cowpuc

Tip and I had heard from a very reliable source (our daughter) that Shelter Cove California was/is a world class whale watching location so we headed that way. Little did we know that the trail leading from Redway down to Shelter Cove, an amazing little coastal town with black sand beaches, would also be world class in it's gorgeous views and driving opportunities!!

OUTSTANDING ya lop eared Slimy Crud chop riding flat black lovin varmint!!!!! SOUNDS LIKE A BLAST!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Sic em Zag and that GORGEOUS 1 off Black Beast scoot of yours drags home that 1st Place trophy brother!!!!

Having covered over 1 million miles in 31 years while tent camping off the back end of a motorcycle in areas all over the lower 48 states of our country and many parts of Canada, we thought we had accomplished something by being able to drop the tent and be inside of it within 5 minutes of stopping the bike. We never dreamed of an easier, faster "camp routine" but have truly discovered it. Simply pull in, put the saddlebags (now duffle bags) on the front seats and slide the seats forward. Move the sleeping boards with bags on them forward, climb in, push the lock button on the fobs (hit the AC or Heat if ya need it) and nod for the night!! Having done that, I can honestly say the early morning wake ups such as this one over looking the Pacific Ocean have not changed - PARADISE right out side!!!

Having discovered this knarly, switchback infested, no guard rail cliff hanging endless hairpin turning, bicycle trail width in spots, +50 mile pathway thru the Redwoods roadway that runs eastwardly from Stewarts Point CA on Hwy 1 over to Gyserville, many years ago,, it was a very seldom occasion that we made the trip to the west coast on our touring bike that we didn't take the time to ride this trail that embarasses the likes of "The Tail Of The Dragon" just one more time and our initial voyage in that direction with our new Sports Car named Trooper played out no differently!! Trooper did just SUPER in this environment and his Sport Mode was a blast here!! We have shared the secret of Skaggs Springs Road with many touring riders in the past and now eagerly expand the encouragement to "Get Out And Ride" that trail with our fellow Micro Motor Home travelers too!!

GORGEOUS SCOOT WIZ!!!!! Congrats on being able to get back in the saddle and also on doing so after such a traumatic experience!!!!

While I was shopping at Walmart in Galt California for some 0w20 Full Synthetic Oil for Trooper,, some low life was outside working on sneaking inside of him!! If it weren't for the fact that my wife had called me and asked me to jump back in Trooper to bring her some baby formula for our newly born grandson, those nasty bad guys may have gotten away with something! THANKFULLY all the damage that was done was some scraping on the paint to the little cover that hides Troopers emergency door lock!!

For us gear heads, there is something very special about doing the very 1st oil change of a brand new vehicle. Trooper came from the new car dealership with a free 1st oil change offer but, being 3k miles from Betten Baker Hyundai in Muskegon at the time that his oil change need presented itself eliminated that option (I would have done it myself anyway - it's a guy thing,,,,, sort of like asking those fine people at the Dealership to leave Troopers stickers on so I could remove them LOL). All went well and Trooper came thru it all like a trooper!!!

I know what cha mean Dave, my current need to sleep at any given moment has really put a crimp in our life style concerning bike touring so you can imagine my when I found the "Prius Camping" video's on YouTube a few months ago that started this long process!! I was shocked to learn that the Ioniq actually has more space in the back PLUS it also operates it AC off the battery pack so the internal temps can be controlled endlessly over night too = just like a full sized motorhome only LOTS cheaper!! We spent a couple nights down in Organ Pipe Cactus N.P. with night tempts in the 100's and inside tempts at 70 (SLEPT LIKE A BABY ) and can verify that two nights of AC cost less than 1 gallon of gas = INCREDIBLE!!! Now,, instead of:cry: over the prospects of our touring days being cut short,, we are about all the places we want to go/see that we were limited to because of Jeff and his Wisconsin White Washer and other weather concerns... You should have seen us LAUGHING at a HUGE Rocky Mountain Thunder Storm up at 9000 feet in 36 degree tempts = I am sure the other tourist thought we were crazy....... Look out Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here's basically how it all works,,, at least it still does around here brother... After doing the research,, taking the physical measurements so I knew Trooper could easily sleep two and double checking my data concerning warranties (the Hyundai has some remarkable factory warranty stats like 10 year/100k on drive train and life time on the battery = NOT the typical Extended Warranty nonsense either,, this is ACTUAL factory warranty) and doing pricing,, I grabbed a handful of 100 dollar bills to produce the feeding frenzy scent needed to get the wheels moving and went shopping.. As I had advised many people buying new scoots,, I also waited till I knew the new models would be on their way to the dealerships so we would be dealing on a new "left over" 2018 and also for the last week of the month knowing the sales persons would be anxious to meet quotas.. Worked great!! After a good full day of cross shopping for the bid process (gathering quotes) I produced exactly the color and car we wanted being shipped to the dealership we wanted (I LOVE staying local so I can develop a good, regular relationship with a dealership right out my back door).. In the end, thru a little bit of hard work,,, spending time saving up the cash and NEVER considering or mentioning a "trade in" in the process and CONSTANTLY reminding those sales people that we were talking CASH = we got the exact car we wanted for just under 19 grand !!

