cowpuc

As I mentioned earlier, @VentureFar would be needing to leave on an Iron Butt ride back to his southern California home shortly after this quick introduction period. Thankfully we got a chance to meet and thank VentureFar for his beautiful work on all of our behalfs. I took some memory pictures of our new friend on his Black Royal Star Venture and also a short farewell video. If you look closely at the pictures, you will probably notice a (different color) Back Off Whip hanging from VentureFar's bike - he hand made these gorgeous pieces, VentureFar is a very talented person!! THANK YOU AGAIN NEIL FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK WITH THE NAME TAGS AND THE WHIPS!!

We jumped back on the west bound road out of the State Park, took the exit that we had taken the day before to get back over into the east bound roadway. The 3 of us than took the leisurely ride along the Columbia River back into The Dalles. We had been told that the head quarters for the Venture West Rally was going to be a place called "Cousins" but had no idea exactly were the Cousins who owned Cousins had placed their establishment. We sniffed up some food of our own and fed Tweeks before we started the search for any sign of the main group that would be attending the event. After a few short trips riding back and forth thru town, we finally discovered an obscure area of this little river side borough that we had over looked on our way in from the campground. It was a beautiful spot that the owners of Cousins had chosen for their restaurant which was complete with a very nice conference room and motel complex. We had found our rally point. Tip, Tweeks and I were greeted by another new friend and Venture Rider member, an astute fellow by the name of @PederY2K. Peder and I made our introductions and than proceeded into Cousins eatery where a fairly large group of folks who, like Tip and I, obviously enjoyed CTFWing (you can always tell when CTFWers are together - always laughing and talking). We met and chatted with several of these people who had been fortunate enough to have found their way to "The Dalles" (there will be an introduction video of everyone later in the story - there is NO WAY I can remember them all) and we all talked about ride plans for the day. We were about to enjoy some of the most beautiful motorcycling in the world, right here in northern Oregon.

@Venturous Randy, Kick off your shoes and grab the hot chocolate good buddy, its show time!! YOU GOT THAT RIGHT BOB!!

I have yet to try this new function,, thanks for being such a cooperative guinea pig (to bad you dont ride a Harley @videoarizona - cause that would have made you a guinea HOG)

I been saying it,, I been saying it!! We need to develop our own little camping area map where we can just pull in to each others yards and drop the tent.. Tweeks will tell ya,, I been saying it but oh no,, all I get is :rotf: Tooch,, ANYTIME you are in the area - FREE CAMPING! Just go to the members map and follow the pointy balloon.. If I happen to be home and not out perfecting my sneaky little camping in the bushes routine - I would be more than happy to teach ya everything I know about camping in ditches:178:

That Red, he got to SEE the bike in person!! I will change my vote and go with what he is saying!!

TIP, TWEEKS AND I CAN NOT WAIT TO GO UP THERE, GET LOST AND STOP AT ALL KIND OF PLACES TO GET DIRECTIONS! I LOVE THE CANADIAN ACCENTS AND THOSE RIDE VIEWS ARE AWESOME!! FRIESMAN!

I gotta learn to type faster.. GREAT WRITE UP TO GO WITH THOSE GREAT PICS RED!!

Nice pics Red!! Ok,, I will be the first opinion giver,, like Randy was saying - checking rotor wear is a very good way to get a feel for the accuracy of the alleged mileage. Given that, from what little rotor surface is visable I think I do see lines in the front one. The seat also looks very close to what the tan seat on my blonde 84 looked like at 150k miles - that deep, sweated in dirt look,, it just looks like way more that 38k to me. Also, I have been around MK1's enough to know those are not stock grips for the MK1, not sure if that applies to the MK2. The Mark1 original grips (which I LOVE) get pretty greasy when they get up close to 6 digits on the odometer, this would make for a good reason to swap em out.. Almost need to see it real life to be sure.. On the other hand,, it is refreshing to still see the little plastic cover over the radio - been a good while!! Also, put that puppy in the hands of someone who dont mind cleaning, waxing and polishing chrome and THAT could be a gorgeous machine. I am also sure that with a litte elbow grease - the seat would clean up nicely too!!

was still only able to buy 1 case of Vodka that she promptly began to

Hey,, your only a couple hours away, come over to our house, Tip and I will make you a ham sandwich!! Glad you are doing better Chief, take some time to relax a little while your there working!! Wish it was warmer, we would jump on Tweels - go over to Larry's and bug him to show me that new SlingThing and then come harass you at the Casino:big-grin-emoticon:!! That mean FlyingFool has got things all messed up around here again:snow2:.

