Got a great ride in today with my son-in-law.

[John Schmidt]

Met him at his business shop & then headed out to a spot I had picked for some pictures. Following that, he led on a country road ride for just shy of 50 miles. He took me past Aaron Rogers mansion, pro football pays quite well. Might be close to the last ride on the old bike as you see it in my posts since I'm now going to start removing stuff to transfer over to the trike. Since he, Andy, has a '99 I/S he is buying my centerstand and bag guard rails. He didn't want me to give them to him, is paying for them but obviously a little less than what I could get on the open market. I'm ok with it, he offered more but I refused and lowered the amount some which was ok with both he and his bookkeeper....my daughter Toni.

Was getting quite cool by the time we got back, once the sun dropped below the tops of the trees it really got nippy. I needed a good ride though, been a while and been stressing a bit over possibly moving back to Florida in a couple months or so. Waiting for my realtor to come up with something I can't pass up. I need to hire a Boy Scout troop to come in and pack up the garage, told the realtor I need at least a 2-car garage, one stall for the car and one for all my tools, cabinets, & tool boxes. Plus I'll need to build a workbench....maybe a 2 1/2 car garage. 

[RNFWP]

Nice to hear you got in a good ride. Getting used to that trike...?
Would be cool to see progress pics as you move the parts around.

[TJ]

     

[f6john]

Where in Florida is your search, old stomping grounds or new territory?

[John Schmidt]

Where in Florida is your search, old stomping grounds or new territory?

Probably new territory, most likely up around The Villages...about 60 miles north of Orlando. I lived in the Orlando area for 53 yrs. before moving to Wisconsin to be near family during cancer treatment. I had to move out of the house anyway so that was my best bet at the time. I've looked in the Orlando area but the housing prices there are aproaching the hysteria that drove California to the extremes. In just the past year, homes in my old 'hood that are half the size of ours are now selling for more than ours did a year ago. In one area where I lived in 1994, 1200 sq. ft. homes like I had are selling for mid-upper $300k. I sold mine for $80k in 1995....ridiculous prices now.

In the Villages area, prices haven't quite gone through the roof....yet. And just about anywhere you buy in/around the Villages it's no more than about 2 1/2 miles from the hospital up there. It's close to anything I would need to maintain myself or the household, and many locations are gated which would be kinda nice in some respects. Plus....there's tons of eating establishments nearby, what more can you ask for? Most locations affiliated with The Villages have a monthly "amenities" fee of $162 which give you free access to the Executive golf courses, use of the gym, tennis cts., pool, etc. And it helps with maintaining all the golf cart pathways to/from various shopping districts. One rather amusing aspect of that area is the high incidence of STD cases, which probably goes along with the unspoken practice of placing a pink flamingo in the front yard of an evening if the resident is "available."  I won't be in the market for statues of flamingos....or drugs. 

[Farside]

Where in Florida is your search, old stomping grounds or new territory?

 One rather amusing aspect of that area is the high incidence of STD cases, which probably goes along with the unspoken practice of placing a pink flamingo in the front yard of an evening if the resident is "available."  I won't be in the market for statues of flamingos....or drugs.  

  
Glad you got in a good ride with you SIL. It will be good to get you back to FL but you be careful down there John easy for me to say

[cookiedough]

glad you got some wind here in WI was VERY nice out today I made it home before the sun dipped down around 5 p.m. or tad after but much after 6 p.m. the sun goes down now and yes you are right the chill comes out for sure when sun starts going down this time of year.

129 miles today longest ride of the year with 3 short stops basically and still had 1/2 tank of gas to spare.     Might do it tomorrow as well even more miles gotta burn out the gas while I can not many more weekends above 50 degrees I am afraid of coming up in October and November. 

Sorry to see you might be looking to move back to Florida during the long 4 months of WI winters.  I really cannot blame you for moving at least for 4-5 months of the year to balmy Florida.    I do not mind WI winters been here 50 years,  but dislike them tad bit more than I use to as we age I think the cold gets to us more so. 

Might head NW tomorrow to Prairie du Chien area vs. today SW since into Illinois the colors were not as vibrant down there as in the WI area is but even further NW the colors should be 50-75% peak or close to it by now?   Tons of good roads off the beaten main arteries that are nice to putz along on.   But, gotta say,  even 129 miles in say 3-4 hours of riding my butt gets sore and even used today the airhawk seat cushion as well slightly inflated.

[Thunderbolt]

John I would call that a bait and switch.  The comment about a place to take pictures and then there aren't any posted.  Hope you find a spot to call home soon.

[DDT (12)]

John,

First off... Terry is right about the bait & switch. Second thing, I'm glad you're still riding, even though it won't be for much longer. Last thing, I hope to see ya if you do return to warm, sunny Florida... We could go for an introduction of you to Rocky. Or, we could ride down to meet Nick... There we'd have the choice of either dumpster-diving or riding with him for some excellent BBQ. Whatever, we'd find something to ride to or for... I'll be looking for you...

DDT

[John Schmidt]

OK you two, I'll be posting a couple pics in the not too distant future. I have a reason for not doing so just yet. The reason for the pictures was two-fold; 1) to get a final iteration of the bike before removing stuff to either sell, move to the trike, or to Andy's(my SIL) bike, 2) you'll just have to wait. 

Meant to ask....Bruce, if I should get a place in The Villages, do you want me to keep you appraised of those with pink flamingos in the front yard? That has a special connotation you know!