Sigh - when your 29.95 room comes with a fly-swatter. It should be obvious you're not going to sleep much... crickets. In the room. Under the bed. All night.
Oh, and now... no hot water.
If there was ever a sign I should just go back to bed, this is it.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
I can't believe another week has passed and I'm still not posting like I should... like I want. I'm still getting the occasional comment, so I guess a few are still stopping by now and then.
Big thanks to kat, becky, nancy, tani and airmanmom - you guys make me smile. I'll be stopping by soon, promise.
Thanks to kartman, lobo and DC - you guys don't comment but I know you come by. Thanks again!
Let's see... what's been going on.
21 update - it went well. Took the kid and some of his friends and his gf to BD's Mongolian BBQ. The food there is always good. It's an 'all you can eat cook it the way you want and if you don't like it try again' place. I highly recommend it. Seems he has my endurance for alcohol. He had 1 - long island iced tea, 2 - marguita's on the rocks, 1 - peppermint schnapps about 2 ozs, and 2 - Bailey's on the rocks about 2 ozs each.
He got happy, but never really got drunk. As we were leaving he was heal-toeing a line and touching his nose. Hahaha. Spent well over a hundred dollars but hey, your baby only turns 21 once, right?
Job hunt - ya know, with CareerBuilder sending me daily updates on new job listings, i'll bet I'm sending out 10-20 resumes a week. And still nothing! I've given up on the lighting industry. Right now I'd take anything, especially if it pays decent.
I did get a lead from a guy I used to work with. Seems one of their vendors is hiring. Spoke to the owner and he is giving me an interview this Wednesday. WooHoo!! Again, I'll let you know what happens.
The other son. He didn't call today with any more details. He was at drill this weekend. I figure the COs made them stay late for one reason or another and he didn't have time. Guess i'll call him tomorrow.
The weather here Saturday was GREAT! Bright sunny all day with a high of about 65. Started out kinda cool though. It was 29 when I left the house. Went with the missus to Lafayette for a search. I rode. Had to, it had been too long again. Plus the IPG (Indiana Patriot Guard) was having a meeting in the afternoon. We are planning the 2009 rally.
I left the search about 3 and rode over to Silver Lake. The Barn. Had the meeting, some cookout food, a beer and of course a double shot.
Left about 9, made it home about midnight.
It was a great day. Got to help the wife on a missing persons case, got to spend time and eat dinner with my PGR family AND rode nearly 300 miles!
Speaking of the IPG event, you all are invited! May 8 and 9. Seriously, drop me an email and I'll get you directions. Any one questions you, just tell them you are 'DNR sent ya'. I'll bet someone hands you a beer then apologizes for you having to know me. hahaha
Till next time.
If you can't be good, be good at it!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
... and sore.
Last time I rode was the long over due 'Therpy' session I had. Today, riding for SSG Burkholder was hard on this old man.
It was 20 here when I pulled out at 1:30 am... seems to me last tome I did this I said something about using a windshield next time. Well, maybe NEXT time.
Door step to staging area was 125 miles, about 2 hours. Things weren't to bad, fingers were a little cold and so were my toes but over all I was doing ok.
Semper Gumbi
The Illinois part of the escort was suppose to stop where we were, regroup, then all of us were going to head down the road.
5 or 6 of us were sitting at a weigh station and we could see about half a mile down the interstate. Blink, blink - we could see the Illinois State Police Escort coming down the highway, when 'zooom', they went screaming by at about 80 miles per hour. The RC (Dan) had this look of dismay mixed with frustration on his face and everyone else was looking at him like, 'WTF - Wow That was Fantastic'. Dan gathered himself and barked 'mount up. Looks like we're gonna have to catch them!'.
The Indina State police escort we were to have jumped in their cars the couple other riders there got on their bikes and 'vroom' everyone was off... except me. See, I know if i sit around fully dressed, I'll start sweating, then when we start riding again I'll freeze. So, put on my gloves, and face mask, zip up my coat, fire up the 'ol therapist and hit the road.
By now everyone is out of sight. I hit 90 for a mile or two and caught them in about 10 miles. Took my place at the rear of the procession right in front of the last police car. He never did ask me what I did to catch up. I wasn't about to tell him either.
The next stop was Mt. Comfort exit on I-70, just east of Indianapolis. This leg was just under a hundred miles. When I got off the bike I could not feel my fingers and I couldn't stop shivering. Being that cold was uncomfortable. Maybe I should be more like the other old guys and buy some electric gear, at least start using the windshield when it is under 32. I called it a day and as the group left heading for Ohio I headed home.