This is all HORRIBLE!! Thoughts and Prayers Up for this young ladies friends and family - what a mess!!

ChaHarly had all the wrenches too until the doctors took one of them and screwed it to his arm to try and fix a owie that Cha had received when he

"because like some others, I came into the middle of this ramble and inserted some stupid s**t that makes no sense.",,,, Tweeks accepted the award for making no sense knowing that the "no sense award" should have been awarded to

After Coff and I had finished our little Pow Wow there next to our bikes, BikerJohn stumbled out his dwelling, walked over to his trailer and started sniffing around for any sign of road grub. He seemed to have a pretty nose and, I am sure from the survival training John had learned in the Military, he had arrived very well equipped. John started pulling stuff out of his trailer like a stove, pots and pans and of course - breakfast. I sat on the bench and watched in amazement as our Texas Hero set about showing how well adapted he had become at open road CTFWing. I explained to John how few of times Tweeks, Tip and I had spent in modern day joints like this Loose Moose State Park and asked if he knew anything about how we were suppose to sign in and all that. He had tried to tell me about it all the night before but I had gotten sidetracked by that building with hot running water down below the hill.. In his usual, kind natured character, John helped me figure out the directions on the envelope that I had retrieved from a post not far from our camping spot. By that time, other campers in the Loose Moose area were starting to stir. Mr. Shuttlebug was one of them. I noticed he had gotten out of his awesome home built sleeping quarters and had found his way over to his motorcycle to start the process of preparing for what was to be a long day of meeting people and discovering some of Oregon's finest motorcycle touring area's . He and his wife, Mrs. Shuttlebug, claim Southern California as that home but they had been CTFWing all over the country, like the three of us, and, as I recall, had just pulled into the Venture West Rally from the far away reaches of Montana. A delightful couple who, obviously, would become more good friends of Tweeks, Tippy's and mine. I walked over to the tent and found that Tippy was no where to be found, I heard a noise behind me and she was standing there with a smile on her face. Her calm but stern Bosun's voice spoke the words that this ol CaptN loves to hear, Tweeks and I are ready to go find breakfast.

Tip and I looked at each other with great big grins when BikerJohn pointed down the hill from the spot he had chosen for the camping spot where we were all camping and announced that the Loose Moose Camp Ground area indeed had running water AND really nice showers with HOT water!! We disappeared as John was explaining about signing in to the place and it wasn't long before we found ourselves exploring this shower phenomena. After an hour or so the hot water started turning cold. Having done my laundry along with trying to remove some of the imbedded dirt from my own body, I slipped my freshly washed riding shorts, tee shirt and Spider Man Boots on and headed up to the camp to find all the other, mostly older, riders already down for the count. Standing there by myself in the darkness with wet - but clean clothes on, I patted Tweeks on the trunk and told her I was proud of her. I walked over to our tent, slid off my riding boots, changed clothes, went back out and hung my freshly cleaned clothes on Tweeks to dry, went back and laid down next to Tip (who was sleeping soundly), patted my best friend on the back and told her I was proud of her too, closed my eyes and didn't open them again until the next morning when the sun was beating down on the roof of our little Motel. Having never been in the Military like BikerJohn had been or like CMCoffey currently was, I had never been around military folks during morning routine. I purposely tried to get up early on that first full day at the Loose Moose Campground to see if these two professionally trained outdoor survivalist could teach me anything that may be beneficial to Tip, Tweeks or me in the process of trying to survive the madness of the jungle that awaited us while attending the event during the day. Somewhere out there was mass confusion and some possible hidden dangers that I wanted to be as ready for as I could be. After getting a few hours sleep, I went down and played in hot water a little more, came back to camp and found Coff working his way down to the showers. The two older men of our tribe were still sleeping, probably thinking the extra rest would somehow help them survive thru the same concerns that I was seeking advice for. Coff and I talked for a while about the day, he gave me few words of military tactical advice about handling some of the varmints he had met the night before while scouting out the Venture Rider members who had gathered in town. He than proceeded toward the building down at the bottom of the hill with the hot springs inside.

