Practice makes…

 

Well, the saying is “perfect.”  I was watching some YouTube motorcycle videos today; one was about the need to practice skills.  It made me think: it’s been a long time since I just went out and practiced some tight U-turns and hard braking.

I took Joan’s bike out while she was working on a home improvement project… there is only so much I can offer in the way of advice.  We both know better than to let me paint anything.

The weather is improving, small increments; sunny, wind around 12 mph (still out of the north), and it was 61º when I went out.  I rode across the causeway and up-island to the Convention Center… assuming there would be an empty parking lot for my practice area.  Surprisingly, the lot closest to the building was nearly full - must be something going on there today.  But, the outer parking lot was vacant…

I had the lot to myself and started off with some U-turns; within a few minutes, those turns were getting tighter.  It felt good.  A couple hard braking practices - the brakes on that Xmax haul it right down.  I even found some sand (not hard to come by around here) for some practice with that on top of the asphalt.  Bike and rider unscathed.

Back home, changed out of my riding gear, and Joan brought in a package.  Yep, FedEx had dropped off my new MacBook Pro.  Anticipation of setting up the new machine, with a small bit of dread knowing how much work I have ahead of me.  Since the previous laptop won’t open, I have to transfer my information from an archived Time Machine back-up on an external hard drive.  I got out the necessary stuff and went to work on it…

It will be a couple hours to transfer applications and files.  I am hoping I don’t have to go in and reset every password… but, I have the hard copy out if necessary.  This new computer looks sweet - not much different from the machine it replaces… but, they keyboard sure feels better.  Apple, in their quest to “improve” things put a new keyboard in that previous MacBook (back in late 2017) - I bought it right after it came out, and wasn’t aware of the universal dislike of that keyboard.  I read plenty of reviews on this new one, and they are very favorable about the really improved keyboard in this newest version.

So, it will be a while before I am able to actually get my hands on this new one, after the information is transferred.  Of course, there will be other archived files to add to it.  But, so far, so good.  In the meantime, this iPad Pro and I are getting along pretty good (this post is thanks to that).

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A couple hours later: my software, apps, and favorites have been transferred to the new MacBook from Time Machine.  Smooth transfer, just takes time.  Most of my favorite internet sites needed to have passwords input, but again mostly smooth.  One piece of malware slid in from the Time Machine transfer, and it has been zapped.  The screen on this new MacBook is bright and crisp - the keyboard is a delight!  With that old keyboard, I was able to type about 60 words a minute with approximately 100 errors... now: same speed by the errors are down by about 97%.  It is not just my klutzy fingers.

Mine! All mine!

 

Joan brought the box inside; we never heard the knock at the door.  The anticipation.  The recognition of the name on the outside of the box…

“This is for me, right?”

“Yes, Ruf, that’s all yours.”  

:-)

Sometimes you just gotta…

 

I’m talking about Mother Nature again.  It has been cold and windy since we got home from our Iowa trek.  Today was mostly cloudy, but it got all the way up to about 56º.  That’s a bit below my “riding comfort zone,” but it has been 12 days since I got in a scooter ride… time to fix that.

It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t far, but it was good.  Yes, that’s one of my riding jackets I’m wearing and not the one piece riding suit.  I had on riding jeans, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt - fits better under a riding jacket.

The traffic was reasonably light.  More Minnesota license plates than I’ve seen in quite a while.  (Insert your own “Minnesota drivers” joke here); no doubt this 50º weather feels balmy to them.  Not quite balmy to me, but the riding felt great.

Yeah, I needed that.

Saturday delivery…

 

Yep, the computer showed up, relatively early in the afternoon.  I was half dreading and half excited about getting it set up.  If both machines are functional, the transfer of info just takes time.  If you are starting from scratch, the process is more involved.

No matter - I’ll be putting it off for a few days.  The MacBook that showed up wasn’t what I ordered (or, what I thought I ordered).  Options: send it back or take it back to the nearest Best Buy.  I chose to make a drive to Brownsville rather than wait until Monday to get this one shipped back.  The right one has been ordered.

Our weather is still 20º colder than normal, but it was sunny.  Still a cold north wind.  I’m guessing people have cabin fever, because Best Buy was packed.  Seriously, it looked like what I remember shopping on a pre-Christmas weekend is like: packed.  Fortunately, only one person in front of me for Customer Service.  The young man there was helpful, processing my return immediately.  He asked what it was I actually wanted…told him, then said, “You don’t have it in stock in this store, according to your website.”

He spent time looking it up on his phone, then said, “We don’t have that in stock in this store.”

Deja vu.  I know I heard that somewhere.  ;-)  So… Tuesday.

That was close…

 

I slept in ‘till about 6:30 this morning.  That’s “sleeping in”??  Well, compared to the last week, yes.

Yesterday, we debated pushing on and getting ourselves home.  It turned out to be a good choice, as the cold front blew in in the middle of the night.  Had we stopped in San Antonio, we’d be dealing with below freezing weather, freezing rain, and ice.  Anything north of that would have snow on top of that ice.  It is 48º here this morning, wind gusting in the upper 30s, occasional spit of drizzle.  If we had stopped anywhere along the way, if we weren’t weathered in, we’d be trying to drive in that crap.  And, unload in this cold and wind here at home.

