cowpuc

You are more than welcome Motiv!! It was pleasure having you ride along!

I hope so, I hope so, I hope so and I hope so:big-grin-emoticon: AHAAA,, a sign of weakness!!

HAPPY "FINDING THAT ONE GOOD APPLE" ANNIVERSARY TO YOU AND NINA SILVRT! THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN SHARING LIFE WITH THAT ONE SPECIAL PERSON!!

Good for you Daitan!!! 900 bucks seems a little high but I haven't had a bike worked on in a shop for a very long time,, probably going rate these days... Talking about air horns,, I have always LOVED that old school Harley "Jubilee" horn that they had back in the Duo Glide Days (the long bell one that stuck out from under the carb).. Wonder if thats the style of horn that your talking about? Telling ya, that is one thing that I have ALWAYS like about HD and their aftermarket suppliers,, seems like a guy can pretty much build his bike any way he wants it..

,, Mine too Raggie,, mine too....

,, sorry about that Dan!

Oddly enough, I LOVED Country Western back than too (still do) and Willie has always done me good.. Seconded only by him and Waylon..

,,,,, his bark is far worse than his Dan!! Seems like just a couple weeks ago that Mr. himself was down there by you in the and he made sure that all his friends back here in the knew all about it I will say this though,, we do have some rule here that, simply stated reads :worthless:but is more harshly interpreted "no pics = it did not happen".. I am not sure if "trial" members can post pics but if you can and you dont do it and start asking about your bike than, yea,, a few of these lop eared 's might really start scratching fleas or something..

Hi Dan, Wanted to take a second and welcome you to VR! I have never ridden an RSTD so I probably wont be much help to you. I do know that when I ride my 83 Venture out west and my feet get hot I usually find comfort by putting my socks and my riding boots back on.. Wait a minute,,,, I also had an old Sportster that burned a leg or two in its life, I found that pipe wrap helped it a lot. I also know that if your bike is not stock, if it has an open air box and different pipes, it could be running leaner than it should be and whenever you lean out an engine they tend to run hotter,, just a thought.. At any rate, hope you find relief for the hot feet, enjoy your time here and have a GREAT riding season!! Puc

Went by a real deal Ma and Pa Texas BBQ joints last summer down in Texas that I swear I gained 15 pounds just riding by and smelling the place!!

Right there with ya Bren!! I feel like a John Deerr

Thats a tough one Gary,, to choose one,, just one... Those were unforgettable days, tumultuous to say the least but also extremely exciting.. I guess that's why Don McKlean's hit was it for me and a lot of my friends back than...

FREEBIRD!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSSMAN!!!!!!! :Crazy_139::Happy Birthday::Crazy_139:

I have heard rumors of these things called "Maintenance Days" that are held around the world by folks who belong to VentureRider.org. Apparently they are very similar to what was about to unfold here at Raggies Rally with the exception of more than one bike at a time is probably being worked on at official MD's. It was amazing how the following example unfolded right before my very eyes. I was so glad that I happen to have my old beater camera along to record the spectacle as it gained speed. @Drews stood innocently by as the spectator seats filled up with anxious Rally attenders wanting to find out what all the mirth was about. Our very dear friend Carbon One was amazingly able to continue in his work and complete the arduous task of installing an air horn on Billmacs gorgeous scoot while a major YouTube production was in process with new internet video stars the likes that had never been seen in YouTube history.

@Carbon One , @habfan, @billmac and @Canuck1 got started in some kind of a mechanical discussion that ended up with Carbon One presenting our first official show and tell time. Besides having a lot of fun, a person can learn a lot from discussions like these and can walk away from them with not only more motorcycle knowledge than he had when he entered the discussion but also with some really wonderful new friends.

As the day moved on more and more folks arrived at the Rally that these two fine people had hosted at their home. @BuckShot and @buzzman came in from somewhere in Ohio. It was so much fun having these two Buckeye's share some time and friendship with us!

Raggie seemed to really take a liking to Tweeks, it looked a little rainy that evening so @ragtop69gs made her a camping area in his garage so Tweeks could sleep inside. Thankfully it didn't rain so the rest of us who had to sleep outside did not have to test our leaky tents and pieces of plastic. Speaking about tent walls, even after all those nights of sleeping in our little blue tent while traveling out west, I was shocked to find out how not soundproof our moderately expensive little motel was - who ever was sleeping in the Pop-Up Tent Camper that was camping next door to us was an accomplished snorest and our tent walls actually danced with every vibration that occurred as the result of our neighbors music. The rhythm of the professionally put together snoring tunes made for some of the greatest ease of sleep as my own music joined in to make a symphony of nothing but the highest quality!! I stuck my head out of our tent on the morning of the official Raggie Rally and was pleased to find out that any sign of rain that had dared shown its spooky little face had long since departed during the night. I slumbered out and instantly detected the sweet smell of breakfast cooking on an open grill. I was reminded of an old saying I had heard once that says something about early birds and worms and the meaning of that old saying was becoming clearer to me. A small, but yet powerful, feeding frenzy had already started at a picnic table on the far side of Raggie and Jeannies back yard and our host informed me that we probably should grab a quick bite to eat unless a glass of milk and a cookie was all we wanted. All joking aside, we all had a GREAT breakfast and everyone there was very impressed with our host(s) and the wonderful meal they provided for all of their guest - of which Tip, Tweeks and I had the honor and pleasure to be three of - THANK YOU JEANNIE AND JAY!!

