Inspiration

Photo club was last night. It was a good meeting. Large group, probably the biggest yet. Dan Leffel presented, a series of images of his travels accross North America, mostly US, but included some of Peggy's Cove. I've always been quite impressed with his work, but to see his collection was incredible. He probably presented around 100 images and in the context there were probably only 3 or 4 edits that I would have made, although probably 90 of those shots are better than anything I have!

Here is his web site
Bold Light Photography

Then of course, it was contest time. It was open category. Carol Kropscott was the judge due to unavoidable issues with the original and alternate judges. Carol was a former PPC member who moved to Kansas. I remember Carol so it was good to hear her. She's a great woman and very involved with Photography. But she takes her judging very seriously.

I had two entries, one which she critiqued appropriately, and I knew when I submitted, but she also had good comments, more than I expected. The second one did much better. Overall there were some 60 odd entries, in three categories. I compete in Advanced. Images, Images, my first image, more images, more images, scores getting up, I'm getting excited, into Honorables mentions, then third place, woo hoo I'm in the points. My Masterpiece Theater earned 14 points for 2nd place!

Turkey Day

It was a great long weekend, the kids were out of school all week, Ryan worked quite a bit. I deep fryed a turkey and we had a huge meal at home. Just the family. The Cowboys won, Romo is on a roll as is the team.

Friday we did a bit of shopping, yes its Black Friday but we didn't head out with the crowds, we went out after we woke up and for the most part finished our shopping. The weather was great all weekend, Saturday was mostly yardwork, I primed the door on the shed, and we cleaned up some of the trees and shrubs out front. We put up the lights but didn't put any on the roof. I don't have a ladder that will reach and don't feel comfortable on that roof! When we finished we went for a 10 minute ride on the bikes, that was the extent of our riding this weekend.

Oops almost forgot, a new addition to the family. Darlene picked her up on Wednesday. Another kitten, this one has a bit of a tiger color, actually her name is Tigger. Baby Girl is finally starting to "play" with her....

Bike Show

This past Saturday was a pretty full day. Darlene did some LOH stuff then did a lot of Christmas shopping. I hooked up with Mike to do a charity run.
This run was for the Pythian Children's Home, which is a non-profit home for children of incarcerated parents. Its a pretty cool place in Weatherford that currently houses 40+ kids and they rely on charity and donations to stay operational. The Cross Timbers Church in Argyle is a big supporter. Interestingly the church has a fairly large biker community that organizes this run.

The ride itself was about 60 miles, some good roads. I didn't take any pictures of that ride. There were about 100 bikes so it was a good size. I now know why Darlene doesn't necessarily like going on some of these toy runs. While it was organized it was a bit haphazard. Some of the folks don't appear to have ridden or ridden often in organized group rides. Additionally there was a trike in front of me for a while, note to self, don't get behind trikes, they take up too much of the road and view! The weather was perfect. There were about 8 road captains who would block intersections then race up to get back into position for the next intersection they had to block. It worked, but is scary in its own way. Close to the end of the run we had to make a very sharp uphill right hand turn. Apparently behind me there was a Sportster that went down, then a woman on a larger Harley went down trying to avoid. Not sure of the extent of the damage, she apparently hurt her knee, but overall no significant damage to body or bike. The group then spends some time with the kids but I had other plans so after hanging out for a bit I headed to Ft Worth.

The Cycle World International Motorcycle show was taking place in Ft Worth at the convention center. Lots of people checking it out. It was the first big bike show I have been to and overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. The bikes were very cool, the sphere of death (or whatever its called) was very impressive and there were lots of folks enjoying the show. I saw Mini T and Don and Martha at the show as well.

Had a bit of a scare though. I checked my jacket at the gear check and when I went to leave they couldn't find my jacket. Its my FRXG jacket, so I was starting to freak out. It was later in the afternoon and there was a lot of people who had already left. Finally there was a jacket spotted without a tag, it was mine, Whew!!!

190 miles round trip that day. Oh yeah, on Friday I got my rear tire replaced, only 8400 miles, I need to change some of my riding habits, more front brake, less rear and less engine braking. I think the engine braking is what really sped up tire wear. Of course the Texas heat probably contributed a bit as well...

I can see for miles and miles...

Ahhh, nothing’ could be finer. Just got back from a fantastic ride this weekend. We went to Arkansas for the annual AE Hog Fall Foliage ride. We left Friday morning, overnighted in Mena, AR, then off to Hot Springs, AR for Saturday night. The weather was good but cool, almost cold, but we had a few low clouds Friday during the ride over the mountains.

I am quickly falling in love with the roads of Arkansas. We had about 40 bikes and 60 folks from the club. It was eventful in many ways…

The colors were awesome, the timing was near perfect.

We headed north on 377 into OK, onto Hwy 70. From there, hmm, I have the route map somewhere but I know we did the Queen Wilimena ride, (SR1/SR88) which is recognized as one of the top ten rides in the US. I can’t wait to do it again.

Saturday morning was cool but not as cold as expected and we took off to Hot Springs via Mount Magazine, we paused for a group photo, but one pod was missing….

As far as events, first the bike incidents, idiot pickup driver at service station to rolled unattended into two bikes, then the flying saddle bag cover, next was the oil cooler leak which took about 1.5 hours to resolve, causing some delays, then Jerry’s battery, then Don P’s battery, next was Mark’s lost key/hotwire, then Lee again after the saddle bag, experiencing a flat tire while driving home. No injuries, nothing too serious.

Party events…. The “fire” at the Mena hotel with Bobby coming to attention, the overloaded elevator at the Arlington in Hot Springs and of course the hot tub at the Arlington…. I am sure there are others but those are the ones that stick out.

In total approx 800 miles round trip. Awesome…

Pics.. Hmmm I wonder if I can link to the AE Hog gallery when they get posted.

Club Leaf Ride Pics

Busy, Busy, Busy

Holy Crap! I'm behind. Had a busy weekend but I'll have to post more later. Lets see, Craftsman truck race, AEHOG chapter meeting, Teddy Bear run.......

This weekend, actually tomorrow, AEHOG fall leaf ride to Arkansas! Woo Hoo!