Venturous Randy

Like I feel many of you do, I routinely use brake parts cleaner. It works well, does not leave residue, and it is reasonably cheap. And, like many, I don't pay a lot of attention to the warnings on the can. I received the following in an e-mail from a friend and I think it warrants bringing to the attention of others on here. RandyA http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

I am about an hour from Asheville on the Tennessee side. What is your schedule for coming through here? RandyA

Now that's real special. RandyA

I believe that the white light can indicate the RLU is defective, even if the bulb high/low beams are good. RandyA

I looooooove blueberries. In fact, I had a big handful in my cereal this morning. RandyA

And what do you know? If you and your lady want a place to sleep Friday night, you might need to be careful. Looking forward to seeing you two. RandyA

Actually, I believe the 83 are different. They only have the one wire to pick up neutral, where as 84 to 93 shows what gear you are in. RandyA

Wow, beautiful pics Mick. I know where you are, at Holston Dam. I wish you could have gone to MD with us and showed off that beautiful bike of your's. RandyA

One of the things I wanted to do on going to Freebird’s MD was to take a little extra time and set up a route to take mostly secondary roads. By doing this, Linda and I set it up to only travel about 250 miles the first day, Thursday, and then about 200 the next day, stopping by Don’s on the way to Elyria, OH to check into our room. We started out from NE TN going up 23 thru VA and KY up to Portsmouth, OH, which are mostly curvy four lanes. We were early enough to be able to get into our room and take a swim, rest a little and then go out to dinner. After a great dinner, we walked along the levy on the river side then back on street side with all the murals. Very interesting way to present history of the area. With our walk being over a mile, it was nice exercise after being on the bike for about five hours. In putting this trip together, Linda and I found that we had about $85 on various Walmart gift cards left over from Christmas. This was a perfect way to use them up and have great memories. With this, I went on line and found Walmarts that have gas stations and was able to get almost all our trip gas by doing this along our way. Another thing that I had not really done before to any extent was to use a GPS on a trip. I have a cheap one that I bought off one of the sale things on the internet for about $39, plus $5 shipping and it worked great. What I did was to pick out some towns that I wanted to go thru and I would just load the center of town location. Then at about ten or so miles before I got to that town, I would call up the next town and that would help me get through or go around the town I had noted. I had found that by preprogramming, I could do about three touches on the screen and would be good to go. This also allowed me to get off on some of these secondary roads and not worry about going in circles. By doing it this way, it kept the GPS from trying to send me down the interstate. Friday was a great ride through the farm country on central Ohio and at times, it was like riding thru a moving postcard. There were the occasional farm tractors and school busses, but it was true Americana at its best. We were able to stop by Don’s and then get checked into our room and go to the Quaker Steak and Lube for a great visit and food. As many already know, Saturday was a great time, with some really neat folks and good food and helping out a little on some maintenance. I have to say that Don and Eileen are great hosts and have the perfect place for this kind of get together. I would have loved to have had the little camper and stayed there, but with the temperatures we had Saturday and Sunday, the air conditioned motel room was good. After going back to the room from Don’s, Linda and I rode up to Lake Erie and stopped at a couple of parks. It was interesting as I had not been there before, but flown over it some in a past job, but I was surprised at the lack of restaurants along the waterfront. Sunday morning, I rode over to Don’s to see a few off and visit again. This ended up being a lay around day and riding the area a little more. Monday we trekked down the middle of the state to a room we had reserved west of Charleston, WV. Again, a great meal and good rest and then the final leg back home on Friday. All in all, I can not think of a thing I would want to change other than maybe a little lower temperatures, but, we did not see a single drop of rain. We rode some beautiful roads, did not have any close calls and the bike ran absolutely perfect for a little over 1,200 miles. This says a lot for a bike over 28 years old with over 143,000 miles on it. I was a little surprised at the gas prices in that area as we have gas at about $3.40 at home and we saw $4.03. I truly feel very blessed to have so many friends on this site, have an antique bike that I am proud of that does so well and to have a very special person in my life that loves to ride and enjoys the back roads of America as much as I do. Life is very good. RandyA

It was absolutely great to see you two again and I hope next time is not as long as this last time. Remember, if you ever want to take a break and come to east Tennessee, you got a place to stay. RandyA

Good morning and Happy Birthday. It was great to see you again and I wish I could have done for your birthday what you did for my last birthday. I am getting ready to wake up Linda and get on the road for our last leg home of our trip to MD. RandyA

