I love it, Mike! Thank you for sharing with us. I’ve never been bit by the motorcycle bug, which is probably a good thing for my longevity. However, one of my cars is a 1953 Morgan +4 (named The Flying Haggis, a name I’m told was the consequence of substantial quantities of alcohol; the car came with the name) and when I visit one of the biker bars in the Santa Cruz Mountains in it I’m usually welcomed as an honorary (if weird) biker. The car is great fun ... when it runs.
(Years ago, I was driving my then-wife’s 1993 4-door Saturn and realized it was faster on familiar cloverleafs than The Flying Haggis. +1 for speed, -9 for style.) For speed, I now have a 2013 Mazdaspeed 3, named Mr. Toad because it’s my wild ride. (Well, the machinist rebuilding the engine has it, but that’s another story.) It looks like just another crappy Asian economy hatchback if you are unfamiliar with them. With close to 300 horsepower, we consider BMWs, Lotuses, Porsches, etc., to be prey on the racetrack. Best lap time at nearby Laguna Seca is 1:51.508 and it annoys me to no end that I haven’t been able to pull that down into the 1:40s. On the topic of road trips, I bought Mr. Toad in Tacoma, Washington, in January 2019. My GF flew here (she lives in San Antonio) and we flew SFO-SEA on the first flight of the morning, then caught a Lyft to Tacoma. After a few hours of checking over the car and dealing with paperwork, we drove one-third of the way home, stopping for the night in Eugene, Oregon, where Susan and I met. The next day we drove the rest of the way home, in driving rain for the last several hours. It was quite an adventure. At the moment, my daily driver is a 1979 Volkswagen Cabriolet (more commonly known as a Super Beetle convertible) which I’ve owned for over 44 years. With 48 horsepower it’s not fast, but can top 80 mph on a level freeway and after all these years I’ve learned how to extract every last bit of performance out of it. It’s fun flying past BMWs, Teslas, and other wannabes. Especially going up hills, where I bank as much kinetic energy as I can before the grade. For serious power, I’m helping to restore a Krauss-Maffei locomotive built for the Southern Pacific in 1964, powered by a 2,000-horsepower Maybach V-16. Well, there are two of them, but one has been dead for nearly six decades and has no chance of being revived. I’m also working on a second locomotive, a smaller Alco S-6. If anyone cares, more about my cars and my pet locomotives can be found at: http://www.kls2.com/~karl/cars/ <http://www.kls2.com/~karl/cars/> https://sp9010.ncry.org/ <https://sp9010.ncry.org/> https://sp1218.ncry.org/ <https://sp1218.ncry.org/> -- Karl > On Jul 24, 2025, at 2:56 PM, Mike Borfitz via Mifnet > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey folks, > > This is about my personal life but poop on it, I'm taking license this once > because I suspect some MifNetters might enjoy it. And I'm glad we have NNN- > > If anybody is a fan of motorcycles, which pretty well fits hand-in-glove with > aviation, I have a couple old Harleys that I take on long rides. A 1941 > flathead I rode border to border, about 1500 miles from Mexico north to > Canada, and a 1946 Knucklehead I took from Seattle in a big 1000 mile loop > through the Snake River area in Idaho. Both were 10+ years ago but I'm > getting back in the saddle, I'm in Delaware now & I have my sights on the > Blue Ridge Parkway next summer. I did it in 1969 on my little Honda 350, it's > time to revisit. Back to the old bikes, I bought a few OLD bellows/folding > cameras from the 40's & 50's and shot black & white film on the old bike > runs, had to guess at exposure; shutter speed, f-stop, focus, etc so maybe 1 > in 10 came out, just like the old days. Most of the runs were with a group of > 4-5 other motorheads, one year we had pretty much stock bikes - 1932, 35, 41, > 46 & 49, as I recall. It was a museum on wheels folks would crowd around > whenever we stopped. Lucky for us, one of the guys LOVED an audience so we'd > relax, eat & watch him pontificate. When (not if) somebody breaks down, > everybody jumps on it, and if it's not fixable it's 1-800-CallHertz. > Anecdote: We were pushing our bikes together to lock them up for the night & > somebody noticed my rear wheel was hanging on with only 1 of 5 lugs, a VERY > close call. Everybody chipped in one lug each & I was back in business. > > Here's where the fun starts: I wore a "club patch" a bit over 50 years ago & > SWORE I'd never do it again. I was noodling around these last few years & got > to thinking "Why not have a club for people who don't want to join clubs?" > I'm also in official geezerhood so I sorfa blended the geezer mentality with > a patch & I'm having some fun. I had a really nice pterodactyl picture and > decided to use that because I really don't go for all the eagles & skulls > that are popular, I'm a contrarian. And since the pterodactyls are from the > Cretaceous Period, I call myself a Cretacian (I went phonetical) and it all > pulled together. SO I now have a cheesy little website, the Cretacians, for > folks who don't want to join a club. If you're asked to join and say "no", > you're in. Even if you WANT in, well, OK, you're in as well. Each member has > his/her own rules, which is the only rule. > > Here's a photo of my self-printed business cards. > <000 - Cretacians Business Card Photo.jpg> > > Photos below are of a weary me at the end of the ride to Canada, then 2 of > the Knucklehead at the Grand Coulee Dam (eastern/central WA) and the last one > is the Flattie at the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite, 55 ft shy of 10,000 ft > elevation. I put my small airplane training to work, I had one hand on the > throttle & the other on the high mixture, dial into lean until the engine > grumbled, then back to rich ~3/4 turn. > > Check: > www.Cretacians.com <http://www.cretacians.com/> > > > <At Blaine WA After Mexico-Canada Run 2012.jpg> > <184162_2317021568678_5282133_n.jpg> > <46 Knucklehead at Grand Coulee Dam.jpg> > <564914_4732759840625_74592274_n.jpg> > -- > Mike Borfitz, DER > > Cell 206-714-8797 > e-Mail: [email protected] > Kilroy Aviation LLC > Website: WWW.FAAODA.COM <http://www.faaoda.com/> > > Kilroy is available for aviation regulatory and safety issues > - Type & Production Certification, Continued Operational Safety > - International validation & safety matters > - Program & system management > - FAA STC ODA > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Revised: 20250507 > > You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. > > The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't > exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, > please know that it would be greatly appreciated: > https://wardell.us/url/mifbit > > All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: > > 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not > a right. > 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the > author. > 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. > 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. > 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other > Mifnet members. > > * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: > https://www.mifnet.com/ > > * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: > https://lists.mifnet.com/ > OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: > [email protected]?subject=leave > > * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: > [email protected] > > * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: > [email protected] > > * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all > list traffic into 1-3 > messages daily. 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-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised: 20250507 You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, please know that it would be greatly appreciated: https://wardell.us/url/mifbit All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not a right. 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the author. 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other Mifnet members. * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: https://www.mifnet.com/ * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: https://lists.mifnet.com/ OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=leave * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: [email protected] * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: [email protected] * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all list traffic into 1-3 messages daily. See instructions at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * Manage your personal Mifnet SUBSCRIPTION at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * For a list of all available Mifnet commands, SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=help * View The Mifnet LIST POLICIES and PRIVACY POLICY at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/policies * View instructions for Mifnet DELIVERY PROBLEMS at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/delivery-problems * View The Mifnet LIST ARCHIVE at: https://lists.mifnet.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/
