The lease on my beloved ZR2 Blazer was up in June. Since we are not in the financial position to lease another truck and since we really don't need another vehicle, I turned it in.
Gas prices are so high. I used to be able to fill up the husband's Ford Focus SVT for about 30 bucks. It's now over 40. Since we are now sharing a car, and gas prices are so high, my husband got his 1978 Kawasaki KZ650 plated and insured and now it's his everyday transportation. Insurance on it is a whopping $18. When he went to the Secretary of State to get a plate, the clerk told him they have had more bikes plated in the last month than they have all summer due to the gas prices.
The KZ is not a particularly impressive stand out bike. I am totally convinced that driving this, Martin is going to make me a young widow due to some stupid space out from someone else. I always look for bikes and I am respectful of them. Not everyone thinks that way.
I'm all prepared to be a young widow. Too bad we don't have more life insurance.
Love you Sweetie, but the bike scares the shit out of me.
I'd vote for a helicopter to avoid traffic jams.
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 18, 2005 at 11:22 PM
LOL....Lisa worries too much, I've been riding since age 5 and I have been a full time biker in this country and in England for several years at a stretch (full time biker means that the bike is your ONLY form of transportation, summer, winter, etc). The KZ is a decent machine, it's not a bike I could ever love, the Kaw's of that era where notoriously over-powered and the handling was not up to par. The KZ is a good example. Not as extreme as the infamous Kawasaki 750 2-stroke triple (a true Widow Maker) but the traits are there.
On the Kawa Triple: The road test in cycle magazine had this brief editorial: "Wild power, frightening handling." That was the whole article, that's all they had to say.
Hunter S. Thompson also mentioned them in passing.
"I still feel a shudder in my spine every time I see a picture of a Vincent Black Shadow, or when I walk into a public restroom and hear crippled men whispering about the terrifying Kawasaki Triple... I have visions of compound femur-fractures and large black men in white hospital suits holding me down on a gurney while a nurse called "Bess" sews the flaps of my scalp together with a stitching drill."
Yes I used to own one of those machines too. It could pull up the front wheel on a whim and when you came to a corner you would swear it had a hinge in the middle of the frame that swung out and in as it wanted. I survived that bike and I'm pretty sure I can survive this one, even if I am older and the little 27 year old beast will still pick up the front wheel and hold it there for a respectable amount of time. :D
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 18, 2005 at 11:39 PM
lol ::sigh:: I love Hunter S. Thompson, my dog is named after him. Uhhh, speaking of my dog tell Lisa to read on my site about my dog and the riding lawnmower lolol. I might have went too far.
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 19, 2005 at 12:17 AM
Hunter S. Thompson's memorial is this coming Saturday (the 20th, '05). They are fulfilling his final request. His remains are being shot out of a canon onto his own land. Godspeed HST! The more "off the wall" folks amoung us loved you.
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 19, 2005 at 01:41 AM
That's this Saturday? I'll be heading over to the Aspen Time's site to see if they say anything.
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 19, 2005 at 10:29 AM
I am totally paranoid about motorcycles while I am driving. I leave them loads and loads of extra space. I mean, the riders are just hanging out there in the open air with leathers (maybe) and a helmet (hopefully).
Lisa, darlin', here's one less Michigander driver you have to worry about. :)
Posted by: Lisa | August 19, 2005 at 10:31 PM
I've always been paranoid when riding on the back of one. I was going to say why but I don't want to make you more scared about it than you already are.
But I vividly remember riding down the open highway with my ex-boyfriend. At some straight stretch in the road he just opened it up and went 100 mph, scared the living crap out of me. Maybe that's why I'm so scared of them.
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 19, 2005 at 11:23 PM
Here you are Dragonlady:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20050818/NEWS/108180034
Posted by: Martin | August 19, 2005 at 11:43 PM
I wrote something about him today. When I was teenager and going through some issues he made me laugh, which wasn't easy. Tomorrow night about midnight or so I'll probably have a glass of wine and read a few quotes on my patio. And even though I didn't know him personally, I'm going to miss him a lot. It was just always nice knowing there were Hunter's in this world, you know?
