This past weekend we celebrated our re-marraige. It certainly wasn't a traditional marriage, and was a heck of a lot of fun. It was a Biker Wedding which I guess even in itself has no specific form, so I guess even more so it was "Our" wedding, very much so.
We will update our other blog with pictures, etc.
Davidson - LeBlanc Wedding
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Lewis Kaulback
I just spoke with Mom and Dad. Dad told me that Uncle Louie (Lewis Kaulback) had passed yesterday. Louie had been sick all winter and when he finally went to the hospital he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer (I believe) although it had also spread significantly and had a short time left. From what I understand he spent the last few weeks at home under care with family attending. Dad and the girls went up this past weekend and knew the time was close.
There are a few very special people in my life and he is one of them. In fact the whole family is. Angelina is Dad’s sister and I have always considered their home a welcome extension of my own. Their homestead, in Middle Stewiake, will always be one of my favorite places on earth, as is Bear Cove. With the exception of times like these I have no bad memories of my times spent there. The farm, the woods, the river. The animals, yes, even the memories of the barns, of course I didn’t have to work the animals, but that was all part of my upbringing. And most of all the people, the food, the stories and the great times, of which there were countless.
Uncle Louie, you will be missed by all those whose lives you’ve touched, and especially mine.
Lewis Kaulback 1936-2008
There are a few very special people in my life and he is one of them. In fact the whole family is. Angelina is Dad’s sister and I have always considered their home a welcome extension of my own. Their homestead, in Middle Stewiake, will always be one of my favorite places on earth, as is Bear Cove. With the exception of times like these I have no bad memories of my times spent there. The farm, the woods, the river. The animals, yes, even the memories of the barns, of course I didn’t have to work the animals, but that was all part of my upbringing. And most of all the people, the food, the stories and the great times, of which there were countless.
Uncle Louie, you will be missed by all those whose lives you’ve touched, and especially mine.
Lewis Kaulback 1936-2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Maintenance time again
Turned over 31K this past weekend, time for some maintenance. Right at 5K since my last fluid change. Our next big ride is April 18 weekend, the Wildflower ride. I'll probably log about 1000 miles that weekend as I really want to do the Three Sisters loop in Hill Country.
We've been busy getting ready for the wedding so haven't done a lot of riding per se, and haven't focused on my road captain training. I need to do a couple of pre-rides and dinner rides to get some feedback. I have two routes already under my belt with 3 more to go. I have a couple of routes in mind, not exactly dinner rides, more like lunch rides.
This past Friday was Good Friday and I had the day off work. Took care of a bunch of stuff throughout the day then took a quick ride up to Oklahoma and back. I wanted to check out a little something that piqued my interest. It was the single lane bridge at Carpenter's Bluff and was definately worthwhile. There's a couple of restaurants in the vicinity and isn't so far you even need to stop at a restaurant, but that seems to be out group's motto, Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride...
Fairly quick trip, about 130 miles, FM120 is a cool little road and Denison has an interesting looking downtown that is likely worth checking out.
This coming weekend of course will be a lot of fun, I guess we can call it a biker wedding, even though I'm a bit uncomfortable with that image. Stay tuned for pictures!!!
We've been busy getting ready for the wedding so haven't done a lot of riding per se, and haven't focused on my road captain training. I need to do a couple of pre-rides and dinner rides to get some feedback. I have two routes already under my belt with 3 more to go. I have a couple of routes in mind, not exactly dinner rides, more like lunch rides.
This past Friday was Good Friday and I had the day off work. Took care of a bunch of stuff throughout the day then took a quick ride up to Oklahoma and back. I wanted to check out a little something that piqued my interest. It was the single lane bridge at Carpenter's Bluff and was definately worthwhile. There's a couple of restaurants in the vicinity and isn't so far you even need to stop at a restaurant, but that seems to be out group's motto, Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride...
Fairly quick trip, about 130 miles, FM120 is a cool little road and Denison has an interesting looking downtown that is likely worth checking out.
This coming weekend of course will be a lot of fun, I guess we can call it a biker wedding, even though I'm a bit uncomfortable with that image. Stay tuned for pictures!!!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Wildflower Pre-Ride
This past weekend there was lots of riding. Darlene and several LOH ladies took an overnight trip to Granbury for wine-tasting and other debauchery. Actually it ended up being quite a bit of debauchery as the ladies decided to turn it into a batchelorett party for Darlene as well....
My ride was to Fredericksburg as the official pre-ride for the annual Wildflower ride. Dave Barnes planned the ride and I thoroughly enjoyed the route. We had several road captains and road captains in training. I was wing for Paul (Whiff). We are expecting upwards of 100 bikes, I think last spring we had +60 and there are more active members this year. Lunch and gas stops have become challenging but I think we will be good to go.
