Inevitability

The weather reports made no bones about it; we were getting hit, and hit hard. An expected 12-14 inches by morning, some residual accumulation tomorrow (maybe another couple of inches), and then another big storm coming on Sunday. Looks like I've dodged the bullet for the last time this month.

Took off from work early, got the fridge stocked up with food and beer and should be able to lie low for the weekend. Grabbed the plow stakes and lined the driveway. Brought in a ton of wood and got the stove fired up.

Brother Bill moved his bike down to the cellar and I was about to do the same. I rolled it out to the driveway and fired it up, and then it hit me; I should probably check to make sure the fairing would fit through the door. Damn - short by a whopping 4 inches. That's one wide-assed fairing! Looks like my baby is going to spend the winter in the garage. Oh well, at least it'll have a nice view of the winter goings-on, rather than stuck down in the cellar.

I still took advantage of the situation and spent a few minutes tooling the bike around the driveway. Each time I got to the end by the street, if there was a car going by, the driver would look at me kinda funny. What the hell is this retard doing on a bike in this weather? :-D

But alas, my poor bike is on stand-by as we both watch through the windows as winter officially descends upon us. We're waiting for a heavy rain to come and wash our troubles away.

So until that time arrives, I'll be dreaming of...

Riding Hard, Taking Chances

Ice is Nice…when it’s in your cooler!

Skies had cleared, the rain was gone…and of course; the temps had dropped right back down into the low 20’s again. Oh well, at least I’m riding!

Saddle up, hit the gym, then off to work. Come to a 4-way stop…taking a left…hey now…what’s up with that shimmer coming off of the road I’m turning into? Why, it looks just like black i - Whoooaaa big fella! Keep that ass end behind me where it belongs!! A quick shift of the weight, an adjustment with the handlebars, some fancy two-stepping with the feet…there; stabilized, rockin’ and rollin’ again.

Why hello there heart-rate, so nice of you to join me on this fine morning. It’s ok, it’s ok, you can settle down now. We’ll just keep an eye out for more dark patches on the way in, shall we? And while I’m at it, I can probably pull the seat out of my ass cheeks now –c’mon guys; unclench, unclench...

Slide Hard, Get 2nd Chances

Turkey Day 2008

Up early, suit up and hit the roadways. Brrr, a bit chilly for a November morning. I didn't get an exact reading, but the needle on the bike was floating just under the 20 degree mark.


Arriving at McCarthy's, I met up with the rest of the crew that would be joining us for breakfast. Scott, Dan, Mike and Mike's son (Mike) and myself hit a breakfast nook down the road a piece. Stuffing down a good breakfast was key for the day's activities; standing outside in the frosty temps, assiting The Mad Butcher as he made his way through the turkey horde.


(For those that would like some background on this day, see last year's post; http://twowheeledtales.blogspot.com/2007/11/turkey-day-2007.html )



As Paul so aptly mentioned in one of his recent posts; what good is a blog without a pic? So here's the pic; it's easy to keep your beers cold when they're wrapped in ice!One of the guys had used a claw hammer to bust up the ice in the cooler and try to get a beer out. Well, he missed and wound up wearing one of the beers. Good fun for those of us watching - not so much fun for him.




There was a good turnout this year, and the turkeys never stood a chance. Unfortunately, I had to bail at noontime, but everything was in good hands when I left.


Good laughs, good times. Anyone interested in making it next year? All you gotta do is bring some food for the feast, a few beers, and a strong stomach.


Not sure I'll have anything else to post before Thanksgiving, so here's wishing everyone a great holiday, full of food, fun, and frivolity.


Eat Hard, Take Naps

Quit Yer Whining

So the weather today is calling for some flurries in the afternoon. Being one of the folks that wish they could ride year-round, I naturally took some offense to the suggestion/possibility that I might actually have some white stuff interfering with my riding today. I mean, WTF? It's not even Thanksgiving yet, why are we talking about snow? It's too early! I'm not ready!! Noooooo!!!!!!!


And then I come in and see a post on Paul's blog (check it out, the link is on my page, over on the right, below the pic of me and my pet flying horse...see it?), and he's got some snow in his backyard. No flurries, but actual snow. Enough to give the ground a hint of white to it. Huh. Ok, well he's got it worse than I do, the ground around here is still plenty clear.



And then I get a text from King. And he's got a picture attached.

Holy crap! Now that's snow! And he says it's 18 degrees out there with more snow on the way.