240 miles in 20 degree weather, a long hot shower and a nap with a heating pad and I was ready for the day to begin... after all... it was just 10 o'clock... am.
It had been 23 days since I was laid off and I finally got to spend some time with my therapist Saturday and even a little Sunday.
Saturday afternoon I had a little free time so I just showed up to see if she would talk. Man, she was reluctant at first, her eyes dimmed and almost went shut when I tried to start the conversation. She sounded more like I was awaking her from a long winters slumber. Groaning and moaning “leave me alone”. After begging and pleading and promising not to bother her again, she agreed to talk. And we talked and talked. We started at 1515 and didn’t finish until after 1830. 66 degrees and heavily over cast, we spent the entire time out side. Severe weather (tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm watches) be damned.
Sunday we chatted for about an hour, again outside. In and around down town Indy. Come to find out eh groaning wasn’t so much that I had awakened here, but more a feeling of rejection. The fact that ‘I’ had not been around recently was bothersome to her.
With a promise to return weekly we parted. As I walked away I could hear the occasional ping and ting coming from her heated jugs, I knew she was mind, and I WOULD return, often, for more therapy.
Hello, my name is DNR
It’s been 21 days since I last rode. *shudders*
Maybe this weekend. I can’t stand it. Missed a couple days with highs in the 40s. Bad part is I come to work just as the sun is coming up, and it’s been about 28 here. Then when I go home it’s dark and back in the low 30s. Even it gets into the 40s during the day, I miss it.
Gonna be in the 30s, high of 35 Saturday.
Yep, I’m gonna ride, even if it is 2 miles. My soul needs it.
Miles.
December 2nd will be 2 years that I’ve owned the Road Kind.
I’ve driven, ridden, put on over 30,000 miles. I got to thinking about that and this is what struck me.
30,000 miles in 2 years is;
41 miles a day, every day
600 hours @ 50 mph
25 hours a month @ 50 mph
5.75 hours a week @ 50 mph
Slightly more than once around the planet
5.5 round trips from LA to DC
12,000 laps around the Indy 500 track
750 gallons of gas @ 40 mpg
$1,875 in gas @ 2.50 per gallon
I’m actually at 31,500ish. With 28 days to go and the entire week of Thanksgiving off maybe I can add a couple more thousand.
I’ll let you know where I end up.
Not me, a friend.
My buddy, Dirt Bike had to lay his scoot down a couple months ago. He is currently in his second cast but still has the wires and stuff.
I don’t get to see him too much any more since he has moved up to the Lansing, MI area.
If you have a minute, send him a good thought and a prayer.
This is his recount of the moments leading up to and through the accident.
*************
Often ya see in these posts some very good advice designed to keep your mc'ing experience a safe enjoyable one.
After much time to review my asphalt incident" of the 7th I’ve decided to describe ,in detail, what happened, Sort of a "heads-up”, "take what you can use” kind of thing.
Here goes.. first I was overtired, making me less than alert and more importantly not a good decision maker. 2nd I was riding on an unfamiliar road, at night not only was I unfamiliar with the road conditions, I didn’t even know the speed limit. :oops:
I’ve been riding scooters for most of the last 45 years, yes Specialk since I was about 30.. :lol: I’m pretty experienced in terms of saddle miles, road conditions weather conditions, equipment conditions but being human and subject to all the frailties of THAT condition.
I made some very serious mistakes that cost me a very nice, much loved motorcycle, a few patches of derma i had become very attached to, and a big inconvenience in my life/lifestyle for the next 3 months
so here goes:
I left a meeting in town, with friends and since it was a real nice ride’n night I opted to take the long way home. I turned onto a dark road that I had never even been on, in the daylight and began ,sloping ,2-3 mile grade uphill, about a mile into that, a truck on the side of this road made a u-turn in front of me, without even looking,
Not REAL close, but enough to irritate me, so I gassed it up so he could hear my angry pipes; mistake right there, I know better than to ride with my emotions on my sleeve roll but no harm, no foul, settled back in, and kept ride’n up the hill.
Just about a 100 yds b4 the hill crest, an oncoming car failed to dim as they topped the hill, I blink warned, ...they complied ...and I continued on up almost to the top now big mistake here...