Our ride thru Muskegon's Bike Time on our way to Raggie and Jeans Rally in Detroit was really fun. It was great to see old friends and to give Tweeks a chance to make sure her and the new Michelin tire were gonna get along. Having that accomplished, the three of us headed toward Detroit. My Father use to laugh at me when I would get lost while we were deer hunting the Northern Michigan woodlands. On more than one occasion I had to spend a night in the woods and wait till the next day to find my way because of my natural tendency to get lost. On one such occasion I got twisted around and didn't make it back to my dads truck before the agreed upon 11 p.m. departure and I ended up getting a ride home with a couple of fellow bow hunters who happen to also be hunting the same section of state land north of M-37 and M-55 in our great Northern woods. Dad was cooking lunch at home back in Muskegon when I finally wondered in. I asked him if he was worried at all about me out there lost and hungry. He laughed and said "heavens no - I knew the hungrier you got the better your nose would work and that as soon as you were real hungry you would find your way home".. Having taken examples like the previous paragraph into deep consideration, I chose to make the short ride over to Detroit the day before the Rally was suppose to take place and we headed directly to Raggies from Muskegon's Bike Time. This turned out to be the correct decision on my part because after we had made our third pass at the intersection where Mapquest said "West 5" was gonna be, I decided to stop at a local gas station as I took the same turnaround exit for the 3rd time. The young lady looked at our directions and told us that we were right where we wanted to be, we were just given bad directions. And people ask me why I don't trust computers. A few minutes had passed after chatting with the young lady at the gas station and we were pulling into Raggie and Jeannies. I was shocked to find out that apparently other VentureRider.org members were also directionally challenged, this being instantly obvious to me because two other couples besides our hosts were already there too! One of the great things about being a member of VentureRider.org is the endless supply of not just amazing folks but also down right great people that one gets to encounter and, in the end, call them your friend. The encounter that was about to take place was one that I had been waiting upon for a long time. All summer long I had been meeting folks who I had longed to have the privilege of shaking hands with and more folks on that list were now standing there in front of me with smiles on their faces! @bongobobny and his wife Becky had arrived from their home in New York and @Jrichard and his wife Patricia had also come up from Virginia on their gorgeous Kawasaki Voyager. Both of these teams must of under estimated their directional skills though because, even though they came from much farther distances, they were both still able to arrive before Tip, Tweeks and I.

2014 CTFWING EPILOG: My youngest daughter gave me a big hug and thanked me for being home to greet her upon her return from being gone all winter. Her and Tip had been catching up on the laundry and I had just finished mounting yet another new tire on Tweeks as the kid kissed me on the forehead in an attempt to keep from getting grease on her from the dirt that always seems to accumulate on my nose when I work on stuff. The new Full Bore rear tire I had installed on the Tweeks back in Sacramento had done an excellent job. It didn't wear as good as the new Metzler had on the way out to the west coast but it also has not disintegrated at the end of its life either so I gave the Full Bore a healthy "8" as far bang for the buck goes. I would avoid using Metzler again if possible but would definitely consider another 65 dollar Full Bore if the need arose. I picked up a new Michelin from a friend here in Muskegon for 80 dollars and that is what I had just finished installing on Tweeks. Having heard good things about the new Miche's while traveling and, having a chance to get one at a decent price, I thought what the heck - the three of us would give em a try. My youngest had been home for a couple days and I had just finished going over her little Honda Civic for her. All my kids have inherited the love for adventure from Tip and I so I wasn't surprised at all to hear her announce that she was gonna hit the road and go visit a friend in Kansas. Thankfully Tip and I had taken the effort to make it home from our western adventure in time to see her for a couple days. As my daughter pulled out of our driveway I smiled at Tip, pointed at the tent that was still in a bundle on the garage floor and at Tweeks new rear tire and told Tip that we were ready to go back at it now that the offspring's mainspring had sprung again. A really good friend of ours who we had never met, a guy by the name of @ragtop69gs (I call him Raggie) and his wife Jeannie were in the process of hosting a bike rally over in Detroit and the three of us had somehow gotten invited. It was also our local "Bike Time" Rally here in Muskegon and I thought we would give Tweeks a chance to show off her prowess on the way out of town. Tip was giggling her girlish "here we go again" giggle as she walked inside to pack some of our freshly cleaned riding clothes. A number of years ago some local business's and a personal friend of mine got together and decided to create a miniature Sturgis Rally here in Muskegon. They named the long weekend rally "Muskegon Bike Time". When my buddy, who owned our local Honda Shop back than, first told me what they were gonna do I was THRILLED!! I have always loved our country's big rally's like Daytona, Myrtle Beach and Sturgis and had always wished we had one here locally. At that time of my life I was restoring motorcycles and building old school choppers for a living and, besides being all kinds of fun, thought the draw of our own Rally Point may help with our local economy. I began participating in Muskegon's Bike Time right from the beginning and really loved those early days. Here is an internet link describing what you may have seen me doing back in those days, Bike Time gets off to roaring start despite weather, changes in features | MLive.com

