Premeditated Scootin'

Thwarted Again

2012-02-14T09:20:00.001-06:00

It was just a couple of inches yesterday, but enough to make today not wise for two wheeled transport.

Here's hoping for lots of melting today!

Long range forecast looks a little better!

Be Patient Gentle Readers

2012-02-09T20:29:00.001-06:00

It hasn't rained or snowed here for over a month. Temps have been above normal. Great Riding Weather!

Then as soon as my driving restriction expired, you guessed it, the weather turns to crap. What's more, it looks like it will continue to be crap until next week.

We had rain and snow flurries today. It's supposed to be colder than normal for a few days. Therefore the end of the driving restriction has admittedly, turned out to be anti climactic.

Just know that:

Max is ready to go!

I am certainly ready to go!

I have waited a year for this!

I can be a little more patient!

Can you, the gentle reader, be patient as well?

I guarantee that unbelievable, exciting, astronomical, sexy(?), stupendous, and stunning motorcycle and scooter content will spew forth (yes, spew) from this web log in the days, weeks, months and years to come. Or my name isn't Jimbo.

To keep you occupied, here's a picture of Max's mirror.

The Perfect Home Improvement Tool

2012-02-05T12:44:00.001-06:00

Okay, so maybe I am 2 days premature before the formal lifting of my driving (riding) restriction.

But Dammit!

I needed to get 2 things at the hardware store. Just 2! And the scooter was sitting in the garage. And the car would have been way more tool than needed.

The scooter was the perfect solution.

So I donned the jacket and rode to the hardware store, made my purchase and rode back home.

Scooter vs Auto:

Gas mileage? Scooter!
Creature Comfort? Auto!
Fun? I think you know!

Catchin' The Bus

2012-01-25T14:17:00.000-06:00

The two white scotties are a frequent sight for me on the way to the bus in the morning. Today, though, we are joined by another equally delightful critter. I've seen him before, too, just not as often. Today's doggy convention was a surprise and fun for a brief moment. The owners and I talked about the rain we got last night, a grand total of 3/100 of an inch. (Who measures that stuff?) (3/100, really?)

It was about 38 degrees (low single digits in celsius) and cloudy. But altogether not a bad day for a walk. My goal was Hillside and Central, 2 1/2 miles from home. There I would catch the bus. It will take about 50 minutes for the walk.

There are some fast food eateries on the way, starting off with the ubiquitous Sonic Drive Inn. I didn't take a picture of the McDonalds just up the road. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. There's a Papa John's pizza place and a Dairy Queen along here.

The next pic, sorry for quality, takes a little explanation. Imagine a restaurant, actually a "speakeasy" in the 1920's with a little tower on top. As you look at the next pic, imagine that you are in the little tower of the "speakeasy" and watching out for the authorities. As you look west down Central Ave, you can see for about a mile or so. There actually was a little establishment right along here, torn down about 15 years ago with just that little tower of which I speak. The story goes that they would keep someone in that little tower and watch for the police coming down the street. If the police showed up, then they would have time to hide the "hooch" and act normal. Right here, in little old Wichita KS.

After crossing Oliver street, we come up on this little chinese restaurant that was converted from an old gas station. The Sesame Chicken here is to die for. I kid you not! The lady that runs the place doesn't speak the best English. She doesn't even ask for my name anymore because she knows my voice and that I almost always order the same thing. Jayna and I share one order of Sesame Chicken and eggroll. We can't eat any more than that. It's always "ready in about 15 minutes".

Then we get a little closer to the College Hill area, with some more exclusive homes. This street even gets it's own gate.

And near there, is something I've always wanted. A car with the owner's face painted on the side. Believe it or not, I actually know this guy and he does a little insurance for us at the office. He's okay, but I am sure nobody would want to see my face on a car. On a scooter?, Maybe!

Now, since we are in the College Hill area, I wanted to give the gentle reader an impression of just how immense this hill is. Be careful as you look down hill so you don't become disoriented. What is known as College Hill is actually more of just a ridge with total change in elevation of about 125 feet.

Toward the bottom of the hill we reach another restaurant that I like.

It's a busy restaurant because it sits just across the street from a place that I visited for a few days almost exactly a year ago (twice). The hospital marks the end of my walking journey today, 2 1/2 miles from home and almost halfway to the office.

And finally the bus gets there and I ride the remainder of the way to the office.

Hope you are having a great day!

Do I Have To? or Do I Want to?

2012-01-18T17:38:00.002-06:00

Walking, that is.......

Let me explain:

On Feburary 7 I will be allowed to drive a motor vehicle. (Auto or Scooter). I have just spent a year not being allowed to drive due to a medical reason.

Part of me really wants to drive again, especially the scooter (I could care less about the car).

Part of me really doesn't care to drive an automobile ever again. Seriously!

Back to the walking.

This little medical restriction I had has really had an effect on me. Okay, the heart attack was one thing. But I seem to be doing fine, Hell maybe much better than I was before.

But not being able to drive forces one to find other ways of getting around, and for me it was primarily walking.

And walking and walking, etc etc etc

I rode a bicycle a little bit, maybe 150 miles or so this past year. I caught a lot of rides with other people. I rode the bus almost every day to work.

But I had to walk to get to the bus, at least half a mile. I played little tricks with myself. If I was early to the bus, I'd just walk to the next bus stop. It's not uncommon for me to walk 1.5 miles, today I did 2 miles. On numerous days I took a walk at lunchtime. And in the evenings there were walks with the dogs.

I have averaged almost 2 miles a day for the last 6 months. I know because I kept track of it with an app on my cell phone that uses the GPS device in the phone. I'm not bragging, it's just what happened.

So, Here's the thing.

Walking has been really good for me, both physically and mentally. I have come to really appreciate the morning walks.

So even though my driving restriction is being lifted soon, I'm not planning to go back completely to my old ways. I'm still gonna walk. I won't "have" to walk anymore, I just "want" to.

Buy I'm also going to ride Max!

The poor Canadian Subaru will continue to be relegated to being the vehicle of choice for longer trips and bad weather. Max will be ridden more than the car will be driven, but probably not every day. I'm thinking every other day. I'll alternate with walking the other days.

That's the plan!

Bound and Determined

2012-01-03T09:31:00.000-06:00

The sun was shining brightly. Not a cloud in the sky. Temperature in the 50's. It would be a shame not to get in some sort of a ride today, even if it was just a few miles. was bound and determined to experience something that I hadn't had the pleasure of for a very long time.

Almost a year.

Two weekends ago a winter storm was threatening the area. There were hopes for a white Christmas. Ahhh.... Didn't happen where I live! About 100 miles northwest of us they received over a foot of snow, but there was just a light dusting here.

The weather has been nice ever since. Mostly sunny skies, reasonable temperatures. I noticed a lot more motorcycles out on the streets in the last couple of days. The warm weather brought out a lot of riders. Maybe it was the holidays, too.

I didn't want to ride very far. I am still not supposed to be riding. But I thought a short ride wouldn't hurt. It was a beautiful day. And I was hoping that some other motorcyclists would be out riding. Because, if they were, maybe I could experience......

The Wave!

Seems like a little thing, but it has been a long time.So I left the house with a particular destination in mind. I just wanted to ride by a building owned by one of my clients. No real important reason, just someplace to go. It would result in about a ten mile round trip. Thought there would be a good chance that I would see another motorcyclist and perhaps get a wave.

On the way to my client's building I didn't see a single motorcyclist. Not One! I turned back toward home. About 3 miles from home I saw a pickup truck pulling a trailer with 2 dirt bikes strapped on it. The person in the cab saw me, and sort of acknowledged my existence in the 2 wheeled world, but there was no wave and I thought to myself "This Won't Do!"

Less than a mile from home I was beginning to lose hope, but eventually spied another rider going in the opposite direction. I wasn't positive he saw me, but I ventured out a wave with my left arm...

And He Waved Back!!!!!

It was one of those manly sorts of waves, just a simple extension of the left arm without even a pointed finger. But it worked.

Big Grin!

Huge Friggin' Grin!

In Need Of Gas

2011-12-19T11:22:00.001-06:00

A look at the gasoline gauge on Max a few weeks ago indicated a problem.

Sort of.....

As many of you know, I have not been able to ride lately, for the last almost eleven months actually.

The gear jackets and pants sit forlornly in a closet.

Max has patiently waited in the garage. I have been getting him out every 2-3 weeks or so. Starting him up and riding around the neighborhood a bit. It had been 3 weeks since the last escapade.

I was due. Max was too.

I have been cheating on the driving restriction a bit lately. About once a week I have gone to pick up a carry out dinner. But that's about it.

We have a winter storm approaching and my wife and I have a rule that we should always have our vehicles filled up with fuel, just in case we get stranded somewhere in a raging blizzard.

And I thought, very wisely I think, that we should fill Max up too. Because you never know when you might be out riding your scooter and get caught in a blinding snowstorm. Wouldn't that be awful?

I even checked the tires. A few pounds needed in both tires.

I laid out the helmet and gloves on the seat. They had been in the top case since January. I was afraid that I would forget how to do the buckle on the helmet. Wasn't a problem. Got the heavier gloves out , but decided that I didn't need the red fleece liners. It was about 50 degrees (something like 14 celsius), an absolutely beautiful day.

I paused to take a reflection picture in the window of the famous Canadian Subaru before I left. The tree in the background is filled with about 400 lights and is quite a scene at night.

It is fairly busy at the gas station. Everybody preparing for the winter storm to come? I didn't forget how to use the pump on Max either.

A whopper of a total there on the pump. The tank supposedly holds 1.9 gals. Hell, I could have gone at least another 20 miles or so.

Once finished, I take off for the local Eddie Bauer store. I had an email that said everything was 40% off. When I got there, I discovered that everything had been marked up 35% the day before.

Oh well, Santa has elves, I have Target! (supposedly)

For some reason I like shadow and reflection pictures. Above is at the shopping center, below in my driveway back home.

A short ride, but hard to describe how good it felt.

I go see the cardiologist on the 11th of January. Fingers are crossed.

Sincerely hope everybody has a wonderful holiday season.

SIPDE for Walkers

2011-11-15T09:52:00.000-06:00

There is much evil in the world.

As I was walking I approached the intersection of Central and Edgemoor. I SCANNED the situation noting where the stop lights were in their never ending cycle of traffic control. The light for me was green. I wasn't sure how long it had been green, but it looked like I could make it across the intersection, even if I had to jog a bit for the last few steps.

I was walking to the west. There were 3 lanes of traffic to the south where vehicles were stopped at the light. I would have to cross in front of these vehicles as I crossed the intersection. The first two lanes were occupied by SUV's that were a little hard to see around. The third lane appeaered to be empty, but I IDENTIFIED a car approaching the intersection in that lane.

I PREDICTED that the person driving the approaching car might have trouble seeing me because of the SUV's. Sure enough, the person in the car continued toward the intersection a little faster than necessary and the driver was not looking my way.

I then made the DECISION to stop walking immediately.

So I EXECUTED my decision and stopped in front of the SUV just next to the lane with the approaching car.

The driver barely looked up at me as she sped by. I noticed she had a cell phone in her hand.

SIPDE works for walkers, too.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Seen While Walking To The Bus Stop and Other Trivial 'Stuff'

2011-11-07T10:11:00.000-06:00

I am still doing a lot of walking these days, but now with Autumn temperatures descending upon us, the color of the trees has been nice to look at. This tree is on the way to the bus stop fom my home. I just liked the colors.

And these two little scotties are a regular sight for me on the way to the bus stop. A nice man walks them 4 times a day, so he says. I see them about once a week or so. They are extremely friendly and give me a good sniff every time I see them.

We had some freezing temeratures lately so we picked the last of the peppers and pulled up the plants. We'll probably cook them in the smoker and freeze them so we can use them throughout the winter. We did that last year, too. This year's plants really suffered through the heat we had, and when the temperatures dropped a bit, they really started to produce. It was a very short growing season. Maybe better next year.

Our illustrous governor wants to emiminate the state income tax around here. Sounds good, but I don't think there is much of a plan to replace the revenue with anything that makes much sense. It will probably be a higher sales tax or maybe they will pass the obligations to more local taxing districts such as counties and cities.

At any rate, our governor has said that our tax structure should be a lot more like Texas, in fact some say he wants us to be a lot more like Texas in every respect. Well, I am not so sure that is a good idea. In Texas, large corporations are treated with lots of preferences, maybe with more rights than even people have.

Then again, there are some certainites in life, like Google.

Google is now a verb, dontcha know.

Have you Googled yourself lately?

Burley

2011-10-24T10:33:00.000-05:00

Yeah, It's spelled right. It's the name of an excellent company that manufactures bicycle trailers among other things.

