Thursday October 17th, 2013

Greetings and welcome!

We have some events coming up this weekend that you should know about.

First up is the Snowmobile USA show in Milwaukee (West Allis) at State Fair Park this Friday-Sunday. They have 200,000 square feet of inside and an outdoor swap meet Saturday and Sunday. This year it will have ATV stuff too.  Here is a link.

This weekend is also the big Jefferson vintage show too. They have an indoor antique and vintage show, plus grass drags and a swap meet outside. Here is a link.

The weather lately has been above normal, but that is about to change in a big way. Our normal high of 57 has been broken with a lot of 70 degree days in the recent past.  After about Friday I am not seeing any high temps over 50, and some lows in the low 30s. It isn’t time to ride yet but it is sure time to start thinking about it.

We have not seen the first snowflakes of the year yet, but there is a good chance of it in the coming week.

The rumors are true, I went and got a full time job. I am a parts counter guy at a local auto parts and service store (Carquest in Wausukee). I still haven’t figured out just what that will mean to my mission here. I will still be doing the page, I am just not quite sure on what level yet. I have only been there a couple of weeks and I am still getting used to it.

One thing that came up is the trail pictures will be a little more challenging. Driving both ways in the dark five days a week won’t lend itself to much in the way of trail pix. The plan is to still hit the trails a little after work, so I will be getting in some ride time to report on. I will still be keeping an eye on the weather and events, and it looks like I will still be bartending at Rapids Resort on Saturday afternoons. Beyond that I am still working on details.

This weekend I am planning on kicking off the shop season in the blue room. I have a couple of friends’ snowmobiles to work on before I start on mine, and Saturday that gets rolling. I am looking forward to that. My free time the past few weeks has mostly involved firewood, now it is time to wrench on snowmobiles.

I am planning on having at least 3 of my own, and most likely four, trail ready when the season comes. The little Indy 500 Trail was a hit last year because of the gas mileage. The really nice 95 RXL that a very generous web site visitor donated last year was a smash hit with its long travel suspension and really nicely appointed features, and I am looking forward to riding that one a lot more.

The pretty 92 RXL munched a piston late last year, and that will either get an end to end rebuild or the rebuilt motor out of the black RXL. Most likely it will get the rebuilt motor because the black sled needs a lot of other work. I haven’t had that on the trail in a few years and it will need some love before it is ready.

I have my work cut out for me.

The new job will bring some big changes here, and not all of them will be bad. It will take a little time to figure it all out and get used to the new schedule, but I am looking forward to it.

Have a good fall season and thank you for visiting!

RJB