Thanks you guys for all the great feedback! Going back over our pictures and the memories of the people we met and things we saw on last years ride has been very helpful in coping with winter here too! FlyingFool,, I have to admit, I went back and read 151 and 152 and it gave me the willies.. Then when I noticed CarbonOnes post on here about it all,,, well,, maybe I did actually pull the trigger to soon,, SOOOOOoooooooo:big-grin-emoticon:

Tip and I have yakked and yakked about taking a serious adventure across Canada and Alaska and I am still wondering about "open camping".. I really need to find out how the Canadian Officials take to bikers dropping a tent in parking lots or in wilderness pull offs.. The info I am looking for is probably on that StopnGo site cause it looked very well put together ,, I just gotta take a few minutes and read it.. THANK YOU Friesman for posting this up!!

Good for you Goatster and CONGRATS!!

Speaking of communications, while we were at the museum our youngest daughter called to let us know that she would be returning home from an extended stay in Ohio two weeks earlier than planned and that she would be arriving at our home in Michigan in a day and a half. Tip and I are parents first and CTFWers second so as soon as we found this out, we strolled out into the parking lot, checked Tweeks tire air pressures and oil level, tossed our legs over the old girls back and headed east towards Michigan. One of the really great things that I have always loved about South Dakota is its open camp policy. The rule of thumb is, if the field is cut and its not fenced, you can camp on it. The neat thing about that is, out in South Dakota they pretty much cut everything. When I was young I used to camp on the side of the main road that leads into Sturgis from the east (between Fort Meade and the City Limits) during the big Rally. Nowadays I have to get a ways off the road in order to get my beauty sleep but those same old rules apply - South Dakota hasn't changed much thru the years.. We rode with the sun on our backs and the warm breeze in our faces as we talked about all we had experienced on our little adventure. We had visited 17 States and a Canadian Province called Alberta during the past few weeks. The beauty of the sites we had seen was only surpassed by the wonderful people we had met during our time of CTFWing. The South Dakota sun departed into a creamy mix of cotton candy like clouds as a gorgeous sunset appeared behind us and the darkness of night closed the curtain on the movie that had been playing along the amazing east bound South Dakotan highway. The three of us were tired as I turned down that last lonely dirt ranch road to find some fresh cut prairie grasses to stuff under our tent to make our final night out as comfortable as possible. Tweeks would make short work of the ending moments of travel the next day. We were excited to see our youngest daughter again. Tip and I laughed when we looked at the condition of our backyard and I told her that it reminded of the uncut prairie grass we had slept beside during that last wonderful night after CTFWing in a place called South Dakota.. HAPPY CTFWing Tippy, Puc and a tired old 1983 Yamaha Venture named Tweeks! THE END

It was a very hot day in Deadwood so we were thrilled to feel the air conditioning when we walked in the doorway of the Adams Museum. I have always loved motorcycling when it is hot out and Tip has too. A dry heat of 108 is wonderful as long as you are moving, its when we stop that neither Tip, Tweeks or I are really happy with high temps! The cool air inside the museum worked perfectly to keep a smile on our faces as we browsed thru the memories that the museum presented. The curator of the little museum had done an excellent job of acquiring a very good representation of the history of Deadwood. Of course mining was a way of life in the old days as were the railroads that service the industry, all very well represented within. Deadwood was also a major gambling area (might have had something to do with the Black Hills Gold Rush and the type of people that the rush brought in) and there were many displays that eluded to some of the issues that came with that time in our country's history. Also in good representation were displays of life on the prairie in the early days. Museums like this always amaze me as they tend to refresh our memories of just how very good we have it in our day and age of easy long distance travel and open communications.

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT LAR!!!! but I bet that Fool would be the only one of us cutting out stainless snowflakes for use during the off season