cowpuc

carrier

Triple if they ride a Harley and pull into my booth in front of a bunch of Yam's cause if that happened I would KNOW that they cut the line!!!! You and I,, we be one of those slippery slope thingies bro!!

lips

skinner

fish

I love the variety of experiences we have all had with this kind of stuff and these campfire discussions.. Just to add some more flavor to our Hobo Stew here,,,,, Tip and I were traveling with a Tech Sargent last year (I wont tell em your name Coff cause I dont wanna be a troublemaker) and we went over and played around Mt St. Helens NP.. I thought I over heard something mentioned about Military folks getting into the National Parks for free or something along that line. I wonder if Randy could have gotten a free pass being a Vet. I would give all Vets free passes if I were running a booth!!! And price breaks for VR members,,,,, except for Harley Riders....:crackup:

Obama,,, opps,, can say that,,, now I gotta use,, Membership:big-grin-emoticon:

And yes,, I did tell him all about VR!! Wrote down our web address for him and asked him to check in with us!! Lets see if my new friend from Missouri finds this somehow and joins us!! You guys didnt know I was a mind reader did cha!!

Our bike, Tweeks, has been around a while.. She's an 83 version of what would prove to be one of the, if not THE, best all time touring bikes known to man (can ya tell I love these ol Yam's and am a little biased).. Her creator's at Yamaha not only spent an obvious amount of extra time in research and development to get her to fit Tip and I just right, they also tossed a lot of extra thought into motor design so she would end up being THE performance benchmark for all Yamaha Ventures in the future.. Having a fairly good sized outfit like Yamaha build a gorgeous bike like Tweeks just for yours truly was not an easy task.. They (Yamaha) were obviously watching me ride minibikes, scooters, mopeds, dirtbikes, small road bikes, early model Harleys and even Choppers back in the 60's and 70's. All the while taking measurements and other statistics about my ride style and such in an effort to pre-tweek Tweeks just for me... Personally,, I can understand how they accomplished most of this engineering stuff BUT, for the life of me, I still don't understand how they gave Tweeks the ability to communicate with me... The 3 of us were puttering along on Route 66,, minding our own business when all of a sudden Tweeks let me know that something was wrong... Kinda like a child communicating with a parent before they have the ability to actually speak (if this causes you pause, you have probably never been a parent). Tweeks has her own body language.. Twitches for low tire pressures, moans when she don't care for certain terrain, a cheerful smooth gate as she fly's by a group of other bikes and a stance of pride as people admire her, one of kind, worn out touring bike attire... The particular message that Tweeks was sending on this occasion was something different,, something elusive and mysterious... Following her lead as we approached a corner, I soon discovered what she was saying... Amazingly enough, Tweeks had smelled her long lost sister in the wind and was going no further without stopping and saying hi.. After learning that Tweeks and her sister were actually fraternal twins, I was shocked at how much better her Blonde sister had faired thru the years.. It wasn't until I found out about this 1983 Blonde beauties sheltered life that I totally understood why she appeared much younger... Later on during this trip, while camping on the side of an old two track back in the mountains of Montana, Tweeks would share with me how thankful she actually was that her life had not been sheltered like her sisters had.. She told me she actually preferred carrying Tip/myself and all our gear on her back and and Chasing Her Own Front Wheel instead of being strapped in a trailer..... Tweeks actually felt sorry for her sister...

middle

It will be interesting to see if he gets it,,, I saw an 08 a few days ago with 9k on it for 8 grand.. That seemed more inline with where stuff is at these days BUT,, one never knows!! I know one thing,, I watched a new model of Vmax,, think it was an 09,, go for 10,200 on Ebay the other day.. If I were feeling better, werent facing some medical bills and had the cash (lots of if's) I would have LOVED to have grabbed that deal!!! Heyyyy,, wait a minute here Silvr,,, there has been a much newer RSV up in the Yooper of Michigan listed on Craigs for a good while,,, seems like it had a grand cheaper asking and its been for sale for good while.... Nothing like sitting around chatting bikes on a sub zero morning!!

CONGRATS BILL!!!!!!!!! Hope you and your wife take full advantage of the retirement you worked hard for!!!!!

FEELS GOOD DONT IT SILVR!!! Shall we tell em guys or should we just let em enjoy what he's got going there?? Those opposed? Those in favor? Well Ok than,, the in favors have it.. Michigan usually carries some of the highest gas prices in the U.S.. Just a few weeks ago we were at 3.89 a gallon,, we dropped to 1.89 here and are now on our way back up - was 2.06 yesterday... Filled the car up the other night for 22 bucks,, I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!! Wonder what prices are like in Missouri, or other places- Tip and I found that Missouri had the cheapest gas in the nation on our bike tour last year.....

