What an awesome summer!!!!

[cowpuc]

After spending the summer months executing my PPFFFFYF (Puc's Plan For Fighting Future Five Year Floods) by hand digging over 300 feet of storm drainage here at home, Tip Troop and I headed west to enjoy some time with the kids/grandkids!! SOOOOO much fun!!

After using up Troopers 10,000 miles between oil change that I had freshly installed upon departure for the great state of California and all points between here and there, the three of us stopped back at home for an overnighter to swap in Troops next 10000 mile oil change before heading out on our 40th Anniversary trip to Key West Florida in an effort to find Tippy some Palm Trees to camp under at Ocean side again (if you have never biked down and tent camped along Alligator Alley or under Palms in the Keys your life is missing something) and to see if I could break my 10 foot long Alligator siting in the Everglades on the sides of Alligator Alley established years ago (ok,, there was wayyy more to our trip to Florida - like good FOOD - but those two points were openly discussed BEFORE departure).. I am proud to report mission accomplished on all points:thumbsup:!!

Hope each of you set out to add to your own amazing precious memories over the summer of 2020 and were also successful in doing so!!

Even though the open road still calls us,, it is good to be home!

Puc, Tip and Tweeks

 

[cowpuc]

and

[cowpuc]

and

[cowpuc]

and

[BlueSky]

Wow Puc! You two covered lots of miles this summer!

[videoarizona]

Happy to see you and Tip out on the roads again... Chasing those front wheels!!

Stay safe...luv ya Bro..

[Condor]

Yes it was.... Vicariously... Thanks Puc..

[VentureFar]

You are looking great my Brother.

What is up with the black Corvette?

Hi to Tip and stay out of trouble!

VentureFar...

[cowpuc]

You are looking great my Brother.

What is up with the black Corvette? C BELOW

Hi to Tip and stay out of trouble! TIP SENDS HER LOVE AND YOU KNOW!! AINT NO HOW,, AINT NO WAY

VentureFar...

 

As you know my brother,,, I have been steadfastly picking me way thru my bucketlist,,,, picken em off one after the other ..

Somewhere down deep inside of that bucket I ran into a farrrrrr distant memory of the need for a Vette .. I found this need right between the Schwinn Orange Krate pedal bike (which my sciatic nerve damaged backside could definitely no longer ride) and finding the Speedway pin ball machine from Annies Bar and Grill that claimed so much of my hard earned change back in the late 60's ..

I have been researching,, looking,, digging and saving for that special Vette now for a while.. Of course,, as you well can remember,, back when we were living the true muscle car days,,, working at a Sunoco Gas station for 1 dollar 60 an hour and pumping 260 into those genuine factory built, real deal, big block cars that the town rich boys (or our heros home from Nam :usa::usa:) were paying 5 grand brand new for left us kids with no option other than saying to ourselves,,, some day... My "some day" statement was wrapped up in a big block Vette,,, C2 or C3,,, in all fairness - the 58ish with its double headlight and dual quads churn me too .. So we have been lookin...

While on the way home from a REALLY great time in Sac at the end of Sept and cutting across Wisconsin my eye caught the shape of a C2 sitting there with a for sale sign on it,,, we stopped and the fun began!! Even though it wasnt a big block car I was still drueling on it and the owner must have seen me doing so cause he came out front and offered to start it for us.. Shortly afterwards I found out he was not the owner of the car but the owner of the AUCTION that the Vette was going to go thru in 3 days!! He also told us about an OLDER vette (the blue on in the pic) he had in a barn outback that would also be sold.. Of course,, probably because of how pretty Tippy is,, he gave us permission to go thru ALL the cars he had "out back" as well as the other Vette!!! Below are some pics of what we found!! WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO SPEND A DAY:beer:!! Like I said,, an AWESOME Summer brother!!

 

P.S. - Oh,, by the way,, GUESS WHAT??? I just got hooked up with,, what is suppose to be a REAL DEAL 1968 L89 (that would be the L71 427 with Aluminum heads = only 680 produced in 68) within my budget!! It is down in North Carolina in a town called Lafayette... I spoke with the owner tonight about it and he is suppose to be getting me the drive train numbers to match up.. If all goes well and this is not another false alarm Tip and I plan to jump in Trooper and head down there the end of this week to meet with an Appraisor and go over things... I will know more tomorrow what I am dealing with!! You know what brother,, IMHO working thru the bucketlist is almost as much fun as spending all those years developing the list itself !!

 

[VentureFar]

Sage advise:

working thru the bucketlist is almost as much fun as spending all those years developing the list itself !!

 

my new motto!

thanks

VentureFar...

[ecbaatz]

Cowpuc,

 

Please give me a shout, pm or email, ecbaatz@reagan.com.

 

I have some questions about a front end wobble I would like to get your input on.

 

Thanks,

 

Eric

[CaseyJ955]

Lots of great pics!

 

It does look like a great summer indeed.

[cowpuc]

Sage advise:

working thru the bucketlist is almost as much fun as spending all those years developing the list itself !!

 

my new motto!

thanks

VentureFar...

 

good catch Neil !! That flowed freely from my tired old worn out bean and I didnt even realize I had written something worth something but now that you point it out I gotta admit,, that is kind of catchy... Getting a big head here :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon:!!

 

I am so vainly proud of myself that I think I will copy/paste it over to our clubs quotes thread :big-grin-emoticon:..