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 20, 2005 at 12:02 AM
I hear you on that one. I just started re-reading "Hells Angels" and I rented "Where the Buffalo Roam" for tomorrow. :D Just as I did when I heard he had died. I have a couple of GREAT articles of his online. I'll Email the links over.
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 20, 2005 at 12:45 AM
LOL.....or maybe I'll just post 'em here for all to enjoy :D
http://www.derbypost.com/hunter.html
http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=293276&postcount=36
Enjoy!
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 20, 2005 at 12:51 AM
From the Kentucy Derby article:
"Well...what the hell? We could always load up on acid and spend the day roaming around the clubhouse grounds with bit sketch pads, laughing hysterically at the natives and swilling mint juleps so the cops wouldn't think we're abnormal. Perhaps even make the act pay; set up an easel with a big sign saying, "Let a Foreign Artist Paint Your Portrait, $10 Each. Do It NOW!""
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 20, 2005 at 01:09 AM
LOL!
Posted by: dragonlady474 | August 20, 2005 at 01:44 AM
From the Aspen Times:
Buzzkill for paparazzi
By Scott Condon
August 20, 2005
The paparazzi will apparently have to be more creative than simply hiring a helicopter to buzz over Hunter Thompson's memorial service today.
The Federal Aviation Administration claims it will keep a tight grip on aircraft flying over the famed writer's Woody Creek property.
No special restrictions will be in place, but the ranch is within the controlled airspace overseen by the tower at the Aspen airport, according to FAA spokes- man Mike Fergus of the Northwest Mountain Re- gion in Renton, Wash. Thompson's property is about three miles from the airport.
Controlled airspace is within a five-mile radius of the airport.
Fergus contacted the Aspen control tower Friday and reported officials there were well aware of the Thompson memorial - and the potential for paparazzi to be flying over for photos.
The memorial is limited to a few hundred invited guests. Media access is being tightly controlled.
Private aircraft won't be prevented from flying past the property, but Fergus said air traffic controllers reported it would be difficult if not impossible for helicopters to hover above the party. So many aircraft are coming and going that a helicopter wouldn't have a chance to hang there, Fergus said.
"[The air traffic controller] said nine chances out of 10 we're not going to let that happen," Fergus said. "Loitering is what they're not going to allow."
But rules are made to be broken, as Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith discovered at their June 26, 1989, wedding in Woody Creek, just a mile or so from Thompson's house. A helicopter flying a photographer for a tabloid magazine hovered over the property, which is also within the airport's controlled airspace.
Johnson's ranch manager allegedly took matters into his own hands by firing a shotgun toward the helicopter. No one was injured and no property was damaged. The Pitkin County Sheriff's Office investigated the incident but didn't file any charges.
Fergus said pilots are supposed to make radio contact with the Aspen tower when entering the controlled airspace. They must follow directions from air traffic controllers or risk civil penalties that could range from a warning to revocation of a license.
Pitkin County Airport Manager Jim Elwood said the production company preparing Thompson's memorial was concerned about aircraft flying over the property from a safety perspective. He said the memorial organizers preferred to see temporary flight restrictions.
Pitkin County wanted to minimize effects on commercial and general aviation flights, so Elwood didn't request the restrictions. He said he placed the production company in contact with the FAA.
Fergus said he found no indication of any restrictions planned for Saturday. "It wouldn't be necessary if it was with controlled airspace," he said.
The question remains, can anyone really control the paparazzi?
There was no official word Friday on whether Jimmy Ibbotson would man anti-aircraft batteries around Thompson's home. Ibbotson, a Thompson neighbor, chased a photographer off his property this week and emphasized his displeasure by firing a shotgun blast into the ground.
Posted by: Martin | August 20, 2005 at 11:30 PM
One more from the Derby story:
"I took the expressway out to the track, driving very fast and jumping the monster car back and forth between lanes, driving with a beer in one hand and my mind so muddled that I almost crushed a Volkswagen full of nuns when I swerved to catch the right exit. There was a slim chance, I thought, that I might be able to catch the ugly Britisher before he checked in."
Wherever you are tonight Thompson, I hope it finally got wierd enough for you!
Martin
Posted by: Martin | August 21, 2005 at 01:11 AM