cowpuc

USMC

Glad you are enjoying the read brother!! Its a pleasure having you riding along!!

Barney Fife:bobby:

Oh yea,,, LOTS more room for stickers too!!

OUTSTANDING!! Thanks for the As the balance gets iffy, Tip n I get closer to retirement,, I can see us parking the bike - tossing a tent roll on the back and cross country touring in a gorgeous little hot rod JUST LIKE THAT Randy!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

EX-COP!!!!

not fun

The warm breeze coming up from Mexico was intoxicating with the sweet smells of the desert air it carried.. Being pretty familiar with the need for proper tent orientation in order to capture as much of that sweet smelling breeze as possible, Tippy waited outside the tent while I laid down inside to get a feel for how much of that air the tent was capturing.. It only took me a couple tries before I got the tent in the perfect spot.. Tip climbed in and was fast asleep before I finished brushing my teeth.. Then I climbed in, slid my shoes off, positioned my 32 ounce styrofoam cup of water for late night thirst quenching, laid down on the tent floor, looked up and OH MY GOODNESS!! Talk about a star show!! Between the stars, the breeze and the howling coyotes, I found myself soon competing in that log cutting contest with Tippy that I always enjoy.. I opened my eyes a second later and the stars were gone,,, the sun was just breaking the morning sky and we still had the park all to ourselves.. Tweeks slept good too,, she only had a couple drops of dew left on her saddle so I knew ride time was fast approaching.. Our belly's were as empty as Tweeks fuel tank so the first place we headed was back to the gas station we passed on our way down to the camping area in search of breakfast.. Thankfully the station attendant decided to show up for work even though there was no one but us in the park.. We pulled up to the pumps, Tip wondered inside as I fed Tweeks.. I finished up, went inside and found Tippy chatting with the young man who ran the place.. I inquired about the whereabouts of all the people that I half way expected to see running around.. He said that most folks dont venture down that way so late in the year because of the heat and told us to come back during the winter months and the place would be alive with bikes!! After educating him about the snow in Michigan we had to fight just to get out of there in order to get to the park in June, he shook his head and mumbled something about really loving Texas.. We pawed thru his cooler full of quick fix sandwiches, found some cheese and crackers and a quart of orange juice.. Stuck the sandwiches in the microwave, ripped open the cheese and crackers, twisted the top off the juice and sat down on an old bench out front and watched the sun turn up the heat.. With full bellys and a fresh tank of gas, we headed deep into the park to do some exploring.. The beauty of the higher elevations soon gave way to a pretty good looking path down the mountain towards what we suspected to be the Rio Grande River Valley.. We are well known "coasters" (legends in our own minds) with records being set all over the country.. Our current all time farthest coast was in a place called Kings Canyon out in California, that was like a 34 minute coast and a distance of 29 miles (NON STOP - KEY OFF). As we approached this mountain top in Big Bend, Tippy and Tweeks both knew exactly what was coming!! High speed coasting can really be fun,, I often imagine it has to be similar to being in a glider or something.. As we coasted down the mountain I thought about the famous young man we had bumped into one time out in Utah who was crossing the country on an Electric Motorcycle that he and Craig Vetter had built.. He was sitting there there watching the battery on his bike charge we I noticed him, we got yapping about the different sensations one experiences while riding an electric motorcycle.. I disclosed to him that I was a "coaster", after figuring out what I meant by that - he told me he thought that was wayyyy cool.. He even had me sign his bike and he signed Tweeks.. The coast down the mountain didn't produce any records BUT it did produce a landing right beside the mighty RIO GRANDE!! I was amazed at how slow and shallow the Rio was.. I told Tip that I could now see how illegal immigrants could easily cross it.. It looked like they could walk across the Rio Grande here and barely get their feet wet.. Then I noticed the great big foreboding wall on the mountain on the Mexico side of the river and realized that the river was probably the least of an illegal's problems.. Speaking about illegal's, the Border Patrol guys were really nice,, they smiled as we showed them our Michigan Enhanced Drivers Licenses that were suppose to work like passports.. No one there had ever seen or heard of such a thing.. I told them that we hadn't seen any other people and certainly no Aliens - illegal of other wise.. They said things had been pretty quiet in the area.. I told them we would keep our eyes out for Aliens and that we were headed to Roswell in search of them!! Saying goodbye to Big Bend was difficult