cowpuc

Tell ya one thing for a fact Dodger,,, it may be subzero outside but seeing a pic of that gorgeous vintage Mopar warms me up inside all the way into my soul!!!

He'd a really blowed his top had he a knowed who was really behind his demise :crackup:

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS UP KAT AND STORM RAVEN!! Godspeed young lady as your traveling thru the the whole process!! Best wishes for the results you and your family are looking for, heal quick so you and Raven can get that bike ride vacation time that you both deserve! Sneaking em in here for you too Cha!!

There Bren,, I put a little Holly Wood spin on this last section just for you!! Thanks for tuning in! Puc

We quickly discovered that Sage Hen Summit was not just a beautiful royal lady to simply be visually admired. She was also a wonderful hostess waiting with endless camping opportunities to any weary traveler with a tent who dared to travel the gravel road veins that fed into the paved road arteries as they brought human life into her out stretched arms.. We picked one of those veins, rode a few miles toward those heavenly Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distant sunset, pulled off on a small feeder capillary two track and claimed our spot for the night.. Other than a small disagreement between myself and the water jug that Tweeks carries on her right side,, the stay in our enchanted overlook was like paradise!!

Tweeks didn't even flinch as I stuck the heals of my riding boots into her sides asking her to turn on 6 as it separated from 95.. Maybe she could sense the California - Serra Nevada Mountain range that she loves riding so much in the winds that still blew across her nose. I was amazed at how little she seemed to care about the few remaining dark clouds that haunted the western sky.. The three of us CTFW'd into the great state California on 6, coin tossed at the intersection of 6 and 120 and the northerly bound desolate roadway of 120 won out.. There was a small filling station at that intersection where we filled up with fuel and grabbed some grub for the evening camp that was fast approaching.. We soon arrived at the Sagehen Summit where spectacular views of the snow capped mountains of Yosemite National Park could be seen waving to us like a majestic long lost friend, whose memories of touring days of the past burned in our three souls as if we had never left those mountains..

After gaining the confidence that this was the case, we set about looking for adventure within those four walls.. I had thought that Teenagerism had long ago left my aging body but as soon as my fingers noticed the graffiti on one of the walls, the digits on my right hand started to twitch and it wasn't long before I noticed they had picked up a piece of dry wall and were making marks on the walls.. I was very happy to see that, even though my fingers had suddenly been inhabited by their spirit of years past, they had matured in the nature of the messages they were now writing!! After a while, they seemed to have noticed that the wind had died down considerably and that quite possibly we were not going to have to spend the night here at this Ghost inhabited repair station.. Their final message was one that caught me off guard. They asked me to pass a message on to anyone having watched this movie - you might wanna write this down so you don't forget it! The location of the abandoned repair station is just a few miles west of Tonopah Nevada, it is located on west bound 6/95 just before 6 separates from 95 (it makes a "Y" where 95 goes northerly). My fingers would like to invite you, the readers of this malarkey, to stop at this abandoned repair shop, grab a piece of broken drywall, walk to the rear of the shop and find the spot where a picture of a bike named Tweeks, and sign that says "Cowpuc Loves Tippy" is seen below it. Leave a message, date and a nickname and my fingers promise they will "pen pal" back with you the next time they come thru!!

A short while later as we closed in on the mountainous area in what we thought might be the California border, a MASSIVE western storm appeared.. We have ridden thru a LOT of bad weather but this particular one was incredible.. The sky looked like it was gonna open up with an ocean of rain, the wind was about as close to sand blaster velocity as feasibly possible.. We passed a couple of Semi's and a few cars who had taken refuge just in being immobile on the side of the road.. I leaned down into the lap of Tweeks fairing, tucked my legs in and yelled back at Tip to form herself into me as tightly as she could and to hang on.. Tip yelled and asked why I wasn't stopping or slowing down,, I yelled back and told her that this looked like a bad one and they we were gonna need shelter.. I have felt Tweeks rub her foot pegs into pavement a number of times in places like the twisties of The Tail of the Dragon and am pretty familiar with the feel of the lean angles she is capable of, the cross winds were so strong against us that twice during that unbelievable ride I swear I felt her pegs scrape as the three of us fought to stay upright on the road.. I could smell the mountain rain in the wrath of the wind but for some reason it was only a sprinkle. Fortunately for Tip and I, the roadway remained remarkably dry in front of us as we fought the wind and the desert debris being blown against Tweeks body as we searched for cover.. In the distance I made out a building with a couple Semi's hiding behind it.. I felt Tweeks surge into the wind as she noticed the place of refuge about the same time I did,, I leaned down into her fairing and yelled - LET ER BUCK TWEEKS! The building turned out to be an abandoned repair facilities, with, belief it or not, a missing garage door on wall that was facing the direction of the runway we were about to land on!! Tweeks made a perfect landing as she lowered her nose gear right beside the floor lift located inside the building.. We were safe!! As we stood there in the door way of the shop where at one time, people had made a living working on vehicles, I told Tippy that of all the experiences I have had in my life while Ghost Towning - this is the first time I had ever been rescued by one. It rained just a little while we stood in the doorway and watched the big bad wolf huff and puff.. That old wolf gave it all he had and was able to blow a few pieces off the place but, it became clear that this joint was SOLID..

