Build it.

I do have some good news about the car situation. Well it’s not related to the accident but it was put on hold because I had to spend money else where. I finally got my car rack I wanted for cheaper than expected. At full cost it would have run me over $500 and I ended up paying roughly $320.

I got the towers (parts that connect to the car), key cores and bike rack on eBay for a decent price. The bid had two bike racks so I was able to trade one in at my local sports store for a kayak rack for an extra $10. The bars I ended up building myself for the low cost of $8, which I was under charged for.

The actually bars you would buy in the stores are just 2 galvanized steel bars coated in latex costing $60. I built mine out of the pretty much the same materials. I purchased a 3/4” by 10’ galvanized pipe and had it cut in half and threaded for the bars. I had them threaded so I could screw on end caps. Both bars were coated in black plastic spray, couple of coats each to really cover them completely.

At first glance you wouldn’t know that they were hand made. Looking at the real bars (both my sister and mother have them on their vehicles), I think mine are thinker bars which should make them stronger and able to hold more weight. I may build myself a lock box for the roof to go between the kayak and the bike rack. If I do I doubt it will look as sleek as the ones you can buy but it would be skinny enough to fit on the rack even with a kayak and bike already attached.

A month goes by

Another month goes by and little changes…

That’s not true. A lot has happened in the last month and for the life of me I don’t know why it’s not written down. I finally got my car rack but that whole story is for another post.

I had mentioned in a previous post (the one I didn’t want to write: Waiting on Parts) that I had made some loose plans for the 4^th of July break. The break was short but skipping a day of “work” would have given me a 5 day weekend so I could go camping. Well those plans were depending on me getting my car back.

I didn’t get my car back until Friday the 6^th and I spent the whole day filling out paper work at the court house to sue the gal who hit me. Small claims, nothing major but it was money I shouldn’t have had to spend.

That Saturday I get a phone call from her claiming that she would have some of the money to me by the end of next week. Better than nothing and I needed some cash for the trip to New York I was about to take. The end of the week rolls around and she did get me $200.

That next weekend was my Mother’s 50^th birthday and she came to town to visit my sister and me. We think- we know she came to us to hide from her three younger siblings who were hoping she would come to the family home in Montana. Our family is full of jokesters and good natured fun in a variety of embarrassing ways. To bad she didn’t suspect her children to hire a stripper monkey.

My sister and I left for New York the morning after our Mother’s birthday. We met up with our dad in Seattle before heading to Newark. Our Father’s side of the family is a mystery to my sister and I. We met a lot of relatives for the first time on the trip and tried to recall the ones we had met the last time we were there over 18 years ago.

The New York trip had other exciting attractions as well. The Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and seeing a Yankees game in Yankee Stadium, which is being replaced next year.

I think that summed up the past month well.