cowpuc

The viewing area on the west side of Mount St Helens provides a remarkable image of the now healing landscape that was severely injured by the Volcanic eruption back in the 80's. As I mentioned earlier, Tip and I had explored this area a year after the huge explosion and were amazed at how much things have changed. There are massive area's here that had been replanted with tiny trees which now were full grown forests. High up in this elevation though, the landscape was still very vacant with an occasional massive Douglas fir tree trunk or log left in the place where the apocalyptic blast had left them many years ago. Were it not for the cool temperatures and extremely high winds, Tweeks, Tips and I could have easily been convinced to claim a spot and spend the night on this Mountain overlook because we were sure that the elevation would have made for some unbelievable star gazing. I did not mention that to Coff or Exodus though because I had the strange feeling that they would have stayed there in spite of the coolness or wind!

After chasing CMCoffey and his 2001 Yamaha RSV named Exodus all over the coastal region of western Washington, the 5 of us (Coff, Tip, Tweeks, Exodus and I) found the trail that we would CTFW our way up to the Snow blown dome of Mount St Helens. We gassed up and choked down a quick burger at a Burger King before we headed up the hill. Exodus and Tweeks were really hitting it off well when the three of us human types finally came out of BK. The two bikes were sitting there staring at us with that questioning look of a couple of young kids wanting to ask what took us so long as we approached them. While I was exiting Burger King, my eyes had caught a stack of those "'Burger King Crowns" that kids, and grown people who sometimes act like children, can often be seen leaving their local Burger King with one sitting on their heads - giving them a KINGLY look. Coff and Tippy looked at each other and Tweeks groaned her usual "I have had about enough of this joker" groan as I announced I had to go back inside and get 2 of those Burger King Crowns. When I came back out, my two riding comrades asked what I was up to. I smiled and told them that I had a surprise in mind for a couple of pranksters I had met earlier during the Venture West Rally. PLEASE NOTE - IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING THIS STORY YOU WILL WANT TO PAY ATTENTION LATER AS I WILL REVEAL IN BOTH TEXT AND VIDEO WHAT BECAME OF THOSE CROWNS!! Knowing it would be cold up on the mountain, we pulled every bit of warm clothing we had out of our clothing departments, yanked balaclava's over our faces, stacked sweatshirts under our leather jackets, tugged on old snowmobile gloves and struck out to spend the day letting the bikes chase each other on the twisty mountain roads leading up to the viewing area that overlooks St Helens damaged landscape. This roadway system is perfect for both the inexperienced rider as well as people who have found their thrills on such places as The Tail of the Dragon or Iron Mountain Road in the Black Hills of South Dakota (the corners make wider sweeps BUT the complementing scenery is amazing) - that's my opinion of course.

thats looks like,, keywest? Nice you wily rascal!!!

that you can milk and than you can make goat cheese to put on your

Kids today, I tell ya bro, they never cease to amaze me!! Its to bad Cannondale doesnt still make the dirtbikes they were producing for a while, you could have wrote her back and said, honey,, if your gonna get me one I want a new 14k dollar Cannondale!! Just gotta try and stay one step ahead of those off springers Goat!!

Yea,, what da heck,, a Rooster with a broken crowing device?

I know Jonas, how about just having one of those rubber stamps made, you know what I am talking about,, the kind you put in ink and than go around stamping stuff.. That way, you can just stamp all of us and our bikes and Bobs door!! Tell ya one thing,, a guy could have a lot of fun with one of those at Dons!! Watching our International friends try to cross back into their home countries with a tattooish ink stamp that said "I AQUIRED BLACK DEATH" stamped on their foreheads would be a HOOT!!

I had an old Shovel head that did that,, found out it had some burned ignition points, changed them out and that ol Harley went right back to "Potato Potato Potato"...

