cowpuc Posted January 8, 2015 #1 Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Who would have ever thought that an old geezer like me,, riding a fun loving - beat up old bike like Tweeks and toting around a pretty young lady like my wife, Tippy, could cause so much trouble and yet, be blessed so richly by doing so.. Boy Scout philosophy was really popular back when I was growing up,, you know what am talking about,, help old ladies cross the road,, take a bath once in while, learn to tie your own shoes early in life, pup tent camping creates character, living on campfire cooked hotdogs IS gormet cooking and all that.. I was never a Scout BUT,, a lot of their basic principals of life seem to of somehow attached themselves to me. As a matter of fact, the only Scout principle that seems to have really eluded me thru the years is one that involves "planning" and being "prepared". For some reason, especially when it comes to motorcycle touring,,, the terms "planning" and being "prepared" have never seemed to fit into the scheme of things for me.. I tried "planning" and being "prepared" once for a cross country motorcycle trip and it was a total flop. On that trip, I ended up losing track of my cousin and Brother In Law out in Sturgis South Dakota and wound up riding home alone.. Not that this was so bad for yours truly as I really am OK being by myself and traveling alone BUT, it was my cousins first cross country tour and he didnt really appreciate it... Its all ok now, we are still good friends BUT,, he learned as I did - splitting up, making plans to be somewhere at a certain time on a certain day is a disaster waiting to happen.. Far superior (and a whole lot more fun) to this method of travel is one that a good friend of mine - YammerDan - creatively calls "Chasing The Front Wheel" or what I will acronyze here as CTFWing... A key to being successful in CTFWing is avoiding planning and being prepared at all costs,, at least in my book... All that said, and in total appreciation for and in acceptance of YammerDans "CTFWing",, Tip, Tweeks and I set out for Sturgis SD via Glacier National Park via Skull Valley Utah via Frisco via a place called "The Dalles" Oregon via Mt St Helens via Portland via Redding California via Sonora Pass via Area 51 via the Grand Canyon via Jerome Az via Roswell NM via Big Bend NP via BikerJohn's and Squids house in Texas via our house in Muskegon Mi,,,, all with no map - no GPS - no watch and a half a tank of gas... Its the end of May 2014 and its ride time... Tweeks sat on the slab out front of our home,, patiently waiting while we locked the doors and hid the key (this year I hid the key in in my wallet - last year, trying to be smart and be PREPARED for returning home, I hid the key somewhere around the outside of our house and, when we got home from a couple months on the road I couldnt remember where I had hid it - I had to remove an air conditioner to break into our own home - NOT FUN AT 3 AM!!!).. Tweeks always looks so pretty with a pup tent strapped on her back, what a doll!! After getting lost in Chicago cause we didnt have a map and finally figuring out that a friend of mine named MarCarl, who had promised he would give us directions and cook us a burger if we got lost, was not gonna show up, I got my internal compass back in line and just headed south... By doing so, we found ourselves crossing into Missouri,, thats a State in my home country of the United States in case one of you readers didnt know.. It started getting later in the day and I started remembering protocol for survival while attempting CTFWing,, that being - its best to find a place to camp before dark or you will probably end up sleeping in a Cemetery or camped in a Walmart Parking lot or something.. As we pulled into this little town down in Missouri I could SMELL a National Forest.. The whiskers on the tips of my mustache twitched like a freshly wacked tuning fork as we drove thru this quaint little place.. I eyeballed the railroad tracks that ran thru it and knew,, if nothing else,, their had to be a hideaway left over from the Gangster Days along those tracks, if nothing else... Tip noticed a small sign (besides being cute she is also a great Nav - astute follower of CTFWing too) just outside this little town that said something like "Mark Twain Nation Forest Historical Site, 10 miles" with an arrow pointing down a dirt two track. Well bust my britches if ol Tweeks didnt just instantly turn that direction!! Getting lost while following dirt roads inside of a National Forest in a State called Missouri in the dark is only one of the great adventures of CTFWing... After dark, places like Missouri in the USA can take on some pretty creepy feelings, I had heard that the ghosts of Will Munny, Al Capone and Baby Face Nelson haunt these places (think thats weird - ya oughta camp with me sometime).. We finally found the Historical spot located on a small stream about 8 miles in,, it would have been a great place to camp but there were signs everywhere that said NO CAMPING and there was also a suspicious looking Green truck with an emblem on the side of it parked in the little parking lot,,, we nonchalantly mustered on by - mumbling between us like a couple of tourist so as not to draw attention.. About a mile up the two track, over looking what appeared to be a valley of some sort (hard to tell in the dark), was a little pull off that had a sign on it that said "Puc and Tippy camp here" (not really,, but we pulled in anyway).. Took an extra couple minutes for us to reacclamate to tossing the tent up in the dark but we did it,, slept like a couple southern hound dogs