cowpuc

He is,, its a class "V" - gotta a V-4 motor and everything!!

My apologies Adven, it was all just a cabin fevered feeble attempt on my behalf at keeping this thread alive.. Figured if we kept this thing somewhere near the top of the list that it may entice more folks to join us at Dons MD and, in the end, get to meet more new people and all that.. In the process, I figured I would, one by one, work down the list of folks who had already signed up and have them involved in this nonsense but,, I can see where that probably is not a good idea.. Hopefully my oopppsss didn't give some innocent bystanders out there the wrong impression!! **PLEASE NOTE** - If your reading this and even half way considering not coming to Don's MD because I made us sound like a bunch of crazy people,, PLEASE show up!! I guarantee you that the rest of these folks are sane (within a tolerance of + or - 3 other people who I too question their sanity). You show up and I will go back to using the sensible way of keeping this thing alive!! BUMP!

Right back at ya Fool!! That ol wind can howl and kick the temps down as far as it wants, Tip and I are sticking around home and enjoying the warm hearth over our hearts too! This is PERFECT weather for having a great Valentines Day!! ` Happy Valentines Day to all!!

Yep,, those are really popular!!

I know, a camper you can detach the canvas if you dont wanna use it for a camper and use it for a trailer,, then if you want to use it for a camper - you slip the canvas back on it an bingo.. Its kind of a double duty thing..

@bongobobny chuckled, looked at @Yammer Dan and said, I still don't understand what you chasing after @adventurer 08 has to do with you walking down the side of the road carrying your tent poles. Dan continued,, he told Bongo that just after he had released his camping gear, two other riders caught up with him. @angryjoe and @BIG TOM were their names. Tom was shaking his head and Joe was obviously angry about something. Dan told Bob that apparently, his tent had gotten out of its carrying case after Dan had released it from the back of Silver and the tent had gotten wrapped around the rear tire of Joes motorcycle. Joe and Tom had missed an ice cream gathering at a local ice cream store because they had to untangle Dans Tent. It wasnt that big of deal to Tom because he always carries extra ice cream in his pocket but Joe, not so much.

Raggie, I still have this camping trailer sitting here in my garage.. If I remember correctly, Pat (WildKatPat) had mentioned they might be interested in it back when I swapped a bike for it last spring.. We can see if they still have interest in it and if not, your buddy can have it for 1250 (traded a really nice xl350 Honda for it),, is that fair? Its older - think its 95 but PO only used it 4 times - from here to Traverse City.. Oh man,, you guys know we are gonna get in trouble for wheelin dealin in here!!

him to run the AmphiTweeks up into the weeds along the edge of the lake. Having not seen exactly what had just transpired, Puc noticed Tippy giving him the evil eye,, standing there with the elastic piece of womens clothing in one hand and trying to calm down AmphiTweeks with the other, Puc raised the article of clothing - looked at Tip and said "I wonder if this is a piece of that new SlingShot thing that everyone is

Wasnt there before but it is now.. Personally, I have never really found use for most of the little quicky tool things,, for sure 150 bucks is way to steep for me. Its cool, I would love to have one for a conversation piece and all that but, every time I have gone the route of putting my money into quicky tools to actually use, they either wont fit the situation I find myself in or I end up some how loosing em. Now if someone would just invent a way to shrink a 5 gallon bucket of real tools down to pocket size,, THAT I would be interested in!!

I have always considered the "eay" that our Canadian friends use as a magical accent! I could sit for HOURS and listen to my Kanuck friends talk because,, I LOVE that "eay" accent.. Know what I mean,, eay? Bottom line,, when Tip and I finally do get to make our trip up there, we are gonna spend as much time as possible (gonna cross into Canada in lower Michigan) up there with you Kanucks.. Hopefully, some of that "eay" accent will rub off on us so we can show off our Canadian accents when we get home!!!!!

the shotgun toting Tippy with a sign hanging on her neck that read - if you worry about fishing tomorrow you might wanna think twice about touching this amphicycle.. The beautiful young ladies noticed that the hammers on Tippys shotgun were in the more serious ready to shoot position so they

what,, I dont never get to see nuttin:95:

Your welcome PB, pleasure to have you along!!

