Dragonslayer

Happy B'day Jeff :Happy Birthday:

The Dr, cleared me yesterday to return to work Monday after a two week forced Staycation after minor out patient surgery. I have been bored to tears hanging around the house for the past two weeks and am so glad and so ready to go back to work most would not believe it. My co-workers think I'm crazy. I went by the office yesterday to drop off the release form and let folks know I would be back on Monday. Everyone I saw in the building treated me like returning royalty and it truly gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. It's nice to be missed. This whole ordeal has been a major pain in the a$$, literally. It's been my first medical ordeal since new insurance provider, (BCBS) and it appears I'll be on the hook for the 1st 5k deductible. Which seems like I'm reaching very quickly with the medical bills that are filling the mailbox. It's obscene what health care cost. I'm wondering where that $500 a month they have been deducting from my check has been going. Well anyway, all the to-do list have been done. The car, bike and camping trailer are ready to go and I'll be ready for this years motorcycle adventures. Hope to see yall soon.

Imagine my fear getting on the 1st gen after 1 1/2 years in traction, 3 years in a wheel chair and 36 years of not riding at all. When I was learning how to walk again my mother would encourage me by telling me over and over again "Don't let this dragon slay you, you be the Dragonslayer" Thats where the name came from. Kinda like the Cowboy up philosphy. My best advice from my experience is. 1. Take your time until you are ready. 2. Ride your ride and don't exceed your comfort level. 3. The only way to whip the spook is face your fear and overcome it. 4. The more time you can spend in saddle the more comfortable you will become. 5. Learning to live your life without fear is a very liberating emotion. 6. Doesn't hurt to review the Ride like a pro video and practice the exercises in an empty parking lot by yourself. But, bring a friend to help pick the bike up if you let it fall by accident. Yammer, Just say the word and I'll come up and encourage you.

We have a saying down here in the heat belt. "Scared, say scared"

Thank you , Larry That information is helpful. I am very interested in selecting a good phone app and getting to know how to use it. The phone sounds like the best option but, my problem is that I'm still learning how to navigate on the smarter-than-me phone and my eyesight seems to be declining so it's hard to read the print and my fingers are too fat so when I try and use the touch screen it jumps all over the place and I spend all my time trying to figure out where I'm at and how to get back to what I was looking at. Right now it's very frustrating but, I know with practice I will get better at it. My son thinks I'm an old school dinosaur because I'm having trouble getting the hang of it. I was much more comfortable with the old rotary phones. The transition to the push button phones wasn't that difficult. But, I kinda got lost after that. I just recently gave up my flip phone which I could use without a problem. I, like many am being drug into the latest technology kicking and screaming. I plan on practicing on caches close by until I get the hang of it and then go exploring for more scenic and historical caches. So, far it has been fun researching geocaching and talking it up to friends and family introducing them to it and getting them interested in playing. I'm really looking forward to this it seems like it will be a lot of fun.

Good questions

Amen, brother especially about being grateful for each day. You may note that one of the latin phrases in my signature is Carpe Diem. With that being said, and your mention of doing what you love at the time. The fiery motorcycle crash only works if it is instantaneous otherwise the pain part is a real downer. Been there have the scars and the t-shirts. Other ways I have considered and I'm not saying it will be my choice is: 1. A massive heart attack during really good sex. 2. Exploding from an all you can each crab leg feast. Although after having said that, both options are two of the mortal sins, lust and gluttony. I guess I am mortal after all.

Larry, Thanks for the input. I've already found and have registered at Geocaching.com. I tried to seek sites close to home and came to a map that showed there were dozens within just a few miles of the house. Actually I was amazed how many there are around the world, over 2 million. And, they do seem to be everywhere. I'm curious now because in many of the locations shown on the map It seemed like an odd place to stash a cache. My plan is to find as many as I can close by to get a feel for how it works and then expand my search to other more scenic locations. From what I can figure out so far, to search requires a purchase of their phone app for $9.99. This app appears to show you where the caches are and how to get to them. Is this how you get started? Or, are there other ways to go. I figured I would start looking for them and report what I found. Some of the perks is that: this is fun for all ages. You can do this as little or as much as you desire. Seems to be driven by the limits of your imagination. You can do it on whatever time frame. It can be done by yourself or with groups. Endless possibilities of how to make it interesting. Gets you out of the house and away from the TV, That is why I think It would be a great thing to do with kids. Any hints you could add would be appreciated. immediate questions I have now: 1. I have a laptop, a 7" tablet, a 4g lite smarter-than-me alcatel phone, a garmin etrex gps and a Tom Tom GPS for the vehicles. What is the best way to combine these to utilize these devices for Geo search. 2. I notice now that on Google Play there are literally dozens of free geocaching apps. Can you give me a hint on which one works best and is the most user friendly? User friendly is important because I'm old school and figuring out most of this hi-tech stuff gives me a headache.