We finished up dumping the spare fuel into Tweeks and headed the direction that another road sign had said was the nearest town - a place called Tonopah.. As we headed west, we noticed what appeared to be a rocket of some sort mounted on pipe.. There was no way on God's green earth I could resist that one. We pulled in to find out whether or not the rocket was live and about to be launched. As we pulled into the spot where the around the back side of the rocket, a sign came into our view. We read what the sign said to see what, if any, kind of adventure this area held for us. Reading the words "Test Range" under what clearly was a military looking rocket of some sort actually spelled out a different message in our minds. Clearly that message was - "Puc and Tippy, from the air the red gas tank on Tweeks back makes a very vivid target".. We decided to seek our adventures elsewhere. We found Tonopah, the town that supposedly had fuel and food. We chatted with a group of teenagers from the area, who like many other folks were intrigued by the site of Tweeks, as we fueled her up.. We rode over and grabbed a Subway 12 inch sub of the day, walked outside, cobbled it down and got back on the road headed west..

I stood back in amazement at how sneaky Tippy was being trying to get someone's attention at the Area 51 Tourist Trap.. She walked around the building looking for a bell to ring, knocking on doors and tapping on windows.. I was more taken in by the Alien who's joints were clearly rusted up solid in the owners front yard. For a moment I thought I noticed his eyes following us as we walked up the hill toward the building.. I stopped and stared him down, looking directly into his eyes, I said that famous line from Independence Day - "Welcome To Earth",, than I added an iconic line of Murdoc's from "The A-Team" and said - "you great big ugly mud sucker". Right after I said that I thought I heard someone inside the tin body say "gooshago mulasko, gooshago mulasko" which,, in Alien lingo probably means "oil can,, oilll can".. Later, after Tip had given up on trying to break into the building and I was convinced that being able to contact Coff was a hopeless cause as neither the Tablet nor the phone showed any sign of life in their connector bar status things,, we chatted about how hot it was getting and decided to get back to CTFWing.. Area 51, The Extra Terrestrial Highway, Nellis Air Base present some really awesome motorcycle riding.. The endless rugged desert beauty is breath taking in a dangerous but surreal kind of way.. Tweeks, Tip and I have a standing agreement between us that we are gonna travel it again and we encourage all of you movie viewers to take full advantage of the opportunity to do the same if it presents itself to you.. If you do though,, even if your traveling in a car, take some extra water and maybe some extra fuel with you just in case you meet someone out there that didn't notice or believe the "NO GAS" signs.. When we return, I am gonna pack a can of WD-40 and set an Alien free!! The best way to tell how much fun a pair of bikers are having when they are out CTFWing is by how fast the time seems to go by for them,, in this case for us, it seemed like it had only been five minutes and we had covered the bulk of the Terrestrial and we were standing at a lonely intersection nursing Tweeks from her new 2 gallon bottle.. As we stood there enjoying the silence, we noticed a couple Antelope who had decided they didn't care for our presents and took off for where ever those Prong Horn's take off to when they are startled..