When our kids were young we used to have one. It was expensive, but it was well worth it. Put a helmet on the kid, slap them into the trailer, fasten the seat belts (yes, it has seat belts) and go for a ride.

We got a few years of use with our Burley and when our kids got too big, we gave it to a relative that had younger kids than we did and it got even more years of service. We occasionally used to take it to the grocery store as well because you could fit a lot of groceries into it.

On a recent Friday morning, I had a couple of errands to perform. We had closed the office that day and I decided to take the bicycle out to do the errands. The first stop was to a local hardware store to return a little plumbing part that didn't work out. That done I headed north with a particular destination in mind. On the way though I noticed a sign for a rummage sale and bake sale at a nearby Episcopal church. (Didn't Robin Williams once refer to that as 'Catholic Light'?)

Now, in past years, I have been known to visit garage sales in our neighborhood. I rarely bought "stuff", but sometimes did and was always fascinated with other people's "stuff" and what they might want to discard from their lives. After seeing the sign for the rummage sale, and having plenty of time, and not a particular need to really have to go to my original destination, I decided to head towards the church.

Sometimes a large sale like this can be more interesting because of better selection. So many garage sales have just things like the dreaded piles of baby clothing that I just frankly don't have much interest in anymore. At one garage sale, however, I came across a complete set of Playboy magazines from 1962 to 1973, but the owner wanted too much and would only sell it as a complete set. Alas, not for me that day. But this sale looked sort of promising even if there would probably not be any Playboy magazines there.

Then I saw it! Right there by the front door. A piece of masking tape identified the price at $20. (Don't they know these things are like $250 new?) Upon closer inspection, it was a little dirty, the tires were flat, but it appeared to be nearly identical to the one we owned very many years ago. Should I get it? Do I really need it? Probably not. But it looked to be in good shape even if it needed a couple of new tire tubes and a lot of cleaning.

I was a bit excited and asked one of the 'church ladies' if there had been any interest yet in the bicycle trailer. (Now don't get me wrong! I don't use the term 'church ladies' in a demeaning way. I just have very fond memories of the old SNL routines (wasn't it Dana Carvey?) about the 'church lady', and the ladies running the sale were definitely from that mold.) She said she would make me a helluva deal on that trailer (though she might not have used the word hell). I said I might be back. (You know, make 'em sweat a bit)

Home was only half a mile away, and I only had $13 on me, so I rode home to tell Jayna about it and see if she was even a bit interested. She immediately asked why I hadn't purchased it on the spot and brought it home. So we raided her purse (she almost always has little hidden stores of cash), and I hopped back on the bike to make the purchase.

I walked right in and promptly and proudly laid my $20 bill down on the table to the same 'church lady' I had spoken to just a little while earlier. She was ecstatic to have made the sale. Well maybe just sort of pleased. Another $20 going to a good cause, don't you know. And I was sincerely proud to help out in my own little way.

Of course the task then turned out to be "How to get it home". But I had faith! I had faith that my new hand held frame pump attached to "Bruiser" (that I had never used) would work. I had faith that the tubes in the tires would take and hold at least a little air, long enough to get me home.

The senior pastor (priest?) was there to watch me attempt to pump up the tires. We struck up a brief conversation. The pump worked and the tires seemed to hold the air! The trailer attaches to the bicycle by way of a rather interesting mechanism that attaches to the bicycle frame just ahead of the rear axle. It works amazingly well in that it is secure and works on just about any bicycle. It attached to "Bruiser" flawlessly.

I put my helmet back on (ATGATT for the head, don'tcha know) and rode off. I was delighted to see that the trailer rolled smoothly, the wheels seemed to be true and was just as light and fun as I remember our old trailer to be.

I actually stopped by a store on the way home and made a small purchase and put my sack in the trailer for the ride home. Worked great! I rode home and Jayna and I spent numerous minutes looking it over and recalling all the good times we had with our first trailer. And there are many very good memories.

The next task was figuring out a place to store the trailer. Mind you, our garage is fairly full, two cars, a scooter, a table saw and woodworking tools. I actually hang up "Bruiser" on a hook in what we call the shed so he doesn't take up a lot of space. But I did find a way to hang the Burley right next to "Bruiser" and I think it will work very well.

What a find! What a lot of great memories! Perhaps a future grandchild will ride in this trailer. Certainly groceries are an occasional possibility. Perhaps I will revive my interest in garage sale-ing and take the trailer to hold my new "stuff".

Every Couple of Weeks

2011-10-17T10:22:00.001-05:00

It is amazing how much brighter your lights can be if only you would clean off the bugs from your headlight lens. I stood back to admire my work after applying a little glass cleaner (even though the lens was plastic). A few of those bugs had been on there for a long time.

I was thinking that I sure have missed out on a lot of riding this year and this is my favorite time of year to ride. Temperatures ranging from the 50's to the 70's are what I like. A ride to work when the temperature is about 50 degrees is a good way to wake up and feel alive for the day ahead. Just cool enough to be a bit chilly. Not too cold on the fingers.

Invigorating!

I miss it!

Max stood in the driveway gently idling away as I cleaned up the light. We had just ridden around the neighborhood to get his battery charged up a bit (mine too) and to make sure he was operating okay. He started right up, like he usually does. The idle sounded good, steady and even. A touch to the throttle and he responded instantly.

Two weeks ago on a Saturday, I had the same plan. Get Max started and ride around the neighborhood a bit. But it had been about 4 months since I had even tried to start Max. I know, bad idea to wait that long, and as could be expected, the battery was pretty dead. I pulled the battery, attached it to the trickle charger and let it go overnight. Started up fine the next morning. From then on I vowed to start Max at least every other weekend and this past weekend was one of those.

I added a little air to the tires and did some thinking about upcoming maintenance needs. Max has 8,111 miles and will be due for a valve adjustment, new spark plug, cooling system flush and new air filter at 9,000 miles. I am thinking springtime will be perfect for that. With a little help, I have performed those tasks before and am pretty confident I can tackle them by myself next time. I will probably do an oil change before I start riding again, hopefully in February.

Cleaning off the headlight lens reminded me that my helmet visor is pretty dirty as well. I would have cleaned it up as well, but the helmet was locked up in my top case while Max was idling and the key to the top case was on the key ring in the ignition switch. Oh well, that will give me something extra to do two weeks from now.

Take care all! Go out and have some great fall rides for me!

Chili and Sleeping at the Office.

2011-09-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

Do you remember that comedian by the name of "Gallagher"? He was famous for smashing watermelons and other fruit and vegetables during his routines. Pretty funny guy. Haven't heard much about him lately, but assume he still might be around.

One thing I remember him talking about was "colors that only exist in yarn". He would go on about this for a few minutes and I would laugh my ass off.

Well, this weekend we rented a pickup truck that reminded me of Gallagher and his comments about colors.

How about mustard yellow for an F-150!! Pretty Cool Huh?

Well you might ask why we rented this baby and the reason is so I can take naps at the office. Let me explain.

With my heart condition, I have discovered the value of a nap in the afternoon, even if it is just for 15 to 30 minutes. So we moved a couch up to the office so I might be able to take a nap if I need one. And on some days I really need one.

After we moved the couch we decided to take in some of the Chili being offered up at the local "Chili Cook Off". As we walked down a few blocks to the area of downtown blocked off for the event we ran across this sign for a local theatre group for a play they were putting on.

We noticed that the price of admission seemed a bit high. Could it have been $19.00 instead of $1,900.00?

When you arrive at the chili feast you pay $5.00 and get a wristband. Then you sample each vendor's chili and later vote for your favorite with a bean that you place in their jar at their table. Each vendor has a booth and table along with litle cups and a spoon.

The first chili we tried looked like this. It was a vegetarian chili that just seems to defy all the logic of what chili should be. But my daughter and I actually liked this one very much. It had very good flavor despite the lack of animal proteins. Not too bad for our first taste.

A lot of the vendors identify themselves with a funny team name like this one, the "Chilionaires".

Here's another catchy team called "Low Bid Chili", not bad, not bad.

At one of the booths, you could decorate your chili with cheese and some jalapeno peppers, which I did, and I enjoyed this one very much.

Wichita even has a hockey team, yes you heard me right, hockey, and the team mascot was here to help promote their booth. Go Thunder Dog!

At one booth there was a warning about the contents of their chili. Oddly enough, this chili was sponsored by a local bank. (One that didn't need a bailout)

Even the mayor of the city was here, well at least a cardboard cut out of him was. Apparently you could throw beanbags through him and win a prize.

Why, I don't know.

There was a little sideshow from the players at Old Cowtown as well. Here a banjo player was accompanying a guy trying to swallow some sort of a balloon.

Again, why, I don't know.

Apparently this group later in the day tried to beat a Guinness World Record for fire eating by enlisting a lot of audience participitation. They weren't successful. But, Hey, You only live once.

The only evil thing going on this lovely afternoon was a preponderance of "strollers". Yes, "Strollers". More evil than V-Stroms. More feared than K-Bikes. Inviting more dread than Bonnevilles. Some of these devices are huge, encapsulating entire city blocks and carrying more children than the ball roomplayhouse at McDonalds.

And this one didn't even have a child in it. They all walked along the side with Mumsy and Daddy, all carrying their little chili cups and spoons. Oh, the humanuity of it all.

Here's the booth for our favorite, "Code 3 Chili". This booth was offered up by a local firefighter's union and their chili was delicious.

After growing a bit tired of fighting the crowd, we went our way back to our mustard pickup. You know, the one with the color that only exists in yarn. But on the way, we spied this Harley trike parked along the street. It was only barely bigger than some of the strollers we saw that day.

As we walked along we went by an antique store and had to stop and peruse the goodies. Out front was some early ATGATT merchandise for sale. Still looked usable.

And inside I found this picture that looked like it may have been off of an old pinball machine. The guy remionded me of many of my fellow bloggers. You know, those that have this kind of swagger and that always have women hanging off them.

Not!

East Douglas on a Sunday Morning

2011-08-29T14:19:00.000-05:00

My next older sister had called me on Saturday to check up on me and chewed my butt pretty good for not posting anything on the blog for a whole month. I apologized to her and said there were two reasons:

1) I can't drive a car or ride my scooter right now and it's a bit tough to come up with motorcycle content for the blog. Yeah, a bicycle ride is fine, but I bet some readers are bored with that.

2) It has been hotter than Hades here. Yesterday was our 48th day this summer where our high temp reached 100 degrees. The record number of days is 50 from 1936 (Dust Bowl Days). August isn't over yet and it is predicted that we will break the record. Our normal for a summer is more like 11 days, so there you have it.

But my sister did get me thinking, so on Sunday morning I took off at 7:30 am on Bruiser, my mountain bike for a ride downtown to check out the car and motorcycle show that had been going on all weekend.

I arrived downtown at about 8:00. The show was scheduled for 8:00 to 4:00 for Sunday, but it was obvious that a lot of people and cars hadn't made it back downtown when I first arrived. Not a lot of cars or motorcycles yet to look at. I did find a display trailer for a Kawaski dealer from Hesston, KS, about 40 miles from here. This red Kawasaki is way too big for me.

But they also had a Kymco Agility Scooter. (Too small for me)

Then there was this screaming green Kawasaki sport bike. Pretty nice , but not much in my taste either.

The next trailer over was for another dealer here in Wichita. They sell lots of bikes, everything from Honda, Suzuki, even BMW's on occasion. I talked with the sleepy looking guy manning the trailer a bit. As I took a couple of pictures, he asked me if I rode. I said yes and said that I had a scooter, but sometimes wondered about stepping up to something a little bigger, I mentioned a V-Strom, a Bonneville, even a Honda Silverwing scooter.

He said they had a Silverwing in stock, a 2010 model and he liked the V-Strom. Here's a Honda Shadow they had on display.

The local Harley dealer had a big display last year, but didn't see them this year. They still might have been around and I just didn't see them. Harleys are very popular here.

But just in case you run out of cash while you are at the show, here's a portable ATM for your convenience.

I rode back around the convention center and checked out a few cars. Here's a nice roadster.

And I really liked this pickup truck. A '34 Ford if I remember correctly.

Then this Mini Cooper caught my eye.

And then this Mini Mini Cooper caught me eye as well, (check out the valve cover).

I eventually decided to ride back home in a leisurely fashion down East Douglas Street

I arrived at the train station onthe east end of the downtown area. Wichita has not had passenger train service since I have lived here. But we do have a marvelous old train station that over the years has been owned by a couple of corporate entities, most recently I believe by the local cable television provider.

I notice as I ride by that it is for sale again. Kind of a shame, if you ask me.

Then about another mile to the east of there, is the former world headquarters of Big Dog Motorcycles. They produced very expensive motorcycles from the 90's to the early 00's at the rate of maybe 2,500 per year. That was until the economic downturn of 2008, where the company essentially tanked itself as people gave up their luxuries. Apparently not many people needed $30,000 motorcycles no matter how beautiful they were.

