This, That, and that other Thing

I have finally managed to overcome the inertia of this years bad case of cabin fever, but only a little. Here we sit in the middle of April and the forecast for the next week or so, is for temperatures in the 40s. I think that last year there was corn sprouting at this time and I had a couple of thousand miles on bikes. Last year I made a run to the Black Hills in the middle of March, and had a great ride. In my last blog I had a picture of some of Harrys' valve train sitting on the bench, and accidentally placed a bottle of migraine strength pain reliever in the photo. Actually, the re-assembly process went fairly well after months of preparation and many, many visits to the factory parts web sites for information. You would not believe the amount of different fastener lengths in the head cover alone. I replaced everything on the top end, and a fresh piston and rings all coated liberally with assembly lube. Wonders of wonders Harry fired right up when I got him together and idled right down, after a short warm up. This all goes back to the screw up by the dealer in the first place that led to the first rebuild, I think that maybe this time around it was my fault for not breaking him in long enough. Anyhow, I have put a few miles on, and am taking it really easy until all of those new, expensive parts get acquainted to each other. Other than that I have managed to get some break-in miles on the Triumph (Tony) when it nears 50 degrees and I can bundle up and turn on my electric vest. Jan and I are planning another trip to Virginia to visit the DeFors again and help some with their move to their new home in Norfolk. One way or another we leave in less than 2 weeks, and with the way the weather has been going lately, the idea that we might have to fight snow etc., is not totally out of the realm of possibilities. This past week we dodged the weather bullet again. Just to our west they had freezing rain and then 6-8" of snow over the top. Southwestern Minnesota and southeastern South Dakota was without power for several days. Maybe it is my brush with cancer, but I have this feeling that time is a precious commodity that should not be wasted, sometimes I wish that I did not have to sleep at night, as that strikes me as pretty much a poor use of the time remaining on my calendar. There are so many places I want to ride to, Virginia, Wyoming, and places west, and a short little swing through Iowa, for crying in the soup, but here I am looking out the window at more freezing rain and light snow, with no relief in sight. Arg!  I just got over a cold that was not too bad but hung on for weeks it seems. When it started I started taking some kind of zinc cough drops. Jan and I have tried them before and it really seems to help. Oh ya, I did sit through a concealed carry class and just received my permit to carry, so now I am armed and dangerous, more or less. So anyhow, that about sums it up for now. Stay in touch?