Fortunate is the person who understands the depth of the meaning of the point that the writers of the movie titled "The Pirates of the Caribbean" were trying to make when they put the following words to the pen - after being stranded on an Island together - CaptN' Jack Sparrow was explaining to Elizabeth that - "yes his ship, the Black Pearl, was a deck, a mast and some sails but the Pearl really represented FREEDOM to Jack (and all other CTFWers)"! In the spirit of the same ideal, a similar point can be found in the movie titled "The City Slickers" when the tired ol worn out Cowboy named Curly explains to a troubled and confused Billy Crystal what is missing in his life. He points to the air with his finger and says "this one thing" and leaves the city slicker to figure it out for himself ( ride his own ride). Recently, a fellow CTFWer and friend of Tweeks, Tips and mine, known as StealthBlade from VentureRider who had been following along on some of my true but still a little crazy CTFWing ride reports, wrote to me and shared a song that had meant a lot to him throughout his life (THANK YOU BOB - YOUR COMMENTS AND PERSPECTIVE WILL BE TREASURED FOR EVER). Being sung by Tommy Makem and Liam CLancy and titled "The Day of the Clipper", the song is about the people who have tasted the very thing that CaptN' Sparrow was proclaiming about the Pearl and what Curly was pointing at with his finger. That being, that regardless of the lack of modern day conveniences - "Sailing ships and sailing men WILL sail the open waters"! Some lyrics from that song include: Wooden beams and human dreams are all that makes her go And the magic of the wind upon her sails She'd rather fight the weather than the fishes down below God help us if the rigging ever fails As the timber creaks, the captain speaks above the vessel's groan 'Til every soul on board can hear the call It's nothing but the singing of the ship inside her bones And this is when she like it best of all Stealthblade suggested that I imagine "The Clipper" being replaced with "Tweeks" and that I find myself (Puc) replaced as the captain in the song... I was deeply touched by Stealthblades thoughts! Like most riders (a lot of them with far more skills and knowledge in the art of CTFWing than I will ever possess) who choose to CTFW as their method of greeting the vessel's groan, I have discovered that the exhausted human body and those sleepy eyes that have been sending endless pictures to the CaptN's brain are not always greeted with a camping area at the end of his day that has actual facilities with food, running water and showers. As a matter of fact, it is truly a rare case when we are CTFWing to discover luxuries like that at the end of 16 hours in the saddle. We normally wake up, ride, find food - water - fuel, run out of daylight, flop down our bedroll, wake up and do it all over again. We have on occasion used Motels for emergency's (like earlier in this trip when Tip had gotten sick) but usually, showers and running water are found at rest areas with sprinklers, Truck Stops or even in lakes/rivers. One really interesting bathing time that I will never forget is the time we pulled into this tiny little cow town out in North Western Idaho. We had been sucking the memories out of the day since sunup, gobbling them down like a 6 year old eating endless bags of green Skiddles (the only Skiddles that are actually good for you - they are green). It was about 2 in the morning and Tweeks had sniffed up a really nice little town park that had restrooms that were open and the sweetest smelling green grass that the high desert prairie area had ever felt growing from her.. We parked Tweeks on one side of the side walk, I checked the grass carefully to see if people in the area had used this spot for a Doggy Rest Room (Cowpucs one thing,, Dogpuc is a whole nuther matter). I flopped the tent down and we nodded out laying on top of the tent with nothing but the stars for a security blanket and that plush green grass for a cushion under our tent. About two hours into the type of dream that I suspect only us CaptN's can relate to, I woke up with the sea swells having risen to the point they were sending water over the the starboard gun rails of my night time ship and were re-capturing the vessel that lay under us at the Bosun's quarters.. By the time I realized that I had flopped down the corner of our tent where I always rest my head when counting sheep, and located it exactly 8 inches from a pop up sprinkler head and that the people who install underground sprinkling in Idaho use 3 inch well pipe and fire house nozzles for pop ups. At least, thats what our clothing and bedroll looked like by the time we had everything pulled out into the dimly lit parking area. I could hear Tweeks chuckling at Tip and I as we were squeezing water out of our sleeping bags - that sticker covered ol Mule of a ship stopped laughing when I tossed the bags and tent over the top of her so she could assist in drying our gear out.

