2008 ABC's of Touring

Holy New Year's Eve Batman! Its time to submit the ABCs before the year is up. Yes in typical fashion, last minute activity. In fact we rode yesterday to finish up our HOG ABCs in order to submit with a post mark no later than today. Of course we had to find the time to ride to finish up, and these past several weeks were particularly challenging, but we did it.

Our furthest state north was Wisconsin, as far east as Ohio, and as far West as California (Texas is pretty far south....)




The story on the Nevada sign is that I took this great little highway (HWY 164, Joshuya Tree Highway) through the desert to get the California border. When I got there, the sign for California was gone, obviously a victim of theft. Across the road was the Nevada sign so I turned around and got that. I eventually did get the California sign on the interstate but its a much less interesting road. Oh, and of course, for these two state markers, I had forgotten my HOG Tales magazine at the hotel so couldn't submit those two.

Anyway, we met our goal, patches and pins all around, woo hoo!

Oh what the heck, here is California! Hmmm, pretty boring crop too!

2008 - A year in review

2008, as they all are, was an exciting and eventful year. On a global scale, a significant shift as evidenced in the economy and even just the prices of gas. I remember planning our trip to Milwaukee and budgeting $2.50 for a gallon of gas, and re-budgeting on an almost weekly budget as gas prices rose to over $4.00 just in time for our trip in August, and now, they are at roughly $1.50.

A presidential election year, and what a wild one at that. Full of firsts, a black man and a woman, fighting to be the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. For the Republican party, a 72 year old candidate, former POW, and for his vice president, an upstart woman governor for Alaska, Sara Palin. Looks like the US is finally catching up to other countries, with sex and racial equality....

Well personally, I had a lot going on this year as well. First and foremost of course, marrying (re-marrying) my lovely wife Darlene. We got married on March 29, a biker wedding of sorts. It was a great time. Lots of great friends, family and fun. I love you Darlene.

Work wise, also an interesting year, as we were bought by HP. During that process I took a new role and afterwords questioned my decision to a degree but overall feel comfortable with my role, my manager and the organization I am with during these times of corporate and economic change.

House wise, wow, where to start. One major accomplishment of course was our fence, and there was a lot of smaller accomplishments. Of course a continual list of projects in various states of completion. But its all good, actually it is all good. Some of them test opinions but in the end so far they have been successful and satisfying.

Motorcycle. Another eventful year. Some changes from early start, we had some fairly lofty goals for mileage this year, each hoping to ride 20K miles. Well with the house activity, the chapter activity, and being around more for the boys, we didn't hit our mileage goals, although the price of gas certainly made that happen a bit easier as well. I had over 18,000 miles and Darlene had over 11,000 miles. That included our 3200 mile round trip ride to Milwaukee for the 105th, and it included my 3100 mile round trip to Las Vegas. It did not include the 2 or 3 other trips that we typically do, including no trips to Arkansas this year, compared to typically 2 per year.

Family. Haven't been home in a couple of years, its hard with everything else going on. Still need to get our passports sorted out, and start looking forward to our status in the long term. Mom and Dad are still healthy, but are advancing in years, and Dad makes in interesting of course with fairly major surgery on his ankle. I call regularly but if there is one resolution I need to make it should probalby be a trip home this year.

Closer to home of course, the boys. In some ways growing up too fast and in others not growing up fast enough. Not little kids anymore. Even Marc is in high school. Corey is growing up. He has a good head on his shoulders, quite worldly given his age and truly lack of real world experience. He'll be getting his license this spring. OMG! I'm actually still taller than Ryan, not by much, Corey, well, just don't ask me again next month... Marc, he still has a ways to go, but definately sprouted a bit.



2009, what will it bring. I haven't made any resolutions in a couple of years. Maybe I should this year. Besides the one above which I don't want to mention again for fear of hexing it, I need to focus on health, particulary loss of about 15 lbs. and financial. That one should be a bit easier as the more major projects are behind us.

