Death of a Bulldog Revisited

Well, I guess the key switch on the Italica Bulldog 150 is well and truly done. If it's the key switch.

Today I turned the key on. The dash powered on. I reached for the start button. It powered off. I turned the key off and back on. The dash powered on. I reached for the start button. It powered off. I eventually buckled under to the ignominy of running my errand in an SUV instead of on two wheels. Awaiting word from the scooter shop that the new switch is there ... and I guess they'll have to come pick the bike up. Which is a "free" service they offer, so there's that anyway. I considered ripping into the thing myself and making it go "for now," but I'd rather not do things that the mechanic might have to undo.

I thought about going to look at a bike today, but decided to wait. It's a 1996 Kawasaki Ninja 250. A little more "lean forward" style than I'd like. I'd need to put a handlebar riser on it and maybe get a mechanic to do all the little adjustments entailed in moving the pegs/shifter/foot brake forward to really sit upright. The price is right, and I've seen pictures of that bike stripped of its fairings and turned into a cool-looking "naked" cafe racer / street fighter thing, but ... do I really want to buy a 30-year-old bike that isn't exactly the bike I'm looking for?

On the other hand, while this key switch thing is the only real problem I've had with the Bulldog, it's making me kind of skittish and wanting to find a more quality vehicle. I've even been considering just buying new and still going Chinese, but Lifan instead of one of the generic brands (Lifan used to build Honda's engines, I'm told, and they get a lot of good talk from riders/owners).

For now, I'm just hoping the Bulldog is running in time for my trip to Ormond Beach some time in the next week or two. Otherwise I'll have to make arrangements to drive that SUV. Feh.

Poor Rick Scott

His only real claim to fame or accomplishment before going into politics was getting caught defrauding the US government out of $2 billion in Medicare payments.

He thought too small. The similar scam DOJ just busted supposedly aimed for a nearly $15 billion take, and ended up probably knocking down a little more than Scott did before they got caught.

But since they're Russian and eastern European, they probably can't get governorships or Senate seats out of their scheme's collapse. So I guess he kind of wins after all.

Wordle 1472 Hint

Hint: Some cases are open and shut; today's Wordle is a quick case of shut and open.

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1471 Hint

Hint: Funny, and cleverly so.

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First Letter: W

This Guy Just Never Stops Being Interesting

Algorithmic mumbo-jumbo only explains how I found Fortnine's videos in the most very basic way. I started doing a bunch of YouTube searches on motorcycle topics, voila, there you go, now it shows up in my YouTube feed all the time. And it's good stuff.

But "Ryan F9's" "not necessarily just about, or even really related to, motorcycles" content is at least as good. For example, his explanation of Internet content algorithms and why they're not necessarily great:

A Rare Instance of Me Agreeing With Both the Trump Administration and the Supreme Court's Support of Same

The case is Trump v. Casa.

A lot of people seem to think the ruling affirms US president Donald Trump's attempt to repeal the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause by imperial edict ("Executive Order No. 14160").

That's not what it does:

The applications do not raise -- and thus the  Court does not address -- the question whether the Executive Order violates the Citizenship Clause or Nationality Act.

What the ruling addresses is whether a US District Court can issue an injunction compelling or forbidding the US government to do a particular thing in parts of the country outside its jurisdiction. For example, can the US District Court for the Northern District of California order the federal government to stop paying out farm subsidies not just in the Northern District of California, but also in Maine, Wisconsin, and Arkansas?

SCOTUS says that that's mostly a "no," and that makes sense. If different District Courts come up with different answers on Constitutional or Legal Issue X, it's SCOTUS's job to settle Constitutional or Legal Issue X nation-wide. The lower courts don't get to magically expand their jurisdictions and authorities.

I'm not saying that the principle will always produce good outcomes, but I can understand why 1) SCOTUS doesn't want jurisdictional chaos, with US District Courts issuing conflicting rulings and each court demanding that its ruling, rather than another court's ruling, be enforced nationwide; and 2) SCOTUS sees such jurisdictional chaos as contrary to original constitutional intent.

Wordle 1470 Hint

Hint: Post-amputation remainder.

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First Letter: S

Not Insanely Difficult

 Before:

After:

While temperature wasn't the cause of the Italica Bulldog 150's shutdown problem, switching out the stock fan for an NCY "performance" fan and putting a scoop over the fan to push more air through it was cheap (total cost about $45), easy (about 15 minutes total even for not-espcially-mechanically-inclined me), and probably good for the bike (one reviewer of the fan on a bike forum reported a 10-15 temperature degree decrease after running the bike hard for 30 minutes with the "performance" fan versus the stock fan).

If I'd known temperature wasn't the problem before ordering the parts, I might not have ... but I'm glad I did, even if I'm just passing this bike on to someone else soon (based on advice I'm still leaning "buy a bigger bike" versus "put money into modding the hell out of this one").

Another Upcoming Study

As I've mentioned before, I like participating in research studies, and I'm fairly well-connected to do so (my wife works in research at a major university, and whenever I'm in her building there's a bulletin board covered with solicitations for research subjects; I'm also on at least two "this guy volunteers for research" lists from past engagements and occasionally get calls).

On Wednesday, I went in for my one-year visit on a study involving people with chronic pain. I'm part of the control group (people who don't use cannabis). I think that's my fourth visit, and if I'm not mistaken there's one more to complete the study. They ask questions, take vital signs, draw blood, etc., but nothing wildly invasive. When it's all said and done, I think they will have paid me $200 or so for my time.

As I was leaving that study visit, I noticed a solicitation for another study, and enrolled in it today. Next month I'll be paid $100 for two hours of my time. An hour is intake, consent forms, etc. Another hour is a brain MRI.

That study attracted my attention because my brother died of a brain aneurysm, and they do let you know if they find anything abnormal. I've only had one MRI, and my recollection is that even after insurance coverage I paid several hundred dollars out of pocket for it. Getting paid to have a test done is better than paying to have it done, in my opinion. While I don't mind getting a little pocket money, the real utility to me has been health information that I'd either not have had, or would have had to pay to get if the study wasn't gathering it.

If you like the idea of helping with health research, making a little money, and gathering health information free instead of paying for it, one avenue for getting hooked into these kinds of things is All Of Us (not an affiliate link, and not the organization which referred me to this study).

Another, if you live near any substantial university campus, is to just watch for cork bulletin boards on and around the campus. You'll see flyers soliciting people of various age groups, with or without various ailments, etc.

Bulldog Mystery Probably Solved!