:clap2::dancefool::thumbsup::guitarist 2: THANKS ART, THAT WAS AWESOME!!! YOO,, FLYINGFOOL:snow:,, WE REALLY NEED TO TALK BROTHER!!

that will use stickers and old Walmart labels covered in wax to help keep that 83 floating cause he sure dont want his bedroll or bald head to

This is an interesting topic.. A couple years ago my youngest was looking for a car. She had 1500 bucks and an eye on a high mileage Taurus (had 185k on it). Good looking car. Test drove and, as most Taurus's of that year, specically high miles, the tranny slipped.. I asked her to be patient (hard when you have NO wheels) and we would find something. Time turned up a much older, lower mileage, Honda Civic for the same price as the Taurus. It was a rusted out little beater with 110k on it (Michigan car all its life). She really did not want to be seen cruising around in a rust bucket but, she caught to my reasoning and thought to give it a try. My thoughts always wrap around how far I am probably gonna get out of what ever amount of dollars I am going to spend.. People that know me know I REALLY do not care what other people think or how they feel about the vehicle I am driving.. Rust, dont matter - dents, dont matter - drive train dependability - OH YEA, MATTERS.. I explained to my daughter that for 1200 bucks (cost of either the Taurus or the Honda), the decision could fairly easily be made by figuring which one could she actually drive 10k miles for every one of her 100 dollars in investment. I told her to jump on the internet, do a little research and see how many Taurus's she seen around with 305k on them (120k + 185K). Than do the same thing with the Honda and see how many of them she found around with 230k on them (120k + 110k). It wasnt long and she came back with a smile on her face and said, yea Dad, lets go get the Honda. Rusty (her little beat up Civic) is still with us and is still going strong after 2 years (knock on wood).. It is indeed a crap shoot BUT, there are ways making sure the dice are not loaded..

Awe,,,, thanks VentureFar, and thanks again for everything you did to make the 2014 Venture West Rally an unforgettable moment in time for everyone who attended!! Tippy, Tweeks and I want to double that with a huge THANK YOU of our very own!! Give your wife a hug and pat that new puppy on the head for us too! Puc

Coff and I looked each other with a look of,, oh well - looks like we might get a little wet on our trip to St Helens today and away we went. While sitting on Tweeks back and chasing Coff west ward on the roadway that runs along the Columbia River headed toward the east side of Portland, it rained pretty hard for about 2 minutes. Than it turned back to drizzle.. I had no sooner leaned back and reminded Tip of how every time we get into this region I feel like I am in some kind of a rain forest when I noticed it. A big beautiful rainbow that stretched completely across the Colombia River, linking the State of Washington on the north side to the State of Oregon on the south. I told Tweeks to mind her peas and carrots as I was gonna dig for my camera. Tweeks doesn't usually mess around and play games with me when we are dealing with wet roads. She held her line perfectly as I dug out my taped together camera and I was able to snap some awesome shots of this sign from above as it had moved closer to us, appearing now to have moved into the middle of the Columbia. I also watched as our friend and riding comrade @CMCOFFEY and his gorgeous 2001 RSV named Exodus actually rode thru the end of that beautiful, made by the hand of God himself, declaration in the sky as if to declare the two of them the REAL Treasures at the End of the Rainbow!! It was at that point that I knew the four of us, a bike named Exodus and an ol mule named Tweeks were in for an irreplaceable day!!!

Other than the little sprinkles of rain that were mixed with the strong winds that drove us into the ghost town buildings back in Utah, we had remarkably been rain free for our whole trip - this is almost unheard of when you mix old Murphy and his laws with cross country motorcycle touring. Murph being true to his word, it rained some during the night before we were planning on touring the mighty St Helens. I got up during the night and hauled all of our gear into our little Menards tent to keep as much of it as dry as possible. The morning broke with very cloudy skies and drizzle, raining about enough to keep the roads wet and windshields hard to see thru.

