Cedar Key - Day # 30 - Wrenching

Sunday morning fog

One of the things you would know about me from reading this blog is my love for bicycles.  I carry in my enclosed trailer a tandem, two road bikes, and a mountain bike.  Before our  Spokane interlude I also had two tadpole recumbents along for the ride.  I carry a bike stand which enables me to get the bike on which I am working off the ground.  I carry a full set of bike specific tools, as well as replacement parts, etc.  Since our arrival here at Sunset Isle RV Park and Motel I have made offers to the members of the NuRvers group to tune up their bikes if that was all that was needed, or address specific mechanical issues they may be having.  

At first I didn't have anyone bringing their bike over, but eventually Debby Kasson (Bill and Debby's Wild Ride) asked if I would look at her beach cruiser for a specific problem (bent rear derailleur hanger), so I had the pleasure of "digging" into her bike for a few hours, and getting it working, and running the way it was meant to.  Eventually the word got out and I worked on Brian's (The Roaming Pint) bike which had major problems.....only one of seven speeds worked, the rear brakes were frozen up, and the front ones were getting there.  It took a few hours of pleasant work to get it running again, but now it works pretty well.  When I took his bike back I picked up Maria's which really only needed a tune up.  Pretty soon I got a message on Facebook from Forrest Clark (NuRvers) asking if I would take a look at his bike, even though it was pretty new.  It just needed a minor tune up and lube.  

Around the same time I got a message from Jay (Slider Magazine), who was currently in St. Augustine, FL, but wanted to know if he could bring his Specialized bike by when he returned to fix an ongoing issue with his rear hub.  He brought his bike by Saturday morning.  It took pretty much every tool in my tool box to fix the problem with his rear hub, but fix it I did, and what a blast I had taking that bike apart, and putting it back together.   He dropped by later in the day after I had returned his bike (he wasn't "home" at the time) asking where his dirty bike was.......he didn't want the "new" one I had left by his motorhome......you see, now that makes me smile.  I told him I have a genetic predisposition toward cleaning, and that I couldn't help it, so he would just have to get used to the "new" bike I brought back.

Friday night I had gotten an e-mail from Karen (of Krash and Karen fame) asking if they could take me up on my offer to tune up their bikes, or at least check them over, so they came by around 1 pm Saturday with their bikes.  All four of us stood out in the trailer while I worked first on Krash's Schwinn hybrid fixing a rear brake issue.....they were continuously rubbing.  Next up was Karen's Diamondback hybrid, which needed some adjustment to the rear derailleur as it was not shifting through all 7 gears properly.  All that "fun" took about an hour and a half.....and, seriously, it was fun.  Thank you to all those who have taken me up on my offer to use my "wrenching" skills on your bicycles.....and to those of you who have not seen fit to contribute to my addiction.....and you know who you are......have a little pity on a wrench addict and bring your bike over for me to play with for a while......pretty please?  Krash left me with 3 bottles of Anchor Steam Porter for my efforts.  Please understand, I do not do this for gain, but will not turn down offers of good brews if they come my way.

Before Krash and Karen left we made a date to meet at the Sea Breeze Restaurant on Dock Street for drinks and appetizers at 5:15.  For one rare time we drove the car into town, and passed K & K on their bikes riding into town....as it turned out, by the time we found a parking spot they were in front of the restaurant locking their bikes....:D

I wasn't that impressed with the appetizers, but enjoyed my Blue Moon draft beer.....I will say I though their Onion Rings were slightly above average.  The sunset did not disappoint, and the conversation flowed without pause.  Yelp reviewers give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5....I would give it a 2.5.

We parted company a little after 7 pm and headed to our respective "homes".  I spent some time working on my Amazon.com "reflections" piece, watched a couple of "American Pickers", and then trundled off to twilight land.  Another day lived well......

