India trip (Day 2) July 2019 - The Taj Mahal & Agra Fort

Day 2 in India                                                                                                                            7-7-2019

Day 2 is like the Beatles song “A day in the Life”  – Woke Up (WAY TO EARLY like 2 AM) , fell out of Bed (Bed is really low in hotel and not used to it), dragged a comb across my head  (no time for getting all spiffy so grab the comb), Found my way downstairs (all 3 flights of them) and I did NOT drink a cup of coffee.

Anyway, Got up at 2 AM for a 2:30 AM pick up for a day long Taj Mahal and Agra Fort Tour!  Woohoo!  I was looking forward to this.  I was hoping to find a person on my “Ride the Himalayas – Motorcycle tour” to join me but got no response when I asked so I had to foot the entire bill myself.

The driver was on time and there was another guy in the car as well.  I figured the other guy was my tour guide but a little later I found out he was actually a security guard for the car, driver and me.  Who knew? 

Driving down the freeway at that hour in Delhi there were just a few people out but mostly the streets were empty and the driver was zipping along towards Agra.  I think there were lights along the road which made it easy to see the lanes and all.  I don’t think they were reflectors but could possibly have been.

We drove for hours and I couldn't sleep as I didn't want to miss anything but I was dragging and super tired even though there really was nothing to see.  At one point the driver pulled off to a rest area.  Now this was quite interesting compared to the United States rest areas as this one had like cots out around with many people laying on them sleeping, talking, playing cards, etc.  Then there was a small restaurant where you could order some hot meals and they'd cook them right up and then the small general sore which had all sorts of snacks and other small things.

After a little while we piled back into the car and kept on going. When we got to Agra we stopped at street corner and the security guy hopped out and then another guy hopped in.  This new guy was my guide.  We kept driving and finally got to a strange little pull around with a ton of people walking around.  This little turn around was on the West side where you get out and walk down a path a ways to some small buildings where you purchase your tickets to get into the Taj.  My guide walked up and got our tickets and we walked towards the entrance.  The first stop was the security checkpoint and they frisked EVERYONE, women as well in a special tented off area.  They looked through bags and stuff.  I don't know what they were looking for or wanted to find but we got through with no issues. Part of your ticket you had to hold on to for dear life as you needed it to get OUT of the grounds.

The West entrance to the grounds is where the Servant Quarters are, The East entrance is near the Royal Tombs.  I went in the West entrance.

Once inside the grounds were expertly manicured and the place was spotless.  The grass was like a putting green on a golf course.  If you've never been to the Taj once you get through the gate/entrance you walk a bit down a nice wide sidewalk to a big yard type setting "Forecourt" with a few trees and on the left in the middle of the area is the large and just as impressive Main Gateway.  My guide took me to a spot in the middle of the Gateway where you could see the entire Tomb and if you stood 1 rock piece to the left or right you would not see it in it's entirety.  Part of the building or columns would be cut off from view. 

Once inside you saw the magnificent Taj Mahal Tomb and since we were early in the morning the fountains had not been turned on yet so we could get a great photo with the reflection in it.

Half way from the Main Gateway to the tomb is a square in the middle of the gardens.  It is here that there is a bench that you can sit.  This bench is called the "Lady Di" bench as when Lady Di Princess of Wales  (Married to Prince Charles at the time) came to visit she sat on this bench, since then it has always been called the "Lady Di bench".  Everyone needed to have their photo taken there and of course I was no exception.   

The building is remarkable.  What looks like paintings on the side is really inlaid precious stone.  They carved out the white marble an inlaid different types of stone with different colors to make a variety of things from flowers to script.  Some of it is very intricate.

  

I was hoping to get some sunrise shots since we got their for the sunrise but the sun actually came from the right side of the Taj.  Since I didn't have any bearings of what was North, South, East or West or even have a clue this place was on a map I figured the sun would come from behind but it didn't. 

This shot is from near the Mosque looking east toward the sunrise. 

Looking back at the Main Gate

From the Guest house towards the Tomb.

This photo is part of the Guest House

I have a ton of other photos but this should tide you over until you can see it yourself.  The next stop was breakfast and they took me to a very nice sit down with Air Conditioning service.  The service and wait staff was exceptional and I unfortunately didn't have ANY money to tip them which I felt terrible about but the guide is like lets just get out of here and not to bother.  Well it still bothers me I could not tip but maybe it was part of my package deal, I don't know.

The next stop for the day was a place where they actually practice the old lost art of inlaying stone like at the Taj.  I believe that the family are direct descendants of the original craftsman who did the work on the Taj - at least that was what the guide told me. They showed me how it was made and carved using old school tools, very, very interesting.  Then they took me in the back for a beating.  ha, ha, ha.  They had a variety of tables made that you could purchase and I didn't have room for anything in my bags but got a nice small plate and a few other carved pieces that were quite beautiful.

