Vol 13 No 5 July 26, 2009

The 38th National Moto Guzzi Rallywas held at Salida, Colorado the weekend 26, 27, 28 June (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). We arrived Wednesday night with Derek and Cindy Bird and their BMW on our trailer.

We spent that night at the campgrounds - the Chaffee County Fairgrounds, they had plenty of room for our whole rig. We parked away from the campgrounds, but close to everything. There were about 60 people already there Wednesday.

The Fairgrounds tent area was grassed and also contained old buildings and machinery - like an outdoor museum. It was interesting with the moto guzzi’s and tents all around.

Thursday morning was spent trying to get Derek a tyre. We unloaded the BMW before lunch. He got considerable teasing about the BMW requiring a whole semi for transportation!

Jim and I went into the historic downtown of Salida and found Billy Bongs Cafe for lunch, then wandered around and found a few bars with character/s. There are several micro breweries and different beer in Colorado - mostly good.

The same weekend was the Vintage Chevrolet Car Club meet in Salida. One street was closed off to display these machines, all pre-1928 Chevy’s. They were beautiful! There was a storm with hail, and we were in a bar beside the antique car display. Many of the owners were in the bar for shelter and I spoke to a couple of them. They are from all over the country.

Salida website: Founded in 1880, Salida was originally a railroad town and gold seekers settled there. Farmers and ranchers made Salida a lasting community. Today the most prominent business in Salida is tourism, consisting of skiing at Monarch ski area, whitewater rafting, kayaking and outfitting., particularly on the Arkansas River. Also countless mountain bikes and hiking trails. Population 5,500, 7036 elevation. Salida means ‘exit’ in Spanish, it is actually an entrance to some of Colorado’s highest country. It is surrounded by a dozen of the state’s 50-plus fourteeners - mountains that are more than 14,000 feet high.

Thursday afternoon Jim and I went up to Monarch Pass. 11,312 feet. A beautiful ride to the crest, but it got quite cold. There was rain on the return, which made it colder and windy. We met a few more guzzi people up there and rode back with them. Monarch Pass crosses the continental divide and offers great views.

Thursday evening we went to the Twisted Cork Restaurant in Salida with Patrick and Regina Hayes (California) and Doug and Maria Easton (Wyoming) - had a lovely meal and conversation.
Friday was a beautiful sunny morning - the Vintage Chevrolet Club display at the Fairgrounds.

They were lined up in amongst the tents and guzzi’s - there were a lot of them.

Mid morning a group rode to Leadville for lunch: Gary and Lori (Missouri), Tom (Arizona), Brian (California) and Jim and I. We all put rain gear on for the trip back.

Leadville: Situated at an elevation of 10,152 feet (3094 m). A former silver mining camp that lies near the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The historic district preserves many sites and structures from the dynamic mining era.

Friday night dinner at the ally was buffalo burgers. There was a large pavillion at the Fairgrounds, so plenty of room for everyone to sit down.

Many more people arrived on Saturday morning - it was warm and sunshine. The rally included a pancake, egg and sausage breakfast. We spent the morning visiting with friends in the campgrounds. I took many photos of the tents and guzzi’s amongst the historic buildings and old machinery. Jim and I went for a ride south over Poncha Pass to Saguache - a western town that time forgot. (The famous cannibal Alfred Packer cooled his heels in Saguache jail.) An interesting, old town.

Route 114 has 16 miles of “the best motorcycle highway in Colorado”. Several local motorcyclists told us that. It was perfect - very little traffic, a smooth, clean road with ascents and descents and a nice mix of tight twisties, then fast sweepers alternating through the canyon. We didn’t see any wildlife.

We stopped at a pull out and took some photos, the canyon scenery was awesome as well! Several riders went past, then turned around and went back over that piece of highway again.
Had lunch in Gunnison (a cattle town), then back to Salida over Monarch Pass.
Saturday evening was the bike judging, awards and dinner (spaghetti) in the Pavillion.

Dennis from California won the People’s Choice Award for his 1973 Eldorado. Dennis had owned it for 30 years and it has been his only transportation. He lives on his property in the mountains near Sacramento, California. The bike is almost considered a ’rat’ bike: water has never been deliberately sprayed on it, the exhaust pipes have been held on by chains for years. The bottom of a plastic soft drink bottle covers the distributor to keep water out. The seat is worn down to the metal. He is an interesting man. He rides that motorbike all over the country.
The Award showed how much respect people have for him and his dedication to the brand. Many people had been shining their bikes all day, hoping to win a prize - even they were happy that Dennis won!

We didn’t have late nights at the rally - it got cold and windy, so we retired to the truck before midnight. One night it was so windy several tents were flattened and poles broken.
Sunday a lot of people were packed and left early for their ride home. After many ‘good-byes’, we went for a ride with others to Cottonwood Pass.

Cottonwood Pass crosses the continental divide - nice curves, fast sweepers and a few hairpins, and a great scenic overlook at the top - 12, 126 feet.
Travelled back to Buena Vista with Chris and Judy Collins (Wisconsin) for lunch, then they went north, Jim and I went back to Salida.

About twenty people stayed at the campgrounds Sunday night. We went to Moonlight Pizza in Salida with John and Bev (Oklahoma), Jerry (Kentucky), and Tom (Pennsylvania).

Monday morning we planned a ride to Bishop Castle, Dennis came along as well. Before we left the campgrounds Dennis noticed his bike’s generator was a bit loose, so he got a piece of wood out of the wood pile and stuck it in to hold it in place.

The ride covers some great, lightly travelled roads - from the Arkansas River canyon up to the beautiful Wet Mountain Valley - a lush, high valley with the Wet Mountains on one side and a range on the other - nice curves and long views. A little further offers a stretch of “textbook twisties“ and it works it way down off the range. Follow the Arkansas River again - more sweepers, tight turns and rock cliffs.
Bishop Castle is quite an experience. The lifetime project of one determined man.

From Internet: Bishop Castle is a one-man construction project by Jim Bishop. At the age of 15, he assumed ownership of a 2.5 acre (10,000 sq. m) plot of land outside Pueblo, Colorado. Construction on the castle did not begin until 1971, when Bishop began construction on a large cistern, which he decided to surround with rocks. Several neighbors noted that the structure looked something like a castle. Bishop took this into consideration and soon began building his castle. Construction on the castle continues today with the addition of a ballroom, a dragon shaped furnace, a chapel, and several complete fireplaces.

Jim Bishop was working on the moat while we visited. He is full of conspiracy theories, government corruption, etc. We were told NOT to engage in a conversation with him. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable and he left us a little startled by his theories!

Wildlife... ?? We almost hit a deer! Two walked on to the highway - one stopped in our lane, one stopped in the other lane in front of a semi truck. Jim was able to stop, but the truck locked up his brakes and left rubber down the highway. Both deer bolted.

We stopped in Florence for lunch, then said ‘good-bye’ to Dennis. He was packed up and looking for a camp spot near there. We loaded the bike on the truck and left the campgrounds - the last ones to leave.

We stopped in Colorado Springs and loaded a Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle. Louise and her husband, Randy rode from Michigan (Randy on a moto guzzi) and an oil seal blew and she lost the oil. We had lined up to load in Denver the next Wednesday going to Pennsylvania and said we could pick up the Honda and drop it to them near Michigan - they would drive to meet us near the highway.

