January 21, 2014

           It looks to be the scooter magneto. It was not fun determining this. The spark, computer, and coil all check out, or they do once you learn how to test them with the meter from your robot kit. We also found a gas leak from a hose end that had gone fat over time. That repair, snipping off the end and reattaching, caused an amazing improvement in my gas mileage, I must say. Two hours later, it was a small sensor or relay of some type inside the magneto compartment. A $25 part. But two men, two hours, the knowledge, spare parts, tools, and all the test equipment make this one of those American projects that was probably not worth the real cost.

           Beer. Let me clear up a misconception. While it is true most farm boys know how to brew beer, it is a complicated process that can’t always be done right and it cannot, for cost, compete with brewery beer. That is correct, it costs you more to brew your own than to buy it at the corner store, taxes and all. I have not made beer in something like thirty years and it is a skill that is easily lost unless constantly reinforced. Each batch is so different, it takes a master to get it consistent. I’m not in that league.
           The cold has turned to rainy squalls that most people would call miserable weather. Find me indoors with a good book and some tea. See today’s addendum for the travel plans in February. I said plans, which you know don’t always follow a schedule around here. But the budget we know. It is $571. What can be done or seen for that amount? Probably not a lot unless we incorporate some imagination. Does anyone know where I can buy this “imagination”? It doesn’t have to be gift-wrapped but I would like about a two week supply.
           I received some interesting fan mail today, some of which reinforced points made on this very blog. And here is a quote from a longer email, “All the men in Miami are crude, rude, nasty and uneducated.”
           I never said dating was a one-way street, but if that is the only type of men these women are meeting it seems they should just move on. Double standard. It does not cost a woman as much as a man to hang out in nicer places. But I fall short of saying these women are looking in the wrong places. Like men, they do, but they are supposed to know better.
           Nicer places are where I like to go when it makes a difference. But in Miami and environs, this is absolutely no guarantee of a more civilized clientele. Some may think my statement that there are no lounges anymore to be inaccurate, but I do not classify a restaurant with a drinking area as a lounge. Nope, to me a lounge is a classier place than a bar where, for a buck extra drink, you get a better crowd. In a real lounge, food is optional because it is primarily a drinking establishment geared a cut above the proletariat.

           Looks like I’m not the only one that thinks Google Maps should have an “Avoid Ghetto” button. Here is your photo of what happens when you park your bike overnight in Overtown. This is the place the two communities (the blacks and the retards) are complaining the new Miami tourist trolleys don’t include on their itinerary. Common sense. That’s what such people lack. And where they lack that, their problems are far more deep-rooted than is good for them. Actually, this bike is on Dixie Highway in Hollywood, but you get the idea. Bad neighborhoods, the real problem that these jokers don’t want to address, want tourists whenever they get tired of robbing each other. Am I lying?

ADDENDUM
           Before we talk about travel, here is the magneto piece that malfunctioned. I mean, what is this thing? And how does something with no moving parts wear out? These are philosophical and here is my January weekend out of town. True, the part is $25 as stated, but the reality is it brought me to a standstill.

           Thus, it looks like the red scooter just ate up my January travel budget. Looks like the red scooter ate up my January travel budget. My travels are, for the most part, carefully planned enough that I spend more time keeping track that worrying. And it is a nice way to go. It is not lost to me that while that ride on the “City of New Orleans” was not the most economical part of my recent journey, it was novel and I had a lotta, lotta fun. The new and the different always get high marks around here and Amtrak was worth every penny. 15,100 of them. So while I’m not committing to a train trip next month, here are some of the factors I’ve considered.
           Price. My two choices are travel wise or stay at home. One option was the newer car-sharing schemes, but I don’t like any of them. You must have a credit card and the pricing is deceptive. Still, they are a bargain compared to owning a car, which costs around $9,000 per year. (Loan payment, insurance, fuel, and maintenance, per Popular Mechanics.) The batbike eliminates the loan and that cancerous growth on the back of America society, auto insurance. What a scam that is, wish I’d thought of it.
           By comparison, the batbike only costs fuel and the maintenance last year came to $81 per month, which is expensive by percentage until you consider a lot of that was for semi-permanent upgrades. Besides, I accepted higher maintenance when I bought an old vehicle. Bottom line? The batbike does not cost a penny while it is parked and that is the major source of my travel budget. Didn't know that did you, Theresa? The money is still put away until needed.
           So, where to visit? February would have to be a mini-trip, but where? We know the benchmark is Savannah and we know precisely what that costs, don't we? Except now we have the pod, which doubles the distance traveled per dollar but only if I take the batbike. Then again, that train ride was awful nice except for the necessary motel. I have not forgotten I slept soundly on the late night portions of the Amtrak but I have never planned a trip around sleeping on the train. And the train was mostly empty, which I can’t rely on every time. Stay tuned as this new travel adventure gets kicked around.

           One of the possibilities I ran across during planning was a hotel in Charleston, SC, called “The Restoration on King”. As usual, it is tough as nails to get a room price from them hotel bastard-rats, but these start at about $310 per night for a single room. But what rooms they are, you’d be vacationing at the hotel instead of the town. Take a look, you don’t stay at such a hotel, you “indulge” in it.
           In related news, Charleston has one of the most highly regulated tourism operations in the land. A separate license is apparently required for each phase of any tourist operations, and one of those is giving guided tours. That’s as opposed to taking a bus “from A to B”, says at least one of the obviously very clever people who work for that city. Thus, a rickshaw driver was recently fined a thousand dollars for providing “laps” of the city saloons. I find that totally disgusting, I mean, those rickshaws are an eyesore to begin with and they block traffic.