After that the guide took me to a Rug making facility and this was a co-op.  They had a variety of different wool's and other yarns all hand made and hand dyed.  Folks would come in and get a kit (pattern, yarns or threads) take it home and make then bring back to sell.  Really a good concept and they had rugs in all sizes and shapes, a very informative stop.  I picked up a small rug to help out the locals and enjoy viewing when I got it home.  The first photo is of 2 guys that had been working together for like 20+ years and were so fast it was pretty incredible.

This 2nd photo show's some of the kits just past the rug on the floor and then the bins of yarns & wool.  I got to see the entire process from start to finish for these rugs and it was labor intensive.

After this stop it was time for the long drive back home to Delhi and prepare for another day.  I did go out later and look for an inexpensive watch since I left mine at home and never knew what time it was but the street vendors kept trying to tell me the watch I actually wanted was a much better quality and costs 3 times as much as the others.  LOL  I think I swung into a McDonalds for dinner and sat with a cute girl and her friend.  She wanted to date him but all he wanted to do was play the field.  So funny and so typical.

India Trip (Flight and Day 1) - July 2019

July 4, 2019

Left my house in Everett at 4:37 AM and headed to the NEW Everett terminal.  Yeah it was a dark and stormy night....  Ok overcast and cloudy 59 degrees.
5:20 AM I was checked in and through security.
6:12 AM and we took off on my first flight to San Francisco.
7:55 AM Arrived in San Francisco.

My next flight from here to Munich didn't take off until  1 PM so I had a TON of time to sit around and get bored.......  Since I hadn't had any breakfast I went to a store and found a way overpriced sandwich and poweraid drink which held me over till my flight.

1:05 PM I was finally boarding my flight to Munich on a Boeing 787 which I see being made every day at the Boeing Everett plant where I work (along with the 747, 767, 777 & the new 777x along with the derivative models like the freighters, combi's, tankers).  The flight was very nice but we did encounter a bit of turbulence throughout the flight.  It was a LONG flight.  One thing I enjoy is checking the stats as we are moving like seeing tailwinds up to 94 mph and temperatures as low as -74 degrees and we flew up to 40,000 feet above sea level!

9:15 AM I arrived in Munich early.  The terminal had islands of other concourses and I finally figured out that I had to go down a super long escalator underground to take a train to another concourse where my flight to Delhi would be.   I typically walk the stairs any chance I get and these were the stairs from HELL!  Since I was about 3 stories up already and then had to go about 3 stories down it was 6 stories of stairs to get to the train.  On the other side I took the escalator up. 

I bummed around the airport for hours checking out all the little shops and tried to find some cool little memento’s to get on my way back through in about 3 weeks but didn’t see anything that really tickled my fancy or stuff was just too darn big to stuff in my already packed to the gills bags.

We were supposed to fly out around 11:30 AM but the flight kept being delayed.  Finally, about 1 PM we all boarded and I’m talking hundreds of Indian people were on this plane, I was about or maybe the only American on it.  Ha, ha, ha.   We were held up for so long that the ticket readers took a nap and did not work which made getting on the flight that much more of a pain than it already was.  The lines were super long and folks were getting more frustrated by the minute.

I sat next to an Indian guy on the flight (surprise, surprise) who rode a bicycle from Alaska, USA to Ushuaia, Argentina and since I used to live in Alaska and have ridden bicycles for hundreds of miles in the States and I had been down to Ushuaia the year before we had an excellent conversation during the flight.

Somehow I was upgraded to Premier Eco Class which meant “REAL SILVERWARE” LOL    You can’t take a little tiny pocket knife on an airplane but they will give you a much larger one to eat with.  Hmmm… who is the idiot who made up that silly rule???  Well the food was awesome and there was plenty of it.  Kind of like a last meal type thing so I ate everything in site.

The plane was an Airbus A350-900 which left about an hour late and since Pakistan and India were having some issues in the Northern part of their countries the flight path went west around Pakistan and into the sea then back up to Delhi which was much longer.  The flight arrived in Delhi about 12:30-12:45 in the morning (July 6).  I had to make a quick bathroom break and went down some strange area where there were a bunch of military or police who pointed me in the right direction.  It was pretty cool at the bathroom and easy to figure out which was the men’s room with the super large photos on the entrance wall.

Next was getting to Customs and the side for folks that lived in India was huge and the lines went on forever.  For the foreigners (like me) there was hardly anyone in line.  I had to fill out some paperwork and customs took a bit longer than I expected but the gentleman that checked me into the country was very nice and we had a good chat.  Strange that they finger printed both hands and took photos, blood test and got copies of my visa cards.  Ok, they didn’t do the blood test of copy of the visa card but it almost felt that way. 