The building housed a former Chevy dealership. They declared bankruptcy last year and formed a new company (BDM) to take care of parts and supplies for the Big Dog motorcycles still out on the road.

There is not much in the building right now except for a few bikes. I became somewhat interested in the reflections that resulted in some of these pictures. I was standing in the middle of the street when I took this shot. I am eerily visible if you enlarge the photo.

Most of the people that worked here have of course lost their jobs. Ironically, supposedly they sold lots of bikes to construction workers in the Las Vegas area during the real estate boom in Vegas. Well, Vegas now has one of the most depressed housing markets in the nation and it apparently spilled out into the motorcycle world as well.

Of course, this place is now for sale as well. Kind of a shame. They made beautiful bikes. Not really my taste, but beautiful bikes nonetheless.

Here's Bruiser up next to a chopper frame inside the building.

Down the road about a half mile further east is East High School. Built, I believe, in the 1920's and it only became known as East High after other high schools were eventually built. There is construction going on here at the school for a new auditorium. At the same time there is discussion about building 2 new high schools. But a potential problem with the new schools is that even though there is money available to build the buildings, there may not be enough money for the teachers. The state is bleeding money these days and education seems to be an area that is taking a hit.

It's a beautiful old school. Both my kids graduated from here. My son now teaches and coaches here.

About another mile east is a rather unique building with interesting tile work. There used to be an old guy that ran a hardware store here. It was one of those places that you could find something when nobody else seemed to have it. It was dirty, messy and grimy, but I loved the store. Even though it was sort of a mess, the old guy that ran it knew exactly where everything was.

Then another half mile east or so is the Hillcrest Apartments. It is mostly condominiums by now I believe. Condos are not real common here. There are lots of apartment complexes, but then there are also lots of single family homes. These condos are quite nice and somewhat expensive. As soon as one goes up for sale here, it gets snatched up pretty quickly.

A little further east again and there is a rather stately home. I don't know the history to this, but it's quite a place. This home sits just a little north of College Hill Park, possibly the nicest park in town.

And here's a view of another older home in the College Hill area. This home is on the National Register of Historic Places. As old goes, some would not consider it very old. Wichita wasn't even founded until 1871, but this home is just about that date, perhaps just a bit younger. This home sits atop a little hill in the park area. Bruiser is good at standing without a side or center stand. (No tachometer either)

Another view of the park. The park is surrounded by nice homes. There is a pool and it is a great place for kids to play and grow up. Following in the footsteps of Jim Ryun, who grew up in Wichita and went to Wichita East High School, the cross country team for Wichita East frequently runs and practices here in this park.

And finally at Douglas and Oliver sits what is essentially the first shopping center ever built in this city. It has been a fairly vibrant shopping center since its inception in the 1950's. Not huge by today's standards, but in its day......

There are residential neighbrohoods for the next mile east or so, but then you encounter the city of Eastborough, which was once a sort of suburb, and is now compleyely surrounded by Wichita, having steadfastly resisted the urge to be annexed into the city. But that is a whole other post by ityself. I'll get back to that someday.

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Just a final word about my health. I'm doing fine. I am walking about 2 miles a day and bicycling on the weekends. I'd probably do more exercising except for the unbelievable heat we have seen lately. I will not be able to drive or ride until at least February 2012, but I am in a way sort of enjoying the change in lifestyle.

The little gadget in my chest, designed to keep me alive should my heart screw up again, is amazingly sophisticated. I keep finding more and more about it as we go. For instance, not only is it a defibrillator, designed to be capable of completely restarting my heart should there be a need, but it is also a pacemaker too. It constantly analyzes the behavior of my heart. If my heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute, it will act as a pacemaker and get me back to a 60 bpm rate. If my heart rate goes to 170 beats per minute, it first studies my heart rate to see if my beats are steady and even. If so, then it assumes I may be exercising, and not give me the big shock, yet keep an eye on me. If my faster heart rate is uneven, then it may first try and pace me out of it using the pacemaker function of the device. If that doesn't work, then I may get a big shock from the device to hopefully restart my heart.

The device has a wireless transmitter and sends, once a week, some diagnostics to the manufacturer through a phone line connection in my bedroom. My cardiologist then can obtain this information for my chart. It is designed to report any unusual rhythms my heart has had and any attempts made by the device to correct those aberrant rhythms. Pretty fu*$in' amazing if you ask me.

To date the device has detected no unusual rhythms since the time it was implanted back in February. That's a very good thing.

The device is commonly called an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator)

To me it might mean I Can't Die!

Trendy, but Mis-Spelled Street Names and a Hot Bicycle Ride

2011-07-18T11:43:00.000-05:00

In a housing development near you, you might encounter a street sign like this. Trendy, Huh?
Wouldn't you be happy to live near this intersection and tell all your acquaintances what the street names are.

Except, why can't they spell it Governor? Huh? What's the deal? Are you special or something?

We can, I think, blame Brits and Canadians for spellings like this!

Last Sunday I went for a bicycle ride and explored a section of a bike path that I had never ventured on before. It's mostly flat and straight in spots, like this area.

Straight and level, good for bicycles, just not always very exciting.

Then again there are some spots where the road isn't very straight and that makes it a bit more interesting.

A little bridge over a small (very small) creek

It was a blasting hot day! I was out on the bicycle at 7:30 am. Any later in the day and I would have fried. And I don't want to fry. I just wanted to ride. I think we have had 20 days above 100 degrees this year, normal is about 11 days. Summer has a long way to go.

There is even some signage on the route. I am not sure I have even ever encountered a stop sign on a bike route, but here you go.

It's a little smaller that a normal stop sign. Is that fair? And why is it that the bikes have to stop? Couldn't we instead make all the cars stop? In Kansas, we just recently passed a new law for motorcyclists that get stuck at red lights where they cannot trigger the signal sensors to change. The new law now allows a motorcyclist to pass through after a reasonable wait and watching for traffic. In honor of this new law, when I encountered this stop sign, I sort of "coasted through" just for fun. No harm done.

There is even some wildlife to be encountered on this bike route.

Nice deer statue at the entrance to part of the route, complete with its own gang sign graffiti.

Continuing on with more signage and another creek encounter.

I'd rather encounter a sign like this out on the open road on a scooter, but it's not bad on a bicycle either.

Finally, this last sign sort of sums it up for me right now.

No motor vehicles allowed for Jimbo right now due to health conditions.

There has been some clarification to my driving (riding) restrictions placed on me for medical purposes. The powers that be have determined that it should be one year (1yr) from the date of implant for my ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defribillator) before I can drive a motor vehicle again. One thing's for sure. It will be a lot cooler in February when I get to ride again, and I won't get nearly as sweaty. That's a good thing.

Premeditated Droolin'

2011-06-24T20:12:00.001-05:00

Some mornings I arrive at the bus stop a little early. There is a bench to sit on and frequently I will sit and look at emails or the web on my blackberry. It is a busy intersection and I also watch traffic and take special note of motorcycles and scooters as they go by. Some of them I see frequently as they are obviously serious and regular commuters. Many times I only catch a short glimpse. Other times a bike will stop at the light and I can get a longer look.

Going east in the morning is a guy on a Suzuki. I am not always good at recognizing the models and this bike appears to be a little older. It is a dark green 2 cylinder, maybe 650-750cc. It is fairly plain looking without a lot of plastic body panels. There is no luggage or cases on this bike and the rider usually wears a backpack. It is certainly not a screamer, but appears to be a very adequate machine for commuting and other purposes. I really like the bike for its simplicity and were I ever to move up to a larger machine myself, this Suzuki would be a bike I would be very interested in.

Going north in the morning is a bike that I have never seen standing still. It is a black bike, not sure of the make or model, and the rider always wears black gear and a black helmet, looking just a bit ominous. It is a little bigger and newer than the Suzuki. The motor sounds real nice, not obnoxiously loud, but very strong. I wish I could get a better look at it.

Another morning as I walked to the bus stop, I noticed a black Honda Silverwing scooter parked in a lot near the sidewalk. I stopped to look at it for a moment. This is a 600cc Maxi scooter and is a nice looking machine. It is also one I might be interested in if I were looking to upgrade to a bigger machine. As I stood there, the rider appeared from a bank ATM machine nearby. He immediately struck up a conversation, telling me all about the bike, who he bought it from, how long he had it, what kinds of trips he had taken with it, etc. I hardly got in a word into the conversation. He was very proud and bragged about it in comparing it to a friends' Harley. His enthusiasm surprised me and in our brief conversation, I never bothered to tell him I also had a scooter. Not sure he would have listened, anyway.
I see some scooters also and some big cruisers sometimes. Some riders wear all the gear, some hardly any at all. As I look at bikes, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to own one. There are some bikes that do not interest me at all. I really don't like bikes with loud pipes. I am not interested in real big machines either. I think 600-800 cc is plenty. I am also not impressed with really small scooters, not enough power.

I guess there are some kinds of bikes I really do not see the point in. How about real high handlebars, for instance. Trying to air out the armpits? Huh? Lots of chrome doesn't really impress me either. I would rather the bike be extremely dependable rather than "pretty". But that's just me. Saw a Goldwing the other day pulling a trailer. I have nothing against Goldwings, but they are immense, and just not my style.

But who am I to judge? After all, I ride a scooter. And don't get me wrong. I love my scooter. But I know it also is not for everyone.

The bus I ride passes by a Triumph and Victory dealer on the way downtown. I really like looking at the Triumphs, the Victory's, not so much. The dealer really seems to push the Victory's for some reason. To me they appear to be big and heavy and inefficient. I like the Triumphs much more. They are also on my potential upgrade short list.

I saw a couple of unusual riders recently. One was a guy dressed in military camouflage and rode south toward the air base a few miles south. I assumed he is stationed at the base. I didn't get a long look at the rider, but as I watched, I thought a bike would be a great way for a single military man to get around. Hard to see though (just kidding).

But then, just a couple of days ago, I heard a motorcycle approach the bus stop. I looked up and in the distance I could see a bike with a sidecar approaching. It even sounded old, a very distinct noise. As it got closer I could make out the distinct jugs of a BMW airhead. It almost sort of creaked up to the stoplight, the age of the bike very apparent, maybe 50 to 60 years old. But the engine wasn't missing a beat. What a sight! I was sad that my view of the bike was partially obscured by surrounding automobiles. But a smile did come to my face. Don't see one of those every day.

Drool !

Oh, I wouldn't want one anyway. But then again......

Drool !

If all goes well, I may get to ride again in about 45 days.

Drool !

I'll Have To Miss It This Year But You Shouldn"t

2011-06-15T03:05:00.001-05:00

Here's one of the reasons I ride to work as much as I can.

(and , no, my tag isn't expired, it's just an old picture)

It's June 20th this year. The 3rd Monday in June.

Another old picture that for some reason I have always liked. The road is finished now and I would get run over if I tried to take this picture again.

Have a Great Ride to Work Day!

I hope to be doing it next year!

Motorcycles Not Allowed

2011-05-23T10:11:00.001-05:00

IronDad made a request for any kind of 2 wheeled content from this blog even if not motorcycle or scooter related. So here you go Dude!

Saturday Morning Shadow on the mountain bike

Been riding a bit lately, just not on the scooter. During the week I had a yearning to explore an old railroad line that had been converted to a bicycle and jogging trail. The rails are gone and replaced with some gravel. Not exactly fantastic for running or road bicycles, but pretty fun on a mountain bike.

The converted rail trail looking west. This was actually a very small bridge over a creek.

The rail line had not been in use for maybe 15 or 20 years. About 5-7 years ago, they improved it for trail use. The trail only goes for a few miles, but is nice and relatively pretty. There are lots of abandoned rail lines in Kansas. A national organization called the Rails to Trails Conservancy has been active in converting old rail lines to recreational pathways across the country. They have met a lot of resistance in Kansas for some reason. There is now a trail that goes from east to west across the entire state of Missouri. No such luck here in Kansas.

Looking east on the trail. Not much traffic today.

I encountered a couple with a small dog not far from here. I had to laugh as the couple was sort of jogging and walking along and the little guy looked like he was having a great time although he was struggling a bit to keep up with the humans. But you know how dogs are, they'll do anything to make their masters happy.

"Bruiser" at the waterfall

I proceeded eventually through a couple of residential neighborhoods, just sort of leisurely riding along. I got passed by a guy on an expensive road bike that looked like he was in a hurry. My initial thought was thet he was trying to be a jerk and just showing off. Then I decided I really didn't give a hoot. I was having too good of a time.

A very shady sidewalk.