Then, I was emailing with TEP and he writes;


"Started bike, ran carb out of gas and covered it up Sunday
Took mower off tractor and put on the plow and chains
Found a couple of shovels
The 4WD engaged OK on my Dodge
Guess I'm ready.....dammit"


Hmmm...seems everyone else has it worse than I do...guess I should stop bitching about a few flurries then.


Doesn't mean I gotta like them, though...


Ride Hard, Take Chances

All Hallow's Eve

Friday night…Halloween. The sun had said it’s goodbyes and the dark was settling in quickly. I was itching for the road, so I donned the gear and followed my front tire out of the driveway.

Not having any destination, I began heading south. I figured I’d check out downtown Providence and see what that city had going on, on this fine evening.

However, I hadn’t even made it to the border yet, when a new plan formed in my head. I wasn’t much in the mood for crowds (which I was sure to encounter in Rhode Island’s capital), so I cut things hard and sliced to the east, picking up a road which I knew would take me to the ocean. I figured it would be a nice long and leisurely ride – the end of which would find me standing on sandy shores, with the waves lapping lazily over my bare feet. Then I’d hop back onto the bike and make for home - an honorable, if not exactly “wild” ride.

I’d cruised through several towns and was jamming along with the tunes flowing from my speakers, when it dawned upon me that I’d be passing near a couple of very dear friends of mine. What the hell, the ocean isn’t going anywhere, let’s see if Ed and Sue are home on this evening.

As their house came into view, I was greeted with darkened windows and silence. Ahhh, good for them – they’re out and about, enjoying the night. I’ll continue along with my previous plan to greet the sea.

Hold on, what’s this? As I cruised gently past their driveway, something caught my eye. Light…in their driveway…and…is that a couple of bodies? It is! It’s Ed and Sue, and they’re sitting in their driveway – candles going, and just hanging out! Sweet!

Banking hard, I circled back and down to greet them. Setting the kickstand to the dirt, I dismounted and we exchanged hugs and greetings. They had a table set up which held several candles for illumination, and an enormous bowl of candy for the little costumed critters making the rounds. I pulled up a chair, graciously accepted the offered frosty and we caught up on things long overdue.

Their street was awash with ghosties and ghoulies, skeletons and storm troopers, pirates and princesses – all manner of creatures! All mischief and assorted evil spells were warded off with bribes of candy and laughter.

Ed and Sue had some excellent setups in their yard and I tried to take pics as best I could, but with near-zero light (the flash just ruins the ambiance of the settings!), most of the pics came out somewhat blurry. Maybe I need to start carrying my tripod on the bike?

Here’s a pic of the front of their house – ghosts in the attic, and creepy eyes in the first floor windows…

A close-up of the eyes. These were blinking in and out. Pretty cool!

Here’s a pic of their mini graveyard. With the flash turned on (which ruins the ‘feel’ of it)…

And here’s the same shot, with the flash off. Bear in mind that while it looks like you can’t see much of the graveyard in the pic, if you were just looking at it with your eyes, you could see everything and it looked really cool.

This guy was visible to the naked eye, but not to my camera, so I had to turn my flash back on.

Ed had a neon light going in the barn, acting as a creepy backlight to everything else. I snuck inside and snapped a pic of his bike – I liked the blue tint to it. Kinda hard to make out here, but the pic did come out well.

And lastly, here’s a pic of the hospitable hosts, who opened their…driveway…to the creatures of the night, and also to a lone rider. Thanks Guys!!

I hope everyone else was able to scare up a frightfully good time. I know I did!

Happy All Hallow’s Eve!

Costume Prep, Part II

I still owe you guys the rest of the pics from my costume, as well as the pics from when I got together with my niece and nephew. So here ya go…

I used part of a second box to make the inner bench, as well as what would be the foot rest for my feet. I used a pair of older boots, some long-johns for my legs, and then just a pair of jeans tucked around the boots. I rolled up some towels inside the long-johns to make them look like legs, and voila! Well…not quite. The legs had nothing to keep them from flopping all over the place, so I cut pieces of strapping and stuck them down into the boots (behind the long-johns) and then stuck them into the (back of the) knees of the legs. This kept everything in place and looking good.

I applied wood-grained contact paper to the outside walls to give them a nice wooden look, and then took a long straightedge and a black marker and drew lines to make it look like there were individual boards. Then came the cutouts for the front door, as well as the much smaller back door which I’d use to enter/exit the thing. Oh yeah – can’t forget the moon sliver window for the front door!