Tuesday morning, Jim called in to make sure all was OK to load. After several calls it was realized that the shipper wanted a van not a flatbed, so we lost that load! There is nothing much coming out of Denver, certainly nothing that pays anything - but we knew that when the rally was scheduled for there.

We found an LTL (less than truckload) in Denver - a large utility/generator trailer going to Florida and we loaded it Tuesday afternoon. It paid well for taking up one third of the trailer. We took a gamble on finding something to go with it.

Our friend, Richard from Rockhampton has been in the USA for three months travelling on his Suzuki Vstrom. We missed him while he was in Florida and also when he was in Buffalo. We finally caught up in Denver on Tuesday afternoon.

We had drinks and dinner and Richard got a motel room across the street, so we saw him the next morning before he headed into the Rocky Mountains. Richard has a website, so we have been keeping track of his adventures via his blog. We met Richard last year in Western Australia when we travelled Australia and he has visited us twice in Chinchilla. We would have liked to go for a ride with him - but impossible at this time. Good to have Aussie company again!

Wednesday, we drove to Amarillo, Texas. Thursday morning we loaded a backhoe for Georgia. Two LTL’s at least made it a paying load. Louise’s Honda is now going to Florida, instead of Michigan...

It was a HOT trip across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, down to Albany, Georgia. We arrived in Albany Saturday afternoon. The area around Albany had been explored on the motorbike a few years ago, so we had no destination in mind and did not unload the motorbike.

Sunday we bobtailed to a Flea Market in Albany and filled in a few hours, then worked around the truck and trailer.

Delivered the backhoe Monday morning, then to Pompano Beach, Florida to deliver the trailer Tuesday morning. On our way back to Daytona Beach we stopped at Port Canaveral and picked up our TWIC cards that we applied for last time we were at the house (end of April).

Arrived at the house in Daytona Beach at 5pm. Almost ten weeks since we were last there.
We had ten days off between North Dakota and Colorado, so did not want to spend much time at Daytona Beach right now. Did what we had to do and got a load out again. Had two days at the house - I didn’t even get the mail opened, so had to bring a bag full with me! Jim had to renew his drivers licence, and the TWIC cards were important. One afternoon we spent an hour on the boardwalk to appreciated the ocean and beach.

Thursday afternoon we loaded Joe’s moto guzzi eldorado that he left at our place Bike Week. We had two motorcycles on the trailer and ours behind the cab...

Loaded two crates in Jacksonville on Friday going to Lakefield, Ontario. Had room for more freight. Found some pallets in Charleston, South Carolina going to Albany, New York. We loaded and tarped them by 3.30pm.
New truck rules for Canada being enforced from 1 July - all trucks have to be limited to 65 miles per hour. We took it to a Detroit Diesel shop and the truck computer was governed NOT to go faster than 65 miles per hour (105 kms).

We are looking at Canadian loads as our niche during the freight shortage. From 1 June all people travelling to Canada require passports and now the speed limiter - has eliminated a lot of truck drivers eligible to run Canada.

We were headed north through Florence, so called the South Carolina Casey’s Friday evening and lined them up to meet us Saturday morning at a Shoney’s Restaurant near a truckstop for breakfast.

Belinda had to work, so she stopped for ten minutes on her way to work. We had a two hour breakfast with Uncle Pat and met Jim’s cousin’s Corinna (36) and Brian (32) - so much to talk about! Brian rode his HD there, so we checked that out. Corinna is divorced and has Brianna (8) and Brian (4), she lives near Greenville, SC and Brian is single and lives in Florence.

They talked us into staying the day, and we could swing a day off this weekend - after getting the truck’s oil changed. There was a family gathering for three birthdays: Brian's, Belinda's brother and Belinda's mum. We spent a few hours at Pat and Belinda’s home, looking at old photos and more talk and information on Joseph Sr (Pat‘s father/Jim‘s grandfather).

The party was at Belinda’s brother, Bryant’s and there were about 40 people there. Pat was tickled to have his family at the party - he introduced Jim to everyone as his nephew!

They are a motorcycling family! Three Harley Davidson tourer’s and Belinda's chopper in the garage. Everyone was very nice and welcoming. Great food as well. The house has four horse stables in the same building as the house. A very unusual house!

We left Florence early Sunday morning and spent that night 100 kms from our destination near Albany, New York.

Monday 13 July we delivered the first LTL shipment, then to Attica (near Buffalo) and unloaded Joe’s moto guzzi and Louise’s Honda at Joe and Michele’s. (Randy and Louise drove from Michigan the next day and picked up the Honda and their camping gear.)

While there, Jim checked out his ‘new’ 1976 Moto Guzzi Convert he bought on Craigslist last month - a diamond in the rough. He is hoping to combine the two Converts. Only time (and money) will decide that outcome!

We delivered the second LTL in Lakefield, Ontario (north east of Toronto) on Tuesday, then hurried over to Cambridge (west of Toronto) and loaded gear parts for an oversize load.

Delivered to a Georgia Power Nuclear Station in Juliette, Georgia on Thursday afternoon.

Loaded roofing material the next morning north of Atlanta going to Long Island, New York.
On the way we stopped at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and spent time with Jim’s relatives there. Got in Saturday at noon. Jim’s nephew, Jeff knows people with a cement works close by - we can park the whole rig there on a weekend.

Saturday afternoon, 13 year old Patrick had a baseball game, so we watched that. Had a cook out that evening with Jeff, Lori, Andrew and Patrick, Jim’s niece Eileen, Jim, Danny, David and Veronica and Jim’s brother in law, George. A fun time. It was Danny’s 11th birthday on 4 July and Lori had a yellow M&M ice cream cake for him.

We stayed with night with George as he is on his own and has room. That way we don’t kick a kid out of their room.

Sunday we went to Jim’s favourite beer store, Tanzo‘s. He can easily spend an hour there wandering down the aisle’s before making his selection. Found a “Toohey’s” shelf, but they were sold out! We found “Watermelon Ale”, but did not want to buy a whole carton just to try it.

Sunday afternoon was spent around Jeff and Lori’s backyard and pool. Eileen’s family came back for pizza that evening.

We got up very early Monday morning and got over to Long Island and unloaded at a roofing supply company. We set up the next load for Tuesday morning in Philadelphia.

Loaded a large coolant system and delivered it early Wednesday afternoon at a nuclear power plant in Baxley, Georgia (Savannah area). We were four hours from Daytona Beach...

Had a look for a reload, but decided to head to the house for a four day weekend and organise a load for Monday.

Jim worked on the Moto Guzzi Eldorado in the garage - it is getting closer to running.
Friday afternoon we rode to New Smyrna Beach and met Ron, Gina, Tim and Helena for dinner at Peanuts Bar.
That was fun - also a tornado hit Port Orange while we were there! We watched it rolling! It touched down several times between New Smyrna and Daytona Beach, a short distance from where the rig is parked. It was all over with by the time we rode back to Daytona Beach. Considerable home damage to several neighbourhoods, but only one injury.

Several water spouts to the north of Daytona Beach as well.

Saturday we went for a couple of bike rides and pub stops - to get away from our projects at the house.
It was hot and humid in Florida!

Vol 13 No 4 June 24, 2009

Had two deliveries in Massachusetts on Friday 29 May - one in Worcester and one north of Boston in Middleton, we were empty by mid afternoon.

We sat for a couple of hours outside the second delivery and tried to get a load so we didn’t have to lay over the weekend in Massachusetts. After 5 o’clock and nothing.... There was a load in Virginia that paid good and picked up Saturday or Sunday, but 800 kms from where we were. Tossed it around for a half hour - ‘yes’ it pays good, ‘no’ it is too far to deadhead. Then decided to take it - to make some money over the weekend instead of sitting.