My feeble attempt to make this bike ride look sort of look like "Scooter in the Sticks"

Many years ago when our kids were young, we had a trailer for our bicycles and our kids used to ride in the trailer and go along with us for bicycle rides. This neighborhood was a fun place to ride because of the scenery and lack of traffic. At one time we had a tandem bike and with the trailer hooked up to it, it was like riding a semi down the road.

Sidewalk Twisty"s?

It was a beautiful morning and a great ride. Only about a 10 mile ride, but that's really good for me for right now. Small moves, you know.

The Doctor Said: "Don't Sell the Scooter!"

2011-05-02T10:12:00.001-05:00

I'm not supposed to be driving but I recently violated my driving restriction. Well, maybe just a little bit. I am guilty of backing the car out of the garage a few days ago and parking it on the other side of the driveway. Never even left the driveway. You should have seen it though. With precision I expertly engaged the clutch pedal while carefully managing the complicated steering maneuver. Forward and reverse movements were a work of art, if I don't say so myself, and the whole process was, shall we say, breath-taking.

Later that day I repeated the maneuver, albeit in reverse, as I moved the car back into the garage. I didn't hit anything either. I guess I still remember how to drive.

Unfortunately, it now appears that it might be mid-August before the doctors feel comfortable in removing my driving restrictions. It turns out that a 6 month moratorium from operating a motor vehicle is, sort of, standard procedure for someone like me.

The reasons for the restrictions from driving are a bit complicated. Frankly, texting or talking on a cell phone while driving are just as much or more dangerous than my circumstance, in my humble opinion. But I recognize and understand the reasons for my restriction and have agreed to abide by them.

This, however, has caused some changes in my own personal methods of transportation.

First, I have been catching a lot of rides with other people particularly with my wife, but I am now well known to try and bum rides off of other people as well. I still do this a lot, but others have become tired of me, especially my wife. I don't blame them. And they never want to go where I want to go when I want to go. Friction is frequently the result. We don't want that.

Second, I have resorted to taking the city bus back and forth to work. This method of transportation has actually worked out quite well for me. The city's bus system is not world renowned for its convenience to residents. For instance, one day I tried to figure out how I cold get from my home to my doctor's office on the west side of town, maybe 12 miles away. Best I could tell, after two transfers, I could do it as long as I left home 3 hours before my appointment.

The building where I work as viewed from the 18th floor of a building just down the street

But actually, for my usual bus ride from home to downtown where I work, it is very convenient. I can get off and on the bus a block away from my office. On the home side of the trip I need to walk about a half mile, but that is actually a very good thing, as long as the weather is not crappy. It forces me to get a little walking exercise which pleases my doctors and is very good for my heart.

This was and still may be the tallest building in Kansas. Don't laugh! I think it's about 21 stories.

Third is becoming my favorite method of getting around, just because it involves 2 wheels instead of 4. I have restored my old mountain bike (his name is "Bruiser") to working condition and he is going to be very helpful to me in getting around in the next few months. The doctors have actually encouraged this. The exercise is good for me and it gives me even more of a feeling of independence to go where I want to go when I want to go.

I haven't been riding a lot yet. I just haven't felt strong enough until recently. And I don't anticipate long rides for awhile, but short rides of a few miles will be easy to do.

I thought that maybe a little comparison would be in order, scooter vs bicycle.

Model: Scooter: SYM "HD200"
Bicycle: Specialized "Rockhopper"

Brand New Grips, the old ones were falling off from disintegration

Year: Scooter: 2008

Bicycle: Not certain, 92-96?

Country of origin: Scooter: Taiwan

Bicycle: Taiwan

Proof of Taiwan Origin, sort of like Barack Obama's birth certificate

Weight: Scooter: approx 289 lbs

Bicycle: approx 29 lbs?

Horsepower: Scooter: 15 bhp

Bicycle: hmmmm <1

Transmission: Scooter: Automatic CVT

                                    Bicycle:       3 chain rings, 7 gears at rear,
                                                       21 possible combinations,
                                                       only really use 10 or 12

Helmets:                     Scooter:      Scorpion EXO700 full face,
                                                       very small vents
                                    Bicycle:       Specialized fancy styrofoam thingie,
                                                       lots of big vents

I always wear a helmet!

Gloves: Scooter: Aerostich Hot Weather Vegan

Bicycle: Specialized palm padded fingerless

Hairy Arms

Don't Laugh! The padding works, plus I look "Cool"!

Tires: Scooter: 16 in, (tubeless)

Bicycle: 26 x 1.95 in knobbies (tubes)

These are the original tires. Currently 50 psi, plenty hard. Road bikes generally have over 100 psi

Tool kit: Scooter: Yes

Bicycle: Yes

An assortment of tools for the road

Tachometer: Scooter: None

Bicycle: None

Accessories: Scooter: man bag hook, Shad top case

Bicycle: bottle cage, Cannondale rear rack bag

Bad pic of bottle cage and frame pump

I carry a couple of extra tubes and have room for even more crap

Seats:                         Scooter:       comfortable for many hours
                                    Bicycle:        comfortable for about two minutes

Top speed:                  Scooter:       approx 70-75 mph
                                    Bicycle:        Unlimited?!
                                                        Let's say 20 mph downhill
                                                        with wind behind you.
                                                        (Not geared for speed)

Possible FARKLE:     Scooter:      Heated grips, luggage,
                                                        Blaupunkt Stereo System
                                     Bicycle:       speedo w/ heart rate monitor,
                                                        another bottle cage,
                                                        Blaupunkt Stereo System

There you have it!

Now I do wish to finish up with an apology to readers of this blog.

It has been a bit difficult for me recently to keep up with posts to this blog. In addition, I haven't been able to keep up with reading other blogs as much as I would like.

There are a couple of reasons, first being my health as I recover from the heart attack and sudden cardiac arrests I had earlier this year. Let it be known I am doing very well, it's just a very slow recovery. Secondly, tax season was a bit of a bear, I am still only working part time, but everybody else worked their asses off and we made it through. But finally, and probably most important is just merely that I haven't been riding and don't have a lot to write about. I am hoping that will change eventually, but be advised that posts to this blog may be irregular and infrequent.

In essence this blog may get "parked" for awhile.

But also know that .......

I'm Not Selling the Scooter!

I Guess I'm Gonna Have to be Patient

2011-04-05T17:50:00.000-05:00

Something I am not known for is Patience.

Jack Riepe told me I needed to read something funny. I may have been sounding out of sorts on my blog recently. He suggested a couple of authors, and wouldn't you know it, one of those authors was himself. :)

The other recommended author was Lewis Grizzard, who I remembered from a number of years ago as being pretty funny. So I broke out the Barnes and Noble E reader, connected to the internet and searched for the authors Jack recommended. Jack Riepe didn't turn up on the search, at least not in the form of an e-reader book even though he has a book that you can purchase at his blog site, "Twisted Roads". There was also only one book by Lewis Grizzard in e-reader format. It was called "They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat". With a name like that I couldn't resist, even though at the time I had no idea what the book was about. I ordered it, downloaded it to the reader and started reading immediately. Turns out the book was about the author having had heart surgery about 25 years ago.

At first I was not sure I wanted to read about someone else's heart problem because I had just had some of that myself, thank you very much, and really didn't care to hear more about the subject. But as I read on I began to enjoy the author's lighthearted(pun?) poking of fun at all things medical in nature such as doctors, hospitals, nurses, ex-wives, beer and whatever else seemed to come into his mind, and the book turned out to be lots of fun.

When he was released from the hospital Lewis says the doctor told him not to have sex for 2 weeks and not to drive a car for 6 weeks, or was it the other way around. So, in the end he promised not to have sex while driving for 6 weeks and let it go at that. :)

And hence we get around to the purpose of this little blog post. Me, Driving, or the lack thereof as it turns out.
The last time I drove a car was on the morning of January 21st. I remember that day very well. At about 9:15 that morning I experienced a very classic myocardial infarction. I have not driven Max at least since then plus a few days, and I am not sure exactly when that was. Now my wife in particular and my kids have been very understanding and kind and provided me with transportation when needed. Their generousity has been wonderful. But let me tell you, there is a significant feeling of not being in control of my destiny, and a certain kind of feeling of dependency that exists now because the doctors have suggested that it is not a good idea to allow me to operate a motor vehicle of any kind.

For the first few weeks after it happened, I certainly didn't have any desire to drive. I didn't feel good and was very sore. I didn't do a lot except sleep, read and eat. My chest was very bruised and sore, primarily because two weeks after the original heart attack, I had passed out and they had to perform CPR on me and use those little electric paddles to revive me. I don't recommend going out and having CPR done on yourself just for fun. If done properly, it can result in bruises and sore ribs for many weeks. The idea of CPR is to get your chest to pump oxygenated blood through your body. It works a lot better with the cooperation of your lungs and heart as opposed to an outside force on your body doing the same function for you. It is an aggressive procedure. My wife really got to beat on me for a few moments there, and it was all legal. I can't sue her, according to my attorney. She gets a little twinkle in her eye when she tells people about this.

This little event of passing out and having to be revived actually occurred twice to me. The doctors seemingly don't even have a good name for what it is called when this type of thing happens other than to maybe call it a "sudden death event". In essence my heart went into what they call a fibrillation, a sort of fluttering, if you will, and no good oxygenated blood gets around to the other parts of your body, such as the brain, kidneys, etc. Death can occur in a matter of just a few minutes. Only about 25% of the people that this happens to actually survive it. I feel very lucky.

In essence I was "mostly dead" for a little while there. This has even become a little joke amongst the family around the house. I plan to use this often as an excuse in the future when I might screw up or forget something.

"I'm sorry, I was mostly dead that day!" I wonder how long I can get away with that. (Probably not long) .

Last Wednesday I had a visit with my cardiologist, who, besides the fact that he is leery about letting me drive, is an excellent person and one of the most knowledgable and renowned doctors in the known universe. I am living proof when you get right down to it. They did a sonogram and one of those treadmill tests and the purpose was to see how I was coming along and see how my heart was recovering.

I friggin' Nailed It! Okay, maybe I am not the finest physical specimen ever to walk the face of the earth, but considering what I looked like about 7 weeks ago..........

So, in my mind, we're talking with the doctor afterwards, and I'm thinking, "Where's the Keys?" and "I'm ready to Go!" and "It's been almost 2 months"

Then the doctor said no.

He was nice. He was friendly. He was Polite. He was Firm!

No!

I explained that my blogger friends expect me to come back soon and regale them with tales of my wonderful life on my Taiwanese scooter. He smiled at me and said: Your blogger friends will just have to be patient. You'll have to be patient , too.

Hmmmm.... My first thoughts were about how unfair this was. So I did what a lot of people would do, when confronted thusly, ..... I Googled It!

Damn it, but if there isn't some very good reasons for restricting my driving based upon my own particular circumstances. Just lucky I guess. It's not the physical problems anymore. I feel pretty good although fatigue is still an issue for me. The soreness is gone from my chest. I am very sure I can steer the car and the handlebars on Max without any problems.The problem, statistically (how I sometimes hate that word), is those two little "sudden death" events I had. There is some possibility, (remote) that they just might recur and if I am behind the wheel of a car or on the scooter, then bad things are likely to occur. Insurance companies and trial attorneys hate crap like that. Some recommendations for restrictions on driving might last up to a year for some people. I doubt it will be that long for me, but for now the doctors aren't committing themselves.

So patience I must have. Maybe I should be mad. I'm certinly a little disappointed. But then again, they have some very good reasons. You blog readers may have to be patient, too. Is that possible?

Odds and Ends

2011-03-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

Just a few recent random thoughts on another afternoon on the back porch. I worked for about 4 hours again today. It's a sunny day with the temps in the 60's. Wish I could be riding.

..... I haven't been posting much lately just because I haven't ridden recently. Max is sitting in the garage with the cover on as he has for nearly 2 months now. This is by far the longest length of time that he hasn't ventured from the confines of the garage. The doctors are mostly to blame now. The excuse might have been weather for part of that time, but the doctors have been stubborn and said that I will need to pass a stress test on my heart before they let me drive or ride again.

That appointment is 2 weeks away, so I am counting the days. It's hard to be patient. But then again the doctors are probably right about being cautious. After all, I did have 3 little heart attacks, in a two week period, about 6 weeks ago.

Speaking of medical bills.... Some have come in, particularly the hospital. After all these years of writing a sizable insurance check every month and not having hardly any claims, I must admit that the situation has reversed itself with a vengeance. It is absolutely amazing what 8 or 9 days in a hospital can set you back. Luckily the insurance will take care of the bulk of it. I hate to imagine not having the insurance and I am very thankful that I can afford it. There's little doubt I would be dead and or bankrupt without it.

.....

I got a great little present in the mail yesterday. Some relatives thought that because I was sort of a bionic man now, with that implant in my chest, and because they thought I was probably tired of trying to watch daytime TV as I try and recuperate (which I definitely am), that they thought I needed a genuine Ironman comic book to read instead. Too funny! Thanks Bobbie and AD!

