In the background, the factory where we all worked for one fateful summer before getting the hell out of town – a decision none of us lived long enough to regret.
The long and winding road ended early for some of us
The Bayview
Trans-Canada highway stupidity in Saskatchewan
Update March 29, 2011: If these Saskasippie farmboys were working on constructing the Alaska Highway, road work would still be going on and the Japanese would be at the border. In 2011
work will require the highway to revert to two-lane traffic during construction. —Saskatchewan Government news release,December 9, 2010
In other words, a Saskatchewan farmboy wanting to get to Calgary for a rub-and-tug means having to say you’re sorry for the delay.
Jesus, what an embarrassment.
* * *
Back on June 16th, 2010 the Trans-Canada Highway at the western edge of Saskatchewan* was closed due to extensive rain damage during one of those prairie rainstorms not uncommon across the prairies.
It’s the 6th of August now. The four-lane divided highway is open for two-lane traffic only for a couple of miles. Some unknown construction company dilly-dallies away the summer pretending to construct. Methinks said construction company saw a way to endless cost-plus profits and is milking the Saskatchewan cow for all she’s worth.
How do I know? For the second time I rode by while traveling and had a look, and lo, it would appear that dimwits prevail.
The culverts haven’t even been laid yet, although my thought (not that my thoughts really matter to anyone in control) is that perhaps a bridge is warranted across an area that is prone to flooding.
A second thought: culverts are easier to replace than a bridge when the road washes out for a second time. It’s the farm mentality at work. They figger if she’s good to go by the time the snow flies, it’s good enough for those poor folk who are silly enough to be on the way to somewhere else. I think they figger too that it will slow down the locals in their attempt to desert Saskasippi in droves. Those shiny city lights on the horizon are a siren call, doncha know.
Did any of the farmers elected to the Saskatchewan government ever kick the shit off of their boots, pick the straw off of the ass of their pants, pull their heads out of their asses and try to figger out how long it really takes to repair a road? With culverts?
>>> crickets chirping <<<
I didn’t think so.
———–
*Saskatchewan to many is known as Saskasippi. Need I say more?
This chica can ride!
The first time I see her we’re in some hick town. She’s parking in an outside slot–where I like to be when I’m not hiding. Like me, she prefers to park it alone, with nothing else around.
It looks like we’re both getting ready to take a break.
I watch as she strides towards the stop-and-puke in the next building over from where I’m parked. She’s tall and slim and moves with an attitude. Like she knows where she’s going, what she’s doing.
She turns to check out my ride.
She can tell that I’m watching her, but then I’ve never been shy about checking out a woman who rides. Some like it, others don’t. I ignore the ones that don’t, and leave them alone.
She turns her head back towards the store and walks in.
I wait for her to come out, and when she does it’s with a couple of bottles of water. Smart move in this heat, I think to myself. She’s been down the road a time or two. I sit by the window, thinking that I’ll have time to amble over and check out her ride in a bit.
She chugs the water and pulls out before I can finish my bowl of soup.
When next I see her, it’s down the road. Yeah, okay, I had to ride like hell to catch up, but she’s not exactly riding the fastest either. She’s easy to catch.
I trail for half-a-dozen miles–flying in formation–before pulling up closer. She slows momentarily to let me pull up even, and I can see that she’s taking a closer look. Checking. Evaluating. Is this guy okay? How is he sitting? Relaxed? Tense? How is he dressed? Rub? Biker?
I let her take her time, because I’m doing the same.
She’s on a black Softail. It’s dirty, like mine. She’s been on the road in the same weather. Windshield. None but the dwindling old-timers put on the miles without one. Piled high with bags. A second helmet hanging off the back. Full-face. Dressed in black. Well-worn boots, laced high. Tribal tattoos up and down her arms, neck. Probably all over. She’s seen lots of sun. A small nose ring. Mid-thirties, maybe pushing 40.
No girl on a motorcycle, this. She is pure riding woman.
I pull ahead for three or four miles, and give her the option of catching up.
She does.
When she goes by she arcs towards me and then pulls back and slightly ahead. That’s the sign I’m waiting for, so I pull in close behind and we ride together like that for a hundred miles, positioning back and forth, and I get the feeling that we’re playing the game.
That, and easy company on the road when both know how to ride.
Then we hit the city lights and it’s side-by-side through the streets. Conversation at each stop. Through the corners, she’s on the inside for some, me outside for some, still side-by-side. We block traffic when the lights change as we continue talking.
More sizing each other up.
Where are you headed? Where are you from? You put a lot of miles on that thing?
Are you running from or running to? That’s always my question.
It gets a grin this time, because she knows exactly what I mean, and when she nods, I know exactly what she means.
I grin back.
We look at each other when we finally figure out we’re both drifting, and we grin together. Then she tells me where she’ll be camping out for the night.
