Canned Heat In My Heels Tonight

Call For Super Chicken

Met him over the weekend - He was a very friendly guy. For a chicken.

Life Sucks, Wear A Helmet

The worst thing about about this season if I have a major case of new bike fever - I spend most of the day browsing Cycle Trader, looking for my next bike. Logically, this should be something that will fulfill all my needs (bigger, comfortable, suitable for distance, somewhat sporty) - so far I'm leaning towards the Yamaha FJR1300, Honda ST1300, or a used Super Hawk, Interceptor, or BMW R1150 RT. The problem is I can't (and won't be able to) afford ANY of these bikes for a while, so I start browsing Craigslist for one-sided trades on dirt bikes or salvage sites for ratted-out sportbikes that have been crashed by the squids (both of which would be a bad idea) - anything to get a new-bike fix. Oh well, I guess there's always the lottery...

In other news, I got a new lid today:
It's a Nolan N41 in wine. Kind of a compromise between my full-face, which I've been wearing almost exclusively lately, and my beanie, which I never felt very secure riding in (news flash - cruiser guy picks function over form! Film at eleven!) I'm not crazy about the color (I wanted the silver or flat black) but I got a deal I couldn't refuse on it - something along the lines of 90% off retail. The color is actually much darker in person, so I can live with it (I passed up a similar deal on a N41 in fire-engine red 'cause I knew I'd never wear it). My full-face Bieffe is going on ten years old and has suffered a few drops, including being thrown by a friend at the local kart-racing track during a spirited discussion with an official ("Rubbin' IS racing!") so I figured it was time to step up. I really wanted the N42 with the N-Com headset and bluetooth goodies, but that would've run me in the $600 dollar range by the time all was said and done. If I fall into some disposable income maybe I'll get a custom paint job for it - it kinda reminds me of another helmet from my childhood:
Hell yeah. Ace Goodheart FTW, bitches.

R.I.P. VW Bus

Some of you might remember that I sold my VW Bus back in January. I was actually kinda happy that it went to a prolific member of a local VW club. Since I still love VW's I kept subscribing to the mailing lists, and saw the following tragic message:
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"I was cruising down the road on Saturday in my "new"
72 Westy when this stupid teenager in his big old
Thunderbird pulls thru a stop sign and directly into
my path...WHAM!!! The Westy nailed him doing about 45
MPH!! The good news is that me, my wife, and my
stepson were all un-injured, HOWEVER, the bad news is
that the nose of the bus got CRUNCHED!!!! Probably not
fix-able".
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I know John (the bus' new owner) had put one of his engines in the bus, sorted all the mechanicals, and was happily driving it - so at least she went out in action, instead of rotting in a yard. And if I know John, he'll have the sense to part out anything he might be able to use again, so parts of her will live on... I actually came across a wooden pullback shifter knob and VW suicide steering-wheel knob in a box of parts the other day, maybe I'll mount 'em on the Impala as a tribute...