cowpuc

I'll keep a light on for ya Cha and some fresh batteries in the camera !! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE THOUGHTS, PRAYERS AND CONCERNS!! This family of ours is second to none!! Cant WAIT to get thru this stuff and get back to feeling normal!

Ok, I waited for a longgg time and didn't get roasted or kicked off the site yet... Springing off my previous .. Here's what we do.. We use the parking lot(s) at the Custom's Office's at Glacier National Park for next years International Rally.. No need to have a passport (might be some folks out there who - for one reason or another dont wanna bother getting one or, for undisclosed reasons - cant get one ). Dont even have to cross the border, we would be able to chat with those who dont wanna cross over via C.B. radios or what ever.. Those who wanna cross could cross over and meet folks from the "other side" at free will,, shake hands - :bighug:and all that stuff.. Exchange stories, look at bikes,, TAKE PICS AND VIDEO'S .. Meet folks who we may never see again:cool10:.. Make new friends - visit with old buddies ... Then ride some of the most BEEEAAUUTIFUL country known to man.. Pet some grizzly's and feed some chipmunks!!

Ok Bossman,, I am gonna take that sentence at face value (being free to discuss openly as we wish) while totally understanding the pointlessness of it (I have a LOT of pointless conversations with myself these days ).. Having experienced a couple VR outings/events over the recent years, I have observed a few things and would like to share them. First off, I am so amazingly impressed with the dedication, kindness and tenacity of the people who have endured to put these events on - it almost leaves me speechless.. They are just some of the most AMAZING people I have ever met (this includes you Mr. Freebird). That IS brutal honesty and a FACT!! The negative side of seeing some of those folks doing so is (and I know it goes with the territory) is that some of those same souls are in so deep at Rally time that its hard for them to relax and "chit chat" while still "owning" their accepted responsibilty to make sure the rest of us are having a good time - it HAS to be exhausting (maybe thats why relatively few folks take on the task)!!.. Kudo's and a REAL heart felt :happy65::happy65::happy65: to ALL those folks who have been there/done that!! I REALLY admire each of you!! Please dont take anything I say from here on out to sound like I dont mean what I just wrote!! ****** I wonder how it would go if we just chose a "Rally Point" as close to "ground zero" of the US/Canadian Border (a big open field on the back of the Badlands of South Dakota would be PERFECT for what I am talking about!!) and, sort of let each person fend for themselves concerning locating Motels/Food/Camp area's and the like? After choosing the Rally Point, we could have open discussions between each other here in the Water Hole concerning motel variety and costs.. We could also discuss with each other any experiences we may have had in those area's,, good rides to take - things to see and FOOD to eat - a virtual SMORGASBOARD OF WONDERFULNESS!! In the end, let each of us feel free to contribute idea's for rides and such instead of leaving it on a very small group of folks to figure out what may or may not make us smile.. ****** We would then also be able to do so with NO "sign up" - nuts eay?.. Sometimes I wonder if the whole idea of committing to a Rally (be it an International or what ever) is just a little overwhelming to some folks.. Not everyone lives a "scheduled" life where they live thru planning and executing.. I have lived a very sanguine and spontanious lifestyle (been HARD on Tippy I tell ya) filled with - come home from work, announce "we are headed to Cedar Point", kids jumping up and down yelling HURRAY while the wife sneers at me and says - I thought we agreed on at least a 24 hours notice:yikes:.. I also happen to know that Tip (she is a planner!!) will also tell you that I am THE funnest person she has ever met:178:- one of the reasons she said YES when I asked her to marry me:happy34:.. I know I cant be alone on this planet in my sanguinity .. That said, I also wonder if folks who have not officially signed up for a well planned/excellently executed rally may find it hard to just "stop in" - even just to say howdy.. Reasoning for not signing up may be financial, being a typical non-planner such as myself or even just plain over site.. I guess it really doesnt matter why, the key to what I am talking about is keeping the doors wide open to ANYONE to show up at ANYTIME during the type of Rally I am talking about and not have to feel even a tinge of reluctance in doing so or not doing - that might be eleviated because no one would know who is coming and who isn't anyway:guitarist 2:!! This is gonna REALLY REALLY sound strange but I personally think it would be a RIOT to attend an International Rally with no idea who may or may not be there, stop at a local Burger King - share some of Tippy's $2.50 BK coupons with a dozen or so of my fellow VR members who like to eat cheap and then continue on to the Rally Point to see who else decided to make the trip!! Kind of keep attendance a surprise/secret - I LOVE surprises (weird eay)!!! I think I will stop here and see how bad I get ROASTED before I go on

Glad your ok Bren and that no one was hurt!! Sorry ya had to go thru that... Gotta say,, I saw this stuff play out over and over again while attending the 75th this year and, as much as I hate to admit it, it didnt usually involve a cager.. As crazy as this may sound, I think it has more to do with some form of a day and age of total disrespect (to the point of no respect for human life) for one another than anything.. Sure makes those endless remote roads of Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and the Dakota's become all the more inviting for this ol wanna be!!

