365 Group (f)
Today was much better than the last entire week has been. The rain stopped and it actually warmed up some this afternoon.
I went up to my friends shop to try again to do something with my bike. Looks like, bad as I hate to, I'm going to have to haul it to a shop where they can get to the bottom of my carburetor problems. Everything I do seems to get me close but always ends up where I started.
I did manage to get the new tires done and mounted and had a good visit and looked over my buddies new house that he's about got built. It is nice! Hope it all finally ends up being finished for him smoothly. Coming back to the house I took apart the carburetors on my Kawasaki. A little cleaning was in order as it's been kinda sluggish and doing some "poppin" and "bangin" at traffic lights. I have gotten quite good at tearing the carbs down and cleaning them while they are mounted. Doesn't beat a rebuild but gets me through till I have enough time to have the bike down for a while. I filled every nook and cranny with carburetor cleaner and let it soak for a few minutes then took an air tank and blew it all out. After all this and we were back together I fired up and the engine sounded pretty good. Nice low rumbling idle and no noticeable popping or banging.
The rains were back before I could do any test riding. I guess we are in for a monsoon season for a while. The weather picture doesn't look so good and my weather forecasting back is at def con 27. So I'm a four wheelin for another day looks like.
You know it's bad when 1. ya can kick the bike over without tears 2. it's raining so hard you cant see the road in front of you. Hopefully the saw bones will have something figured out, other than surgery or an electric starter before too much longer.
Who knows? Maybe I'll...
Catch ya on the road
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
10-22-09 none
365 Group (f)
Today the rain was back.
It was a mess anyway you looked at it. I had pulled a something or other in my right side yesterday evening that produces muscle spasms at every thought. This morning the spasms combined with my arthritis flaring up in the middle of the night as the storm moved in and a kick start only bike, I would be better off taking the car.
So, as far as riding, I did'nt. That means you can stop reading now. No bikin, no ridin means no reading.
Hope to Catch ya on the road
Today the rain was back.
It was a mess anyway you looked at it. I had pulled a something or other in my right side yesterday evening that produces muscle spasms at every thought. This morning the spasms combined with my arthritis flaring up in the middle of the night as the storm moved in and a kick start only bike, I would be better off taking the car.
So, as far as riding, I did'nt. That means you can stop reading now. No bikin, no ridin means no reading.
Hope to Catch ya on the road
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
10-20-09 A good day to ride
365 Group (f)
This morning was an absolutely perfect day for riding. 55 degrees and the promise of 70's in the afternoon with no hint of rain in the forecast.
I filled my thermos with some of my award winning coffee and grabbed my helmet.
The bike fired up without a lot of whining, begging and pleading on my part and I took that as a good sign. As it is getting colder it's getting to where it takes a few extra kicks to get going in the mornings. But I write that off to old age.
While the bike was warming I kind of did a walk around to check for loose this and leaking that. I didn't find anything new, another good sign. Finally I eased down the drive to the street. At the street I had to wait for morning traffic to settle down. Seems like everyone was running late again and traffic was coming in little clusters of three to five vehicles at a time. Plus my drive hits the street at the start of an almost blind curve.
I finally got out and eased toward the highway and a gas station. I topped my tank and grabbed a bottle of carb cleaner and just for grins and giggles I bought a $2 lottery ticket. My gas came to $4. Carb cleaner $2 Lottery ticket was $2 ...big winnings on the ticket $10 So the state bought my gas, Carb cleaner lottery ticket and gave me 2 bucks out of the goodness of their heart.
Yep it was going to be a good day.
Since I'm still in the parts hunting mode I headed east for Harrison and points in between. The short scoot over 45 to Hwy 412 was a smooth one as all the heavy part of the morning traffic was pretty much gone. As I topped the hill to merge into 412 I noticed a car beside the road. The driver appeared to be an older woman. I pulled over and asked her if she needed any help. "darn thing wont start" was her reply. Sure enough it was dead. I asked the lady to raise the hood and let me look over the battery connections. Finally she said "I guess you'll have to do it, I don't have the strength to pull the latch". As I reached in to pop the hood I noticed the head light switch was in the on position. I asked how long she had been sitting there and she said she had pulled over just about day light to rest a bit. It was starting to look like she had pulled over and shut off the engine leaving the lights on. This I explained would be a quick fix if she had any jumper cables. We'd just flag someone down and get a jump and she could be on her way.
Looking through the car, lots of junk but no cables. Not even a spare tire. Unusual way to be traveling. Also, no cars came by. This was odd.normally cars are all over at this time of the morning.