Baggage claim took a bit of time as well.  My bags must have been the first ones on the plane and were the last to come off.  I called Rahul and let him know I was waiting for my bags and would be out in the next 3 hours.  The luggage area was nice and big and they had carts all over the place that were free to use which was REALLY NICE since I had a Huge bag with all my motorcycle gear in it which weighed a ton.

Once out of the terminal the heat hit me like a Mike Tyson punch.   In seconds I was starting to sweat bullets before we even got to Rahul’s car.  I didn’t bother to look at where the driver sat or anything and when it was time to get I and go I went to the “passenger side” that I’m used to but it was the driver’s side.  The steering wheel is on the right and they drive on the left side of the road so it was totally different. 
Luckily traffic wasn’t too bad but finding my hotel was crazy hard.  We kept circling the blocks and just couldn’t find the dang place.  We asked some security guy and he got mad that we woke him up – ha, ha, ha.  We asked some other guys and they didn’t know.  I guess this place was so cheap and hidden that nobody knew where it was at.  I wasn’t too jazzed about the neighborhood as it looked quite run down.  We finally found this tiny alley and most of the way down was my little hotel.  The place was all locked up but someone came to the gate and opened it up for us.   I thanked Rahul profusely for waiting for me and then bringing me to my hotel, and then I got checked in.
I had to go up 3 flights of tiny square staircase to the room and the key was a little funky to open the room but it had AC and that is all I really cared about.  Of course everything was metric and I didn’t have any converter for temp readily available so I took a wild guess and turn the temp down and let it rip.  To cold, then adjust and adjust until just right.  Now to get my stuff ready for a morning pickup for a tour of Delhi.  Only 2 AM – gack!

My room and a typical bathroom where the shower, sink, toilet and all are in 1 room with no dividers. 

 

7-6-19
7 AM -  After minimal sleep the alarm went off, good thing I set my own alarm as the front desk forgot to give me a wake up call.  I get my stuff together for a day on the town.  Delhi here I come!  I didn’t bother to eat anything as I was supposed to be picked up and taken to breakfast where we’d discuss the different things to see in the city.
8 AM – The driver shows up but no guide???  The driver spoke very broken English.  I asked where the guide was as I was supposed to be a guide or was he the guide?  He called the company and they said I didn’t pay for a guide.  WTH?  I wouldn’t have signed up for the tour without a guide.  I was pretty ticked but the guy could speak some English so I broke out my “Tour guide paperwork” and rattled off one of the places to go see and he took me there.
The first was the Jama Masjid of Delhi, is one of the largest mosques in India. It was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656 at a cost of one million rupees.  Vast, 17th-century Mughal-style mosque 17th-century, red sandstone Mughal-style mosque with a 25,000 capacity & 40m high minarets.

He parked and I walked up the steps to the place.  You had to take your shoes off to go in so I took them off and put them next to the 50 other pairs.   As soon as I walked in an old man who couldn’t speak at all just grunted became my unofficial tour guide.

When I’m out shooting (photography) I know what I want to shoot and what angles, lights, etc.  He did take me to most of the areas I wanted to shoot so I hope it made him feel like he was a good guide.  When we got done I gave him some small tip and he was not happy about it but hey I didn’t ask for his help to begin with.  I then proceed out to get my shoes and some guy says he needs like 100 rupees for watching my shoes.  I told him to get lost.   I say you weren’t here when I got here and now you want money, forget it.  All his buddies started laughing at him.  I headed on back to the car.  My driver set up a rickshaw ride but I wasn’t really in the mood for that as I was roasting in the hot Delhi sun.

The next stop was the India Gate
India Gate - 1920s triumphal arch & war memorial Imposing Arc de Triomphe-style gate commemorating the Indian soldiers killed in the First World War.

While walking around taking some photos I see this guy running at me full steam.  He stops, tosses down a little round box type thing and opens it up and a cobra pops it’s head out.  The guy starts playing a little flute with one hand and puts his hand down towards the snake with the other.  The snake nipped at him a few times.

A large crowd had gathered and I tossed him some money and he wasn’t happy about it either, I’m like let the other pay you as well.  I’m not the only one enjoying the show.  Trying to get out of the park was another story as they had only a one way in and one way out.  The out gate was quite a ways away so I got some exercise.  Then crossing the like 5 lane road was challenging even with the cross walk lights.

The driver took me to a couple of stores which had Air Conditioning which was awesome as the temperature was 98 degrees and felt like 117 according to the weatherman.  Coming from 60 degree weather I was melting!   I wanted a Sari  (It's the most popular dress for women, both for casual or formal occasion. While in the shop I found some hand paintings that I enjoyed and a few other items that were hand made.