Friday evening and Saturday we deadheaded to Montross, Virginia and loaded 16 ‘Carry-On Trailers’ on Sunday morning. A beautiful area of Virginia, south of Washington, DC in a less populated area. Montross has a population of about 400 - a very tidy town.

This load went to Maine - 600kms north of where we delivered Friday afternoon! There were four deliveries - all going to Lowe’s Hardware Stores. Stops in Scarborough, Portland and Thomaston, Maine on Monday 1 June. We travelled some beautiful back roads of eastern Maine. Islands, inlets, bays and rivers - very nice.

Tuesday morning we delivered the last four trailers in Presque Isle, Maine, then went further north to Van Buren, Maine to load. Van Buren is across the river border to the Canadian Province of New Brunswick and close to Quebec. So close that French is the language spoken there.

We loaded mulch and delivered that the next day at a Landscape Centre in Connecticut. Loaded pavers and supplies that afternoon in Massachusetts. Delivered that to a Home Depot near Rochester, New York. That was it for the week - it was the weekend of the Western New York Moto Guzzi Rally. Joe organized the rally last year, but this was his first year as the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club Western New York Representative - so a big deal for him.

Joe went to Westfield on Thursday and we travelled down with Jimmy and the Pfalzer family on Friday. Michele had a car load of equipment and food and she took camping gear for us.

Jim’s first requirement was to replace the worn front tyre on the le mans. The new tyre was bought to the rally by a guzzi dealer who bought three demo bikes.

Friday night there were over 80 people there! Dinner was an excellent beef stew made by Michele, then Frank and Penny cooked heaps of Buffalo style chicken wings. 114 people attended in all.

The “Rally in the Vineyard”, this is the fifth time we have attended the rally here - so I have previously given a lot of details about the area - vineyards, grapes, grape juice, wine....

21 wineries along the Chautauqua Lake Erie Wine Trail, six major juice and grape processors.
Nestled between Lake Erie and the Allegheny Plateau, 30,000 acres of verdant vineyards blanket America’s Grape Country. Growers here harvest more than 165,000 tons of Concord grapes each year. 100% Concord grape juice packs twice the natural anti-oxidant power of orange juice. The area is the oldest Concord grape-growing region in the world.
Grape juice became America’s favourite drink after thousands tasted samples at Chicago’s World Fair In 1897, Dr Welch and his son transferred their juice operation to Westfield, New York. It has thrived there ever since.

Welch’s donated 200ml bottles of their concord grape juice to everyone who registered for the Moto Guzzi Rally! I had to give them a plug!

Saturday morning started the winery tours. We visited four wineries, then relaxed at a bar in Maysville beside Lake Chautauqua.

A couple had to be rescued that evening - they had a rear tyre puncture, so Jim had another tyre job!

Saturday evening was chicken barbeque and the awards presentation., then the big bonfire.
Weather stayed nice, sunny during the day and cool nights.

A group of four riders headed off early Sunday morning and about 6 kms from the campground, the first rider noticed movement on the side of the road, the second rider saw a deer, the third rider hit the deer in it’s belly. The fourth rider went to the scrub on the other side to avoid the carnage.

Firstly, the rider who hit the deer was wearing full protective gear and sustained no life threatening injuries - his helmet cracked and he suffered a brain bleed, seven broken ribs and a punctured lung. Because the deer exploded, Lee, his bike and the road was awash with blood, guts and poop. When the emergency team arrived they immediately called Life Flight - it looked a lot worse than it was. The gore was from the deer not the motorcyclist.

Joe picked up Lee’s bike in the trailer and took it to his place, Scott (the lead rider) had his wife meet him with the car and trailer and loaded his bike and came back and picked up Lee’s bike from Joe’s.
Not the ideal end to a great rally.

Monday afternoon, 8 June was the “Meet the New Casey Family“ at Jim‘s Aunt Marguerite‘s in South Buffalo. From the South Carolina Casey’s: Joseph Jr (the 2nd), and Pat and his wife, Belinda were there. From Jim‘s family were Aunt Marg, and three of her six children - Jim’s cousins Marguerite (‘Rite, and her husband Mike), Tommy and wife JoAnn, and Maryanne. Jim’s mother, Helen, Jim’s sister Patty, Joe and Michele, Jimmy, Jim and I.

It was totally comfortable and felt as if we all had met previously - like friends we had not seen for a while. Marguerite was totally at ease with her brothers and they with her. Almost eighty years since their father left his Buffalo family - it was a bit surreal. We swapped stories, photos and information all afternoon and ended up getting pizza and wings. Spent six hours there and partied and laughed. Marguerite (84) stayed and partied almost till the end. She had to say ’goodbyes’ from her recliner, but she had the BEST day! Having two new brothers is very special for her! As well as learning things about her father and piecing together his life after he left Buffalo. No one has any idea why he left and was not heard of again.

Tuesday we were all tired from an active and draining four days, we didn‘t actively look for a load. Our phone and internet does not work well at Joe’s place. Jim helped Joe do some yard work.

Wednesday we packed up and went to the truckstop in Buffalo, we had phone and Internet service there. Jimmy was on his way to the truckstop as well to drop off paperwork, we had breakfast with him.

We set up a load for the next day near Rochester, so we stayed the night at the truckstop and Jimmy and Bob Walters stopped by about 5pm and picked us up in Bob’s 1958 Ford retractable hard top convertible. Bob started restoring it 19 years ago and finally has it close to finished. We had to go cruising with the top down. Stopped for beers and dinner at Otto’s Bar and Grill in Cheektowaga. They returned us to the truckstop about 9pm.
It was heaps of fun, and the car received plenty of attention!

Loaded Thursday afternoon in Canandaigua, New York. It was a concession kiosk and a tilt flatbed wrecker truck was needed to load it on the trailer. It took up 10 feet of trailer and weighted about 2,000 lbs, so we were almost ‘empty’ leaving New York for California, but it paid for a full load.

The trip west was a nice change - we had not been to California for a year (guzzi rally last year in June). Weather warmed up.

We got to San Diego just after lunch on Monday but could not deliver until the next morning, so we parked at the San Diego Airport which is the marshalling yard for tradeshows (we knew we could park there) and took the trolley into the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego. A trucker friend told Jim about the bar he found there - 255 draft beers on tap. We got off the trolley, walked a block and found it right away! The Yard House - we tried several different beers: Arrogant Bastard (Dave and Linda had discovered on their last visit to San Diego), Slim Chance and others I've forgotten names. We had a lovely meal there and were back to the truck by 9pm.

We lined up a tilt flatbed wrecker to unload the concession kiosk on Tuesday morning next to the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster at an amusement park! Delivery went smoothly, we had a very nice and co-operative tilt truck driver - that helped a lot because it was not ‘normal’ and needed special attention. The owner of the concession kiosk has several concessions at Belmont Amusement Park, Mission Beach. He invited us to his ice cream store and we could choose anything we wanted! All righty!! Great big ice creams for us!