I explained again what I needed and told her if worse came to worse I'd ride back and get some cables. While we were talking I noticed a short extension cord laying in the trunk with all the other junk. Thinking of an old trick I had used on bikes before, I asked her if I could use her cord to try and get her going. She said have at it. I cut the ends off the cord and stripped off the insulation and made a make shift set of jumper cables. I hooked them to her car and the bike. I had her take the keys out and lay them on the dash. I wasn't sure what it would do to my system if she got over anxious and tried to fire up the car while The bike was hooked to it. Starting the bike I idled it up to about 3500 rpm's and asked her if she drank coffee. I poured her a cup of coffee and set down to wait. After the coffee was drank I unhooked from the car and told her to try it. The car fired up like it was suppose to. I was tickled. My small alternator and make shift cables had done the trick. The lady was more than surprised as she had at the start of this little experiment, uttered many doubtful phrases. I took the extension cord lose from her battery and put the hood down. She asked what she owed me. I really hate it when people do that. Anyway, I told her I'd keep the extension cord and she wouldn't owe me anything. She gave me a look like I had gone simple standing in front of her. I pointed out that my mother was about her age and that I would hope someone would stop and help her if she were ever stranded. She seemed to understand my thinking and grabbed me and hugged all the air out of me and thanked me again. She also told me that she was headed to her daughters and when they wanted to know why she was so late, well, she had a story to tell em. She grinned real wide and got in the car. I watched her pull away and thought yep! a real story to tell everyone.
Pulling out onto 412 I tooled on down to Marble. I figured to top off my thermos and grab some of the mandatory hush puppies before continuing.
After my Marble stop I eased on over to Harrison in a pretty uneventful fashion. At the bike shop I gave em my list and asked what they could do to help me. Most of the stuff would have to be ordered and would take a couple of days. I paid them for the parts and told them I'd be back through in a week or so. This was to their liking, someone not in a life and death hurry. While we talked one of the shop guys spotted my bike and they all went out to look it over. One remarked as to how there are lots of them out there still yet but they hardly ever see em or see one that someone actually puts the miles on. Every one seemed to like the old bike and thought the glass packs off the old ford pick was cool as all get out.
After talking to the shop guys I decided it was close enough to lunch either way and headed toward something to eat. It's been so long since I spent any real time in Harrison, so aside from fast food places I really didn't have any idea where would be a good place to eat. Tooling through town, remembering how things ustawas it hit me. The Hospital. Sounds funny but when I was there with mom for her surgery I was told that they have a great lunch buffet. What the heck, worth a try. I eased up to the Emergency room entrance and made my way to the cafeteria. The buffet wasn't bad. They had a little bit of everything. Really the only thing that was missing was salt.I had a real good meal of roast beef with all the trimmings for right at five dollars. Not too bad I didnt think. have to remember this place in the future.
Pulling out from the Hospital I dodged a couple of obvious speed traps and made my way back north. I seemed to recall a place somewhere around Berryville or Eureka Springs that had a motorcycle bone yard.
The ride out to Berryville was a nice one as the weather had really warmed as the weather channel had promised. I asked around at several places but know one knew of a bike bone yard. heading on toward Eureka I met a lot of bikes on the road. Late season vacationers from the looks of the license plates. Pulling in to outskirts of eureka springs i stopped at the Iron Horse stables and a couple of other places that catered to bikes and ask them if they knew of this bone yard. All anyone knew of was the usual places, nothing new. So it looked like another strike out on new junk to prowl through. All in all I really wasn't too disappointed. It was a great day for riding and I was really enjoying it. I managed to kill a little time riding around Eureka and finally headed back toward the house.
It really was a good day for a ride. The bike ran along pretty well for all 237 miles and I was on it. Couldn't ask for more than that.
Catch ya on the road
This morning was an absolutely perfect day for riding. 55 degrees and the promise of 70's in the afternoon with no hint of rain in the forecast.
I filled my thermos with some of my award winning coffee and grabbed my helmet.
The bike fired up without a lot of whining, begging and pleading on my part and I took that as a good sign. As it is getting colder it's getting to where it takes a few extra kicks to get going in the mornings. But I write that off to old age.
While the bike was warming I kind of did a walk around to check for loose this and leaking that. I didn't find anything new, another good sign. Finally I eased down the drive to the street. At the street I had to wait for morning traffic to settle down. Seems like everyone was running late again and traffic was coming in little clusters of three to five vehicles at a time. Plus my drive hits the street at the start of an almost blind curve.
I finally got out and eased toward the highway and a gas station. I topped my tank and grabbed a bottle of carb cleaner and just for grins and giggles I bought a $2 lottery ticket. My gas came to $4. Carb cleaner $2 Lottery ticket was $2 ...big winnings on the ticket $10 So the state bought my gas, Carb cleaner lottery ticket and gave me 2 bucks out of the goodness of their heart.
Yep it was going to be a good day.
Since I'm still in the parts hunting mode I headed east for Harrison and points in between. The short scoot over 45 to Hwy 412 was a smooth one as all the heavy part of the morning traffic was pretty much gone. As I topped the hill to merge into 412 I noticed a car beside the road. The driver appeared to be an older woman. I pulled over and asked her if she needed any help. "darn thing wont start" was her reply. Sure enough it was dead. I asked the lady to raise the hood and let me look over the battery connections. Finally she said "I guess you'll have to do it, I don't have the strength to pull the latch". As I reached in to pop the hood I noticed the head light switch was in the on position. I asked how long she had been sitting there and she said she had pulled over just about day light to rest a bit. It was starting to look like she had pulled over and shut off the engine leaving the lights on. This I explained would be a quick fix if she had any jumper cables. We'd just flag someone down and get a jump and she could be on her way.
Looking through the car, lots of junk but no cables. Not even a spare tire. Unusual way to be traveling. Also, no cars came by. This was odd.normally cars are all over at this time of the morning.