in the hay laying there looking up at that gorgeous Mark Twain Missouri sky.. The next morning I snapped a few pics, packed up and we headed down the hill,, so to speak.. The creek I had mentioned earlier flowed down stream (most creeks do, unless you go out east and look for "Tidal Bores" - you only find those in creeks out east - the water flows both ways there, creating ripples they call Tidal Bores -- sorry, got side tracked trying to teach ya something) in the general direction we were headed.. After a couple miles we came to this little paved area that wasnt sandy like the rest of the road, stopped to take a short video and listen to the birds sing.. This was a good example of the beauty that Mark Twain may have noticed when he was playing around in the forests of Missouri, a State found in the USA.. Breathing in the fresh air, being there with my best friend while touring the country on a beat up ol Yamaha called Tweeks sure gave me a feeling that fun times were in store for us and real adventure was about to begin!! End of part 1.. Edited January 10, 2015 by cowpuc
Hummingbird Posted January 8, 2015 #2 Posted January 8, 2015 most of the pictures are imbedded within and the hard copies will make one hell of an album
BuckShot Posted January 8, 2015 #3 Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) A soft cover book titled ...CTFWing...is available at Wally World's nationwide. The book is a series of short stories very well written with pictures of Puc's, Tippy's and Tweeks journeys thru the United States on a motorcycle. You will be thrilled, captivated and filled with anticapation of the possibilities of motorcyle touring. The book is not yet on the Best Seller list but will soon be. This reader predicts that this book " CTFWing" will become worth millions to book collectors and motorcyle touring riders in future years. Get yours now before they are all gone. Edited January 8, 2015 by BuckShot
Eck Posted January 8, 2015 #4 Posted January 8, 2015 Thanks for sharing your 2014 summer story. Felt like I was riding along with you two as I read it and looked at the pictures..
Chaharly Posted January 8, 2015 #5 Posted January 8, 2015 I gotta tell ya cowpuc You know how to do it right. Just find a good spot to camp and lay a claim! Only difference is I'd have a fishing pole at that ol creek.
Venturous Randy Posted January 8, 2015 #6 Posted January 8, 2015 As I sit here with it 7 degrees F outside, I enjoyed the green trees and obviously warm temps. I really enjoy your writings and hope you will take us all along with this great adventure. Keep it coming. RandyA
Flyinfool Posted January 8, 2015 #7 Posted January 8, 2015 A great beginning to a great story. Keep it coming for us snow bound invalids.
Guest divey Posted January 8, 2015 #8 Posted January 8, 2015 Yup I agree, a book is in order Dad. It'll be a best seller for sure! Doug
Angelo Posted January 8, 2015 #9 Posted January 8, 2015 Hurry up and finish the story, the anticipation is killing me.
Condor Posted January 8, 2015 #10 Posted January 8, 2015 Like Paul Harvey sez...now the rest of the story. And.......??
Yammer Dan Posted January 8, 2015 #11 Posted January 8, 2015 Stirs up memories of te days when I "Chased the front Wheel" Hey I'm retired!!!! And got a pretty fair bike in the garage. And got a 2nd Gen for backup.....
cowpuc Posted January 9, 2015 Author #12 Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) The days of being a kid and crawling under the fence at the Getty Drive-Inn theater to watch those old movies on the big screen have long gone by.. I can still see the little square speaker boxes hanging on the car windows,,, old Buicks with those fake looking exhaust holes built into the sides of them,, a funny looking little Nash and a gorgeous 1960 Corvette Convertible with its 4 headlights and little grill that looked at you with that snear that screamed "Competition Wanted - Dead or Alive"... It was these cars and that theater that first introduced me to Route 66.. Combine that with a TV series that I loved that was actually called "Route 66" that I used to watch on our neighbors old Black and White TV and its no wonder that I have always been intrigued with the famous road that ran between Chicago and LA.. I have traveled quite a bit of what remains of the old road thru the years.. Lots of it doesnt exist anymore,, alot of it that does still exist has changed so much over the course of time that its recognizable only by a "Historic 66" sign posted every now and then. There are little sections of it though that have remarkably survived the passing of time and refused to grow up,,, my kinda places... I grinned as I turned onto Route 66 while CTFWing in a southerly direction somewhere in Missouri while crossing the USA.. That old road felt real good under Tweeks while I stretched out in relaxation and leaned against Tippy.. The direction I was taking was part of the reason I was smiling... A direction of adventure into the unknown,, even the weeds along the road that bent softly with us as we passed them by on that warm first day of June seemed to agree with me as they bent in compliment of our direction.. Far off in the distance I could see lines of Semi's following the ick-spressway with people in what us biker folk call "Cages" dualing it out with the trucks,, risking their lifes to save a couple minutes of travel time. They were all going in the same direction as Tippy, Tweeks and I but by compass only.. The drivers out there on that concrete slab were headed into a direction that was a virtual war,, a battle against time and space where drivers are trying to get ahead of each other so