SledgeHammer

I cannot believe it. I met Gary and Leslie in Canada. They invited me to their home, took me to dinner and an antique car show. I have seen them twice since then.He e-mailed me last week and told me they were driving the motor home (towing the RSV) to the Roanoke Valley. They were going to call when they got close to Roanoke. I told Gary that we had plenty of room for them to stay with us and plenty of room to park his motor home. I was waiting for them to get close and call. I just cannot believe this has happened. Gary, if I can help in anyway, please let me know. You have my deepest sympathy. I am so sorry.

I am blinded by the light, From our twin pink knights. I know this started as a joke, But it seems to be appropriate for these blokes. Pink chaps and pink thongs, Am I the only one who thinks this wrong? These two legends of this site, Know wearing pink is just not right. The more I look, the more I like, Maybe pink would look good on my bike. It does not matter which, Either of you can be my motorcycle bit??,huh riding buddy.

Duke, I am not a Cowboy fan, although I was under Coach Landry and Johnson. I only watch to cheer for the other team now. I respect the Pats, although I am not a Pats fan either. I thought it was petty of the Pats to score the last touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game and a huge lead, instead of kneeling down. That was a total lack of class for any team, and out of character for past Pats teams.

What kind of ATV do ya have ?....I've got a 2003 Honda Rincon 650... I have the same,a 2003 650 Rincon. I have not ridden it much this summer. We have not had much rain and I got tired of eating dust.It gave me more RSV time though. Still waiting on the rain. We are planning a trip to WV to do some riding.

There has been plenty of good advice. Most of it, I agree with. I have been into home theater for 20 years and have set up many systems. There are a lot of good TV's on the market today. I agree with the statement that everyone sees a picture differently, and therefore, choose the one that looks best to you. I conquer that plasma has the best contrast and LCD has more vibrant colors. Plasma still has the edge in best overall picture. Sony, Panasonic, Mitisbishi, and Pioneer, are top rated and more expensive. I have owned all of them (including Samsung) with the exception of never owning a Pioneer. My personal experience is that I cannot distinguish enough difference in picture quality to justify the extra expence of those name brands over some of the second tier TV's. When we bought our last house, I reviewed and viewed many different TV's,both in stores and homes. I was most impressed with the Vizio line of TV's. I based my decision on picture quality, price, and amenities (primarily dual HDMI). I was so impressed with Vizio, that we purchased 10 HDTV Vizio sets and have a TV in every room,the garage, and my outbuilding(doghouse). They consist of a 50" and 42" plasma, a 42"LCD, a 32" LCD, and six 20" LCD's. The primary is the 50" plasma. Vizio just recently came out with a 60" plama in the $2000 range(and I am tempted to get one). All of the TV's are 720p and 1080i. After considerable research, I am pleased with my decision, and it was a tough decision. Maybe you can decern between 1080i,720p,and 1080p,but I could not or it was so extremely minor that it was not worth the extra expence of the other sets. Although there are a lot of good TV's on the market, and I do not disagree with any of the asessments in the other posts, I would recommend to check out the reviews,price, and quality of the Vizio.

I have done the Glacier National Park in a cage. It is spectacular also. I would like to do it on a bike next time.

Margaret, I will not be able to make the Radish on the 13th. I have been somewhere on the bike every week since Labor Day. I have been gone every week-end since Labor day and including Labor Day week-end. I need to spend a little time at home now. The wife has been really tolerant, but I know I have pushed it being on the road so much lately. So I need to work on the Honey-do list and finish getting moved into the new home. I will have to catch you and Muffinman on the next one.

A friend and I just completed one of the most spectacular trips that I have been on, and it was in my backyard. We started at Front Royal,Va and rode the 105 miles of the Shenandoah National Park. The Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive) ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. We rode the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. The Parkway ends in Cherokee, NC. We then rode to the Dragon. Although, I was at Vogel and the Dragon in August with VentureRiders, and even though, I have been riding the Parkway for years, it is the first time that I have ridden from the Shenandoah and completely through the Blue Ridge on a single trip. We ended up doing over 700 miles of nothing but mountain roads in 4 days and a total of 1300 miles in 6 days. You can easily ride the Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge in 3 days. We took our time and stopped at a lot of overlooks. The scenery was spectacular. The weather was great. We ran into rain on the last day when we returning home. The wildlife was great. We saw dozens of deer, scores of turkeys, several hawks, and even 2 black bear at 2 different times. One of the bears was on the shoulder of the road. The other bear was in the road. We were not even sure that it was going to run away to begin with,but it did. I have been going to the Blue Ridge since I was a kid, and have never seen a Black Bear there. How lucky can you get to see 2 of them on the same trip. Everything about the trip was great. We met lots of great people on motorcycles along the way. If you want a spectacular and memorable trip, I strongly recommend this route. It gave me a different perspective of my own backyard. Now for my Harley riding, high school friend;Bruce. He is retired Air Force and lives in Dover,De. He has owned his Harley for 4 years, and this was his first trip that he has taken on it without towing it in it's enclosed trailer. He found out that it is much more enjoyable to ride your bike than to tow it. I think I have him hooked on riding it now. The farthest he had ridden on any trip before this was 300 miles, and that was only once. Now I have to teach him how to pack. As you can see by the pictures, he had the trunk and both saddlebags packed, the trunk rack packed, a bag on the passenger seat, and then bags stacked on them. This was for a 6 day trip. All the bikers poked fun at him for bringing so much stuff. We got ask several times where we were camping at. I would be laughing while he explained we were not camping. We stayed at a motel every night. I would grab my Beer 30 made trunk bag and go into the motel room. I had one saddle bag empty and an empty bag on my trunk rack. He had to get a cart every night to haul his stuff in the room. And I got to sleep until he got his bike loaded every morning. But hey, the rookie had to learn, and he did. All the razzing aside, we had a great trip and I highly recommend this route to you. And one final note. The dam in the picture is Fugitive Dam in NC. That is where Harrison Ford did the swan dive while Tommy Lee Jones was holding a gun on him in the movie The Fugitive.

Well, I know that either that statement is wrong or my speedometer is wrong. And that is not any BS.

I am truly saddened by the loss of one of our brothers from this site. May God give the family some comfort in their time of loss. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

I retired twice in 2004 at age 47. Retired law enforcement and retired National Guard. I don't have time to go back to work. I am too busy riding the scoot. I am not interested in a 3rd retirement any way. Just trying to enjoy life now.

I was quite shocked to see 1500 motorcycles lined up and I was the only one pointed in the right direction. I even asked them "Why are all the other motorcycles facing the wrong way ?":confused24:

I made it back home this evening. It was a blast. We had a great time and supported a very worthy cause (The Vietnam Veterans Memorial). For those that could not make it, the pictures yet to be posted, will tell the whole story. Thanks Beer30 and Beer 24/7 for your hospitality. It was great!!!

Glad everything went well for you Gary and hope you have a speedy recovery.

Why? Looks like he had it right to me.

Beer 30, I could not get pre-registered. It had already ended. I am coming anyway and will have to register there. Besides, RiderDuke has already packed my bedroll.

Everything I would have said, has already been said. Let me just add another "Thank You, Don" for your work and dedication to this site. The information, knowledge, and help from you and others on this site has been invaluable to me. I knew nothing about my Venture when I bought it, other than I liked the looks of it. I found this site the next day and started laying out my questions. Don was the first to contact me and respond and many others followed. I have felt like I belonged from the very first post. It is nice to know that friends are only a key stroke away.