The Italica Bulldog 150 died again this morning -- while I was on my way to the scooter shop for its 3,000-mile oil and gear oil change (doing it at 2,000 miles because I have that long trip coming up)!

I pulled up at a stop light and boom, sudden death. Not "the engine chugged and died," just nothing, including no electrical power to the dash, just like before.

This time, power returned before I could finish getting off the bike to push it to the side of the road, and I'd been traveling at 45 miles per hour or so, moving air over the engine nicely, right up to a few seconds before it died ... so it's not temperature-related. I concluded, and the mechanic agreed, that it's just a wonky key switch. He's supposed to get back to me in the next few days with a price to replace it. Since I already have an air scoop and will be getting a performance fan today, I'll put those on anyway, because why not keep the bike cooler if it's easy to do that?

It also turns out that he and his family run other shops, including a motorcycle shop in High Springs. So he's going to keep an eye out for a bigger bike in my price/preference range and let me know if he comes across anything.

I Suspect Jude Russo Has the NYC Mayoral Situation Nailed

In comments on another post, one of the anonymous trolls (probably the only anonymous troll, but he uses different names) makes a bet:

I bet you support the Muslim communist for NYC mayor.

My response:

Then you just lost a bet. I don't support anyone for NYC mayor. I don't live in NYC and take little interest in their local politics. But if I did live in NYC, I wouldn't vote in the Democratic primary or vote for the Democratic candidate.

I didn't follow the race in any detail, but apparently the outcome was wildly discomfiting to both the Democratic Party establishment and the GOP.

"Muslim communist" Zohran Mamdani defeated disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo, who may or may not continue running on some other ticket.

Incumbent mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent after he got caught taking bribes and worked out another bribe -- federal prosecutors would drop the charges if he'd harness the city government to advance the Trump immigrant abduction agenda.

I'm sure there are other candidates, but the only one I've noticed is Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a perennial GOP sacrificial lamb in NYC mayoral races.

Anyway, over at The American Conservative, Jude Russo observes:

A New York mayor has to do only four things well to be considered a winner: don’t mess with the public schools; keep the subway basically safe and in basically good repair; support the police as they crack down on sickos and crooks, even when that entails a little light brutality; and keep the city solvent. ... Mamdani seems in large part to define himself by opposing the Four-Point Way for mayors laid out above.

Sounds about right.

I've spent a total of one day in NYC, not counting short airport layovers. Outside the very bare basics, I'm simply not familiar with the city's Byzantine politics/governance. But given the city's history and Mamdani's self-identification as a "democratic socialist," I can confidently predict that if he's elected mayor, the voters who elect him will soon regret their decision.

Of course, I strongly suspect they'd regret electing Cuomo or re-electing Adams as well. The primary consequence of politics is societal dysfunction and NYC's local politics makes a great Exhibit A toward proving that charge.

Wordle 1469 Hint

Hint: Advice from Eliza Doolittle -- should you happen to find yourself in Spain, avoid this area unless you enjoy rain.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1468 Hint

Hint: Today's is a Wordle you can't refuse.

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First Letter: O

Wordle 1467 Hint

Hint: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition to make them sit in this chair "until lunch time with only a cup of coffee at 11."

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First Letter: C

Well, She's Not Wrong ...

When an outside gang tries to take over a city, you'd kind of expect the gangs already operating there to maybe show up for the fight. A local politician is apparently under investigation by the parent gang of the ICE/USMC occupation force for noticing that they haven't, and shaming them for it.

The Motorcycle Consensus ...

... among two people whose opinion I specifically sought out ...

... is that I should keep looking for a bigger motorcycle instead of putting a lot of money into the Italica Bulldog.

I'm putting a little money into it. I don't expect to get a new bike, and get it licensed, and have given it enough of a "shakedown cruise" to find any unknown problems, by the time I ride to Ormond Beach.

So I'm having the 3,000 mile service done on Friday, and I've also ordered a "fan scoop" that should improve airflow over the engine, in case temperature was the reason for the shutdown. And I plan to avoid driving on slow / traffic-jammed roads during the hotter hours of the day, for the moment.

If I still don't have a new bike by the time I get back from Ormond Beach, I may invest in a performance fan to go under that scoop.*

But for now, at least, I'm going to wait on things like oil coolers, performance exhausts, etc.

* Found a good deal on an NCY fan (a reputable brand), so I ordered that too. Should be here before the Ormond beach trip. So I'll hopefully have bodacious air flow by the time I take off for that.

Wordle 1466 Hint

Hint: Another way of saying "select" (the adjective, not the verb).

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First Letter: E

On The Other Hand, What If I Just Keep The Italica Bulldog 150?

Because, you know, that's always an option. It's an enjoyable bike to ride, it's good for town and reasonably good for "country highway" riding, I don't really see a "freeway" bike as a necessity, and there's room for improvement.

I could swap in a 250cc engine (my guy at the scooter shop says the 250cc engines Italica uses in its scooters fit well with, and into the space for, their 150cc engines). That seems a little needlessly expensive, though.

Right now, the bike handles 55 miles per hour just fine, and it's been past 60 under ideal conditions. I suspect I could get it comfortably to 65 miles per hour by replacing the air filter and exhaust with performance options and adjusting (possibly re-jetting, maybe even replacing) the carburetor. That's probably a $300-$400 project.

To address temperature issues (that may have been what caused the shutdown last week), for another $100 or so (parts and labor, closer to $50 if I do the work myself), I could switch out the stock fan for one that supposedly moves more air, as well as put a "scoop" on in place of the stock fan cover to direct more air at the fan. Another $100-$200 (there are various options including DIY) for an oil cooler.

There are "performance" CDIs out there, but after my experience with a dud one on the old 50cc scooter, I'd want to be very careful about sourcing. The advantage would be getting rid of any RPM restrictions (but of course I'd have to keep an eye on my tach instead of the bike preventing me from burning up the engine). Probably in the $50 range for a reputable/reliable one.

Would that turn the Bulldog into the bike I really want? Maybe. The final step would be slightly wider tires, but that will wait until the original tires actually need to be replaced anyway.

On the other hand, the numbers above amount to a considerable percentage of what I'd spend just buying a bigger bike. Used, but a "mainstream name brand" with considerably more horsepower and a non-Chinese engine.

