A visit to Matanzas Inlet

Today I took a drive north up the coast to a place called Matanzas Inlet. This is an area where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Matanzas river.

Believe it or not on the way up I passed a beige Alfa Spider (we gave each other the THUMBS UP!) and on the way back I saw a red Alfa Spider going the other way. We're taking over!!

Here are a few pics as I walked along the beach for an hour or so.


CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE PICS ON PHOTOBUCKET!(with captions!)

1991 Alfa 164L - Transmission filter/oil change

This morning I played around in the garage for a little while, removing and replacing the automatic transmission filter and fluid in my 1991 Alfa Romeo 164L.

It's an amazingly easy job, just one drain bolt (8mm allen head) and 3 bolts (10mm) on the plate holding the filter cartridge in place.

After letting the fluid drain for about 30 minutes, I pulled the old filter cartridge out. I replaced the o-ring on the plate, inserted the new filter and replaced the plate and the 3 10mm bolts. After refitting the drain bolt, I refilled the transmission with Dexron III (red) fluid.

What a piece of cake (chocolate please)!

Here are some tremendous photos. If you are easily excited I recommend taking a sedative before viewing these.

CLICK ON THE PICS TO SEE THEM IN THEIR FULL GLORY!

A Guzzi Saturday!

This morning I headed out on my Moto Guzzi Breva. I met Bob(HD Heritage Softail), Andrew (Triumph Tiger) and Jayne for a little ride north to a place called Angel's Dining Car, a rail car that was converted to a diner in the 1930's. It was a great ride and a great lunch!

We took hwy 17 from Deland north all the way to Palatka. It's a nice road, not really much for fun curves, but scenic enough and not a ton of traffic. After we ate at Angel's, we rode to the coast near Flagler beach and headed south to Ormond Beach, where we turned inward and stopped off at the Moto Guzzi dealer and the Harley dealer in Ormond Beach.

From there it was a fairly quick blast down I-95 and I-4 to home.

Click on pics to enlarge them.

Hooray it's Friday!

The work week is drawing to an end. :=) I got up this morning a little early and did something I don't normally do...I made some coffee at home and had a couple cups before I left for work. Dunkin Donuts whole bean. Good coffee :) Drank it from my neat Moto Guzzi Breva coffee cup :)...my favorite cup.

All week I have been driving the Alfa Romeos to work, most days the 164L as I needed to keep monitoring the recently repaired a/c and make sure it was maintaining cold temps. So far (knock on wood) it is doing fine according to my digital meat thermometer.

So today is jeans day at work. Always a good day to ride the motorcycle to work. I kinda feel i have been neglecting my Moto Guzzi Breva lately as i have been preoccupied with the Alfa's a/c. Today was the day to finally get on the Breva.

As she always does, the Breva fired right up with a tap of the starter button. I get a little warm putting my gear on in the driveway on a humid Florida morn. Once I hop on the bike and start moving though, the warmth disappears as the air rushes by.

I especially like the Breva on the interstate (I-4) for my 17 mile commute to work. A twist of the throttle moves me quickly past slow traffic hogging the "passing" lane. The smaller size of the Breva also lets me insert myself into situations where a car just wouldn't fit. It makes the morning commute enjoyable :)

At work I park the Breva so that I can peer at it out the window. She sits on her center stand and awaits the ride home.

~8 more hours and hopefully this work week is a goner. More quality time and fun to come with the Breva this weekend. :=)

Still cold in the Alfa 164!

The a/c is still kicking out cold air in my 1991 Alfa Romeo 164L. I hope it stays that way as Florida's most humid and hot weather is probably coming in August.

With the help of my keen digital meat thermometer, I measured just above 48 degrees at the vent while it was ~90 degrees outside. Not too shabby!

Grand Funk Tune O' The Day

Today's tune is actually a Mark Farner tune from the late 1980's, when Farner was a solo act (post Grand Funk) and was performing as a Christian rock artist.

The tune is called Judgment Day Blues and features some very nice bluesy guitar from Farner. The album, released in 1988, was called Just Another Injustice.

Click the link below.....

Judgment Day Blues

Brett gets an aeroplane!

My friend Brett has long been talking about getting back into flying and harboring dreams of buying an airplane. Well, he did it! He got a Cessna 172 4 seat plane! Awesome!