Here’s a rough look of what it’d look like with me in it (I put up pics of m’cycles and such on the insides, so that it wouldn’t look so bare).
Here’s the finished product – complete with roof vent attached, toilet paper, and one of those red pine tree air fresheners. (Oh, the toilet paper? Why does it look like there’s writing on it? Because there is. In light of how well the stock market has been doing, I printed up a bunch of mini charts which were dropping in value, and labeled them “401k”).


With the H’ween party cancelled, I brought my costume over to Bill’s house so the kids and I could show off our costumes to each other. Here’s a few pics of that…

‘Course, then we had to mix things up a bit…

Then Zak wanted to try out the Outhouse for himself…



That wrapped up the costume for 2008.

The following day (Halloween), I did the usual riding to and from work with my skull mask on. As before; most folks “get” it and there were smiles, waves, and horns beeped.

And of course, there are those that just look at you with that oh-so-familiar “What’s wrong with you???” look.

I think I wear it mostly for those people.

Ride Hard, Take Chances.

You Never Know

Thursday was our Halloween celebration at work. We all dress in costumes and knock back a few drinks during the day. Work closes a bit early and we head off site to a kick ass party where the best costumes are awarded cool prizes.

Me and the crew had been out for lunch, we were back and enjoying a couple of frosties. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and things were looking good.

Then the call came in; one of the engineers on the second floor had had a heart attack. EMT’s worked on him for almost an hour before moving him to the hospital. Word came back that he didn’t made it. The Halloween party was understandably cancelled. We cleared out and headed home.

Jim was a hell of a nice guy – funny, and fun to talk with. He was a fellow rider, and we were just talking about cold riding gear last week. He was only 39 years old! A wife and 18 month old daughter, too. It sucks.

So take care of yourself and those you love. And get the miles rolled up while you can.

Because you never know.
RIP, Jim.

Costume Prep

So let’s see. What do we have here. Some cardboard…some strapping…some glue, some contact paper…oooh, even a schematic diagram. What can I possibly make out of this?



Well, the plan is to make an outhouse for my company Halloween party on Thursday. Let’s see how things go together. (I looked high and low and checked a ton of appliance stores and warehouses, but no one had a refrigerator box. One guy actually said “You wouldn’t believe how popular these things are”. Uh…yeah…yeah, I would. I’m the guy that can’t find one!!)

So anyways, I got some boxes from our shipping dept and figured I could construct a big box out of them.

Gotta glue the cardboard flaps together so that everything is nice and sturdy. Liquid Nails ought to do the trick.

Flip things over and hit the other side, then apply some weight while everything sets…

While I was waiting, I took the opportunity to rake my yard. No need for a pic of that. You know what a raked yard looks like. And you know what a raked yard looks like, 5 minutes after you're done raking. Stupid wind, blowing more leaves off the trees!

So, still wanting to give the glue more time to set, I worked on making a vent pipe for the roof. A couple of soup cans mashed together, with a cardboard cone on top. (Yep, it's crooked on purpose.)

Some black spray paint and voila! (I had to use the High Heat paint – you never know just how much stress the vent in an outhouse will have to endure.)

Ok, back to the cardboard. It seemed to have set well, but I added a bit more security by making some staples out of baling wire and driving them into the monstrosity…

Some structural integrity via a frame on the bottom and on the top…

Lastly, some drywall screws and polyurethane washers to tie everything together.

Things were coming along great...when who should show up?


And he brought BEER!! (And that’s when productivity ground to a halt.) We were starving, so we threw some turkey tips on the grille and chowed down. After we’d almost killed the 30-rack, we made our way over to Clyde’s for their annual Halloween party, where we rocked and rolled the night away. It was a great evening and lots of fun.

But I’ve still got an unfinished outhouse in my basement, and a costume party that’s only three days away. Brother Bill is going to lend a hand with applying the contact paper tonight. Then I’ll attach the roof and the vent. Once those are all set, I’ll cut the doors in (the front one, and a second one in the back that I’ll use to enter and exit the creation). Then I’ll have to rig up a pair of fake legs so that it looks like I’m actually using the outhouse.