Credit where credit's due

Earlier this fall, we have a quarterly photo contest at the chapter meeting. There was one photo entered that I really liked, I even asked the boys for their perspective on the entries. Out of the 4 males in the house, 3 of us, myself included liked one in particular. And the other liked it as well, just not the best.
Well, it didn't win, and no it wasn't one of my shots, I don't seem to have any luck with the quarterly contests.

However the photo was submitted by Matt Cairns and I'm not sure if it was Matt or his wife Robin who actually took the pictures. Anyway, I really wanted to see it in black and white so I asked if he could email it too me. Which he did and I finally got around to converting it. Unfortuately I really don't know a lot about b&w but I'm pretty happy with the results and printed an 8X12 to give to him. So I am going to post it here, its not my shot, its Matt Cairns but wanted to post it anyway.

Paris Bound

Paris, Texas that is. Disclaimer, this posting is about a week late. I hadn't downloaded any pictures so was conviently waiting on that. Last Saturday, Dec 20, we got a call from the group that they were going to ride to the Paris dealership for something to do, and for the sale. We had plans on going on the Big Texas Toy Run the following Day, but the weather was quickly changing our mind. Darlene had too much to do so I went with Carla and Tee, and Judy and Daryl.

It was relatively warm when we started mid morning, in fact, while waiting I took off my chaps and long sleeve shirt as it looked like the sun was going to break. I still had my heavy leather jacket. It quickly became obvious that it wasn't going to get any warmer however but I was fine for the ride to the dealership.

We actually spent about 90 minutes in the dealership, can you believe that! Anyway, we found a place for lunch and when we left the dealership at 2 PM the weather was starting to change and get colder. First on to the tower, then we searched out a local eating spot but when we got there, they were closed as they were moving to a new location that day, so we ventured over to Chili's. Had a bowl of chili there, imagine that.



Anyway, it was now about 3:30, and we still had an opportunity for some sites so decided to lead the group on a Red River Crossing, we crossed into Oklahoma heading north into the wind. The air temperature was now about 43F, and it felt every bit of it, if not more. On to Carpenter's Bluff bridge, then to a gas station in Denison for a brief warmup before heading home.

Big Texas Toy Run

The Big Texas Toy Run is scheduled for this Sunday. We are planning on going. Its a huge toy run, one of the biggest in the US. I think there have been as many as 40,000 bikes in some years.

Today is a beautiful day, with temperatures forecast to be in the low 70's today and tomorrow. But then.... Saturday night a cold front will be blowing in. Temps are expected to drop below freezing.

So for now, we are going to the toy run. Sunday morning may bring another story...

Photography

On Tuesday of this week, we woke up to freezing conditions and roads covered with ice. Schools were delayed 2 hours, then cancelled. I decided to work from home but ended up taking Ryan into work. The roads were surprisingly bad.

Anyway, during my travels I popped into the local Wolf Camera to get some digital reprints done for our Christmas cards. Two things surprised me. The first was how many people were there getting digital reprints, considering the road conditions, but more so, how many films were being processed. Yes films. I haven't shot a film since I bought my digital camera 3 years ago, and I thought I was late to the game.

There were several on the rack, enough for me to notice. I guess it just surprised me. If it was after Christmas I'd be less surprised as a lot of folks take snapshots over the holidays.

'Tis the Season

And its always a busy one. Places to go, people to see, and a boatload of stuff do do around the house from cleaning, decorating, cooking, gift wrapping, etc. Still have to find time to relax occasionally.

This past Saturday was our AEHOG Christmas Party. Always a lot of fun and this year we had premium jello shots smuggled in as the hotel clamped down on the TABC rules a bit.

One of the big announcements this year was the results of our effort to be the first HOG chapter to ride 2,000,000 miles in a year. North Texas HOG was the first or one of the first to ride 1 million a couple of years ago.