I'll be thinking about that between now and Friday, when I'll be plunking down $120 for the Bulldog's 3,000-mile maintenance (it's only just past 2,000 miles but I have a big trip coming up) -- oil, gear oil, having the guy go over the variator/belt upgrade to make sure everything's in good shape, etc. At some point I'll start doing the regular maintenance myself, but for now I'm willing to pay to have a real mechanic, who mostly works on these very vehicles, keep things in shape.

Wordle 1465 Hint

Hint: An opposite of "evenly."

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First Letter: O

Are The Motorcycle Gods Trying To Tell Me Something?

On Friday, after I had finally resolved to take the search for a new motorcycle easier, the Italica Bulldog 150 mysteriously died for several minutes. No trouble since. Could have been that the CDI got too warm, could be that the key switch is going wonky, could be that a slightly loose, since tightened, battery cable stopped carrying current. Worrying. Nothing I can do about it, except what I did that very day (I ordered a small socket set to keep on the bike -- I thought I had one, then discovered that it was either missing or I had mis-remembered putting it there, when I needed it).

Yesterday, I rode the bike to an evening showing of Ballerina. As usual, I parked the bike in the best spot I could find for visibility and hopefully not a lot of traffic (a spot near the furthest corner of the lot from the theater and any shops). When I came out after the movie, there was a note taped to the seat: "Sorry I bumped your bike. Text me at [number redacted] for insurance information."

I inspected the bike in the poorly lit area at twilight. There was zero obvious damage.

I rode the bike home. It performed fine, nothing seemed bent, wobbly, or loose from an impact.

I inspected it again in full sunlight today. If there's any damage, it's a small smudge in the "cover-up" paint I put on the end of the left brake handle after I dropped the bike the first (and only) time, at two miles an hour in a traffic circle in the rain as a hurricane approached when some guy couldn't make up his mind whether to stop or go in front of me.

So I texted the guy, told him no damage and no worries but thanks for letting me know.

Two incidents, both minor. But I wonder if the universe is sending me some kind of motorcycle message.

Wordle 1464 Hint

Hint: If today's Wordle made a sound, it would be monotonous.

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First Letter: T

Fairly Short and Hopefully Spoiler-Free Review: Ballerina

TL;DR: I made the mistake of browsing a couple of negative reviews -- and noticing a couple of "not very good box office numbers" stories -- before seeing Ballerina. I'm pleased to report that Ballerina is a perfectly serviceable installment in the John Wick film franchise. Don't mistake that for faint praise. If you like the weird cinematic universe and its (some might say excessive/gratuitous) violence, you won't come away disappointed. I won't say it adds a lot to the mythos, but it does bring in at least one new likely recurring character (other than the lead), one new universe "clan," and adds some new depth to the Ruska Roma "clan." 

Trailer:

Longer Version:

The "ballerina" of the title is played by Ana Armas. After her turn as "Bond Girl" Paloma in No Time To Die, I expected good things from her. She delivers on both acting and action as a Ruska Roma assassin/bodyguard.

She faces more than one opponent or seeming opponent on her quest to find and destroy her main opponent. In that mix (I won't say how) is Norman Reedus, of Walking Dead fame, as Daniel Pine. Franchise regulars who show up include Ian McShane as Winston, Anjelica Houston as The Director, and, in his final film role, the late and already much-missed Lance Reddick as Charon. And one more you may have heard about, but I won't spoil it with the name in case you haven't.

As for John Wick universe lore, the High Table doesn't really figure in the story, but the Continental hotels, the coins, the switchboard and "boiler room" for keeping track of assassination contracts, etc. are there. It's recognizably the same world.

Speaking of worlds, in past posts on the John Wick universe, I've repeatedly -- and, over time, more and more confidently -- asserted that it's the same universe as the Matrix films. And whaddayaknow, this film throws in another piece of evidence for that belief with a scene that mirrors, not exactly, but too closely for the creators to have not known exactly what they were doing, this bit from The Matrix:

A common theme in my film reviews:

If you like the franchise, you'll like this installment of it. If you don't, maybe not so much. And it's definitely not something to watch before you've seen the previous feature films (and perhaps, though not necessarily, the Peacock limted series exploring the origins of the New York Continental).

That really is the bottom line: I'm a fan of the John Wick milieu, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to spend two more hours in it (the rest of the family having various engagements not involving me this evening created a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to do so).

Not Ready For Prime Time (Pun Intended) ...

I got an email yesterday letting me know that I could exercise "early access" privileges to Alexa+ -- "your new personal AI assistant that gets things done—she’s smarter, more conversational, more capable, and free with Prime."

The first thing I noticed was that the female voice coming out of my Echo Dot was different than (and, in my opinion, not as nice as) the previous version.

The second thing I noticed was that the new voice was telling me that the "new, improved" Alexa can't do something the old Alexa has been doing for years, something I have Alexa do every day -- read a book to me from my Kindle library.

IIRC, the word "yet" was used in that response, and when I told Alexa+ to end my "early access" privileges and revert to "old Alexa," it did so with a sort of half-apologetic compliance noting that the Alexa+ feature set isn't complete yet and that more stuff is coming, so try again later.

I use Alexa to check the time, check the weather, check the price of Bitcoin, set alarms/timers, answer random questions that come up in conversation ("Alexa, is Miguel Ferrer still alive?" was one from yesterday -- sadly, he is not), listen to music, and have myself read to sleep from Kindle.

Until Alexa+ can do all of those things, it's less useful to me than old Alexa, even if it can do all kinds of new things. I've been getting by without it doing those new things for me for 58 years; but I've become reliant on it to do the old things over the last eight years or so.

Wordle 1463 Hint

Hint: A clearing in the forest (or a brand of air freshener).

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First Letter: G

Death (and Resurrection) of a Bulldog

The Italica Bulldog 150 died today. I was entering a traffic circle at low speed when suddenly ... nothing. Engine stopped running, dash lighting went out. No biggie as "emergencies" go (nobody behind me honking for me to get out of the way, plenty of roadside room to start diagnosing, etc.), but obviously concerning.

As soon as I had the bike roadside and had established that there was simply no electricity reaching the dash and headlight, my first thought was "loose battery cable." So I pulled the seat off, grabbed my tool bag from the storage compartment, and prepared to open the battery compartment to check that.

And, for some reason, the 1/4" ratchet with 10mm socket that I was sure I had in my tool bag wasn't there. Sigh.

I decided to give Dave at Campus Scooters a call. I bought the bike from him, I've had it maintained and modified by him, and his shop actually offers a "free pickup" service for non-running scooters in the area. He couldn't just come running (he runs small staff during the summer and had an appointment about to arrive), but he talked me through some diagnostics on the phone while advising me to find a place to park it until he could come pick it up.