Stay tuned, more pics to come…

A Sad Day, Indeed

So I finally broke down and registered the Jeep today. Insurance wasn’t that painful (besides, I’ll be cancelling it in the Spring, anyways). I’ll still be riding the bike in every day for a while still, but this way the Jeep will be ready when needed…although, I hope it won’t be needed for a long time!

Also; the bike trip that was planned for this weekend was scrapped. Kevin, Greg and Ed all had to back out (they all had acceptable/valid reasons), and on top of that; the weather is now calling for showers on Saturday and Sunday. Riding in cold isn’t a problem. Riding in rain can be dealt with. But riding in cold rain? That sucks ass. So we cancelled the trip and we’ll see if we can get something put together in the Spring time.

I’ve actually got a ton of things which I need to get caught up on, so having the freed up time won’t hurt me at all. I had to bag my current plan for a Halloween costume. Some of the stuff I’d ordered on-line (which I’d thought would show up with plenty of time), now won’t be arriving until after my work’s party. So I’m embarking on a different plan now (an “outdoorsman”, so to speak). I’ll post a pic once it’s all done.

The annual pumpkin carving is this Sunday, too. We’ll all be heading over to Boop & Ed’s house, where we’ll hack and slash our way through some orange gourds and see what we come away with.

So bike-mileage will be down for the weekend, but food/fun/friend-mileage is still looking up. It’s all good.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

2008 Halloween Run

The bikes began rolling into my driveway around 10:30 – right on time! Before long, I had a driveway with an appreciable accompaniment of motorcycles.


At 11, we fired our bikes up and made ready to roll. Doing a quick count, I realized that we were missing someone... Flex had disappeared to use the facilities. Ok, he’s back, and off we go.

Running down Rte 1, heading towards Ronnie’s house. A bit of congestion at one of the major intersections where we’d apparently just missed an accident. We were diverted briefly, and then we were off again.

Rolling up in front of Ronnie’s house, we were greeted by the sight of one lonely bike. Hey little fella, where are all your friends? Seems a number of Ronnie’s crew were opting to stay inside today (too cold for them). No worries, Mike was there already, and Jimmy and Christene showed up right after us. Ronnie rolled his bike out, bringing our grand total to 11 bikes. A higher number than in years past, and that’s always a nice thing.


We kicked back with laughter and libations for over an hour, then we saddled up and headed over to the rally point. Pulling in, we paid our entry fees, and took our positions. Our reputations had preceded us, so we were relegated to the parking behind the building. (And memories of our experience up in Great Barrington refreshed themselves in our minds.)


We made our way to the front, picked up some T-shirts and said hello’s to familiar faces.


Many folks were in costume and/or masks. Here, too, was an unlucky passenger, tagging along for the ride.


We ambled back to the bikes and partook of more refreshments while we waited for things to start moving. Sure enough, right around 1:30, we saw folks scrambling towards their bikes, and we knew we were about to get moving!

Here’s an action shot – but it sucks. I was wrestling with vision problems (the back drafting due to the windshield was causing my mask’s cowl to blow across my eyes all the time. Fun!) But anyway, I did manage to snap this pic. It’s tough to make out, but you can kinda see how far the line of bikes stretches out in front of me (you can’t see the front of the line). And we weren’t even in the back of the pack, we were probably 2/3 of the way, with a full 1/3 still behind us.


We caused major traffic issues along the entire route, but for the most part, the cage drivers were all in good spirits (spirits! Get it? Halloween!) about things. Smiles, thumbs-up, etc. And the sides of the streets were lined with hundreds and hundreds of folks checking things out. Parents with kids, pedestrians, home owners out on their lawns, etc. etc. etc. All waving and cheering, having a great time.

The end of the run wound up at The Wicked, just up the street from my house. We all dismounted, said some more hello’s, then made our way to the beer and the food. Burgers, dogs, chili, etc. All good rib-sticking fare for chilled riders.

After a couple of hours, we parted into several groups. Many were heading home, some were heading to a bar, and a few of us headed back to my house for free beers and a fire. I ran my bike out to the back, cranked some AC/DC, and we wasted away the rest of the day with tales of this, that, and the other.

About 7 o’clock, we cleaned up the empties and the guys headed off in their own directions. I snapped one last pic for the day, before firing the bike up and returning it to the garage.