QUESTION:
Should I have, on an unfamiliar dark road, with no concept of the conditions on the other Blind side, have immediately slowed down to scan and assess??/
ANSWER! ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!
Did I? ..No :oops:
I gassed it up even more, to make the top in style partly cuz of making overtired decisions, partly cuz I was still a little irritated, partly cuz it was a gorgeous night, the bike was running awesome and the pipes sounded great.
SOOoo.. When I crested the hill, my headlight reached for the stars then as the grade changed and the bike pointed down I became instantly aware, in that ,slow-motion kind of clarity, that while I was doing the "bright light warning" thing I had missed something...
a simple, black and yellow picture, that was a clue to what was going to be happening to me and my beloved motorcycle for the next 5-10 seconds.
A "T"
So I immediately threw out both anchors, but to no avail a rainstorm the night before had left an ugly 6 ft streak of sandy gravel, in my path of travel. The bike went sideways, immediacy, throwing me off the right side. I hit on the right side of my helmet, temple high. Then it was the bikers ballet for about 30 feet, bouncing, rolling and sliding to a quiet stop.
My beloved skooter, having about a ten foot lead on me was across the intersection, in the ditch, still faithfully playing ZZ Top full blast
"bout the shack outside LaGrange"
Then...
agony...
SOOOO...the next 45 minutes was all about age?
blood type?
any allergies to meds?
can ya feel this?
can ya move this?
WHOA,
don’t move that!!!
And...
"Wow man, has your foot always pointed in that direction?"
CAUTION LECTURE ZONE AHEAD
That HELMET and that LEATHER spared me and my family a lot of further inconvenience. I look at them thru different eyes now
RIDE SAFE!!!
dirt....
I swear, I gotta be carcinoma walking.
Went out riding with the wife yesterday, thought it would be for an hour or so... but Noooo. We were out for most of the day.
I look like a lobster! With white sunglasses.
Thank God for aloe gel.
Nobody touch me for a few days, k?
Leg 1 - Indy to Kansas City
Leg 2 - KC to Hays Kansas
Leg 3 - Hays to Denver (Silverthorn, CO)
Leg 4 - Silverthorn to Hot Springs, SD
Leg 5 - Hot Springs/Rapid City to Kadoka, SD - this was after a full day looking at the Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore monuments and Badlands in SD
Leg 6 - Kadoda to Sergeant Bluff, Iowa (just south of Souix City, SD
Leg 7 - Sergeant bluff to home.
The Green line is the trip out to Denver, the thicker yellow line is the trip back.
Pictures are coming, promise. For now, here are some of DC's pics.
This one section (see below) of South Dakota is where most of the excitement was. On the far left is my breakdown. Hit a bump and all of a sudden “badabp, badabp, badabp” the engine got LOUD. Turns out both exhaust mounting bolts fell off of my exhaust pipe.
Exhaust pipe 200+ degrees, SD in July, nearly 90 degrees makes for very hot repairs and a long time waiting for things too cool down. Ended up limping on to Hot Springs, spent the night and hit up a local ACE for parts in the morning.
Once we left there we went to the sights at Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Expensive. For just being rocks. Crazy Horse is just cool. And Massive. Dc’s pics have a shot at a drawing with some dimensions on it. Massive I tell you, huge.
We left that area dn headed for the Badlands. We went through at about sun set. The colors were awosme and we got some great pictures. Again, you’ll just have to be patient to see mine.
Spent the night in Kadoka and then on home,
No close calls, nothing major needed repaired on either bike. It was a great trip. I’d do it again today if it wasn’t for having to pay the bills.
Motorcycles are everywhere. How observant are you. Can you pass this test?
Click here for the test.
How did you do?
ht to B for the link. Thanks B!!!
Damn Flooding
And rain... enough is enough, this is just ridiculous.
Saturday we were to ride for a local police department to raise money for their auxiliary. Left the house in the rain. Rode for about 2 hours in the rain.
They canceled the ride while we were on our way... too much rain.
Sunday we were going to escort a bus or two of special needs kids (burn victims) to a special needs camp in south central Indiana, Brown County... too much rain. They didn’t want he kids to be in the damp and muddy environment so it has been postponed.
SO, we rode, around. Saturday we ended up at Russ’. The infamous Barn I’ve blogged about here a couple times.
Had a shot... well maybe two... and a beer.
DC got some ink work (see below)
Sunday we ended up riding around. (Is it just me or is there a pattern here...?) Ended up in some ‘300 population’ small town in west Indiana. Had a real neat covered bridge and some home make ice cream.