Having procured the extra fuel that we were going to need while traveling 160 miles of the Extra Terrestrial Highway that crosses Nellis Air Force Base, my thoughts changed to another important matter, one that would result in the 3 of us missing an opportunity during this years ride that we all would have really enjoyed. If you have been watching this movie since the very beginning and have been paying attention (dont feel bad if you haven't, I cant stay awake during movies either), you may well remember "BikerJohn", one of this stories Texas Heroes.. Some of you professional movie critics may even remember me mentioning another VentureRider.org member's name mentioned within the context of my ramblings concerning BikerJohn. That other member is CMCoffey, now better known to me as just "Coff".. Coff's a genuine member of the United States Air Force and is stationed at Nellis. He is also the one who was gonna be sharing a camping spot with BikerJohn at the Rally in The Dalles Oregon that we were all gonna try and attend. Coff had contacted me thru Private Messaging (a really neat way of talking to each other on VentureRider without other people knowing what you are saying, hence the title "Private Messaging" or, in a military type of lingo this is referred to as a P.M. ). Shortly before leaving our home back in May to begin this madness, I read a final P.M. from Coff that simply stated, you - Tip and Tweeks are staying on our site at the "Loose Moose State Park" (not its real name, more about that later in the show), if you happen to travel anywhere near Nellis Air Base on your way out please call me".. We stood there inside the fuel station where we had purchased the fuel and gas jugs, staring at our little Trac-Phone that showed NO SERVICE!! Before going out and grabbing the Tablet and checking for Internet Service, I walked back up to the lady behind the counter and asked if they had an Internet Connection thingy we could borrow for a couple minutes to try and contact a friend on Nellis.. She said no, but she thought maybe the lady who owned the Area 51 display up the road may have one.. She gave us directions to the woman's establishment those directions had a familiar ring to them. I asked if a 20 foot tall silver Alien's metallic space suit had rusted up in her friends front yard with an Alien possibly still inside of it, kinda like what happened to the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.. She laughed and said "That's the spot!!".. I told her we had passed the place on our way to the gas station (I didn't mention that I had stopped and gotten directions from an old guy in the parking lot - trying to maintain a certain element of dignity) and that it was closed.. The lady told us to just go up and ring the bell or rattle the door and the owner would let us in..

Glad you are enjoying the ride along Sky!! Thanks for the encouraging thoughts!!! Tell you what, I am having a BLAST sorting thru all these pics and putting all these memories into something other that a road diary - its like reliving the adventure all over again only this time - Tip, Tweeks and I get to travel with all our friends and family - it dont get no better than that!! Concerning riding without a weapon,, I used to pack all the time.. Even before my kids started riding with me, I would have a 357 hanging on the bars in the open while crossing the west.. When they started touring with me, I packed my 45 concealed. Other than Alaska and Hawaii, I have toured in all the states and some of Canada (Nova Scotia - Ontario - Alberta) and I have simply never even come close to having the need to shoot anything, especially a person. In all honesty,, I think there is something about an older couple, riding an old beat up bike covered in stickers that comes across in a very non-threatening way to most people.. The sticker idea all started out in an attempt to create conversation between other people and myself while touring, but it is turning into so much more than that.. I have observed on many occasions as Tweeks, Tip and I sit in lines of bikes waiting to pay a toll or enter a National Park and, without fail - the very people who sit in the toll booths rolling back their eyes at the bikers who have just paid their dues will treat us like we are,,,,,, special .. You get the point.. As far as Tweeks getting up there and having a lot of miles on her,, she's just barely over half my age so it probably aint her I really need to be worrying about:backinmyday:

I've been very patient and feel I have waited long enough for someone to ask this.. No one has so here we go.. A couple days ago Randy asked about setting up a timer on the anti dives on his bike.. I noticed right away that Flyintheointment was one of the participants in that discussion who seemed to have some prior experience with timers,, or,, making things happen at a preplanned time.. I also happened to notice that last night at exactly midnight (when the date flopped to Feb 1) that the What Washing started.. Now,, I am not trying to start anything here but I was wondering just how much of FLyingFool's knowledge about timers is involved with this latest disaster of the white kind happening precisely on Feb 1...

You are more than welcome Art, my pleasure. Glad you are finding enjoyment in riding along with Tip, Tweeks and I thru the madness!! And thank you for the encouraging words!! Puc

and why did Flyinfool have to incorporate a calendar into the timer on the White Wash special, and why did he have to draw that little circle around Feb 1..

