cowpuc

Continuing westward with the mountains of Yosemite getting closer and closer, I had just mentioned to Tip that I hoped we could find fuel for Tweeks before we attempted to locate a way thru the mountains, that's when a little town appeared. The name of the place was Lee Vining.. I will never forget this particular stop because, not only did they have fuel of both the human and vehicle types, but, apparently someone had left a barn door open on somebodies Hot Rod man cave and all the critters had escaped. Fortunately for the farmer who was on the process of raising this particular breed, the live stock had not ventured very far, all those gorgeous Hot Rods had meandered into the gas station we had stopped at to feed. I have been involved in the restoration of antique motorcycles for many years now. I also have friends who have been involved in different levels of automobile restoration. One of the things that I had learned many years ago has to do with the licensure of antique vehicles. My home state of Michigan allows the owner of an antique vehicle to license the vehicle as such and even offers special license plates for those vehicles. In Michigan, these plates are labeled as "Historic" plates. A person can also take any license plate that matches the year of the birth of the vehicle and permanently register it to that vehicle, this plate can be from any state in the Union.. I have had many bikes thru the years that I have purchased antique plates for from places like Ebay and always thought my machines looked pretty spiffy with their birthday plates hanging on their backsides. Motorcycles have to be at least 20 years old to qualify for antique status. Having been operating 1st year Ventures (1983) for some time now, Tweeks is not my first Venture with Historic plates.. She does lend herself more to the appearance of an Antique vehicle with all her stickers and stuff than any of the other Venutres I have owned and, personally, I think she is downright attractive with her little "Historic" plate. One of the few rules about licensing and operating a Historic plated vehicle (at least in Michigans rule book) is that you either have to be headed to or coming from showing someone your bike or working on your bike (we named Tweeks Tweeks cause I am ALWAYS Tweeking/working on her).. Tweeks historic plates serve a vital purpose on our road trips as they are an open announcement to any and all fellow antique vehicle owner that he/she and I share a common interest. This aspect of Historic Plateism is a huge benefit to we poor souls that suffer with the disease of Gearheaditus.. Tweeks plate had been glistening in the sun while she was standing there at the fuel pump in Lee Vining before the first nibble of our trip occurred by one of the Hot Rodder guys who happen to be walking past. It wasn't long before this gentleman and I were knelt down next to Tweeks and she felt the brush of him signing his name on her fairing near the Shelby Cobra Group sticker that a Shelby Cobra owner had placed on her a couple years ago while she was showing off at another impromtu car/bike show in Sacramento.. Soon after this, I watched as my feet started carrying me over to check out my new friends gorgeous antique Hot Rod. One of the great things I have always enjoyed about CTFWing is the freedom to waste time goofing off wasting time and I am usually amazed at how much time Tip and I do exactly that when we are out on a CTFW run. The amount of time a person is able to stand in one place, chewing on a piece of red licorice and listening to the owner of some jacked up Hot Rod tell of how much time he had spent getting the "Tuck n Roll" interior on his piece of art just perfect could boggle the mind of even the most patient person.. Thankfully, Tippy has never been one to complain (she has a way of making instant friends with other females who happened to be there with the other gear heads). The impromptu car and bike show we had there in Lee Vining was a ton of fun. I made friends with some local California gear heads who thought the world of Tweeks and admired Tip and I for taking the time to travel all the way from Michigan to share Tweeks with them. They invited us back to the area anytime we wanted to show up and promised that there would always be a car/bike show there waiting for us to fulfill Michigans established historic vehicle licensure requirements!!

When we awoke at our Sage Hen camping spot it was so quiet and peaceful we could hear the prairie grouse doing their drumming off in the distance as the fresh smell of the Mountains of Yosemite filled the air we were breathing. The invitation to get up and explore region spoke to us with overwhelming tenacity. We tossed the gear on, threw our legs over Tweeks back and headed out on the two tracks to find out what kind of treasures were in store for the three of us.. A couple hours later we rejoined a hard surface road and landed in a California ghost town called Mono Mills.. There wasn't much left of this particular ghost town. It had been a haven for workers during the days when they cut down the big timbers.. There was some evidence of a saw mill that once stood on the grounds and some railway remains but we never heard from or felt the presence of any ghosts at this particular ghost town.. The area surrounding Mono Mills is very pretty, it is located not to far from Mono Lake which adds to its desert desire..