Prayers Up and Blessings Down for the completion of your project AND for a VERY successful 2nd Annual Princess Emma Ride Larry!! What a remarkable story you have shared!! Emma, we know you are smiling from Heaven knowing how much you are missed and loved evidence by the above story!! The battle rages on to conquer that horrible illness that took you from us such a short time ago!! RIP Sweetheart!

BEEEEAAUUUUTEEEEEFUL Mirider and wife!! Looks like you two had the PERFECT shakedown/test ride!! Thanks for the gorgeous 's and the great story!! May your future with having your bike set up so nicely hold nothing but endless miles of great fun together!!! P.S. - your rig needs a name (bikes have feelings too ya know:missingtooth:).. Since its maiden voyage was to THE bridge and all worked out so well,, I would go with Big Mac:big-grin-emoticon: if that gorgeous outfit were mine!!! Beautiful,, just beautiful!!!!!

Thats strange,,,,,, Tip and I noticed a Blue one down at the channel in Muskegon yesterday evening too... It was parked so we parked and went and found the owners.. Some of the nicest folks you'ld ever wanna meet. Wonder how far from Muskegon Mi Hopewell Rocks is

Traveling and camping safety Prayers Up and Blessings Down for all our friends and family headed to one the most awesome Rallies known to man!! Also for the St. Judes cause for which they ride/drive/walk or paddle!! Have fun ya'll PS - thanks Fozzie and gang for all your hard work in keeping it going!!

Sheesh kapeesh,, cant a guy get no rest around this joint!!! Couple of things,, first Mr. O, THANK YOU for being so quickly responsive to the hints of the forums unwritten rules found in our little reminder that - ! That bike of yours is GORGEOUS:scared:!!! 2nd thing is,, dont let these lop eared varmints push ya around.. When it comes to bike advice they are second to none BUT - when it comes to personal advice concerning gentle/quiet and non people, especially about their fellow members - BEEEE CAREFUL!! THANKS for taking the hint though, taking the time to :photographing: and showing these folks how its suppose to be done!!! Hopefully you learned em something! Now the important stuff.. IMHO, It sounds to me like your scoot is performing exactly as it should. I know it can be intimidating to see that temp gauge riding high like it does but I assure you from my perspective, thats normal. I have personally spent a fair amount of time in extreme temps (including some Death Valley touring - 120 degrees) and found that zone on the temp gauge is where these puppies run.. As mentioned, as long as your fan will activate before the gauge gets into the red - all things sound normal. Concerning the stator output.. If I had it to do all over again and had had the advantage of modern day LED lighting that we now have, I would have researched (with the advice of people like that sneaky @Flyinfool) the means to switch all of my running lights over to LED. I only say that cause I have a hunch it may involve a little more than just plugging in LED's. I have personally never been that impressed with the stator output on our 1st Gens (cant speak for 2nd Gen's/1999 or newer Ventures as I have never even ridden one - much less worked on one). I think lessening the draw on the system would be a HUGE improvement across the board!! Anyway, all the chatter you are hearing about running the battery down thru over usage of the fan motor is spot on - I have experienced it several times! Fact is, I think the whole electrical system on our 1st Gens was designed by some back yard mechanic sipping Saki when he should have been thinking of what these scoots were going to be exposed to.. One of the HUGE advantages to a person jumping to LED lights would be the end effect of not using the limited power source of your battery on lighting amp draw and having it available for those slow moving traffic jams in high temps when your fan is vitally needed.. Bottom line, as mentioned, check the anti-freeze - make sure its full. Warm your scoot up to operating temp, let it idle its way to fan on, watch the temp gauge and see if it drops a little as the fan is forcing air thru the rad. Should all happen just below the red zone. Keep a GOOD battery in your scoot - tired batteries are your bikes worst nightmare and hard on EVERYTHING. Chat with these varmints who 'd ya about the pics and see if ya cant pry some info from them about whether or not some things have to be done with the Reserve Lighting Unit in order to drop one of these modern day LED headlights in.. Switch over to LED's - your stator/battery/electrical system will LOVE ya for it!! Now all that said, another point to be considered here.. THOUSANDS of bikes just like yours have been ridden THOUSANDS of miles functioning exactly like your scoot is functioning (at least, from what I am reading here - it sounds that way). You could just ride the living daylights out of it like it is!! I mean truthfully, even if you do run the battery low enough thru over fan usage in slow traffic that it wont restart after you shut it off to refuel, it's only a one ice cream cone wait for the battery to regain enough charge to get her going again

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: LOVE YA BROTHER

+3 (Tweeks, Tip n Puc) who would not object one teeny weeny little bit about an IVR either west or east side of your great country!!! Definitely be interested if at all possible on our end!!