As its still early in the year, I think the deer are still quite active. I was surprised at how much road-kill we came across and on FM500 we had a bit of a thrill as 3 deer crossed the road directly in front of our pod. With that group was another 3 or 4 behind the fence that stayed to our right and did not cross. On the way home I saw a couple of other deer and a turkey.
Overall the Sat night was pretty mellow as far as these things can go, which is not a bad thing. The actual ride will be quite different as it will be at a different hotel and we will have a barbeque there.
On the Saturday of the actual ride I am planning a route to do the Three Sisters, or the Twisted Sisters, or the 100 mile loop as it is sometimes called. Down into Leakey and Frio Canyon. Those roads are supposed to be some of the best roads in Texas.
Sunday I rode home with Glen and checked out a old Harley he was looking at in Hamilton TX. It was a 1965 police edition, the last year for the panhead and first year of the electra-glide. The bike has supposedly been dormat for 18 years and while it was in surprisingly good shape for that aspect, it does need quite a bit of work. The lady who owns it (dead husband's bike) is a bit misinformed to its value, especially in the state it is in. I believe Glen is interested in it, but does not want to offend the lady with a good offer if she is truly not aware of its value.
The guy who was selling the bike on the lady's behalf was an interesting character. Ken French I believe was his name. He used to ride in the 40's and 50's and had some great pictures of him and his crew. He also rebuilds old cars and had a couple of great ones in his garage.
Oh, about 670 miles. Getting time for oil change, may do that this coming weekend.
My ride was to Fredericksburg as the official pre-ride for the annual Wildflower ride. Dave Barnes planned the ride and I thoroughly enjoyed the route. We had several road captains and road captains in training. I was wing for Paul (Whiff). We are expecting upwards of 100 bikes, I think last spring we had +60 and there are more active members this year. Lunch and gas stops have become challenging but I think we will be good to go.
As its still early in the year, I think the deer are still quite active. I was surprised at how much road-kill we came across and on FM500 we had a bit of a thrill as 3 deer crossed the road directly in front of our pod. With that group was another 3 or 4 behind the fence that stayed to our right and did not cross. On the way home I saw a couple of other deer and a turkey.
Overall the Sat night was pretty mellow as far as these things can go, which is not a bad thing. The actual ride will be quite different as it will be at a different hotel and we will have a barbeque there.
On the Saturday of the actual ride I am planning a route to do the Three Sisters, or the Twisted Sisters, or the 100 mile loop as it is sometimes called. Down into Leakey and Frio Canyon. Those roads are supposed to be some of the best roads in Texas.
Sunday I rode home with Glen and checked out a old Harley he was looking at in Hamilton TX. It was a 1965 police edition, the last year for the panhead and first year of the electra-glide. The bike has supposedly been dormat for 18 years and while it was in surprisingly good shape for that aspect, it does need quite a bit of work. The lady who owns it (dead husband's bike) is a bit misinformed to its value, especially in the state it is in. I believe Glen is interested in it, but does not want to offend the lady with a good offer if she is truly not aware of its value.
The guy who was selling the bike on the lady's behalf was an interesting character. Ken French I believe was his name. He used to ride in the 40's and 50's and had some great pictures of him and his crew. He also rebuilds old cars and had a couple of great ones in his garage.
Oh, about 670 miles. Getting time for oil change, may do that this coming weekend.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Going's on....
Whew, lots going on. This past weekend we didn't put on a lot of miles. Saturday was the Chapter meeting, and I had some concerns about the drive over. Thursday we had some more snow, can you believe that! Two significant snowfalls in one week, in Texas! But typically each lasted only about 1 day. I was concerned because there was 9 inches of snowfall in Denton on the Thursday, I figured there must still be some snow on the ground and certainly the roads would be wet from the melt if nothing else. Also it was about 22 degrees when we left Saturday morning, so any water on the road would likely be frozen.
We left early as Darlene needed some service on her bike, otherwise we may have considered taking the car. Anyway we stopped for gas close to the house and Darlene's hands were already cold. We switched up gloves and carried on. We took the south route, along 121 instead of 380 due to potential issues on the road. Not sure it was any better as once we started hitting intersections, we also started hitting ice. The worst one was probably the first one, we had a red light and on the other side was about 15 feet of ice that we had to drive over. Its very slippery.... We hit a few more patches along the way, but none as bad as that first one. By the time we got to the dealership, Darlene was pretty stressed out and relieved.
We hung out and didn't ride anywhere that day. Sunday was the ride to Windy's Catfish. I would have liked to have gone, but with my hockey game Sat night, and then the time change, plus the group shower and helping Corey with school, if I figured I better skip that ride.
So now this weekend coming up we should both be putting on a few miles. Darlene and quite a few of the girls are going to Granbury for an LOH overnighter, and planning on picking up a lonestar point on the way home on Sunday, adding about 500 additional miles to their trip! I am going on the wildflower pre-ride to Fredericksburg with several of the road captains and will likely put on about 800 miles or so. Will be time for oil change after that.