Seriously, With all due respect to everyone reading this. This thread seems to be turning into a faith based argument against self preservation. I'll just share this from my personal life and death experience. May 7th, 1971, I was involved in a motorcycle/car head on collision which was documented by the accident forensic investigators to be a combined impact speed of more than 150 mph. During that life experience, I experienced what is commonly referred to as a near death experience. During that near death experience, it is my recollection that I was being held in the hands of the Good Lord at the end of the commonly referred to, tunnel of light. At that time, the Good Lord gave me a choice to continue with him in ecstasy or return and endure the pain. My answer was, that I must return because at that time I felt that my life was unfinished. Knowing what I know now, 43 years later, I will admit that it might not have been a bad idea to spend more time considering the alternative. Because since then, I certainly have experienced my share of pain. But, what can I say, I was young and wanted to live. I'm just saying, that I believe that in life as well as death the Good Lord gives us free will to make choices. What choices we/you make are up to you. You can chose to hide in a hole for self preservation or stand in the path of a tornado to see if it's your time to go. And, I agree I have no desire to hang around after the apocalypse Zombie, Mayan, second coming or otherwise. Regardless, of your/our choices we are not meant to know the time or place of our demise or his return. The foregoing is how I feel, and I truly respect your beliefs whatever they may be. Just saying.....

Interesting concept but, if it was actually true this thread would have ended after the 6th post...... There must be more to it. I bet that was Toyota's problem, a flaw in the methodology. Just saying

That's what I'm saying.... Why is this thread still running?

I'll go with that.... I'm still betting on the fiery motorcycle crash.

That's what I'm saying.

Is this why the word fool is part of your screen name? Mother Nature can zap you anywhere you are on the planet.If you have even been a witness to the destruction caused by tornadoes and hurricanes you might want to rethink your Tornado warning response strategy.Part of my job requires me to organize and conduct emergency response drills in the county I live in. In the case of inclement weather outside is the last place you want to go. That is why they put out those sirens to warn you to take shelter. If your man cave is on the lowest floor of the structure, in the center away from exterior doors and windows and stocked with beer..... So be it. Just saying......

Looking forward to this years motorcycle adventures, while doing my annual assessment and organization of the camping gear, I've been thinking about doing some weekend motorcycle camping with a new twist. Add as a destination/mission, reason to visit points of interest, Geo Caching. The Georgia State park system has instituted a Geo Caching game across all of the state parks to promote park visitors with a new interest in exploring the park system by searching for all of the geocaching locations throughout the state. Having done all the motorcycle rally locations and looking for new ways to entertain myself. I thought this might be fun to pick a different destination on each trip. Travel to that destination, camp out for the weekend. This would allow cheap travel in a more intimate way of exploring the beautiful locations around the state and local points of interest off the beaten path. This could also be applied all over the country since it is my understanding that Geocaching is a hobby that is growing everywhere. This could even be a new way to organize M & E's for small groups of like minded motorcycle campers. Maybe develop it into a game for all of VR members interested, kinda like the photo search game. this seems a lot more interesting than checking out the "Why" thread everyday. I'm just now starting to research this and would appreciate any feedback of knowledge and interest. Here http://www.geocaching.com/guide/ is a link that explains what Geocaching is all about.

The last day of winter.... I hope all is melting well up north:thumbsup2:

My 2014 season began January 1, 2014....... My 2013 season ended December 31, 2013

All that went ok I guess, I'm not dead or paralyzed. Now I have a new issue.....of course...... there is always an issue. I'll need to start a new thread for this one.

Yea I was beginning to see if there was a seat mod for the MM that had a hole in the middle.

Good point I think I'll mosey on up to HR and see how much I can make with disability.:mo money:

She always said I was a good A_ _ hole. Now I will be a perfect A_ _ Hole. Just saying

I will only venture to say that a disfiguring scar will not be noticed because it is impossible to see this exact location where the sun does not shine.

No biggy.... so the doctor said, minor surgery, procedure takes less than 30 minutes. Family members that have had this procedure done said it was done on Friday and they were back at work by Monday. So why is he saying 4 weeks off work, no driving for a month? Material Risk on the informed consent form is listed as: Infection allergic reaction disfiguring scar severe loss of blood loss of function of any limb or organ paraplegia quadriplegia paralysis partial paralysis brain damage cardiac arrest, or death (It don't get much worse than that) other possible risk include: bleeding urinary retention incontinence severe post operative pain:bang head:

Good luck wid dat... You know how those zany canucks are! I'm sure they have that door propped open just to p!$$ ya'll off.

No, I mean it Aint got no radiator