:lightbulb:OR,, get permission from those Blue Liner's to pop a tent in their parking lot (almost needed to anyway - it was well after 10 p.m. before @VentureFar, Steve and Tippy stopped yakking about what a great time they all had (I sat tight lipped on the curb waiting for them:big-grin-emoticon:).. Besides - Pie with Breakfast - Pie with Lunch - Pie with Dinner and pie for a late night snack would be AWESOME!!! Yep,, definitely earlier BJ!!

My deepest and utmost heartfelt condolences go out to Mr. Kellar's family and friends. Prayers Up and Blessings Down for all involved!! The same for those familys affected by the other fatalities and injuries sustained as a result of the chaos that happens when over a million people descend on such a small geographic area.. I echo exactly what BJ just posted!! This years Rally was unbelievable!! In all my years of attending the rally I have NEVER seen anything like this one! Tip and I can attest to the Keystone/Rushmore traffic back up that Bernie is talking about. I have a short video of exactly that location and the lines of traffic waiting to get into Keystone - IT WAS AMAZING:scared:!!! BJ - as promised, here is the last of the video I have of us Venturerider.org Pie Butt 26.2 riders at the Blue Line Diner.. Brother,, we really really need to make this an annual event!! What a refreshing break this was from the crazy madness happening right out side - even up in Newell

After having a functional life of about 5% of that of a normal person over last winter (literally sleeping 18/20 hrs and still being tired), we were thanking God that this wreck of a body of mine responded like it did to Prednizone at an Emergency Room visit back in April. That response led my family doctor to hook me up with an Endocronologist (she is running out of specialist to send me to I think). They also found blood in my urine at the same ER visit which led me to a Urologist.. The results of the Urologist exams revealed that I do have Prostate Cancer, that proved to be low on what is known as a "Gleason" scale and totally unrelated to what ever was sucking the life out of me (literally felt like I had a hole in the bottom of my feet and every time I tried to stand up I could feel the life draining from my body - STRANGE!!!).. We decided to hold off on any advanced Prostate surgeries and continue pursuing what is/was causing my symptoms. Because I did respond to Pred at the ER, my family Doctor started me on a low dose (5mg) of Pred back in April and that seemed to really help. It took some time to get into see an Endo Dr.. After listening to what was going on and examining my records, the Endo Dr. said it appears that I do have Adrenaline Deficincy as a result of something going wrong with my Pituatary/Adrenaline system.. At that time, test showed that the only Adrenaline present in my system was (and is) a very small amount that the low dosage of Pred is providing. The unfortunate thing to all of this is that he (the Endo Dr.) can do nothing in further diagnoses or treatments until I am weaned off the Prednisone - a 4 to 6 week process that would lead me right back into that nasty world of living at 5% BUT - and its a HUGE BUT,, this time it would be for a purpose!! I was SO glad to have had even a small amount of an ability to function this 2015 summer (been feeling at about 60% - ironically the Endo Dr. said that is exactly what he would expect as the Pred is only providing a fraction of what I need and only one type of adrenaline). By the grace of God and because of the Prednizone I was able to walk my youngest daughter down the isle and attend Freebirds MD, Orlin's MD, The Mackinaw Car Show, Muskegon's Bike Time and even hold a couple of my very own "Greet - Meet and Eat Meats". Not our usual 2 month summer of CTFW across our gorgeous country but far better (plenty of action to write about this coming winter) than what I thought my summer was going to be like - THANK GOD!! When the Dr. announced that he was going to begin the process of cutting off my Pred a couple weeks ago I begged for mercy, explained how bad we wanted to attend the Sturgis Rally before heading back into the abyss.. The Doctor agreed to it as long as I agreed to start the process as soon as returning home from Sturgis.. Tweeks, Tip and I did get to attend the 75th Sturgis Rally - all went really well and we had a LOT of refreshing fun.. A deal is a deal however and I am now into my 4th day of cutting back my Pred as agreed upon. I can feel the change taking place and Tippy announced to me today that she can see the changes taking place. Not fun but has to be done.. Lots of sleep, confusion and blank staring going on as I sink into the tank again.. It looks like we will be pretty much housebound for a while with Tweeks being tied up to the hitching post until we get thru this part of the ongoing health saga.. THANK GOD FOR THE UNWAVERING LOVE THAT TIP HAS FOR ME! As always, ANY thoughts - prayers and concerns are greatly appreciated!!! Also, I would GREATLY appreciate any ride/event stories - WITH PICS - that our family here provides about the upcoming events that we will be missing!! Video's, if possible, of the dance contests coming up at the NY Rally will be especially appreciated!! I will still get on here to respond when possible BUT - please remember - that just cause I am to tired to respond does not mean I am not watching and enjoying!! Be careful out there ya bunch of lop eared varmints and dont forget to stop and smell the roses along what ever CTFW trail you find yourselves on!! Puc