Next stop was The Laxminarayan Temple, also known as the Birla Mandir is a Hindu temple.  (the goddess of prosperity).

I got to wander all over the area here and got to see Monkey’s ripping apart the trash can and strewn garbage all over the place while finding things to eat.

I wasn’t sure about them so I kept my distance. The looked like they could do some serious harm if you got them mad about the food.

Next stop was the Lotus Tempe which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in Delhi.  To enter the grounds you had to go through a security checkpoint and they took my little pocket knife.  It was hotter than blazes as I walked to the beautiful building.  I didn’t know at the time that I could go in otherwise I would have.  I just took photos from the outside at various points then made my way back to the checkpoint to retrieve my knife.  I went out to the wall that surrounds the temple and hung out waiting for my driver.  At many of the stops I would have random people want to stop and take a photo with me.  I had about 5 older teenage boys come up and one asked about a photo with me.  I said sure, 500 rupees each.   He looked at me like I just stole his dog.  Some of the others laughed hysterically.  I said come on over and ended up taking photos with I think all of them.  It was a fun laugh.

The Lotus Temple, located in Delhi, India, is a Bahá'í House of Worship that was dedicated in December 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it has become a prominent attraction in the city. Like all Bahá'í Houses of Worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all, regardless of religion or any other qualification.

Next stop was the Qutb Minar, also spelled as Qutab Minar or Qutub Minar, is a minaret that forms part of the Qutb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India. Qutb Minar is a 73-meter tall tapering tower of five stories, with a 14.3 meters base diameter, reducing to 2.7 meters at the top of the peak.  5-story victory tower with balconies 73 m tapering tower built in 1193 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak after defeat of Delhi's last Hindu kingdom.

I didn’t really want to go hike around some more and this guy knew a spot where I could get a decent shot of it that was free.  I just had to watch out from being run over by the locals.

I think we hit one or two other places and then I turned him loose to go enjoy his family.  I gave him a decent tip that I read about in the guidebook or something and he was super jazzed.  I went out and walked around town a little and found a McDonalds to eat at.  I wasn’t in the mood to try something new even though McD’s did have a different menu and NO BEEF!   Ha, ha, ha

2019 Ride the Himalayas - About me, What you need to go to India, What to take, etc

Back in 2018 I started seeing adds on my facebook page about this grand motorcycle ride in the Himalayas.  The adds kept popping up so I decided to check out the website.  It was originally called "Ride the Himalayas" I think but now it's Adventurewala  and I wrote the innovative young entrepreneur who was the mastermind behind this trip - Rahul (who lives in Delhi).  He got back to me right away and sent me some information about it.  The cost of the 15 day trip is very reasonable and included EVERYTHING!  Food, lodging, motorcycles, fuel, guides, mechanic, darn near everything except the kitchen sink!  The next think I know I'm signing up for this big adventure.

About me and my motorcycle experience - 

I've traveled all over the world - hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, visited the Serengeti & other parks Tanzania,

and saw 3 different types of penguins south of Ushuaia Argentina at the bottom of South America

and visited Torres Del Paine park in Chile, then up to Val Paraiso near Santiago and finally up to the Atacama desert in northern Chile where we did a side trip to see "The Hand".

 In addition to living in the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska and visiting Japan, Thailand and other areas.

 I've ridden motorcycles and mini bikes since I was about 5 years old, ~about 50+ years experience and 99.99% of my riding has been on the street with a LOT of Long distance Ironbutt riding (yes I'm a member of the Iron Butt Association).   My current motorcycle which I've had for about 15 years is a 1999 BMW R1100RT which is an ex police bike that I picked up with about 54,000 miles.  I currently have over 149K miles on it and in October of this  year (2019) I hit another deer on my way to Baker City, Oregon and it destroyed some parts on it so I'm working on it.  It's a very large bike, weighs a LOT and I can cruise at 80+ mph all day it's so smooth. 

Now it's time to go to the TOP of the world, the grand Himalayas and there is no better way to see the area by doing it with the local folks that live there.  Let's even do it on motorcycles to be up close and personal.  First things first...

What you need to go to India

A few items you'll need to get there and ride is:

• International drivers license.  I picked mine up at the AAA store near where I live (cost about $25 I think).
• VISA - you need to apply for a visa, I did an electronic visa (~$120-150 or so).
• Immunizations - check to see that you have all sorts of shots before you go as you don't want to come down with something.
• Passport - must be more than 6 months old and have more than 6 months time left on it before being renewed (why this stipulation I have NO idea).
• If I think of other things I'll add later......

 What to take on this trip

This is what I took but take what you need or want if you feel like you can fit it all in your luggage or feel like paying extra if needed.  I should have taken other things which I'll list later.