Another member of Venture Rider who was also attending the rally, a very likeable and daring fellow by the name of VentureFar (I say daring because VentureFar carries the earned badge of at least one "Iron Butt Rider" written on it) who had ridden in from Southern California was back in the town of The Dalles and staying there at another camping area. A place with a swimming pool, rooms with doors that lock, real mattresses and running water inside those rooms (I felt sorry for the people who, like VentureFar, had been forced to stay in such inadequate facilities but,, as always in life, not all CTFWers can expect the best of the best like Tweeks - Tip and I always seem to end up with). VentureFar had arranged with the Hosts of the rally to be the person that was going to manufacture name tags for everyone attending the event. During the process of planning for fulfilling his responsibilities, V.F. (VenturFar) had asked for people who would like to receive one of these name tags to please turn in their names to him so he could complete the manufacturing process.. Because, at times, I have a hard time even remembering where I left my keys, I thought having my name pasted on my chest for the rally might not be a bad idea. I think I was one of the first people to e-mail my request to VF for tags with "Tippy" and "Cowpuc" written on them.. After I sent the initial order in, I was downstairs in our basement tweeking on Tweeks and asking her if she was sure she felt like she had another summers worth of CTFWing in her. I was reattaching some of the tattered edges of stickers from rides past when she kinda caught me off guard. She mentioned something about feeling like she would be left out if she didn't have a name tag of her own should she make it all the way back out to Oregon (she had been thru the region the year before and was pretty familiar with the arduous mountain travel that was facing her). I told her I would ask. VentureFar didn't even seem to stagger when I broached the subject with him. As a matter of fact, he said he would be honored to make Tweeks her own name tag. He also asked if I needed any others, I thought about it and, being the Grandpa that I am, I couldn't help but mention Dead-Eye and Earth Mover. After receiving that information, a reply came back from VentureFar that he was also hand making something very special for Tweeks. He asked me what color of bike she was. He didnt seem to balk when I explained that she was a true "Heinz 57" with colors of Maroon, Blonde and Black being what laid under most of the stickers, dirt, bugs and grease still attached to her from most of the states in the union (she still has never had an actual bath). Even though our dialog was thru e-mail, I could sense the smile on this understanding bikers face when he read that about the old girl and I was re-assured of that smile when he replied back with - PERFECT!! Somewhere in the middle of doing his part in the manufacturing and the actual being there for the rally, VentureFar had something come up that was going to cause him to not be able to stay the full four days of the event. His time was cut way short and he was going to have to return to his home in Southern California the day after his arrival in The Dalles (these Iron Butt riders are in a league of their own). Coff knew all this and, I suspect somehow knew that VentureFar had made some really neat things for everyone at the rally, including something very special for Tweeks. After our arrival and during the process of setting up our motel at the Loose Moose Campground, Coff asked if Tip, Tweeks and I would mind following him into town to meet up with VF and others. He rode out ahead of us (THANKS COFF) back toward the place where everyone else was staying while we stayed to finish up getting ready for the evening. Shortly after Coff disappeared, the Shuttlebugs rode up and we started visiting with them and BikerJohn. It wasn't long (remember what I said at the beginning of my story about time going by really fast when ya get on in the years?), shortly after dark,, well,, maybe bedtime, and Coff reappeared. In his possession were the name tags VentureFar had made for us and this really awesome hand made "Back Off Whip" woven in colors that matched Tweeks to a T - IT IS A BEAUTIFUL WORK OF ART!! Coff said that VentureFar wasn't real sure what time he would be leaving the next day but wanted to make sure that we had received his gifts to each of us - like I said, a VERY nice guy that VentureFar, and a very dear friend he was soon to become!

