I had no doubt that Tucker would think that up at Dennis’ would be super.  How could he not? Hundreds  of square miles of woods where he can run freely.

Tucker loves it.  I took him on the Lollipop Loop yesterday with Hawkeye.  Tucker seems really fast compared to Hawk, but Hawkeye likes to pace himself since he doesn’t know how far he might be going.

We ended up down at the Lake.  Hawkeye swam and it drove Tucker crazy.   Tucker got in once, totally freaked out, dog paddling like crazy, but went back to shore immediately.  I think he’ll be fine and eventually take the plunge.

At the Rivers Eatery last night, Tucker got to meet Tessie, Mick and Beth’s Chocolate Lab.  Tessie is a hoot.  She plays tether ball by herself.  I’ve never heard of a dog doing that.  I guess Tessie doesn’t/didn’t play with other dogs.  That was until she met Tucker.

By the end of the night, out behind the eatery, Tucker and Tessie were chasing each other around like crazy.  Tucker likes to play.

It is supposed to be in the 80’s today, so I’m going to try to coax Tucker into the lake.  He is super interested in water, he is just a little scared of it just now.

Tessie playing tether ball with Beth. Tucker didn’t know what to make of it.

Jesse LaLonde rolled into Cable after 10 last night with a couple of his buddies. They are riding from MSP to Copper Harbor at the tip of the UP of Michigan.They had something like 217 miles in for the day.  It is over 400 miles that they are doing in two days. Did I mention most of it is on gravel and trails. Pretty great adventure.

Tucker and Tessie sharing some water after playing.

I was eating outside with Gary Crandall after the Mamas ride.

Tucker running on the Popsicle Loop.

I am a tinkerer.  Not always, but I have an interest in how some things go together.  Not all things, but some things.

It started out as a necessity.  At least with cycling.   When I first started, if you didn’t know how to work on your bike, you didn’t race bikes.  I didn’t know a cyclist that didn’t work on their own equipment.  That isn’t the case anymore.

I bought my first car when I was 17.  It was a 1964 Volkswagen pickup truck.  I still own it.  I drove it just a few months before the engine blew.  We borrowed the Idiot’s manual for VW’s from MIke Hudson and dug in.

We did most of the work at night, down in the basement.  When my grandmother would go to bed, we’d sometimes bring the engine up to the kitchen for better light.  She would have died if she had walked in when we were working on the engine on our kitchen table.  Back then we could rebuild the complete engine for next to nothing,  Even the machining was affordable to poor cyclists.

I still do virtually all my own auto work.  I’ve rebuilt a few engines and can do just about anything.  I’m not too big on working on the engines in my diesel vans.  Those engines are very difficult to get to and when they have issues, it takes a lot of time and energy.

The past couple days I replaced the AC clutch on my AWD van.  I drove Trudi to the airport yesterday and the AC is too cold now.  I also put an exhaust gasket on my Honda InSight.  I had to buy the parts at the dealer.  Two bolts and an exhaust gasket was nearly $60.  That seemed insanely expensive compared to other auto part costs.  I’d replaced the AC clutch in December, so it was under warranty, so it was free.  And it didn’t take any time at all.

Repairing things is pretty rewarding in this throwaway world we live in.  I’ve garbage picked lawn mowers that were left at the curb because the pull cord broke.  It is like a 10 minute job putting a new pull cord on a mower.  What a waste.

Anyway, I’m sitting here watching the Tour and was thinking I don’t really have a small fix-it job to do today.  Most the stuff I have to do are big job.  When it is so stickin’ hot out, long rides aren’t really an option.  We’re meeting at 11 am, after the Tour, before the heat index gets crazy, but still late enough to be stifling hot.

Trudi at the Kansas City airport. She flew out to Santa Rosa to get a team car to drive to Tour of Utah.

I’m not sure what happened to this AC clutch, but it melted.

I’m not big on working on exhaust. The Insight is in super good shape, no rust anywhere, except the exhaust bolts. Both broke and needed to be cut off.

The replacement bolts should have been made out of stainless steel in my opinion.

Tucker collapses every night. He is not into heat.