Jonas, I was just downstairs talking to Tweeks while doing a little measuring. She is kind of upset with me with what I am about to explain but, she has learned thru the years about the code of conduct that I strickly enforce with her and this sticker business.. She only gets to wear stickers that she has earned and, therefore, I prefer to wait till we meet at Don's (PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS AS ME NOT BEING APPRECIATIVE OF THE OFFER OF MAILING THEM THOUGH!!) - I have to maintain some kind of control over her addictive sticker behavior. On the right side of her windshield is a really neat 1 3/4 inch wide x 3 inch tall Flag sticker from Australia that Aussie Annie and Quickstep gave to her at Vogel one year after her tired old motor made it safely down there (she treasures it), there is an open spot near their Flag for another sticker of the same size. Also, she has an open area of 2 3/4 inches tall x 5 inches wide on her fairing, this is right below her Bonneville Salt Flats sticker that Kick Shot sent to her because the three of us couldn't find one while out there - talk about spoiled! I had to quit drinking years ago when Mr. Vodka and I got into big trouble so I wont be able to actually experience the wonderment of Black Death, about the closest thing that I partake of now is Mountain Dew pop and even with that stuff - I gotta be really careful because the caffeine makes my heart go nuts . I do still have a tendency to dance on tables and howl at the moon with people who are having near "death" experiences though so a copy of the Black Death label will certainly not got undeserved on my part! Is it the end of May yet? CAN NOT WAIT!! Puc

Did a LOT of winter riding/ice racing a number of years ago. I used Kold Kutter screws in my tires (still got a couple bags of them somewhere). A known fact with screws was that if you happen to get on pavement with the screwed tires it was as slippery as black ice.. As a result of this and having had experienced the adrenaline filled feeling of having a scoot squirt out from under me with no way to save it a number of times. I can only say that now, in my older years, when I see people out in well below freezing temps on these great big heavy touring bikes that instead of the old yeeeeee hawwww - I find myself cringing at the thought of that one little spot of black ice under a bridge that the rider cant see.. Maybe it's just cause now adays it seems like I hurt all the time (sucks gettin old) and I cant stand the thought of another biker getting hurt, regardless,, if you do venture out in this stuff, please be really really careful!

AWESOME JONAS!! As with many many others, Tweeks and I can not WAIT to meet our Icelandic friends and VR family IN PERSON:happy34:!! If at all possible, Tippy would like to be there and have the chance to meet you and your lovely wife too but its gonna be pretty crazy around here as our youngest is getting hitched, her and the girls got all this giddy girl stuff going on so we will have to see. All three of us are still miffed that we didn't get to make that crazy New York party last year and missed out in meeting you guys (and MANY easterners too) - I AM GONNA MAKE THIS MD!! P.S. - if there is such a thing as Icelandic Indians - please ask them to start doing their Sundance:dancefool: for this one so it is warm at Don's!! P.S.-P.S., Tweeks asked me if you would mind making sure that the bottle of Black Death that you are hand carrying from far off shores, has a good label on it so we can remove it from the bottle and glue it to her side covers? Talk about a bike with a weird sense of whats cool.. Your friend Puc

I know Dan, thats why it is definitely gonna take a double wide, I done growed a couple pounds worth cause of alllll this hiberrrrnatin..

Rusty, my oldest went to school and worked in Greenville SC for several years. Did a LOT of touring and exploring down there with her because of that. I hope you folks enjoy that area as much as we did - it is beautiful down there!! FYI - There is a Yamaha Shop on Wade Hampton in Greenville that I used to hang out in alot while waiting for her to get out of class and stuff. I am not sure about now but back than they had some great guys working there, pretty knowledgable with our bikes. I hope everything goes well during your move and the area is all you folks are looking for!!

Arrgggg,, I dont usually use the word hate but I HATE when that happens!! Wish I could give ya a magic fix Mike..

The glass exterior walls and floor of the side car could be insulated like the wall of a cooler, a narrow space could be preformed between them and the lighter weight plastic interior wall and floor area. This space could be used for water storage and have an access to it where bag ice could be dumped into the water jacket to provide a cheap source of cooling of the sleeping quarters if needed. This would also help with noise control for parking/sleeping in truckstop area's and would assist in being able to remain sealed up in the event of rain even when it hot and muggy out side. Narrow airway passages could be formed into the water jacket with a couple silent 12V fans mounted into the small plentum of this passageway providing air circulation if needed. I think we deserve JOhnsonville Brats for this one Eckster!!