Another successful day, full of miles and smiles, food, fire and fun. If there’s an afterlife, every day needs to be like this one.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Busier than a one-armed taxi driver with crabs

So where have I been? I’ve been here! At work! That’s right; I’m at work right now and I’m blogging. But I’m actually in a quiet spot right now…nothing is owed to me…I don’t owe anyone anything…which is just how I like it after two weeks of 12-16 hour days. Wait, 16 hour days? Yeah, that’s right. Fun stuff, this budget season. Bleah.

Here’s how I was feeling, many a night;

But anyway, it’s Friday and here’s what’s coming up on the agenda. Got a going-away party tonight for a coworker, and I think the party is going to get ugly. Not ugly in a bad way, but ‘ugly’ as in; the entire Finance dept is short on sleep and long on work hours, and there’s a lot of tension that needs to be let off. And I think that’s what’s going to happen tonight.

Tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can hash some ideas around and come up with a method to flow air out the top of a full-head mask. Why? For my Halloween costume. Not gonna tell ya what I’m gonna be. Not yet, anyway. But if I can pull this off, this should be one frikkin’ cool costume.

Tomorrow afternoon, Brother Bill says he’s got a biker party to go to. Supposedly 200+ bikes will be there, so that alone sounds like something worth checking out. I’ll have my camera with me, so I’ll see if there are any good shots worth taking.

Sunday is the annual Hyde Park Harley Riders Halloween Run. I’m looking at maybe 5 or 6 folks showing up at my house, then we’ll roll to Ronnie’s house where there are usually another 5 or 6 bikes. We’ll kick back for a few, and knock back a few. Then we’ll roar things to life and head off to the run, proper. Not sure how many towns we’re going through, but the excellent news is that this year it’s ending at a bar that’s only about 4 minutes from my house. (You guys in NY will know the place; it’s the restaurant/bar right in front of the motel you stay in when you come out for my pig roast.) So that’s way cool. We’ll chill out for a bit after the run then head back to my place, get the chimenea going and knock back some beers that are much cheaper than at the bar.

There you go; that’s the plan for this weekend. Hopefully you all have good stuff going on as well. Be sure to get the bikes out and roll some miles up. The snow isn’t here yet, but it’s making all it’s reservations. Get out there!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Invasion!!

There I was, sitting peacefully in my living room, noshing some snacks and watching football, when I heard a rapping on my porch door. Glancing carefully out the window, I see a strange vehicle in my driveway…and a creature that could only be an alien!

Quick! I grab my camera and go running outside. Maybe I can get some pics before it takes off again - the National Enquirer is sure to slip me stacks of greenbacks for proof of alien existence!

Bursting through the door, I’m confronted by the creature! It swiftly extends an arm in my direction – Crap, it’s attacking! So much for the ‘We come in peace’ mantra!

Not waiting to give it a chance to fire upon me, I executed a perfect tuck and roll, hoping to come up behind its machine, which would offer me some level of protection against whatever weaponry it may be employing.

Ok, so perhaps ‘perfect’ is not the appropriate term I should use to describe my tuck and roll maneuver. I succeeded in ducking beneath its arm, but the ‘roll’ part was more of a ‘flop’ as I came to rest squarely upon my back. None the less, my move apparently caught the creature off guard, as it merely turned to look at me, letting its arm drop back to it’s side. Sweet - I’d still achieved some level of success; I hadn’t yet been laser-beamed into non-existence!

Realizing that my advantage would be brief at best, I fired up my camera, twisted serpent-like into a crouching position (wait – serpents don’t crouch…) and readied myself for my first picture.
Observing some kind of informational plate affixed to the back of the strange machine, I snapped a quick shot. Maybe it would help scientists decipher where this thing had come from?

At this point, the creature began to advance on me, raising it’s helmet shield. Fearing a new form of attack (Poison gas? Sonic beam?) I defensively raised my camera and snapped another pic, hoping to confuse the creature with the flash.


It must have worked, because the creature stopped in it’s tracks once again – but then it started shaking it’s head at me. The flash must have blinded it! Seeing my chance to escape, I feigned one way and then cut back the other, safely making it by the creature and through the still-open porch door behind it. Once past that doorway, I whirled, slammed the door shut behind me, ran back inside and grabbed for my phone.

As I was dialing 911, I chanced a peek outside. The vehicle was still there, but the creature was no where to be seen. Perhaps I scared it off? My dazzling display of diving, ducking, and weaving must have made it realize that we humans are more trouble than they think. It probably beamed itself back to it’s mothership, forgoing it’s odd looking travel craft.