Indeed Cha,, Prayers Up and Blessings Down my friend.. I know its hard but pay careful attention to those Doctors while dealing with this surgery heal time.. Better to go thru a brief easy down time then to spend a summer trying to force it to heal!!

Dont take any chances with road salt guys,, if it were me I would hit a quarter car wash and not stop until I KNEW there was no chance of any salt being left on it.. That stuff is nasty!! Maybe even take some WD40, wash it, spray it down with WD (except for brakes of course) and wash it again.. I know I sound anal but living here in Michigan I have seen my fill of bike damage from salty roads!! By the Rbig, CONGRATS - THAT IS ONE GORGEOUS MACHINE!!

Wonder how many times that thought went thru your mind :fiddle:as you were on the way back to the with a bad guy sitting in the back seat

WOW Z WOW WOW WOW!! THAT IS PURDY!! :dancefool::dancefool:

Hey Cha,, THAT IS GORGEOUS!! Definitely a note worthy piece.. Unless you just have the bug to drive there to inspect the bike, you may wanna ask them if they would send some more pics to you. Call them and tell them that you are a serious buyer and that you just need some more info to go on.. I would ask for closeups of the engine - especially the gasket areas where the valve covers meet the jugs. At its age, if the valve clearances have never been done in it, those gaskets will probably show cracking.. Also, look the jugs over for traces of leaking anti-freeze or oil stains.. Get a couple of shots showing the dash board and with radio/cb area's. THen you can see if that equipment is stock.. I would also ask for a shot of the underside of the bike, the exhaust collector included.. You don't want a bike that has been treated like Tweeks,, pipes all banged up and stuff.. If you see stuff in the pics cause you pause, there is nothing wrong with mentioning it on the phone and testing the dealers flexability in pricing.. If it looks as sharp in the close ups as it does in the distant shots, you can just haul butt, get there, start it up - spit check the pipes to make sure she is hitting on all four,, haul out 17 crisp All Amercian Franklins and see if they will take it.. I love this stuff,, wish I could join ya!! She is a beauty,, yep,, lots and lots of space on that spotless gem to hang stickers!! Oh yea,, about this keepin up with Puc,, pack ur bags and ya'll better start gettin use to living on Rattle Snake and hoppers cause SUMMERS COMING!!

I am not much of an attorney and am having a hard time locating the loop hole in the rule book that covers the "I left my camera in the trunk" routine.. I have always appreciated your posts and pics Vidzzz so I will keep digging and see if I can find it.. Might wanna keep that camera duc taped to your wrist from now on though as most of these little loop holes only work one time. Either way, sounds like you guys had a blast out there, hope that backrest proves to be just what you need and we can find one for you to keep!! KIC, THANK YOU FOR HELPING OUT ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER!! Your assistance didnt go unnoticed.

You got that right Annie!!

Might not be a bad idea to see if she could bring a Ural with a sidecar with her.. The Ural might make a fun consolation prize in the event things didn't work out as planned.. Even at that it might not be a bad idea to not Russian to anything..

Indeed, those Spydies are wayyy cool!! Tip and I would love to join you for a test ride/demo day on them Wrench,, I have never rode one either but they sure look like they would be a HOOT!! This thought just occurred to be about our picture posting rule,, maybe we need to alter the bylines of that rule to read something like "anytime a member knows they are going to be within 200 feet of any establishment that caters to motorcycles or bikers, that person shall be required to have a camera in their possession"..

WOW, that is amazing Slowroll!! Hmmm,, Math test eay,,, I suppose you were also one of those smarty pants who was actually able to figure out how to make that Paddle with the rubberball hooked on it with a rubber string do its thing:big-grin-emoticon:!!

