cowpuc

Dorkwad

4 PAGES GO BY AND I FINALLY PUT THIS TOGETHER BONGO!!! :doh::doh::doh:

Motorcycling!!

Thanks for the compliment Cha - I really appreciate it!! Actually I have posted a few ride reports here on VR.. I've always wondered whether or not I was setting myself up for an execution of some kind by talking openly around here about the folks that I have met.. I was also never sure how people would take to our odd form of travel,, kinda old school, living off the land - sleepin in the bushes stuff.. It wasnt until I purposely sought out meeting people from the site that I suddenly realized that people actually seemed to enjoy reading about a lot of this crazy stuff and,, some even told me so when I finally got a chance to meet them - a real encouragement to keep writing!! Fortunately - I have yet to have anyone beat me up when I finally did get the honor to make their aquaintance..

Johnny

I am right there with ya bro!! Back when Don fired the members map back up, I was playing around getting my info on it when it occurred to me,, why not have a way to address exactly what you are talking about using the members map.. I made the suggestion of somehow identifying our private properties that could be open for just such a thing - able to pull in, drop a tent, stay a night even if the hosting member was not home.. Seems like, there was some chatter about how difficult this would be and how we might be opening ourselves up to problems so the idea never really went any where.. Even though it didnt fly,, I did purposely put and leave the pointer on my balloon on the members map exactly where I have NO problem having VR members stop and camp ANYTIME - NIGHT OR DAY.. I left the pointer in its current position for exactly what you are asking, so if someone is on VR and looking for a place to drop a tent or whatever, I can just instruct them to look me up on the map and go right to where the balloon points and they are golden!! There is a fire ring there, water available.. Of course,, if home, I have tools - spare bedroom - shower and probably know the Lake Michigan Shoreline's most EXCELLENT touring oportunitys as well as anyone - I even have some hidden area's that are AWESOME riding that I would be glad to show off BUT - I wanted to be able to offer the camp opportunity up regardless of what we were doing!! BP,, take a look at the member map, put it on satellite, go up to west michigan and find my balloon - zoom in and you will see what I am talking about.. Maybe somehow this will encourage others to do the same and a few years from now, Walmart Parking lots across America will be vacant of beat up ol Yamaha's parked next to bearded ol geezers camped on the pavement,,,, wait a minute,, we are talking a major life change here,,,, thats a horrible thought....