Dammit! My stupid phone won’t pick up a signal – I hate my phone!!! Who can I tell about this? I have to find someone to relay this to, in case the aliens come back for me…

As luck would have it, my buddy Michigan Paul happened to come walking into my house right at this time! “PAUL!”, I shouted, “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!”

He just looked at me, shook his head and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Popping the top, he sat down across from me and fixed me with a stare. The look in his eyes…I’ve seen it before, in the eyes of others when they look at me.

I think its called pity.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Jokes, Jack & a Jeep

Saturday was Dave’s annual Memorial BBQ for his father, Tom. The weather didn’t cooperate at all, with heavy downpours for most of the day/evening. Not to worry; Dave’s got a large, ¾ enclosed back porch so we hung out and grilled in relative dryness, just out of reach of the hammering rain. We all hung out, shared some good stories and cracked many a joke.

We were joined by two attendees who were related to each other; Gentleman Jack, and Single Barrel Jack. On and off again, they were the focus of our attentions, as we raised many a toast to those that have gone on before us. (A funny point; we were using little dixie cups as shot glasses – no worries if they fall or ‘break’. The only down side? At one point, Dave was taking a bit long to savor his shot, and it actually dissolved the seal around the bottom of the cup, suddenly dumping the amber contents out through his fingers.)

Yesterday, myself, Dave, his son Dave Jr, and another friend (also named Dave…4 Dave’s together at once…what were the odds…) shot up to the Keene swap meet. Or, as K said; the “Swamp Meet”. I thought it was a good description, given the weather conditions. Yep; more rain. It was a wet ride up, but the number of bikes there was higher than had been there for the Spring version of this event. Which was nice to see.

Vendor offerings were up a little, too, but still; having had rain for several days straight made for an overall gloomy atmosphere. Not a lot of sales going on from what I saw. Lots of stuff covered up to protect it from the rain, etc.

After checking out the various sights, I bode my farewells to the other Daves and hoped back on the bike for the (wet) ride home. That was about it for the weekend.

On a completely different note; in the past three days, I’ve suddenly had people coming out of the woodwork regarding me not having a 4-wheeled vehicle (and needing something for the winter). A buddy of mine from work stopped by on Friday to see if I was interested in buying a used pickup from him. It’s a nice truck and he was asking low money but unfortunately, it’s only got 2-wheel drive, which won’t help me in the winter. Then, Friday night, my neighbor calls to say that she’s going to be away for the weekend, would I like to borrow her car since it’s going to be such lousy weather. She’s got a sweet ride – a Mercedes! But there’s no way I’d have dared move it out of the driveway, let alone take it out and about, so I politely declined. Saturday, another buddy of mine from work calls me up and says he knows a guy that runs an auto auction, do I want to swing by and check out what he’s got. Sure! So I talked to the auction guy and said I’d swing by today. Then, first thing this morning, another coworker comes by and asks if I’m interested in buying his Jeep Cherokee. He’d just bought a new car and was asking short (VERY short!) money for it, so I checked it out, took it for a ride and that was that. I now own a Jeep Cherokee. It’s not super good on gas, but it’s got 4-wheel drive and that’s what I’m talkin’ about. I’ll only need it for snow days, and in between rainstorms when there's salt on the road. Come April or so, I should be able to sell it easily enough.

Then I’ll start the whole process over again next Fall…

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Long and Short of it

Another long day at work, followed by short 'free time' at home. 13 hours today - that leaves me enough time to ride home, make something to eat, get stuff ready for the next day, and then hit the sack. (Not the fun sack, either.) Then it's up early, off to the gym, and the cycle repeats itself.

And it's getting cold at night, too! It was in the 40's when I pulled out of the parking lot tonight. I'll need to zip my liner into my jacket soon at this rate. Dammit.

But I did see my first jack o' lantern on the way home - too cool!!! It was sitting on a chair, on a porch with a nice scaaary face carved into it. There was a candle lit inside and everything. That brought a smile to my face. I love the Halloween season!!!

And then, on top of that, I get home and decide to do a quick check of things on-line, including The Rendezvous website. And whaddya know; tickets for next June are on sale! So even though I'm looking at something like 260 days until it arrives, I'm officially the proud owner of a ticket to the 2009 Harley Rendezvous!!