Will the bike kick-start? No.  And, oh, btw, there's a hose hanging down by the kick start lever that looks like it should be fastened to something (turns out that was a drain hose -- apparently the bolt holding it in place had worked its way loose; very recently, as it wasn't like that a few days ago when I washed the bike).

Well, find a place to park it and ... HEY, THE DASH LIGHTS ARE ON! BIKE STARTS RIGHT UP!

I rode it to the shop without further incident. Dave opened the battery compartment. The cables were a little loose, but probably not loose enough to cause the problem. He tightened them up. That left three main possibilities:

1. Temperature. If the CDI box gets too hot (or maybe it detects engine heat through a sensor?), the bike will shut down. As it happens, when it died I had just spent about 15 minutes behind a city bus, stopped more than moving, and then on a 25 mile per hour surface street. So maybe it did get hot from insufficient airflow over the engine on a 90-degree day.
2. A wonky key switch. The solution to that, short of replacing it, is to wiggle it and turn it on and off until something happens. Which, really, I had done before calling Dave, but maybe not enough?
3. The bike knows I'm looking for a replacement and thinking about selling it and decided to get a little revenge. Yes, I'm superstitious that way.

I guess we'll see if it happens again. If not, it was probably just a loose battery cable.

I've recommended Campus Scooters before, and I'll do so again now. I think it's worth noting that there was no charge for the 10 minutes of labor Dave put in, and that his prices are eminently reasonable when there are charges, and that he doesn't tell you it's the flux capacitor on the Johnson rod just so he can charge you for an unnecessary repair.

In the meantime, I've ratcheted down my search for a new bike because I finally hit the combination of frustration and boredom that makes me not want to hit Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace every five minutes. Two weeks ago, I couldn't walk down the street without someone jumping out in front of me and offering me a Honda Rebel 250 cheap. Now they're suddenly few and far between and out of my price range (because they're newer and in beautiful condition -- before, I was finding 2008-2010 Rebel 250s, in decent shape but obviously well-used, for $1200-$1500).

On the "good news" front, Dave says I really should be able to get $1,600 for the Bulldog when I sell it, but that it might take some time to find a buyer in Gainesville because it's mostly students wanting 50cc vehicles. Once I have a  bigger bike, I think I'll put the Bulldog on the market for $1,500 and take $1,200 if someone makes that offer (I was really only hoping for $1,000, so knowing I can get more is nice). Either that or put it on consignment at Campus Scooters.

Wordle 1462 Hint

Hint: Crayola's version is a dark tan, but more broadly it seems to comprise several of E.L. James's 50 shades.

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First Letter: T

Wordle 1461 Hint

Hint: Knick-knack and bric-à-brac rhyme with each other, but not with this third word of the same type.

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First Letter: C

Wordle 1460 Hint

Hint: What Pac-Man does (and who Richard Belzer portrayed).

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First Letter: M

Wordle 1459 Hint

Hint: The kind of phone call where you might be asked if your refrigerator is running or if you have Prince Albert in a can.

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First Letter: P

Nope ...

The Buell Blast did not happen.

From the description, I assumed a rocker box leak, and that's what it was.

But also a leak that was probably the head gasket.

The seller was completely honest, showed me exactly what to look for -- and it broke my heart to not buy the bike. Great looking. Loved sitting on it. Sounded fantastic.

Unfortunately, my mechanic has a hectic schedule. A rocker box gasket he could easily work in, a head gasket might be a matter of a couple of weeks at least before he would have time.

If I'm going to ride something other than the Bulldog 150 to Ormond Beach next month, it's going to have to be a bike that's solid when I buy it or can be made solid with one or two quick, cheap fixes.

I'll watch for that ... but I have reasonable confidence that I can ride the Bulldog 100 miles, let it rest for a night or two, and ride it back, so I do have the luxury of waiting until I find the bike that works.

For The Record, I Have Nothing Against Draft Dodgers

I'm opposed to the draft because I'm opposed to slavery.

If someone "bravely" resists it, possibly at the cost of prison, great. If someone flees the country, stays in college for a deferment, gets a doctor to diagnose him with bone spurs or a pilonidal cyst, etc., to be classified 4-F, I'm fine with that too. I have a relative who, I hear, received his draft notice during Vietnam and then, a few days before the reporting date, suffered a hunting mishap in which he ... accidentally ... shot off his little toe. Unlike some of my other relatives, I don't scorn him for that. He gave up a toe to avoid being enslaved.

I do have a problem with someone who "dodges" the draft and then later, when in a position of political power, fails to work to get rid of all components of a draft, including registration, and also ostentatiously marches around yelling "I'm the commander-in chief," and sends troops -- even volunteer troops -- off to risk death in conflicts that are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the US regime's business.

So I was kind of glad to hear that Trump got trolled with multiple playings of CCR's "Fortunate Son" during his busted-ass attempt to put on a military parade for his own birthday.

I watched about half an hour of the parade, and other people confirm what I saw ... the troops were generally not very motivated to give him the North Korea style triumph he wanted. I saw marching out of step, eye-rolling, just a general "really, we have to be here for this dog and pony show instead of doing something either useful or fun?" attitude.

I suspect that parade did more to damage his image than all the "No Kings" protests combined.

The Motorcycle Gun Is Loaded; The Trigger Should Be Pulled Tonight

Some time back, I mentioned a bike that caught my fancy -- a 2002 Buell Blast, aka "half of a Harley-Davidson 883 V-Twin air cooled thumper" -- but the stars didn't seem aligned. Now they do.

The oil leak mentioned by the seller looks (from pictures and research) like it's almost certainly the rocker box (aka valve cover) gasket. The 2001 and 2002 Blasts are known for "the notorious paper gasket" in that location.

Should be an easy fix, so tonight I'm headed over there to pay the lady and ride the bike home (turns out it's less than five miles away, and I'll have a spare quart of oil in case the leak is a LOT worse than it looks).

Projected costs:

• $910 for the bike and a quart of oil;
• $100 parts and labor for the gasket (that's a loose guesstimate);
• $200-300 to appease the state so that I can have a metal rectangle assuring them I've paid taxes on it; and
• unkown costs for any unknown problems or needed accessories (for example, my "top box" may mount easily on it, or I may need to get a decent top bag to carry stuff when I travel, which I'll be doing next month).

One friend has already generously offered to help me with those costs, and I won't stop any of you who feel compelled to do likewise. Over in the right sidebar you'll find links for sending me filthy lucre, as well as to my Amazon Wish List.

