Looking for a vehicle

Right now I am in Lima, looking for a vehicle to purchase and drive back over to Pucallpa. Thus I have been looking though the newspaper classifieds, and stopping at many of the used car lots. There are a number of options out there but I am looking closely at the Kia Sorento. With a 2.5 liter Turbo Diesel, it gets very good mileage and with diesel fuel being cheaper than regular gas, it is also more economical.
Here is a sample of that I looked at today. This is a 2002 model that was imported from Korea 2 years ago. It has 110,000 miles on it, leather, and even seat warmers... which I'm sure I would use all the time in Pucallpa.

This sunday the paper will come out and I will be looking it over for some more vehicles to check out, I already have a couple appointments for monday morning. Unfortunately the last 2 days have been holidays here in Lima, so many people are taking a 4 day weekend and most of the used car places are closed. I will be posting more updates throughout the week.

50 Pieces

After taking apart my motorcycle motor, and finally receiving a new engine case, I was finally able to start putting things back together. However, there were a couple of seals and 2 bearings that I was not able to save from the old engine case. So I had to order parts again from the USA and wait another 3 weeks for them to come.
They did finally come last week, and so I stayed late after hours a couple of days putting the engine back together. I honed the cylinder, installed new rings, lapped the valves, installed new valve guide seals, and even had time to but on a new rear tire with plenty of tread. That will come in handy for the rainy season which is just starting now.
So hopefully I will have a running motorcycle again some time after thanksgiving! More pictures to come.

100 Pieces

About 2 months ago, I lent my motorcycle out to someone who was going on a four day trip with some other missionaries. On the last day of the trip, he had an accident and ended up breaking his foot and banging up the motorcycle pretty good as well. In fact, the engine case was damaged and it would leak about a quart of oil every week. I finally was able to receive a new case which I ordered from the USA. It was back ordered for a month so but I was able to keep the bike going by using a trick a friend had taught me with his 1966 Ford Galaxy. Whenever you stop, fill up the oil and check the gas.

I started working on the engine once I received the new case, but once everything was in about 100 parts, I found out that I needed a couple new bearings and oil seals. So my motocycle is in 100 pieces while I wait again for 3-4 weeks as my parts come from the USA. I have been able to borrow a friends motorcycle during this time and am taking every caution to make sure I don't damage his bike!

My room

Some people have been curious and have been asking for a peak inside my room at home. Nothing special here, but you can see the new air conditioner that was installed this past week! We had the initial test trial by have a bunch of people over and watching a movie in there with a projector.

You might also note there are some airplane pictures on the wall, those are some pics. that I took and then had printed out in 12x18. I went to a glass worker and he framed them for me.

A view outside my window shows a lot of green. Where I live there are 6 houses connected with an large outer wall but the yards are all shared. A nice place for the kids to play and run around.

Found!

About 4 weeks ago, I was on a two day check out flight with my Chief pilot. We stopped in at 15 different places in the float plane so that I could see them first hand. I had my camera along with me during the trip but after about ten shots, the batteries died. Then on the second day I lost my camera all together.


I had just about committed it's electronic circuits it to the vast jungle of Peru, and finally come to peace with loosing my digital camera of 3 years, when it made an amazing appearance! Off all places, it was found in amongst my Chief pilot's laundry! Well, it somehow grew some type of jungle virus legs and wondered into the survival gear of my fellow pilot. There is stayed for the last 4 months contemplating it's next fiendish move when unexpectedly his daughter found the offending camera and asked me if I knew whose it was.


So now I have a camera again and maybe can post some current pictures instead of digging through the archives. Maybe the camera knew it would be best not to have pictures of my motorcycle incident because it would just scare my mom...

Motorcycle accident!

Good, now that I have you attention with the vital of this post, I can let you know that my motorcycle is just fine and only came away with a few scraps. Still 100% ridable and no worse for the incident, the Yellow noise machine is still going.

I was returning from the SAM AIR hanger, as I do every day on a dirt and gravel road. I was going about 40 mph when all of a sudden I found myself sliding along the ground wondering what had just happend. I remember the distinct feeling of rocks underneath my chest slowed down and finally came to a stop. I sat up, moving my arms and legs to check for damage. No sharp shooting pain and nothing sticking out of my long pants or riding jersey. Somehow gravel hand managed to get inside of my gloves as I was sliding backwards along the road but none of my clothing was ripped. Pulled my bike out the of ditch, which had somehow managed to get turn around and was standing up right as if mocking me and wondering why I had taken a tumble. Upon returning home, I accessed the damages further and found a few scratches on my right leg along with a 4 inch scrap on my right fore arm. Thankfully I was still able to play soccer twice last week and one week after the accident, I am almost back all healed.

I was very thankful for my pants, long sleeve jersey, gloves, and helmet which kept me from any serious injuries. Also since the road was private, there was no traffic which could have compounded the situation. Thanks for your prayers for safety, they are being answered.

Cookies at Twelve-Five

On a recent flight in our wheel plane Cessna 206. I was trying to find some tailwind and since I was light and had a 3 hour flight, I went up to 12,500 feet. I did find some still air which was better than 20 knots on the nose down low. It was cold up there, around 50 degrees but I did have some snacks with me to pass the time. So I enjoyed a cookie that my family sent me all the way from Michigan. Cheers!

Mr. Popular

For all those people who were never popular in school, here is the answer. Create instant crowd presence and popularity with an airplane! Add one part airplane, 2 parts of sunshine, 3 parts of really loud engine noise and mix together until creamy. Next, carefully fold in 1 Indian village and bake at 100 degrees for 30 seconds. When finished, look around and see who is Mr. Popular. For 30 minutes you will be the most popular thing around!