they could complete their job and get home to their families.. These miles along Route 66 that we were enjoying were related to their associate miles on the slab by name and measurement only.. Motorcycling is a beautiful thing when combined with CTFWing!! Not only am I a CTFW type of person,, I am also a very old school CTFWer.. Lots of young people probably wont remember this but there actually was a day and age when GPS's, Computers, Video Games and Cell Phones didnt even exist.. Thats right,,,, back then when people were out CTFWing they had their choice of finding there way between point A and point B IF they were actually trying to get somewhere.. They could either carry a map, carry a compass, stop every now and than and actually talk to people about the area (I have ALWAYS loved doing this) or,, they could learn to "read the signs" - this is another of my favorites that I use all the time.. This last method,, the one of "reading the signs" is a method that I actually learned from my Dad many many years ago.. The term "reading signs" is actually a term used in hunting and basically describes a well versed hunter who is squatted down,, picking up little round pieces of things the deer have left in the woods and checking them for freshness (there are different methods of determining freshness that I wont go into here).. Another popular sign to read while hunting Deer are "Buck Rubs" and "Scrapes".. Again,, a well trained hunter can determine direction of travel, size of rack and even what kind of day a certain deer is having emotionally by reading the signs!! I was very fortunate to have had a Father like the one I recently lost,, even though we were miles apart in the roads we traveled in our direction in life (kinda like those folks on the ick-spressway over there) - he taught me many many things, like reading sign, that I use to this very day - maybe not in the way he intended me to use them BUT I do still use them!! Reading the signs along Route 66 was a lot of fun and a perfect way to enjoy CTFW with Tippy and Tweekers!! Edited January 10, 2015 by cowpuc
Zzyzx Posted January 9, 2015 #13 Posted January 9, 2015 Nothing better than a ride...anywhere...specially where there are lots of trees, clean air, no plans and with a friend.
Gray Ghost Posted January 9, 2015 #14 Posted January 9, 2015 Puc, you are an amazing dude. We traveled some of the same roads this summer, but I don't have anywhere near your gift of prose. I am enjoying reading your tale.
cowpuc Posted January 9, 2015 Author #15 Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Our bike, Tweeks, has been around a while.. She's an 83 version of what would prove to be one of the, if not THE, best all time touring bikes known to man (can ya tell I love these ol Yam's and am a little biased).. Her creator's at Yamaha not only spent an obvious amount of extra time in research and development to get her to fit Tip and I just right, they also tossed a lot of extra thought into motor design so she would end up being THE performance benchmark for all Yamaha Ventures in the future.. Having a fairly good sized outfit like Yamaha build a gorgeous bike like Tweeks just for yours truly was not an easy task.. They (Yamaha) were obviously watching me ride minibikes, scooters, mopeds, dirtbikes, small road bikes, early model Harleys and even Choppers back in the 60's and 70's. All the while taking measurements and other statistics about my ride style and such in an effort to pre-tweek Tweeks just for me... Personally,, I can understand how they accomplished most of this engineering stuff BUT, for the life of me, I still don't understand how they gave Tweeks the ability to communicate with me... The 3 of us were puttering along on Route 66,, minding our own business when all of a sudden Tweeks let me know that something was wrong... Kinda like a child communicating with a parent before they have the ability to actually speak (if this causes you pause, you have probably never been a parent). Tweeks has her own body language.. Twitches for low tire pressures, moans when she don't care for certain terrain, a cheerful smooth gate as she fly's by a group of other bikes and a stance of pride as people admire her, one of kind, worn out touring bike attire... The particular message that Tweeks was sending on this occasion was something different,, something elusive and mysterious... Following her lead as we approached a corner, I soon discovered what she was saying... Amazingly enough, Tweeks had smelled her long lost sister in the wind and was going no further without stopping and saying hi.. After learning that Tweeks and her sister were actually fraternal twins, I was shocked at how much better her Blonde sister had faired thru the years.. It wasn't until I found out about this 1983 Blonde beauties sheltered life that I totally understood why she appeared much younger... Later on during this trip, while camping on the side of an old two track back in the mountains of Montana, Tweeks would share with me how thankful she actually was that her life had not been sheltered like her sisters had.. She told me she actually preferred carrying Tip/myself and all our gear on her back and and Chasing Her Own Front Wheel instead of being strapped in a trailer..... Tweeks actually felt sorry for her sister... Edited January 10, 2015 by cowpuc
cowpuc Posted January 9, 2015 Author #16 Posted January 9, 2015 And yes,, I did tell him all about VR!! Wrote down our web address for him and asked him to check in with us!! Lets see if my new friend from Missouri finds this somehow and joins us!! You guys didnt know I was a mind reader did cha!!