I explained again what I needed and told her if worse came to worse I'd ride back and get some cables. While we were talking I noticed a short extension cord laying in the trunk with all the other junk. Thinking of an old trick I had used on bikes before, I asked her if I could use her cord to try and get her going. She said have at it. I cut the ends off the cord and stripped off the insulation and made a make shift set of jumper cables. I hooked them to her car and the bike. I had her take the keys out and lay them on the dash. I wasn't sure what it would do to my system if she got over anxious and tried to fire up the car while The bike was hooked to it. Starting the bike I idled it up to about 3500 rpm's and asked her if she drank coffee. I poured her a cup of coffee and set down to wait. After the coffee was drank I unhooked from the car and told her to try it. The car fired up like it was suppose to. I was tickled. My small alternator and make shift cables had done the trick. The lady was more than surprised as she had at the start of this little experiment, uttered many doubtful phrases. I took the extension cord lose from her battery and put the hood down. She asked what she owed me. I really hate it when people do that. Anyway, I told her I'd keep the extension cord and she wouldn't owe me anything. She gave me a look like I had gone simple standing in front of her. I pointed out that my mother was about her age and that I would hope someone would stop and help her if she were ever stranded. She seemed to understand my thinking and grabbed me and hugged all the air out of me and thanked me again. She also told me that she was headed to her daughters and when they wanted to know why she was so late, well, she had a story to tell em. She grinned real wide and got in the car. I watched her pull away and thought yep! a real story to tell everyone.
Pulling out onto 412 I tooled on down to Marble. I figured to top off my thermos and grab some of the mandatory hush puppies before continuing.
After my Marble stop I eased on over to Harrison in a pretty uneventful fashion. At the bike shop I gave em my list and asked what they could do to help me. Most of the stuff would have to be ordered and would take a couple of days. I paid them for the parts and told them I'd be back through in a week or so. This was to their liking, someone not in a life and death hurry. While we talked one of the shop guys spotted my bike and they all went out to look it over. One remarked as to how there are lots of them out there still yet but they hardly ever see em or see one that someone actually puts the miles on. Every one seemed to like the old bike and thought the glass packs off the old ford pick was cool as all get out.
After talking to the shop guys I decided it was close enough to lunch either way and headed toward something to eat. It's been so long since I spent any real time in Harrison, so aside from fast food places I really didn't have any idea where would be a good place to eat. Tooling through town, remembering how things ustawas it hit me. The Hospital. Sounds funny but when I was there with mom for her surgery I was told that they have a great lunch buffet. What the heck, worth a try. I eased up to the Emergency room entrance and made my way to the cafeteria. The buffet wasn't bad. They had a little bit of everything. Really the only thing that was missing was salt.I had a real good meal of roast beef with all the trimmings for right at five dollars. Not too bad I didnt think. have to remember this place in the future.
Pulling out from the Hospital I dodged a couple of obvious speed traps and made my way back north. I seemed to recall a place somewhere around Berryville or Eureka Springs that had a motorcycle bone yard.
The ride out to Berryville was a nice one as the weather had really warmed as the weather channel had promised. I asked around at several places but know one knew of a bike bone yard. heading on toward Eureka I met a lot of bikes on the road. Late season vacationers from the looks of the license plates. Pulling in to outskirts of eureka springs i stopped at the Iron Horse stables and a couple of other places that catered to bikes and ask them if they knew of this bone yard. All anyone knew of was the usual places, nothing new. So it looked like another strike out on new junk to prowl through. All in all I really wasn't too disappointed. It was a great day for riding and I was really enjoying it. I managed to kill a little time riding around Eureka and finally headed back toward the house.
It really was a good day for a ride. The bike ran along pretty well for all 237 miles and I was on it. Couldn't ask for more than that.
Catch ya on the road
Sunday, October 18, 2009
10/18/09 Bikin, not ridin days
365 Group (f)
This weekend was kind of a dry one compared to the past couple. It rained a little a couple of times and was overcast more than sunny. Temperatures got up to the middle fifties. All in all it was a keeper.
I had big plans starting into this weekend but like most of my plans they unraveled pretty quickly. I managed to get a few parts picked up here and there. Stuff that I had bought several weeks ago along with some tires that a friend had given me.
In between work, running around picking up parts I managed to visit with an online friend in the center part of the state and had a lot of fun chatting with her. She rides and always has a way of lightening the load when I chat with her. I have gotten a couple of ideas about the bike from her and am trying to incorporate them.
I made a quick ride over to the bicycle shop in Springdale and got a pair of mini ape hangers to fit my bike. I plan on trying out a whole new sitting position on my lower back for more than just short time as I ride. Planning on making it everyday for a while and see if it helps. After the bike shop I headed out to the salvage yard to pick up a pair of struts they had made for me. After the salvage yard I decided to go and grab some grub.
The ride between Springdale and Fayetteville is short hop between traffic lights. Several of them. I was told that it's real deceiving as it looks like a good long stretch from one light to the other but you cant ever make any time on it. That's true. But I always ask, whats the hurry? If your riding in any town, anywhere you should know that it's rare to make any kind of good time.