cause it was beautiful but,, being that I had now committed to the Border Patrol a thorough search of the Roswell area for Aliens,, we headed that way.. The trail leading up from the southern border to Roswell across the Lone Star State is pretty flat.. Definitely not the type of terrain for someone who is hooked on say,, the Tail of The Dragon.. Tip and I have always enjoyed the variety of riding that our country offers and, that being said, it was fun experiencing that part of Texas.. Every area seems to have its natural ability to over come boredom,, this part of Texas would prove to be no different than any area when it came to that.. Up to this point of our trip we had gotten away with not experiencing any rain.. As I looked westward across the Texas landscape I noticed how dark it was becoming.. I picked my head up off Tips lap and told her I thought we might be in for a good drenching.. It wasnt long before those dark clouds revealed their true intent and it wasn't to get us wet.. The wind hit us with a fierceness that only states like Utah, Montana and Wyoming can appreciate.. These winds were different though as they contained almost as much prairie dirt as the actual ground from which it came!! The only thing I can compare it to is the sandstorm scene that is in the movie "Hildago" - it was that AWESOME!! One of the things that I have always appreciated about these old 1st Generation Ventures are their fixed fairings.. I have ridden non-fixed fairing (some call em "Bat Wings") bikes for considerable distances during some of my touring days and, for high speed cross wind riding - I like the stability of the fixed.. The fixed has proven to be easier on my shoulders (fight a non-fixed for a few 16 hour high wind days and you will probably feel it too).. Not all bike riders agree with this whole thought but,, thats ok,, I ride my ride and they theirs.. I do like the LOOKS of the Bat Wing better (dont tell Tweeks) but looks dont really matter when your busting thru dirt filled winds like we were!! We rode right through that dust storm and came out in the sunshine on the other side.. Tweeks was a dusty mess as we pulled into a gas stop to get fuel and take a break.. My arms were stinging and I noticed that the skin that had been pealing from getting a little to much Texas sun had been sand blasted right off my arm, leaving a dirt filled blotchy look to them.. I went inside and cleaned up the best I could. Tip and I sat down at I table to drink a pop.. Sitting there yapping I remembered another Venture Rider member who had asked me to call him if I got into this part of Texas.. I made a quick call to TxSturgis just to say hi.. "Tex" was busy working on a Combine or something when he answered the phone.. I told him where we were,, he said he knew of a Ural Motorcycle event that was going on not to far from us.. He looked up the phone number for the event cause he knows I like cool bikes.. Tex had to go back to work but it was great getting to say hi anyway.. I later called about the Ural Event which was only a couple towns over, we had missed them by a day - RATS!! After crossing into New Mexico, we got real close to Roswell and started seeing more houses and farms.. One place just outside of Roswell really caught my eye.. As we passed by this particular spot along the road, I couldn't help but notice acres and acres of OLD cars and trucks!! Acres and acres of parts and pieces too!! Being a gear headed car buff and a admirer of antiques, we had to turn around and snap some shots of the place!! Regardless of what you have heard about Roswell New Mexico and Aliens, believe me, its not as easy to find those Flying Saucer creatures as one may expect.. As a matter of fact, we camped right in Roswell and I watched the sky all night (except for when I was sleeping) and I never saw a single Alien!! Thankfully,, someone thought far enough ahead to actually preserve one of the original Aliens that crash landed back in the 50's and they keep him on display for us tourists!!

Sometimes I talk to much:95:

tank

Pics gotta be small - like 480x600 or something like that..

moon

Dont seem like the gps or radio would draw that much extra but the when ya start talking heated clothing,,, might not be a bad idea to upgrade to a higher output stator if they make one!! Higher draw on a lower output stator is hard on the whole system...

Awe,, Do da Fool's White Washer gotta an owie

sun

AWESOME!! Perfect for chilling out in the man cave with da boys!!!

Democracy

,, I think you nailed it Captn'!! Its funny how two people can read something and arrive at different conclusion aint it:think: Shoulda seen me trying to get thru the Algebra story problems back in school:178:,, I had my teacher pulling his hair out by the roots trying to get me to see em the way I was spose to Thanks for putting up with me ya bunch of lop eared varmints:detective:

popcorn

Thats weird,, they are still showing on mine...... Wonder if I am the only one who can see em..

dope

Spit

TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH CAPTN'

The next chapter is gonna address that issue:scubadive:

wacky