 

I like it!! I like me!! I love you!!! You are a heck of brother pointing something like that out for your brother by a different mother:farmer: !!!!

 

PS!! You are welcome!!

[cowpuc]

Cowpuc,

 

Please give me a shout, pm or email, ecbaatz@reagan.com.

 

I have some questions about a front end wobble I would like to get your input on.

 

Thanks,

 

Eric

 

Got er done EC,, you got mail!

[cowpuc]

Lots of great pics!

 

It does look like a great summer indeed.

 

Thanks Case,, glad you enjoyed!! Wanna hear something wayyyyy cool?? For many many many years,, while heading to Sturgis and also out there just enjoying South Dakota for the freedom it offers,, I/we/us would camp in a spot just outside of the east gate of the Badlands.. My connection with South Dakota/The Sturgis rally goes way back to the early 70's when bikers would camp openly across the prairie lands which was (and still is) 100% my kind of biking adventure.. The freedom feelings that can be felt simply by laying on the prairie floor and feeling mother earth breathe in the silence of the night is almost unspeakable and,, back then as it is now - South Dakota remains as OPEN CAMP on the prairies.. For decades,, while camping on the prairie during the rally I would tell my wife/kids that people have clearly lost the knowledge of the fact that SD is still open camp,, this based on the fact that we always had such places as those shown in the pics below all to ourselves while our biker brothers suffered in such madness of campgrounds like the Chip.. Fast forward to our recent trip and I am finding myself having crow for lunch once again!!

Look carefully at the pics below.. This is one of my "secret private campgrounds" I have used for years on the open prairie whose entrance is about 1000 feet before the booth at the entrance of the Badlands NP.. Troop, Tip and I pulled in at about 3 a.m. - crawled into the sack and this is what we woke up to :scared:!! We drove out across the prairie and counted over 500 camps!! I guess when it comes to seeking freedom,, people still remember where it can be found!!

[Flyinfool]

Puc you and Tippy sure have a lot of fun together, Good for you.

 

I keep trying to tell you there is cool stuff here in WI.

[cowpuc]

Puc you and Tippy sure have a lot of fun together, Good for you.

 

I keep trying to tell you there is cool stuff here in WI.

 

You nailed it again!! Thanks my brother:beer:!!! I know where most of the really really really cool stuff is over there too Fool,,, you havent forgotten that I am the one who snuck over and stuffed rags into your WWW nozzles are you:confused24:... You dont think for one minute that while I was stuffin and tweakin the WWW that my ,, :dancefool:brain wasnt recording all the cool stuff stacked in the corner did ya?? I said to myself,, self - just think of allllllll the fun you could have with that little mill and a hunk of that brass laying over there... Why think of how pretty a set of bronze scope mounts would look atop that little Ruger Mk1 back home .. Ohhh I KNOW cool jeff!!!:hurts:yet

 

Fool,, while I got your attention.. Here is the latest on my 68 L89 possible purchase.. I am still considering it and have a locked in buy option on it for this week.. No money in it yet,, just some research time.. I requested the owner to send me a pic of the engine stamp pad showing numbers to confirm it is indeed an original L89 and that the stamp pad VIN stamp also confirms its matching numbers to the cars VIN.. Here is the response I got today with the pic they sent me (see below):

THIS IS THE BEST WE CAN PULL ........ VERY WORN OFF ...... WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING.... AS YOU CAN TELLLET ME KNOW ....... I PUT UP ON A BIG SCREEN COMPUTER SCREEN

 

Here is my response back to him:

 

""""Thank you Dean!! Pretty much not legible here on my end.. Just wondered if you could try one more thing before I say no go.. Could you try taking some white chalk and rubbing it across the stamp pad and then wiping it off lightly to give the numbered area a chance to stand out? I am sure that sounds corny but I have used that trick numerous times and had it work successfully,,, worth a try.. Also,, if you could take a piece of paper and write down any distinguishing numbers/letters that you may be able to make out with the naked eye that I cant see - that may help too.. Just leave spaces between non legible numbers and such to give me an idea of what may or may not be there.. THANK YOU again for your attention here Dean!! It is greatly appreciated appreciated!!

Also,, and I know this is a longggg shot,, any chance you may have gotten the Protecto Plate with the car? It would be attached to original documents,, maybe in an owners manual.. That tiny little stamped piece of tin also has a ton of info on it.. Thought I might ask,,, never know.."""

 

Jeff,, I KNOW that more can be done to reup the stamp pad,, consisting of acid treating it to eat some of the non work hardened area around the stamped area,,,,,, like the FBI does to reup ground off gun serial numbers.. You ever done anything like that?? I am thinking that IF I can pull enough numbers that increases the probability that this is 1 of the original 680 1968 L89's and IF I can pull enough numbers to the vin to increase the possibilty that it really is a numbers matching car I will just go ahead and buy it,, have it shipped and then do the acid treating here.. Thoughts??

Anyone else have thoughts?? ALL WELCOME and ANY responses will be treated with total respect and treasured!!! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks you lop eared varmints!!

Puc

 

 

 

[CaseyJ955]

It looks like you know how to use SD! Awesome with the plains as far as the eye can see, it recharges my batteries so I sure understand that. I'm glad still a lot of folks know how to do Sturgis/SD, I see more trailers and RVs than ever before, I know it's not anything like it was inside Sturgis, but the hills and plains are still all that they were when I got here. No words.

 

There is something about this place that gets under one's skin and it wont let go. Every time I move away I end up back.