Finally I pulled up to the light at Mission and still had one skin. I felt that this was a special accomplishment during this quitting time of the day afternoon rush traffic. The light changed and I slipped across the intersection and into the parking lot of the Bar B Que place. This place is great food and all the atmosphere you could want rolled into one location. Plus one of my favorite people is back working there. After eating and visiting I headed back out to run everything out to the house. It was a rougher than normal ride with everything tied to the bike. Cant say enough good things about bungee cords.
I Clanked up my drive way and unloaded the parts. Radar came up and gave everything the once over sniff and trotted back to his spot on the porch. He's looking pretty good lately. Sandy seems to be keeping the groceries to him. He don't even look like the flea carrier I brought home.
I let out my pack of hounds and started on the bike. I pulled off the worn out shocks and replaced them with some homemade struts that lowered the rear about an inch and a half. Next I repositioned the rear fender to try and redirect the rooster tail of water that it throws out when I'm riding in the rain. Then the fun part. Measuring for the springs for the tractor solo seat. I have been told that if set up correctly it will ride as comfortably as what I had. I'm up for trying that. Plus being one of the inseam challenged, lowering the bike was big on my list of important thing to do.
Progressing from one little project to another I killed all afternoon. It was starting to get dark when I finally noticed. The pups are normally a good gage of time. I mean they always make sure that I know it's dinner time. Looking around I found them all sacked out beside Radar. Little vermin...picking up bad habits.
After feeding the pups I got back out to the bike and went back over everything to make sure I wouldn't lose anything tomorrow on the ride in.
In spite of all my plans crashing down around me I still got a few things accomplished and had a good time. Only got in about a hundred miles running around picking up parts and such. But hey, beats a jab in the rump with a pointy object.
catch ya on the road
This weekend was kind of a dry one compared to the past couple. It rained a little a couple of times and was overcast more than sunny. Temperatures got up to the middle fifties. All in all it was a keeper.
I had big plans starting into this weekend but like most of my plans they unraveled pretty quickly. I managed to get a few parts picked up here and there. Stuff that I had bought several weeks ago along with some tires that a friend had given me.
In between work, running around picking up parts I managed to visit with an online friend in the center part of the state and had a lot of fun chatting with her. She rides and always has a way of lightening the load when I chat with her. I have gotten a couple of ideas about the bike from her and am trying to incorporate them.
I made a quick ride over to the bicycle shop in Springdale and got a pair of mini ape hangers to fit my bike. I plan on trying out a whole new sitting position on my lower back for more than just short time as I ride. Planning on making it everyday for a while and see if it helps. After the bike shop I headed out to the salvage yard to pick up a pair of struts they had made for me. After the salvage yard I decided to go and grab some grub.
The ride between Springdale and Fayetteville is short hop between traffic lights. Several of them. I was told that it's real deceiving as it looks like a good long stretch from one light to the other but you cant ever make any time on it. That's true. But I always ask, whats the hurry? If your riding in any town, anywhere you should know that it's rare to make any kind of good time.
Finally I pulled up to the light at Mission and still had one skin. I felt that this was a special accomplishment during this quitting time of the day afternoon rush traffic. The light changed and I slipped across the intersection and into the parking lot of the Bar B Que place. This place is great food and all the atmosphere you could want rolled into one location. Plus one of my favorite people is back working there. After eating and visiting I headed back out to run everything out to the house. It was a rougher than normal ride with everything tied to the bike. Cant say enough good things about bungee cords.
I Clanked up my drive way and unloaded the parts. Radar came up and gave everything the once over sniff and trotted back to his spot on the porch. He's looking pretty good lately. Sandy seems to be keeping the groceries to him. He don't even look like the flea carrier I brought home.
I let out my pack of hounds and started on the bike. I pulled off the worn out shocks and replaced them with some homemade struts that lowered the rear about an inch and a half. Next I repositioned the rear fender to try and redirect the rooster tail of water that it throws out when I'm riding in the rain. Then the fun part. Measuring for the springs for the tractor solo seat. I have been told that if set up correctly it will ride as comfortably as what I had. I'm up for trying that. Plus being one of the inseam challenged, lowering the bike was big on my list of important thing to do.
Progressing from one little project to another I killed all afternoon. It was starting to get dark when I finally noticed. The pups are normally a good gage of time. I mean they always make sure that I know it's dinner time. Looking around I found them all sacked out beside Radar. Little vermin...picking up bad habits.
After feeding the pups I got back out to the bike and went back over everything to make sure I wouldn't lose anything tomorrow on the ride in.
In spite of all my plans crashing down around me I still got a few things accomplished and had a good time. Only got in about a hundred miles running around picking up parts and such. But hey, beats a jab in the rump with a pointy object.
catch ya on the road
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
10-13-09 Ridin in the Rain....finito
365 group (f)
In keeping with the duck days of October, it rained again.
I woke to another drizzly mess. It was cool and soggy all over. If this keeps up I may have to start parking at the church next door.they don't seem to have the red clay problem that I have.
Kind of rough every once in a while to find your bike laying on it's side because the kickstand buried up in the soft clay.
I uncovered my bike and it fired up with with just the minimal amount of sweet talking. Strapping on my thermos and camera's I planned to make a day of this mess. As the bike was warming I went back to the house for some last minute extra lovin on the "hounds". They always seem to like this last minute stuff, or maybe it's the treats I give em? grabbing a hand full of treats for radar I headed out. Radar got up and showed an unusual amount of interest in walking with me to the bike. he even reared up on the seat and gave everything the serious sniff over. Kind of like saying "OK, I got a good grip on things." I gave him his treats, scratched his ears and he trotted back to the dry porch. Hound after my own heart.