Belmont Park Website: Mission Beach is the centre of a continuous stretch of beach known as The Strand, which extends over two miles. The Strand is the most popular beach area in the City of San Diego and draws large crowds in summer.
The Giant Dipper Roller Coaster opened to the public on July 4, 1925.It was originally built as a key attraction for the 33-acre Mission Beach Amusement Center, which had opened just a few weeks earlier.
The Mission Beach Amusement Center was popular through the 1930's and 40's and in later years it was renamed, Belmont Park. By the late 60's and early 70's Belmont Park fell into disrepair and the park and coaster finally closed in December 1976. In the early 80's the coaster became an eye sore in the heart of Mission Beach. After surviving several fires, peeling paint and becoming the home for local transients, the owner of the coaster was under a lot of pressure to have it torn down and the demolition date was set.A group of concerned citizens called "Save The Coaster Committee," had the coaster designated as a National Landmark and asked that the ownership be transferred to them.

It was a an old style amusement park - free entry! Just pay for the rides, right next to the beach and specialty shops and restaurants.

Bill Linehan is a distant cousin of Jim’s that I discovered online doing Casey genealogy. He has been researching the Casey’s for 20 years and shared his research with me. I arranged to meet him at a truckstop in San Bernardino (LA area) and we had coffee with him and his elderly mother on Tuesday afternoon. Jim’s great grandfather and Bill’s great great grandfather was Roger Casey. We spent an hour and a half talking and looking at old photos Bill has yet to identify. Bill and I have been emailing back and forth for a couple of months, it was nice to meet him.

Wednesday we loaded at Buoye Honey Farm in Redlands, east of Los Angeles. They were ’empty’ bee crates. Yes, empty of the honeycomb, but the bees that had been evicted were trying to return. As the day warmed up and the hives were disturbed by the forklift - they became more aggressive. There was constant buzzing, and swarming around the whole truck.
It took three hours to load them. The workers had on full coveralls and hat/nets - I could hear them swatting and swearing! They loaded and tarped.

I am extremely allergic to insect bites and stings - I stayed in the cab...!!! I got out to take some photos and immediately had a dozen on me, but was not stung. Jim got one sting and got back in the cab quickly.
After loading and tarping there were still swarms of bees - very thick about two feet deep all around the truck.

Driving through city streets with bees is comical. Stopping at lights and watching people madly wind up their windows, and pedestrians on the corner take several quick backward steps!

We drove via Las Vegas, Salt Lake City to Rawlins, Wyoming then zig zagged north to Spearfish, South Dakota, and straight north into North Dakota.

Friday night we stayed in Watford City, North Dakota at a small fuel stop. We walked two blocks into the town and had a couple of beers at “City Bar”. It was a warm night!

It is unbelievably green up here - rolling hills of grassland. We drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park which was a series of canyons cut through the hills - very unexpected and beautiful. Saw several herds of buffalo, too.

Drove the 150 kms to Plaza in Saturday morning - through Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Lake Sakakewea is the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers - a beautiful big lake we followed the northern shore.

Website: The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is home to the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) which consists of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people. There are 9,500 enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes and currently the resident Indian population of the Reservation is approximately 3,776.

We delivered at Buoye Honey Farm near Plaza Saturday morning. Most of the California bees had gone, but the new bees could smell honey and they zero-ed in on us! We were again surrounded by bees and buzzing!
The bees were not aggressive this time at delivery, the man on the forklift was not in bee protective gear, so both Jim and I un-tarped and rolled up straps and the bees were on us, but no stings! It was very daring actually - thrill seekers that we are! I even had one land on my face for a while! The tarps were very, very sticky with honey.

We were almost finished, just putting away the last bit of equipment and I noticed that a window was down in the cab. I didn’t want bees getting there, so I jumped in the cab, reached over to wind up the window, leaned on the headrest and put my forearm on a bee - which stung me! So I got through all that daredevil danger and got stung in the truck cab!

My arm swelled up to three times it’s normal size, the first two days I had throbbing pain, then a swollen and itchy arm for a week! Obviously I am still allergic!

After delivering we headed to Minot, North Dakota to wait for a load. We had no cellular phone signal or Internet signal for most of two days while driving western Dakotas. We hoped Minot would be a better position to get a load. There is an Air Force Base there, but the truckstop had several empty flatbeds and step decks sitting Saturday afternoon, so it didn’t look good for getting a load out of there either.

We sat for three days... no loads. Minot’s population is approx. 40,000 people.

Website: Minot came into existence in 1886, when the Great Northern Railroad ended its push through the state for the winter, after having difficulty constructing a trestle across Gassman Coulee. A tent town sprung up over night, as if by "magic", thus the city came to be known as the Magic City, and in the next five months, the population increased to over 5,000 residents, further adding to the nickname's validity.

We filled in time working around the truck and trailer. Wandered around the historic down town area of Minot. A very interesting railway station, now a museum. Minot is a support city for the surrounding agriculture and cattle industries.

Tuesday afternoon we left Minot and headed south to Colorado and the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club 38th National Rally this year in Salida, Colorado (1500kms deadhead).

We took some back roads and Interstate highway down through North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming to Cheyenne. Mostly grasslands except for the Black Hills area of South Dakota. A leisurely trip.

Friends from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Derek and Cindy Bird had been travelling Wyoming and Colorado for a week prior to the Moto Guzzi Rally and they called us Wednesday afternoon from central Wyoming. The front tyre on their BMW motorcycle was almost down to the cord and was effecting the handling. With two people on and loaded with camping equipment, it was dangerous. We stopped in Fort Collins, Colorado and wandered around the historic old town for a couple of hours waiting to hear from Derek and Cindy.

About 3.30pm we met them at the rest area near Fort Collins and talked them out of continuing another 200+ miles on that tyre. We loaded their bike on our empty trailer and we all had a fun ride in the truck! We took the smaller highways after Denver and experienced traffic congestion, heavy rain and twisty roads in the truck and then the last hour in the dark. Derek and Cindy were very thankful not to be on the bike. We dropped them off at a motel in town and Jim and I continued to the campgrounds. It was around 10pm.

Vol 13 No 3 May 28, 2009

We stayed in Daytona Beach for the week. We had to order a new headache rack. With the motorbike behind the cab, there was not enough room to get a headache rack ‘off the shelf‘, a narrow one had to be ordered. Jim spent half a day fitting it.

We loaded up the Moto Guzzi Le Mans on the truck for the summer.

We left Daytona Beach around lunch time on Sunday 3 May headed to Montgomery, Alabama. No decent paying loads coming out of Florida, we had a big deadhead again.

Loaded two cranes that lay railway sleepers going to North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

While en route we got a message that the consignee couldn’t get a rigging crew until Thursday morning to unload us, so we took our time then. Arrived in North Bay Wednesday afternoon.

Wikipedia.com North Bay is a city on the shore of Lake Nipissing in northern Ontario. Apart from First Nations tribes, voyageurs and surveyors, there was little activity in the Lake Nipissing area until the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1882. Cementing North Bay's status as a railway town, it was selected as the southern terminus of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) in 1902. During construction of the T&NO, silver was discovered at and started a mining frenzy in the northern part of the province that continued for many years. The Canadian Northern Railway was subsequently built to the town in 1913.
North Bay grew through a strong lumbering sector, mining and the three railways in the early days.
North Bay is located approximately 330 kilometres (210 mi) north of Toronto, and differs in geography from southern Ontario. A different and more rugged landscape.

We found a British style Pub The Bull & Quench a few blocks towards downtown North Bay. Had a selection of ‘new’ to us beers. “Alexander Keith”, dark, red, white and Pale Ale. Alexander Keith is the nectar of Nova Scotia. Had a lovely meal there.

