Good Times

I sold my boat today.  Most people say the 2 happiest days in a boat owner's life is the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it.  I have mixed feelings. 

 

I have had Ashe for 14 years.  Most of my friends know what I have been through in the past year and a half and know how content and happy I am now, but I also know they will be a bit shocked. 

 

I'm okay with selling her, for the most part.  I'm looking forward to not having to deal with haul out, launch, the cost of bottom paint, the stress of getting in my work hours, the stress of trying to keep on top of the maintenance, the cost of new sails, motor maintenance, etc.  What I will miss are those evenings after work, when I can go down to the boat and set sail by myself or with some friends for a couple of hours, I will miss jumping off the boat on a hot summer day in my birthday suit, I'll miss being in charge when racing and lying on the bow at sunset listening to the water slipping by.  I will miss seeing how newbies smile when she catches a puff of wind and feel the boat jump into life.  I will miss that quiet moment after hitting the kill switch on the motor, that content happiness in the moments when the boat is singing under your feet.  Those times on the boat always provide that escape from everything.  I know owning a boat is a privilege and I'm thankful that I had that opportunity. 

 

I'm going to keep my membership at the Barrie Yacht Club, I plan on hitching a ride on a Kirby 25 as a sail trimmer and extra helmsman, maybe do a bit of foredeck.  I have made a few great new friends there and I know I'm more than welcome to go sailing with them.  It won't be the same as being on my own boat but I have some cool new plans for my future with Mike that I'm looking forward to and those plans ultimately include another boat in the near future.

 

So raise a pint of dark beer to all the good times I had on Ashe, she will appreciate yet another beer being spilled on her decks.

 

Zzzzzz

So after a fun filled week at Laconia Bike Week, which included a few mechanical bull rides and an ass-snappin' cold ride up Mount Washington my vacation days are over until Florida at Christmas.  But here are a few pictures from Laconia.  Sadly there aren't any pics of me at the tattoo competition showing off my back tat and cool black bra...sigh, BUT Laconia was awesome, the riding spectacular even though I was a on the back of Mike's bike...:

Last week, I think I officially might have become a hooligan.  My pal Pam and I met downtown for a Thursday night out, maybe check out a few fellas at the bar.  No parking, no problem, just tucked my bike into a no parking spot across the street from the bar and voila, illegally parked.  Then I proceeded to get into a bit of a yelling fight with some guy with a perma-tan and really, really white teeth at the bar, first about my helmet and secondly he thought a Sportster wasn't as cool as a Bagger (even though his has been collecting dust for 5 years), then the bartender told us to cool it and he moved on to bother some chicks that might actually listen to him.  I'm sure Pam was not impressed when I pulled a U-turn on Main Street to get me out of my illegal parking spot.

Now what else to do this summer besides sailing, camping and riding around the back roads of Northern Ontario?  CUSTOMIZE of course...my newest acquisition for my purple ride...Zee bars...tee hee.  My bike and I go from cute and cuddly:

to bad ass in a short 3 hours one Monday night after work:

:)

The cost of being cool...

I guess I've always been a cool chick, owning a sailboat, driving a sporty car, a retired musician and pastry chef, funky hair, tattoos...now I ride a purple Harley Davidson.  I don't consider myself cool, just havin' fun, livin' life to the fullest, tryin' new things whenever I can.  Anyway, my latest 'cool' addition to being that 'cool' Harley riding chick are goggles to go over my glasses - yeah 'cool' (I would insert a picture...but I'll save you all...) 

 

A girl can't always wear her contact lenses and my glasses don't really block out the wind so I had to do it so my mascara didn't run all over my face.  At least I can laugh at myself along with all my friends laughing at me...

 

Then I decide to add a ukulele playing monkey in a grass skirt to the tail light of my bike, you know like a hula girl on the dashboard of one's car, only a monkey...in a grass skirt...playing a ukulele...He used to look like this:

 

 

 

After the first 2 hours going up country roads last week doing 80 km/hr, Mike giggling to himself all the time watching that little monkey shake his bootie, he sadly now looks like this:

  (picture is sideways for some weird reason...)

 

 

Now, the other cool thing is, my dad bought me these totally smokin' hot red boots last Christmas: 

 

I have had my eyes on those boots since August 2013.  Yup wore them almost ever day last winter.  So of course I decide to wear them while riding my motorcycle.  And in searching for that cool factor on my bike, I took the heat shields off my exhaust just because I could.

 

But sadly, my boots now look like this...

 

 

I guess it could be a cool story if I tell people that it happened during a burnout but alas, it really happened while I was learning to ride my bike and was so scared and tense I didn't feel that my boots were on fire (I also melted the belt on my sweater because it was hanging on the oil tank, but really it wasn't that bad).

 

Oh well, I'm off to Laconia Bike Week tomorrow, so I'm sure my 'cool' factor should be kicked up another notch, we'll see about that...stay tuned all you cool cats...

Petcocks and Dry-Age Beef

Had my first long distance ride last Saturday with my boy Mike and our awesome friends John and Carol.  Mike on his Heritage Soft Tail with those ridiculous handlebars, John and Carol on their Kawasaki and me on my cute purple Sportster (although when I'm done with it this winter it won't be so cute, more along the lines of bad-ass).