Instead, we can enjoy the warmth of the house, Rufus gets to sleep in his “big chair,” and we can all take a nap to catch up on some sleep.  Joan made us our usual fruit smoothies and fresh cinnamon rolls this morning.  It doesn’t matter that my ass is dragging, ‘cause I have no agenda or schedule.

On the matter of the “drowned MacBook,” I spent some time researching this morning.  I like the size and form factor of this current 13” MacBook Pro, but have never liked the keyboard.  To replace it with something similar, there are two close considerations: the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, both 13”.  The specs are so close, I am surprised that Apple offers both models.  I decided to go with another MacBook Pro - surprisingly, the shipping from Apple would be nearly a week.  We checked our nearest Best Buy; they don’t have that one in stock, but they have have it to me by Saturday.  Looks like this ugly weather is going to be around for a while, so sooner is better.  And then the inevitable couple of days of getting it set up and “feeling like home.”  I had backed up the current MacBook before we left for Iowa… but that doesn’t always mean an easy transfer.

In the meantime, this iPad that normally gets used for recording and working up 360 videos (those are better with the Insta360 app rather than the OS software) is taking care of my posting and surfing needs.  Testing out the photo uploading with an image from our storage unit late yesterday afternoon…

Yep, seems workable.

The new MacBook line is using Apple’s M1 chip, faster that the previous Intel chip.  And, a much better keyboard - I’m looking forward to that.  I’ll see how the computing experience is after it gets here and set up.  The delivery is supposed to happen on Saturday… with the crap weather everywhere north of us, we’ll see how that plays out.

Rumor…

 

A whole day with no posts?  No, the winter storm did not get us… we were up before 4:00 this morning, and hit the road.  Schools in the area (Texas/Oklahoma border) were closing today through Friday - they are expecting this storm to pack a punch.  About 15 minutes before rolling, the gust front blew in.  It gave us a 25+mph tailwind!  Since we left so early, we decided to make one last long run and get our butts home.  Our longest day other than the 24 hour marathon to get to John’s.

I didn’t post anything last night because my MacBook Pro died… drowned when one of us tried to jump in my lap and knocked a full glass of water on it.  No screaming, no finger-pointing… because… he’s a good boy.  I’ll deal with the computer after a good nights sleep.  We are wiped.

But, we did stay ahead of the weather.  Oh, we drove through some precipitation a time or twelve, but rain, not snow or freezing rain.  The rain is supposed to hit here tomorrow, and temps falling into the 30s by Friday… damn cold for here.  We have experienced more than enough cold weather this past week.  It was 80* here at home today - big change coming.

No photos, and some short posts until I decide what to do about my MacBook… I am slow working on this iPad.

Winter Storm Warnings...

 

Mother Nature is breathing down our backs.  More on that in a bit - let's start this post with a photo of my handsome boy today...

 Ah, that is soothing for me.  Now, back to the day... Joan was up at 4:30 this morning... so, we were all up at 4:30 this morning.  Ruf looked at me and said, "What the hell?"

I told him, "We have to make some miles, buddy - settle in."

It was cold and dark when we left; gassed up and pointed things south.  A straight shot today: down US 81, which turns into I-135, which turns into I-35.  Looking to the east, the sun lighting up the horizon...

Just before Wichita, KS, the weather changed...

Fortunately, it had warmed up to 41º by that point, so it wasn't freezing rain.  Made a mess of the coach and car.  Rolling into Oklahoma, the rain let up and the temperature jumped 10º.  Oklahoma City seemed unusually busy with traffic, and their roads are beat to hell (from all the traffic).  Some of it felt like a constant rumble strip.

The winter storm is all over the media.  So far, we have managed to stay ahead of it.  This is supposed to be rain, turning to freezing rain, turning to a heavy wet snow.  We did our longest day today, another 10 hours of driving.  Along the way, we saw a couple caravans of utility bucket trucks heading north.

Our goal for the day was to make it to our favorite casino RV park on the Texas/Oklahoma border.  No reservations, no problem - it isn't very full.  This area is supposed to get the first of the storm by noon tomorrow - we should be well down the road by then, but it is following our route.  No doubt we are going to get rained on through Austin and San Antonio, but the temps should be above freezing.  It will be another long day tomorrow, if we have it in us and Mother Nature doesn't rush her march south.

Today, we were into the park in time for Rufus to get a walk...

And the opportunity for me to get a few shots of the motorhome (dirty from the rain we went through, but still looking good)...

I had heat on in the motorhome until the last 100 miles or so.  Joan ran the air conditioner when we got down - just to make sure everything on it is working.  Yep, damn near froze me out, and it is quieter than the a/c unit we had.

We'll be showering tonight, then turning in early.  If we get up and the temperatures aren't below freezing, we'll head out.  The low for tonight here is supposed to be in the upper 30s - the local TV stations are warning people about how to deal with this storm.  Last year in February, the whole state of Texas got hammered by a winter storm that went all the way to the Tropical Tip and kept us in the deep freeze for weeks; wide spread power outages.  It was ugly.  I'm thinking the media and governments are trying to be better prepared this time around.  This storm will stretch from New Mexico, across most of Texas and all the way to the northeast part of the country.

If we can get out ahead of the storm, we'll be rolling early.  Another 10 hour driving day will put us home on Thursday.  So much for a "leisurely trip home."

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On the local TV stations, we just heard that school districts from Dallas and northward are already cancelling school for Thursday and Friday due to the winter storm.  This isn't going to be pretty.