• Motorcycle gear - 
• Helmet - I use HJC modular helmets that flip up, I wear these because I wear glasses and these are great for folks that wear glasses. 
• Riding pants & jacket - I wear First Gear motorcycle clothes and have worn them for about 20 years.  This gear has liners for cold weather that can be removed when in Hot weather and you'll be in both.  This gear is also waterproof unless you go stand in a waterfall or jump in the river to cool off. 
• Riding boots - not sure of the brand but gortex lined as I live where it rains a LOT 
• 4 pairs of riding gloves (2 winter, 2 summer) I always bring extra in case one pair gets wet or I lose a pair or on this trip.  I loaned a pair of winter gloves to a fellow rider.     

• Regular clothes - pants, shorts, undergarments, and at least 4 pairs of socks which will (keep you warm, wick moisture from feet and dry quickly as you will get soaked almost daily in stream crossings).  I take light weight travel pants that are easy to clean and dry quickly if you wash them in the sink, same with the shirts - wicking fabric, easy to clean  Make sure you have clothes for HOT & Cold weather (over 100F in Delhi while I was there and Freezing 32F or less at the top of some of the high passes).
• HAT!  I can't stress enough to bring a hat that will cover your ears, face & neck.  The altitudes you'll be at the UV will burn you to a crisp in a heartbeat.  I have a nylon baseball desert type hat that you can pack flat and does a great job keeping the sun off.  When I'd remove my helmet it felt like someone took a blow torch to the top of my head so this is a must! 
• Sunscreen - chapstick for lips
• CAMERA!  I'm a photographer and had 2 regular cameras (Canon 7D mark 2 with a couple different lenses, a Fuji finepix wet/dry point n shoot that I hang around my neck) in addition to an old GoPro Hero2 and my phone which takes excellent photos as well.  Oh yeah, LEARN HOW to use them BEFORE you go!
• Extra SD cards for cameras I took about 10  32GB cards that would work in all three cameras.
• Extra batteries for all the cameras
• Small tripod
• Chargers for all the different batteries
• Cables for phones & Cameras and an extra in case you loose one or need to loan to a fellow rider
• Power bank(s) to charge things when you don't have access to electricity (I brought 2, I bought a solar power bank one like the link but don't bother with them as they take a week or so to charge if you don't use them and you'll be using them.  I think I brought a 15,000 and 25,000 mAh banks and they can take up to 8 hrs to charge the really large ones (FYI)
• Electrical converter to charge your stuff or use a hair dryer or anything electrical if you don't use 220V
• Electric converter plug adapter for your plug to plugs that work in India
• Extra GLASSES if you wear them bring an extra pair - I lost mine in a waterfall and was glad I had a 2nd pair.
• Sun glasses
• Medication - if you take medication take enough for at least 2 weeks and bring in original bottles (I put all of my bottles in a ziplock bag that I took in my carry on bag).
• Toiletries kit
• Paperwork in an envelope for when you get to customs in India
• Passport, Visa, drivers license, etc.
• Notepad to take notes about your day if you desire
• I made personal business cards to hand to folks with name, email, fun tidbits, etc.
• I made special stickers (I have a sign business) for everyone that they can put on their helmets to remember this special trip for years to come
• Special dietary needs (I brought a box of protein bars that I normally have every day and didn't want to mess up my normal stomach routine in the morning)
• Headache, stomach ache medication
• Altitude sickness pills - go to your doctor and get some, Probably the average elevation is about 13,000' above sea level and altitude sickness can KILL YOU so be very careful.
• MONEY!  Take some extra for tips, TukTuk rides, Camel & Yak rides, Uber (they wouldn't accept my visa card and only took cash), purchasing items mementos, gifts, lunch, dinner, etc.  I think I exchanged about $100 US when I got to Delhi and the exchange was about 70 Rupees/1 US dollar (July 2019).
• Visa Card or other Credit Card - you can make purchases using your credit card at many places especially large purchases in major populated areas like Deli, Agra, Leh, Manali
• ................

Things I wish I'd taken..

• A light weight neck sock type thing that could cover your mouth.  This would help filter the diesel truck fumes and maybe have kept my lower lip from burning to a crisp!
• I'll think of more later........

Sight Seeing

If you want to do some sight seeing do it BEFORE you go on the ride as you'll most likely be exhausted and want to just plop down on the plane and sleep your way home (at least I did anyway). I went 3 or 4 days early so I could visit Agra and see the Taj and the Red Fort.  I bummed around Deli checking stuff out and got used to the time change (12.5 hours different for me).


Calendar

A few months of my Calendar

Rotator cuff surgery (Right Shoulder) - 6-14-2018

June 14 I was supposed to start surgery at 7:15 AM. and arrived at the surgery center about 7:00 AM to checked in. After checking in and watching some cool video on on grizzly bears and their cubs we were called in to a prep room. My nurse Chrissy or Christie was a hottie and very helpful.