Not a bad way to end a long day. Not a bad way at all.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Autumnal Equinox

Happy Fall! (And I'm not talking about losing your balance and doing a rapid-descent to the ground). Summer is officially over, dammit. Some of the trees around here have started turning colors already, and I've even seen a light sprinkling of dead leaves on my back lawn. *Sigh*

There are still some decent riding things in the days ahead, though; Keene Swap Meet is this Sunday, and I'll check that out. Hopefuly the vendor will be there that I bought the riding gloves off of last time. You know; seeing as how my last pair somehow made their way into someone else's possession on my vaca trip, and I need another set.

Me and the guys are planning a weekend Fall Roundup ride for late October - shoot out to Western Mass (Mohawk Trail) and check out the sweet sites that lay in wait for us. Then we'll cut up into Vermont and head towards Woodstock for some mischievousness and mayhem, then back down the scenic highways and biways, to home. Here's hoping the weather cooperates for us.

Not bike-related, but another thing coming up is our annual pumpkin carving event. We'll pick up some orange gourds and wreak havoc upon their insides, all while knocking back beerverages and other similar concoctions.

And of course there's the annual Hyde Park Harley Rider's Halloween Run. They haven't posted the date for that yet, but it's usually two or three Sunday's before Halloween. That's always a good time, too.

So I guess I shouldn't be too bummed out - there's good things on the horizon. Good rides, good times, good friends.

Life could be a shit-load worse, right?

Ride Hard, Take Chances

3rd Annual Lance Crprl Shayne Cabino Memorial Run

The weather had been looking iffy, leading into the weekend. Checking three different weather web sites on Friday afternoon, I found three different forecasts. One said showers, one said only mostly cloudy, and the last said t-storms in the afternoon. No worries, we all had rain gear if needed. Some quick phone calls that night to make sure we were all working on the same plan, and things were looking good.

Greg was the first to arrive on Saturday morning, with Flex and Sue showing up shortly thereafter. Our flags were affixed to our bikes, our spirits were good, and we rolled out, picking up Ed, Sue and Kevin along the way.



We arrived at the Legion, set the kickstands to the pavement and registered. Still having some free time before the procession was to pull out for the run, we made the rounds and said our hellos to friends not seen for a while. And also to friends seen all too often – like the BAR! We grabbed several rounds and headed out back to relax for a few and share some laughs. An announcement was made that Taps would be played shortly, and that we should fire the bikes up as soon as that was completed.

Greg had stepped inside for a minute and happened to find out that we’d be without some of the police escort that had been anticipated today. Not a problem, we’ve done traffic-blocking before – just need to check with Danno to see exactly what he needed/wanted for assistance. We swilled the last of our beers and made ready to clear out.

Catching up with Danno and the m'cycle cop that would be co-leading the pack, I checked to see if blocking was needed. He said yes, but to check with the cop for specifics. Turning to said cop, I asked him if he wanted us to just block once and then pick up the sweep position, or make our way back to the front, to be in position to block again. The cop said to keep coming back to the front, that we’d be needed all day long. I smiled and said that that would require a lot of speeding and wrong-lane travel for someone that's not a cop, was he ok with that? He laughed and said “Raise your right hand, I’ll swear you in now!”

Quick run to the bike, fire it up, kick into gear, assume position behind Danno and the m’cycle cop, and we rolled out. The run would follow the same route as last years – free of highway travel (always nice) and winding through many different towns (also nice).

Greg, Brother Bill, Flex and myself took turns peeling off to hold traffic at bay, then hammering up the left side of the column and sliding into position again. I’m not going to lie to you; it was a rush and a half screaming up the wrong side of the road. For the most part, traffic coming the other way was already pulled over from when the cop (in the lead) had signaled them to their side. However, there were those that insisted on not moving over, even when we came right at them, leading to some adrenaline-fueled moments.

I tried snapping some pics as we were rolling along, but it was tough, as a lot of focus needed to be paid towards prepping for blocking, blocking, and then returning to the front of the pack. But anyways, here’s what I was able to get.

We made it back to the Legion after about an hour and a half, set the kickstands again, and settled into the BBQ (and beer).


Each of us had eagerly handed over some green from our wallets, in exchange for raffle tix, hoping to win some of the fantastic prizes up for grabs. Unfortunately; our group had apparently bought nothing but losing tickets. Good thing our beer tickets were all winners – each one of those yielded a tasty prize!

We did have one raffle winner – Greg had a winning ticket early in the drawing. He’d heard me comment about a signed Tedi Bruschi framed picture up for grabs, so get this; he used his winning ticket to grab the pic and then gave it to me. How cool is that? Thanks Man!