I'd wait on any Wish List items until you see me saying I've got the bike home and operable, though. What I've got on the Wish List is three quarts of oil (two for a primary oil change, one for a transmission oil change -- same fluid, different reservoirs), an oil filter, and a K&N air filter (those are expensive, but also "permanent" or at least long-term cleanable and re-usable).

Unless there's something I don't know, the bike should be safely operable once the gasket is replaced. When the previous owner had new tires put on, she was told the rear rim was slightly bent; she's including the replacement rim, which she never installed, and I'll decide once I have the bike whether I need to immediately deal with that. She's also including a motorcycle helmet, probably too small for me, but it will fit Tamara if I ever talk her into getting on a bike behind me again).

My plan is to get the bike ready to roll, then sell the Italica Bulldog 150. I've got $2,200-$2,300 in it, and hope to get $1,000 out of it. Maybe more -- my first line of inquiry will be with the shop I bought it from, which both buys/re-sells used bikes from its customers and sells on consignment. So if everything works out well, I shouldn't have more than $500 in the new bike.

At a low point last week and even yesterday, I was strongly considering moving on down to a 250cc bike, mainly because it felt like I couldn't walk down the street without someone jumping into the road screaming "Honda Rebel 250! $500!"

A major brand 250 really would be all the bike I absolutely need unless I really do decide to ride all the way around the US or something. I could ride it all over Florida and probably to e.g. New Orleans, Charlotte, etc. and the only real problem would be a sore ass.

And since most of my riding is local -- to the store, to the doctor's office, just around town on a nice day -- do I really want to drag around an 850-pound beast?

Naturally, as soon as I started thinking that way, all of the sub-$2,000 Honda Rebel 250s, etc. disappeared from Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

But that line of thinking did get me considering 500cc as the top, rather than bottom, of the range I was looking for, which is probably wise. I'll be happier to be at the top of that range. As long as the Blast is mechanically sound, I won't worry about it lying down and dying on a 100-mile ride like I do with a cheap Chinese 150cc machine. It will have enough power for significant freeway riding if needed, but still be light enough that I dread having to mount/park it three times on trips to town. And it may even fit in my little "motorcycle garage," which would be a bonus.

What I Think Justin Robert Young Isn't Getting

 From about 14 minutes into his wonderful Politics Politics Politics podcast last night:

Donald Trump's base, in part, has elected him -- twice -- because he is not the guy to go to war. ... Donald Trump committing American troops to Iran would be, for his coalition, in my opinion, a betrayal of a core principle of why he was elected.

Is it possible that, as of 2016, a significant part of Trump's "base" had reason to believe that he was "not the guy to go to war?" Sure.

Is it possible that, by 2020 -- after the Afghanistan "surge," his quintupling of the number of US troops in Syria and firing more artillery rounds there than were fired in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, his re-booting of the US war in Somalia, his decision to start delivering weapons to Ukraine (while boasting that Obama had only sent "blankets"), etc. -- that they still had good reason to believe that? Nope.

And even less good reason to believe it in 2024, after he decided not to complete the withdrawal from Afghanistan after he negotiated the US surrender there, leaving the job of keeping the deal to Joe Biden and then whining incessantly about it.

Of course, "good reason" is not the same thing as "really, really, really, really want to believe Trump soooooooo badly that I'm willing to ignore my own lying eyes."

But even assuming antiwar voters consituted a significant portion of that cultish, gullible "base," there was only one "core principle" involved with whether he won or lost in each of those three elections. That "core principle" has zero to do with policy, domestic or foreign. It's a technical policy:  Eke out a tiny margin in swing-state turnout.

In 2016, he won by about 100k votes spread across a few swing states. In 2020, he lost by about 35k votes spread across a few swing states. In 2024, he won by about 115k spread across a few swing states.

The voters who both cared deeply about foreign policy and were delusional enough to still believe, years of experience proving the contrary notwithstanding, that "he is not the guy to go to war," weren't part of that tiny last-minute Hail Mary GOTV push. They always vote and there was no doubt whatsoever that they were going to vote, or who they were going to vote for. They were already baked into both parties' "war room" projections.

The "core principle" in each of those elections was "how many of our 'meh, might bother, might not' voters, the people not already highly motivated, can we get to fill out a ballot?"

Everything else was, to grab a Bannonism, "flooding the zone with shit." Including foreign policy and war/peace.

Young is usually really, really, really good on nuts and bolts stuff. He seems to be ignoring what he knows here.

Wordle 1458 Hint

Hint: A naval non-commissioned officer.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1457 Hint

Hint: In North America, he goes by the name "Bob White."

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First Letter: Q

What I Saw At The No Kings Protest ...

Several thousand -- at one point I thought north of 2,000, reader GregL thought north of 3,000, and it was only increasing -- people. I won't be surprised if it turns out to have been around 5,000 at some point.

Upbeat mood. Live music (including at least one Grateful Dead cover).

No counter-protesters that I saw.

Heck, I didn't even see any cops. Not a single one. I suspect they were there, but they weren't there in force.

The crowd trended older. This is a university town, but it's summer.

Seemed like a mix of "mainstream"/"moderate" Demopublicans, old hippies, and some younger student types.

Only stayed for an hour or so. The speechifying was kept to a minimum and most of it wasn't about specific issues, but more generally  a sort of "liberal" constitutionalism (due process, etc.), plus antiwar sentiment (although Ukraine seemed unmentioned -- Gaza and Iran were the focus of most foreign policy signs and talk), and of course plenty of Orange Man Bad because that was the reason for the event.

I never did find the Soros rep to collect my pay, dammit.

Will this kind of thing move any needles? Depending on turnout in various districts, I suspect it could tell Republican pols in non-safe seats, "if you come off as MAGA, you will not win a congressional election." But I'm not expecting anything more than a little of that.

Somewhat representative photo:

Wordle 1456 Hint

Hint: When your friend Casper doesn't show up for a lunch date, and also doesn't return your calls.

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First Letter: G

I Think I Found The Perfect (For Me) AI Chatbot Solution

It's called Yupp (not an affiliate link).

You enter your question, the app picks two different AI models to answer it, and the responses appear side by side for comparison.

What you get out of it is two takes on whatever subject you're looking into -- and some "credits" for telling Yupp which answer you consider better (and why, either by clicking one-word descriptions or manually entering an evaluation).

Supposedly the credits can be redeemed for cash, but when I tried asking what they were good for, neither AI model that answered the question even mentioned this particular Yupp. Kinda weird!