The days of being a kid and crawling under the fence at the Getty Drive-Inn theater to watch those old movies on the big screen have long gone by.. I can still see the little square speaker boxes hanging on the car windows,,, old Buicks with those fake looking exhaust holes built into the sides of them,, a funny looking little Nash and a gorgeous 1960 Corvette Convertible with its 4 headlights and little grill that looked at you with that snear that screamed "Competition Wanted - Dead or Alive"... It was these cars and that theater that first introduced me to Route 66.. Combine that with a TV series that I loved that was actually called "Route 66" that I used to watch on our neighbors old Black and White TV and its no wonder that I have always been intrigued with the famous road that ran between Chicago and LA.. I have traveled quite a bit of what remains of the old road thru the years.. Lots of it doesnt exist anymore,, alot of it that does still exist has changed so much over the course of time that its recognizable only by a "Historic 66" sign posted every now and then. There are little sections of it though that have remarkably survived the passing of time and refused to grow up,,, my kinda places... I grinned as I turned onto Route 66 while CTFWing in a southerly direction somewhere in Missouri while crossing the USA.. That old road felt real good under Tweeks while I stretched out in relaxation and leaned against Tippy.. The direction I was taking was part of the reason I was smiling... A direction of adventure into the unknown,, even the weeds along the road that bent softly with us as we passed them by on that warm first day of June seemed to agree with me as they bent in compliment of our direction.. Far off in the distance I could see lines of Semi's following the ick-spressway with people in what us biker folk call "Cages" dualing it out with the trucks,, risking their lifes to save a couple minutes of travel time. They were all going in the same direction as Tippy, Tweeks and I but by compass only.. The drivers out there on that concrete slab were headed into a direction that was a virtual war,, a battle against time and space where drivers are trying to get ahead of each other so they could complete their job and get home to their families.. These miles along Route 66 that we were enjoying were related to their associate miles on the slab by name and measurement only.. Motorcycling is a beautiful thing when combined with CTFWing!! Not only am I a CTFW type of person,, I am also a very old school CTFWer.. Lots of young people probably wont remember this but there actually was a day and age when GPS's, Computers, Video Games and Cell Phones didnt even exist.. Thats right,,,, back then when people were out CTFWing they had their choice of finding there way between point A and point B IF they were actually trying to get somewhere.. They could either carry a map, carry a compass, stop every now and than and actually talk to people about the area (I have ALWAYS loved doing this) or,, they could learn to "read the signs" - this is another of my favorites that I use all the time.. This last method,, the one of "reading the signs" is a method that I actually learned from my Dad many many years ago.. The term "reading signs" is actually a term used in hunting and basically describes a well versed hunter who is squatted down,, picking up little round pieces of things the deer have left in the woods and checking them for freshness (there are different methods of determining freshness that I wont go into here).. Another popular sign to read while hunting Deer are "Buck Rubs" and "Scrapes".. Again,, a well trained hunter can determine direction of travel, size of rack and even what kind of day a certain deer is having emotionally by reading the signs!! I was very fortunate to have had a Father like the one I recently lost,, even though we were miles apart in the roads we traveled in our direction in life (kinda like those folks on the ick-spressway over there) - he taught me many many things, like reading sign, that I use to this very day - maybe not in the way he intended me to use them BUT I do still use them!! Reading the signs along Route 66 was a lot of fun and a perfect way to enjoy CTFW with Tippy and Tweekers!!

Inside joke = What da heck,, are you and Dave/Barbie (another great member here who also suggested this) related? Dave,, if your reading this you gotta be ,, I get feeling better I will do just that DJ!!