This time. Tip spotted the little trail leading off the main exit ramp landing zone. We coasted down the hill that led into the camping area where we were hoping to meet up with our Hero from Texas - Biker John and to finally get a chance to meet CMCoffey in person. At the bottom of the down hill on the left hand side, with a big Texas grin on his face, sat our friend - BikerJohn followed by a handsome, clean shaven young man with the look of someone who was currently quite successful at being one of our countries finest - CMCoffey in person. After the usual jumping up and down in a ceremonial victory dance that only people who have ridden, sailed, flown, driven or walked long distances across sea's, skys or lands that are constantly searching for ways to deprive them of life - liberty and the pursuit of happiness can appreciate, we settled into the task of setting up our Menards Hotel on the small camping spot that John and Coff had waiting for us. I noticed right away that there was an additional camper also camping in our location. A really neat looking camper/motorcycle trailer that had obviously been home built by someone with way more talent and patience than yours truly can relate to. BikerJohn revealed to Tip and I that the trailer belonged to a couple from southern California who, like Tweeks, Tip and I had been out CTFWing all over the country and would be joining us for the duration, a couple known on Venture Rider as Mr. and Mrs. Shuttlebug. Johns tent was already set up behind the Shuttlebug trailer and Coff had planted his tent stakes behind Johns. Tip and I picked out a nice little patch of ground off in the far back regions of the plot in an area that had an ample supply of roots, rocks and grasses that would work perfectly for massaging the knots in our bodies that older CTFWers like myself naturally acquire when doing the work of assembling a large motel like the one Tweeks carry's on her back.

