Current status: Bicycles: 2 ea. 1 ton trucks: 2 ea.

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It’s getting very hot in Tucson. The map shows pink areas. This ain’t pretty. But there are no mosquitoes here, yet.

My time in Tucson is short, more than likely. Plan A: Take diesel Ford (currently performing maintenance upon) North and East in about 11 days. Plan B: Hunker down, get a $250/mo. studio, and a night watchman job.

You may have stolen my Stihl but you'll not get near my Milwaukee sawzall

I have been out doing errands, riding the blazing hot wide streets and timing the gaps, getting honked at because people don’t understand what I’m doing. I sold my time trial bike FINALLY and that stack of 20s flew out of my pocket as I care for a newly acquired, poorly cared for good ol’ truck. The bread truck is for sale – $1900.

total privacy work live rest motor home
total privacy work live rest motor home

The price represents a loss, though I’ve happily lived in it for 8 months.

The heat just takes it out of me. I become a sun avoider. Dust and wind – and my hair in my face. I’m about ready to take the buzzers to my year’s worth of locks. I have a box of parts to give to my friend to sell who will be here for the swap meet, or to give to BICAS. Swamp cooler dealers are in full swing now, as procrastinators order their water wasting pads and get that old rattletrap going. I would like to be where the soil is black, the clouds come around from time to time, and the air is just a little cooler than 100 degrees.

I’ve still got a few days left here, and I just got a camera. I’ll be sure to capture something pretty and share it with you next time. Of course, I’m always looking for work – If anyone needs whip-sharp carpentry or 12 volt auto electric, and you’re on the way from here to Vermont, let me know and I’ll be there with my jingle-bells white work rig. If you are on the way, and you’ve got bikes to ride and want to share a glass of wine or a pint of beer, that is definitely an option too.

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About littlejar

5 - Learned to ride in paved alley behind liquor store in Lowell. 16 - Road bike riding alone while peers do soccer practice. 18 - First new road bike bought with winnings from Project Graduation. 20 - Burlington VT. Nuff said. 22 - Joined the Air Force. 23 - Joined team Fair Wheel in Tucson - rode the Shootout. 24 - Rode El Tour in under five. 26 - Toured to Quebec City 28 - Toured Oklahoma to Vermont 30 - Found my dream bike - a 1989 58cm LaBan (#22) 32 - Experienced Minneapolis and saw BIKE CULTURE. 34 - Building my first bicycle frame, with a self made jig. USA

7 Replies to “Current status: Bicycles: 2 ea. 1 ton trucks: 2 ea.”

  1. The key for desert living, for me, is total submersion in water. Yes. A pool. Not necessarily in your yard, or at your apartment complex. But it cools the entire body down to the core, and fast too. It makes 105 tolerable. I’ve come back from rides and gone straight into the water on numerous occasions. Works for me.

    An alternative, and one I don’t very much like, it to hide in an air-conditioned or evaporative cooler environment for hours of the day. Kinda sucks being a caveman like that, but it also can keep you sane.

    I can’t imagine what the inside of that truck must be like around 2:00 pm on a hot sunny day. I think it would kill me.

    Of course, you could always just point that rig up Lemon and say fuck it for a few months. Pedal down when you need too. Stay at elevation the rest of the time.

  2. I’d forgotten about the mosquitos. Hunker down little jammer, I’ll be in town mid month and we must enjoy some bevi’s.

  3. Are there places where I could park the truck and live up on Lemmon?
    Using a gas or electric clothes dryer in this weather is insane. I hang up my clothes dripping wet from a bucket (not spun dry from a machine) and they are dry in less than 2 hours of being in the sun. Or, when my shirt is still dripping, I put it on right as I go for a ride. This is my way of cooling off.

  4. Hope the Ford is the 7.3l, if its the 6.0 cut your losses and sell it asap! The 6.0 is junk, no one will even sell an extended warranty for it but the other will run forever. Good luck.

  5. Yes it is coming up on that time of year in Tucson. People are starting to get flighty and nervous. They look up at the sky, with fear. They instinctively move into the spindly shadows cast by lampposts when they wait at a crosswalk.

    And the smart ones, like rats moving to the upper deck before abandoning ship, are preparing to GTFO. Summer can hurt you here. It hurts me every damn time. I don’t know how many of them I have left in me.

  6. LJ, come up to FLG for the summer. We’ll be close enough to the forest that when it goes up, it’ll be like we have our own little 50,000 acre camp fire. I got a huge driveway (not so much long as it is more fat like a tuna can). The douchebag-landlord will probably not notice your squatting. There’s a clothes line in the sideyard. Call to work out the details.

    ps – I saw your truck on Craigslist and I knew it was you. Funny ass shit.