Steve S

After 9 months of recovery from an extensive back surgery and several weeks of moving into a new home, I finally got a chance to ride my Venture today. I am still having some issues with lifting my right leg, but I climbed on the Venture and made the 5 mile ride to our new home. Thinking about getting my bro in law to ride with me tomorrow afternoon. I feel I really need to get away from the house so my wife can have some quiet time without me bugging her about where she has put everything that was in a different place in the other house. 😁 At least that is the story I am going to use after lunch tomorrow. 😇

Congratulations on your retirement. It was a huge change for me, and I am loving every day of it. I retired in 2018 after working on towboats for 43 years with a schedule that took me from home every trip. I worked several different rotations, 20 on, 10 off, 30, 15, 28, 28 and 30, 30. 28, 28 was my favorite because we changed the same day of the week every 4 weeks. I never knew when the phone rang if it would be a boss that needed someone to catch a boat to relieve a crew member that needed to get for an emergency. Or when crew change day came, my relief didn't show up for the crew change. I feel I have been blessed with a life that I can sleep as late as I want, stay home when I want to, or go on a trip when I want to. Yep, I'm spoiled. 😁

I had a Venture Trike with a Hannigan kit on it. Awesome ride, but it was geared too low to get much speed and fuel milage. I could only get to 65 mph and about 24 mpg. I've ridden a Can Am spyder and really like it, BUT, I really want to stay on a motorcycle even if I have to go to a cruiser.

I have already put it on my calendar. Whether I still have a Venture or a trike, I plan on being there.

Hello Venture Riders. I posted some items for sale in the For Sale section. Thank you for helping me out. Steve.

I have the following 2004 Black Venture items for sale. Fuel tank with badges, small dent in right side. $50.00 (No scratches in tank.) New saddlebag rails, no mounting brackets. Sold LED light kit headlight and running lights. Sold Fairing with right side damage. Junked Loud Mufflers. In very good shape. I put stock back on. Sold Plus shipping on all parts.

Sorry Big D, no shock.

Ronnie I sent you a PM.

I have saddle bags, speaker covers, a front fairing with some slight damage and a stock seat, passenger seat and backrest. I may just junk it all.

I'm sorry Ronnie, but I don't have any of those.

Hello Venture friends. My wife and I are moving to another house and have been emptying the attic. I have several black RSV body parts that are in good shape and a few with some scratches when I wrecked my first Venture. I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to sell them and need to know if there is a decent market for the parts. I will post a list of the parts on the For Sale Forum. Any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks Steve.

Praying for his family.

Since my back surgery in January, I haven't been able to ride my Venture, my doctor thinks it's dangerous. 🙄 My cousin came by yesterday with his Can Am Spyder and let me ride it around the neighborhood. It is a nice ride, but it didn't take me long to know it is NOT a ride for me. I see a lot of people riding them, but I am 6'1" and the seat felt very cramped for me. I enjoyed the ride, but I believe I will wait the 6 months so I can get back on my Venture and see if I can still ride. 😁

Thank you Ronnie for those kind words. I was the one that benefitted most from the wonderful lunch talk we had. It is great to meet other riders and enjoy the time with them. I am going to try a short ride Sunday to see if I can ride comfortably and maybe be able to ride down to the get together at KenLake. I'll let you know how it goes. Steve.

According to the reports I have read, all brake fluid is synthetic. Make to use the proper DOT number for the application. Steve.

Hello Venture Friends. I met with the Nurse Practitioner for a follow up on my surgery in January. I got some great news on my recovery. My back is healing very well and I can now lift 20 to 25 pounds and bend and twist a LITTLE. The bad news part is I cannot ride a motorcycle or shoot a gun for another 3 months. What was actually stated was, "NO HIGH IMPACT activities for another 3 months". I didn't bother telling her I didn't plan on "high impact" issues with the bike, but no one plans those either and they still happen. So, I will get the bro-in-law to ride it a little to keep it a little active. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Steve

Good luck with your new life.

Good morning, Venture friends. My latest good news about my recovery. Yesterday was day 10 since my last surgery and I was able to have the staples removed from my back. To say it feels better is an understatement to the highest level. It seems they had put 44 staples in my back to close up a 10-inch incision. It felt like I had a board on my back when I leaned back on the couch. Recovery is going slow, but after looking at a picture of the Xray of the procedure, I am amazed that I was able to walk before the surgery. The doctor fused all the vertebra from S1 up to T12. I haven't talked to the doctor yet, but I am betting this is going to make a huge change in my lifestyle and ability to do a lot of things I love doing. For me, a good day in the spring or fall, is getting the chainsaw out and clearing tree limbs, shrubs and deadfall out of the overgrown areas of our property. So, it looks like this Spring is going to be an easy season on the chainsaw. I have always been very active, so it will be tough for me to not to be doing something. Maybe that is why the spine was in such bad shape??? ☹️. I am sure my lifestyle has changed dramatically. However, I am very blessed to be as healthy as I am. Steve.

Good afternoon friends. I am home from the hospital and my recovery is going well. Friday the crew told me I would have to go to an inhouse Rehab center because they had made so many changes to my lower spine. Monday the caseworker asked me what rehabs I would prefer so we mentioned a couple close to home we knew were good centers. Occupational PT came up to do an evaluation and before we were halfway through, I was told there were going to recommend that I go home for in-home rehab. The PT came in and he took me through a few procedures and said the same thing. I had back surgery several years ago, so I knew what some of the training was, so I worked on those over the weekend. I am so thankful that God blessed me and allowed me to recover so well. It was late when we finally got settled down, but I am so thankful to be feeling so well and able to get around as well as I can. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers. Steve

I won't be going anywhere. I have a small convertible that is pretty comfortable to get around in. I didn't have a clue the damage was anything close to what was found when the surgeons got in there. I feel I am very blessed to be able to get around as well as I could and still do some decent work. Most of it was from the seat of a tractor, but it still got done. I have a bro-in-law that is pretty handy on a tractor, so he is going to help with my shop I am building. I will need something to do in about 6 months when I can start getting out and around so some of it may wait until after summer. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers.

I found out this summer that I had a disc in my back that had canted forward and was causing severe pain. I had 3 vertebrae fused in 2012 and this was the next one above. CT scan with contrast showed there was some damage on S1 in the lower pelvic region as well. Since I can't have an MRI, they decided to wait until they looked at it before they made a decision on what to do. They went through the stomach Monday and discovered the S1 vertebrae was deteriorated so badly they had to put a cage in it to support it. After doing the front, they went in the back to release some fusions and see what had to be done next. Thursday morning, I went back into surgery for the back fusions. Originally, they expected to fuse only one more vertebra, but discovered in Monday's surgery, that the 2nd one up required fusion too. So now I have 6 or 7 fusions and have been told it will be at least 6 months before I can do much of anything. The bad thing about this is I REALLY LOVE riding these Ventures. I had a Venture Trike and sold it this year feeling it just wasn't for me. I may look at a Honda or Harley trike spring of next year, but since I turn 69 this year, I'm really afraid that age has caught up with me. I am so thankful I had some time with this Venture crew and got to make a campout or two. Since I'm paid up for the year, I'll hang around and try to stay in touch when I can.. Probably come around and cause a little trouble some too. Steve

Praying for you and your wife. It's amazing how things come into our lives to show us other issues. For me, I believe it is God working in our lives.

Nice!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I pray we all have a wonderful and blessed 2024.

Prayers going up for the family.