I got an update for the operating system for my Blackberry cell phone last weekend. I carefully went through the process of doing the upgrade which involved a backup of the "stuff" currently on the phone such as web page favorites, my calendar and contacts. During the update process, somewhere between the computer and the phone, something "burped", and the process was interrupted. The end result was that my operating system was upgraded properly, but my contacts and other "stuff" were completely lost.

Well Frack Me! (As they say in Battlestar Galactica). Aren't Blackberry's from Canada? Should I declare war? OK, I admit to not regularly backing it up, but Damn!

..... Cathy, the amazing and capable accountant, that along with my wife is keeping our little CPA office functioning while I am off enjoying my back porch half a day every day, received the following error message on her computer recently:

"Unable to Initialize the Calculation Engine"

WTF?

Whose engine are we talking about here? Does the engine need a tune up? Low on Oil? Bad gas? Of course there is no indication of what exactly the problem was or how to fix it. A brief call for technical support revealed that the tax tables needed to be updated, a process that consumed about 10 seconds. Who really dreams up this sh#* !

..... And finally, I thought the pictures of the earthquake in New Zealand were horrendous. Then we see what has recently happened in Japan with another quake and related tsunami. Makes me feel small. Makes me feel lucky, even with my recent health problems, to be alive and relatively comfortable on my back porch, with a cat in my lap, typing this little message to friends out there in cyberspace.

Maybe it's all a matter of perspective. My thoughts and prayers are going out to those whose lives are so affected.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed (with recently updated tax tables)

Taking things a little less for granted

2011-02-18T08:57:00.001-06:00

On Thursday, a week ago, the recorded low temperature was a record of -17 (F) degrees. The high temperature yesterday, Thursday a week later, was 78 (F) degrees, a 95 degree difference. On Tuesday this week I sat on the back porch of the house with one of our cats. The temperature was in the 60's. There was still snow on the ground, but it was melting fast and I could hear steady drops of water in the downspouts around the house as the snow melted. The dogs were generally lounging around barking occasionally at the neighbor's dog, but enjoying the fact that they could stay outside and enjoy the weather. I sat and listened to the birds and other animals make various noises during their busy day. It was thoroughly enjoyable to sit in the warmth and enjoy the outside weather. I had a book I was reading, but mostly I just sat there and enjoyed the scenery and warmth, the sights and sounds. I had gotten out of the hospital (the second time) last week during the brutally cold weather. I remember the family and the nurses bundling me up before they would take me out to the car and get me back home. I had spent a total of 8 days in the hospital in January and February recovering from a heart attack and some related complications. I now have a stent in one of the arteries to my heart and an implant that serves as a heart monitor and defibrillator should I need it. I had to be revived twice by CPR and "paddles" during my second stay, and it's pretty safe to say that it is lucky I am still around. That's part of the reason I was enjoying the outside weather so much as I lounged on the back porch taking in the sights and sounds of the back yard. Part of me said I should be at the office, there was lots going on there. Another part of knew I am not yet strong enough to go back to work and I should just sit back and relax a bit. That's not easy for me, but I resigned myself to the fact that I really wasn't in any shape to go back to work yet. At age 54, I thought I was a bit young for this to have happened. It's not fair! I had done some things recently to lessen my risk. Thoughts of "Why Me?" occurred to me. Then again, I decided, it's not really worth dwelling upon. Not much I can really do about it now, just deal with it. Eveerybody, including the doctors, say I need a lot of rest. I am not supposed to drive for another week or so. I am not supposed to go back to work for a couple of weeks. Deep down I know they are right. And I know that after writing even this blog post, I will be tired and want to maybe take a nap. I have been sleeping a lot, apparently my body needs it. I was really enjoying my time on the back porch. It was warm. Many thoughts passed through my mind. Many sensations were experienced. None of them earth shattering, but at the same time, very pleasant and rewarding. I sat and listened to some of the cars go by on a busy street not too far from our home. The main streets were clear of snow but many side streets still had some snow. I even heard a motorcycle go by. I was thinking that it had been over a month since my last ride, almost that long since I had last driven a car. I know it will be a little while before I feel strong enough to ride, but the warmer weather has been making me think about it. It may be a couple of weeks yet, and that's okay. I just know that the first ride will be pretty special. I'll really want to drink in the sensations of the ride. In fact, in some way, I think all the of the rides from here on may take on a little added significance. Maybe I will take each ride a little less for granted, and enjoy each opportunity as it comes.

A Road Trip as a Survival Mechanism

2011-01-31T21:00:00.002-06:00

A book report on a 50,000 mile road trip

Ghost Rider

Travels on the Healing Road

Neil Peart

The moment I realized I could get this book in e-reader form it was only a matter of time before I would acquire it and read it. I had been reading some mysteries lately and when I discovered this book I knew I wanted to read it. And report on it. For I know very well who Neil Peart is. I didn't know he was also an author. My knowledge of the author goes back to the 1970's. A time when I used to play a little electric guitar. We used to put a record on the turntable, plug in our guitars and play along to the albums. We would dream of playing on the big stage. Most of all we would just have a lot of fun. Sometimes we would nail the music sequences. Sometimes we could hit the 'licks', other times not so much. One of the bands we liked to play along with was the Canadian Rock Band "Rush". I remember a couple of their early albums very well. After more than 30 years they are still Rockin', even though there was a couple of years where they took a break. The author of this book, Neil Peart, is the drummer for "Rush". I didn't know until just recently, that the author had experienced some personal tragedies in his life. The kind of tragedies you wouldn't want to wish upon anyone. First, his 19 year old daughter, his only child, was killed in an automobile accident. Then, not too long later, the love of his life and mother of his daughter died. She officially died of cancer, but as the author puts it, she really died of a broken heart. Damn! Now, I can't begin to even try and understand what I would do in a similar situation. I just hope that nothing like it ever happens to me. But the author, also an avid motorcyclist, decided he would try and deal with his grief by going for a ride. The author thought that maybe riding would help him get his mind off the pain and grief he was experiencing. In an almost Pirsig like expression he talks about how riding his motorcycle causes total concentration and attention to the road in front of him. That would help keep his mind occupied and even lull him into a tranquility caused by the the constant motion and vibration of the motorcycle as the world passed by him. We're talking a lot of miles, hopefully a lot of healing and a lot of months all over the north american continent.

Peart's weapon of choice. A BMW 1100GS

I believe the author calls himself the "ghost rider" in part because of the many demons, memories and monsters that travelled along with him. He mentions that the world around him doesn't seem quite real and that he experienced a disconnect with the world surrounding him.

In the book, the author really bares his soul, his deepest thoughts and that is part of what made the book so fascinating to me. Some of the book is also a compilation of notes from the road and letters to friends and family during his "self imposed exile". The effect is to make the words more immediate to the moment being experienced and more real to the reader. There's some great stuff here.

Did I mention Pirsig like phrases?

"And sometimes there was music playing in my helmet, too, as my mental jukebox transformed the white noise of the wind passing into a soundtrack in richly detailed high fidelity ... When the riding became demanding, the music receded into the background, but when it was just me and the motorcycle on a pretty stretch of road, my brain would turn up the radio."

. Man, have I been there. I constantly have my "music" with me when I ride. There's no stereo on Max, just my mind.

Part of the book talks about the author's love for literature. He mentions various authors that he admires or has enjoyed. Names like Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis and even Truman Capote are mentioned in the book. He would buy books in bookstores, then mail them back to his home in Canada to be read later or given to a friend. He even stopped momemtarily in the town I was born, Garden City KS. He was interested in Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood" about the murder of a farm family occuring in the late 1950's. He wanted to stop by and see if he could find the farmhouse of the Clutter family. He did.

I took lots of notes as I read the book. I enjoyed it that much. The subject, yes, is a bit gloomy, but the insight into his mind is fascinating. At one point as I read, I imagined how the end of the book would turn out to be. The author gives a couple of hints. In a silly fashion I imagined sort of a Hollywood type of ending, which of course didn't turn out to be the case. The issues were much deeper than my mind was envisioning at the time. The ending is maybe a bit peculiar, but as I think back on it more and more, the better I like it.

A final conclusion I drew from the book is that life is just what it is.

It Just is, Deal With It!

Alex Lifeson on the left, Geddy Lee in the center and the author, Neil Peart, in the background to the right.

They first played together as a trio in 1974, the year I graduated from high school.

I just really like their "sound". I always have. I'm not sure they are the greatest rock group ever to be, but three and a half decades later, they still tour and play together. I have never seen them in concert and had a chance to this year, but we had already bought tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band (who rocked the house, btw), and the family budget for attending concerts isn't unlimited.

But I will tell you that I have a little CD player at the office and the "Rush" CD's get played as much, if not more than a lot of the other CD's I have.

I highly recommend this book for a bunch of reasons. Motorcycles, Rock n Roll, philosophy and life. How good can it get.

There's a Book Report Coming

2011-01-24T17:59:00.002-06:00

You may just have to wait for it for a few days. I had told a few readers and friends that I hadn't been feeling very well for the past couple of months. I was pretty sure the problem was related to a drug I was taking to help me quit smoking. Chantix is a ridiculous creation of the drug companies, with all sorts of weird side effects, and only one benefit. It sometimes can help people quit the nicotine habit. I emphasize "sometimes" because I'm not convinced that the manufacturer knows exactly how it works. I'm just here to say that it makes you feel kind of shitty, and not even want to smoke. The good news is that the last cigarette I had was 2 days before Thanksgiving, and the last time I took the Chantix was about a week and a half ago. The bad news is that my symptoms of not feeling well were sort of masked by the effects of Chantix. There was another, more serious, set of symptoms involved that I mistook for the effects of the drug. I had a heart attack last Friday morning. I was incredibly lucky. The paramedics and ambulance arrived quickly. I got to ride "Hot" with sirens blaring in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The people in the ER were waiting for me. The OR was ready. The cardiologist was "in the building". In a very short period of time, they had done a catherization and placed a stent in an artery supplying blood to me heart. A lot of very competent people saved my life. I was doing so well afterward that they released me on Sunday afternoon and I am back at home. No, I don't feel 100%, yet, but considering the circumstances, I can't do much better. I am taking a few days off of work, then gradually ease back into it a bit. With the time off I plan to finish up a book I have been reading on my Nook that will be the subject of a book report for the blog. I don't want to say what the book is yet, but I am enjoying the heck out of it and just need some to finish it up. I am doing fine and will try and finish the book this week. I do have a little extra time, now. There are even some possibly interesting parallels between the book and my own life that may get explored a bit. So, just hang tight and I'll be back soon with a book report.

Max Takes a Few Days Off

2011-01-13T02:38:00.000-06:00

It had to happen sometime. We haven't had any snow this year, until Sunday and early Monday morning.

That's great for riding. Last year I had already missed out on a number of days. This year I haven't missed much..... until this week.

We woke up to this on Monday morning:

If you look close you can see tracks out to the treee. One of our cats always thinks he will want to go outside for the day even when it snows, but eventually changes his mind and comes back inside. This morning he went out to the tree and back, then decided it wasn't worth it. Too cold on them paws.

Max is safe and sound in the garage with his new cover that he got for Christmas.

Now you might ask why Max uses his cover even though he is safely in the garage. Well, it's partly because of the cats. They like to sit on his seat and you don't know how many mornings I come out to find cat hair on my seat.

There was about 3" of snow, not really a lot, but more was possible during the day on Monday. Schools were cancelled in some parts of Kansas, but not in Wichita. But the streets had not been plowed and travel was very slow on Monday morning. There were the usual accidents. Wichita has a plan regarding accidents in these conditions and they call it "EARP", the emergency accident reporting plan. In effect it says that if there is a fender bender and nobody is hurt and no one has been drinking, then just exchange insurance information with the other driver and fill out an accident report at the police substation later in the day.

I drove "Monty", the famous Canadian Subaru, (the one with the heated seats) to work. We didn't have any problems, but don't think I got out of second gear except for a brief moment or two. I followed a Volvo sedan downtown for much of the way, I noticed the car had a "Ron Paul '08" sticker on it. Don't they know that the election was 2 years ago? And he didn't even make the finals?

Thw weather is supposed to turn very cold this week, so the snow may stick around for awhile. Usually, with a snow like this, it's gone in a few days. Maybe I can ride again later this week, but I sort of doubt it.

Oh well,,,,,,

Have a Nice Day "Bub"!