SilvrT Posted January 9, 2015 #17 Posted January 9, 2015 keep it commin thar 'puc .... such a great read so far! you do have a way with words!
Stealthblade Posted January 9, 2015 #18 Posted January 9, 2015 Puc, You warned us you were going to tell tales of the 2014 adventures. You warned us again and again. Thank you for doing it in the dead of winter...to give us all hope. Thank God you are only in Missouri right now, lots of us snow-belters need to see how it plays out. Anxiously waiting your next update. Bob
Skid Posted January 10, 2015 #19 Posted January 10, 2015 Stirs up memories of the days when I "Chased the front Wheel".... Now a days you're just chasing the Midnight.
cowpuc Posted January 10, 2015 Author #20 Posted January 10, 2015 Puc, You warned us again and again. Thank you for doing it in the dead of winter...to give us all hope. Bob
BlueSky Posted January 10, 2015 #21 Posted January 10, 2015 For some reason I can't open the photos any more, just the videos.
cowpuc Posted January 10, 2015 Author #22 Posted January 10, 2015 For some reason I can't open the photos any more, just the videos. Been swattin gremlin moths like crazy Thats cause I was playing around trying to get them pics to do what I want em to do Blue... I been trying to figure out a way to get rid of the pictures that accumulate at the bottom of each page after I have embedded them in the story - just thinking along the line of saving storage space within the VR system thingy.. I thought I had it by deleting the downloaded images from the Manage Attachments list after I had them embedded, it was working fine after I did that but,, then they disappeared:Laugh:. Dont worry Blue,,, I get er figured out..
cowpuc Posted January 10, 2015 Author #23 Posted January 10, 2015 As the three of us waved goodbye to Tweeks gorgeous Blonde sister sitting on that trailer in a place called Roberts Missouri, my mind wondered off (it does that a lot these days) thinking about heritage and its importance to our existence.. If you follow along in this story you are eventually going to get introduced to a man and his wife from Japan who approached Tweeks while she was sitting among other much more socially acceptable bikes.. The look in their eyes told the story of some kind of a connection between a heritage that they shared with Tweeks.. Unlike Tweeks, my own heritage is one of a confusing mixed breed.. My Mom's Dads father's grandpa was a full blooded Cherokee Indian and my Dad's Dad's parents were immigrants from Germany who loved Northern Bean's and Sour Kraut.. Mom's mom was a real Southern Bell straight out of the Lil Rock area who learned to cook Southern Fried Chicken and Red Baked Beans with Bacon over the top of em at a very early age.. I never did care for my Dads Mom's Northern Bean's but I have always LOVED Sour Kraut - especially on a hotdog that is cooked Indian style over an open fire.. I have also ALWAYS completely enjoyed those Southern Style Red Bake Beans with Bacon on top and I can eat Southern Fried Chicken till that little flipper in the back of my throat cant swing back no more... I was happy to see a piece of my own heritage come into view as we crossed into Oklahoma and pulled into a town called Big Cabin. As Tweeks can attest, being greeted by a relative, even if its just a statue of one of your ancestors, is always a happy affair.. Definitely worthy of a picture and a tip of the old Harley Hat.. Avoiding the ick-spressway can be a challenge but, it can also be an adventure with little nuggets of gold to be picked up along the way.. Being greeted by that ol Indian and watching the trucks disappear on 44 were both nuggets in my book.. The two lane trail that led out of Big Cabin in a Southerly direction was a pretty nice one.. Kinda flat,, pretty straight,, small towns along the way type stuff... As is customary with CTFWing, the farther we traveled away from the interstate, the more interesting and to our liking Oklahoma became and the more REAL Oklahoma way of living we got to see. I had almost forgotten how rock solid patriotic and down to earth Okie's are until this iconic view appeared that refreshed my memory.. I was pleased to hear Tip yell - LOOK HONEY,, ITS MUSKGOEE OKLAHOMA USA!!!
Yammer Dan Posted January 10, 2015 #24 Posted January 10, 2015 Now a days you're just chasing the Midnight. Wearing out my brakes trying not to run over that thing.......
cowpuc Posted January 10, 2015 Author #25 Posted January 10, 2015 Wearing out my brakes trying not to run over that thing....... :rotfl:
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