As the afternoon (and the daylight) began to fade, we parted ways; some of the crew headed home, but some headed back to the house. We fired up the chimenea to heat our outsides, and enjoyed many more beers which cooled our insides. Patty had brought a buffalo chicken dip and it was frikkin’ YUM, and I ate much more of it than I should have. (But if you’d tasted it, you would have, too.)

And that brought and end to the days events. It was a good day; we wound up with decent weather – not sunny, but no rain, either. Everyone made it home safely at the end of the day, and that’s what counts.

Our thanks to Danno and the Cabino family for putting this run on again. A lot of time and effort goes into putting something like this together; lining up the route, obtaining permission from the various towns, and securing support from the LEO's.


Our respect and our gratitude to Lance Corporal Shayne Cabino for his sacrifice towards our safety. Your memory lives on in the hearts and minds of your family, your friends, and those of us that ride in your honor.

http://www.shaynesrun.com/

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Wrapping up and moving on

I apologize; I've been dragging things out. I've had a ton of pics to get posted and I've been slacking in that regard. In my defense, I have been slammed beyond slammed at work. Long days...long, long days and many, many hours, but that's not your concern. Besides; time moves on, and I have a deadline of sorts which is looming on the morrow.

Tomorrow morning, a bunch of us are going to be gathering here and heading off to pay tribute to a brave Marine who gave his life, fighting in Iraq, in 2005. Tomorrow will be the 3rd annual memorial ride in Shayne Cabino's memory.

And I realized that I can't in good conscience, post a review of his ride, and then go back to posting more stuff from Sturgis. Which meant I needed to get off of my ass and get caught up with all the stuff that was still waiting in the wings.

So, that said...you folks have some reading/viewing to catch up on. I've logged a number of posts (9, I believe) showing all kinds of pics from our adventure. And some comments scattered here and there. I hope you enjoy. (And I hope you can get out there to enjoy the adventure yourselves, someday, if you haven't already!)

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Sequentially, this is the end. Or is it?

So this is the end of the pics - well, in a way. Those reading top to bottom have many, many pics still to view (because I've been busy tonight!). However, in the progression of things, this post would be the last of the Sturgis trip. Confused? Good. My work is done, here. So, to wrap/recap, here we go...

Here's Eddie. Mary's dog. Much too cool to be just a dog, though. On command, he would drag his balls across the floor (as seen in the pic). Cool, right? But it doesn't stop there. On command, you could also point your finger at Eddie and shout "Eddie! Bang!" and he'd drop, roll over, and play dead. Always a crowd pleaser.

Here was a herd of elk, hanging out in a field.
Here, Snoop was registering his complaint about the declining number of fries to be found in the Happy Meals nowadays.
GramMaMa, and her chic-cool riding goggles. Hey, laugh if you want, but if there's ever a flash flood, who do you think is going to be ready?
Jerry. Ahhh, Jerry. Always looking out for the troops. The rest of us were peeing on trees and making annoying sounds at any attactive lady folk that passed by. But Jerry? Jerry had gone inside the supply store to stock up on essentials. This is why we bring Jerry along on road trips!
A bit of explanation is due here. I've been coming up to The Clearing for 16 years now. During one of the earlier years, I realized that the boots I was wearing were far beyond their useful life cycle. So after a bit of thought, I also realized that a nice tribute to them would be to leave them on the rocks on the side of the clearing. With any luck, I'd see them again the following year. Little did I know that the boots would be there, untouched and unmoved, for every single year since then. Serving as sentries of sorts, and welcoming whomever makes it up each year.

Even better; I've found evidence of animal nests within these boots each year - proving that these boots were far from the end of their useful life cycle after all. So much for what I think I know, huh?

Suffice to say that these boots are one of the highlights I seek out each year upon my arrival. I know the day will come when they'll no longer be there. But that day hasn't arrived yet.

Here's The Clearing, shortly after the bike's arrival. Not a shabby setting. Not a shabby setting by any means.
Pic 2 of The Clearing with the bikes. And with some people mixed in. We're getting settled in!
A shot of the ocean, looking out from Rockland Harbor.
And here's Snoop, hanging out on the dock.


That's going to do it for the pics from our Sturgis trip, 2008...sort of. If you haven't seen the pics below this post?...well then, you've got some viewing to do, don't you?