|
|
 What? Your garage doesn't look this crazy? D sadly said goodbye to his Yamaha dirt bike after the back surgeries as he knew that he wouldn’t be able to ride for some time. He also knew that he eventually wanted to have a dual sport bike (primarily off-road, but also street legal), and he couldn’t convert his particular Yamaha to make this happen. We set aside the money from his old bike, and he began some serious research during his down time to see what he wanted. Ultimately, he bike of choice was a KTM. The problem? A new bike was well out of the price range that we were willing to pay.
Once he determined what he wanted, our search for the perfect bike in the price range began. It took some time, but we finally found a used bike locally which had been professional maintained, and he had all the records to prove it. The bike was solid, but it still needed to be converted to a dual sport. After test rides, talking, and a bit more research, D purchased his new-to-him KTM 525 EXC from a really great guy. The parts were ordered from bajadesigns.com, a great military friendly company who made it possible for us to get D’s parts in time for this weekend. D eagerly awaited the arrival of the parts, and when they arrived, D was like a kid at Christmas.
 Doing all the electrical work for the KTM dual sport headlight assembly. Last night, there were instructions to be read as he planned on making the changes to his bike today. D woke up to a beautiful, mild Arizona day – a perfect day to work on converting his new-to-him KTM to a dual sport. There are many parts to be added, changed, and fitted during the process. He systematically makes the changes. I love how excited he is about all of this.
D has been cleared to go back to regular activities by his surgeon, but he’s still limited and will probably be limited to some degree for the rest of his life. We don’t know if he’ll completely recover to Marine Corps standards or not as the recovery is inching along at a slow pace. The ability to get back out on the trails and ride will be a great stress relief as he’s going through the recovery process. Don’t worry… we’re not talking about any crazy riding. If you know me, you know that there is no way I’m going to allow D to do anything crazy that would aggravate or possibly damage his back. He’s too young to take those type of chances. We’re talking about nice trail/desert rides – no motocross. lol!
 Registered for both on and off road use! Often, when we head out to a new location, we can’t ride directly from the campground. We need to ride over to the trails. Previously, D has been unable to ride his dirt bike to the trails, so we need to trailer the bike or put it in the back of the truck. My RZR is street legal, so I would just drive over. It would be much easier to have a dual sport bike for him to ride. Thus began this whole journey and dream. Soon, the dream will be realized, and we’ll be out exploring once again. The Lord, once again, provided a way to make a dream come true….
 Crazy Dangerous
by Andrew Klavan
About the book:
“You probably want to hear about Jennifer and the demons and how I played chicken with a freight train and-oh yeah-the weird murder . . . you’re definitely going to want to hear about that.”
Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it’s only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble.
But one day, Sam sees them harassing an eccentric schoolmate of his named Jennifer. When Sam finds the courage to face the bullies down, he loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one.
Because Jennifer is not just eccentric. To Sam, she seems downright crazy. She has terrifying hallucinations involving demons and the devil and death. And here’s the really crazy part: Sam is beginning to suspect that these visions may actually be prophecies–prophecies of something terrible that’s going to happen very soon. Unless he can stop it.
With no one to believe him, with no one to help him, Sam is now all alone in a race against time. Finding the truth before disaster strikes is going to be both crazy and very, very dangerous.
 About Andrew:
Andrew Klavan was hailed by Stephen King as “the most original novelist of crime and suspense since Cornell Woolrich.” He is the recipient of two Edgar Awards and the author of such bestsellers as True Crime and Don’t Say a Word.
His books and screenplays have been turned into films directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Michael Douglas, Ed Burns, Michael Caine among others.
Hometown: Santa Barbara, California Books Sold to Date: over 1.5 million.
My Thoughts:
Crazy Dangerous started out on a very dark note, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the book. I haven’t read any of Andrew’s books, so I really had no idea what to expect. As the story unfolded, the opening scene made much more sense, and I found myself being drawn into the story waiting to see what was going to happen next.
Once I knew the story line, I had a suspicion on what might happen, but the end still took me by surprise. I enjoyed the following the development of the characters. While the story had very dark undertones, I found it to be extremely relevant to what’s going on in our society today. It was well-written.
You can see more reviews at the LitFuse Crazy Dangerous Blog Tour.
@AndrewKlavan’s Crazy Dangerous $100 Visa Cash Card Giveaway! RSVP for #Facebook Party {5/29}!
Celebrate with Andrew Klavan by entering his Crazy Dangerous giveaway and connecting with him during the Author Chat Party on 5/29!
One fortunate winner will receive:
- A $100 Visa Cash Card
- A copy of Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan for YOU and 5 of your Friends!
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends at noon on May 28th. Winner will be announced at the “Crazy Dangerous” Author Chat Facebook Party on 5/29. Andrew will be hosting an Author Chat, testing your survival trivia skills, giving away books and gift certificates to iTunes and Amazon.com! Don’t miss a second of the “danger”!
Grab your copy of Crazy Dangerous and connect with Andrew on the evening of 5/29/12 for an author chat and lots of giveaways.
