So I started off at 5:24 AM on August 17 (Monday) and crossed to the border at Newport VT. at 10 AM.

I followed the GPS and/or my nose off into the countryside for several hours until I got to a point where I realized that my steering was locking up at about 25 MPH . Couldn't turn the handlebars left or right and could only steer by leaning the bike. Below 25 MPH is got better and the pressure on the steering bearings was reduced ( I think) and I could make turns.

Well that sucked so I called Ernie Dube my pal who is a great motorcycle mechanic and we talked. He suggested a few things and we ruled them out so he concluded that the steering head bearings were bad, I agreed.

I ended up using my GWRRA gold book ( It's a great resource) to find the local Goldwing repair place. It was about 25 miles away in Victoriaville. A mechanic weighing about 125 lbs the most got on it and had no problem.

He really couldn't diagnose the problem and blamed it on a weight imbalance in the back and thought that the front wheel wasn't touching the ground ???. I suspect that although he is of superb French Canadian heritage he was partially brain dead. That can't lock the left/right turning of the bike.

I told them I wanted to change the steering head bearings and they said it would be 3 or 4 days to get parts and fix it. I was not looking forward to the prospect of finding a hotel or campground with no transportation for 4 days. I figured that if I drove the major highways and came home I would not encounter any really bad turns that I had to take at speed above 25 MPH the exits were either below 25 MPH and or I leaned through them. It is nerve wracking to ride at 65 MPH and have no ability to turn the wheel at all but you can get used to it, . You have to lean left and right to turn. I managed to stay in the lanes that had less traffic. The worst turn was the on-ramp getting onto Rt 140 off of Rt 24. I got home at 10:35 PM with 807 miles driven. 17 hours and 11 minutes vacation. I really never want ride with the steering like that again. Canada was nice though. I will be back for sure. I met some nice people up there. I had been planning this vacation for a year and it has all gone to hell on me. Ernie Dube has ordered parts and he'll get the bike back in shape. Yay Ernie!

Later... Roger

Tax filing panic

Well, so many of the folks out there haven't filed their taxes yet. Questions about what to do are often overwhelming.

The IRS can help you, but a lot of questions about deductions can be answered here at the web site www.taxman123.com

You can really save money by knowing the tax savings tricks and so there are a bunch of pages on taxes that are easy to understand here www.rc123.com/tax_information_links.html

I can tell you that there are great deductions for home office and the IRS will even help you if you need it with online tax help..
There are great tips here for musicians on these three pages, click the numbers . 1 2 3


You can file for a tax filing extension but personally I'd rather not create more paperwork for myself.

So make sure you get off your butt and get it done if you haven't already.

Surprise? Irish Songs are most popular this week!

This is not me in green but it is Leprechaun Joe!

I was looking at the page view statistics for the OurWholeWorld.com
website and I noticed that this week the #1 most popular page on the site
was the Songs Irish Chords page.

Considering that it is the week of St. Patty's day I guess a lot of people
were searching for Irish songs to sing.

I played 4 different one hour shows that day myself.
( I am a musician and singer solo act).
I spent more time driving to each gig than actually playing.

Back to the statistics...
The most popular song searched for was "Down by the Glenside" so who would have thunk it!
I would have thought "Danny Boy" might have been a more popular choice but no.
So it just goes to show ya! Well nevertheless it is a bit belated but you can find a bunch of
Lyrics and chords for Irish songs on the "www.ourwholeworld.com" website.

A few of my favorites are "The Wild Rover" and "Mairie's Wedding" and "I'll Tell My Ma", as
well as, well just about all of them.
If you have any interest in Irish traditional songs then spend some time there and you can learn
the lyrics and play the chords for them. The best part is the price... $0.00