Rode just over 400 miles. Trying to get my ass in shape for the long haul and 1,000 mile day coming up in July. We may have modified our goal to be 1,500 miles in 36 hours instead of the 1,000 in 24 hours.
Me and DC are going to see some parts of the contry on our bikes this summer. We're meeting in Kansas City and will leave there Sunday afternoon. the goal is to be back in Indy by the following Saturday. Of course we'll start here in Indy. This round trip route is 3,929 miles. The B to C leg is just under 1,000 miles. With exits and what not it should exceed 1k. That will earn us the Iron Ass award.
The fun starts July 20. this is just a proposed route... things could change.
View Larger Map
It's gonna be a blast!!
Wish you could join us.
The INPGR had a mission early Saturday. A member's father had passed away while on missionary work. He was a Korea War vet.
Afterwards, we went to The Barn...
Four hogs feet and a bucket of drip'ns. Has to mean a party at The Barn.
Actually didn't drink a drop. Ate lots of pulled pork and just hung out.
A group of about 10 of us ran to N. Manchester for Brett's and Dawn's wedding.
I know blurry, but you get the idea.
It was a great weekend, how was yours?
The guys were all heading to a cross country riders rally. They had to bunk two to a room on the road and at the rally. No one wanted to room with DNR because he snored like a pissed off grizzly bear. They decided it wasn't fair to make one of them stay with him the whole time, so they voted to take turns.
The first guy to sleep in a room with DNR comes to breakfast the next morning with his hair a mess and his eyes all bloodshot. Hoss said, "Man, what in THE hell happened to you?" The guy answers, "DNR snored so loudly, I just sat up and watched him all night."
The next night it was a different guy's turn. In the morning, same thing -- hair all standing up, eyes all blood-shot. They said, "Man, what happened to you? You look awful!" He said, "Man, that DNR shakes the fucking roof. I just sat up and watched him all night."
The third night was DC's turn. DC was ex Army and over 6’ tall; a man's man. The next morning he came to breakfast bright eyed and bushy tailed. "Good morning," he said.
No one could believe it! They all asked, "Man, what happened?" DC said, "Well, we got ready for bed and I went and tucked DNR into bed and kissed him good night with a wink. He sat up and watched me all night!”
------------------
OK - Now, I’m not saying this happened, but I’ve been threatened. Notice I did not change the names. No one here is innocent.
Background -
Albert Snyder, father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, sued the WBC and was awarded $5 million dollars after their protest at his son’s funeral.
The WBC is the group that forced the formation of the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR). They travel around the country protesting at the funerals of service members that have been killed in the War on Terror. It is said that they fund there travel by suing anyone that physically strikes out at them.
Thus we (The PGR) are a shield for the family. We do not confront, we stand, with our backs to them, shoulder to shoulder, with 3x4 flags and if required will start motorcycles to drown them out.
The story -
I love this line, “A federal judge in Baltimore ordered Westboro Baptist Church members to post their church building and nearly $500,000 more in cash and property while appealing a judgment for protesting a Marine’s funeral.”
You can read the rest of the story here.
I was sent this in an e-mail over the weekend (The weekend needs to be another post...) and with a little research I found a web page from 1999 & 2000 by Dave Karlotski. The web page is called “The 751” and is about a ride he took after literally finding 751 dollars.
I hope to read the rest of his posts and stories. As I come across others of interest, I’ll be sure to share them.
If you’ve ever been told “if you don’t understand, I can’t explain it’ about riding a motorcycle, this... article comes so close to explaining it that if you still don’t understand, then, it can’t be explained to you.
Saturday’s ride was cold. I should have drove or at least wore a helmet.
When I left the house it was 6°F outside. I had to go about 40 miles and most of it was interstate. 60, 70 sometimes 80 mph, that’s -26° windchill, for those playing at home. According to the National Weather Service, you get frostbite in 30 min if the windchill is about -16° and 10 min if -32°.
With traffic and whatnot, it was about an hour ride there and an hour back.
Sunday and Monday my nose hurt. Yesterday it stared peeling. Still peeling today. I think that is a minor case of frost bite.
I think I’m gonna pass on ridding on single digit days, yep, has to be 10° or warmer for me to ride...
Unless I can find a way to keep my nose warm.
If you look close... you can see ice on my mustache.
4 rode Saturday. One guy came almost 80 miles.
