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Monday, December 31, 2018

What a Year!

2018 was quite a year.

I must apologize that it has been 6-months since my last blog post, but it seems I don't have a lot of time for puttering on the computer much anymore.

I must make more of an effort in 2019 to read more blog posts (I feel so out of the loop) and post more blog posts.

Since my last post at the beginning of June we closed on our house in Monmouth, then sold our house in Corvallis.  For a whopping two weeks we were land barons, according to our realtor, because we owned two houses. Of course that came with two mortgages for those two weeks. Troubadour also started his full-time job with Team Oregon.

I have now been with the Department of Justice 8-months and I still enjoy what I do, so that is a good thing.

I had one great ride in August before our move.  Troubadour and I were privileged to host BeemerGirl and Oilburner for a weekend of back-road riding, merriment, tater-tot consumption, and Crown Royal Apple Whiskey sipping.

That Sunday morning after eating pumpkin scones, we spent an hour or more linking our Sena intercoms before heading off for a figure-eight ride of the hills to the south west of Corvallis.   Here are a few pictures from our ride that day.

(Linking the Senas - Photo by BeemerGirl)

(Stopped at Alsea Falls - photo by BeemerGirl)

(Parking Lot of Alsea Falls - Photo by BeemerGirl)

(Stopped to check BeemerGirl's tire pressure)

(The view when we were stopped in the above photo)
Sadly work, house projects, household chores, and grocery shopping, etc has kept me off the bike since then.  Where I used to have Friday afternoons off for grocery shopping and house cleaning, now I do not, so it falls to the weekend.  Hard to pack a weeks worth of groceries in the trunk monkey of the bike.

We have had one set of visitors at our new house too.  RichardM and Bridget stopped by when they were on their travels.  Not only did they see the new digs, we had a lovely diner at Marco Polo in Salem.  Always a pleasure when they come to town.

It seems that we are hardly ever home on the weekends and now we are in winter. The low temperatures can be a little frosty.  I could have commuted by bike in the summer, but something about sitting in stop and go traffic in our state capital for 20 minutes just trying to get out of town was not appealing.  I have a different parking space now that takes me on a different route than it did this summer so maybe next year?

Most of my commute has been in the Fiat, which we've had for 4 years last month.  While it was great for that 3-mile commute in Corvallis and in town grocery getting, we've found it is not the best for commuting in the dark torrential rains or icy mornings.  The all-wheel drive of a Subaru is more suited for my needs now.  On bad mornings I have been appropriating Troubadour's daily driver - the trusty Subaru Forester. That just made me realize how unsuited the Fiat was.

Long story short...... my our new 2019 Subaru Crosstrek arrives Thursday January 3rd.  We should be able to pick it up on Saturday.  Bye-Bye little Fiat, we've had a great run.  I chose a Cool Khaki Grey color, which I think looks blue most of the time.  It is a hard to find color so we had to wait a few weeks for one with the options we wanted.  Here is a picture of what it will look like.

(2019 Subaru Crosstrek in Cool Grey Khaki - Photo by MotorTrend.com)

So far no huge plans in 2019.  We had thoughts of attending the motorcycle show in Vancouver in January, but PolarBear let his passport lapse so we may forego that since we can't go with friends.  We haven't made hotel reservations so my guess is we are a little late.  In the alternative we might be remodeling the kitchen here in our new place.  We enjoyed the Ikea cabinets we installed in the Corvallis house and can do that here too.  For a larger kitchen this one sure isn't as functional and doesn't have as much storage as we were used to.

We also are in the planning stage for a camping trip to Washington in May to visit with Troubadour's brother and his family.  May will be two years since we've seen them and the neice and nephew are growing fast.

Of course we'll ride when we can.  We are hoping that since we sacrificed 2018 to the new job and moving Gods that we will be rewarded by the riding Gods in 2019.

A very Happy New Year to everyone.  I shall try and catch up with your blogs soon.