cheese

western

Seeing Tweeks Volt Meter at a solid 13 volts again sure made me smile.. Just knowing that her new stator was doing its thing and seeing her sitting there idling in Squids garage was reassuring that we were once again,, headed out CTFWing.. Squid was pulling out for work just before we hit the road.. I returned the big ol bear hug that the smilin Texan gave me sitting there on his bike and nodded in agreement when he said "your my brother now, the door is always open here, you folks can come down and visit anytime", to which I replied, "Squidley,, THANK YOU for all you did brother, that invite goes both ways you know".. I watched as he pulled out on his gorgeous Black, Gen 2 Royal Star Venture and headed for work.. I walked back in Squids garage, finished up lashing down our trail gear onto Tweeks back,, her lights were again nice and bright and her idle was consistent and as smooth silk.. Tippy and Sweetnothing walked out as I was pushing Tweeks outside.. I pulled the door down, locked it, shut off the lights and walked over and gave Sweetnothing a hug goodbye and thanked her for her kindness and for sharing her home with us.. She too reminded us that we were always welcome to their gorgeous haven of rest deep in the heart of Texas... Living out of your saddlebags while cross country touring on a motorcycle has its ups and downs.. Many times thru the years I have been asked that age old question of "what do yo do if you breakdown" to which I have always replied,, "breaking down is kinda like getting lost,, if you can keep from panic and just look at it like part of the adventure,, there is a good chance that the things you will see and the people you will meet thru the experience will be amazing - possibly even life changing in a very positive way".. Tippy and I were still chatting about our the new friendships we found in BikerJohn, Squidley and their families and the amazing time we had with them as we pulled into Denny's in San Antonio.. As I sat inside Dennys about 15 minutes from the Alamo eating my pancakes, I kept hearing sirens blaring.. Tippy looked at me and said "something must going on in the city".. The whole time we were eating,, police cars, ambulances and fire trucks kept blaring by on the highway (at least it sounded that way).. We finished up breakfast, walked back out into the warm Texas sunshine and were instantly greeted by more siren's.. Funny thing was though,, the sirens were not on the highway where most Police Cruisers and Ambulances travel - they were coming from the treetop of the tree that Tweeks was parked under.. At first I thought someone had put a speaker up in the tree to play some kind of a joke or something, than I noticed a flutter up in the trees as I walked toward the travel pack I carry above the fuel tank door on Tweeks back.. I opened the travel pack, grabbed my camera and tried to make a video of the birds that were mimicking the siren sounds they had obviously grown accustomed to.. It occurred to me that these fairly good sized birds may very well have been the famous "Mocking Bird" that I had heard so much about.. Whether they actually were or were not Mocking Birds I am not sure, but what ever they were - if I were cruising along on Tweeks and one of them flew up behind me making the "Siren" sounds they were making on that morning - I would definitely pull over and let them by!!! One of the things I have always enjoyed about going site seeing with Tweeks is the ability to always find decent parking places.. You may not necessarily find her parked in places where normal people park but,, Tweeks always finds a place to hide out while Tip and I go exploring.. The Alamo provided a perfect spot for Tweeks right across the road from the main entrance.. The Alamo really is buried deep within the City of San Antonio.. Its kinda disconcerting when you think about what happened there long before any of the buildings surrounding the Alamo ever existed.. It takes some imagination to be able to visualize how it all happened.. The grounds were very well laid out with descriptive signs and such posted to keep even the most directionally challenged person adequately informed.. A person can only visit a certain number of wishing wells and stuff - I got a little bored... It wasn't until we found the little hideout where Crockett and Bowie had their last meeting and I sat in the exact corner of this little stone built building where they had this meeting that the boredom completely disappeared and the "feeling" I was looking for found me.. Patriotism runs thick within those historic stone walls and I can honestly say, I will NEVER forget a place called the Alamo down in the great State of Texas!! During the early spring of 2014 I was helping a friend of mine build a Harley Sportster Trike for his wife.. During the build process we got yapping about my 2014 summer ride plans.. This couple has done their fair share of travel but never on a bike.. They were always intrigued by our exploits in becoming tent camping motorcycle bums during the summer months.. As I explained to them that we were gonna try and escape Michigan a little early this time and try to make it down into Texas before it got to hot down there.. Sharon, my buddies wife, got to yakkin about this "River Walk" thing they have down at the Alamo and,,, in her words "NO ONE GOES TO SEE THE ALAMO WITHOUT TAKING THE RIVER WALK"... I probably would not have paid to much attention to her cause I really am not much on "tourist attractions" per say BUT,, her husband chimed in and said "yea,, and if they catch you in the river water they will fine you 500 dollars" - that peaked my interest.. After we finished at the Alamo I told Tip I wanted to see if we could find this river walk thing with the high valued water that no one was suppose to touch.. I head checked Tweeks as we walked out the gate, she was standing there minding her own business and had not attracted any unwelcome attention so Tip and I went looking for the crawdad creek.. As we meandered thru this luxurious motel that had a sign posted out front that said "River Walk This Way" on it, I couldnt help feel as though someone had noticed my grubby Harley Hat and that I was being watched.. We kept going down steps and thru doors and finally came out to a real fancy patio like area with a man made river flowing thru it.. A small boat full of people went cruising by that kind of reminded me of a movie set production for Tarzan the Ape Man... Some little kids on the boat were being held tightly by their parents all the while leaning toward the water with sweat running down their poor little faces from basking in the 108 degree Texas heat.. I noticed several signs that confirmed the knowledge my friend had passed on to me about a swim in this creek costing 500 bucks and I really felt sorry for the kids.. We walked the river for ways,, didnt see any beaver, mink or exotic wild life,, circled back around to find Tweeks calmly waiting for our return.. We said goodbye to Crockett and Bowie and headed toward Big Bend National Park.. It was getting later in the day when Tippy announced that she wasnt feeling well.. She was feeling kinda sick in her tummy and I could tell by the look on her face she really needed to rest a little.. We grabbed a motel in a place called Junction Texas ,, parked Tweeks - pulled the shades, turned on the air and waited to see if she would feel better in the AM...