What Yupp gets is your feedback on AI model performance. I assume they make their money by selling that feedback to the model makers.

Previously, if I've had a question I thought AI might offer a useful answer to, I'd just type it into Microsoft Copilot (usually), Grok (occasionally), or Google (which has just started integrating that into their main search page).

Getting two answers side by side might mean more information, or information better tailored to need, from one of them, and seems like a good protection against "hallucinated" responses (on the assumption that two different models won't "hallucinate" the same inaccurate response, which may not be a safe assumption).

Wordle 1455 Hint

Hint: Dirty water, or the part of a ship where you might find it.

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First Letter: B

New Temu, Not Same As The Old Temu

At the time Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff fuckery went into effect, I had two orders (actually one order in two separate shipments, one by air and one by sea) en route. Fortunately, delivery times weren't affected. At that point, I stopped even looking on Temu for things I wanted/needed -- less because I anticipated price increases than because I anticipated shipping delays as the tarrifs were implemented at customs facilities, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a particular type of shoe (ankle-height or a little taller, leather or pleather), and decided to have a look at Temu. One immediate change was obvious:

There's always been at least a little bait and switch stuff on Temu. There's a picture of an item. There's a price. When you click through, it turns out that the price is for some kind of accessory (e.g. the front page picture was of a watch for $5.99; turns out a separate watch band is $5.99), while the pictured item is more expensive.

That seems to be on steroids now.

I came across numerous listings for the kind of shoes I was after, with prices like $7.47, $8.63, etc.

Every time I clicked through, the price for the shoes was $22.63 or $27.97, etc., no matter what size or color selected. There was nothing on any of the pages for the front-page price.

I'm not sure how that helps Temu. I'm using up their bandwidth and CPU cycles looking at stuff I'm not going to buy, and I strongly suspect that most other customers will react as I did.

Since then, I've been back to Temu twice, both times to compare prices to Amazon, and I ended up ordering both times because the prices, even with shipping, were better and the items (a motorcycle "cruise control" clamp and a wireless ergonomic mouse) are things I don't need ASAP.

Shipping? Yes.

When you order direct from Temu, there's no shipping charge if you order more than $X worth of stuff. $X seems to vary from order to order, between $10 and $20 for reasons that aren't clear.

But they also sell "Local Warehouse" items. You only get "free" shipping if you order at least $30 worth of stuff from the same seller. And I didn't find anything at either "local warehouse" that seemed worth adding to either order ... so I paid $2.99 shipping.

The first selling point for "Local Warehouse" items is faster delivery. The second, since "Liberation Day," is that the stuff was already in the US, so no price increases from the tariffs.

The second selling point seems to be true, although it's hard to tell because Temu is front-loading "Local Warehouse" items in their listings and you might have to scroll forever before finding a direct-from-Temu version.

On the first point ... well, very mixed results.

I ordered the motorcycle cruise control clamp on June 6. It still hasn't shipped, and won't be here until, tracking says, at least June 24. Normally it wouldn't take that long to get here from China.

The mouse, on the other hand, was ordered on June 9. It got handed over to USPS on June 10. It's supposed to arrive by June 18, it's projected to arrive by June 16, and from past experience I won't be surprised if it shows up on June 14. It's coming from California, so I don't think that's a terrible wait.

But now I know that "Local Warehouse" orders aren't reliably fast. I'd only ordered that way once before, and the item arrived in two days, making it seem at least competitive with Amazon. Now I know better.

Wordle 1454 Hint

Hint: This song is about one:

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First Letter: V

Follow-Up: Amazon Basics 5-Blade MotionSphere Razor, and a Poll

First impressions here.

I lost track of how many shaves I was getting out of a single blade cartridge at some point after "10," and now I think I'm north of "20."

Today, I noticed a wee bit of drag on the blade. No cuts or grabs, it just felt like maybe the blade was starting to lose its edge a little. So I changed to the second of the two cartridges that came with the handle in my "starter kit" (not an affiliate link).

For the price, I think that's exceptionally good performance.

I've already set up an "every six months" subscription for 16 cartidges (and another handle in the bargain!) at about $15 (not an affiliate link), but I may not need refills that frequently unless I go back to shaving my whole head (except for the chin beard -- it stays). Fortunately subscriptions can be paused, set to different intervals, etc.

One of my expectations is that the quality will remain 1) uniform and 2) high for two reasons.

First, this is Amazon's own "house" brand. They're big enough that they probably order a billion cartridges, with the same specs, from the same manufacturer, at a time and get strident with that manufacturer if they see quality control lapses.

It's also a "subscribe and save" item. On a quick web search, about 35% of their customers do "subscribe and save" on one or more products, so that's a centerpiece of their business model. The quality problems with Dollar Shave Club arose after that growing company was bought by a bigger company which apparently though subscriber loyalty was either guaranteed or didn't matter. Amazon won't make that mistake. If the product is their "house" brand, they'll stay on top of quality. If it's a third party brand, well, inclusion in "subscribe and save" is an Amazon decision and if subscriptions move south and returns move north, the brand probably gets 86ed (as Mr. Comey might say).

So anyway, still very much recommended.

So, poll time:

I Haven't Been to a Protest in Years ...

... but I'm planning to attend the "No Kings" event in Gainesville this weekend.

Not so much because I'm anti-Trump (although I am definitely anti-Trump) as to get a look at the current composition of protests.

Last time I attended one, several years ago -- IIRC, the last one was actually two dueling protests over removal of a Confederate statue from the county courthouse grounds (I opposed the removal) -- there was quite a bit of "woke" nonsense. My surface impression is that "woke" is, thankfully, pretty much dead, but I'd like to investigate further.

Hey, maybe it will give me something to write about. I kind of doubt it -- protests are such boring affairs these days, with silly coordinated chants and every interest group in the world there to explain how it's "really about" whatever they're obsessed with -- but you never know.

I probably won't try to find my old gas mask, but I may take a vinegar-soaked rag in a zip-loc bag with me just in case there's tear gas. Ain't been tear-gassed in ... wow, decades.

Wordle 1453 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle means "blanket" in Gaelic, but Americans often use it to mean "tartan pattern."

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First Letter: P

Dog Bites Man

From the San Francisco Chronicle (with photos):

President Donald Trump’s rush to deploy California National Guard troops to Los Angeles has left dozens of soldiers without adequate sleeping arrangements, forced to pack together in one or more federal buildings, resting on the floors of what appear to be basements or loading docks, the Chronicle has learned.