I know the place. It’s north of the city by about five miles.
Nolan N43 Trilogy helmet
Update July 2010 After a ride of over 4,000 miles, in very hot temperatures and very heavy rain and hail:
This helmet is noisy. If you’re looking for a quiet helmet, this isn’t the one. Around town it may be all right, but earplugs are necessary for any long distance riding. That’s no problem for me since I wear earplugs all the time.
It’s also somewhat hot. Thankfully, the liner is removable for washing. I wear welding caps underneath, rather than the silk liners. The welding cap seams are sewn flat, unlike the bulky silk liner seams, which will cut into your bald head after a couple of hours.
Behind the fairing on my FLHT the water beads up on the visor. It didn’t appear to be a problem at speed, nor during low-speed riding around town. Very heavy rain and hail presented no problems as far as I’m concerned. I was concerned about having the visor fog over at low speed under these conditions, but fogging was minimal at low temperatures in the rain.
Wearing this helmet in the rain presents a multitude of problems. It fogs and beads with water. I don’t recommend it at all in the rain.
The sun visor is a definite bonus during early-morning or late-evening riding, and actually very nice to have all day.
I prefer to have the removable chin bar installed for around-town riding. I actually like that feature a lot.
The Microlock system is by far a much better arrangement than the D-ring, since it allows fastening on or off while wearing gloves.
An added bonus: My Aerostich Darien jacket and pants kept me warm and completely dry in the most vicious thunderstorm cells I have ever encountered while riding. An all-day heavy rain didn’t even test the suit. I bought these years ago, and they continue to perform flawlessly.
Nolan N43 Trilogy, brand-new from Italy, complete with DOT certification for North America.
- It’s a polycarbonate shell.
- It looks like a full-face helmet, and in fact it is, but…
- The chin bar is removable. Thus it can be worn as a 3/4.
- It has a built-in tinted sun visor with a nose indent. The sun visor can be flipped down or up, or partially in either direction.
- The main visor has only two positions: down, or full up.
- It comes with my favorite fastening system – an adjustable quick-release Microlock chin retention strap. The Microlock is easy to use with gloves. I really dislike those D-rings so predominant on North American helmets.
- The liner is removable and washable. That beats putting the helmet in a dishwasher to clean the liner every year.
Best of all? I sized it according to an old Shoei Synchrotec that I own, and they both match perfectly as a size Large.
With the chin bar installed, I can’t put the helmet on while wearing glasses. With the chin bar removed, I can pull the helmet comfortably past my sunglasses. Fortunately, if I want to install the chin bar after putting on the helmet, its easy enough to do.
If you’ve got a protruding chin, this isn’t the helmet for you if you want to wear it with the chin bar installed.
There’s plenty of lateral visibility out of either side due to the wide cutouts.
The visor is either down or up; there’s no in-between. It does come down the full length to cover my chin. It’s also UV400 protecting according to the documentation.
I wear earplugs. Even so, this helmet has noticeable wind noise, and I sit behind a fairing on my bagger. It doesn’t bother me, but the wind noise could be annoying to others.
For highway riding, I prefer the chin bar removed from the helmet. That removable chin bar is a nice feature, and part of the reason that I bought this helmet.
I like the ability to install the chin bar for around-town riding. There are just too many cagers blowing through lights, and I appreciate the value of a full-face helmet in those situations.
A sailor’s kiss in Times Square
The nurse in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous photo of a sailor kissing her in Times Square has passed away. Edith Shain was 92.
Eisenstaedt is quoted as saying this about the photograph: “In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds…”
Midphase / ANhosting loses a customer
Update October 4, 2010: I canceled a two-year account and received no refund, even though there was over a year and a half remaining on my account. Thanks for nothing, Midphase / ANhosting.
Folks, leave this outfit in the dust and ignore their fancy recruiting website.
* * *
Some time ago I switched hosts. Now that I’ve experienced interminable load times with no sign of of a fix for a week while using Midphase / ANhosting, I’m back with lunarpages.
How not to impress a customer looking for support
A litany of excuses:
- Our slow load times are because of this specific WP plugin.
Okay, so I’ll just disable all of my plugins on all of my sites and shoot that theory to hell. You betcha.
- The reason our CPanel is so slow to load/freezes today is because we’re doing server maintenance. We’ve switched so many of our customers to your server that other users are hogging all of the bandwidth.
Right. But what about the past seven days with the same problems? Uh-huh.
- Google is taking up too much bandwidth by indexing all of the sites on your server during the day, so we’re limiting access to everyone until the early morning hours.
I didn’t even get up early in the morning to check that one out. Give me a break.
Bye bye Midphase. So long ANhosting. I don’t think I’m gonna cry.*
*With apologies to the Everly Brothers.