Our chapter heavily promoted this event and aggressive targeted new members to join, which was needed if we even had a hope of achieving this incredible milestone. Earlier this summer we had a bit of a checkpoint and I think our efforts were in jeopardy but it was never communicated. In fact North Texas were also trying to achieve this milestone, and were far short, at roughly 1.2 million miles.

Anyway we have approx 400 members, of which a large portion partipated in the activity. But collecting all the miles in a timely manner was very difficult. At the deadline we still had about 60-80 members who had not reported. We extended the deadline for those members for an additional week or so, this was planned from the outset.

At the party, Lynn held everyone in suspense, teasing us at one point during the party with a faux announcement, that had us about 200,000 miles short.

Finally the official announcement 2,004,880 miles. Woo Hoo!!! Honestly, I had no idea if we would make it or not. Even if we collected from only 200 members. Actually we had results from 213 riders. That is just roughly 9,400 miles each on average, which is considerable miles for a "recreational" vehicle as most folks don't use the bikes as their primary transportation.

Darlene and I both contributed, with her having 11,072 miles and myself riding 18,688 miles. I was a bit short of my 20K goal, but considering the riding we did not do in the latter half of the year, it was still quite good. I think next year we will reduce our goals again rather significantly as we have a lot of projects to finish that we started last year, and our boys are at an influential age and its important that we are around to give them proper guidance. Hopefully gas will stay down in price though....

Also, special shout out to Senator Dave Zien. As the story goes, he had a issue with his motorcycle just a couple of miles from the dealership. From what I understand his visit to the dealership and his meetings with AEHOG members was so great, that he joined our club just so that he could contribute to our goal, and contribute he did to the tune of 55,897 miles.

Of course all these miles come at a cost. Fortunately for most of us its literally just financial. So also this past Saturday, I needed to put new rubber on my bike. Both front and rear, at 44.8K miles.

Lewisville Toy Run

The Toy Run was Saturday. The staging was in Lewisville this year, apparently back to where it had been in the past, although the past 2 years had been at American Eagle. The weather was great and it was a phenomonal turnout.

One of the things I like about events like this is the variety of bikes and riders. Nothing too extravegant this year, but there were some interesting bikes. This Yamaha chop, very nice and even more impressive is that it has an El Diablo Run sticker.




This chopped Ruckus was probably the most radical bike for sure. There was at least two other Ruckus' that I saw in addition to these but this was very cool.





And of course, paint jobs.....

Texas Cold Fronts

Winter in Texas can be interesting, with balmy shirt sleeve temperatures mid day, then a few hours later be huddled up in big puffy jackets (mind you this is TX so that about 40F or lower).

Depending on the season, these cold fronts can easily impact the weather by 20-40 degrees, and often bring on violent storms. Spring and summer typically have storms, fall and winter typically have wider temperature swings and wind, but sometimes we are lucky with the precipitation aspect.

This past Wednesday was a dinner ride that I was leading. I took my gear to work so I would go directly to the dealership. In the morning it was about 65 degrees and since I had my work stuff, I had to wear my gear and litterally sweated on the way to work. By 6 PM on the way to the dealership it was in the mid to low 40's with a very cold and brisk north wind. Yes, it was cold.

I remember one particular February cold front from a few years ago, it was 82F during the day, and within 6 hours the temperature dropped almost 60 degrees with a bad storm that covered the roads with ice. The cold temps lasted about 3 days. I was staying at a hotel in Dallas it actually got down to 8F during that week and pipes froze in the hotel lobby. The roads were a mess for about 3 days. I was still truly Canadian conditioned at that time so I was wondering what all the fuss was about.

This Saturday is the Lewisville Toy run and morning temps are forecast to be in the 30s although by afternoon it may, may get up to mid 50s. Should be fun. Winter riding is always fun cause you say hi to folks you know but don't recognize due to cold weather attire. I should get some good pics tomorrow!

Stresses

This time of year starts to get stressful. Holidays are coming, Christmas in particular. This year is also a bit unique with the current economic environment weighing on everyone's minds, and in our company we had a significant merger and are in the midst of actions that take place as a result.