AWESOME PEG!! Cant wait to see them!! It was a PLEASURE making your aquaintance my friend! Hopefully the rest of us Pie Butt Riders didnt leave you with a distaste for getting out and meeting more of the VR members in the future.. Can tell you from personal experience that 96.83% of the members that hopefully you will meet in the future will be charming, lovable, courteous, kind and straight shooters - just like the bunch of lop eared varmints at the Blue Line Diner who had pie on their faces.. Tweeks says THANKS for scratching her back with the marker (picture number 6 above)!!!! I also think I have the "NSD" figured out my friend - maybe stands for Newell South Dakota?? While we are waiting for your pics, here is another video story of the day!!

WOW ZZZ WOW WOW WOW,,, THAT is purrrrrrrrdy Mr. Bird,, just flat gorgeous:thumbsup:!! :ice_congrats-vi6886:ice_congrats-vi6886 THANKS for being a law abiding VR member:photographing: Wondered if it has a form of reverse on it (probably a stupid question).. Prayers still Up and Blessings Down for you YammerDan!!! Tuff decisions to make my friend, this biking business gets in the blood thats for sure.. Either way you decide, please know you are loved my brother!!

Back before the invent of modern day grip glues I used hair spray for installing new grips, the stuff always worked well. Just clean the bars and internal grip with brake cleaner, let dry, spray internal grip with hair spray, slide it on while the hairspray was damp, let it dry for a few minutes and its glued like a freshly styled hairdo on a cowgirls head in Montana windstorm... SeaPuppy, if that grip came loose as a result of brake fluid leaking on it, I would not be surprised if your gonna need new grips.. Most of the brake fluids coming in contact with rubber parts not designed for brake fluid contact I have ever dealt with end up needing replacement. I would clean it up with brake or carb cleaner before you try anything, glue it back down but dont be surprised if it still gives you future problems..

I have had the same issues with Fire Fox Rand, usually I just click on "stop script" and continue on.. Not exactly sure what that is all about.. I also know that I frequently refresh Fire Fox and do the trouble shoot cleanup like I had mentioned to you before and that seems to help alot with the slowness.. Another thing I know that affects my puter speed is if more than one person is using our DSL at a time.. Something else that helps is rebooting both my puter and the router (turning router off for a few seconds).. Frustrating as all get out but, still a whole lot better than the old dial up I had back when I first started with VR!!! What da heck bro,,,, maybe we got us some strange viral thing going on... Hopefully some puter genus will hop in and help us both out!!

And here is why I only ended up with a few pics,, check out this video.. More coming!!

Here are the pics I got, only got a couple.. Did get some AWESOME video though - I will upload em to youtube and post a couple of the Blue Liners up BJ.. I have hopes of doing another 2015 summer ride story this winter which will include these shots but because you asked BJ,, here are the only actual Blue Line Diner pictures I have.. WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAS BROTHER!!!!!!

Wassup Beej!!! Most of what I shot was in video,, I LOVE doing em cause they tend to be more personal BUT,, let me dig thru this stuff cause I know I did take a couple pics outdoors... Gotta pull the card from the camera and see what I got... Back in a bit..

TOTALLY AWESOME MONTY!!! :clap2::dancefool: Look at those GORGEOUS pics:thumbsup: and think of all the cash you saved by getting a mental massage without paying the big dollars for some head shrinker!!! Plus, you get to come on here and share the therapy with all your buddies.. Plus, plus - your scoot really loves you now!!! Plus, plus, plus - YOU and your scoot just proved once again the deeper meaning of why we ride!! THANKS FOR SHARING MONTY!!

All the best wishes with your new company Paul!!

Good one Bill, CONGRATS!!!!! I would ride that gorgeous Connie till her wheels fell off:bikersmilie: HOT DOGS FOR EVERYONE MY FRIEND!!!

Thanks Bill,, problem is, with all the photo chop shop stuff going on these days its getting harder and harder to get people to believe half the stuff I post up is real.. That particular picture had "proof" written all over it which I think means its certified proof that the picture is real...