- Au Revoir

 Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." Hans Christian Andersen
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46 comments:

  1. Happy New Year! Good summary and pictures. And nice looking new car. AWD is kind of nice to have.

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    1. Happy New Year to you and Bridget as well. The AWD sure made commuting in the sketchy weather better. Especially since Brad has some meatier Geolander tires on the Forester.

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  2. A new car? Now I'm really jealous....I guess to try it out, you could come to Bend :)
    Don

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    1. Would be a lot easier in a Crosstrek than the Fiat. Don't we still need to carry chains across the pass even in a Subaru?

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    2. Winter tires are allowed in lieu of chains......Oregon has confusing, "Chain" laws. Chains are really only required on trucks. When they actually require them on cars, it's considered a conditional closure of the highway.....then I'd stay home :)

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    3. But then I'd have to put winter tires on the car........hmmmm.

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  3. After failing to successfully posting a comment, I try to post for a third time now ;-)

    What an eventful year, Brandy. I can only imagine how much work goes into preparing one house for sale while juggle with the purchase of another. Oh, and not to forget getting accustomed to a new job, new colleagues and new surroundings.

    We have put the option owning our own house or condo indefinitely on hold. The whole purchase ritual in Germany is just a pain in the butt plus the house prices are ridiculous.

    Happy and healthy New Year to you and Brad. Hopefully with more play time in the near future. The ocean is just an hour ride away. Something I envy you for. So, take that new car of yours (pretty one that is, one of my favourites were I in need having to buy a 4WD), bring a tent along, and go camping and take a hike on a weekend as soon as temps are going up again. Miss you guys. Hugs, SonjaM

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    1. I have heard that Google has made it more difficult to comment on blogs now. Hopefully that isn't always the case.

      It has been a busy year but we know we will get to do more fun things next year. House buying is a pain here to and house prices are quite inflated. Of course we sold our house for an inflated price, such as our purchase was also inflated.

      We'd love to camp more but around here you need reservations almost a year in advance at campsites. You could go off in the woods and bush camp.......when it isn't fire season of course.

      Miss you two too!

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  4. Happy New Year Trobairitz to you and Troubadour. Glad you’re blogging again, keep it up please. Oh and get out on the bike more - you know it’s good for you!! Hope everything carries on well in your new home & job. All the best El D

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    1. Happy New Year to you as well. We definitely plan on riding more this year and blogging more too. Hope all is well with you and you have a happy and healthy 2019.

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  5. Happy New Year to you and yours from across the pond. It seems that everyone's resolution for 2019 is 'to ride more'. I'm down with that :)

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    1. Happy new Year to you. I guess we all would like to ride more. It's never enough when it comes to two-wheels.

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  6. If you live where you need all wheel drive you are doing it wrong. I think. 2019 has to be better.

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    1. Yeah, at least it isn't snow. Freezing fog on the way to work this morning. Joy.

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  7. Happy New Year to you both, hopefully a little less logistically-hectic.

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    1. Happy New Year Dom. This year has to be less hectic, I don't think it could get more crazy for us than it did last year. It' all good though, we are happy with our jobs and the move.

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  8. Happy New Year to you both and great to hear from you!

    I like the 'baru - I've had 2 but jumped ship a few years ago...

    Looking forward to more ride blogs :)

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    1. We've have many different makes of cars over the years but after owning a Subaru and driving through some pretty bad storms, Troubadour is sold on the Subarus.

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  9. Great to hear from you finally Brandy!! It looks like it was a busy 2018 for you guys so I’m hoping for more 2 wheel influence on your weekends for 2019! Happy New Year!

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    1. Crazy is a good word to describe 2018 for us. Our goal is more riding and some overnights on the bike as well.

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  10. You linked Sena's? Respect ...
    Happy 2019!

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    1. Did I mention it took us well over an hour, Googling on a laptop and an iPhone? But we did it, we linked 4 of them...... all day even.