Been thru a couple tents over the years of touring and have it pretty much narrowed down to the little blue, 30 dollar Menards two person.. They are cheap (when you lose it or wear it out - just buy another) so maintenance is simple = when they start leaking ya toss em.. Another MAJOR plus issue is they offer a pretty good ventilation (AND THIS IS A MAJOR DEAL WHEN TENTING) - the screen in the doorway goes close enough to the floor that the breeze blows across your body when laying on floor (have had LOTS of other much more expensive tents that look good BUT - what I am describing has ALWAYS been an issue!!! They also use the very simple and quick "fishing pole" poles to put em up.. I never bother staking down so I have bags of the little stakes they come with laying around - still brand new in their little bag, I just pull into a camp site - unhook the tent - put the poles in the slots and its up - about a two minute deal, literally!! Also, these little suckers are amazingly water proof for what they are!! I truly think the ONLY problem I have ever had with these little tents is they come in way to small of a carry bag,, its not that big of deal for me cause I have found a way of packing that I dont need the bag anyway BUT,, if your the type who likes to fold it all back down and pack into its little baggy,, you will find the bag kinda tight!! Sleeping bags are kinda along the same route.. Many years ago I bought into the lightweight Down stuff used in back packing.. The problem I found is that usually when I am riding it is not even close to sub zero temps that the bags were rated for and they COOKED me while I was trying to sleep.. I am the type who likes to be in a sleeping bag - gives me warm fuzzies to snuggle in.. Anyway,, having a warmer rated bag isnt necessarily a good thing for - it would be different if we were talking snowmobile camping.. YES - it can get cold at night - woke up many times with ice on the seat of the bike BUT - if that happens I just pile on my riding gear and live thru it.. Also,, I never really cared for the lack of cushioning that those bags that squish way down provide,,, I actually like a little substance between me and the floor... More important with the bags, to me, is the size.. I always make sure I get the longer ones,,, I like to stretch all the way from one wall of the tent to the other,,, what a NEST!!! I get the lightweight ones,, dont go thru any where near the amount of bags compared to tents but I think the last couple we bought also came from Menards!!

YIIIIIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! My friend THAT is soooooooo way good news,, been thinking of ya and praying for ya bro!! Congrats Jeff!! Keep it up and come spring YOU will be racing motocross!!! Its so weird that you posted this though,, I swear you have a set of high powered, laser guided binoculars that you are spying on me with,,, I am sitting here typing this with a Holter Device hanging on my belt and wires attached to my chest.... Been a crazy day here in dealing with those Heart Doctors!!!! Regretfully (for your sake) it almost seems like we are somehow related:scared:,, or maybe there really is some strange viral heart bug living in the Lake we share:95:... Anyway Fool,, CONGRATS the headway your making - THAT is fantastic!!!! Puc

Hi Rand I have been buying yearly passes for the National Parks for years and LOVE the parks,,, when comes to touring I have always lived by the "dont leave home without it rule" when it came to the NP pass.. Sadly, they dont work in State Parks,, they do work for National Monuments and some Museums though..

Go back to bed bro,, that Fool is just getting started!!!

Me and my buddy BikerJohn,,,,,,, we can smell a Photo Chop Shop a mile away!! THANKZ Z, I NEEDED THAT!!

AWESOME TOOCH - THANK YOU!! Now dig this you guys,,,, George's son, George Jr., is the one who actually sold me the bike.. He and his wife were Executors of the Estate, Olivia was the last item of George's to sell as it took almost a year for them to be able to part company with her.. Anyway,,, Tippy and I spent the better part of a day at George Jr.'s house getting the full scoop and listening to stories the day we went to Detroit and picked her up.. Not all of the stories were about George Sr.. George told me about some of his time in the Special Forces in Vietnam.. He told me about the day he was waiting to rapal out of a chopper, saw the rounds hitting the rear end of it, looked at the pilot and noticed he was screaming and motioning for George to let go.. George did let go and woke up days later in a Hospital.. Found out that the chopper he was in had gone down - all KIA.. A Gunship had thankfully flown in and stayed over George - protecting him until he could be Medivacked out - his buddies saved his life... George Sr. had painted Olivia HD Blue back in the 50's cause he always wanted a Blue Civilian one.. According to George Jr., his dad immediately repainted Olivia in her Military dress when he heard about his son's survival.. This is when he (Sr.) placed his numbers (386th BG and all that stuff - I know very little of what all the numbers mean BUT I am learning) Olivia, as seen to this day.. This was back in 68ish.. All this is info that George Jr. passed on to me when Tip and I spent the day with them.. In doing more research here I just found out something really really interesting.. I googled George Jr's name, along with Vietnam.. Unreal... I found myself reading a portion of a book titled: Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri By Robert C. Ankony It is an AMAZING story of one man's account of his time serving as a Lurp in Vietnam.. Here is where the search took me to initially: https://books.google.com/books?id=vSRD7-r_VuEC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=George+Flemming+vietnam&source=bl&ots=G5H3VWyiTe&sig=FQE4J9WOg6Y7FkfNbnX-u_5rYNg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aOOuVJOmFI-cygS9iID4DA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=George%20Flemming%20vietnam&f=false If your reading this and interested at all, click on the above link and LOOK what I found!! George Flemming received his Special Forces "Flop Hat" (which I am taking to believe means "Green Beret" maybe - again,, I am NO Veteran and have NO place interpreting ANY of this for ANYONE).. I ended up going back and reading everyword of the online stuff in this book (I HAVE to get a copy of this book!! IT IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!).. I also went to the authors website: Robert Ankony in hope of finding a way to contact him and find out if he knows whether or not we are talking about the same George Flemming.. Ironically,, the info at Mr. Ankony's website says he (the author) ended up being a Police Officer in Detroit - right in Georges back yard!!!! It will be almost divine if we are talking of the same person,, even more so if he and George still remain in contact... CRAZY WORLD!! Doing some reading on the authors website also revealed that he legally sent home automatic weapons from Nam.. Later when he was a Detroit Police, the laws regarding guns had changed drastically and those weapons were confiscated by the Feds,, the guys that confiscated them were later in life found guilty for being scumbags involved in the drug business!!! What an amazing history study Olivia is taking me on!!!!! God Bless you men and women who have served in the Arm Forces fighting for freedoms sake,, wherever you are, past - present or future,, God Bless each of you and THANK YOU!!!!!!! Puc