     We went over some paperwork and then she gave me a gown, socks, and hairnet to put on. When she came back to the room she explained that they were going to do a nerve block in my shoulder,  this would numb my entire arm and shoulder area . There are two types of blocks that happen, motion and sensory. I was lucky enough to enjoy both .

     The Dr. came who was going to administer the nerve block and explained how it would work. First a small shot of lidocaine into my neck. This would be followed by another shot that injects some sort of fluid next to the nerve bundle.  The doctor used an ultrasound machine to locate the nerve bundle which is under your collarbone. The Dr. pressed so hard with the ultrasound that it hurt but not hard enough as the shot needle was huge (as thick as pencil lead) . He directed the needle and when it was in the right spot he told Christie to start injecting some fluid. On the ultrasound machine when the fluid was injected next to the nerve bundle you could see muscles being moved away from the bundle, it was pretty cool. The Dr. did this same routine three or four times. How the nerve Block Works is the fluid goes around the bundle and I believe swells to prevent it from allowing the flow of nerve signals to your extremities. This is a slow process and can take up to one half hour to start working. My entire shoulder down to my fingers was the motion block, all of my fingers on the other hand had the sensory block.  My fingers felt like they had fallen asleep and I got too enjoy that feeling for the next 30 HRS.

About 9:15 AM a different anesthesiologist came in to the room and explained what he would be doing in the operating room. Right after he left the nurse came in who would be working in the operating room also. He had a Star Wars cap on which was fun to look it.  (I make it a point any time I go in for surgery to thank all the people that help me through the ordeal. When I explained to Christy how much her help meant to me, she almost started crying. I told the second nurse how much I appreciated his help in getting my life back to normal and he said he really enjoyed doing this job.  Other nurses & folks that helped really appreciated the kudos as well.  It was their normal day at work but for me it was fixing my shoulder for the REST of my life!   He then walked me to the operating room.

In the operating room the bed I was to lay on looked like the injection table for a prisoner being put to death. I made a joke about that and the three guys chuckled that were in the room. I knew two of the three men in the room. One of them asked how I hurt my shoulder. I mentioned I got tripped by a parachute line while taking powered parachute flying lessons. While chatting with the guys I felt a cool fluid starting in my left arm up the IV. The anesthesiologist said he was giving me the general, I immediately thanked everyone for their help today and then I woke up and in their recovery room.

My next nurse was about my age and again very helpful. I don't remember what all she did but she made me comfortable and removed some wires and hoses I think,  maybe got me some cookies & juice, then she disappeared. Then my final nurse Carrie went over paperwork and what I was supposed to do my first week she did other things that I don't remember but then helped me out to the car. It was funny that she kept stressing me to bring back the schmock, like it was made of gold are something.

The ride home was fairly uneventful however I was surprised that it was now 1:30 in the afternoon. I think my biggest complaint was my fingers feeling like they had fallen asleep and there was nothing I could do about it. I lay down the lazy boy for the rest of the afternoon . 

 At 11:00 PM my nerve block was still working, but I took some pain pills anyway. As I have an Amazon Echo I set a timer for 4 hours to wake me for more medication. This was a handy tool as I could just talk to it and it could do what I needed. Like clockwork every 4 hours I took my pain medication and every other time the stool medication.

The most difficult thing to do was go to the bathroom because you had to do everything with only one hand, remove & put back on clothing. The other problem was getting out of the lazy boy chair as the arm to change the chair position was the arm that I had worked on.... I had a cane that really helped a lot to get out of the chair and steady myself when taking my first few steps.

If I remember correctly Carrie called me that afternoon around five to see how I was doing. She again emphasized me to bring the schmock back I told her I wanted to wear it for Halloween ha ha ha,  bringing it back must be tied to her bonus. lol

My surgery was Thursday morning and Friday evening Dr. Cameron called to see how I was doing. I mentioned a few issues I had and he said things were progressing quite normal. I go back to see him next Friday.

I took the pain medication for two days straight and on the third day stop taking them has the main pain had gone away. Like I mentioned earlier, the nerve block took 30 hours to go away. Currently the major pain I have is when I make an abrupt movement like getting out of the chair, turning, or bumping into something. The sling is a pain but really keeps your arm immobilized and in the right position for healing.

Sunday I was finally able to take a shower woo-hoo! We get to remove the monster bandages and see what had actually happened to me. The Dr. put four holes in my shoulder, I told him to make it look like bullet holes. Lol

Here are three of the four incisions. The fourth is on the back side of my shoulder. I think with a little Photoshop I can make these look like bullet holes. ;-)   It's pretty incredible that they can do such work with such small incisions. The Dr. had to drill and install an anchor to attach my tendon to the bone, some on other things he needed to do were file away a few bones spurs, and clean up some arthritis and who knows what else.