Have a look at that first photo. National Guard troops, sacked out on their gear, a box of MREs on the table.

That has nothing to do with any "rush." It's perfectly normal. It's not "news."

I can't count the number of times I slept on a floor, and was glad to have a roof over my head and some food in my stomach instead of sleeping on the ground with an empty stomach, including in situations like the first few days of guard duty at I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarter in Saudi Arabia, which had been up and running for several months when my unit arrived.

In that particular situation, we were "48 hours on, 24 hours off."

The 24 hours you had "off," there was a living area to go to in another location (trailers set up to hold migrant workers, who had been removed for our convenience). You could get a shower, sleep in something resembling a bed, walk down the street to an "e-club" with near-beer and food vendors, etc.

The 48 hours you had "on," you did four hours standing a post, then four hours on the reaction team, then four hours sleep / personal time, rinse, repeat.

On the reaction team, you slept on the floor in the officer of the guard's office area, with your gear on and your weapon next to you, in case there was an incident requiring immediate manpower/firepower (my only combat engagement of the war occurred when that happened).

During your actual sleep time, at first there were some dirt-floor equipment sheds to throw your vapor barrier mat and poncho liner down in and sack out. Later they converted a fairly large area -- it looked like a set of auto repair bays -- into a sleeping area and got some cots.

All that started on January 1, 1991. The Marine Corps had been there since August, 1990 and we were mobilized and on our way there for a month before arriving. And it was still a clusterfuck, especially at first.

In most situations where we had to go somewhere and be somewhere on anything less than several days' notice, it was like that at least for a day or two.

Here's why:

When a unit gets orders to go from Point A to Point B and do thing C, if there's plenty of time that unit starts making plans and sends an "advance party" to get some things ready. There's still plenty of room for screwing up. The requisition for a squad bay gets lost instead of accepted, the five-ton truck with the cots breaks down, nobody's told the mess hall is shut down for remodeling when they file their request to have a company fed so they don't think to bring several days' worth of rations for 130 troops, etc.

If there's not plenty of time, you pack your trash and get on the road and deal with the little details later.

Shit. Happens.

Whatever you think about those troops -- who they are, what they're doing, whether they should even be there -- unless they're newbies fresh out of boot camp who have never been anywhere except their drill center, they're used to the kind of adhocracy you see in those photos. It's standard operating procedure. They got told to grab their gear and go. They grabbed their gear and went. Everything else gets taken care of as possible.

Wordle 1452 Hint

Hint: The popular "salt water" version of this sweet originated in New Jersey.

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First Letter: T

Three Words You Hate To See When Motorcycle Shopping

 BRING A TRAILER

But it's better to see them in the listing than to find them out after you've invested time in arranging to see the bike. Especially when you'd also need to invest time in arranging to bring a trailer.

I see a lot of listings that say "bring a trailer." That's fine -- it lets me know immediately that this is not a vehicle that's ready to run down the road on.

I also see a lot of listings that are more annoying: "Great bike. Engine purrs like a kitten, garage kept, never been dropped ... all it needs is two tires, a new carburetor, a throttle cable, a spark plug and coil, a new gas tank, and handlebars! Oh, no title either."

Wordle 1451 Hint

Hint: Get on the boat (or plane)!

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First Letter: B

Trump Issues Mask Mandate

By "these people," of course, Trump doesn't mean "the people yelling that they are police, abducting people, throwing them into unmarked vehicles, and taking them to unknown locations."

He means the people who are agin that.

I'm not much of a "there ought to be a law" type, but I see the alternatives as:

• Laws at the local, state, and federal level forbidding "law enforcement personnel" to wear anything over their faces other than prescription eyeglasses or safefy goggles in situations where e.g. breaking glass might be an issue, and requiring them to, at all times, wear very prominent and difficult to counterfeit identifying badges disclosing their full names and the gangs they're affiliated with; or
• A judicial/legal understanding that if some unidentified nob wearing a mask tries to abduct you, yelling "police" is insufficient to overcome a "stand your ground" or similar defense, and that you're going to walk if you pull out your Smith & Wesson .40 and put said nob down like a rabid dog.

As for the National Guard, posse comitatus would seem to put a hard "no" on federal deployment of state militia troops to protect gang members from the public, so maybe it will get shut down quickly. But if not, Gavin Newsom should at least let those troops know that no state taxpayer funds will be spent paying the troops or supporting the operation, and that court-martials and dishonorable discharges will quickly follow future judicial findings of illegality vis a vis the operation in general or any of its aspects.

Wordle 1450 Hint

Hint: You might enter into one on a home, a car, or life.

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First Letter: L

Yes, More Motorcycle Agonizing

I know that when I finally get bored and give up, that is when the perfect bike will suddenly show up. Superstitious? Maybe. But that's my experience with many things. So as of yesterday, I was leaning against even bothering to go look at that 2002 Buell Blast I found on Facebook Marketplace, and kind of resolved to just thinking about other things and letting the process work.

I woke up this morning with one particular aspect of that particular bike tickling my brain, though:

In addition to being in the engine size range I want, having a sufficient max speed for my needs, etc., the history of the model has one thing going for it. When Harley-Davidson bought Buell and introduced the Blast, they had a reason for doing so. Harley ran a beginners' motorcycle course, and the Blast was the bike they made as an "entry-level" machine that could be used to train new riders, and wouldn't scare those riders as much as a full-size hog, and could also be sold to them as their first "beginner bike."

Yes, I would very much like to find myself on a Triumph Bonneville, Ducati Scrambler, Honda Shadow, etc. ... but to the extent that a motorcycle is simply my personal transportation, there's a lot to be said for a bike that's not some kind of monster, just a dependable ride that can cruise at freeway speeds.

So, this morning, I messaged the seller about coming to have a look at it.

The response -- someone already has an appointment, they'll let me know if it doesn't sell.

But then I found another Buell Blast for sale. This one is for sale by a local student who only wants $600 for it ... because it's suddenly developed some kind of problem starting. I'm going to see if my mechanic friend has some time today to go look at and diagnose it. If it can be made to run at all, I may snap it up. If someone hasn't already. At $600, hopefully I could get it running, licensed, etc. and still be out less than $1,000.

Wordle 1449 Hint

Hint: So far, Wordle has had a different solution every day, 1,449 days in a row -- never the same word a second time. If that changes, today's answer would be the ideal candidate for inaugurating the change.

