My 2012 Harley-DavidsonTri-Glide

Donna and I were riding in the Smokey Mountains and stopped by in of the new t-shirt shops the local Harley dealer has opened up on "the Dragon", US129. One of the employees said something to the effect that Harley was going water cooled next year. You hear this kind of thing every year or so. We kinda chuckled and went on our way.

Later over coffee, Donna and I asked each other if we would buy a water cooled Harley. Both said no. More discussion on new bikes and inevitably we came around to replacing Big Red ('09 Tri-Glide). It had 35,000 miles, was out of warranty, was going to need rear tires /brakes soon and already had gone through a drive belt and transmission rebuild. We bought these things to ride, not wait around in overpriced stores while they get fixed. I can fix just about anything on the bikes but not so easily without a garage. Our full-time lifestyle just doesn't lend itself to that. So we look for things with little maintenance required.

A phone call later we located a 2012 Tri-Glide at our favorite dealer in Cookeville, TN, Boswell's Harley-Davidson. A few weeks later the deal was done. New bike, new warranty, new payment (just a little bigger than before) and some fun making it mine.

Here's what I really like about the new bike:

• Rides smoother.
• Rear brakes actually stop well.
• Shifts smoother with no annoying 5th gear whine.
• 2 tone paint - Ember Red SunGlo/Merlot
• Improved trunk latch
• Screamin' Eagle pipes, Donna really likes the sound!
• Road Tech GPS
• Chrome wheels
• Chrome front forks

All told, it's a better bike in that Harley improved on many of the mistakes they made in '09. Here's a photo we took when we picked up the bike...I've added a lot of bling but haven't taken time for a new pic. Soon...

Okay, enough of that, I'm going riding...

See ya!

Still rolling,
Stu and Donna

Kindle Fire, a non-technical review

My Kindle Fire: I like it.

Oh, you wanted more? Okay, I like it a lot!

Really, it does what it's supposed to and a few things that it shouldn't.

Pros:

• Small
• Great images
• Intuitive
• As fast as any other WiFi PC I've used.
• I can read all the Amazon books that Donna has downloaded since we share her Amazon Kindle account. (I can but I probably won't.)
• Lots of Apps, most are useless but there a bunch of them. Maybe not as many as Apple, but just as useless.
• 8 hours of battery
• I can view a bunch of movies and TV series depending on the WiFi speed.

Cons:

• WiFi only
• Browser is flaky/flukey sometimes
• Screen is very sensitive
• Carousel is always there. Wish I could turn it off and on.
• Volume is a pain to adjust (hidden, need a mechanical one on the side)

That's it in a nutshell. If you want to know more of the technical stuff, Google for reviews. There's a bunch of them out there. Most of them are kinda like all those apps out there...useless. (for me anyway)

For $199 it's a good tablet. Just don't think it's iPad, you'll pay way more than that.

Still rolling,
Stu and Donna

Walking is good for you?

Monday dawned, like it always does, and Stu wanted to go to the Webster Flea Market. The weather was perfect so we set Sadie up in the back of Stu's trike and headed out on the motorcycles.

It was a nice 45 mile ride with almost no traffic until we got close to the flea market. We found a good parking spot...made even better because Stu got us both in for $3 instead of $3 each. We were good 'do-bees' and parked in one spot.

Sadie was really anxious to go...not sure if she thought it was a visit to a dog park or was just loving the sights, smells and sounds. Stu took her over from me and we headed into the teeming mass of people.

As usual, there was too much too see, too little time to do it all. We usually prefer the outdoor vendors rather than the under cover ones who seem more prone to Dollar Store junk, clothing (that we don't need..although there was one shirt...) or useless inventions. The folks selling in the field have a wider variety of things we are interested in...old tools, fire department memorabilia, license plates, vintage cream pitchers and lots of junk.

We passed one table that was selling...well, I'll let the photo show you. I told Stu that we had enough of this already, I wasn't buying anymore, not even the plastic/rubbery kind!

We walked till we couldn't walk anymore and finally sat down to eat. The hot dog was okay but the fries...oh my! They rivaled Five Guy fries...yummy and a large serving which we split. Sadie rested and people-pet watched after sharing a little of my hotdog.

I checked my phone after we finished and found a missed call and voicemail from our good friends Nick and Terry Russell.

They were still there so we told them where we were standing and they found us. I think we then stood for another hour and chatted both with them and friends of theirs that strolled up. Nick and I did the "our back hurts from standing and walking" waltz and we finally excused ourselves. I did snap a good photo of them just before we left.

Stu had brought along his Targus Monopod as a walking stick but his right knee was really hurting by the time we got back to the bikes. We went the opposite way of the bulk of the traffic, finding some nice back roads with few cars. After we got home, Stu decided that his knee wasn't going to take a lot more walking for a bit so we decided to pass on the Tampa RV Show. (I hope those that went today are having better weather than us...it's pouring here in Clermont.)