I guess we will be able to relax a bit this next week. We have an overnight planned for this weekend with a small group. The ride will be slightly chilly but hopefully no rain. The leaves are most likely past but the ride should be good anyway. I have planned the routes, we are riding to Talihina, Ok, and taking somewhat scenic routes both to and from our destination. After that trip is a short week as its Thanksgiving next week, with Thursday and Friday being holidays.

Interesting hockey game last night as well. We finally won a game, it seems like forever. This past Sunday our game was cancelled due to an ammonia leak at the game, so we missed that one. Last night was a "D" game. We won 6-2, I had a goal, and assist and a roughing penalty. Stupid refs.... One shift I get sticked and poked and hacked and hear the ref telling the guy to keep his stick down. Next shift its start out similiarly, I pick up the puck behind our net, get a two-hander accross my stick, hear the ref admonishing the player and I carry the puck the length fo the rink. I see a weak defenseman in front of me so I skate around then have to cut back to goal, they have another player back who just happens to put his skate out and catch me as I am skating to the front of the net and go flying. Again no call. I'm not upset with the player but the ref for lack of a call. I lost the puck of course and the other team starts breaking out, I catch the puck carrier in the neutral zone (I'm a bit pissed) and he grabs a hold of my stick and glove and hauls me down. I yank my arm out from under him and in frustration punch him. Of course, I am the only player to get a penalty. Four infractions on one shift, 3 by their team, one last one by me, very frustrating. Anyway, we won, but they did score their second goal while I was in the box.

Dog Vs Cat

A little humor for a distraction today. And in honor of our 2 cats


DOG DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!



CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.
They dine lavishly on fresh meat-while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.

The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

Hockey Season

Wow, this season is shaping up to be a bit of a frustrating one. For the past several seasons, the Mens C league has been split into and upper (C1) and lower (C2). We have consistently played in C2 with some success. Well this year, there is one league. Supposedly there was going to continue to be parity as the upper players had either left or whatever, but its sure not shaping up that way.

The last 2 games have turned into blowout losses for us, and both games have turned very ugly late in the game. The previous one was a bit chippy throughout, culminating in a full on body check by their tallest player against one of our smallest players, into the boards with less than 20 seconds in the game. It was a complete and totally blatant hit, which is completely illegal in our league. Of course the referree's don't take any additional action to punish this behavior other than assigning a 2 minute penalty.

Last night was very similiar. We faced the team with 3 of the top 4 leading scorers in the league. And it didnt take long for them to increase their stats with one of them having 4 goals and one assist. While we were down some skilled players I don't believe the overall result would have been any different (a loss). However this game stayed very clean and actually fun (what can you do) until late in the 3rd period. And of course it ended similarly, a body check to one of our players with 15 seconds left, which actually turned into a fight and almost a brawl. While we lost a key player for a game due to the fight, we were lucky in that we didn't lose anyone else as Noyes came off the bench and was pretty much third man it. I don't think I've ever seen him skate that fast!

Saturday Ride

This past Saturday we had a small group of riders go to Hard 8 Barbeque in Stephenville. This was a ride organized by Darlene for her employer's United Way campaign. They did a tremendous job fundraising and we had a great ride. Round trip it was about 280 miles for us.




Sunday was shaping up to be a work around the house day, but it turned out to be a spend a bunch of time at the building supply store and a little bit of time working around the house day instead. Well, at least we got lots of supplies to keep us busy for a while.... not like that's ever been a problem!

Shout Out

Wanted to give a shout out to our good friends Bert and Peggy Williams who are giving up their weekend to volunteer to help make the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. This of course, is a very large and successful fundraiser to help find a cure for Breast Cancer. Here is a link to his blog where he is posting pictures and updates of their weekend. I think the pic of the pink tents is very cool!