2011-01-10T02:48:00.001-06:00

As I finished my banking transactions on a cold Friday afternoon, the teller sent the receipts back to me and said: "Have a Nice Day, Bub!" Now I have to say that I can't recall the last time someone called me "Bub". He was genuinely trying to be friendly. And he wasn't obnoxious like the tellers at Bank Of Ameri-something who seem to always say the same thing like they are some sort of slightly malfunctioning robots. Oh, they are friendly too, but I get tired of hearing the same worn out phrases spoken like they are forced to be sincere and really don't want to be. Was it the fact that I rode up on the scooter all decked out in my Denim Gear Jacket looking very cool? (If I don't say so myself) He didn't call me "Sir" or "Mister", just "Bub". I sensed that if I had been dressed differently, or arrived on 4 wheels, rather than 2, he wouldn't have called me "Bub". Did I look like a "Bub"? I don't mind being called "Bub". It's better than "Bubba" or even "Dumbass". I just went through the drive up rather than go inside. I like riding Max through the drive up. This bank is usually crazy busy on a Friday afternoon, but today I got right through. I was in a really good mood and was looking forward to dinner that evening with my wife. You see, it was our anniversary, 32 years no less. We went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant that we hadn't been to for some time. The food is excellent, but not cheap. It's a fun place to go on a special occasion. Our chef was fast, good and very entertaining. Jayna ordered salmon and scallops with hot green tea. I had chicken and salmon with some extra veggies. I drank a Tsunami which was spiced rum and fruit juice. The chef kept trying to goad me into more drinks. I had two and Jayna drove home. One thing though, for some reason, the chef kept referring to me as "Big Daddy" whenever he would serve up some food on my plate. He repeated this 4 or 5 times. Other people at the table had steak and he went around the table making sure how much they wanted their steaks cooked, rare, well done, etc. Then he looked at me, with a little smirk on his face and asked me " How do you want your chicken cooked,,,,, "Big Daddy"? After 2 Tsunamis I wasn't quick enough with a witty comeback, just some laughter. So today I was referred to as "Jim"," Bub" and "Big Daddy". It wasn't my idea. It just happened that way. It didn't bother me, just made me ponder. What I'd really like is if Jayna would let me continue to be her "Big Daddy" for a long time to come. She's pretty special!

Some Drivers are Dense, Others Just Plain Dangerous

2011-01-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

I had to chuckle a bit at the lady driver at a stoplight next to me. While everybody else stopped before the crosswalk, she had solidly placed her Yukon in the middle of the crosswalk as she waited for the light to change. My chuckling turned to wariness as the light turned. We proceeded together through the intersection and I realized that she was intently busy with a cell phone at her ear. I sort of sped up to get past and away from her. A mile away was the next stoplight and wouldn't you know it, we both ended up first in line at the next red light, the Yukon to my right. She was still talking on her phone. Well at least she stopped before the crosswalk this time. Sort of....... As we waited for the light to change, she inched forward a foot or two at a time, numerous times until, again, the Yukon was well into the crosswalk. This time I thought maybe I should be crabby and motion for her to hang up the phone, but a good opportunity didn't present itself. She probably wouldn't have seen me anyway. We have a new law in Kansas, taking effect January 1, that outlaws texting while driving. But the new law doesn't outlaw talking so we riders still have that hazard to look out for. Luckily, this driver wasn't appearing to be real dangerous to others, just a bit 'dense'. The light changed again, I took out in front of her again, and once again, a mile away at the next stoplight, we both ended up first in line waiting on the red light. Some things in life are certain and never change, the Yukon was still at my right and the driver was still talking on the phone. She had stopped again just before the crosswalk, but proceeded again to get antsy and inch forward into the crosswalk. Is there no justice in the world? Shouldn't I go over to her vehicle, tap on the window and express in colorful terms (remembering Monty Python) that I wanted to fart in her general direction in retaliation for her driving technique. Dense! I proceeded on after that, she turned off somewhere and I didn't see her again. Here's hoping she got safely to where she was going. I was glad to be out of her range and was enjoying the ride, still using my usual caution, but not having to worry about that Yukon anymore. Then sort of suddenly a white Lexus appeared in my right side mirror. I glanced again a second later and he was much closer this time, right on my ass, just a few feet behind me to my right and attempting to pass me through essentially what were unused parking spaces on my right. I was in the right lane, traveling at approximately the proper speed limit, and real surprised to see this idiot doing what he was doing. I guess he was late and really needed to get to the next intersection so he could make a right turn. I must have forgotten that I owed him that favor (Prick!). Well the better part of safety ruled over anger and surprise. I moved left into the lane next to me, let him go by, and after he did I saluted his amazing driving technique with a very demonstrative one finger gesture. He glanced back, saw my finger, and hopefully got the point. I was thrilled to see that he had to stop at a red light only a block away. I hope he was late as hell to work that day! Some dense, some dangerous. Riders be aware.

I Didn't Click "Purchase Now" because.....

2011-01-03T02:51:00.001-06:00

Years ago I admit to being timid about purchasing "stuff" on the internet. I was leery of the security of giving out credit card information. For instance, if ordering clothes from LL Bean, one of my favorite stores, I'd look at the items on the internet, make my selection and then mail a check with the order form. It would take a few days more, because they would wait to ship until my check had cleared, but I didn't care. Nowadays, I seldom think twice about internet purchases. We buy lots of things from various internet sites and have almost never encountered any problem. We just continue to be careful about it. But the other day I was in the process of making an internet purchase from a well known online motorcycle clothing and accessory site. I won't name the site but I have a couple of sites that I have used in the past for buying scooter "stuff". It has been cold enough recently that I have experienced a bit of a cold neck while riding. The rest of me has stayed relatively warm, but I was considering buying a new balaclava. I found one that looked nice. It was priced at $18, maybe a little more than I wanted to spend, but then again, it wouldn't break the bank and I don't mind spending the money if the quality is good. There was no doubt that the quality would be good from this site. I really didn't need a new balaclava. I have a perfectly good nylon one from my prior bicycling days. It's not new, but not very used either. It works fine and I don't really need it that often. I use it when it is maybe 25-30 degrees and below. But part of the reason I was looking for a new one is that the old one is kind of ugly. It is a sort of blue/purple color and really not very attractive. The new one has a nice additional feature. The material for the neck area is thicker and almost like fur, while the top portion is thin, much like my old balaclava, so that it can fit nicely while wearing a tight fitting helmet. The new one is made specifically with motorcyclists in mind. The old one can be used by anybody. The new one is not a sickly sort of faded blue/purple color, just basic black. Now part of me says that if it keeps me warm, then what's it matter what the old one looks like. The vain person in me says this is not tolerable. It doesn't match anything else I wear color-wise. And it would be "cool" to say I got a new one from one of my favorite motorcycle web sites. (I am so bad, I keep a copy of that particular catalog in the bathroom so I can peruse and dream over all the "stuff" as I take care of some of my daily duties.) I also found a particular belt I wanted at the same site. I didn't really need it either, I just wanted it. Do you ever fight with yourself about stuff you "want" as opposed to stuff you really "need"? Anyway, I entered the two items, totaling less than $40, into the shopping cart on the web site and clicked the button to see what the shipping cost would be. $9.00 Nine friggin' Dollars !!!! I am sure that the two items could be shipped in a relatively small box. It can't weigh very much. And I wasn't interested in overnight or even two day fares. Just your basic normal shipping. $9.00? Are you really kidding me? The "shipping" was about 25% of the total purchase. I suppose I might have felt better if it had said "Shipping and Handling" rather than just "Shipping". Maybe I subconsciously don't mind paying for a little "handling". But I know for a fact that the shipping would not be more than a few bucks. Hell, you could parcel post it for almost next to nothing and I don't really care how it gets here, just so it does. So I never finished the transaction. Maybe I should have, but at that time, economy won out over vanity, and it sure seemed that the balaclava and belt just got a little more expensive than I felt comfortable with. Damn! Now I have to ride "ugly".

Blogger Stats

2010-12-30T08:41:00.002-06:00

After about a year and a half of blogging, I admit that I had hardly ever looked at the Google Stats in the blogger program. I was amazed. First surprise: One of my posts last year around Thanksgiving, regarding Native American Spirituality, is the most viewed, by far, of the more than 100 posts I have done. And that post is not even about scootering, the primary theme of my blog. Second surprise: Where the viewers are coming from. The USA and Canada does not surprise me. The United Kingdom is a distant third, but many of the other countries surprised me. Oh, it's just a few from other countries, but was interesting. Russia? ..... Really? South Korea? VietNam? A few european countries were represented. Spain, The Netherlands, Germany. I found the statistics on page hits to be very interesting. I guess that I always assumed that the number of comments received was a good indicator of how much my blog was read. And I guess I always knew that some people read it, but didn't leave comments. I faithfully read a lot of blogs, but do not always leave comments. But now I realize, even more so, that number of comments is not really very indicative of readership. I love comments on my blog. Sometimes they are just as much fun as the post itself. And I like to pester people by commenting on their blogs. But sometimes it just becomes a matter of available time, not enough of it. Then another question is raised. How many if those page hits are my own? I frequently look at my own blog to check for comments. Some days I will do this many times, other days not at all. I guess I could click on my blog more often and artificially increase my own hits, but what's the point of that. Back to that Native American Spirituality post, though. I suspect that a reference or link in Google Images might have something to do with the number of hits to my blog. I had 'borrowed' a few images from there to use in the post. I am guessing that somewhere in Google Images that there may be a link to my blog. I really have no idea how this might work, and don't really care, but to me it is the only possible reason why that post has had so many hits. It certainly can't be from motorcycle or scooter enthusiasts. The number of hits is more than 4 times the number on the next highest post. Go figure. What this all means? I haven't a clue! I had a very excellent Statistics professor in college that said on the first day of class, "You can make statistics say anything you want them to if you just play around with the numbers long enough." I have never forgotten what he said and I think about that statement a lot, particularly when looking at television or other advertisements. Sometimes numbers can be very misleading. So maybe the Blogger Stats aren't that important. There may be certain interesting results, but in the long run I don't think it will change whatever modus operandi I have for the blog. I just enjoy blogging.

8,000 Miles Later

2010-12-27T08:56:00.005-06:00

It's not a monumental feat, but in a little more than 2 years, I now have 8,000 miles on that scooter I call Max. Being sort of a numbers guy, I decided to do a little math, just for fun.

To be somewhat accurate, I need to make a few assumptions.

Average gas price: $2.80

That's a guess. It has probably ranged from $2.55 to almost $4.55 per gallon.

Average miles per gallon:

Max: 70

Subaru: 22

I tracked the mileage pretty close on Max for the first 8 or 9 months. In town, where I do most of my riding, I consistently got 75 mpg. On a highway, if riding hard, I'll get about 60 mpg. For the Subaru I used what I get in town for comparison.

Max: Total gallons used: 8,000 miles / 70 mpg = 114 gallons

I recall that I used to have a pickup that had a 30 gal main tank and a 20 gal reserve tank.

Total cost for gas: 114 * $2.80 = $319

That seems pretty low, but then I remember that a fill up is usually only about $4.

Gallons used if I had driven the Subaru: 8,000 / 22 mpg = 364

Cost for gas: 364 * $2.80 = $1,019

Okay, I saved about $700 in gasoline over the last 2 1/2 years. Maybe not quite a boatload, but.....

Consider the difference if my car was only able to get 15 mpg, or 10 mpg. .

There are many other differences in cost. The initial purchase for Max was just a little more than half of what I paid for the Subaru. Max was brand new, the Subaru was well used. Taxes are less. Insurance is less.

. Lots of other differences as well. I can't carry as much with Max. The wagon holds a lot more. And the Subaru has heated seats. And I love the Subaru almost as much as Max.

. But do you want to know the real reason I prefer taking Max to work each day?

. It's a whole lot more fun!

. But I bet you already knew that.

Just a Wonderful Little Holiday Story

2010-12-24T02:54:00.001-06:00

My wife looked like she might have had some tears in her eyes when she came to work today. Cathy and I were wondering what was up. We sometimes donate goods to a local Disabled American Veterans Thrift store near our home. They have a drive-thru dropoff dock at the back of the store. We had this old cuckoo clock that we retired from use in our home recently and Jayna wanted to drop it by the store on her way to work this morning. She had a busy morning with a couple of extra errands and was anxious to get to the office. When she arrived at the store, she realized it was a few minutes before 9:00 and she would have to wait a bit for the store to open and drop off the clock. Not only that, but in front of her in the lineup of cars was a pickup truck with a topper that had smoked glass that you couldn't see through. Feeling some impatience, she was feeling a bit frustrated at having to wait, especially because the truck in front of her looked like it might take awhile to unload. Eventually someone came out of the store and they opened up the back of the pickup truck in front of her. It was full of presents. Jam packed from top to bottom. Balls, bats, games and everything imaginable for kids. Some Santa had just done a very wonderful thing. The people at the store were very excited to receive the gifts, that they knew would fly off the shelves and make for a wonderful Christmas for somebody somewhere. Jayna watched all of this as she sat in the car and shed a few tears as she thought to herself, "And all I have is this silly old cuckoo clock". Her feelngs of impatience disappeared immediately. There was something much more important going on here. Ahhh......... It's the Season ! Stuff like this happens all over the place this time of year. It's really special when you can be on hand to see some of it happen.