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  11. Happy new year Brad and brandy. Hopefully you can now enjoy a few well earned rides after your busy year in 2018. Congrats on the new car. Love that new car smell

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    1. Happy New Year to you as well. I am looking forward to the new car......nothing like the smell of off-gassing plastics to wake you up in the morning........

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  12. Glad to have to have you back! Have missed your posts! Happy New Year.

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    1. Thank you Paul. Happy New Year to you and the misses as well.

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  13. Happy New Year to you both. The Crosstrek is a great car - you'll love it.

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    1. Happy New Year to you as well. I am sure we will love the Crosstrek. I am not so sure about the Eyesight package, but the moonroof will be fun.....when it isn't raining.

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  14. Wow, what a year you had with new jobs, new home, and moving! Happy New Year to you and I do hope that 2019 brings you more riding. We will head to Cascade Locks, OR in August and will hope to do some touring when not working at our volunteer jobs at Bonneville Lock & Dam, so maybe we can catch up with you while we are there! Haven't checked distances, etc., so don't laugh too hard if that is not doable. :-)

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    1. It was quite a year alright. How cool that you will be in Cascade Locks. Prepare for wind, a lot of wind, world class kite-boarding kind of wind. But so pretty.

      From Monmouth to Cascade Locks is only 100 miles. Should be only 2 hours depending on traffic. A good time to tow the bikes out on the interstate and ride with you two or at least come and see you (little bikes are no fun on the freeway). We'll definitely need to meet up. :-)

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    2. Awesome, we will definitely plan to meet up and ride! Although I was looking into smaller bikes, we never made that change. Our GSs are still longhaul so we'll come to you! 😀

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    3. Either way we'll make a point to meet up. Should be fun!

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  15. What a year indeed! You and Brad did really well not to melt under the pressure of new jobs and the stress of house-buying! I hope that Basil has forgiven his servants for all the disruption and has settled in to the new routine.

    Here's to a less stressful 2019 for you and Brad!

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    1. We didn't melt but we did fizzle a bit. Basil has forgiven us in that he appreciates the larger house, I think, but he does not forgive the non-covered patio and lack of shrubbery in the yard. Both things we'll fix for him at some point this year, bu the isn't patient.

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  16. New car, new house, new year! Who 'new' 2018 would be so kind to you! Congrats X 3.

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    1. Thank you Ken. I am hoping 2019 is much more calm with more fun things to do instead of just the necessities of life.

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  17. May you forever be blessed by the riding gods! Happy New Year!

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  18. So good to see your posts again! Congrats to all on the job, the house, the car! Wow! Lots of new news! Here's to a great 2019!

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    1. Thanks Barb. Waiting for the rains to stop so we can get out on the bikes.

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  19. Nice pics! Glad to see you had some visitors and fun amidst the 2018 changes, ups and downs, etc. Pretty car color. Hopefully it arrived safely and all is well. I hope the riding gods smile upon us this year, too.

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    1. It was a busy year but we squeezed in some fun. Fingers crossed we'll be out on the bikes more this year.

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  20. Heres hoping for a little more riding in 2019. I too have not had a lot of time for the computer and truth be told I went down deep in hibernation this winter. I was beat after teaching/riding season, I taught 15 classes from early spring right through to October, not much riding for fun. We need to remedy that be ause Kirk bought a new to him BMW F800GT, who knows maybe we'll pop down that way. Enjoy your new home!

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    1. Come on down. Plenty of room at this new place and a 2-car garage with room for bikes.

      Here's hoping you get more riding for fun this year not just for teaching.

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  21. We miss your posts..... where are you!!!!!!

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    1. Thank you for checking in Paul. Still around - just rarely have time to check in on the blogosphere. Hope all is well with you across the pond and you are staying healthy. Troubadour and I are both still working during all of this, he heads to Team Oregon everyday to work on bikes and I remotely from home. I did sell my Versys 300x in February and I am on the hunt for a replacement. Cheers!

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