Vacation Day

Today I burned a vacation day. I have several left before the end of the year and its a use it or lose it proposition. So since I knew the weather would be awesome I decided to go for a ride. The temperature was supposedly 37 in Mckinney when I left but dressed appropraitely and was comfortable the entire day.

My route was 340 miles, I wanted to check out a couple of areas I've been researching, namely Winnsboro, TX, as they have an Autumn Trails festival to celebrate the fall color. There's not a tremendous amount of fall color in Texas so I didn't know what to expect. I decided to ride FM 852 from Winnsboro to Gilmer as I had read a couple of ride reports that said it was a very good East Texas ride.

The one frustration with the Autumn Trails festival that I experienced, is that its not well documented on the web and the trails were not laid out for general access. Since I had a relatively long day I stuck to my plan and did not stop in town to seek out the trails, although I did pass one marker to a road that did catch my eye.

FM 852 was a pleasant ride, I guess I was expecting a bit more, but in all it was good. The color unfortunatley is quite lacking in Texas this fall as we are in a bit of a drought. We have not had any significant rain in weeks, and even back home, in the land of fall color, we need wet weather in late summer and early fall to generate the vibrant colors. So I saw a lot of brown, mixed in with some yellows, some gold and a bit of red.

The squirrels to day must have had a deathwish however. I saw several crossing the road, however there was one unfortunate squirrel soul who attempted to navigate 4 lanes. He would have made it, however as squirrels do, he stopped midway, ran a couple of circles like he was doing some taunt or ritual dance, then proceeded to try to run between the wheels of an oncoming Camaro. Even though the wheels missed him it was a violent downdraft that he could not escape.

The rest of the ride was somewhat uneventful, but very pleasant. I stopped in the Paris HD dealership. I have been at or by several times but this is the first time I stopped in when they were open, it is a surprisingly large dealership and they had some very nice bikes in the shop.

The return from Paris was intended to be a bit of a pre-ride for our Nov 22 trip home. There are three points of interest on the way home I wanted to check out. The first is Bug Tussle, TX. I found it, and the former what I think may have been the post office, unfortunatley someone has stolen the sign, so that was quite a letdown.

Point 2 was the bridge over the Red River on Hwy 78. This was not intended to be a point of interest, merely a means to the next point but this turned into a true bonus. The next part of the ride was a bit boring, read, straight, flat road... then onto a county road that needed a bit of maintenance, then onto the crown jewel of the trip, Carpenter's Bluff Bridge.

I took a couple of shots and am anxious to get the group there for hopefully some shots crossing the bridge.

Teddy Bear Ride

The Teddy Bear Ride was Sunday and once again very successful. We had a lot of Eagles in attendance and you couldn't ask for better weather. One of the cool things about rides like this is the variety of bikes that partipate. And of course how some of the riders manage to strap on their teddy bears or toys!




Don't look so tough to me....

Apehangers?



Assorted Gas Tanks




They're not all cruisers and tourers.



Anyone hazard as guess as to what make of bike this is?




What its all about!

Short visit home.

Not really but I watched a movie Saturday night that took be back home for a couple of hours... I watched the Trailer Park Boys. Not that the movie is particularly reminiscent of my home life, in fact not at all, but the fact that the movie, which is based on a popular TV show is filmed in Nova Scotia and the actors are based there, with the right accents and colloquialisms, well it took me home for a bit. Also some of the scenes were recognizable, particularly the parking meter scene on Portland Street in downtown Dartmouth, with the ferry crossing the harbor in the background. Also the scene on Argyle Street in Halifax.

Speaking of home, Dad's been having some procedures done that will take him out of commission for a bit. First his cataract surgery, which he had one eye done last week and was quite successful. But next is his ankle surgery which he is a bit more apprehensive about. He's not a young man anymore and I think that may have been part of what was troubling him, but all the tests indicate that he is quite healthy and will have no problem with the surgery so I think he's feeling a lot better about it. This Wednesday Nov 5. Good luck Dad, you'll be walking around the golf course next summer!