Two trucks of railway cranes were unloaded on Thursday morning, then we had the rest of the day to get to Innisfil (near Barrie) to load on Friday morning.

A company was exchanging equipment with its sister company in North Carolina - two trucks were there loading large machines. It was a messy job - the machines and parts were dripping with oil and we had to tarp it all! Yuck, we didn’t want all that oil on our tarps, so they bought large light tarps and gave them to use to cover first before we put our tarp over it. So we hard to tarp this huge thing twice!

On our way south we went through Buffalo area and spent Friday and Saturday nights in the RV.
Saturday was the annual Snowmobile Show in Alexander, NY. We attended this show two years ago.

A friend of Joe and Jimmy’s repairs/collects old snowmobiles and uses Jimmy’s step deck trailer for transportation to and from the show.

This year Jeff auctioned twelve, just to make room in his shed. A warm, sunny morning but turned into high winds and rain for the afternoon. Interesting things, snowmobiles.

These are all the trophies for the day.

Joe and Jim spent several hours in the garage - Jim had taken the tank, side covers and panniers from the 1976 convert last time and gave them a quick paint job while we were in Daytona Beach. He put all that back on and it looks a whole lot better now. Michele and I did some shopping. Jim and I visited his mother, sister and family for a few hours late afternoon.

Jim and I left early Sunday morning and drove to Charlotte, North Carolina. Delivered Monday morning, then drove over to Kannapolis, North Carolina just north of Charlotte and loaded half a log cabin kit. The consignee wanted delivery that evening. He said that as long as we got there before dark he would unload us. So it was a quick drive to Nokesville, Virginia near Washington DC.
We got there after 7pm, it was on a farm and it was a difficult access - dirt road, narrow lane, electric fences, ploughed ground. Then it started raining heavily! We got unloaded, Jim got soaked. It was 8.30pm when we got out of there, a long way to a truckstop, late so unlikely to get a park, and we didn‘t have a reload, so didn‘t know which way to go. Knowing this scenario before we unloaded we were on the look out for a place to park near Nokesville and found one, and spent the night in a Historical Marker parking lot along with another local truck.

By 8.30am we had headed south to Richmond, Virginia to load big plastic barrels of paint used to paint the lines on roads.

Delivered that Wednesday morning in Warrensburg, New York to the Department of Transport..
Then sat 24 hours at a truckstop searching for a load that paid more than just the fuel. Deadheaded to near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and loaded one steel coil at US Steel. Delivered that the next morning, Friday in Stoney Creek, near Hamilton, Ontario on Friday 15 May. Joe delivered not far from us, so he waited about 10 minutes at a truckstop and we had lunch and ran together.

Back to the RV for the weekend!
Organized a load for Monday just south of Buffalo, so had the whole weekend off.

Jim and Joe had the most of the weekend planned in the garage. Joe has had all the parts for a moto guzzi sidecar rig for 3+ years. A 1977 T3. He got it all together and took it for its first run on Sunday. It ran great, but the starter motor went out and had to be push started for the ride back. Joe is very pleased with it.

Jim spent time on the 1976 Convert (25,000 miles on it), got it running and ready for inspection and registering.

Jim and I spent a few hours visiting his Aunt Marguerite (84) and showing photos and telling her about her half-brothers, Joe and Pat. She is excited about it all! Also, quizzed her a little and strained her memory for stories and details from the past.

I had five addresses of previous residences of the “Casey” family ancestors from 1890 to 1925 in South Buffalo. Jim and I found the addresses, only two houses remained - one still lived in, the other in disrepair and boarded up. Two were vacant blocks, and Great Grandfather’s saloon had been ‘claimed’ and obviously the land was needed for highway system.

Cold, windy, overcast, some rain for the weekend - not nice weather. Monday morning, there was a huge frost. Unusually cold in mid May, even for Buffalo!

We loaded Monday morning in Belmont, NY south of Buffalo at a highway bridge construction site. We had a truckload of concrete forms and delivered them the next morning near Hartford, Connecticut.

Reloaded different concrete forms at the same place and took them to Richmond, Virginia. Wednesday morning we stopped at the delivery and a man came out to the truck and said, ‘We don’t want these, they don’t come here”. A worry, because we had already accepted a reload for that afternoon, we had to unload somewhere first! After several phone calls, the load was re consigned to Salem, Virginia about four hours west and away from our next pick up! Oh well, off we go!

We unloaded about 12.30pm in Salem, Virginia. Now we had a 350km dead head to the load we had previously arranged. Made it in time to get loaded that afternoon - a whole truckload of mulch going to Buffalo - again.

Delivered that at K Mart on the Friday morning. We waited for awhile and continuously checked the load boards on the Internet. Found a load in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Only 200kms away. We loaded two steel pieces there - easy.

More and more Canadian shipments have become available to us. The immigration requirements have tightened and everyone now requires a passport to cross the border, whereas previously all that was required was a driver’s license to prove residency and ID. We are all set with Passports and with electronic customs, it has been fast and problem free crossing the border for us. The Canadian shipments pay a little better because they are hard to find drivers and trucks to haul them. Works for us!

A long weekend coming up, Monday was a holiday for Memorial Day, it was also the West Virginia Moto Guzzi rally. We rarely have attended a rally without the truck as our ‘camp’, so we borrowed a small tent of Joe’s, we had sleeping bags.

The last time we attended this rally was in 2001 with the truck.
We travelled south with Joe and Michele on Saturday morning. Joe towed his motorcycle trailer with his ‘chicken coop’ eldorado. He calls it his 'chicken coop' bike because when he bought it, it had been stored in a chicken coop and had poop all over it! He has a large rubber chicken on the dash.

We rode the le mans. Followed beautiful, scenic roads through Western New York and Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River. The Rally site is at a park beside the Ohio River in New Cumberland, West Virginia. Located in the ’panhandle’ of West Virginia - west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Ohio River is the state border between West Virginia and Ohio.
This is referred to an ‘unofficial’ guzzi rally because it is not run by the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club. For 38 years it was run by member/WV Rep, Bucky Bush until he was killed in a bike accident 5 years ago. The town of New Cumberland, local clubs and the Fire Dept now host it because the Rally is a major injection of money into the struggling town of 2,000. It is on the Guzzi Rally calendar and well attended by club members and others.

Only 30% chance of rain forecast the weekend - great! It was cold leaving Buffalo area, but did warm up. It was about 400 kms to New Cumberland, but all small scenic roads so took 7 hours with brunch in Gowanda, NY. Arrived at 3 pm to a large group of campers. Spent the afternoon and evening socializing and having fun. About 150 attended - the weather stayed nice.

There were a lot of Canadian geese spending the spring beside the Ohio River, most had a large group of goslings tagging along. Also the Ohio is a working river with a steady parade of large barges on it.

Frank and Penny loaned us their foam sleeping mats - Frank proved that the large queen size air mattress WOULD fit in their tent! It filled the bottom third of the tent, it looked like a jumping castle - very funny!

Several friends we haven’t seen for a few years were there, some we see at least once a year at other rallies and a few we see often. Always an interesting group of people and a lovely rally site.
We packed up and headed off about 9am on Monday morning with Joe and Michele - taking different scenic roads back to their place.

It was nice to have a load on the truck, so the weekend wasn’t a loser - we made some money and a rally!

Monday we had a quick visit with Jim’s mother. Early afternoon, loaded the bike and got to Easton, Pennsylvania late that night.