The response to the ad I stuck on Craigslist about Olivia has been really interesting.. Lots and lots of inquiry's, some just responding to say - "COOL BIKE", couple comments of "YOU ARE ASKING WAYYYY TO MUCH MONEY" and some along the line of - "cant believe you would sell it so cheaply - gotta be something wrong here".. Typical stuff I guess.. The most intriguing though have been two in particular.. Both of those have been folks who just sent their phone numbers and asked me to call,, which I did.. Interestingly enough, these gentleman, one in California and one in Michigan, seemed a little squeemish about the integrity of Olivia's history... As a result of that, I have been on an internet crusade to discover the real Olivia, trying to accumulate info supporting whether or not her previous owner had the military history as I was told... Being the sort of person who normally looks for the "silver lining" within dark clouds, I wasnt surprised to find myself actually enjoying the process I am going thru in this research.. That silver lining turned to gold and I about spit my coffee all over my puter screen as I read thru the online Obituary that I discovered while researching the deceased owners history... I was humbled and honored as I read thru the accomplishments this gentleman presents.. I gotta admit though,, even though it was only a mere gut feeling that told me that somehow Olivia was gonna show up within George's obit,, I was NOT surprised to find this to be the case!! To know from experience and being around her that to know her is to love her and the soul of that love can run very deeply!! Deeply enough that she could even find her way into the sacred obituary of a WW2 Vet who obviously loved the time he spent with her!! RIP George!! George Flemming Obituary - FRASER, Michigan Its fun swimming in the pool of life where giants have swam,, hope ya enjoy it as much as I do folks!! Puc