Also my sister Michelle just had a cornea transplant on Friday. As these things go, she had very short notice (Thursday) and from what I understand all went very well. Not sure of the full impact to her sight but she's had fairly significant issues with her eyes for years so hopefully this will end most if not all of that.

I'll Be Back.....

Another "holiday" is behind us. Halloween fell on a Friday and we had a lot of fun this year. We decorated probably more than we ever have and probably scared more little kids than we ever did. And I thought I had a good year last year!

The boys had a lot of fun and the little party they had went well.

Another States Visited Map

While browsing today, I came accross another map I have seen periodically. I thought I'd check it out and see how it looks. This one is kind of cool as I can resize it and make it fit, unlike the other one I have used previously.


Free, personalized travel maps at mytriplogs.com

Ghosts and Teddy Bears?

Not only is this weekend Halloween, its also marks the start of the toy run season, at least for me, with the CCCAC Teddy Bear Run. This is a local run that starts at the Mckinney High school and ends at the Collin County Childrens Advocacy Center in Plano. Its different than a toy run in that the gifts are in the form of donations or preferably soft teddy bears, as opposed to a toy, which may include Tonka Trucks, dolls, etc. I have participated in this run the last two years and its consistently a very well organized event. The weather for this weekend is looking great so there should be an excellent turnout.

On the Halloween front, our house is looking very spooktacular.... I still haven't finalized my playlist, although not all the songs are necesarily approriate for general consumption. Nothing bad as such, just a mix of songs, some scary, some fun, although some perhaps a bit more adult oriented than little kid oriented.

Some folks get very creative with pumpkins and there's always a wealth of ideas than can be discovered on the internet. Here's a couple of images to get in the "spirit"!




Oh yes, don't forget, DST ends this weekend, remember to set your clocks back...

Goon

Two games into the season and I am on the leaderboard, but not a stat I am particularly proud of, or usually a leader. Number 2 in penalty minutes with 10 minutes, or 5 penalties. The leader has 20 minutes, but 10 of that is for a misconduct...

I got three penalties last night, I don't ever remember a game where I have gotten three penalties. I think last season, for the 30 games I only had 12 or 14 minutes. Worst thing last night I received all three against the same guy, who is actually a friend of mine. Ususally I'll take my penalties without question, but I question all three from last night...

Violation

I rode my bike to work yesterday, as I have been doing a lot lately. When I left for home I found a nice neon orange colored "sticker" on my mirror. It was an EDS parking violation.

Like most of the motorcycles I have seen parked at EDS, I used a non-parking spot, essentially a space not large enough to park a car so it had stripes through it. And no, not at or near a handicapped parking spot.

Well, the only thing I can figure is that with more and more folks riding motorcycles to work, the parking police have either been getting complaints, or just decided to start clamping down. No problem, I guess I'll just park in a regular spot, not my preference but it works.

I just hope we don't have the same issue that Darlene had at DPS with motorcycles parking in a "car" spot.....

Cover Songs

I love cover songs. On my ipod I have several, no, a lot of covers. Some are awesome, some are not. I have a few blogs I frequent that feature cover versions. Today while searching for songs for my Halloween playlist, I found a Cover Songs Database that will no doubt come in handy.

Scary Monsters, Super Creeps

Keep me running, running scared..... (David Bowie)

Tick tock, Halloween is getting closer... Houses are being decorated in the neighborhood, we've got most of our stuff ready, costumes selected, boxes out of attic.

Since Halloween falls on a Friday, the boys are going to have a little party. Wheels are turning, plans in progress. It should be easy to spook out a bunch of teenagers.

Last weekend we did a trial run on one of our costumes and got some pretty favorable reactions in the neighborhood about 10PM at night. The boys were coming back from the skatepark and the mom who drove got a bit freaked out, so much so she rushed off!

Green Frogs

Well most of them certainly are. This past Saturday, we went on a club lunch ride to The Green Frog restaurant in Jacksboro. There was a relatively small group as several of the Road Captains were on the pre-ride in Arkansas. This was Bert's ride so we wanted to be there and I wanted to assist in RC duties. I did, but as it turned out, there were several other RCs in attendance. It was a good route, some of the same roads we took on a ride this past winter.