Good for you Bob, glad to hear that all is doing better!! Been quite around here without your input, we knew that you were in the middle of the move but didnt know about your sister. So sorry to hear that news,, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family!! Are you back to riding this year? I knew you had your bike up for sale a while back but hadn't heard if you had sold it.. Welcome back!!!!! Puc

:dancefool::Laugh:

Got that right ya hippy!! Thought I best get something up for these varmints to read cause I noticed a HUGE storm was coming thru betwixed yourn house n mine!! Give em all something to do to keep em from catching cabin fever!! Thinking of drinking a cold glass of butter milk now and hitting the hay for a couple hours!!

ROCK N ROLL BRO!! :thumbsup:THANKS!!

Later that day, as we were riding along discussing the need for small towns like Caliente Nevada to post train schedules for tourist, a couple of genuine Air Force jets came ripping along a mountain side about 3 feet off the ground!! An instant - HOLY ROAD RUNNER CATCHER BAT MAN, DID YOU SEE THAT - came out of my mouth as the 2 jets disappeared as fast as they had shown themselves!! Tip shook her head in a manner to match my excited comment.. The sudden thought went tearing thru my adrenalin filled brain,, I betcha we are near Area 51 - yeeeee hawwww - NELLIS AIR BASE!!! I pulled my feet down off the engine cases where I usually store them when traveling for hours on end, placed em down into their race mode on Tweeks pegs and headed off in pursuit of the Jets who had disappeared off Tweeks radar screen.. Tweeks and I had a pretty good vector fix on them though as her tach jumped up to a healthy 6 grand in 5th gear as we gave those Jets a run for their money.. WHAT A RIOT!! It wasnt long before we came to this sign that said "Extraterrestrial Highway". Having long since realized that Tweeks V-4 motor, as powerful and awesome as it is, obviously it is no match for whatever those jets were housing for power plants, my minds ability to resist distraction fell aside with intrigue at the sight of that sign. Tippy and I were having the time of our lives as we laughed at the fact that we were actually traveling the EXTRATERRESTRIAL HIGHWAY - HOW COOL IS THAT!!! The next sign that we passed after the Extraterrestrial sign mentioned something about there being no gas for the next 150 miles.. A few moments after passing that sign and I felt the great big grin on my face disappear as my mind started doing the simple mathematics of calculating the miles per gallon that Tweeks is capable of and dividing that by how much fuel I estimated she had in her tank.. Tip and I have had to push Tweeks a couple of times because of a slight error on my part in doing this advanced science so, to avert the possibility of having Tippy not talk to me for a couple days, I had placed a couple quarts of extra fuel on the tent rack attached to Tweeks back side just in case we met an encounter such as this.. After doing the initial mathematical calculation and not caring for the answer I arrived at, I than recalculated the whole apparatus to include the 2 extra quarts (that's an extra 1/2 gallon to any of you who aren't as advanced in math as I am) that I had stashed.. I did come closer to a reasonable answer in my math but, for some reason, something in my gut said - DONT TRY IT. As Tweeks came to coasting stop, Tip said, I know - I saw the sign - there is no way we can make it,, the womans as good at math as she is with English - being married to a school teacher does produce its moments. As we headed back in the direction that we had just came from, we noticed to a new sign that put a whole new spin on life - this sign boldly announced - "NO GAS - 100 miles".. I stopped, looked at Tippy and said - Houston,, we gotta problem. We had passed an old guy back at this Tourist Trap building that looked like an old military quonset hut that some hippys had borrowed from Nellis Air Base and had stuck a big silver Alien in front of it. I suggested that we ride back to that building that was obviously closed, and see if the guy was still there, maybe he knew of a fuel station (or a desert cactus farmer who would sell us some fuel) within 50 miles of us.. We did just that and remarkably, he directed us to the only fuel station within miles of us - no more than 10 miles away - PHEW! After I topped Tweeks fuel tank off with some pretty pricey fuel (the lady could have charged me 10 times the price though and I would have paid it - I didn't tell her though), I wondered inside to cool off and have a pop with Tip.. We started chatting about how bad we both wanted to ride the Terrestrial and about how uneasy I was in trying to cover that distance without a lot more extra fuel than we were carrying.. I noticed some small fuel jugs that this station had sitting on their shelves - also kinda pricey (x4 of a Walmart) - oh what the heck - ya only live once right, besides,, that one time can be cut pretty short if ya get stranded out in the desert without fuel.. We decided that if we were gonna buy one though - we would by the 2 gallon jug instead of the 1 gallon jug, we could always help someone else out if we bumped into another person out there who had ran out of fuel. As we were paying for the jug, Tip asked the lady at the counter if they ever had to rescue people coming across the ExtraTerrestrial Highway.. Amazingly, the lady said usually a couple times a week!! Tip said, that don't make sense - there's a great big sign out there that says NO GAS 150 MILES on it. The lady shook her head and said "I cannot tell you how many times we have rescued people out there who have ran out of fuel and when asked if they had seen the sign they say, yes,,, but we didn't believe it was real"!!