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First Letter: R

A Thought On The Future of Motorcycle Training/Licensing

I'm personally kind of looking forward to getting a motorcycle with a "standard" wet clutch / transmission -- control of what gear the bike is in via a foot lever. Of course, I also enjoy driving "stick shift" cars, at least sometimes. In addition to giving the rider or driver more control over the vehicle, they also tend to focus the mind on riding or driving. You have to pay attention, and that's really kind of a safety feature.

BUT!

In Florida (and I think in most states), while you can ride a 50cc scooter with just a regular driver's license, anything bigger than that requires a motorcycle license. And in order to get that license, you have to attend a two-day course and take a test.

So far as I know, all such courses use motorcycles with the "standard" shifting setup. So if you want to ride, say, a 150cc Kymco scooter, or a Suzuki Burgman 650, or a Honda Navi (or clone of same like my Italica Bulldog 150), all of which have "automatic" Continuous Variable Transmissions, you still have to learn on, and take a test using, something like a Honda Rebel 250 (that was the bike I rode; there were several options, all 250cc or smaller IIRC).

More and more people are riding larger scooter and motorcycle platforms with automatic transmissions of either the CVT type or "dual clutch" type. The "no need to work a clutch" thing is a growing category that includes Honda touring and cruising bikes, BMW adventure bikes, electric commuter bikes, etc. I think one driver of that trend may be that a lot of people have been growing up with electric bicycles now, and as young adults think they'd like to stick with two wheels for work commutes and local outings, but don't want to learn to drive the motorcycle equivalent of "stick."

So, I expect one of two things to happen. Either:

• The rider safety courses will switch to using "automatic" bikes and leave learning how to shift on a "standard" bike up to you outside a class/training situation, or
• States will split "motorcycle endorsements" on driver's licenses into two classes. Class 1, you can take the course/test on, and ride, an "automatic" bike; Class 2, you have to take a course on a "standard" bike, and can then ride any bike.

I expect it will be the first option, because I also expect that within a decade or so, nearly all new bikes will be either DCT or CVT. Just like nearly all new cars are sold with automatic transmissions and have been for years.

Wordle 1448 Hint

Hint: The effect of today's Wordle, if you find it morally or intellectually instructive. 

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First Letter: E

Quite The Little Tiff

A sample of headlines from my feed (no links -- things are changing too quickly to bother):

• Musk backs call to impeach Trump, replace him with Vance
• Trump threatens to cut Musk contracts as feud quickly escalates
• Musk says SpaceX will begin decommissioning Dragon spacecraft ‘immediately’ after Trump threatens contracts
• Steve Bannon Calls to Deport Musk Amid Messy Trump Breakup
• Musk says Trump is named in Epstein files
• Tesla loses $152 billion in market cap after Musk-Trump spat, biggest hit ever

Usually, I'd write this kind of thing off as typical Trump/Musk melodrama and expect it to blow over and for them to be all kissy-face again by next week.

But there's really so much going on that I kinda have to think the "feud" is for real.

And I guess it's the kind of thing we should expect.

Both of these guys are very much in the business of buying other people. Both of these guys are also always for sale as well. It's entirely possible that one or both of them are confused as to who bought who ... but even if not, neither of them has a reputation for staying bought. The potential for things getting ugly should have been pretty obvious. Maybe I would have noticed if I'd cared very much.

If I had to bet on who will "win" the contest, the obvious pick is Trump. He has more money than Musk. It's not his money, but he disposes of trillions and three million government employees, and does pretty much as he pleases with both. His "base" is also more robotically disposed to believe whatever he says than even Musk's most ardent fans. There's a lot he can do with all that to make Musk miserable ... if Musk remains within reach.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Musk gets on a jet, moves to a non-extradition country, sets up (very nice) housekeeping, and torments Trump interminably and with impunity. Hell, he might even take Melania with him, then reveal that she had some eggs frozen back when and that he's making babies with her. Yeah, this is that kind of weird situation.

Hmm ...

From the Facebook marketplace listing:

Bike comes with a new rear rim when I had the new tires mounted I was told the back rim is slightly bent. Engine has a leak, it will start no problem.  Selling because I don’t have time for it anymore.

It's a 2002 Buell Blast. 492cc air-cooled engine, disc brakes front and rear, belt instead of chain final drive, 5-speed, supposed top speed of 95 miles per hour, about 16,500 miles on the bike. The exhaust on the Blast is below the engine so no worries about burning an ankle on it (the logic was also to lower the bike's center of gravity.

More a "sport bike" layout than "cruiser," and I don't see any mirrors on it. I'd have to get some bar-end mirrors, and I might want to either move or replace the handlebars to make a more upright position comfortable. I don't know if the leak mentioned is gas or oil, and would need to address that.

On the other hand, it's $925 and doesn't look like it's in terrible shape (pic below is from the listing). 

If the listing is still up tomorrow I may have to go take a look at it. That would be maybe $1100 with tax/tags.

Starting To Plan The Next Motorcycle Trip

This one will be 100 miles or so each way, but almost certainly not all in one day. I'll be helping some friends move into their new house in Ormond Beach, some time in July.

I could head south to just short of Ocala, then take State Road 40 east to get there, I've taken the bike to Ocala before and really don't like US 441 that much (kinda busy, kinda fast). Instead, I think I'll take State Road 100 most of the way (starting east of Gainesville then curving south at Palatka). Looks a lot less busy (State Road 20 runs in the same east-west direction and seems more built out; I've also been down it a number of times in other vehicles, but I don't think I've been further than Melrose on State Road 100, ever).

All three likely routes are in the 100-110 mile range. All seem to have plenty of gas stops along the way (I get about 60 miles out of a tank before the "low on fuel" light starts blinking, after which I probably have 20-25 miles of range left -- I'll carry a 750 milliliter fuel bottle with me just in case).

I tend to leave early anyway, and this really won't be a "hard set arrival time" thing, so hopefully I can put the speedometer on 45 miles per hour a lot of the time, keeping the RPMs at around 6,000 to reduce engine strain and to keep my mileage at more than 70 miles per gallon.

I haven't decided whether to ride with the big hard top box on the rear, or use my saddlebags.  Probably the box, since it's more aerodynamic (my body is already in front of it). All I'll really need to carry are some extra clothes and that fuel bottle.

I'll probably get my 3,000-mile oil and gear oil change done before the trip. I'm coming up on 2,000 miles right now and will put some more miles on it between now and then.

Or maybe the perfect bike will pop into my visual field between now and then and I'll make the trip on something in the 500-700 cc range. If so, I'll probably still take the more scenic, less busy route.