WOW Cha, I definitely can hear what your talking about! That higher pitched chirping is nothing that I have ever heard on any of my 83/84's!! Totally a different thing.. I have been using cheap 20-50w in the hot regions for years, like the other guys have mentioned, and all my Ventures have done just fine with it.. I am not sure but I think this is also what the early models suggested in their manuals.. I used it cause in real hot tempts it seemed like the trannys got unusually notchy and,, it always seemed like my motors breathed out a little more oil if running high speeds across open deserts.. If I had that noise happening, the very first thing I would try would be the 20-50 route.. Hey,, any of you guys ever try the Lucas additive? I gotta friend that swears by the stuff in his Harley,, says he can actually feel the engine turning easier and quieter.. Not sure what it would do with wet clutches but,, never hurts to bring up the subject.. Ya Cha,, thats an annoying little chirper aint it... THANKS for taking the time to video it and posting it up,, never knew the "chirp" was any different than the "whine' I have learned to love..

Indeed,, we went from 1.85 to 2.35 here overnight.. Personally,, I am just thankful that it didnt jump right back up to 3.75 like it was not to long ago.. As a side note, if anybody who has there thumb on the controls of fuel prices is reading this.. If you have the thought in your mind that raising prices is gonna cause me to drive less - think again.. Here is how that plays out around our place.. Fuel prices go up, Puc rides his motorcycle all the time and leaves his car in the drive way. Than, because he is a loose cannon when he gets on his bike, he and his wife go into town to get bread and milk on their bike.. 4 weeks later they return home, finally turn off their bike, walk in to discover that they still have no bread or milk (allstimers), the cycle on the cycle starts all over again.. From this example you can see that raising prices will not result in us using less fuel, the best plan of action for doing that is to leave prices at or below 2 dollars a gallon world wide..

WOW ECKSTER - I AM WITH SKID, WISH TIP AND I COULDA BEEN WITH YA ON THAT ONE!! Did you just happen into that area or was this a blind date? Reason I ask is thats the kind of stuff I tend to find when I am good and lost. BEAUTIFUL shots!! I wouldnt be surprised if Honda LTD contacts you and wants to use that area for their new Wing ads..

Heyyyy,, ya bullie, ya buried one of our favorite campgrounds!! You guys got a fair amount of snow out of that last one Raggie,, just about enough to make that tractor smile with glee!! Great ride report - thanks for sharing!! The float in the carb of my poor ol beater blower decided to swallow a bunch of gas and stop floating yesterday. I have soldered it enough thru the years that I figured the old girl deserved a new one.. Went down to Ace Hardware, laid the brass float filled with gas on the counter. The kid looked at it and said. Been a while since I seen one of those, I gotta new one but they dont make em out of brass no more, they are plastic now. I smiled and told em I didnt care as long as the new one didnt come filled with gas.

Indeed, definitely a safety oriented feller,, he also has a fire extinguisher and some AWESOME air horns!!! I had a really really cool extension cord like his last year on Tweeks but I hadda give it back to BikerJohn...

PRAYERS UP AND GODSPEED BROTHER!!!! I agree,, ride your ride and put everyday to good use my friend - we have nothing to fear but fear itself!! Now if we were riding Harleys - we might wanna fear having to push once in while but Go to Cody Wyoming, follow 16A up into and across the Big Horn Mountains, by the time you get across to Interstate 90 you will look back at your thoughts about giving up touring on a motorcycle and do this = .. Welcome back Mr and Mrs Shuttlebug!!

During my first day of Kindergarten in the fall of 1960, a kid by the name of Randy Dillion got up and walked across the desks.. Our teacher, Mrs. Mathews, got up from her chair and Randy took off running.. She caught him and spanked him with one of those Paddles that originally came with a ball attached to the paddle with a rubber string (I hated those things - I never could get em to work).. Three years later, after having just started 3rd grade in the same school system, Beech Wood Elementary in Fruitport Michigan. I had just pulled the handle on the pencil machine in the hallway about 3 doors down from the classroom that I had just walked out of. There were no other children in the hallway at the time.. All of a sudden, the hall speakers came alive and in a very sad and sullen voice - the person said that President Kennedy had been shot..