Delivered early Tuesday and we hoped for a load to Florida to collect our TWIC cards. They have to be personally picked up. Not much going to Florida this year. We waited all day and eventually decided on taking another load to Ontario for the next day.

Wednesday, 27 May we loaded at the US Steel facility near Philadelphia where we loaded two weeks ago - one steel coil.

Delivered in Stoney Creek, Ontario on Thursday, loaded plastic pipe in the afternoon in Etobicoke (near Toronto).
We will deliver in Massachusetts on Friday 29 May..

Notes:
The Casey Family Tree is still taking up a large part of my time. The New York family meets the South Carolina family on 8 June in Buffalo.

Interesting? The Daytona Beach News Journal website has an interactive ‘murder map‘.
The map details every homicide in Volusia and Flagler counties since 2007. Find out more about each victim and see where each body was found by clicking on the name next to the photo. The interactive map will display the location and provide a brief description of what happened. You can read more about some of the areas more notorious murders and murderers in the special reports at the bottom of the page.
It is colour coded for - beaten, stabbed, shot, or strangled....

Vol 13 No 2 April 29, 2009

The shipment we loaded on Thursday 26 March was concrete forms and we picked them up in Waterford, north of Albany, NY and they had been used to reconstruct part of the Erie Canal lock system - Erie Lock 2 at Flight of Locks. Interesting to drive along the edge of the canal over narrow bridges to the canal in a rig. I would have taken photos but it was a bit scary!

From Internet: Just north of Albany, the Mohawk River joins the Hudson River - a joining of New York’s natural transportation arteries - one finds also a crossroads of a man-made sort. The Champlain and Erie Canals meet at Waterford, the gateway to New York State’s Barge Canal System. Waterford is the easternmost point of the Erie, and the southernmost point of the Champlain.
Since the inception of the original canal system in the early 1800’s, Waterfordians have been accustomed to the sight of bargemen plying through their backyards.
Waterford Flight of Locks constitutes the largest lift in the shortest distance on any lock system in the world!
That’s where we were!

We arrived at Joe and Michele’s mid-afternoon on Friday. We went to Mrs Hawley’s wake for an hour that evening and caught up with Jim’s mother and sister’s family there. Then Joe, Michele, Jim and I went for a fish fry dinner.

Friday and Saturday were still chilly but pleasant, sunny days - cold at night. The swimming pool was still frozen!

Our RV got through the winter with a little damage - Joe said that the snow was almost half way up the RV several times during winter. The weight of snow and ice tore off one windscreen wiper, it was lying on the ground, the other one is bent. Also a small leak around the window near the bed. I squirted more caulk around the windows on Saturday morning.

Mrs Hawley’s funeral was Saturday at 11am, and there was a lunch afterwards. Mr and Mrs Hawley had been married 67 years - very sad to see Mr Hawley alone. He is frail and 92 years old, but wants to continue living in his own home.

Jim and I left Sunday morning and drove to Indianapolis, Indiana. It was cold and raining all day.

Delivered the concrete forms to a rental company in Indianapolis Monday morning. There was a forklift malfunction, and the freight on the trailer deck ended up crashing onto the headache rack. The headache rack broke across the uprights and the right (quarter fender) mudguard squashed. Several sections of the headache rack were dented, crushed or torn, but Jim didn’t feel like messing with insurance claims and lose time.

The company took us to a welding shop and paid for the welding repair and Jim pulled the mudguard off the wheel, it still does the job..

Tuesday we loaded a machine south of Dayton, Ohio - a tarp load. Drove up to Toledo and loaded steel rods (tank agitator impeller shafts) and tarped those. Two Less Than Truckloads (LTL) paid good.

Cold and raining on Wednesday, 1 April when we delivered the machine to a rigging company in Elma and the steel rods in Attica. Both towns outside Buffalo, New York. It is not fun folding tarps in the cold and rain!

We loaded in Olean, New York that afternoon - three crates of pump parts from Dresser Rand. There was a mess up with loading - the shippers planned to put two crates side by side on the trailer - they would not fit, so they stacked them. The crates were stapled together, so the staples on the bottom crate gave out early into our trip. The left side dropped about 8 cms and was sitting on the trailer instead of the ‘skid’, that made the load lopsided and the straps slacken and the top crate slid to the left. Jim got under the tarp with hammer and nails to reinforce all sides of the lower crate.

We had three repair stops on the way south, an effort having to roll the tarp up to check on it. With the crate flexing so much, the nails and staples all broke off. The last check with 500km to go, in a torrential downpour and high winds, Jim strapped the top of each end of the bottom crate to the right side of the trailer to stop it from leaning to the left, and a strap around the right side bottom of the crate to stop it from sliding to the right. Then more nails and more hammering... A very nervous trip south.

The shipment was for Chevron, one of the USA’s largest Chevron refineries is in Pascagoula located along Mississippi Sound at the mouth of the Pascagoula River, we delivered it to a warehouse.

We delivered with no damage to the freight - that was a miracle!

There were loads available, but nothing that paid anything, we spent all Friday afternoon at a nearby truckstop looking for a load. Then spent the weekend there, at least it was warm, sunny weather.
Internet: Pascagoula, the "Singing River" city by the sea has a deep and rich history as a European settlement that goes back over 300 years.
She is Mississippi’s premier and busiest port. Pascagoula is the home of the state’s largest employer, Northrop Grumman -"America’s Shipbuilder".

The name Pascagoula, which means "bread eaters," is taken from a group of Native Americans found in villages along the Pascagoula River some distance above its mouth. Tragically, these noble people are now extinct having drowned themselves chanting as they waded into the deepening river waters rather than enslave themselves to their enemy, the fierce Biloxi. Thus, the legend of the "Singing River" was born.

And a most important note about Pascagoula.... It is the birthplace of well-known American singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, the original "Parrot Head."
On Saturday we dropped the trailer at the truckstop and bobtailed to West Mobile, Alabama and spent the morning at a big Flea Market. Sunday we drove into Pascagoula for a look around.
Monday we drove to Dothan, Alabama. It was a 400km deadhead, but the load paid better than anything closer even with the deadhead. Loaded Tuesday morning - rails for the New York Subway train maintenance facility.

Headed up the east coast and delivered Thursday morning at Croton-on-Hudson which is an historic Hudson River community, very old and narrow streets. The Maintenance Facility is huge though.

The next morning, Good Friday, we loaded in Framingham, Massachusetts (near Boston). A 400km dead head again, but it paid better than anything else closer. It was one large crate we had to tarp. We crossed into Ontario, Canada early Saturday morning and delivered to Siemens Turbine Facility in Hamilton.

There were no loads over the weekend, so we headed back over the border and spent Easter in the RV at Joe and Michele‘s. Saturday afternoon the kids, Michele and I dyed boiled eggs for Easter. That is a lot of fun and everyone got creative. Weather was cold but mostly sunny.
Something new at the local supermarket, Tops - there is a coffee shop inside, therefore coffee cup holders on the shopping trolley’s...

Sunday morning Jim and I went to his sister’s for Easter brunch and caught up with some of the nieces and nephews, then back again for dinner at 4pm.

Easter Monday was Dyngus Day. An important Polish tradition and Buffalo has a large population of Polish descendants and is the ‘unofficial’ World Capital for Dyngus Day, and holds the only Dyngus Day Parade.
I have never celebrated this Polish day.

From Website: Originally Dyngus Day, also known in some Catholic traditions as Wet Monday, was an entire week starting on Easter Monday to celebrate the end of Lent. At some point in the 19th century Dyngus was shortened to just a single day.