Wow, where do you start at. Saying thanks just does not seem enough for all the effort so many have put in to this event. This was my first MD and I hope it will not be my last. Linda and I had a just perfect time and she is just amazed at the class of this group of folks. I already had a good idea about this group and it still amazes me too. At the moment, we are in a motel off I64 between Huntington and Charleston WV. We stayed off interstates going up from east TN and doing the same thing going home. So far, we have had a wonderful trip. Heading home in the morning and back to work on Wednesday. Again, a big thank you to Don and Eileen and everybody that was there. RandyA and lady Linda

Hey Mark, I do apologize that we have not been able to make any of your M&E's yet and like a lot of others, it has been crazy. You have really helped us and Linda and I were talking last night about trying to see if you would like to meet up for a ride and go to Banner Elk, NC and eat at one of our favorite restaurants. RandyA

We had a great ride up to Portsmouth, OH. Bike is running great and we have already checked in the Quality Inn here, gone for a swim and getting ready to take a nap then going to Damon's Restaurant. Life is good. RandyA:cool10::cool10:

I would love to, but Linda and I are currently in Portsmouth, OH. RandyA

Linda came over last night with enough stuff to pack three bikes. It was one of those...you can't take that....you can take that....do you really need to take that?.... I really do like the sporty looks of the early MK1, but you really suffer when you need to pack something. I have been up since 5:30 but she is not a morning person. I want to get on the road by 9am as it is going to be lower 90's today. I'm getting real anxious, but I do have some things I need to do. I feel fine with the bike, but I do know it is over 28 years old and has about 143,000 miles on it. Gotta get busy. RandyA

Gotta ask, when you cleaned the carbs, did you take the metering block off and remove the pilot jets and clean them? Did you check the diaphragms for holes? Did you make sure the passageways were open that pull vacuum to the diaphragms. Did you do a temp check on all the pipes after the bike ran for a minute. Did you check to make sure the spark plug caps were not corroded inside where the resistor is located? RandyA

OK, let me take you out of your misery. I will give ya $100 bucks for it, sight unseen. Then you can be a happy man again and I will have to deal with all those problems. I wouldn't just do this for anybody. RandyA

Years ago while trekking across the corner of South Carolina by myself, I decided to go a little ways without my helmet. I really did not enjoy it. Almost all my street riding as a kid on my 125 Ducati Bronco, I did not wear a helmet, so I wondered what what it would be like. I will occasionally wear a half helmet, but when riding with my lady Linda, I enjoy all the talking we can do with the intercom. RandyA

I would try to run the same wire through the stuck jet. You may be able to do that and be ok. I may have a block I can send you. RandyA

Annie, Linda and I are really looking forward to meeting you two as we are coming up from east Tennessee. RandyA

When I first met my lady Linda, which was from her asking me about a picture of me in front of the eight foot tall bike at the motorcycle museum in Maggie Valley, she had never been on a motorcycle. As we got to know each other, she told me several times she would ride with me as she had learned how important motorcycle riding was to me. Well, one day I stopped by her house and when she came out, her eyes were big as saucers. I finally talked her into sitting on the back and she said it was actually comfortable, but she was scared it was going to fall over. After she settled down a little, I put the helmet on her and mine on me and turned on the intercom and she liked that. Then she asked me if I would take her around the block. So, very carefully and smooth, we went for a ride. When we got back to her house, she wanted to go for a another ride and asked me how she did. I told her she done great and the only problem I had was she had had a death grip on my nipples with her fingernails. Ok, so we got past that. In the previous 14 years I have had this bike, the most miles in any year was about 8,000 miles. This past year I put about 12,000 miles on it and most of it was with her on the back. I really do feel very fortunate to have had someone come into my life after my divorce that not only loves to ride, but she is a great passenger and the miles seem to go by so fast with all the chatter we have. We are supposed to leave out Thursday morning to go to my first Maintenance Day and I am so happy she will be accompanying me. This long weekend will be a bit over a thousand miles and I know she will do great. I want everyone to give her a big welcome as she is a very special lady and I feel very fortunate to have her with me. RandyA

Ya done good, thankfully, and it's time for the loud airhorns if you don't already have them RandyA

I would let him know that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Businass Bureau. RandyA

Ok, I have Friday thru Sunday night reserved at the Econolodge for MD. I have not seen any other posts on the Econolodge and was wondering if we have any others there. RandyA