Hey Riv,, LOVE the Avatar - I purchased a CT-70H for my son for his 7th birthday - he still has it, its sitting in my basement. I also restored a number of them over the years - LONG LIVE THE MIGHTY CT-70!! The current 83 Venture that my wife, Tippy, and I ride is named Tweeks. Tweeks will be the 5th 83//84 Venture that I have worn out (actually I sold one of them at the end of its life cause of tranny problems - long story).. 200k plus has been no problem.. All but one of mine lost second gear fairly early in their lives.. I short shifted em out to their terminal ends of over 200k.. Tweeks has 244k and change on her now BUT, her speedo finally came apart during last summers fiasco while riding thru Dennison Texas.. After that happened, we went to Big Bend, Grand Canyon, California, Washington, back to California, Salt Lake City, Alberta Canada, down to Strugis SD, home to Muskegon Mi, down to a place called "Guntersville Alabama", over to within a couple hundred miles of the east coast by Roane Oak, ran into rain and came back home to Michigan, headed over to Detroit for a sleepover that a guy named Raggie had, up to our UP/s Drummond Island, down the West side of Michigan.. We probably put a few more miles on her, it seems like we rode her a couple other places.. All that said, I think I am safe in declaring that Tweeks has over 250k on her.. She is the highest mileage Venture that I have had so far.. I have to say though, Tweeks IS one tired scoot.. I have read of lots of folks with 300k plus on these bikes, I am sure you will hear from some.. As hard on these Ventures as I have been, I can honestly see where - with proper care and by following the maintenance schedule laid out by Yamaha -- 300k NO PROBLEM!! I do have a 1987 Venture parts bike in the garage with a good motor that I got recently.. Even though its just a parts bike - it is the newest Venture I have ever owned.. I am still not sure what I am going to do with it yet BUT,, I may combine it with the remains of Tweeks when she gives up the ghost and name our new Venture "Memories" or something.. The side covers that are on Tweeks are priceless, they came from my first Venture, an 84 Royal named "Beeg" - many many many miles and memories living in those old Blonde side covers.. Anyway,, sounds like you got the potential for many many GREAT memories of fun and adventure sitting in those two machines Riv,, lot and lots of really good miles... Puc PS, there is an unwritten rule around VR that reads something like "NO PICS = IT DIDNT HAPPEN" or "THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICS" or something like that.. For me, this rule has never been a problem because Tweeks has always been the prettiest bike on the site and I have never had a problem sharing pics of her.. There are folks on here that do constantly get away with breaking that unwritten rule Riv, I hope your not one of them cause I, for one, would love to see some pics of your scoots..

I knew that Bren,, I was just :stickpoke:with you,, its a major flaw in my character that gets me in trouble sometimes.. Not to long ago there were some folks that were and with me about a need I may or may not have for putting a hitch on Tweeks and dragging a trailer around with us.. I think that was during last years ride stories.. Anyway,, this was just my way of trying to for more and getting a rise of some sleeping giants out there..

As long as the request lines are now open,, I wonder if I could get "Cowpuc liked this post" changed to "Cowpuc liked this post so much that he told Tippy about it. She read it and they both like it"? And yes,, we would like 2 of your hot apple pies with that.. Thank you

Close but NO cigar.. He may have a "poser" really cool bike BUT he ain't got Tippy and TIPPY is truly ONE OF A KIND - I have NO worries about anyone one upping me

THAT is AWESOME Brake Pad!! :clap2: People like you and the businesses you operate are the backbone of what makes our country so great!! THANK YOU for your hard work and doing it right!! That is so cool - CONGRATS!

CONGRATS RBIG!! Hope you and your son have a safe, fun journey and that the new bike is EVERYTHING you are hoping for!! Glad your going after it now cause I heard rumors that FlyingFool's White Wash Machine blew a gasket and, even though it might take a week or two for the sunshine to burn off the last White Wash it squirted up there, we are gonna be riding very very soon!!