Electric Bike Project

My latest project is my electric bike project.

My last attempt to motorize my bike was with a tiny 2 smoke engine from China that everyone calls the "China girl"  I call it the China piece oh-cwap!  Actually it wasn't bad and I did a ton of work on it before I even installed it.

I read on the motorized bike forum that you should do this, do that, and do blah, blah, blah.  I did that extra stuff and a lot more.  It fired up shortly after I got everything done and ran like a scalded dog.  I think I peaked out at 28 mph and that little beach was howling and screaming like mad at 5-6K rpm.  I actually road the bike to work a number of times then it slowly stopped starting.  I worked on it and worked on it and it just kept floundering until I had enough of working on it and just took it off.  This is what it looked like in it's prime.

So now enter the E-bike............

OK so after dealing with that gas bike I decided to pursue an electric bike or electric assist bike.  I scoured the web and found a few forums.  Then as I usually do, research, research, research, to find all I can about the subject and take a bit with a grain of salt.   One of my favorite websites is  Endless sphere.  I do have one issue and that they just keep saying go read, go read, it's like they don't want to answer any questions.  Many are super turbo electrical geeks or nerds.  Anyway, you can find a lot of info about electric vehicles from this website.

Hub motors can be for the front or rear hub.  There are a variety of standard sizes - 24V, 36V, 48V and watts can be 250W, 500W, 800W & 1000W.  Not all volts can take all types of wattage.  Typical hub motor size is like a 24V 250W, 36V 250 or 500W, 48V 500-1000W.  

After much reading and research I decided on a 48V 1000 Watt rear hub motor.  This unit has a lot going for it.  Both brakes have a cut out switch on them so as soon as you pull the brake the motor shuts off.  It has a throttle like a motor cycle.  A torque sensor that senses your pedaling and you can adjust the "help" from the motor from 1 to 5 with 1 being the least  help to 5 which is a lot of help.  There is a controller that has a rats nest of wires coming out and a computer controller that goes on the handlebars and a bag that goes on your rack to hold a lot of stuff.  Here are a few shots of my kit.

I got my kit off ebay but the company is YescomUSA and the price was decent and it looks to be a good kit.  My kit came with a disk brake which is what I wanted but after installation I found that it rubs on the frame in 2 places so I had to take it off.  I also would have to make a bracket to hold the caliper and just don't feel like taking the time or energy to do that right now.

The back tire went on fairly easy

and so I concentrated on a variety of other "things" to install.

Both brakes have a sensor that shuts off the motor when activated.  This requires removing both of the old brake levers from the bike and reinstalling the new ones.  Next was the throttle.  There are typically 2 types of throttles.  1 is a thumb lever the other is the twist grip like a motorcycle.  My kit came with the twist grip.  Finally up on the handlebar is the basic computer that shows battery level, miles ridden, time ridden, average speed, max speed, current speed and probably a few other things.  I have a regular Sigma BC800 speedo which I have hooked up so I can check the accuracy of both.

So I have 4 wires that need to go to the back of the bike (2 brakes, computer, throttle).  I used a  plastic cover, something you'd pick up at the local auto parts store.  This makes the wires look like one big bundle but very clean.

The other accessory I needed to install is the torque sensor which senses your pedal speed and allows you to either get a little or a lot of help from the motor when pedaling.

You can see the round disc by the pedal that had magnets which go by the red sensor and tells the computer what is going on.  (I took the bike for a test drive yesterday and found I need to adjust it - it doesn't work right now).  While taking all that apart I cleaned and repacked the bearing of the crank and cleaned the heck out of the sprockets & stuff down there.

Finally, I was ready to put the controller on the back of the bike (in the bag with the kit).  This little controller has a bazillion wires coming out of it and when finished I had all but 2 wires hooked up to it and I'm not sure what they are for so I did pretty good.

After checking out the bag I determined I needed to sew a little bit farther in the hole and extend it so I could get the wires through so into the kitchen where I had my sewing machine set up.

You can see there is what looks like a sign in the bottom.  It is a sign (not from God but a local crook - I mean politician).  Those guys are great for getting you these light weight signs to help form the base and sides of your bag. 

  After I did the bottom I decided I needed to do the same to the sides and back so now it is firm all around and very nice.  To hold it firmly on the back of the rack I used my soldering iron to burn some holes in the bottom where I used some zip ties to hold it firmly in place.

