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.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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....
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....
Friday, September 05, 2008
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!
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.
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.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Milwaukee Trip - Day 6 - Miller Park
I took quite a few shots while at Miller Park, especially in the stunt zone so will post some pics.
Bruce Rossmeyer's Ft Lauderdale Harley Davidson Drill Team
I didn't get a lot of good shots of these guys as they were the first stunt we watched. They were quite impressive however.
ILL Conduct
Have seen these guys before at American Eagle. They are pretty good and today blew up a lot of tires!
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Drill Team
Another drill team, also very impressive.
Seattle Cossacks Stunt Team
This was the first time I have seen these guys. They were a lot of fun and very impressive, they didn't seem to follow their script at least not to the letter, and did not use communication devices other than a whistle and voice, no mics or headsets.
Bubba Blackwell
We've also seen Bubba Blackwell before, but here in front of a large Harley lovin' audience, it was clear he was having a lot of fun. He blew up a couple of tires too!
Bruce Rossmeyer's Ft Lauderdale Harley Davidson Drill Team
I didn't get a lot of good shots of these guys as they were the first stunt we watched. They were quite impressive however.
ILL Conduct
Have seen these guys before at American Eagle. They are pretty good and today blew up a lot of tires!
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Drill Team
Another drill team, also very impressive.
Seattle Cossacks Stunt Team
This was the first time I have seen these guys. They were a lot of fun and very impressive, they didn't seem to follow their script at least not to the letter, and did not use communication devices other than a whistle and voice, no mics or headsets.
Bubba Blackwell
We've also seen Bubba Blackwell before, but here in front of a large Harley lovin' audience, it was clear he was having a lot of fun. He blew up a couple of tires too!
Milwaukee trip - Day 6
Its a little cooler at night in Wisconson than in Texas. As a 1/2 inch foam pad is not nearly as comfortable as a mattress, but we made it through the night. The American Legion is hosting a great breakfast every day and we will certainly take advantage of that.
We leave and decide to hit Milwaukee Harley Davidson on the way to Miller Park for the HOG 25th celebrations. On the way we see both the Pilgram Road and Capitol Drive facilities that we will want to stop at later.
There is a massive party at the Milwaukee HD and they are set up pretty good for what they have going on. Lots of vendor tents and sharing a parking lot with a strip club, they have also set up a couple of entertainment venues. Traffic and parking is crazy. We don't partipate in too much of craziness but have a look around, we see the "fighters" getting ready for the midget wrestling bouts, the Bikini bike wash, etc. Next to the strip club was the set up for Strip Club Choppers. We stop by and talk to the guys, I had asked when then were going to be in Digby, which was supposed to be this weekend, for the Wharf Rat Rally, but they couldn't get their paperwork and visas cleared in time so came here instead. It was actually an ideal venue for them.
Off to the Headquarters facility on Juneau Rd. Its an older but quite large facility. Then off to Miller Park for the party. We hung out for several hours, talked to lots of folks, had a lot of fun. Several other Eagles were there but we never saw any of them. We watched all the acts that performed in the Stunt Zone, they were very impressive, some we've seen before. We saw a couple of bands including Billy Bob Thorton and his band, Sugarland played, a couple of others and closing the night was Kid Rock. We watched a bit of that, it was actually quite a good show but it was jam packed. Throughout the day there were other Harley and HOG activies and speakers, including Willie G and we watched comedian Lewis Black for most of his act.
Anybody see a black harley????
Getting out of there and back to the campsite was actually surprisingly easy.
We leave and decide to hit Milwaukee Harley Davidson on the way to Miller Park for the HOG 25th celebrations. On the way we see both the Pilgram Road and Capitol Drive facilities that we will want to stop at later.
There is a massive party at the Milwaukee HD and they are set up pretty good for what they have going on. Lots of vendor tents and sharing a parking lot with a strip club, they have also set up a couple of entertainment venues. Traffic and parking is crazy. We don't partipate in too much of craziness but have a look around, we see the "fighters" getting ready for the midget wrestling bouts, the Bikini bike wash, etc. Next to the strip club was the set up for Strip Club Choppers. We stop by and talk to the guys, I had asked when then were going to be in Digby, which was supposed to be this weekend, for the Wharf Rat Rally, but they couldn't get their paperwork and visas cleared in time so came here instead. It was actually an ideal venue for them.
Off to the Headquarters facility on Juneau Rd. Its an older but quite large facility. Then off to Miller Park for the party. We hung out for several hours, talked to lots of folks, had a lot of fun. Several other Eagles were there but we never saw any of them. We watched all the acts that performed in the Stunt Zone, they were very impressive, some we've seen before. We saw a couple of bands including Billy Bob Thorton and his band, Sugarland played, a couple of others and closing the night was Kid Rock. We watched a bit of that, it was actually quite a good show but it was jam packed. Throughout the day there were other Harley and HOG activies and speakers, including Willie G and we watched comedian Lewis Black for most of his act.
Anybody see a black harley????
Getting out of there and back to the campsite was actually surprisingly easy.
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