Maybe your IPad thing is in "Judge The Character Before Playing His Video's" mode

WOW @dogman ,,, that is soooo awesome!!! 1st of all please allow me a huge THANK YOU for your many years of service in keeping our societies here in North America safe and sound my brother!! Your amazing focus on and love for both raising and training those very special crime fighters thru the years has DEFINITELY been appreciated by more people than you can imagine and Tip/I are part of them.. We just got in from an amazing journey along our southern border where we had the pleasure of watching some of your work in action = REMARKABLE doesnt even come close to what the specialized type of service you did has done in keeping us all safe = THANK YOU DAVE and a thank you to those many special that served you beside you too!!! Here:beer: my friend is to a longgg and enjoyable and completely full life of retirement my brother!! As already mentioned and seconded fully by yours truly,, YOU DESERVE IT (and so does Bernie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)! Love you guys!! Puc and Tip

I hear that brother!! I kind of got myself painted into a corner on this one.. I went and step on some toes in sharing my overzealous opinion about the new Venture which ended up producing some not so friendly text messages on my phone which Tippy seen and went which ended up getting me on a short leash for sharing some personal things concerning the off spring and their familmy (my getting me beat up is one thing but any chance of those problems surfacing into our off springs lives is a whole nother matter).. You know me Carl,, I have no less than 12,000 pictures and 8 hours of video and it is sooooooooo hard for me to keep my :happy65:over opinionated,, super proud grampa !!!! I guess I will just have to pay the forum fines for no pictures this time (oh well,,, whats one more year on probation )!!

somebody decided to start a revolution with that Evolution!!! Now THAT is what I am talking about divey!!!!! And you KNOW I would ABSOLUTELY be PROUD to be the 1st to ride that puppy!!!!

Back at cha Kretz!!!!! "Trooper" our brand new Hyundai Ioniq Micro Motor Home/Sports car/mountain goat now has just under 10,000 miles on him in less than 3 weeks!! One of the HUGE things that I am still in shock with is traveling over 600 miles on less than 10 gallons of gas - thing is INCREDIBLE!! There are other things I still dont get,,, Troopers little motor has a compression ratio of over 13:1 but is spected at 87 octane that he LOVES!! The ability to sleep during the day when my cancer fatique hits was imparitive for keeping us CTFW and we were THRILLED to find this capibility but WOWZY WOW WOW WOW -finding it in a vehicle that Tip could drive while I sleep PLUS getting this kind of MPG is just mind boggling!! Hyundai DEFINITELY has my :thumbsup::thumbsup: on this one so far!!!!!!!!!!!!

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME RIGHT AT THE START AND YOU CAN BRIEFLY HEAR ONE!!!! He only sang his song briefly but,,, THAT'S IT!! Do you remember that bird's song??? Because of all the Cowboy shows I watched as a child, that birds song is embedded in my minds eye FOREVER!!!!!! What is that??

THERE"S SILVER IN THEM THERE HILL'S!!!! Unfortunately the two brothers who made the discovery that made Virginia City famous and brought wealth to so many never got to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Tip and I have ridden "50" (aka = "The Loneliest Highway In America") in its entirety from Ocean City MD to Sacramento CA by motorcycle and were thrilled to share some of it with Trooper on several occasions. Towns along 50's path like Austin are absolute treasure troves of American history!!

To many people the idea of two retired people camping out in the back of a Hybrid Car probably sounds pretty out there but to my wife - Tippy, and I, our newly discovered 60 mile per gallon Micro Motor Home, mountain climbing Hyundai Ionic Hybrid is a God send and an answer to prayer! We come from a fairly steady diet of tent camping while criss crossing the country on a touring motorcycle (subscribe and check out some of our motorcycle touring vids) so for us, life on the road of adventure with Trooper could not be better, a DEFINITE step up in the realm of camping opportunities and a means to keep us out on the road - making new memories together!!!

I think this great big beautiful Rocky Mountain N.P. Bull Elk really appreciated Troopers silence and stealthiness and he was not afraid to tell us all about it!! THANK YOU for the AWESOME greeting Mr. Elk!!

We were amazed to find how effective Troopers cruise control worked even at speeds well below 20 mph!! This and his "Hill Assist" came in extremely handy for watching for wild life on the back roads of the Rocky Mountain N.P.!!

Ya learn something new everyday when hanging out with adventurers like Tip and Trooper.. I never even knew they allowed Elk Hunting inside the National Park much less that they had rules like explained on this sign!!

Neither pictures nor video do this mommy Moose and her new born calve justice!! Something's in life just require being there to really get the full effect but hey,, ya cant say the three of us didnt try!!!

Who would have ever thought that an electric car could have so much fun playing with a couple of old bikers like Tip and I!!

There is no place on earth more worthy of breaking in a new vehicle to new adventure than the Rocky Mountain National Park in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and no place better to begin the adventure than the Grand Lodge wayyyyyy up there in those awesome mountains!!!

They let me back into this little office so I gotta be quick here.. My Grandson who have already nicknamed "Caleb The California Kid" (and no,, Caleb is not his actual name,, they still have not chosen a name yet but I like CTCK so thats what I call him (more to this but I dont have time for great detail) = Grandpa's have special privilages ya know!!) was born yesterday,, on Tippy and my 38th Wedding Anniversary. Because of complications (he's a biggn,, 9 pounds - 22.5 inches long - his mom was only 14 inches and 4 pounds when she was born) they ended up taking him with C-Clamps (they call it C-Sectioning) but they got him out and in fine shape!! My daughter is doing well too now... "The Kid" is AWESOME - after balling him out for not listening to his grampa when I told him it was time WEEKS AGO,,, I slid my finger between his finger/palm imitating a big throttle and his toes curled and nose tweeked like his grampa used to do while focusing on a jump on an MX track = YEP,,,, The Kid's got it!!!! Gonna be fun!!!!! Thanks for the Prayers Up and congrats gang!!! More to come Puc