BlueSky

How soon I forget. My wife and I went to Cedar Key when we lived in Homossassa, Fl for a year (2008) when I was working contract at the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant.

Have you seen much damage from the Hurricane in the Keys? Going towards Key West when you get to mile marker 30 there is a stop light. Turn right and take the ride side of the split in the road and that will take you to No Name Pub which is interesting in that the entire place is covered with dollar bills inside. And going farther you will get to see some Key Deer. They aren't much larger than dogs. Hint: If you have a banana peel and wave it in the air, they will come right up to you. It's illegal to feed them but the peel will get you a good photo of the midget deer.

Sorry, but I ain't getting in the next lane with that! I'd be too skeered!

This is going to sound weird but I had a 56 Chevy Convertible, the first car that I bought at 19 yrs old. It was dilapidated and an ugly dark green and white. I had it painted red and white inside and outside with new upholstery and carpet. I rebuilt almost everything about that car in the 9 months I owned it before trading it for the 59 Impala. It was my first engine rebuild because of a cracked piston. That car taught me to buy clean low miles cars.

I also had a 59 Impala 2 dr hdtp that I traded for my 65 Chevelle. It had the 283 cu in 4 barrel engine rated 230hp. And it had 3 on a tree with electric overdrive. After you got over about 35 or 40mph if you let up on the gas it would go into OD. The OD rear diff on that model was a 4.11 which really gave it a kick. I embarassed many cars when I raced them because of the quick revving small block and 4.11 gears. Chevy offered the OD from 55 to 61. I had a problem with that car though. Chevy went to coil spring rears in 58 and it took them several years to figure out how to attach them to the car. They initially had two lower arms and ONE upper arm on the right side. I think it was 61 before they used two upper arms. Anyway, drag racing with that 4.11 caused the bracket that the upper arm was attached to to be ripped from the frame or at least it started ripping off. I got it welded back about 4 times before I traded the car.

What do you mean "you lost it"? If the clutch isn't working, it could be something other than the slave cylinder. Lately, I've been buying parts from partzilla.com

I wasn't knowledgeable enough to recurve the distributor advance for maximum hp on my Chevelle back then. I did know that if I bumped the idle setting from 8 degrees BTDC to 14 BTDC it would cover the quarter mile a full second quicker which was a huge hp increase. By the way when I changed the spark plugs in my 2002 F150 5.4L V8, I took my time because they are so hard to get to and I spent about 8 hours just changing plugs. The dealer charge was $240 for labor and $10 each for plugs so I decided it was something I needed to learn how to do. The same Motorcraft plugs were $2.79 ea at Advance Auto Parts.

yep, the last time I pulled the engine out of that 65 Chevelle it took one hour from shutting off the engine to having it swinging. I had just done a minor rebuild on it because I scorched a rod bearing running it wide open in the desert outside of El Paso where I was stationed and rebuilt it at the Army craft shop. The ace mechanic working at the shop advised me to install the rear main seal backwards so I yanked it again to replace the rear main seal again the right way. And the same ace mechanic steered me wrong on the valve seals so I had to disassemble the heads and install the valve seals correctly. So, having recently pulled the engine, I knew exactly what to do next. One hour to pull it and 45 minutes more to replace the rear main seal and then on to the heads. It initially cost me $98 to get the crank polished, block heads and intake tanked to clean them, rings installed on the pistons, new cam bearings installed, and I ground the valves and installed new rod and main bearings. Total cost $98 in 1968 and then had to spend a few more bucks on gaskets and rear main seal. But, I was getting $125/month PFC pay after taxes and a savings bond and I was working 16 hours/day on the weekends pulling kp for other guys for $10/day to pay for my engine! I just wish I had that kind of energy today.

Nope, the Gen 2 covers all Ventures 1999 thru 2013.

