Had a great Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately we were not able to spend the day with family but we made the best of it. Darian captured a pretty rainbow from our room in Laughlin NV. We had a buffet type dinner there which was very good. Not home cooking, but good nonetheless. I was taking a nap before dinner and missed he rainbow! On our way over we saw an awesome looking cloud bank outside of Searchlight. The photo doesn't really do it justice.
We made our way over to Yuma AZ. to check the lot over there and unlock the gate so that the power co. & water co. would come in and turn on the utilities. Weeds had taken over the lot since last year so an hour was spent pulling weeds. Appears that everything survived the summer and things were fine. We visited with a few of the neighbors and checked on Ed Bergan, our neighbor to the north. Ed is 94 years old today and seems to be doing pretty good. Still on his own and driving his van. We made our way over to San Diego and spent the evening with our darling niece Julie and her husband. We had an enjoyable visit and Jujlie made some fantastic Tacos. Thanks Jules! From there we went over to Escondido and attended an art show that our friends' the Kemptons put on each year. Saw a lot of our Airhead friends and spent the night with Bill & Louann Snyder, airhead friends also. Bill & Lou were the first Airhead folks we met so many years ago. They are great folks and like family to us, as are most all of the Airhead Club friends. Sunday brought us home with no problems to Callville Bay.
I have been running a few more eBay sales this past week. Pulled a bunch of old spare parts from our shed in Yuma and decided to pass them on to new owners. I received the auxiliary fuel tank pictured above for the left side of the sidecar rig. Come to find out that the kick starter interferes with the installation. Not sure what I'll do with it. I don't want to remove my kick starter. I'm going to strip it down to the raw aluminum and see how it looks. I could mount it to the left side of the sidecar and it would function there. The height is good for use on the sidecar and it actually looks good when held up to a proposed position. It is missing the cap so it will have to be a future project. These tanks normally sell for $350.00 a pair. I advertised looking for one tank and this one came up for $75.00. They hold just shy of 1 gallon. Would be a nice little extra reserve tank as one can't have too much fuel when dragging the sidecar around.
This is a rare "Telfco" heel toe shifter I purchased for the bike also. Unfortunately it is for a later model BMW and won't fit the older bikes. I asked the seller to photograph it so I could make sure it was correct but he could never get a photo to me. He assured me it was for a /5 BMW. It wasn't, so now it is on eBay and hopefully I can recoup part of my cost. ($75.00) Just isn't worth the effort to return things for a refund etc.
We'll break down the sidecar this week and get ready to move everything down to Yuma . We'll take our car / trailer down next weekend and then the motor home and other trailer down the following week.
Darian will be flying to Billings on the 18Th. I will fly up on the 19Th for our Co. Xmas Party, then right back for work for Monday. Then back to Billings and back again for Xmas. Will have home base in Yuma so will be commuting to and from Las Vegas for a few weeks.
Not a very nice looking day on the Russian Front.
Photo of a German Sidecar crew in action firing an MG 34 from the sidecar mount at some distant target. They are hunkered down next to a bush and looked pretty exposed and nervous about their situation.
The German Military made extensive use of motorcycle sidecars during the 2ND World War. They went as far as to develop companies of sidecar rigs. Often they had a three man crew and carried mounted automatic weapons. From what I've read their strategic use was limited. They had a wide variety of different models. Early on many were civilian rigs which were confiscated by the government. Later in the war manufacturers were building rigs specifically for the military. BMW and Zundapp were the primary suppliers. I'm sure there were other suppliers too.
I don't envy the crews which were subjected to Winter conditions and all types of weather. Their standard issue was a rubber type cape over wool which doesn't compare to today's high tech materials. Those bikes (and riders) must have been tough to withstand the conditions and loads they carried. I wonder if they had chains or special snow tires? Some of the rigs did have a driven sidecar wheel and dual range transmissions ( w/ 2 reverse gears) which would greatly help out in the snow. The Russian built Urals' use somewhat of the same setup on some models.
When there wasn't an actual road it looks like a railroad bed would do. I've been on a few roads that felt kind of like that. These guys look like they are in for a bumpy ride. You'd think it would rattle the bikes apart.
The guy seated in front doesn't appear to be enjoying his ride too much. Probably isn't very warm, looking at the terrain and the gear they are wearing. I don't think the US military used too many sidecar rigs. They used a lot of bikes for messenger purposes, but not for offensive purposes. 
This pair of "Tuetonic 1000 mile solo seats were on the bike when I bought it years ago. I absolutely love the seats. most comfortable seats I've used.