fan

little

Not on mine thats for sure !!!!!!! NAIL IT BRENNER!!!!!

smoked

Not a problem,, this is the blind leading the blind than Your brower is the program that creates the URL line, the URL line is the place where you type in the website you want to go to.. I am using Firefox, when I log onto my computer and get to the opening screen, one of the little icons on the screen has a picture of a little fox wrapped around the globe - that is my "browser" icon and it accesses the internet when I click on it.. Its possible that you are using Windows Explorer, that icon probably appears as an "e" with a gold band around it..

hanged

:scratchchin:Oh well,, that is a hard part of the entertainment business,, there is always a few in the crowd whose artistic taste differ from the agenda.. I am not much for dodging tomatoes and certainly always try to avoid ,, I therefore promise you Dan O',, no more singing!! (unless I just happen to bump into another video in my touring pics of me singing,, in that case I will be sure and post em just for you bro!!!)

Rooster, what browser are you using?

elder

This is probably gonna sound insane and I have NO idea how it fits in with Diabetic dietary needs but,, you asked, here is what worked for me.. Back in 03 I broke my back in a deer/car accident.. The facia extrusion things at the sacrium/L5/L4 fragmented and the L5 was resting on the sacrium by about 3/8 of an inch.. My spinal cord was "S" shaped in that location.. I ended up in the hands of a very talented Neuro Surgeon.. I was walker dependent and headed to full time wheelchair status.. The Surgeon told me that he believed he could ultimately fix me, I would be able to walk again and have a pretty normal life (minus the dirtbike/MXing/Harescrambling - those days were done) BUT,, he would only do the spinal rework on me if I lost 50 pounds (I was 255 at the time).. I knew what I had to do and told him I would be in touch.. Thru physical therapy (got to know our local Sports Medicine folks on a 1st name basis) for careful excersize to make sure I didnt cause more damage, and a very special diet I lost 50 pounds in less than 8 months.. Here's the diet I used,, a Wendies Chili for lunch - no crackers.. Ground chicken breast (no skin) mixed with mustard on a sandwich made with whole wheat bread (I liked it toasted) and fresh spinach for dinner (no dressing).. Some times I would put the spinach on the sandwich for fun.. Water to drink.. I also took one a day vitamins during that time.. Water to drink with an occasional V-8 juice (couple times a week).. Sounds almost not doable when you are faced with it and I had LOTS of my close friends comment on how strong willed I must have been to do something like that.. My comment has always been, and always will be.. In the situation I was in, with the choice between walking again or not,, the feeling of starvation became a pretty small issue - I did it cause I had to!! OldGoat, its also funny that you bring this up now.. I just went thru something similar again with this medical stuff I am going thru and my cigar smoking.. I really enjoyed a good cigar,, problem was - smoking of any kind mixed with medical problems of any kind just does not fly.. Knowing that, I quit back in October when all this stuff started.. As much as I enjoy a good cigar - I would enjoy feeling better more!!

Got a good running 87,, wonder if the 1300 motor would set right in the 1200 chassis... What kinda shape is the bike in physically Carl?

ammo

homeless

PMS

I have gotten that comment a lot in my singing career Dan,,, usually the cure is found when the husband of the wife who has those types of thoughts stops singing along with my music and just lets my gentle, professionally trained singing voice sooth the atmosphere.. My advice is for the two of you is to try it again,, you should go buy her a 10,000 dollar diamond ring, couple dozen roses, get a hair cut,, maybe toss on a tux - kneel on your right knee as she opens the door that you just knocked on and say,, my sweet Warden - that singing Puc inspired me to do all this just for you... She will probably really like my singing after that!!!