As the three us of came to a stop sign at the bottom of the hill, we sat there for a moment taking in the view of the charming town of The Dalles. It quickly became obvious why Condor and Lone Eagle (neither of whom Tip, Tweeks or I had met yet) would choose this location for the rally we were planning to attend. The quaint little town stood nestled into the edge of the mountain range on our left. The Columbia River sitting on our right was used as a picturesque back drop in the mind of original planners of The Dalles, the handsome old river flowed dauntlessly toward the Pacific Ocean which lay to the west of us. Tweeks nudged out onto the main road which was going to lead us into this next phase of our summer CTFWing fun. The main roads leading in and out of The Dalles become one-way as soon as you enter town. We stayed on the west bound path, rode thru town and quickly came to the western edge of the village. I pulled into a fuel station to feed Tweeks and to get my bearings. Tippy and I chatted for few minutes about the fact that we hadn't seen evidence of any other rally members. The rally had been in the planning stages for many months prior to our arrival and during the course of that time, the host (Lone Eagle) had posted a thread at VentureRider.org that contained all the information pertaining to this Venture West Rally. Reading that thread had revealed the usual Sign Up information discussions and a fair amount of chit chat had also taken place concerning the name of the town in which the rally would be held. Apparently there were two towns in Oregon called Dalles, one was "Dalles" and the other "The Dalles". Due to the lack of us spotting anything or anyone that looked remotely like participants of the rally, I commented to my riding partner that I had hoped Tweeks had not led us into the wrong municipality. The thought occurred to me that maybe one of the people involved in the planning process of the Rally had informed the local law enforcement of the upcoming biker immigration into their metropolis. The police officer had been inside the little store where his squad car was parked out front. We pulled in beside his car just as he was coming out of the store. He smiled and said, looks like you folks have been doing some serious motorcycling. After a short conversation about how much fun we had been having since departing Michigan back in May, the conversation turned to one about the rally. When asked if he was aware of a big gathering of motorcycles, possibly consisting of twelve thousand bikes, descending on his town he winced and said he hadn't heard of or seen any of them. I told him that it was possible that I had chosen the wrong town, he told me he had heard of the other "Dalles" Oregon and that quite possibly I was correct. While we were chatting, I remembered that either BikerJohn or Coff (or both) had told me the name of the State Park Campground that they would be staying at. I asked the young officer if he had ever heard of the "Loose Moose" State Park. He laughed, said no and shook his head in a back and forth motion that clearly reinforced his answer. As we were saddling Tweeks to go find a map to see how far we were from the "Dalles", the officer suddenly started laughing again and said, I wonder if you are talking about Memaloose State Park? I grinned and said, THATS IT!! We thanked the young officer for the directions to the State Park, gave him some encouragement that I was probably way off in my comment about there being twelve thousand bikes coming into his patrol area too. He was very happy to hear me bring that number down to a count of maybe 50 motorcycles, all of who's riders would be a lot like us, very good people. We ate lunch and headed west out of The Dalles in search of the Loose Moose State Park. The Oregon roadway we were on leisurely followed the edge of the Columbia River. It wasn't long before we noticed a sign that said "Memaloose State Park" with an arrow to the right. We pulled off and found a very small parking area but no evidence of a camping area per se.. As we sat in the little pull off area chatting, I told Tip that maybe the folks in Oregon just camped in parking lots like we had done under certain circumstances in the past. We decided to get back on the road and see if the next exit revealed a much larger area where people could let the kids and Mooses loose without have to worry about them. We had no sooner gotten back on the main road when I noticed a large camping area down below the steep cliff that the roadway we were on was carved into. In an effort to find the road leading to the cliff side camping area, we rode up to the next exit, made a "U" turn and went back toward the previous exit. There was no exit that would connect us to the west bound "Memaloose" exit so we had to go past it again and return in the west bound lane to, once again, take that exit. This may sound way to complicated for some of you readers BUT, if you picture the setting of a mountain cliff with a pretty good size river running below it and than picture modern man coming along and deciding that he needed a roadway to run parallel with the river even though there were areas that, aside from exiting off into the river, there was no where to exit so, he had to pick and choose his exits very carefully or people would easily get confused and drive off into the Columbia River.The road planners had to create exit ramps along the roadway that barely fit into the remote landscape by itself. After doing that, they made smaller exit ramps attached to the landing zones of the actual exit ramps attached to the main roadway. It took some doing but we figured all that out once we got back to the Loose Moose exit. In all of the excitement of taking in the beauty of the area and knowing we had successfully reached our intended destination (CTFW doesn't always produce this result) we had completely missed the secondary exit ramp on our initial contact with the exit ramp.

except for this time. It seems that this sparkling clean Tweeks now set out to wheelie past Brake Pad's Goldwing because she had heard that Brake Pad had said Tweeks looked like an elephant from the rear and Tweeks didnt take to kindly to being made fun of. The force of an unleashed Tweeks had startled the Gold Wing, which leaped into the bushes to hide. A passerby had noticed Brake Pad trying to coax his steed out of the bushes, had phoned the police officer and now he was looking for

"Let's think of something to do while we're waiting While we're waiting for something new to do. Let's try to think up a song while we're waiting That's liberating and will be true to you." Thank you PB, that played right into a huge part of the next installment. Anyone riding along with us on this crazy journey that would like to research some of the deeper meanings of CTFWing would be wise to pay heed and follow this pre story primer riddle: (this will also help any readers who will be struggling to make sense of the story and the crazy people you are about to meet at Venture West) For those looking for something to do, the words of this old cowboy are just for you, others who are thinking song, learn what follows and you cant go wrong!

Thank you for taking the time to have it all checked out and thanks for the update Don. Its an answer to our thoughts and prayers that you are ok, you startled us! Hopefully this dreadful cold weather and white wash will be over soon and we can all get back to our normal selves again!! Godspeed Puc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krtrvp5I1BA

I wonder if the Plastic cases will be less prone to leaking than the original aluminum cases were? I am interested but, if it dont leak a little oil I am gonna set up my chain oiler to seep so it has a normal puddle under it!! Pretty cool idea, I LIKE IT!!!