BlueSky

I'm very sorry to hear that. Getting laid off from a long term job is supposedly one of the most stressful things you can go through. Divorce is worse and death of a spouse is the most stressful supposedly. I know. I went through a divorce and 8 yrs later I got laid off after 21 yrs on a job. In my case, I only worked temporary engineering contract jobs all over the eastern half of the USA afterwards until I retired. Working contract, I got laid off many times. My temp jobs lasted from 6 weeks to over 3 1/2 yrs. I rarely knew how long they would last. Didn't worry about getting laid off at all after the first time. But, temp jobs are not for everybody. I'm not a worrier and it suited my independent streak.

Now we know that China makes almost all of the drugs we take and lots of other stuff that we can only get from China now due to our trade policies. We don't require companies to say where the stuff comes from. Almost everything we buy now says "distributed by walmart or other businesses" Our trade policies and corporations have royally screwed the American public. Yeah, we can get cheap crap from China. But in the long run, is it worth it? I think not.

That's one heck of a deal! Who said everything is bigger in Texas?!

People who get laid off get their regular extended unemployment compensation plus $600. Mark Cuban who is continuuing to pay his employees even though his businesses are closed had some employees who elected to get laid off because they would be paid more. On top of that everyone who submitted a tax return last year and some who didn't get a check for $1200. What is there to complain about??? You may disagree with the money given to corporations but the little people appear to be taken care of. If the economy can get back on track quickly, perhaps all the USA debt will be worth it!? I surely hope so!

It may have helped. Who knows? Probably was much healthier than teflon pans. But she always had a huge garden and she canned all kinds of veges before finally getting a large freezer. So, she ate stuff from her garden. When I was growing up we didn't eat a lot of meat. During the winter we ate lots of dry beans and pickled herring. And we ate lots of collards from the garden almost year round. She also cooked fresh biscuits twice daily. Man, they were good! My Dad caught about 4k herring from the local creek in the spring when they came inland to spawn. I remember one Saturday when he caught about 1000 that we had to clean and salt down before bed at about 1:00am. She was also a happy person who couldn't wait to get up early to take care of all her stuff, the garden and her cats, dogs, chickens, and sometimes goats. My Dad passed at age 79. Now, I'm 76. As the world turns!

We have Lodge cast iron pans (made in the USA)and I used them for quite a while before my wife was laid off. I'm not much of a cook though and can't help with suggestions. I think my Mom used the same large cast iron pan to cook the family food for a half century or more. She lived to be 93yrs old.

China is focused on being in control of the world. They would do almost anything to make that happen. They've been allowing the smuggling of illegal drugs like fentanyl into the USA for years. When travel from china was shut down Jan 31, they protested mightily. They have declared war on the USA and we have to protect ourselves.

Bret Baier who is a news reporter, not an opinion reporter, of Fox News, was on Hannity a few minutes ago and he said that he has been told by several high officials in the government that they have evidence that the covid-19 virus escaped from the laboratory in Wuhan. China reacted by locking down all travel between Wuhan and the rest of China but did not shut down international travel between Wuhan and the rest of the world. So, it appears we can totally blame china for this virus and from their reactions I personally have to think that the spread internationally was intentional.

Insurance cost varies from state to state because of the weather affecting the riding season. My WI bike insurance was much less than when I brought the bike back to NC. But, I don't doubt your Geico comparison. I just buy liability and the state controls that rate. But I had Geico for my autos for a short while and they were the worst I've used for jacking up the rates at every renewal.

Doesn't Warren Buffet's fund own Geico and Progressive?

I have my motorcycle insurance with Geico. I got an email informing me that new policies or existing policies that renew between April 8 and Oct 7 will get a 15% reduction in the price of their policies. Since mine renewed yesterday, I qualify. Just thought I would pass on the information.

Political but not partisan.

Corporations are and have been bringing in skilled workers for decades under the H1B visa program whether or not there were similarly skilled people in the USA. They work for less and will take more crap. Plenty of unskilled workers coming here all the time. https://www.ifers.org/h1b.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwm9D0BRCMARIsAIfvfIboX0kY9druS1NyI0ZZywDlQQ5hy6dPakjOH1Iw_NGppQVRZ_PvlswaAkhFEALw_wcB

Well, thanks to our trade agreements and government allowing our corporations to close our factories and move them to China, we are almost totally dependent on China for so many things. Even if our China bought and paid for congress would put a stop to it, it will take a long time to extract ourselves from this dependency.

Sorry for your troubles! I just got a call from my son saying a tree fell on his Mom's (my ex) new house, collapsing her utility shed and puncturing her home's roof. She is living in the mountains close to Hendersonville. About 20 years ago, a big pine fell on her house in Raleigh collapsing the roof. Those trees look nice but are dangerous.

That ad does say the one in the photo is an 83. Probably introduced in late 82? I do know that I bought a new Honda 71 CB350 in February of 71. But, it was really a 70 model. A few months later the newly restyled 71 CB350 came to the dealers. So, I think that back in 71 they must have gone with the date of sale instead of the model for the year designation.

Welcome! Congratulations on the bike! Some photos would be nice! The Ventures had weak two brush starters until 1991 as I understand when Yamaha installed 4 brush starters finally. There are some things you can do to make yours stronger such as using larger cables and clean up the starter and install another ground inside it. There are threads on these changes you may find if you do a search. Or you can keep an eye on ebay and buy a used 4 brush. As I understand, any 1300cc V4 Yamaha starter from 91 up will work. The Venture was stopped in 93 but then the RSTD came out in 96 with the 2nd Gen Venture starting in 99.

You and you wife take care my friend. Bill

Actually, now he occasionally smokes and the artists he works with smokes but it isn't an end unto itself like it was as a teenager. Much like alcohol, a little bit usually doesn't hurt but if you over do it, it can be harmful to your ambition and life.

Whew! When I read this I thought they had built a vibrating V-twin!

Exactly what year and model bike are we talking about here?

You will probably have to remove the carbs to clean them again. The idle circuits are most likely plugged on the front two cylinders. In the mean time, I would put an ample amount of cleaner in the gas such as the board favorite, seafoam, or my personal favorite, Gumout for high mileage engines with PEA.

I don't think that will buff out?

The Royal Star Venture definitely has more leg room and may be the most comfortable bike out there. The water cooled V4s have been known to go over 200k miles too. No worries there. The Wing has a lower center of gravity and may be easier to handle at low speeds. I personally don't consider the RSV to be top heavy. The RSV fairing is attached to the handlebars and combined with the wide front tire has heavy steering at low speeds. In my opinion, the two things I don't like about the RSV is the heavy steering at low speeds and the fact that almost all of them have an annoying clutch basket gear whine that is fairly loud at certain speeds. The positive thing is that you can buy an RSV for probably half of what a Wing costs and it is probably just as durable.