It must have been FM 730. It was a very nice road as there were some hills that allowed nice overlooks of the country site. We also passed a couple of deer ranches, one in particular has several deer visible from the road.

After we got home we did a bit of shopping for our continuously ongoing renovations and then I had a late hockey game on Saturday. It was the first D game of the season. We won the game and handily outplayed the other team but it took some time to get some numbers up. I finished with at least 3 assists, a lot of shots, and a lot of skating, after being off for so long. It felt good though.

Sunday Darlene got the main living room painted and I finished the rough work in Ryan's bathroom, replacing the necessary drywall, mounting the new lights and replaced the spigots on the plumbing in preparation of installing the vanity.

This weekend we'll be doing some more upstairs work, painting the game/theater room and hopefully installing the french doors.

I have started taking some pictures to document some of the renovations we are doing.

Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner. And its on a Friday night. This year we're going to decorate, more like in the past, possibly with some mechanical tricks to scare the little tiny kids out of their costumes!

We're also planning on having a bit of a party for the boys and their friends and of course my mind turns to music... Special night deserves special music. Have a ton of songs in my mind for a Halloween playlist and have been surfing for additional ideas. At a bit of a quandry however whether to stick to a specific theme so will likely mix it up with some traditional Halloween stuff and some stuff a bit more obscure.

Here is one of the best complitations I have seen.
Halloween Playlist Spectacular

For mine I would like some specific songs.

John Cale - Heartbreak Hotel (yes the Elvis song but a very spooky almost violent rendition.)
The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck
New York Dolls - Frankenstien
AC/DC - Hells Bells
Suicidal Tendencies - I Saw your Mommy
Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick
Tom Waits - What's He Building in There
Alice Cooper - Welcome to my Nightmare
Drowning Pool - Bodies
Misfits - lots to choose from
The Damned - Absinthe (yes its a drinking song, but its the Green Faerie)
The Who - Boris the Spider
Bobby Pickett - Monster Mash


I'm sure there are a ton more songs, and eventually this playlist will change. I'm also looking for a copy of Chicken Heart by Bill Cosby off his Wonderfulness album. Its a comedy bit, not a song, but is fantastic.

Lunch Ride

Yesterday we went on the lunch ride. I wanted to go on this one for a couple of reasons. One it was planned by Mike Taylor, one of my RC "Classmates" and two, the destination was only 15 minutes from home. So this one I pre-rode so I could lead a pod. It was a great ride on several different FM roads.

The destination was Bel Airs and Burgers in Princeton, next to Lost Highway Classic Cars and Antiques. The food was inexpensive and there were great American Muscle cars in the showroom. It was fun and good to see the crew.

I led Pod three, but somehow we ended up being the first pod to the restaurant!

Here's a map to the route, courtesy of Gary. I assume its a route track from a GPS, I have to figure out how to do that. The route was approx 115 miles, so for us we put on about 160 miles.

Ice Time - Finally!

Went out and played in off-season scrimmage last night. Bill had coordinated a few but this was the first one I could commit to. I checked the calendar, it had been seven and a half weeks since I last skated and truthfully hadn't done any real physical exercise in the time. Thankfully I haven't gained any weight, one of the guys gained 13 pounds in that time!

A bit rusty, my feet were pretty much in pain from too tight skates, but overall not too bad. Bill says the new season is supposed to start next week so I guess its a good thing I got in on this scrimmage.

It was good to see the guys, even saw a couple of folks from other teams that I haven't seen in even longer.

Officially Autumn

Its Sept 22 today, so I guess its officially Autumn in TX. The weather has been spectacular of late. Sunny, cool (relatively) at night and warm in the day times. I've been riding to work a lot lately, and this past weekend had an opportunity to put a few miles. I have to do some Road Captain duties as I have a dinner ride coming up and there's a couple of other rides I like to assist in.