I bounced down my drive to the street and headed southeast. My intent was to run the county roads toward Elkins and pick up hwy 16 and run it all the way to hwy 7. From there I guessed I'd just flip a coin and go north or South.
The county road I was on brought me into the middle of Elkins. Elkins is a small town with a big reputation for being a speed trap. I'm always hearing stories of people getting tagged for as little as one mile per hour over. Since this is far from being my first rodeo, I eased through town about five under. Clearing Elkins I got up to a good comfortable speed and started making a dent in the miles.
Before I knew it I had run through the small communities of Crosses and Combs and was coming up on St. Paul. St. Paul is a very small community on hwy 16. All that I know of there is the gas station and store. As the station came into view I was reminded of a Poker run a few years back. One of the runs stops was at this store. While we were there , one of my buddies blew an oil line off his Harley and had managed to soak everyone riding behind him with oil. Turned out to be a small fix, just a clamp. I had gone into the store to see if they might have a small clamp and as I came out I was struck by the size of the town and the number of bikes. Bikes were parked side by side for what seemed like a half a mile in each direction. As I stepped onto the porch of this store I said to no one in particular "looks like Hollister California in the forties". For some reason the sight of the bikes had brought an old movie about that incident to mind. As I stood there looking around an old guy grinned real big and says, "It does." we started talking and he told me that he had grown up out side Hollister and was living there when that incident took place. Although he wasn't in town during the incident. He was in the area and recalled the numbers of bikes and all the Cops. He said it was big talk for days after. His introduced himself and all I can remember is, his first name was Lenny. We chatted for a few minutes and I remembered the clamp and oil line. As I tooled on through the little town, I wondered if the old man was still around.
Leaving St. Paul the road is a pretty fair two lane that you can travel for it's entirety at times without ever seeing another vehicle. Today was almost one of those days. All in all I rode about eighty miles without seeing a vehicle. I finally came up on a pickup as I neared the town of Fallsville. Fallsville is a neat little wide spot. Sometimes there is a store-gas station there sometimes there isn't. Not a whole lot of business in the area. Today it looked dead as I came through. Setting my sights on the station at Nail I eased on down the road and hoped I made it. The bike does pretty well but over the years I have learned a thing or two and pushing your luck when you didn't have to was one of them.
At nail I gassed up and headed on towards Deer and lunch with mom before I flipped the quarter. I have four days to kill and I wanted to get in several miles before I turned back. So far I only had a hundred and forty seven of them. I'm hoping for at least that many more through these hills before I call it a day.
Let ya know tomorrow how today ended up.
I ended up staying over with mom for another day and night with Flu like symptoms. I felt like I was done. No energy no nothing. It was a job to just get out of bed and into the kitchen for breakfast. I finally gave up and went back to bed. I slept all day and most of the night. I mean I slept. Deep with out interruption. That seemed to be what I needed. I got up the next morning much improved. Since I had lost so much time I just decided to scrap trying to recover and had mom make me an appointment with her doctor.
About ten I struck out for Jasper and the Doctor. The ride to Jasper is always a good one. A real good combination of straights and twisties. Especially on the mountain. Great curves on the mountain.
Pulling into Jasper I slowed way down and just looked over everything. Not much changes around this small town, but there is a yard sale of something of interest usually going on.
I made my turn off the square and ripped up to the clinic. The doc is a cool dude and gave it too me pretty quick. I had a case of a new fast moving flu. Usually hits the stomach and lasts a day or three. Yep that would be me. Told me to down lots of liquids and hold on. I could do that.
back out at the bike I had picked up some "groopies". A pack of neighborhood hounds were laying beside my bike. They looked all comfortable and kind of sad that I was taking their "leaning post". Firing up I eased back out to the street with the hounds trotting along behind. I though it looked cute. It only lasted a couple of minutes. One saw a squirrel or something and they all took off like they were late for something.
Getting back on 7 I decided that since I was actually diagnosed with the flu I would just be line it to the house and try for a trip next weekend. With this all settled the rain started again.
I picked a route home up 74 and over to 21. 74 out of Jasper is another favorite short ride of mine. Like most of the little area rides around this part of the country, straight stretches and twisties. Very enjoyable but very much too short.
Pulling the Boxley mountain I made good time all the way to Kingston and actually, good time all the way to the house. Pulling into the drive I saw a bunch of Rabbits sitting in the middle of my drive. On up at the house where I normally park I saw Radar laying by one of my other bikes. Neither party of critters seemed overly concerned. Man! It's always good to get back.
My ride this weekend wasn't as much as I had planned but sometimes it happens that way. I did have a good time while I was on the road. I enjoyed my time with my mom, always do. I'm hoping that the coming weekends are a little dryer and that I can get in my last trip of this years season in without too much trouble or fanfare. About 370 miles this time around. Not bad.
Catch ya on the road
In keeping with the duck days of October, it rained again.
I woke to another drizzly mess. It was cool and soggy all over. If this keeps up I may have to start parking at the church next door.they don't seem to have the red clay problem that I have.
