Jim and I were back to Daytona Beach, Florida on 7 March for the start of Bike Week. It was a busy time with Bike Week activities and visitors. Jim had to re-qualify with Landstar so we could go trucking, and the upstairs apartment was vacant and needed work before being rented again.
Jimmy and Joe were both in Daytona Beach for the 10 days of Bike Week. We attended the moto guzzi gathering at Pantheon Pizza on the Monday night, a large group attended and we caught up with guzzi friends from local and other states.
Jim went to the Flat Track races, he always enjoys that and a large group of friends attend.
Joe and Jimmy had a hot dog evening at Jimmy's place, then a short walk to the Molly Hatchet concert and party. Internet: Molly Hatchet is an American southern rock band formed in Jacksonville Florida in 1975. The band is a long time Bike Week attraction.
The first time St Patrick’s Day was during Bike Week, we had fun at the Iron Horse Saloon, of course there are the 'very Irish' that come out for this special day!
There was an awesome band, “Slip & The Spinouts”, the lady bass player was a large crowd draw.
They played the next day on Main Street and we hung out at The Iron Gate for their whole show.
We did the usual Main Street stroll and Beach Street vendors. A brief visit to the tradeshow exhibits at the Ocean Center where we had our photo taken “Riding with Flo”. (Flo is the Progressive Insurance spokesperson on their TV commercials.)
The apartment had the same tenant for 16 ½ years. When Jim bought the house in 1988 he was told that the block was scheduled for redevelopment within ten years and the houses demolished. So far, obviously this has not happened, but there are whispers from time to time. We don’t want to pour a whole lot of money into it.
Replace floor coverings and a complete paint throughout is standard between tenants. Previously we had put stick on vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen, we had two layers and there was a tar and tiles layer under that. Time to take it back to bare boards.
Jim and I did that, and one bedroom had natural wood paneling on the walls, I put several coats of furniture polish on, and it came up very nice.
There was a large hole in the plaster behind the kitchen sink where a plumber had made an emergency entrance several years ago, Chris had hung a flag over it. Several other places need plaster touch up. Needs a couple of light fixtures, a few windows replaced, re caulking the bath tub, basin and kitchen sink and 21 blinds! Also bought a new window unit air conditioner. General clean up. We haven’t spent much on it over the previous 16 years.
We pressure washed the house to get mold and moss off and sand. I painted both front doors and trim at entrances to both apartments to freshen it up. A builder started on the repairs to upstairs on Tuesday, 3 April and should be done by the end of the week. Have already lined up new floor coverings for kitchen and two bedrooms, they will need two days notice to install, then get the existing lounge room and hallway carpet cleaned. Should be ready to be shown by the middle of April. Hopefully we get good tenants again, always a worry when we are gone so much. Chris was great, but with houses so cheap in the area, he bought his own.
The other rental house in Deltona was vacant for March, it needed no work before new tenants moved in on 1 April, but will need gutters and some exterior stucco replacement. Getting quotes for that now. Everything happening at once!
The truck needed a wheel alignment, new steer tyres, and a new bug deflector before going back on the road - it has been running good.
We loaded on Monday, 26 March at Richie Bros Auction in Davenport, Florida - a Genie lift and delivered it on Wednesday in Toronto, Ontario.
Spent that night with Michele and Baillie near Buffalo, and a quick visit with Jim’s mother and family there.
Loaded Thursday in Buffalo at the Ford Stamping Plant - auto part racks. Delivered them early Friday morning near Detroit, Michigan at the Ford plant. That is a huge place!
From Internet: Up until recently, Ford’s 3.3-million-square-foot parts redistribution center in Romulus, Michigan was in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest distribution centre.
There was another Landstar driver with loads of these racks, too. They had been wrongly sent to Buffalo and the whole Ford production line had been on slow down waiting for them! A costly error in lost production and unnecessary freight charges.
Jim and I wanted to get back to Daytona Beach by Saturday afternoon 31 March for a friend’s Memorial. Loads fell into place and we hurried over to Cleveland, Ohio and loaded five large air conditioner units at Ohio CAT going to Florida.
Got back to Daytona Beach at 2pm on Saturday afternoon and made the Memorial at 4pm. We wanted to be supportive of the Hewitt family, they are good friends we have known for over 20 years, we met through moto guzzi’s and motorcycling. Both Joe and Jimmy made it for the Memorial as well. It was a beautiful venue and a loving tribute to Becky who passed away in February of a seizure at 35 year old. Left a huge void in the lives of her family and friends and her 5 year old son.
Spent a bit of time with Joe and Jimmy on Sunday.
We delivered the air conditioner units on Monday 2 April at St Augustine CAT and reloaded a new CAT roller at the same place. Delivered it the next morning at another CAT distributor in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over to Colfax, North Carolina and loaded plastic pipe and delivered that the next morning in Endwell, New York.
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