WE SAID our farewells to Mt. Hood and pulled out of her parking lot headed toward another adventure that VentureRider.org people seem to enjoy almost as much as riding, FOOD! After filling up the fuel tanks on our motorcycles at one of the only fuel stations found in this area (THANK YOU CONDOR AND LONE EAGLE FOR KNOWING WHERE THIS WAS), Lone Eagle led us to a food joint called "Mount Hood Brewing". We parked in the parking lot below the front entrance, Tweeks found a spot next to Condors pretty blue RSV. Condor mentioned that one of forward pegs was loose and it wasn't long before I noticed some tools had found there way between my fingers. After tightening up the bolts holding the foot peg onto Condors bike, we meandered into the eating joint. As we sat there waiting for our food to be rustled up, a waitress announced that she had some gravy covered french fries that someone in another party had ordered and now didn't want. She wondered if anyone in the establishment wanted them as she was going to throw them out. I didn't realize it but my right arm happened to be raised above my head at just about the same time the waitress had mentioned this and, within a heart beat, the gravy covered fries were sitting in front of me. I reluctantly offered a taste of my newly acquired gravy covered french fries to the historic varmints sitting at the far end of the table, I think a few of them did try them. When the fries finally came back to the end of the table where Condor and I had sat down, he and I noticed that most of the wonderful Gravy/French Fry mix had survived the tour to the other end of the table. Both having the same thought on our minds, we smiled at each other when we noticed that, much to our fortune, the waitress had forgotten to place a fork on the plate which may have been the reason that more of the luscious mixture had not been eaten. Our dinners arrived at just about the time Condor and I finished licking our fingers in an effort to remove the gravy residue from them.

The interior of the old Historic Lodge was breathtaking in its own right. Huge log structural beams and pillars had been used years ago to construct the glamorous old building and stood in representation of the skills of the woodsman and carpenters who had spent many many hours giving this place life. Wood carving and sculpturing was everywhere with the scents that accompany such a magnificent building. Skiers could be seen out of the huge glass windows located on the Mt. Hood Crown side of the place with massive log stair wells beckoning tourist to explore the historic buildings higher and lower levels. The place was amazing to say the least.

Standing on the deck area of the old Lodge up on Mt Hood and taking in the mountain views from that deck can be described as nothing short of spectacular. Its really hard to imagine how much time and effort had to go into developing a place like this. While it was possible for me to somewhat imagine the process during this particular part of the tourist season on Mt Hood, a chat with an employee of the area revealed that 80 FEET of snow fall up on Mt Hood is not uncommon - I still can't imagine building something that could withstand that kind of extreme weather.. While standing on the deck talking, I made a short video of this location. During that video I made a comment about the beauty of the historic area, Lone Eagle heard me say "historic" and instantly said "don't point that thing at me and say historic"!! I had just met this loveable person and was already starting to really like him!!

Lone Eagle then led our group up the mountain a little farther so we could get a taste of the historic buildings that sat at a higher altitude. It was amazing to see Snow-Skiers playing with their waxed up ski's in the snow cap that made up the crown on Mt. Hoods head. Being a fairly warm day, it was an interesting sight to see people snow skiing down to the roadway where we had just parked our motorcycles. Condor walked with Tip and I up to the Lodge and, while we were hiking, was willing to share his perspective of some of the in's and out's of snow skiing, an art form that neither Tip or I had ever gotten involved in.

Having arrived safely into the heart of Mt. Hood, we stood in her parking area - each of us taking in the sheer elegance of the lovely lady that stood before us. We chatted there for a while, reaffirmed some introductions (I am terrible with names) and took some pictures. Now by memory, I am going to see if can accurately list the riders who joined Lone Eagle on that outstanding ride up to greet Mt Hood. Of course, @LoneEagle was there, my Loose Moose Camping partners - @bikerjohn and @CMCOFFEY were there, @Oldseadog, @kevin-vic-b.c. was present, @Condor was there and Tip and I! All members of VentureRider.org and all having a blast spending time doing what we do! I was able to get enough of the groups attention for a split second so we could have a together - "VentureRider.org ROCKS" cheer! our host and ride captain, LONE EAGLE KEVIN-VIC-B.C. CMCOFFEY AND EXODUS OLDSEADOG BIKERJOHN, ONE OF OUR TEXAS HERO'S!! CONDOR!!!!!

