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Monday, May 31, 2010

Riders like to golf too!

I can't believe I stressed soooo much about if I could actually attach my golf bag to 'becca.

My first, and as usual, overly ambitious plan, was to mount the bag standing up on the left passenger peg, with the top of it lashed to some part of the bike seat, or rear rack. This, to me, seemed a straightforward affair.

As you can guess, it'd hardly be worth a blog post if all went exactly as planned :)

I thought I would cut a hole in the bottom of the thick plastic base of the bag. Not a largish hole -- just one large enough for the foot peg to come through and hold the weight of the bag. Surprisingly enough, the hole cutting part of the exercise went off very well!

The getting-the-peg-through-the hole part proved quite challenging. My Daddy always taught me to "measure twice, cut once". I just hope he wasn't watching inside the garage. I must have measured 6 times, and STILL cut it badly.

Well bump that plan! Five bungee cords and a cargo net later - c'est voilĂ ! It's all attached.






Posted by Darren

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Soft butter and irons


Daunette's definition of a great restaurant is one which serves soft butter. You gotta wonder, why does anyone serves those hard, bread-tearing chunks of butter. So gauche.

Last night we ate at the Cannery restaurant inside the Pillar & Post Hotel. The rolls were fresh, and the butter was soft.

For me, the mark of proper lodging is to have an ironing board and iron already in the room for me to use. I don't really like the idea of having to involve hotel staff with my desire for a freshly-pressed shirt.

So, on those 2 counts, Duncan-Quinn House Bed & Breakfast is a solid winner!

Located on a quiet dead-end in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the B&B is located a large, beautiful old home. We booked into the largest of the 3 rooms, the "Jesse Duncan" -- with a grand old bed set high enough to require a Fosbury Flop to enter. The en suite bathroom is literally the size my bachelor apartment.



Friday, May 21, 2010

On your mark ...

Today is the start of our first big trip of 2010. After staying up far too long futzing with loading the new GPS with trip info, I didn't get started as early as I planned to. That means I have some minor mechanical work to do on 'becca before we can actually hit the road later this morning.

If all goes according to plan, we should make it to Dual Sport Plus in Stoney Creek by mid-afternoon. I just want to make sure we can take a nice and leisurely ride into Niagara-on-the-Lake this evening.

I'll update this post with the obligatory "Here we are fully (over)loaded at the start of the trip" photo ...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Rain Guide


My Hot Wax is coming along nicely now. I can clearly see the 3.0 version being ready by this weekend. The iPad version is burning a hole in my idea trying to jump out of my dreams, and into code. It's going to be HOT! :)

Stumbled across an interesting graphic that shows monthly rainfall levels for every country in Central and South America. If it's accurate (and I still have to verify it), it looks like the best bet is a late-September launch from Toronto, aiming for January or February in Venezuela...