This weekend... (I may actually get this written and posted before Thursday this week! LOL!!)
Friday night I got to see “National Treasure”... If you go, wait for a matinee. The first one was defiantly the better one. Might even wait for the DVD. And what’s up with Nicholas Cage’s hair???
Saturday I got to sleep in... Wow, not in months have I slept till 10:30. It was great!! Took the missus to breakfast and sent her off to do her SAR thing. I went home and piddled around a little.
Left the house about noon to look at cars. Got 105k miles on the LS and it would be nice to have something that gets a little better gas mileage. The LS gets 15 mpg and uses premium fuel only, kinda steep these days.
Started looking at Mazda 3’s. I like the look and I think it will feed my need for speed. Haha, The problem is I just need to make more money. When I bought the LS I was eyeing up the Infiniti G35 Coupe, but it was a little more than I wanted to spend. The sucky part is they still are. 25k is more than I’m looking to spend right now.
Got back home about 3 and decided I needed to return SpeedBumps sweatshirt. Last weekend he lent me a Colts *gag* sweatshirt to wear in the rain. I had to get that thing back before it got koodies all over my other clothes. Yuck!!!
Hung out there for an hour or so and got a patch or two sewn onto the vest. Rode home about 8 pm. Man, did it get cold when the sun went down. Guessing at 25° F, and no I didn’t have my windshield. It was GREAT!!
Sunday, just lazed around and watched football. - Go GB!!!
Besides going by way too fast, it was a good one. How about yours??
The forecast for this past weekend was mid 50s Saturday and rain, then low 60s Sunday with scattered showers.
Close.
Saturday was pretty much right on. Stayed home watched some TV. Got a huge designer-junk-food-platter-thing for the Steelers game. Kalmara (sp?) Olives, roasted peppers, green Greek olives, humus, some fancy cheese and onion dip, a cheese ball plus various chips, crackers and pretzels. Good eating.
The Steelers lost, bums.
Sunday... hoping that the weather folks would be as right Sunday as they were Saturday, SpeedBump and I made plans to ride. I left the house at about 8 and went north to his place. It rained most of the day Sunday but it was a misting-drizzling kind of rain. Just enough to keep the roads wet. And fog your glasses if you stopped for more that 5 seconds. Makes traffic lights challenging.
We made a deal with a search and rescue team to hide for some dogs. So ultimately we were heading for the west side of Indy. Eagle Creek Park.
From SB’s house we went... north. Eagle Creek from my house is west-south-west. The idea was to skirt WAY around Indianapolis and get to where the searchteam was about noon. We went way north then headed west and came into the north side of Kokomo. I decided on the west leg that we needed to go see another friend that had been hurt in a freak accident. That meant we needed to go south thru Kokomo and then west again. As luck would have it, he wasn’t home. It was still before noon, chances were, he was still at church.
Off we went again and we got to the west side a little after noon. Ate a quick lunch and then went to meet the team. SB and I hid in the woods for about 2 hours. WOW!! I haven’t spent that much time in the woods in months. It was GREAT!!!
Snap... crack... sound of wind or something falling through it. Then CRASH!!!
About 50 yards from where I was sitting the wind blew the top 8’ to 10’ out of a dead tree. That was the most exciting part of the ‘sit’, no squirrels, deer.... nothing. Lots of ducks flying over but nothing down on the ground.
I took some pictures with my phone of the terra ferma and trees. Offered a neat perspective because of the super wide lens but not the best quality.
After we left there we stopped in to see Jeff Bowman. Man is he progressing, seems like he will be going home in a couple weeks. His family is so excited about that prospect. I could see in his eyes, he recognized me (I think... maybe just wishful thinking) but he just couldn’t come up with the name. He did read DNR off of my vest though.
We stayed about 30 minutes then headed east through town on I-70. I’d guess it was about 6 pm. A little dark and traffic was light, for town. We came back up to Fishers and stopped at an A&W. Discussions from earlier in the day had me hankering for chili and cheese fries and chili and cheese hotdogs like they make back in the Berg. A&W was ok but it defiantly is no New Brighton Hot Dog Shop. (If you are ever in New Brighton, Beaver, Beaver Falls in south western PA, you have to stop in. MMMmmmm mmmmm good stuff!!!)
Made it home about 7pm. Wet and tired. 230 miles, 11 hours. Saw an old friend. Helped out a SAR team.
It was a good weekend.