The tradition of Wet Monday evolved in to a great way to find a romantic partner as the tradition had young boys throwing water on young girls that they were attracted to get their attention. In serious cases of young fancy, the girls were drenched in their sleep early Monday morning, usually after getting permission and access from the girl's mother. On Easter Tuesday young girls returned the favor and got their revenge.
As if that weren't enough, the tradition of Dyngus Day also involved hitting the young ladies in the legs with a switch of pussy-willow or decorated twigs. Your guess is as good as mine why, but who am I to question tradition?
By the way, do you know how the pussy-willow got it's name? According to Polish legend several baby kittens fell into a raging river while chasing butterflies. The mother cat sadly wept at the river’s edge, pleading for help for her drowning kittens. The willows heard her mournful cries and swept their long graceful branches into the water. The kittens grabbed the branches, held on tightly and were safely brought to shore. Every spring, from that day on, the willows sprouted fur-like buds where the tiny kittens once clung.

More recently Dyngus Day has evolved yet again in to a celebration of Polish heritage with great feasts of Polish food, plenty to drink, and parties running well in to the night.

Michele’s parents own a country bar in North Java (Jay-va), Michele’s dad, Kenny is Polish and they host a large Dyngus Day Party at “The Inn“. Live music starts at 2pm and the party continues into the early hours. Kenny and Paula personally prepare the Polish food for the restaurant.

Joe, Michele, Jim and I got there about 4pm. I found out I only knew one Polish song .... Roll Out the Barrel, but I know several more now! Everyone sang, danced and ate - we had a fabulous fun time. My first Dyngus Day party!

The food was very good, we all had the Polish Platter: Kapusta (Kah-POOS-tah - sweet, spiced, pickled cabbage - like sauerkraut), potato and cheese pierogi’s, golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls), kiszka (fresh and smoked sausage), kielbasa sausage and mashed potato and a bread roll. Very filling!

We arrived back at Joe and Michele’s around 11pm with sore throats from singing!

Tuesday morning, Jim and I and Joe were up at 5am to go to work. We went 120kms south to Wellsville, New York and loaded air pre-heater elements and delivered them the next morning at a Power Station on Lake Michigan near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Jim noticed that the new welds on the headache rack had broken and it was extremely unsafe. He strapped it to stop it flexing and getting worse. Reloaded that afternoon in Berlin, Wisconsin - ten work light/generator trailers delivered them in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday morning, 17 April. Still cold and a frost that morning. NO leaves on the trees yet and it is Springtime!

Reloaded in Bethel, Vermont Friday afternoon at Vermont Castings Factory Outlet.
Website: Nothing says Best-In-Class like Vermont Castings. Our fireplaces, inserts and stoves embody true foundry cast iron combined with cutting edge technologies for the most efficient performance and style. Our industry leading Vermont Castings Signature Series BBQ gas grills make your meals the talk of the neighborhood!

Several other trucks were loading too. Appeared the plant had sold old equipment.

Headed to Indiana - we traveled through Buffalo again. It was a warm, sunny day. Joe and Michele had visitors from the city, so had a lazy day with a campfire. Also plenty of people to do some yard work.

We left Sunday morning and drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Cold and raining all the way, a cold front coming through. There were ten trucks waiting to deliver in Huntington, Indiana on Monday morning. All loaded the at the same place in Vermont - parts to an industrial painting bay. We didn’t get unloaded until 3pm. It was windy, raining and turned to freezing rain.

Lots of loads in the area, but nothing that paid anything so we sat at the truckstop and searched the Internet all day Tuesday. Cold, windy, freezing rain.. We accepted a load for Wednesday in Bruckner near Louisville, Kentucky.

Loaded over dimensional wood wall panels - it didn‘t pay much for being a permitted load, but it got us south. and into warmer temperatures. With permitted loads most states don’t allow movement before sunrise or after sunset, so we stopped for fuel only, to make the most of the daylight.

We delivered to a large apartment construction site in Mobile, Alabama. We waited until after lunch hoping a load would come up for Florida. Nothing, so we deadheaded 800 kms to Daytona Beach. Arrived there Friday after lunch.

In March I started on Jim’s Family Tree. We want to travel to Ireland someday and see where our families originated from. I set out to find where in Ireland the Casey’s originated.

I didn’t think I would have much luck because Jim’s grandfather (Joseph Sr.) disappeared when his father (Joseph Jr.) was young (late 1920’s) and was never heard of again. Jim’s Aunt Marguerite is 84 and she was only 2 or 3 when Joseph Sr. left, so she had no memories of him. She is the only one still living in that generation (other than Jim‘s mother).

When Jim’s other Aunt passed away in 1996, she left Jim a box of old photo albums, and a few odds and ends regarding Jim’s father, who died when Jim was 12. I found Joseph Jr’s Baby Book, started after his birth in 1918 which had his father and mother’s full names, and all four grandparents names (no one even knew the grandfathers name or any of the great grandparents names).

When Jim’s father died in 1960, in the Death Notice his father was referred to as ‘the late‘ Joseph Casey indicating that he was deceased.

I bounced around internet genealogy websites on and off. I found nothing until two weeks ago.
On a message board someone had the same great grandfather as Jim. Eventually I made contact with Bill and he had lots of information.

Both Jim’s great grandparents were widowed - Hanna had four children, and Roger had five children. They married and had two sons, the younger was Joseph Sr, - Jim‘s grandfather. Bill was related to Roger’s first family.

A few days later online, I found a descendant of Hanna’s first family. Both these families are relative to Jim‘s ‘Casey’ family.

THEN a few days later, on another message board I found a post from someone who listed both Jim’s great grandparents as HIS grandparents. Holy Cow!!! I replied suggesting there was a family connection here. For a week I waited anxiously for a reply. I had a pretty good idea what the connection was - Joseph Sr had another child! He would be Jim’s Uncle, and his 84 year old Aunt’s half brother!

It turned out that Joseph Sr had another wife and family! Five children! He named his first son Joseph Francis Casey Jr, (the same as Jim’s father!). Two sons are still living, the eldest Joseph Jr (the 2nd) 71 years and the youngest, Patrick is 57.

I spent most of the next four days working on Jim’s Family Tree and family connections - on the computer, talking to Pat, exchanging what we knew, trying to fill in gaps. There are still some inconsistencies, Joseph Sr’s year of birth changed often.

Still a long way to go, and very time consuming. I haven’t even started on the other branches of the Family Tree!

Monday, Jim and I went to Port Canaveral to apply for our TWIC - Transportation Worker Identification Credential. We had to be finger printed and ID photos taken. We have to return to personally pick up the cards in 2-4 weeks. These cards are required to enter Shipping Ports and Airports, a security requirement for truckers.

Monday afternoon we met with Harvey and Lis Willis for dinner at Brian’s Barbeque, had a lovely night and spent a few hours at their house. We hadn’t seen them for a year.

Jim is working in the garage, doing some painting of motorcycle parts and doing a few things on the truck.

I am busy with the Family Tree, but have to get some other work done soon.

A golf dome for playing golf in winter, out of the snow. section both sides. This one is near Buffalo, NY, about the size of two football fields.

Notes: We saw tasers for sale in a truckstop......?? Book I read this month - “Keep Australia On Your Left” by Eric Stiller. A true story of an attempt to circumnavigate Australia by kayak. Entertaining reading, especially as we have been to a lot of the coastal towns.