   Don’t miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 24th! I received an e-book copy of Crazy Dangerous as a member of LitFuse to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review. All opinions are my own.
One of the advantages to having a 5th wheel trailer is that we can go camping comfortably in almost any type of climate. Yes, it costs a bit more to get to places as we’re hauling a big trailer, but we also don’t have to be concerned with finding food we can eat or having a comfortable – bed. We just bring it with us.
Here in the southern Arizona there are many spots where we can go dry camping for free. The only cost is however much it costs to run the generator or propane tanks (fridge and stove). Unfortunately, with the cost of fuel these days, running the generator for any length of time can start to get a little costly. Plus, if you’re in the middle of no where, you have to either bring extra gas or go travel somewhere to fill up. Neither scenario is ideal in my opinion.
As we continue to research the ins and outs of off-grid living, we’re looking at putting into practice the things that we learn on a small scale in our 5th wheel trailer. Ideally, we’d like to be able to run the trailer off of solar and propane and use the generator as a back-up. I’d love to be able to install a composting toilet as that would take care of some of the issues the come with needing to dump the sewage. I know – TMI, but the fact of the matter is that it’s part of life in a trailer. lol! Now, water is a little more tricky as you can’t really collect rain water or anything like that with a trailer that you’re only taking out camping, so that is pretty much a matter of filling up your water tanks and bringing extra drinking water with you.
We’re still working out the details on exactly what we’re going to need to get a solar power system set up in our trailer. It looks like there is going to be some rewiring that needs to be done and what not. The initial investment is never fun, but it does pay off in the longer term. Plus, having the ability not to rely on a gas generator will open up the possibilities for more camping locations. (Some state/national parks do not allow the use of generators while other campgrounds seriously limit the hours of usage.)
By working through some of these things on a smaller scale with our trailer, it will give us a better working knowledge for the future when we need to implement them on a larger scale. The idea of living off-grid, while a somewhat intimidating, is a huge draw for us. We just need to learn the practical skills to make it possible.
As we move closer to D’s retirement years (well, retirement from the military), we’re starting to really give serious thought to where we want to live as well as how we want to live. We’re making decisions about living near civilization or living off-grid. In northern Arizona, where we’re seriously looking to settle, living off-grid or at least partially off-grid is the norm. We’re looking at the costs associated with hauling in water where wells aren’t always an option. We’re comparing costs associated with heat such as fire wood, propane, and natural gas. We’re researching solar power and generators. Whew! There is so much research to be done.
We’re starting to make decisions about the size of property and the size of the house. We’re trying to decide if it’s best to have a bigger house with less property or the other way around. Is is best to buy property with a small house on it rather than just land? Do we want to be close to town or away from town? Where exactly do we want to live? While we’re contemplating all of this, we’re also praying that the Lord guides our decisions. We want to be wise in how we handle our future.
In addition to all of the normal things, we have to keep in mind the ability to get the food that we need for our gluten free diet. If we’re away from civilization, we’re definitely going to need to plan better when it comes to food and supplies. There will be no more quick runs to the store. Building up food supplies that don’t need to be refrigerated or frozen. I have a feeling that I’ll be expanding my cooking/homemaking skills to include more canning and dehydrating. I’ll also need to get a little more knowledgeable about storage life of a variety of foods.
If we go off-grid, we’ll be heading back in time – to a time that was simpler, but also a bit more difficult. We’ll still have some modern conveniences, but we won’t have the convenience of many of the creature comforts that we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. In other words, we’ll be watching water consumption and electricity a bit closer. It will be a different lifestyle.
The irony? The one thing that we’re really struggling with more than anything is the internet. We’re so use to having high speed internet that the idea of not being able to stream or hop online whenever is a hard pill to swallow. Yes, there is satellite internet, but you can’t really stream with that. Thankfully, we still have some time. Maybe technology will catch up to our needs by the time D retires. **wink**
You know how you often end up with those crushed chips at the bottom of the bag? Well, I decided that I was going to use those to crust some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The results were a delicious, moist chicken breast. I served them with some homemade Chipotle Ranch Dip and broccoli.
Ingredients:
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast per person (I made 4 chicken breasts as I wanted leftovers, so chip/cheese proportions are based on that.)
- 2 cups crushed potato chips (I used plain that I crushed to a bread crumb consistency.)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Prepare a baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix together the potato chips and Parmesan cheese.
- Press each chicken breast into the potato chip mixture (both sides)
- Place chicken breasts into the baking dish and sprinkle remaining potato chip mixture over the chicken breasts.
- Bake until internal temperature of the chicken breasts at the thickest point reaches 160 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the oven and allow to rest. The internal temp of the chicken breasts will rise about 5 degrees while you’re resting the chicken, so the final temp will be 165 degrees.
- Serve with your favorite veggies and dipping sauce.
The Chipotle Ranch Dip is just my homemade ranch dip with some chipotle seasoning added to it for a little extra kick.
|
|