After a short but interesting single track ride around the area that left Tweeks with some tumble weed branches dragging behind her, we once again hooked back up to the pavement and headed out in a westerly direction. Later, after it had been a while since we had crossed into Nevada and our human fuel tanks were once again blinking low fuel signals to our central computer systems, we started looking for food.. We pulled into this little out of the way town called Caliente Nevada just in time to find a late breakfast. If you are ever out wondering around in the deserts of Nevada and happen to be hungry, you can do far worst than this place called The Brandin Iron in Caliente!! Great food, great service and you will not leave hungry!! I would suggest this though, if you are in any kind of a hurry OR if you are bothered by trains, you should ask what time the train comes thru before you decide whether you want to dine in or whether you are better off with take out at the Brandin Iron. Tweeks, Tip and I have encountered western trains whose car count seem to be in the hundreds and measure in miles not feet. We have always enjoyed traveling beside them, waving at the Engineers with vigor in an attempt to get them to wave back - many times they do.. Its always a special treat to get them to blow their train horns wildly at us in response to our childish waves. Trains are a wonderful, fun part of CLFWing,, until you get boxed in by one of those endless contraptions!! In all fairness to our friends, the trains. Tweeks would like to thank them for holding us up that day as this way laid us long enough to provide me with ample time to remove some of the tumble weed remains that were making funny clicking noises as her cooling fan bumped into them.

Old Iron Town was fascinating in an obscure kind of a way. Signs were everywhere describing what had taken place there many years ago. I had no idea that the mountains of Utah were so rich in Iron Ore. It was amazing to find out how much Iron had been removed from this area and also how much still remained. Definitely a place that any CTFWer would be proud to claim they had a chance to see. After showing me where the restrooms were, I thanked our tour guide for his kindness, Tippy tossed him the remains of a left over piece of jerky I had tucked away in the little tour pack located on the center console thats attached to Tweeks back. We both gave him a hug and watched the kind hearted desert dog snickered at us as we rode off, probably never to see him again.

As Tweeks led Tip and I off CTFWing down this old gravel road looking for some ghost town called Old Iron Town, probably because I once spent a night in the desert with no water, I felt my throat going dry.. After reaching up and taking a swallow of water from our high class styro foam cup that sets in a cup holder I had rescued from the middle of the road at a Sturgis Rally, I leaned back and told Tippy how much I LOVE Ghost Towning. We hadn't traveled very far (under 15 miles as I recall) on that dusty old road and sure enough,, we came to some signs that said Old Iron Town!! There were no other human beings around that we saw. A real friendly desert dog greeted us as we slipped out of Tweeks saddle.. Tippy reached down and patted the pooch on the noggin and mumbled something to the friendly critter about being thankful to him for chasing away all the snakes that may have one time inhabited the ruins we were about to investigate.. Tip has never really been fond of snakes,, matter of fact - she dislikes them with a passion. I know this has never occurred to most folks who know me but, I like to hang the remains of dead animals on Tweeks. Once we were down in southern Florida traveling along the "Alligator Alley" and we found a genuine dead Alligator on the side of the road.. Tips actually held the plastic bag for me as I stuffed the feet that I had broken off the dead gator with my 16 inch Channel Locks (and people have the nerve to ask me why I carry those great big pliers - sheesh) into the bag for storage.. We later had to dispose of the feet because not even Febreze could conquer the likes of that odor but, thats beside the point. Tippy has never even squinted about helping me fulfill my love for dead animal parts, even gator feet.. Until earlier in this trip that is.. I had found a dead Rattle Snake (a BIG one) on the side of the road back in Texas and was headed back to procure its head to mount on Tweeks front fender. Tippy despises snakes so much that she said if I did so she was gonna make me walk home. She really meant what she said to our new friend, the desert dog too.. I didnt realize how well the dog was trained as a tour guide until I realized that the bond between Tip and the hound were instantly solid enough that the puppy would be our guide for the entire tour.