Vol 13 No 1 March 27, 2009

The flights back were OK even with the 12 hours wait in Los Angeles airport.

Ron Hewitt picked us at the Orlando Airport around 7am on Friday 27 February and took us to our car (and truck) stored at his business in New Smyrna Beach. Then on to Daytona Beach.

An hour after we dropped our bags in the living room, our first guest for Bike Week arrived! We had Frank, Galen (Guzzi Club Rep from Maine) and Jimmy there the first night.
Joe and Michele arrived on Saturday in the truck. Joe couldn’t get a load to Florida, so came from Buffalo with just his and Jimmy’s bike on.

The weekend was cold and windy. Jim and I had stuff to get organized after being away for 7 1/2 months. Heaps of mail and magazines! During the week we worked through most of it - as well as checking over the truck and trailer. There was a stuck air governor that had to be replaced on the truck, it was corroded from the salt air. Had to clean the rust off all the chains - a lot of little things to do.

Saturday night we went to Tim and Helena’s place at New Smyrna Beach for a party - caught up with a lot of the guzzi crowd.

The men went to the Vintage Races at the Speedway on the Monday to see Ed Milich from Guzzitech ride his V65 moto guzzi to victory in the Middleweight Superbike Class. He has won this four times now and twice on the V65 Guzzi.

Monday night was the Pantheon Pizza dinner with Guzzi friends - still very cold and windy! Ed had the V65 there for everyone to enjoy.

Frank flew back to Buffalo on Tuesday. He rode down from Buffalo on his recently acquired 1976 moto guzzi convert and the transmission fluid was very black when he got to Florida (it started out red). He rode it around Daytona Beach while he was there but didn’t chance riding it back to Buffalo.

It was extremely cold and windy on Tuesday when we met guzzi friends at Buckie’s Crab House on the Tomoka River for lunch. We stopped at the Tradeshow area at the Speedway to check out the new bikes, motorcycle gear, clothes, etc. We met Jason Britton, the Kawasaki stunt rider and he autographed a poster for each of us and posed for photos.

Galen bought his friendship cup - an Italian design bowl with seven spouts. Galen made a concoction of strong and hot espresso coffee, lemon slices, and Grappa alcohol and passed around the group. This happened on three evenings at our place. Whew ... Quite the nightcap!

Our group took a ride along the Atlantic Ocean north to Flagler Beach, Galen was the only newbe this year. We rode back along the Intracoastal waterway ,‘the loop’ back to Daytona. The weather started to warm up. ‘The loop’ is a little of the ‘south’ for people to experience as a contrast to the Main Street mayhem.

That evening was the AMA Flat Track at the Municipal Stadium, a large group of guzzi people attended and we party in the parking lot afterwards until the exiting traffic has cleared up. A young man Joe knows from Attica, New York won his division, so everyone was excited about that. Also, two Australians competed for the first time ever. One won his division, the other bloke was very competitive.

Friday afternoon we went out to ‘Camp Carlo’ about 70 kms from Daytona where a large group of Guzzi friends camp during Bike Week. One member, Charlie has a restaurant in Massachusetts and he cooks awesome meals most evenings for everyone for a ’donation’ to cover ingredients. The day we were there -- lots of oysters and clams, then spaghetti with either red sauce or clam sauce. I had two plates of the spaghetti and clam sauce ... Awesome!

Michele and I were the only ones who really liked oysters, so Mark and Joe were kept busy shucking them for us!

A bunch of others met us there in the evening. Joe, Michele, Derek, Cindy, Jim and I headed back to Daytona Beach to watch the Delta II rocket launch. Derek and Cindy live in Pittsburgh and had never seen a launch of any kind, neither had Michele. We left the bikes at our place and walked to the beach to watch at 10.50pm. Then came the cart wheel competition in the sand... Then the night caps at Mai Tai’s Bar...

Internet News : NASA’S planet-hunting spacecraft, Kepler blasted off aboard a rocket from Cap Canaveral on March 7. Rocketing into the night sky last Friday, Kepler, the space agency’s long-awaited $591 million space telescope opens a new era in planet detection.
In its four-year mission, planetary scientists expect the spacecraft to discover roughly 1,200 planets, more than quadrupling the number of worlds spotted orbiting nearby stars since 1995.
After thundering out of Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta II rocket, Kepler will follow an Earth-trailing orbit and turn its 3-foot-wide telescope towards the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, to begin four years of viewing of roughly 100,000 stars.

All launches are spectacular at night and even though Cape Canaveral is approx. 120 kms south of Daytona Beach it is still spectacular especially at night.

Jimmy left early Friday morning to load north of Jacksonville. Michele flew back to Buffalo Saturday evening, and Joe left Sunday afternoon to be ready to load Monday morning in Lake City. Joe, Jimmy and Frank left their bikes in Daytona. Galen left Monday morning and rode back to Maine.

Jim was still getting qualified for Landstar trucking company. Even though he was with them last year, he had to go through the whole pre-employment process again. He had not been released by his doctor to go back to work after his knee operation last year, so had to go back to the doctor for that. Also, a physical and drug test.


We had to have taxes ready to go to the Accountant, get new Medical Insurance as we cancelled the previous one before we went to Australia. We stayed busy.

The Saturday after Bike Week we spent with Ron and Gina at the Native American Festival near Daytona Beach. It was an awesome display of leather, hides, jewellery, dancing, etc. and native life. Very enjoyable. The local animal rescue agency had displays of native Florida wildlife: a bald eagle, owl, hawks, a two week old squirrel that I got to hold, two three week old raccoons, a large lizard. All a highlight for me.

Jim’s Landstar orientation was Monday and Tuesday (March 16 and 17) in Jacksonville.

On Monday evening Jim and I walked to the Daytona Beach Pier to watch the Shuttle Discovery launch. Very spectacular at sunset. The vapour trail changed colours with the sunset as it headed into space.

Internet News: Sunday 16 March. Cape Canaveral (ANP) - Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida for a mission of thirteen days. The crew of the Space Shuttle - six Americans and one Japanese - bring the latest solar panels to the international space station.

Jim still had more paperwork to do on Wednesday and Thursday he found a load picking up on Monday 23 March on the west coast of Florida near Tampa Bay. We were startled at how low paying the freight was since we had been gone. Fuel had dropped, but rates had dropped considerably lower. Yikes!

In a bit of spare time after Bike Week Jim started work on the 1974 moto guzzi eldorado he has apart in the garage. He painted the tank, side covers, swing arm, tool box, mudguards, etc. robin egg blue. Now it has to be put back together... Next trip to the house... Don’t know how many years it has been apart... Hopefully he can find all the bits and pieces required to get it back together.

We left Daytona early Monday morning 23 March and loaded crane parts used to maintain television towers.- it was raining. Had an easy run north and delivered mid-Wednesday morning near Boston, Massachusetts to another tower crew. Woke up Wednesday morning and it was -5 degrees C, a bit cooler than we had been used to. It was sunny and evolved into a beautiful day.

I had been scanning the Internet for two days looking for a reload. There are loads but they don’t pay anything and mostly short hauls. Eventually got one that loaded on Friday 27 March, but when Jim called Thursday morning for directions they told us it was ready, to come and load it.

We had planned to swing by Buffalo on our way to Indianapolis, Indiana, so that gave us a little more time there for Jim to see his family. Thursday morning we were notified that Jim’s sister’s mother-in-law had passed away and the funeral was Saturday. Nanny Hawley was a dear, dear lady and she will be missed.