 

Where did we ride?  Well we started in Innisfil and ended up in Thornbury.   I'm relatively new to this part of Ontario and it's more fun to explore the back roads on a bike than in a cage (aka car) so it was really great to be travelling down winding back roads, some with vistas of Georgian Bay and collecting bugs on my sunglasses.  Our route took us around the town of Blue Mountain, and to a little spot called Ravenna Country Market, where we had a bit of lunch at the corner of Grey Road 2 and County Road 15.  It was a perfect place to take a break.

There were a gaggle of bicycle dudes with their expensive road bikes and one cool dude with a blonde in the passenger seat driving this:

 

 

 

We ended up at Black Angus Fine Meats and Game in Thornbury (207484 Highway 26, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0), where I used to work.  After shooting the shite with Sean Kelly, the owner, we rode off with some killer steaks in John and Carol's beer buckets.  If you haven't had a 60 day-dry aged, AAA Black Angus striploin, you haven't lived and the best are at Black Angus!  Thanks Sean. www.blackangusmeat.com

 

I learned that my little Sportster can do about 130 kms on one tank of gas about 7 litres,  before turning it over to the reserve tank via the petcock (I just love saying that word...petcock).  I didn't intend on finding out how far I could go on one tank of gas, however, after we discussed where the gas station was on the way to the butcher shop, my thoughts were obviously elsewhere and I drove right by it and eventually the butcher shop as well.  I asked Mike if I should put my tank on reserve (via the petcock..tee hee) and he said no, I was being punished for driving right by the gas station and making everyone go back.  But I made it and $6 later, tank full.

We finally made it home after about a 7 hour ride and over 220 kms under the tires and the 4 of us were only able to cook dinner, have a few drinks and go to bed, I was even too tired to watch Sons on Anarchy, Season 2, episode 2...

Carburetors and air filters

I've had my bike for not quite a week and have been trying to get out and practice riding every day.  So far the only day that was ass-crappy for riding was last Sunday, so what to do on a cold, rainy Sunday?  Customize of course. 

 

I'm not a fan of shiny - unless it involves some kind of diamond - so I'm getting rid of some of the chrome.  I'm learning about how motors work and now know how a carburetor works, mine looks like this without the air filter:

 

 

 

The air filter goes over the carburetor and Mike had a little round one he got at Canadian Tire a while back for $7.99.  The stock air filter looks cover like this (big and too shiny):

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new one looks like this (still too shiny):

 

 

 

 

The new backing plate we made:

 

 

 

So we had to take the old backing plate and cut it to size, scuff the chrome, prime, paint, drill and install, now it looks like this:

 

 

 

I like it - a lot.

Keep Lookin' Good Lookin'

So far an offer on 2 Airstreams, one we wanted, deal went to someone else, the other, just that gut feeling that Airstream wasn't for us.  Back to Kijiji and staking out trailer parks - there may be an old one under some trees in a corner lot that someone forgot about long ago.  Sigh, we will just have to be patient.

So until that perfect Airstream comes along, what does one do in the meantime?  Well, buy their first motorcycle of course.  And why, would most sane people ask, would I want to do that.  Well, it's cool, been on my bucket list forever and what the hell.  Of course, I never take baby steps, so I bought a 2002 Harley Davidson Sportster, purple.  I just got my M1 license yesterday.  Here in Ontario there's a stupid thing called graduated licensing, so after 25 years of driving I have to be treated like a 16 year old again because apparently I can't be responsible for myself...

I was learning to ride on this Sportster:

 

 

 

...but it's pretty scary at 100+ horsepower and something called a centrifugal clutch and a touchy throttle, and those ape hanger are way over my head.

Here's my Sportster:

 

So for now, Flip Flops and Daiquiris will be about my Harley adventures.  We're off to Laconia Bike Week in June, hopefully Port Dover Friday the 13th festivities as well so there will be more than enough stories and photos to keep everyone amused, and what the hell...

New Adventures

A girl walks into her friend's house for a spot of lunch, the house is being renovated by an indie contractor that the friend has known for ages. Introductions, lunch and back to work for the girl. Later that night a phone call from the contractor to the girl and a date is set for the upcoming Saturday night, fast forward 6 months and that girl and that contractor are happily making a life together and looking to buy one of these:

 

 

 

 

This isn't one of the actual ones they are looking to buy but that's the Soverign...

A 31' Airstream Sovereign.  They are looking at two as the girl writes this blog.  There's one in Orillia (1978) owned by a cool couple who took their Airstream to Burning Man a couple years ago. The other one is in Lindsay (1982) and they are trying to steal it from a guy who already put down a deposit. 

This blog is about the adventures the girl and that contractor are having and will have from the day of purchase to the transformation of that Airstream and the adventures to be had and the new friends they make along the way.

 

Why an Airstream?  The cool factor of course...here's what they look like inside right now:

 

 

 

After gutting it, it could possibly look like any one of these:

 

 

 

Stay tuned...bidding has already started!