 500 miles to go and pretty much no place to stay overnight along the way if we wanted any kind of “facilities.” Even our normal go-to spot at the Mohegan Sun Casino was closed. We could have dry camped at the Danbury, CT rest area, and we could have dry camped at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel along the way but I decided to take a chance on a Campground in northern Connecticut that seemed to be open with limited facilities - although I couldn’t get a hold of them to ensure they had a spot for us. So after driving about 300 miles on Wednesday we pulled in to Wilderness Lake Campground in Williston, CT - a nice wooded family camping area (which looked pretty empty) - where we were greeted by the owner who guided us into a pull through spot by the lake with 50 Amp service - no water - no sewer - for way too much money. But we were happy to be there - the next option was to continue driving another 200 miles which didn’t sound that good at the moment!

We awoke on Thursday to a light but steady rain. Our last travel day was to be a wet one. Welcome back to New England!

Our last travel day was also pretty spooky. You know something serious is going on when you can drive on the Massachusetts Turnpike, then along I-495, and up the Maine Turnpike seeing very light traffic in general and once again - mostly trucks. It rained pretty much all day but we made it home safe and sound around 12:30 PM.

72 Nights
7,118 Miles
29 RV Parking Spots (5 twice)(6 new ones)
30 travel days
9 mpg average
Average Fuel Cost: $2.80/gallon
Cheapest Fuel: Junction, TX at $2.46/gallon)
Most Expensive Fuel: Port Jervis, NY at $3.46/gallon
                                   (Same spot 70 days later ... $3.00/gallon)

Since our arrival home we have been doing our usual routine of unloading and restoring our household to “normal.” Except Normal isn’t exactly Normal this time. No hugging on kids and grandkids, no getting out to see our friends, no church service on Sunday. 

All this will come soon - but not soon enough! Until then we will do what we have to do to stay safe - right along with all y’all.

Meanwhile - I reckon it’s time to clean up the motorhome, do all those house projects I’ve been fix’n to do, and oh yeah ... shovel the 5” to 8” of snow we are supposed to get tomorrow!

Welcome Home Maineiacs!