If you look carefully at the upper third of this picture, just to the left of the green bush, you can see what a BMW 1200 GS Adventure looks like after a rider tries to get this motorcycle airborne. This happened on a sandy stretch of the Santa Clara Truck Trail during the VCARS Exploring the…
Lost socks are one of the great torments of my life. No more, thanks to Sock Cops. These little doo-hickeys grab socks tight and keep them together through wash and dry. Leave them on until you’re ready to wear your socks. These would work great for gloves, anything else you want to keep together. The…
On a recent kayak junket I had the opportunity to follow Lifehacker’s advice on waterproofing electronic gear. I bought three condoms, and after the first two ripped I left the third in the men’s room for someone who was feeling lucky. Of course there must be some tougher rubbers than the ones I was using.…
I’m freaked out and I don’t even have any actual money. But all this terrifying talk of a coming recession, which some experts think could be the worst economy in 40 years–and remember, we’re talking about an economy that gave us the Ford Pinto–and I’m wondering just how bad it could possibly get. Well, here’s…
I passed the Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider’s course. Everyone who travels the highways can now breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I am a safer, saner motorcyclist.
Take thirteen men, two woman and some of the toughest motorcycles on the planet, everything from the mighty KLR 650 to the monstrous BMW 1200 GS Adventure (add a Suzuki V-strom and a Honda 250 for good measure) and turn them loose on the twisty backroads and dusty fire trails of Ventura County. To keep…
Last night Maureen and I watched The Bucket List. This is not a modern classic, but it is not as bad as the TV trailers led me to believe. It’s a better-than-average film for a “nothing on TV” evening. The premise of the movie is that two geezers, dying of cancer, decide to seize the day…
After my terrifying ride home from RPM Cycles I stashed the BMW R 1200 GS in the garage and hid from it for a few days. Over Labor Day weekend I found the nerve to saddle up and do some turns in the foothills. I spent ten minutes in a cul-de-sac doing figure eights. I’m…
The BMW GS series bikes (Gelände/Straße, or “off-road”/”road”) are known by their owners as “pigs.”  The term seems to be most often used to describe the R1150 GS, which is aggressively ugly with its bulbous gas tank. Nevertheless R1200 GS is ugly in its own special Transformers sort of way. When you see the bike on the…
Because life is not complicated enough, hasn’t reached the fever-pitch of insanity with too many hobbies, I just bought a used BMW 1200 GS. I guess $4 gas pushed me over the edge. I have to say, it was weird topping off the tank this morning and seeing the pump register 2.7 gallons.
Five guys, five days, a whole lot of poop. The trip was Two Harbors on Santa Catalina, just a lazy week of island living. Subject matter was “a life in exile” from the books of Ezekiel and Daniel. Excellent teacher and guardian of decorum was Miz Nataroonie.Â
Where does one go for enlightenment? The Dude Abides Blog of course.
With the floor open and some critical wiring exposed it was natural to detour our plans and re-wire the ceiling fan in the room below. When that sub-project was done it was time to button up the floor with a fresh sheet of 5/8″ plywood. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to leave some hidden treasure…in…
        Looking at this photo of migrating Golden Rays published in the Telegraph, I can’t help but feel that there is more driving our planet than random happenstance.
Once you commit yourself to a certain level of perfection in a project you find yourself captive to forces beyond your control. This is what happened when I pulled up the carpet in Norah’s room. There was a soft spot between two sheets of plywood. It looked as if someone had dropped an 18 lb.…