A Few Holiday Decorations

2010-12-20T03:30:00.001-06:00

Our Santa Claus got a new place to reside this year. Right by the front door so all could see that he was keeping an eye on things around our house.

Inside the house a series of figurines take their usual place on the mantel. A lady that lives near Wichita designed these. We have a few of her creations.

Some of them may be more Winter themed than Christmas themed, but we like them.

After all, isn't it the memories what it is all about.

Our climate is not real conducive to ice skating, but we can still dream.

Back outside, just after Thanksgiving, we work on the fir tree in the front yard. We have close to 450 lights and "balls" we hang each year. The neighbors will begin hounding us to get the lights up if we delay even a day or two. Each year this darn tree gets a little taller and a little harder to manage. We enlisted the help of our son this year to help put up the lights.

And a night shot.

Hope everybody has a safe and wonderful holiday season. Spend time with your families. Maybe drink a little, but certainly laugh a lot.

A Two Wheeler at the Tax Seminar

2010-12-13T10:45:00.002-06:00

Thursday, December 9 I was putting on my gear while people were sort of chatting and milling around at the end of an all day tax seminar. One of the people saw me putting on my gear pants and commented to me that my ride home ought to be warmer than my ride that morning to the seminar. I said I was looking forward to the ride home, but the ride that morning really wasn't all that unpleasant. It was 33 degrees as I left the house this morning, about 50 degrees for the ride home. It was almost 15 degrees colder for the morning ride to work yesterday. Then the same person said "I don't know how you do it!" I wasn't all that sure how to respond, but said something about just being properly dressed and let it go at that. Then I wondered, am I really that weird to ride in cold weather? I don't see as many motorcycles out on the streets this time of year, but there are some and I know that I'm not the only one who rides at this time of year. I am sure of one thing though. I was the only person that arrived at the seminar that morning on two wheels. So maybe I am a bit unusual. Does that bother me? Naaaah! Let them think what they want to think. If they admire it, fine. If not, fine. I am mostly indifferent as to what they think. I just know how I feel about it. Maybe I am proud of being a bit "greener" than other people. After all, I probably got about 75 mpg getting to and from the seminar that day. Few others, if any, could claim that, and then only if they car-pooled. Maybe I like the challenge of riding in colder weather. Maybe I am secretly looking for admiration and respect from others. I do get a chuckle when I pull up next to someone in a car at a stoplight and they look over at me with this look on their face that tells me they are sure I am crazy. But that isn't it either. I just prefer not giving people the knowledge that one of the reasons I do it is because I enjoy the hell out of it. Now, as you might imagine, tax seminars for CPA's are not renowned for being very exciting. There was one sort of cool thing (I think) that happened that day. Most of the time we get a big notebook full of reference materials at these events. Sometimes there is a lot of paper and my office is full of old notebooks from past seminars I have attended. But just recently they started emailing the materials to us in a .pdf format. If we want to we can print off our own "book", or as an alternative bring a laptop or e-reader with the .pdf file already saved. I think this is a great idea. I brought the laptop and was able to read along as the instructor spoke. Some people brought I-pods, I-pads and other devices. A lot of CPA firms are going "paperless" and we will start that effort ourselves next year. We'll be trying to kill even fewer trees. The day was spent with much thought about changes in tax laws. I also thought about "green" things today. I barely even gave any thought to the temperatures today. The seminar was at a hotel on the opposite side of town. As a result, I had two really nice rides today.

A New Glove Set-up

2010-12-09T03:25:00.000-06:00

A lot of people have told me that after I acquire my first set of heated gloves or grips, that I will want to kick myself for not having done so sooner. And No, I haven't done it (yet). My reasons, all with various levels of invalidity are as follows: 1) I am Cheap! The grips or gloves are expensive. 2) If I ask Jayna to spend more money on "scootering", she is liable to have a different idea or suggestion. And she is frequently right! 3) I am a bit afraid of messing with the electronics on Max. It would probably be fine, but I sure wouldn't want to screw something up. I am a firm believer in the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". 4) I really do not need them very often. I have survived quite well in temperatures down to freezing. Below that, I have had some issues. 5) My commute only takes me about 15 minutes. I figure I can stand cold fingers for at least that amount of time. The rest of me stays mostly comfortable. 6) I have a level of insecurity about fiddling with the electronics. I would want to do it very right the first time. Ideally, I would want a device where I might want to plug in various devices. Maybe heated grips, maybe heated clothing, maybe a GPS, maybe a Christmas tree, maybe a Blaupunkt. And I am certainly too cheap to pay someone to do this for me (reason #1). But recently I found an old pair of gloves with a fleece liner. I removed the liner and am now using the liner with my regular winter gloves and it has resulted in a vast improvement. It is sort of a tight fit, and maybe a little less feeling on the controls, but much better than what I was doing last winter. I laugh sometimes about the clothing and gear I used that first winter. It was a process of experimentation as I discovered what did and didn't work very well. The 2nd winter was better and the clothing and gear experiments are ongoing. Two years from now maybe I'll look back and think about what an idiot I must have been. Live and Learn, I guess. I keep telling myself that someday I'll be really smart.

More Family, a Rider and a Brewery

2010-12-06T08:55:00.008-06:00

Some more relatives recently came to town to attend another wedding. They didn't want to make two trips for two different weddings, but part of the reason for the trip was to help celebrate our daughter's wedding last month. One evening we met them at a local brewery/restaurant for dinner and fun. The brewery has been here for many years, but I admit that it had been a long time since I had eaten (or drank) there. They make various types of beers of their own and you can easily find something to your liking anywhere from a pale wheat beer to some ales and a stout. I am not a big beer drinker, but have been known to imbibe on occasion. With relatives in town, the celebration was on.

They usually have 6 kinds of beer available. Each production run is a little bit different to make it interesting. You can order samples of each beer, which I did, so we could decide which one we liked. Here they are lined up in order of darkness, the stout at the left, the wheat pale ale at the right. There were only a couple I didn't really like and it was difficult to decide which one to order. Of course I felt it necessary to finish off most of the samples first.

These relatives were from Jayna's side of the family, had previously lived in the Wichita area, but now live in the Vancouver WA area. They want us to visit out there next summer. My threat is that maybe I should venture northward to Vancouver BC so I could bother Bobskoot. We'll see. You never know.

One of the relatives is also a rider, owning both a Ninja and a Honda. We didn't have a lot of time to chat about riding, but he told me a funny story about his first bike. He traded an old Chevy El Camino for the bike. He rides with a couple of different groups, one with mostly sport bikes and the other is more of a cruiser group. He likes riding with both groups for different reasons. It was fun chatting and getting to know him a little better.

Some people opted for pizza to eat, others for quesidillas and sandwiches. I, in a supposed health kick, opted for a soup and salad combination. All the food was good and we talked, laughed and drank for some time.

Jayna and I both ended up ordering the stout which was quite good. It had been a long time since I had a beer like that. It was somewhat mellow and very tasty.

Should I call this "beer porn"?

Just a Little Observation About Street Planning

2010-11-29T02:27:00.001-06:00

I was thinking the other day, (seldom a good omen). As I rode east out of town on my ride to what is known locally as "Thunder Road", I noticed some significant improvements to some of the streets between Wichita and Andover, a "burb" about 10 miles east of Wichita. I remembered that 13th Street was a dirt road for part of the way. It is now paved, and not only that, it's 4 lanes wide with new trees and a bicycle path on the side. A very nice road it is. But the radical in me is thinking, "Do we really need all of this?". Yeah, it's nice, but did we really need a 45mph tree lined thoroughfare? It did need to be paved, but I find it hard to imagine that the traffic on this road is all that significant. It sure wasn't on a Sunday morning as I rode through here. Andover is a growing community with many sort of typical suburban housing developments with catchy names like "Quail Ridge" or "Sienna" or some other name that makes you want to live there. And a lot of people that live in Andover work in Wichita and need a good road to get back and forth in their, mostly huge, urban assault vehicles. But just a mile to the north is an excellent road going the same direction. There's another good road just a mile to the south, and 2 miles south, still another even faster road. So now the residents in Andover have 4 possible and comfortable routes to Wichita for their 15 mile commutes to work. I suppose I shouldn't pick on Andover residents. The same thing occurs in other places around the city of Wichita in other similar bedroom communities. This process is likely repeated all over the country. Hell, what is happening here in Wichita is peanuts compared to cities in California and many other places where commuting can be a much worse nightmare than it is around here. As I rode, in my mind, I was wondering if we really had our priorities where they needed to be. Roads are expensive. Our taxes help pay for them. We seem to try and make it easy for longer distance commuters. Is this right? If you consider our dependence as a nation on foreign oil, does this make any sense? Everyone says we use too much of that "black gold" from the Middle East, and have said that for a long time. But I am thinking that we are not doing much, if anything, to help ourselves out. We live near a major 4 lane street here in Wichita. A few years ago the city had a proposal to "improve" the street by widening it to 5 lanes (the 5th lane for a turn lane) and widen the lanes themselves. Their theory for all of this is that they were predicting that daily traffic on the street would increase from approximately 12,000 cars per day to over 20,000 cars per day in the next couple of decades. We attended a planning meeting along with a few neighbors so we could find out more. We had trouble believing that the traffic could ever really increase that drastically. To make the improvements they would have to suck up a lot of additional ground on either side of the existing street. Fully mature trees would have to be cut down. Some residents would lose a significant part of their already short driveways. There were some very concerned residents, some even a bit angry. Long story short, the proposal was defeated at a subsequent city commission meeting, but the process was a bit revealing in some ways. What bothered many of us was the attitude that the city planners "knew all about what was best for us". Our concerns were heard, but sort of shrugged off and almost ignored in some cases. The cancellation was, in my opinion, largely because one of the nearby residents was a state legislator and maybe "had some power" to influence the city planners decision. The planning process for that road to Andover may have been very similar. Andover is a growing community and is growing faster than Wichita. I am sure that over time the traffic on that road will increase, but Andover is not a big town. The traffic between here and there is not overwhelming and I can't imagine that it will be anytime soon. I bet the traffic planners aimed pretty high on their estimates of future traffic. It seems like the planners think that road budgets should have a very high priority and we have to spend a bunch of money whether the needs are really there or not. As a taxpayer, it seems a grossly inefficient way to spend money. I think that the millions of dollars they spent on that road and others could be spent a little more wisely. It's a really nice road, but Jeez! What if they spent a little of that money on more efficient forms of transportation, or used some of it to educate and encourage people to find more efficient ways to get to and from work. What if they made it easier and safer for people to commute on 2 wheels (of any kind). I am all for having nice roads to ride and drive on but I'm thinking that we could be a lot more efficient and conservative with our planning and tax dollars. I am reminded of a John Mellencamp song: Oh but ain't that America, for you and me Ain't that America, we're something to see baby Ain't that America, home of the free Little pink houses for you and me Those little pink houses are sure getting more and more spread out, requiring more planning, more pavement, more taxes and more oil. And I am just getting more and more cynical.

"Thunder Road" on a Sunday Morining

2010-11-22T02:58:00.002-06:00

You might think the name "Thunder Road" would conjure up images of a Friday night where a '69 Camaro convertible might line up against a Ford Mustang, or maybe a Pontiac GTO 'Judge' against a Dodge Challenger. The girls would be in the passenger seats waving at their friends. The guys would serious have looks on their faces. The presence of beer might be there, but no cell phones in sight. This road between Wichita and Augusta Kansas. just about 25 miles in distance, has that kind of reputation. I am sure lots of memories of vehicle races, boys and girls, beer, and maybe a fight or two are present in the minds of a lot of people who grew up in Wichita and many of the small towns close to this area such as Andover, Derby, Mulvane, Augusta, Towanda, Rose Hill and many others. The road is listed as one of the favorite motorcycle roads in Kansas. Here's a link: http://www.motorcycleroads.us/states/ks.html

Can I really afford this scootering stuff?

I topped off my tank before I left town, camera in tow, on a relatively warm November day. Not much traffic on a Sunday at 9:00 am, probably most people on the roads are on their way to or from church.

A suburban church on my way out of town, with lots of cars.

I first pass through Andover Kansas, about 10 miles east of Wichita. My plan was to ride to Augusta, Kansas first and then take "Thunder Road" back toward home. You can easily do the ride in the other direction, or ride there and back on "Thunder Road". I pass by this ranch and stopped to take a picture. The airplane contrails in the sky were very noticeable. I haven't a clue why this rancher has 'metal' palm trees at the entrance to the ranch. Maybe they think they look "cool". To me, they don't quite fit in Kansas.

