Making lemonade from this summer’s lemons 🥴

Sorry it’s been a bit since my last post, lots of stuff to catch up on…. 

My last post was in November of last year after getting to moms in South Louisiana for the holidays. The property in Arkansas got started with the driveway and pad cleared but the winter rains (and some snow) moved in holding up the progress until this coming week! (1st week of August)

My daughter and her husband flew in for Mardi Gras, a first for Logan and about 17 or 18 years for Madison. And yes, crawfish was on the menu!

In March I met up with DJ and his wife Sandy in central Tennessee for an ADV meetup/ camp out with the “Let’s Take a Ride” group. It was a fun weekend of camping and riding the backroads of that part of Tennessee. They are an excellent gang with a lot of time put in to designing the routes. DJ and I are planning to hit their fall meet up in October.

After that great weekend, I got back out to Arkansas to camp and work on the property while getting in as much riding as possible.  It was great meeting up with new buddies Armondo (JoJo) Brad, David, Ken, Michael and Tom for a few “ride to eat” days. Thanks for making me feel so welcomed! Exploring with a few native Arkansans sure is fun! JoJo even let me keep the T-7 and a few power tools in his garage for the summer. 🙏🙏🙌

As it was starting to warm up, I was getting ready to head back up to the PNW is when the “fun” really began. Elsa had flown into Dallas and was going to ride with me back up to Washington in a quicker then normal 5-7 days on the road. We didn’t even make it out of Arkansas. 🤨 On the way up to the property driving in from Dallas, a 16 year old in grandma’s sedan played kamikaze into the front passenger wheel. No injuries to all involved but the Yamahauler faired much better then his Toyota, that’s for sure. Thats what $11,000+ of damage looks like. 🙄😡

 
My “Arkansas network “ really stepped in to help us out. Sandra came up the next day to get us to my aunt and uncle, Kris and Jon’s spare car they keep at a local airport and use of their Air B&B the MarFly Cabin on the very scenic White River.  Old boss Dave and his wife Lori offered space in the garage for the gear that got pulled out of the van while its in the shop plus a spare room (and pool!) for a few days while we got the insurance work set up and planned to get Elsa back to work up in Washington.  We are both VERY GRATEFUL for the friends and family that helped smooth out that tumultuous time. 🙌🙏

Insurance got us back to Washington so Elsa could get to work and I could take care of some dental work (1 root canal and 2 crowns 🥴) medical appointments and even jury duty! 🙄   See, these lemons are adding up…

It was good to be back on my Super Tenere after Kyle had taken such great care of it all winter. Thanks for the coffee! 😉 Then……. At the 92,500 mile mark, “something” happened in the transmission that would require an entire deconstruction of the motor and gearbox .  That, not being in my budget, I’ve decided to sell it to a mechanic as a project bike for a fair price. I did request that if he ever gets rid of it, I’ll likely buy it back if given the opportunity. The 2012 Super Tenere has been an amazing bike that built and shaped who I am . 😔MORE LEMONS! 

Soooo Now, this week (or next) the van should be done at Cowboy Collision in Heber Springs and Patrick should be done on the dozer spreading more than a dozen  dump truck loads of gravel on my driveway and pad. With it being 90f – 100f across most of Arkansas until September, I’ve decided to hold off my return for after the Labor Day weekend.  What is helping occupy my time while waiting is I do have access to Elsas cabin on a private campground in the foothills of the Cascades with a 7-acre spring fed lake.  It gets up to about 75f on only the hottest days for first few inches, then much colder the deeper you go.  Hiking trails and a waterfall are also on the property. So if y’all need me, I’ll be sipping lemonade here on the dock for the rest of the summer. 😉