I had to go back a second time on my route, as the first route has far too much construction. What a pain. Anyway this new route is a bit quicker, but not very exciting.

I also rode an upcoming lunch ride which covered several of the FM roads in some of our northern counties. It should be a good ride. Actually there is a very accessible windmill, although there are power lines very close that probably cannot be avoided in a picture.

Rode about 170 miles yesterday, could have very easily went for more but have too much stuff to do.

Ike Pics

A friend sent out a link for some pictures of Ike that were pretty incredible.

Hurricane Ike Damage

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike passed through Texas this weekend. While we remained relatively unscathed, with a bit off rain and some increased wind, some parts of Texas, around Galveston and Houston are virtually destroyed. Apparently it didn't hit as hard as it was expected to, which was a very good thing as the devestation is very significant.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US and I'm not sure of very many major metropoliton areas getting hit like this. New Orleans suffered greatly with Katrina, but a lot of that was brought on buy the flooding in the lake with the system failures.

We were very fortunate here as the storm had been projected to pass through DFW at one point, but ended up veering east, pretty much sparing us. Winds of 50 to 70 were experienced about 60-90 miles east with damage.

Ryan sent me this link with some of the wind and rainfall stats for the storm. IKE

Bike Wash

After our trip our bikes were quite filthy. 3200 miles and 3 days of rain can put a lot of road grime on a bike. We had to keep the windshields clean during our trip but other than that let the bikes show their adventures.

Of course I can only let that sit for so long after the trip is over so as soon as I got the time I did a good wash and wax of both bikes.

Here some before pics of Darlene's bike.




And after pics, oooo, ahhhh, see how shiny it is.....




So this past Saturday was the chapter meeting and the dealership had an open house and bike demos. I also wanted to do a couple of pre-rides I needed to do. I took a Nightster out for a demo, its a fun little bike that is quite peppy. It also didn't have a windshield and its been a long time since I rode a bike without a windshield. Definitely wouldn't want to ride long distance without one.

Also at the dealership were the Sun Bru girls who were doing a bike wash. One of the guys (who shall remain nameless) was getting his bike washed. I decided I should take a couple of pictures to see if I could learn anything as far as tricks and tips to washing a bike. I think I may have wasted my efforts as for the life of me I don't even recall seeing a sponge hit a bike....

Milwaukee trip - Days 8 and 9 - return home

We hit the road Saturday morning about 8:30 am. We stopped at the 2 plant facilities in Milwaukee. Ahead of us is roughly 1100 miles. We rode to Jefferson City, MO, roughly halfway, on Saturday, arriving roughly 12 hours after we started and about an hour in the dark.

Sunday was another long day, another 560 miles but this only took about 11 hours!

Home and back in our bed. I think the boys were actually happy to see us!

Milwaukee trip - Day 7

This morning we have our Museum visit scheduled for 9:30. We make it down there (courtesy of the wonderful American Legion breakfast) with time to spare. Wow, lots and lots of bikes and folks. The team is quite well organized and handling the traffic very well. We even get some cool free plastic kickstand pads!

Definitely worth visiting. Beautiful collections of motorcycles, and other Harley related artifacts. The museum was packed with visitors, would like to go back when there are fewer people and take more time as there is some really intersting stuff here. Plan on a couple of hours at least to do it right.










After the Museum, we made our way down to Summerfest Grounds for the first day of the 105th celebrations. The Summerfest Grounds are a very impressive venue. The food and other concessions were very good as well. On the grounds there were 5 seperate stages for a variety of bands as well as other venues throughout Milwaukee. There was pretty much always some entertainment going on. We watched a couple of bands, went to HOG Island, watched the Motorcops competition, and at the end of the night, listened (as we couldn't get close enough) to ZZ Top. Driving home was a bit crazier than the previous night but once we got out of town we were fine. This was it for us as Saturday would be a departure day for us.