I never had a car powerful enough to lift the front wheels but I had loads of fun drag racing my 65 300hp 327cu in 4 speed Chevelle on the drag strip. Running down the quarter mile with open exhausts speed shifting trying to beat the guy in the next lane was one of the greatest thrills of my life! My car would do about 100mph in a quarter. When I was looking for a car for my stepson, we test drove a 2004 Mach I Mustang. The Mach I that year had the DOHC 4.6L engine and the PO had installed full length headers and a Borla exhaust system. That car gave me heart palpatations bringing back memories! I bought a Miata for my stepson which was what he wanted but I thought very seriously about buying that Mach I for myself!

Condor, that's a 64 Galaxie, the big Ford. The Fairlane was the mid-size. My girl friend in 1964 had a new one.

I think some of those riders were using Cheng Shin tires, the ones with NO grip.

Many of us, especially me, could eat half as much and have a newer motorcycle paid for in an amazingly short time!

But that whopper tastes so good!

I went to Disney World with the 1st wife and 2 kids back in the 80's. I towed our popup camper trying to save some money. We stayed at a KOA campground about 7 miles from the resort for $23/night. Every day we drove past a sign in front of a motel advertising rooms for a family of 4 for $27/night!!! There are ways of doing stuff for less money. Staying inside the resort is not one of them. Lots of fun to stay there I'm sure but at huge cost. Going first class in everything severely limits what you can do or own. I grew up poor and I've been a cheapskate all my life. My boat is a 98. My truck is a 2002. My car is a 2005. And my motorcycles are the two old bikes in my signature. I have lots of toys because I'm cheap! I would be tempted to buy a new or newer motorcycle if there were some that suited me but they are few. The new Venture ain't it. Seems that they are almost all either the cruiser style or sport bike style and I don't like either.

One of my nieces who is in her early 50's is an addict as well as her son and daughter and ex-husband who happens to be a retired parole officer. Multiple rehabs that they always quit. The family is getting tired of helping them. Her son is trying hard to straighten out. He married a woman whom he met in rehab and they are trying together. I'm hoping for the best for them but there isn't much that can be done.

Now Mom goes to jail. What a scumbag.

The V4 is the most expensive to build of all the designs because of the DOHC twin heads. I4, I3, I2, & V-twin are all cheaper and that is what Yamaha went for. An I4 in the new Venture would have been okay with me. But, my opinion doesn't count. Hey, I saw a 2012 BMW K1600GTL for sale on the local craigslist for $1800. I think I'll send the money by paypal before someone else buys it! NOT! I did call the number listed and got an answering machine. I left no message. Later I got a text requesting my email so the guy who is selling it for his aunt can send more photos. I ignored the message and got another one a couple days later. This time I sent a text back telling the guy to find a sucker somewhere else.

Yeah, the small scooters must be selling well because I see so many of them on the roads. My two sons never had an interest in riding a motorcycle because of safety. Perhaps they are smarter or more mature than I? One is 38 and the other is my stepson who is 26. Both like fast cars.

Even way back, it was cheaper to drive some cars. The latter part of 73, I was driving 70 miles to and from work daily. My base Pinto got 29mpg. My CB750 got close to 40 or so. Even back then considering the cost of tires, it was cheaper for me to drive the Pinto. That Pinto had two options, the big engine which was a 2.0L Ford of Germay OHC 115hp engine and front disc brakes (manual). The base engine was a 1.6L pushrod Ford Cortina engine.

Weird!

Preliminary data just in shows that the economy grew 3.0% at an annual rate for the 3rd quarter, second quarter in a row despite all the hurricane damage. Maybe just maybe, things will be picking up and people will have more money for toys.

Well SilvrT, for a guy without a bike, you're doing pretty good at finding rides! :biker:

When I brought my Russian wife and stepson over, our paperwork was never rejected but there were so many appointments and documents to send in and she was fingerprinted multiple times. And every time a document was sent in or taken in there was a fee involved. I wish I had kept a log of all the documents and appointments it took over 4 years for her to get her citizenship. And then it was a hassle for my stepson to get registered to vote when he was old enough. They kept taking him off the voter registration because the local dummys didn't understand the law. They are good people. She has a degree in Electrical Engineering and he has a degree in Computer Science. He was 11 yrs old when they came to the USA.