Wedding plans are in full swing, getting house in order, etc...
March break is next week for the boys.
We left early as Darlene needed some service on her bike, otherwise we may have considered taking the car. Anyway we stopped for gas close to the house and Darlene's hands were already cold. We switched up gloves and carried on. We took the south route, along 121 instead of 380 due to potential issues on the road. Not sure it was any better as once we started hitting intersections, we also started hitting ice. The worst one was probably the first one, we had a red light and on the other side was about 15 feet of ice that we had to drive over. Its very slippery.... We hit a few more patches along the way, but none as bad as that first one. By the time we got to the dealership, Darlene was pretty stressed out and relieved.
We hung out and didn't ride anywhere that day. Sunday was the ride to Windy's Catfish. I would have liked to have gone, but with my hockey game Sat night, and then the time change, plus the group shower and helping Corey with school, if I figured I better skip that ride.
So now this weekend coming up we should both be putting on a few miles. Darlene and quite a few of the girls are going to Granbury for an LOH overnighter, and planning on picking up a lonestar point on the way home on Sunday, adding about 500 additional miles to their trip! I am going on the wildflower pre-ride to Fredericksburg with several of the road captains and will likely put on about 800 miles or so. Will be time for oil change after that.
Wedding plans are in full swing, getting house in order, etc...
March break is next week for the boys.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Snow in Texas?
In March?
It was 80F on Sunday, a cold front came through and by Monday night it had dropped to freezing, about 32F. We had some pretty significant storms Sunday night with the front and it continued to rain throughout Monday, by Monday night we had a change to snow. I took a few pictures Monday night, which are not easy to do as the flash lights up the flakes directly in front of the lens, but then got up to a beautiful sunny morning a took a few more pictures.
We had upwards of 5 inches of snow here in Mckinney, I think the only place with more reported snowfall was Sherman with 6 inches. It probably stopped snowing around 2 or 3 am so it started to compress as it was very fluffy snow. I think by the time I got outside this morning it was still about 3 inches thick.
It was 80F on Sunday, a cold front came through and by Monday night it had dropped to freezing, about 32F. We had some pretty significant storms Sunday night with the front and it continued to rain throughout Monday, by Monday night we had a change to snow. I took a few pictures Monday night, which are not easy to do as the flash lights up the flakes directly in front of the lens, but then got up to a beautiful sunny morning a took a few more pictures.
We had upwards of 5 inches of snow here in Mckinney, I think the only place with more reported snowfall was Sherman with 6 inches. It probably stopped snowing around 2 or 3 am so it started to compress as it was very fluffy snow. I think by the time I got outside this morning it was still about 3 inches thick.
Road Captain Training
This past Saturday was our road captain training class. We had a good group of 9 riders taking class. For me a lot of the stuff I had already had exposure to, either by riding with some of the RCs already, some of the early training I have already been exposed to this year, as well as a lot of the stuff that Darlene had told me based on her riding experiences and exposures from the other RCs while she was a newer member and learning a lot.
Its all about responsibility, with of course the primary responsibility being the safety of all the riders. Other key areas are communication to the riders and of course the planning of the rides with focus on both safety, and comfort.
In addition to these things, the RCs truly represent the chapter and are very visible. Its important to learn the who the members are, including their names, and to recognize that once in this position, people will expect you to always be "on", so to speak.
In the words of some, if people see you getting on your ride, organized ride or not, you will likely have other riders following you!
After the class, which lasted about 3 hours, several of us went on the pre-ride for the Fallen Eagles ride on April 5. The Fallen Eagles ride is a memorial ride for American Eagle members who have passed away, including most recent Karen Riley. This ride will be to the Hard 8 Barbeque in Stephenville. Unfortunately we will not be in attendance as Dale and Peter will be down and we will be attending the races that weekend.
The ride was fun and was through a couple of interesting small towns. Total miles on Saturday was around 370 miles. Long day, left the house at 8 am and got home about 8:15 pm.
Its all about responsibility, with of course the primary responsibility being the safety of all the riders. Other key areas are communication to the riders and of course the planning of the rides with focus on both safety, and comfort.
In addition to these things, the RCs truly represent the chapter and are very visible. Its important to learn the who the members are, including their names, and to recognize that once in this position, people will expect you to always be "on", so to speak.
In the words of some, if people see you getting on your ride, organized ride or not, you will likely have other riders following you!
After the class, which lasted about 3 hours, several of us went on the pre-ride for the Fallen Eagles ride on April 5. The Fallen Eagles ride is a memorial ride for American Eagle members who have passed away, including most recent Karen Riley. This ride will be to the Hard 8 Barbeque in Stephenville. Unfortunately we will not be in attendance as Dale and Peter will be down and we will be attending the races that weekend.
The ride was fun and was through a couple of interesting small towns. Total miles on Saturday was around 370 miles. Long day, left the house at 8 am and got home about 8:15 pm.
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