Kind of rough every once in a while to find your bike laying on it's side because the kickstand buried up in the soft clay.
I uncovered my bike and it fired up with with just the minimal amount of sweet talking. Strapping on my thermos and camera's I planned to make a day of this mess. As the bike was warming I went back to the house for some last minute extra lovin on the "hounds". They always seem to like this last minute stuff, or maybe it's the treats I give em? grabbing a hand full of treats for radar I headed out. Radar got up and showed an unusual amount of interest in walking with me to the bike. he even reared up on the seat and gave everything the serious sniff over. Kind of like saying "OK, I got a good grip on things." I gave him his treats, scratched his ears and he trotted back to the dry porch. Hound after my own heart.
I bounced down my drive to the street and headed southeast. My intent was to run the county roads toward Elkins and pick up hwy 16 and run it all the way to hwy 7. From there I guessed I'd just flip a coin and go north or South.
The county road I was on brought me into the middle of Elkins. Elkins is a small town with a big reputation for being a speed trap. I'm always hearing stories of people getting tagged for as little as one mile per hour over. Since this is far from being my first rodeo, I eased through town about five under. Clearing Elkins I got up to a good comfortable speed and started making a dent in the miles.
Before I knew it I had run through the small communities of Crosses and Combs and was coming up on St. Paul. St. Paul is a very small community on hwy 16. All that I know of there is the gas station and store. As the station came into view I was reminded of a Poker run a few years back. One of the runs stops was at this store. While we were there , one of my buddies blew an oil line off his Harley and had managed to soak everyone riding behind him with oil. Turned out to be a small fix, just a clamp. I had gone into the store to see if they might have a small clamp and as I came out I was struck by the size of the town and the number of bikes. Bikes were parked side by side for what seemed like a half a mile in each direction. As I stepped onto the porch of this store I said to no one in particular "looks like Hollister California in the forties". For some reason the sight of the bikes had brought an old movie about that incident to mind. As I stood there looking around an old guy grinned real big and says, "It does." we started talking and he told me that he had grown up out side Hollister and was living there when that incident took place. Although he wasn't in town during the incident. He was in the area and recalled the numbers of bikes and all the Cops. He said it was big talk for days after. His introduced himself and all I can remember is, his first name was Lenny. We chatted for a few minutes and I remembered the clamp and oil line. As I tooled on through the little town, I wondered if the old man was still around.
Leaving St. Paul the road is a pretty fair two lane that you can travel for it's entirety at times without ever seeing another vehicle. Today was almost one of those days. All in all I rode about eighty miles without seeing a vehicle. I finally came up on a pickup as I neared the town of Fallsville. Fallsville is a neat little wide spot. Sometimes there is a store-gas station there sometimes there isn't. Not a whole lot of business in the area. Today it looked dead as I came through. Setting my sights on the station at Nail I eased on down the road and hoped I made it. The bike does pretty well but over the years I have learned a thing or two and pushing your luck when you didn't have to was one of them.
At nail I gassed up and headed on towards Deer and lunch with mom before I flipped the quarter. I have four days to kill and I wanted to get in several miles before I turned back. So far I only had a hundred and forty seven of them. I'm hoping for at least that many more through these hills before I call it a day.
Let ya know tomorrow how today ended up.
I ended up staying over with mom for another day and night with Flu like symptoms. I felt like I was done. No energy no nothing. It was a job to just get out of bed and into the kitchen for breakfast. I finally gave up and went back to bed. I slept all day and most of the night. I mean I slept. Deep with out interruption. That seemed to be what I needed. I got up the next morning much improved. Since I had lost so much time I just decided to scrap trying to recover and had mom make me an appointment with her doctor.
About ten I struck out for Jasper and the Doctor. The ride to Jasper is always a good one. A real good combination of straights and twisties. Especially on the mountain. Great curves on the mountain.
Pulling into Jasper I slowed way down and just looked over everything. Not much changes around this small town, but there is a yard sale of something of interest usually going on.
I made my turn off the square and ripped up to the clinic. The doc is a cool dude and gave it too me pretty quick. I had a case of a new fast moving flu. Usually hits the stomach and lasts a day or three. Yep that would be me. Told me to down lots of liquids and hold on. I could do that.
back out at the bike I had picked up some "groopies". A pack of neighborhood hounds were laying beside my bike. They looked all comfortable and kind of sad that I was taking their "leaning post". Firing up I eased back out to the street with the hounds trotting along behind. I though it looked cute. It only lasted a couple of minutes. One saw a squirrel or something and they all took off like they were late for something.
Getting back on 7 I decided that since I was actually diagnosed with the flu I would just be line it to the house and try for a trip next weekend. With this all settled the rain started again.
I picked a route home up 74 and over to 21. 74 out of Jasper is another favorite short ride of mine. Like most of the little area rides around this part of the country, straight stretches and twisties. Very enjoyable but very much too short.
Pulling the Boxley mountain I made good time all the way to Kingston and actually, good time all the way to the house. Pulling into the drive I saw a bunch of Rabbits sitting in the middle of my drive. On up at the house where I normally park I saw Radar laying by one of my other bikes. Neither party of critters seemed overly concerned. Man! It's always good to get back.