In order to find obscure places on this planet of which we are all part of, you almost have to be an obscure kind of person. Most people that I have had the pleasure of meeting in my life will draw the fine line in risk management when motorcycling somewhere between comfort and sensibility. I have found that if one really wants to locate obscure little hidden treasure spots, one almost has to throw back a shot of very little southern comfort with big gulp chaser of "whats sensibility got to do with it". I cannot express to you, the reader of some of this nonsense, how many times Tip and I have experienced the neatest obscure things simply by letting Tweeks enjoy some CTFWing and getting us good and lost. As I packed Tweeks up on this gorgeous Utah morning I was actually wondering what kind of obscure things she was going to lead us into. We hadn't traveled very far from our the beautiful campground (Tip and I call anywhere we have camped without getting chased out for vagrancy a "campground") which we had stayed at that night, before I heard Tips gentle voice mentioning something about seeing a marker of some sort back on the side of the road. Tweeks has taken to listening to Tippy almost better than she listens to me (got some kinda girl thing going on) and was already starting one of her famous "lets go the other way turn arounds" even before I could get upright in her saddle. That old sign that Tip had noticed said something about an "Old Iron Town" and had an arrow pointing down some lonely gravel road. You, the readers, have got to understand something about what we were about to do. A person really needs to grasp and appreciate CTFWing in places like Utah and Nevada to fully comprehend just how obscure these places can be. There are VAST sections of these two States (some other places in our country too) that use some weird kind of math formula to calculate politically correct distances between fuel stations and water sources. Choosing to run off into the desert in this part of Utah is what might separate the people who are on one side of the risk management line from the people who are willing to travel on the other side of that line.

They can have my 1st Gen Venture named Tweeks when they can pull her from my worn out old fingers.. Seriously Ride2much,, I totally get your point.. Those Indians are GORGEOUS and there aint no one that I know of that will argue the point that mother Yamaha has turned her back on us.. IMHO, and that is all it is - OPINION,, I really dont think we are gonna see the V-4 platform return in a touring bike.. I look at that AWESOME V-Max 1700 and how it has been relatively poor in sales and I just cant see Yamaha using it... I have hunch, based on Harley's V-Twin dominance, that the future in Yamaha touring is gonna be around a V-Twin - maybe the 1900 Strat platform.. Maybe something in that line will be upon us soon if your interested.. Now, about the Indians, I LOVE EM TOO!! Long before you buy one you owe it to yourself to spend a couple days at their demo's.. Go early on a Friday (even take a day off work if you have to - its worth it to not have to deal with the crowds and be able to ride all day) and, even if you have to ride different models than the Roadmaster - RIDE EM!! The only way you can really know if the motor fits your needs is to try em out! They all have the same 111 (except the new Scout) so, even if you have to ride different models at least you can get a feel for the engines power delivery, vibrations and possible hot spots on your body.. Another thing that comes to mind with Indian is something we have talked about a little around here lately.. That is the fairly small number of Indian dealerships there are throughout the country.. Brand new bikes arent suppose to break but, as we all know, they are just machines and breakdowns do happen.. If you travel cross country as much as your name implies, ya might wanna consider what I am saying.. I am consumed with this bike passion much like you, I followed the new Indian from beginning and was hoping that because it was Polaris who picked up the name, it meant that any Polaris equipment dealer could at least source parts and do some repair work in a pinch.. My understanding is it doesnt work that way. A Polaris Victory dealer cannot help a Polaris Indian rider with his broken bike or vice versa. It might be worth some digging to find out whether or not what I have been told is true - especially if your serious about buying one and riding long distance on it... Might also not be a bad idea to become a member at an Indian forum and snoop around some.. See if there have been any issues and if there have been, find out how Polaris did with warranty work.. Dont get me wrong,, I LOVE the bikes and LOVE what I see in the engine design but their prices pretty much match HD and one doesnt have to travel many miles to discover that Harley shops are like Star Bucks - when da HD breaks,, seems like there is shop within 2 miles (just saying this to make a point).. If you do get one, PLEASE dont forget about 's,, lots and lots of 's for your family who will still be here for you!!! Puc