@Flyinfool could get out of his Wisconsin White Wash Machine because whoever owns that thing can control the weather, I would go public with its ownership and eventually I would also control Wall Street and

Most of us, like you and me, who live on this thing have stuff moved around from time to time Dan, its all part of the web experience. I too have stuck stuff in the wrong place and watched as it was moved into the area that fits it better. I dont know the boss personally, nor have I ever ran a website, but I do know from my years in management some of the frustrations that come with keeping things organized and beneficial for the largest part of the group that is being served (that would be us in this case). That said, I am sure that wasnt a case of Don not wanting us to chat bro, more of a trying to keep a handle on things as part of the administration side of it all. I think we should just keep on keepin on, chat away and all that and be thankful that it aint us running around with a broom trying to clean up after the likes of a clown named Cowpuc or a champ named YammerDan:big-grin-emoticon:!! I was thinking more along the line of a DOUBLE WIDE sidecar having room for 2 of us sleeping inside there!! Pass me the hot dogs will ya:big-grin-emoticon:

or seen a sidecar whose seat would fold down into a bed? Was just reading over in our sidecar forum area about a really cool looking Hannigan sidecar someone has when I had this epiphany - "if that double-wide seat would just fold down into a bed, how cool would that be"... http://www.venturerider.org/forum/trike-and-sidecar-talk/92541-hannigan-astro-2-2-car.html

NICE Jonas, really NICE!!

to most and the ones who do know could care less cause to them, money is only

Craig I honestly think you did post that up in the right place! It might have gotten a little deeper response than you initially intended for it to get but what the heck, sitting around here yakking bikes together while its -5 outside - THAT is what its all about! I didnt mean to come across in anything I said as having taken offence to that little vid, my responses were soley based on talking motorcycles.. I gotta tell you friend - your comment above echoes our neighborhood and surrounding area - we harass each other endlessly about who's is best and which is fastest and on and on,, its ALL good.. Its always kinda funny cause when we are all out riding our Yams, Harleys, Honda's, Suzuki's, Indian's, mopeds and minibikes together - if one breaks down, we all ban together to get her up and going again (no one goes home till we all go home) and then we will sit around out front of one of our houses - break out the Hot Dog toaster and chips and the :stickpoke:will start all over again!!

and I am gonna stick one of these in my garage as soon as Bongo disperses our cut of his winnings!! 15 cheers for BongoBob - rah rah, rah rah rah, rah rah, rah rah rah, rah rah, rah rah rah,, yeaaaa Bongo!! https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0LEVjplPeFUOEYAMRsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0dmRibmhwBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwMV8x?p=triumph+scrambler&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dtriumph%2Bscrambler%26ei%3DUTF-8%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla&w=1024&h=764&imgurl=www.arpem.com%2Fmotos%2Fmodelos%2Ftriumph%2Fflash%2F2007%2Ftriumph-scrambler%2Ftriumph-scrambler-ldr.JPG&size=79KB&name=triumph-scrambler-ldr.JPG&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arpem.com%2Fmotos%2Fmodelos%2Ftriumph%2Fflash%2F2007%2Ftriumph-scrambler%2Ftriumph-scrambler-ldr.html&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arpem.com%2Fmotos%2Fmodelos%2Ftriumph%2Fflash%2F2007%2Ftriumph-scrambler%2Ftriumph-scrambler-ldr.html&type=&no=3&tt=120&oid=4792b2e3364115ce92ab9df35346f7b4&tit=Triumph+Scrambler+%28Foto+1%2F24%29&sigr=132ggl1c7&sigi=12qb79ks3&sign=10pkefug5&sigt=103vg5ole&sigb=12tromm5b&fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

One bad guy to the other bad guy: Forget grabbing her purse, grab that handgun she's got hanging on her side!!

Congrats Bob!! And congrats to that VentureSole!! So, what is it exactly I am looking for and what kinda budget? Parameters Dragon Slayer,, I need parameters?

This is for big sister too!! CONGRATS to ALL of Mini-Muffin!