My ride this weekend wasn't as much as I had planned but sometimes it happens that way. I did have a good time while I was on the road. I enjoyed my time with my mom, always do. I'm hoping that the coming weekends are a little dryer and that I can get in my last trip of this years season in without too much trouble or fanfare. About 370 miles this time around. Not bad.
Catch ya on the road
Saturday, October 10, 2009
October 9, 2009 The Duck days of October
365 Group (f)
These last few days have been really strange weather wise. Rain and sunshine. Rain and rain....
This morning I rushed around and got ready to leave hoping to catch a break in the rain or at least get out before the morning traffic. It was coming down hard. Finally I was ready and couldn't put it off any longer. I grabbed my helmet and went out. Thinking again for the umpteenth time I need to hit the salvage yards and get my car back on the road. Putting on my helmet I stepped out into what I refer to as an Ozark Hurricane. Heavy winds and lots and lots of hard driving rain.
Strapping my thermos on I figured the bike wouldn't start after being left out in the storm. Hey, it was warm and sunny when I parked it. I hit the kicker and she fired up. After sitting all night in a down pour, fired on the first kick. I'm ever and always amazed at my old machine.
Sloshing down the drive I saw just how much it had rained. My drive was all washed out again and water was standing everywhere I looked.
I eased onto the road and started down toward the highway. There wasn't much traffic so I just eased along and looked over all the trash and gravel that had been washed into the road. The next thirteen miles was going to be a ride.
At the stop at the highway the street makes an ever slight dip. Water was running about four to six inches deep. I pulled out and eased up to highway speed. The rains had washed off all the oils so going wasn't too bad, just had to keep an eye out for standing water.
From town to my turn off at the foot of the mountain wasn't too bad. I made as good of time as I normally do. After I made my turn I hit some heavy ground fog. I also had the high lite of my trip. In the fog I saw what looked like a small truck with one head light. As it got closer I saw that it was a Honda Shadow with a totally drowned young man riding it. He had on a leather jacket and chaps and looked like he was soaked through. I figured he had been riding in the worst part of the storm. He was wet to the point of normal. I've been that wet a couple of times in my life. Just comes a point when you just don't notice the water anymore. He was at that point. As we past he waved real big and kept on going.
I made good time over to Butterfield Coach Road. As I came up on the stop sign the rain eased noticeably and the fog was all but gone. I could see both ways well enough to slowly roll the stop and not break my ride. I was having a good time. That's another thing that always amazes me. No matter the situation I can get lost in riding.
Pulling up to the new parkway as it's called traffic was stacked up due to the rain. I managed to get on and got out ahead of most of it. I did have that feeling of being the ball in a pinball machine run up my back. Especially when a guy in a duel cab pickup tried to jump out on top of me. By this time the rain had all but stopped and I had decided that I needed to get out of every ones way before they figured they could go back to their normal driving routine. So. I wound the twin up and put some real distance between me and the advancing enemy forces. From each traffic light I blasted away ahead of everyone so I had time to pull over almost off the street at the next light. That way maybe someone wouldn't slide all over me.
Finally I got off on the side street I was looking for and just tooled on up to the job.
Rumor had it we had gotten around six inches of rain. It looked like. everything was definitely soaked. The job site looked washed.
Good rain gear is a must. Don't care who ya are. Nothing cooler than being dry on a wet day.
About noon the sun started peaking out and I got that old familiar feeling....come on 4 o'clock so I can get on the road.
May be doin the back stroke but I'll catch ya on the road
These last few days have been really strange weather wise. Rain and sunshine. Rain and rain....
This morning I rushed around and got ready to leave hoping to catch a break in the rain or at least get out before the morning traffic. It was coming down hard. Finally I was ready and couldn't put it off any longer. I grabbed my helmet and went out. Thinking again for the umpteenth time I need to hit the salvage yards and get my car back on the road. Putting on my helmet I stepped out into what I refer to as an Ozark Hurricane. Heavy winds and lots and lots of hard driving rain.
Strapping my thermos on I figured the bike wouldn't start after being left out in the storm. Hey, it was warm and sunny when I parked it. I hit the kicker and she fired up. After sitting all night in a down pour, fired on the first kick. I'm ever and always amazed at my old machine.
Sloshing down the drive I saw just how much it had rained. My drive was all washed out again and water was standing everywhere I looked.
I eased onto the road and started down toward the highway. There wasn't much traffic so I just eased along and looked over all the trash and gravel that had been washed into the road. The next thirteen miles was going to be a ride.
At the stop at the highway the street makes an ever slight dip. Water was running about four to six inches deep. I pulled out and eased up to highway speed. The rains had washed off all the oils so going wasn't too bad, just had to keep an eye out for standing water.
From town to my turn off at the foot of the mountain wasn't too bad. I made as good of time as I normally do. After I made my turn I hit some heavy ground fog. I also had the high lite of my trip. In the fog I saw what looked like a small truck with one head light. As it got closer I saw that it was a Honda Shadow with a totally drowned young man riding it. He had on a leather jacket and chaps and looked like he was soaked through. I figured he had been riding in the worst part of the storm. He was wet to the point of normal. I've been that wet a couple of times in my life. Just comes a point when you just don't notice the water anymore. He was at that point. As we past he waved real big and kept on going.