A person does not have to spend a lot of time in the presents of groups of bikers before they will probably hear the term "Steed" or "Iron Horse" used in connection with their beloved motorcycles. I have been around a few groups of bikers in a variety of settings during my days and, it just seems to me, that this lingo of the "Iron Horse" name thing is common. The connection with Cowboy and Indian lore and the motorcycle industry is almost undeniable, in my opinion. I have seen some unbelievably gorgeous motorcycles with tooled leather seats and saddlebags that scream REAL DEAL COWBOY to anyone that had any connection with those hero's of yesteryear. I get it, have lived it, love Willie Nelson songs about it and understand!! I LOVE that soul felt connection between the old west and the new old west that ties in with modern day motorcycle touring. Tweeks, on the other hand, has always had a stubbornness about her. She can be a lop eared varmint when she wants to be. Not only that, but this old beat up Yamaha looks more at home when she has stuff hanging from her frame and maybe even a small trace of weeds having made their mark in the dirt while she is following an old mountain trail miles away from those true Iron Horses, I know I had briefly mentioned this earlier in my writings here but, I really have always been suspicious that someone at Yamaha instilled into her soul a touch of being closer to a Mountain Mule than an Iron Horse because she LOVES mountains too! There were several ride opportunities being discussed while we were standing there in the parking lot watching VentureFar head out. It wasn't long after VF had disappeared from site that I heard someone say something about Mount Hood. My ears perked up and I glanced over at Tweeks when I heard this topic being discussed. I couldn't help but noticed a delightful swing in Tweeks new tail (back off whip). Tip and I had placed the new whip that VF had made for her on the brake lever where we had heard it was suppose to be located but the whip had slapped Tippy on the leg a couple times on the way into town and I had moved it rearward onto Tweeks rump. This location instantly thrilled Tweeks cause she had always wanted a tail. Tip liked it, TWEEKS LOVED IT and I thought it was simply GORGEOUS no matter where it hung!! Tweeks new tail swung in the breeze like the real tail on one of her mule relatives while swatting gathering flies on a hot Montana afternoon. The difference being that her mule relative would probably have been swatting out of misery while Tweeks was flipping her tail out of shear joy. The ride captain for the Mt. Hood tour, @LoneEagle, had mustered a group of several Venture West riders that were following him out of the Cousins parking lot. Tip and I had managed to get our jackets on and climb onto Tweeks back and fortunately found a spot at the end of the line - Tweeks was in her glory!! I was amazed at how well behaved the old bike was being while following Lone Eagle's gorgeous Harley up to Mt Hood. If there is one thing that I have learned from years of hanging around with that Yamaha and her mule like disposition its that the ornery side of her can come to the surface pretty quickly. If she is asked to follow any motorcycle that speaks the "potato potato potato" language, you best be on your toes. Under normal circumstances, even when burdened down with all of her gear and two riders on her back, at the first sign of a Potato popper in front of her, she will cop an attitude and not regain her general happiness until her tail light is winking at the Potato popper now located behind her. In all fairness to Tweeks mule ancestry, some of this attitude may be partially my fault. A few years ago I had parked Tweeks on Main Street in a little cow town called Wall Drug out in South Dakota. It was rally time out there and she was surrounded by hordes of those Potato machines. Some of those noisy exhausted V-Twins can be kinda mean, especially the custom steeds that are a little spoiled and never have to carry anything on their backsides, and I think Tweeks might have gotten picked on while sitting there with our camping gear sticking out into the roadway and her water jug blocking the paths of bikers with big patches on their backs. Lone Eagle and his Harley did a splendid job of leading us all up to the Historic Lodge/Motel area up on top of the unforgettable Mt. Hood. The roadway that Mr. Eagle was carving into had been so amply provided with natural beauty that it was difficult to keep ones eye on the pavement. Huge Douglas fir trees tossed their sweet cologne into the warm Oregon breeze while a fast paced clear mountain stream chased down the edge of the roadway being occasionally interrupted by small water falls. If that wasn't enough to distract even the most deeply focused motorcyclist, the snow capped royal crown on top of Mt Hood started peeking around corners at us as if to encourage us to not give up on our heavenly ascension.