Next thing is the battery.  Like I mentioned earlier there are a bazillion different types, styles, sizes, weights, etc.  I decided early on that I wanted a Lithium Ion battery do to it's light weight to power output but with that comes a hefty price - KaCHING!  I searched high and low over the net and kinda found out that if you order an inexpensive battery from China (where like everything is made....)  you can almost double the cost for shipping and handling so a $400 battery is now like $800 - crazy.

After reading a variety of reviews I decided to order a 48V 15A battery in a case from Calibike here in the US.  This is run by Rafe Husain who sends out an Islam brochure which is a tad strange but educational so I took it as a learning experience which is what I think his intentions are.  Calibike is based out of southern California.  I had a few questions and shot him a few emails which he responded promptly.  The battery arrived in less than a week and I charged it up so I was ready to put it on the bike and get ready to go.  I also decided to get the one in the box because it looked like it had a better chance of surviving if I went over in a crash. 

This is a shot of the charger and part of the box (white on upper left).  It came with a couple of Anderson style leads.  I wanted to extend the leads so I had to get some 10 gauge wire.  When I went to solder them together I found out the leads had fine strand aluminum wire and of course I had normal copper.  I put a ton of solder on them and it wasn't as pretty as I'd like it is holding like no tomorrow so I'm happy about that.  A little bit of shrink tubing followed by electrical tape and I was good to go.

I did a test ride last night (2-23-15) and the bike ROCKS!  I zipped up a slight incline at 24.1 mph and it felt like the bike still had some umph left in it.  I'll have to get a little video up to show how well it works.

I still need to do some tweaking, like adjusting the brakes, adjusting the derailleurs, and the torque sensor but I'm pretty darn happy with how things are turning out so far.  I should get at least 1000 charges to the battery and then some which is great!

Now for some other stats.  The battery weight in the box was 12.2 pounds, the rear hub/motor weighed in about 18 pounds (normal wheel was about 6.5).  Not sure about the controller and other stuff but in all the bike weighs in at a hefty 62.8 pounds.  I'm guessing the extra weight was about 27 pounds which would make my bike about 35.8 which I think is normal.

Next thing is to make a bag for the battery to hang on the top tube to help distribute the weight and then I'll just charge and ride for a while to see how well everything works.

I don't want to sink anymore money into it until I can see that it is reliable transportation then maybe get a better quality electrical gauge that tells more about the battery and how well it really works.

First Real Ride...............   2-28-15

I took the inaugural ride up to Marysville WA to visit with Jeff Farnsworth and install some lettering on his beautiful boat and dingy.  I left way late in the afternoon but I really wanted to test out the bike and see what it would really do and what I really needed to fix.

Facebook photo of me, bike & dingy.

Well right off the bat about a mile from home my left pedal started coming loose.  I should have just turned around and went back - like a total space cadet I didn't bring squat for tools so I just pulled over and tightened by hand.  I ended up doing this a number of times on the way up there (8+ miles). 

Going across the flats from Everett to Marysville on hwy 529 I decided to open it up and see what she would do.  Well, I kept watching the speedo (both of them) as they kept climbing and climbing.  I'd seen 24+ a block from my house on the initial test flight but knew it could do more!  It did do more, passing 25, 26, 27, 28, and then it topped out at 29.9 mph - WOW!!!  I backed off the throttle and 16 felt like I could get off and push.

Some issues I encountered were the swinging back and forth of the battery bag while pedaling which I'll have to add a strap up front to wrap around the down tube to alleviate that.  Fix the darn pedal problem along with getting the torque sensor fixed so I can use that function. and get the darn derailleurs working properly.  I had the chain on the tree climbing sprocket up front on the way over which made me pedal like a mad man so on the way back I put the chain on the middle ring which helped out a LOT!  The back sprocket had the chain on the 5th gear and it was fine to just leave it there but I still need to fix the darn gear changing mechanisms.

When I arrived at Jeffs my battery "fuel" gauge had gone down 1 bar (out of 4).  I let him take it for a spin which he jumped at the chance and was zipping around his cul-de-sac like he was born on the thing.  I think we both were quite impressed by the little electric motor.

On the way home (after tightening the pedal) I felt it coming loose again at the south end of Marysville and stopped while I had some light at a gas station and did the finger tight game again.  Going across the flats was a bit spooky as I did not have a front light and going across 3 bridges with cars flying by at 60+ was a more scary that I want to admit.  At least I had a strobe on the back of the bike along with a bunch of reflective.  I'll be adding more tomorrow and bring along more lights just in case.  When I pulled in my driveway I had 1 bar left on the gauge.  I totally spaced on checking the voltage before I plugged it in (gel-head) but after 3 hours the battery was back up to it's top off voltage of 54.6 so I pulled it off the charger.

It was about 45 degrees when I got home and I was chilled since I had only a T-shirt and a tyek jacket on so I hopped in the hot tub and enjoyed the warmth.