Who would have ever thought that an old geezer like me,, riding a fun loving - beat up old bike like Tweeks and toting around a pretty young lady like my wife, Tippy, could cause so much trouble and yet, be blessed so richly by doing so.. Boy Scout philosophy was really popular back when I was growing up,, you know what am talking about,, help old ladies cross the road,, take a bath once in while, learn to tie your own shoes early in life, pup tent camping creates character, living on campfire cooked hotdogs IS gormet cooking and all that.. I was never a Scout BUT,, a lot of their basic principals of life seem to of somehow attached themselves to me. As a matter of fact, the only Scout principle that seems to have really eluded me thru the years is one that involves "planning" and being "prepared". For some reason, especially when it comes to motorcycle touring,,, the terms "planning" and being "prepared" have never seemed to fit into the scheme of things for me.. I tried "planning" and being "prepared" once for a cross country motorcycle trip and it was a total flop. On that trip, I ended up losing track of my cousin and Brother In Law out in Sturgis South Dakota and wound up riding home alone.. Not that this was so bad for yours truly as I really am OK being by myself and traveling alone BUT, it was my cousins first cross country tour and he didnt really appreciate it... Its all ok now, we are still good friends BUT,, he learned as I did - splitting up, making plans to be somewhere at a certain time on a certain day is a disaster waiting to happen.. Far superior (and a whole lot more fun) to this method of travel is one that a good friend of mine - YammerDan - creatively calls "Chasing The Front Wheel" or what I will acronyze here as CTFWing... A key to being successful in CTFWing is avoiding planning and being prepared at all costs,, at least in my book... All that said, and in total appreciation for and in acceptance of YammerDans "CTFWing",, Tip, Tweeks and I set out for Sturgis SD via Glacier National Park via Skull Valley Utah via Frisco via a place called "The Dalles" Oregon via Mt St Helens via Portland via Redding California via Sonora Pass via Area 51 via the Grand Canyon via Jerome Az via Roswell NM via Big Bend NP via BikerJohn's and Squids house in Texas via our house in Muskegon Mi,,,, all with no map - no GPS - no watch and a half a tank of gas... Its the end of May 2014 and its ride time... Tweeks sat on the slab out front of our home,, patiently waiting while we locked the doors and hid the key (this year I hid the key in in my wallet - last year, trying to be smart and be PREPARED for returning home, I hid the key somewhere around the outside of our house and, when we got home from a couple months on the road I couldnt remember where I had hid it - I had to remove an air conditioner to break into our own home - NOT FUN AT 3 AM!!!).. Tweeks always looks so pretty with a pup tent strapped on her back, what a doll!! After getting lost in Chicago cause we didnt have a map and finally figuring out that a friend of mine named MarCarl, who had promised he would give us directions and cook us a burger if we got lost, was not gonna show up, I got my internal compass back in line and just headed south... By doing so, we found ourselves crossing into Missouri,, thats a State in my home country of the United States in case one of you readers didnt know.. It started getting later in the day and I started remembering protocol for survival while attempting CTFWing,, that being - its best to find a place to camp before dark or you will probably end up sleeping in a Cemetery or camped in a Walmart Parking lot or something.. As we pulled into this little town down in Missouri I could SMELL a National Forest.. The whiskers on the tips of my mustache twitched like a freshly wacked tuning fork as we drove thru this quaint little place.. I eyeballed the railroad tracks that ran thru it and knew,, if nothing else,, their had to be a hideaway left over from the Gangster Days along those tracks, if nothing else... Tip noticed a small sign (besides being cute she is also a great Nav - astute follower of CTFWing too) just outside this little town that said something like "Mark Twain Nation Forest Historical Site, 10 miles" with an arrow pointing down a dirt two track. Well bust my britches if ol Tweeks didnt just instantly turn that direction!! Getting lost while following dirt roads inside of a National Forest in a State called Missouri in the dark is only one of the great adventures of CTFWing... After dark, places like Missouri in the USA can take on some pretty creepy feelings, I had heard that the ghosts of Will Munny, Al Capone and Baby Face Nelson haunt these places (think thats weird - ya oughta camp with me sometime).. We finally found the Historical spot located on a small stream about 8 miles in,, it would have been a great place to camp but there were signs everywhere that said NO CAMPING and there was also a suspicious looking Green truck with an emblem on the side of it parked in the little parking lot,,, we nonchalantly mustered on by - mumbling between us like a couple of tourist so as not to draw attention.. About a mile up the two track, over looking what appeared to be a valley of some sort (hard to tell in the dark), was a little pull off that had a sign on it that said "Puc and Tippy camp here" (not really,, but we pulled in anyway).. Took an extra couple minutes for us to reacclamate to tossing the tent up in the dark but we did it,, slept like a couple southern hound dogs in the hay laying there looking up at that gorgeous Mark Twain Missouri sky.. The next morning I snapped a few pics, packed up and we headed down the hill,, so to speak.. The creek I had mentioned earlier flowed down stream (most creeks do, unless you go out east and look for "Tidal Bores" - you only find those in creeks out east - the water flows both ways there, creating ripples they call Tidal Bores -- sorry, got side tracked trying to teach ya something) in the general direction we were headed.. After a couple miles we came to this little paved area that wasnt sandy like the rest of the road, stopped to take a short video and listen to the birds sing.. This was a good example of the beauty that Mark Twain may have noticed when he was playing around in the forests of Missouri, a State found in the USA.. Breathing in the fresh air, being there with my best friend while touring the country on a beat up ol Yamaha called Tweeks sure gave me a feeling that fun times were in store for us and real adventure was about to begin!! End of part 1..

Yep,, done met a bunch of those Canadian fellers,, none of which seemed to be cold blooded enough to actually blame sub zero temps on... That said, it is possible that the Skeee Moes are behind it, cant vouch for em cause I really dont know none,, never did even rub noses with one... That being said,, Tweeks, Tip and I may just have to actually take the tour we have talked about for the last couple years, head up yonder, across the Yukon and into Laska and see iffen we can get to the bottom of all this..