I made good time over to Butterfield Coach Road. As I came up on the stop sign the rain eased noticeably and the fog was all but gone. I could see both ways well enough to slowly roll the stop and not break my ride. I was having a good time. That's another thing that always amazes me. No matter the situation I can get lost in riding.
Pulling up to the new parkway as it's called traffic was stacked up due to the rain. I managed to get on and got out ahead of most of it. I did have that feeling of being the ball in a pinball machine run up my back. Especially when a guy in a duel cab pickup tried to jump out on top of me. By this time the rain had all but stopped and I had decided that I needed to get out of every ones way before they figured they could go back to their normal driving routine. So. I wound the twin up and put some real distance between me and the advancing enemy forces. From each traffic light I blasted away ahead of everyone so I had time to pull over almost off the street at the next light. That way maybe someone wouldn't slide all over me.
Finally I got off on the side street I was looking for and just tooled on up to the job.
Rumor had it we had gotten around six inches of rain. It looked like. everything was definitely soaked. The job site looked washed.
Good rain gear is a must. Don't care who ya are. Nothing cooler than being dry on a wet day.
About noon the sun started peaking out and I got that old familiar feeling....come on 4 o'clock so I can get on the road.
May be doin the back stroke but I'll catch ya on the road
Monday, October 5, 2009
10/5/09 settling back down
365 Group (f)
Today was a good cool and damp morning. It was about fifty five degrees and overcast. Perfect riding weather. Too bad I had to go in to work.
While I was warming the bike up and getting ready I had one of those thoughts of running away from home. Just jump on and ride for a while. Then radar came trotting by and snapped me back into reality. Some one has to be around to feed that hound.
I headed down my worn out drive to the pavement and thought maybe it'll be a good ride to a short day.
The damp in the air seems to agree with my bike and it was running like a fine watch or some other costly something or other. I pulled onto the highway, traffic was light and before I knew it I was out of town heading down the straight stretch towards the mountain. I managed to pick up some traffic that held me close to the speed limit. I was running a little earlier than usual so I was hitting the early early going to work crowd. This wasn't too bad. Most of these people didn't seem to be in a texting mood and no one tried to run me over.
I made it to the foot of the mountain and made my turn to skirt around to Springdale. It was just a great morning to ride. I have been having to do a lot of forced riding these last couple of weeks due to family obligations and it was really nice to just get to settle down some and enjoy.
Running through the hills was fun. Cool damp air then into a warm air pocket. I could do this all day.
As I came up to Butterfield Coach road the traffic started picking up a little and indicated a cop was near by. So I ran along close to the speed limit and sure enough there he was. He even pointed his hand held radar gun at me and waved. After getting by him I tooled along and made it into town and the traffic light madness. I really hate traffic lights. Except for the blasting away and leaving the SUV's sitting still. That tends to tick them off and makes me all tickled. Kind of my version of dragging between lights. No matter how they try they just cant get off the line like I can.
My ride into work was a good one. Not nearly long enough, but a keeper anyway. I was a little down as I didn't see any other bikes on the road I guess winter is already here for most of the riders in this area.
I'm hoping that this day goes by fast and I can get back out while it's still cool enough to enjoy. I'd like to put on a couple of hundred miles for therapy. Guess I'm just not ready for summer to be over.
catch ya on the road
Today was a good cool and damp morning. It was about fifty five degrees and overcast. Perfect riding weather. Too bad I had to go in to work.
While I was warming the bike up and getting ready I had one of those thoughts of running away from home. Just jump on and ride for a while. Then radar came trotting by and snapped me back into reality. Some one has to be around to feed that hound.
I headed down my worn out drive to the pavement and thought maybe it'll be a good ride to a short day.
The damp in the air seems to agree with my bike and it was running like a fine watch or some other costly something or other. I pulled onto the highway, traffic was light and before I knew it I was out of town heading down the straight stretch towards the mountain. I managed to pick up some traffic that held me close to the speed limit. I was running a little earlier than usual so I was hitting the early early going to work crowd. This wasn't too bad. Most of these people didn't seem to be in a texting mood and no one tried to run me over.
I made it to the foot of the mountain and made my turn to skirt around to Springdale. It was just a great morning to ride. I have been having to do a lot of forced riding these last couple of weeks due to family obligations and it was really nice to just get to settle down some and enjoy.
Running through the hills was fun. Cool damp air then into a warm air pocket. I could do this all day.
As I came up to Butterfield Coach road the traffic started picking up a little and indicated a cop was near by. So I ran along close to the speed limit and sure enough there he was. He even pointed his hand held radar gun at me and waved. After getting by him I tooled along and made it into town and the traffic light madness. I really hate traffic lights. Except for the blasting away and leaving the SUV's sitting still. That tends to tick them off and makes me all tickled. Kind of my version of dragging between lights. No matter how they try they just cant get off the line like I can.
My ride into work was a good one. Not nearly long enough, but a keeper anyway. I was a little down as I didn't see any other bikes on the road I guess winter is already here for most of the riders in this area.
I'm hoping that this day goes by fast and I can get back out while it's still cool enough to enjoy. I'd like to put on a couple of hundred miles for therapy. Guess I'm just not ready for summer to be over.
catch ya on the road
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