# 30 taken from inside the Sea Breeze Restaurant

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 12 - Shell Mounds and Wickets

Tuesday had the promise of sun, temps in the mid to high 70's and a light breeze......it was a perfect day for a bike ride......even if it was a little humid.

I do not think we have ridden any of our bikes since early October when we rode the tandem out to Green River Lake when we were still working our 5 hour shifts, and since we have been in Cedar Key we have preferred to just walk wherever we need to go.....after all nothing is more than 1.5 miles away from where our coach sits.  Additionally, we do not want to lose our Amazon.com fitness.  We haven't walked every single day, but if you averaged out our mileage over the time we have been here I think it would be in the neighborhood of 2-3 miles  per day.

There are, however, a few local sites back towards Chiefland that are a little farther away than we would want to walk.  Specifically the Lower Suwannee Shell Mound site, which is about 8 miles away.  TLE usually chooses which of our bikes we will ride, and for the "Shell Mound" ride she chose the road bikes.  While she finished up some things inside I went over to the trailer to get the bikes ready for riding.....this mostly meant putting air in the tires.  No matter how good your tubes are, they will lose air over 3 months.  We were finally off riding north along State Road 24 where we found a nice riding shoulder for the first 2.5 miles, but after we turned off to head for the "Shell Mound" the shoulder disappeared.....this did not really make a difference for us as we only saw one car the next 2 miles.  We had to make one more left hand turn, and this was on to a paved road that probably had not seen a resurfacing in 20+ years.....it was a little rough riding those last 3 miles, but our bikes were up to the challenge with their front suspension dampening the roughness, and the suspension seatposts shielding our posteriors from the vibration of that road.

 Interesting

 View towards the ocean from the top of the "Shell Mound"

TLE atop the "Shell Mound"

One thing that comes from higher temperatures is bugs.....specifically mosquitoes, noseeums, etc., so we have to think about applying repelant more often.......I have a few bites to show for my neglect.   It was a great 16 mile ride, and our tailends were not too much the worse for wear.....need to get in more saddle time to toughen up those nether regions again....lol!

We arrived back "home" around Noon.  A couple of ladies who are part of our NuRVers group have a few developing issues with their 5th wheel, so Chris (Technomadia) and I offered to help them troubleshoot the problems....here you see both us looking for the source of a gray water tank leak.  We also tackled a leak under the kitchen sink, and a propane leak.....I think we have determined the source of the propane leak, and a new part has been ordered....in the mean time we modified their hookup to stop the leak.  The leak under the kitchen sink appears to have been a lose hot water supply connection, and we'll see Wednesday if that leak has stopped.....we are still working on the gray water leak....waiting for things to dry out.

Later around 5pm we met Bill and Debby (Bill and Debby's Wild Ride) out front and started our walk into town to have dinner at the Historic Island Hotel built in 1859!

 However, on our walk we passed Low Key Hideaway and found our friends Maria and Brian (Roaming Pint) getting ready to start a croquet match.......wow, I haven't played croquet for about 20 years.  Of course, we had to stop and join in....there were just enough mallets to go around.  We had a great time laughing and giggling......Bill ultimately prevailed just as the sun was dipping below the Cedar Key horizon.

In the background you will see (from left to right) Brian, Jay, me, Maria, and Debby

After a few celebratory high 5's we continued our walk into town arriving at the Island Hotel around 6:30 and were seated in the main dinning room.  

We enjoyed wonderful meal, and even better conversation with Bill and Debby.  We are all from California, and Bill and Debby lived at Lake Tahoe for a few years.....one of our favorite places on earth.  I had the Chicken Marsala with their French Onion soup, and we jointly purchased a great bottle of Kenwood Pinot Noir.  As we walked the 1.5 miles home in the dark we were struck by the beauty of the night sky just filled to overflowing with billions of starts.  This is a great place to see stars at night as their is a lot less light a night due to the rural nature of the community.

So what can I say, but here is the end of another magical Cedar Key day!

Thanks for stopping by!