Sadie has been having fun with her new toy babies....I've been doing a little more writing....Stu took his scuba gear to get checked out. Other than household chores, that's about it.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Neighbors Come and Neighbors Go

It's hard to believe a week has passed since Phil and Tracey May pulled in next door to us. They've been busy and so have we but we finally got together for a couple hours of chatting. Tracey's mom and dad are visiting from England. That said, Phil and Tracey's dad had to head off to the hardware store for supplies. So, we had a nice chat with Tracey, her daughter Ally and her mom. They pulled out early this morning, headed to Tampa for the RV Show.

So the spot next to us was empty once again. Late tonight a LONG motorhome pulled in and parked. I swear, it must be 45' long. I don't think they are staying long. They didn't straighten out in the site and they didn't hook up sewer. Either that or they will do that in the morning. LOL!

We meet so many wonderful folks as we travel. Some are blog followers, some are from forums and others new friends. It's a great life and we continue to grow our circle of friends. Similar hobbies draw us closer to some than others. Similar lifestyles do the same. But sometimes you seem to have nothing in common and still hit it off. That's life! Open up your door and your heart...you never know who might be waiting!

Tomorrow we plan to head to the Webster Flea Market. Last year we got some great prices on old license plates for our collection (for Stu's pole barn) and an old fire extinguisher. We're not looking for anything tomorrow, just browsing and getting in some walking (Sadie, too).

Wednesday we might head over to the Tampa RV Show, nothing firm in our plans. Friday we head to the east coast of FL to visit family while Sadie plays at doggy camp.

My writing is proceeding pretty well. I started a blog for anyone interested and I posted a Flash Fiction article. For those who don't know what it is (I didn't): "Flash is a short-short story characterized by brevity and intensity of the language. Flash has a clear plot. The length of a flash story is commonly under 500 words, never more than 1000."

I currently have two works in progress [WIP]. The first is a romance set in northwestern MT, tentatively title, "A Montana Chance". The other will be a character-driven mystery based in north central PA and tentatively titled, "Not a Whisper". The romance will grow into a trilogy and the mystery into a series of 3-4 books.

Okay, enough babbling for tonight!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Sue says it all....

EXCELLENT blog post today from a fellow RVer today. Sue puts some of my thoughts into words and I thank her. I hope everybody will read this, whether you blog or not!

The Power of Words

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

So what's up with you?

Not much new here...each day we seem to do a few chores and still manage to feel lazy. LOL! Our new front and rear steps are in; some new propane leaks are fixed; all the new accessories are put on Stu's motorcycle; a new seat was bought and mounted on Stu's bicycle; shopping done twice at Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and Tractor Supply; etc, etc, etc...same old, same old.

Sadie is fine, got her shots updated and continues to terrorize our ever-revolving neighbors. They either love her or are terrified of her...LOL! She goes back to doggy camp on the 13th while we take the motorcycles to the east coast of FL to visit family over the weekend.

I continue to pick up things on eBay and Etsy for the future cabin. One item caught my eye and I finally gave in and bought it (Etsy). It arrived this week and I absolutely love it! The detail is amazing.

We are really enjoying our new Keurig Coffee Maker that we got at Christmas. We joined the Green Mountain Coffee Club and have been trying out different flavors. We both like dark roast, bold coffees and they offer a wide selection. It's also nice to have different flavors to try...like their sampler packs. Plus we can finally have decent decaf coffee at night. That said, the downside is discovering we are both drinking more coffee and said coffee is definitely more expensive. LOL!

Stu has pretty much completed his scuba dive equipment acquisitions. Some local, some eBay and some from online stores. He has to get some of it checked out, serviced and brought up to date. He still wants to go on a dive this month before our cruise next month.

Thanks to a couple of friends successfully publishing fiction ebooks, I finally decided to try my hand at it again. I've been writing for over fifteen years but 99% was non-fiction. I did get a short story published in a magazine but other than that, my fiction work sat and collected dust.

Well, I wiped the dust off a romance novel that I had outlined over ten years ago. I've updated and reworked it and am finally getting serious about writing again. I created a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a website. I'm in the middle of writing the second chapter of a romance novel tentatively named, "A Montana Chance". I also am playing around with a character driven mystery that will be based in north central Pennsylvania.

I will continue to blog but following the trend of the last month, not daily. I will try to blog at least weekly and maybe twice a week, depending on what is new. We will be here at Bee's RV Resort in Clermont, FL until the end of Feb. That means lots of down time...lots of chores...lots of motorcycle riding. LOL!

I hope everyone is doing well....I still read blogs but not as many or as often and I rarely take time to comment. Oops.... ;-)

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu