Greetings from the oldest city in Kansas!

Thought I could set apartment hunting appointments on the same day of my travel to Leavenworth. Boy was I wrong. I searched through Facebook and other web sites. Some had me fill out an application before I looked at their apartment. My apartment borders an abandoned golf three-hole course. My family contributed to my used furniture compilation for my KC apartment. Gigi brought down SYB, donated a couch, lamp, and a trundle bed doubling as twin beds. Michele and Pat donated their little used air fryer and a table with chairs. Bought the sequel to the evil chair on Facebook and a vacuum cleaner. Mom provided a small dresser. Wally's provided the rest. I shopped at the local thrift stores after I bought most of what I already needed.

My apartment is about a fifteen-minute drive to the office. There is no rush hour. The only delay is if there is a lot of cross traffic on my penultimate turn before entering the job site.

The apartment manager remembers me because the first question I asked about the apartment was if it had a dishwasher. After five years without one, I wasn't going to have an apartment without a dishwasher. Though the compound has no pool, there's a clause in the lease holding harmless the owners for pool accidents. Go figure! No, the clubhouse has a gas grill for resident use but any grill needs to be ten feet from the building. Also in the clubhouse is a limited gym and laundry. My apartment is on the second floor so it isn't too convenient to lug a grill downstairs.

Always wanted to see what advantages a smart TV gave me over a conventional TV. I had two in Mexico but couldn't enable the smart features I needed. I have a fifty inch in the living room and a thirty-two inch in the bedroom, both by Vizio. I am underwhelmed with the features and picture quality but they were cheap. I do like the YouTubeTV split screen where multiple football games (two or four) can be viewed at the same time. Wish I could program the remote controls to services I use. The dedicated streaming service buttons on the remote are a pass but indicative on why the TVs were so cheap. Vizio keeps whoring their apps and other apps I don't use. The remotes aren't interchangeable either. They have apps for my streaming services, YouTubeTV and Peacock and I do use YouTube. Eventually, I'll add Netflix when WWE moves there next year. I had to add adapters to use both screens with my computers.

I did see a couple of posts on Facebook that my former project is complete but I didn't share them. I miss my Friday Fly Days, flying the drone. I've been radio silent to my former employer except for my personal goods shipment arrived from Mexico shortly after moving in my apartment. Like before, many items were missing. It's as if someone selectively picked what items to take as there was no rhyme or reason what was taken. I really stocked up on goods from Wally's days before my stuff arrived. Of course, the stuff I bought at Wally's mirrored the goods from my shipment. The excess will be consumed in time so nothing will go to waste.

I did get two different emails from a pair of headhunters both representing my former company wanting to present me as a hiring candidate. How do you define irony? My former boss is now a Linked-In connection.

Finding a bike rack to haul my treasured bikes was an evolving process. I either own or bought all the wrong ones for my Honda. The mechanic at the bike shop told me what I needed to buy after I bought the wrong one. I had a new hitch installed from Leavenworth U-Haul and bought the bike rack from Gigi. The other rack went on sale on Facebook. Unfortunately, the Honda owner manual says if I tow anything, I will void my warranty. Honda suggests that if I try towing with the car, the vehicle weight, contents including driver, and weight of the trailer including trailer load cannot exceed the gross weight of the vehicle. Hadn't really planned on towing much but a U-Haul trailer towing furniture would have been nice. For whatever reason that remains a mystery to me, U-Haul kept me on their speed dial as they've called me twice since they completed their work.

I knew the hitch mounted bike rack would interfere with the backup camera on the Honda but I didn't think it'd be a problem. I was wrong. The car backs up a few feet and then beeps and locks up all the brakes like a dog knowing it's going to the vet yet not wanting to go to the vet. I may have found a way to defeat this deterrent.

One of the things that was missing from my Mexico shipment was my bike headlights. Of all places to get one, Walmart was my source. A double take comes when you read Schwinn made it. Having a blast night riding. Oncoming motorists simply stop when they see the 500-lumen strobe flashing. Schwinn has never really stood out for making state of the art products but they are sturdy.

A taillight was part of the light set I bought. My sister bought the same taillight. Brackets are flexible straps. The taillight needs the S-clip that Schwinn furnishes but doesn't let you know you need that clip. Michele had to resurrect it from the trash. We concede that product instructions in general are lacking.

Another thing not too detailed was the instructions for my newly purchased electric bike pump I bought from Amazon. I got my 82 Trek bike out of storage. Tire pressure is 110 psi. For comparison, a car tire takes about 30-36 psi and a typical bike tire takes around 50-70 psi. A conventional bike pump gets you to the nearest gas station. Cross the fingers if you can find one with an air compressor to inflate your tires. If available, which they are few, most service stations followed the trend of charging you for air. I read the instructions, but details lacked on airing the tires up to 110 psi. I simply guessed after several failed attempts.

The hard part about that 82 Trek was that I had the padlock key for it. Finding a spare key is another story.

When I was looking at Leavenworth apartments, I noted that the city had a low bike friendly score. I've seen a few bike trails but would agree on the low score. The streets are wide but there are not a lot of bike trails. Like Omaha, most bike trails are in the newer (perimeter) parts of town. It was confirmed by the bike map I got from a local bike shop. Motorists give lots of space. Rolling hills aren't noticeable in a car but Leavenworth has their share and they are NOTICEABLE on a bike!

The local bike shop was a big help getting my 1982 Trek 613 up and running. They had links to bike trails in and around Leavenworth you can upload to your phone/smart watch to navigate. While GPS technology isn't new to me, this application of GPS trails was. After I figured out how to defeat the energy saver on my smart watch, we got along much better. According to Google, the bike shop went out of business.

Anyone out there in cyber land not too keen on satellite radio? Me too! They tout no commercials but isn't promoting your own product a commercial? The DJs talk too much. When my complimentary subscription ran out, I didn't renew it. I really didn't care that the majority used to be MTV Veejays. That novelty ran out quickly. My CD/MP3 collection would give most classic rock radio stations a run for their money. I like Fleetwood Mac but their classic rock stations over used them as their go-to selections... I wasn't a big MTV viewer anyway.

An extended impression of my recently purchased 2024 Honda HR-V. Not too fond of the ride each time I roll across an expansion joint in the pavement. Love the mileage, about 30 mpg. Will seriously consider buying a Toyota when they put out a Maverick-like pickup. Nope! Won't buy the Maverick. Ford lost me when they wouldn't make a transmission that goes over 37,000 miles nor warranty the powertrain. When the dealer wanted $5k just to give an estimate, Ford lost me. I went with the recommendations of mechanics who told me to stick to Toyota or Honda. Honda makes something like the Maverick but it's too large. Size creep has pushed all compact trucks into the mid-size category, a turnoff. Was surprised reading that the engine is American made but the rest is made in Mexico.

I'm still finding new features of the Honda. A friend was sitting in the car. The car is programed to unlock the doors if I have the key and touch the front door handles and lock the doors without prompt after I leave. A few minutes after the doors locked, she tried getting out which set off the alarm which thought someone had broken into the car. A few more repeats of this incident convinced my friend that if I get out of the car, she does too. Still learning!