The entrance to the ranch

A little further down the road between Andover and Augusta there was a small quarry. I wasn't able to get a closer picture. Not even sure what they produce there.

A quarry and some now dormant wildflowers.

Not far away there is a nice view of a valley just before arriving on the north side of Augusta, Kansas.

Max in the morning sunlight looking over the valley. The bridge in the distance goes over a river that passes on the west side of Augusta. There is another river on the east side of Augusta, while the city itself is mostly on a nice hill.

I arrive in Augusta and stop for a few minutes. Across the street I see a house with Christmas decorations ready to go. I decorate a tree in my yard each year, but for me, it just doesn't seem right to do it before Thanksgiving. I'll wait to do some decorating until next weekend.

Ahhh, Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier each year.

Every town like this has a Wal Mart, or so it seems. My personal opinion is that the existence of a Wal Mart drives some local businesses out of business because they cannot compete with the prices. But that's just my opinion.

There's a pharmacy there too.

I ride around the town a bit. Some of the streets are brick and have probably been in place for many years. A few people were out mowing their lawns or raking leaves. It was a nice weekend to get outside activities done. Much colder weather is expected soon.

Brick streets in an older neighborhood in Augusta, Kansas.

I ride south a few blocks to get a picture of the downtown area, fairly typical of a lot of towns like this.

More brick streets in downtown Augusta

It would seem that the side of a building can be much like a billboard, with advertisements for various businesses. Apparently this is the "Red Brick District".

CPA's can even advertise here apparently.

From downtown, I spied the road that leads to "Thunder Road". It's easy to miss this street, and I have mised it before. There is no sign that identifies it as "Thunder Road". But now I know whre it is.

The entrance to "Thunder Road" from downtown Augusta.

Just down the road a ways would be a sign like this. The speed limit is generally 55mph, but some curves are less than that. I wouldn't call them real twisties, but they are fun and the scenery is a bit different in some areas.

Even the sign is bent.

Near the road was this oil well. After all, this is Butler County and there is a significant amount of oil production here. Some wells have been producing since the 1920's.

"Black Gold, Texas Tea"

Knowing how some bloggers are interested in railroads, I stop a few miles away to get another picture or two.

Is there an East Augusta?

When I took this shot, I didn't see the approaching train. I didn't even take my helmet off to take the picture. It was hard to read the display on my camera, but on the other side of the road I noticed some birds.

The next thing I experienced was the sound of a very loud train whistle.

I turned around and there the train was. No danger, but I would not have parked so close to the track, had I known the train was coming.

Max stood his ground.

I ride a little further down the road after the train passed by.

The train carried mostly containers of who knows what.

A few miles down the road I stopped at another intersection and took this shot of the trees, now without leaves.

Another curve

A few miles more brought me to another railroad crossing, and surprisingly, the gates were coming down for another approaching train. It seemed like less than 15 minutes since the last train had passed. I barely had time to stop, get the camera out and, without benefit of even looking at the camera display, I got this shot. I was sure at the time that it would not turn out.

Another train, more airplane contrails too.

Patiently waiting at the crossing

There are lots of ranches along the way. Some buildings and homes looked new, others a bit tired.

A nice looking ranch area.

I am getting closer to Wichita now.

Wichita is a straight shot west from here

A little further along I see a display of old farm equipment along the side of the road. I had to stop, if for no other reason than, you don't see this kind of thing everyday.

Old farm implements all lined up.

A couple of others And yet another combine of some sort

A little closer to Wichita, I spy a pond that looks sort of typical for Kansas. You can tell from the grasses that it was a bit breezy this day.

The water in the pond looks a bit down. Not surprising. We had a wet spring, but summer and fall have been dry.

Here is the intersection marking the other end of "Thunder Road" near the east side of Wichita.

47th Street South and Andover Road

A final shot near Wichita and typical of the clash of farming and real estate development. Suburban homes fighting with farmland for space here on the planet.

The ride was about 55 miles in total. It was a beautiful if breezy day. There are lots of stories about "Thunder Road", probably a lot of those stories are not true or highly embellished. I didn't take many pictures of the road itself, partly because the ride is so much fun and I didn't want to stop. I have actually ridden on the route 3-4 times, and this is the first time I ever took any pictures. It's not spectacular, but it doesn't need to be. It's just fun!

A Day in The Life & That Damn Clock

2010-11-18T03:04:00.000-06:00

I love a day where I have extra places to go. A day where there is more riding than just to and from work. I get to ride almost every day, but sometimes tire of the normal mundane route. This day was at least a little different.

Mini Max gets to go everywhere with me.

Today, my first stop was to the doctor's office. It's on the other side of town. I'm not complaining, means more riding for me. I have an annual physical later in the week and this day I was supposed to stop by and leave off some of my precious blood for the vampire at the doctor's office, so tests can be run to see if I am still alive. The primary purpose is to see what state my cholesterol is in. It has not always been good, but better than it used to be since I have lost some weight. The doctor will always have suggestions for me to lower it, all of which I will listen to, but some of which I will probably ignore. I almost steadfastly refuse to support the big drug companies and buy expensive cholesterol medications. Losing some weight, eating better and a little exercise have much better benefits than expensive drugs. (Rebel I am)

The sometimes pain in the ass clock on Max.

Why is it that my cell phone, my computers and other clocks automatically change when daylight savings time begins or ends, but the clock on Max does not? Can't they do something about that? OK, maybe I'm just lazy.

The clock on Max also gains a little time continuously, it has been almost 2 weeks since daylight savings time ended, and I hadn't gotten around to adjusting the clock on Max. Since daylight savings time started last Spring, Max has gained 7 minutes. No, lazy me, I never get around to adjusting it until I really need to. For instance, if I know I haven't adjusted the clock in awhile, then I know it is fast and take that into account.

The real pain regarding that clock is you have to find a pen or relatively narrow object to adjust the clock. For some reason it always takes me 2 or 3 attempts to get it set correctly. Maybe it is smarter than I am.

I was a little early for the doctor's office to open, so I stopped to kill a few minutes and decided that I should finally get the clock corrected.

The amazingly technical procedure to adjusting the clock on Max.

I did finally get the clock reset. I left my blood for the vampire and proceeded to the office for a day of fun and games in the accounting world.

This was also a day when I teach a class at night. Yippee, another diversion from the normal routine. The school is only a couple of miles from the office, so after work I boogie on over there, teach the class and get home about 9:00 that night. As I left the class and ventured over to Max, I noticed a lot of dew on Max and the other cars in the parking lot. A little wiping of the mirrors and guages was necessary, but at least it wasn't cold enough to freeze.

Max, all loaded up.

This is typical of what Max has to carry for me on a day where I have to teach. The backpack, full of papers and a textbook, is attached to the purse hook in front of the seat. The laptop is in a small briefcase bungeed (2 cords, in case one breaks) to the seat behind me. My "Man Bag" is in the topcase where the helmet would normally reside. Keep in mind, too, that there are tools, a rain jacket and other things under the seat. .

I used to bungee the backpack to the seat behind me, but it makes the bike a little top heavy, and handles better if I use the purse hook because the center of gravity is lower. Beats me why they have to make college textbooks so heavy, but most are ridiculous. I wish they would just replace them with CD Roms or something else.

Now I will have to make a claim that might anger some readers, but in my humble opinion (which arguably isn't worth a lot), I would say that a scooter has at least some advantage in being able to carry a bunch of "stuff", compared to a motorcycle. Okay, I may be full of crap, but that little purse hook and the shape of the frame makes the scooter pretty darn useful. Over time, I have carried a lot unusual items on Max. Pizza, chinese food, charcoal for the grill, various groceries, a coffee maker and crockpot and the list goes on. I'm not saying you can't do much the same on a motorcycle, but that little purse hook has some advantages.

Oh well, I do not mean to offend. It was just another day of commuting. And a fun one at that.

A Couple of Errands And the Changing Fall Colors

2010-11-15T02:56:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday morning, I was drinking a little coffee and staring out the window of our kitchen and was greeted with the wonderful red colors of these two trees in our front yard. It had rained on Thursday and Friday and it seemed that the rain finally brought out some of the more vivid colors of Fall. These trees weren't this red the day before. It has been unseasonably warm here for the Fall season. That's been good because the riding weather has been great. We haven't even experienced a hard freeze yet, and it is already about 3 weeks beyond the normal date for our first freeze of the year. A couple of weeks ago I took a couple of pictures of leaves starting to change color. These leaves were just starting to change from green to yellow.

These were trying to change from green to red

It seems a little later this year for the leaves to change colors.

Now our front yard looks like this.

I had a couple of short errands to run today. It was the first Saturday that we have had in awhile that there wasn't some sort of wedding related task to accomplish. It was nice to sleep in a bit and not be rushed to get a bunch of things done. The errands were not far from home, nor would they take a long time and I took the camera along in order to try and get a few pictures of the finally changing colors of the trees.

I needed to stop by a couple of stores and they were both in the same shopping center. But first I rode around a bit looking for a place to get a picture or two.

I needed to stop by Barnes and Noble. I had just finished a book on my Nook, my electronic book reader. I have only the Wi-Fi version of the Nook, and I can't connect at home, so I sometimes stop by other places to shop for a new book where my Nook can connect to the Barnes and Noble website. It's easy for me just to go to the store itself since it is not real far from home. I sometimes get a cup of coffee and find an easy chair to sit in while shopping for another book.

The sun was bright after the rainy weather we had the past couple of days. It was cool when I left the house on Max, so I dressed fairly warmly. Heavy liner in the jacket, light liner in the pants, an old sweatshirt underneath the jacket. With the sun beating down, I found I was overdressed a bit.

I found a few different places to take pictures, some stops made very near the shopping center.

There were even some ducks on one of the ponds.

But for some reason I was more interested in the colors of the trees.

I stopped by Barnes and Noble and got a new book downloaded to the Nook.

My other stop was at a store called Backwoods that sells camping and hiking clothing and equipment. I don't ever spend a lot of money there, but it is a fun store with lots of interesting merchandise. I do have some long underwear from there that I sometimes wear while riding on a real cold day.

When they get you on their list, you give them your birthday, and they give you a little present each year. My birthday is coming up and I got a postcard that week that I could turn in for my present. It's usually nothing real fancy, but nice all the same, and the quality of their merchandise is always good. I picked up the present and headed for home.

As I rounded the curve to my street, which has a lot of trees, I noticed that we have the reddest trees on the block. There are lots of leaves in the street too, so have to watch out for them.

After I parked at the house, I opened up my birthday present to find a very nice little duffel bag. Not real big, but looks like I could easily strap or bungee it to Max and carry a few goodies with it.

My thanks to the Backwoods store. It was a lovely little ride.

The Wedding Reception and an Infamous "Air Band"

2010-11-10T16:13:00.011-06:00

I had registered a somewhat feeble complaint to my daughter about the music being played at her wedding reception. My comment to her was that there was very little classic Rock and Roll. In fact, there was hardly any at all. But it was actually more than an observation than a complaint. The music was fun, there was lots of dancing and everybody seemed to be having a good time. We had cupcakes for the reception with another fairly modest cake for the bride and groom to ceremonially cut, which they did with a Samauri sword. In a day, where in a lot of wedding ceremonies the bride and groom frequently stuff each other with cake, and make a big mess of each other, I thought the newlyweds were actually fairly kind to each other.

I failed miserably to get a picture of the food line, with serpentine tables, no less. We contracted with a local Lebanese restaurant that my daughter used to work for. We have known the family that runs the restaurant for many years. Our children grew up together, didn't always attend the same schools, but frequently participated with each other in singing and thespian activities over the years and are very good friends. Suffice it to say that the food was fantastic, we had plenty and almost none was left over, which is always a good sign.

One of my ideas for the wedding was to possibly involve my daughter's Vespa ET4 (Carmella) and my scooter (Max) somehow either at the wedding or the reception. It didn't work out, my suggestion was nixxed, but I got everybody back by mentioning Carmella and Max with the list of people that gave her away to be married. My daughter chuckled at me as we stood together at the front of the church.

At one moment during the festivities, I noticed my daughter over at the table where the sound equipment was, talking to the guy running the sound system. A few minutes later she grabbed me and my son, said she had a song for us, and led us out to the dance floor. Boston's "More Than A Feeling" started to play through the speakers. A sort of impromptu "Air Band" comprising the three of us commenced with the music. My daughter was lead vocal, my son playing imaginary drums, and yours truly, doing a specialty of mine, the air guitar.

Now I must inform you that I used to play an electric guitar and I was very well acquainted with this song having learned how to play it long ago. I knew how the guitar solo was played and I admit, somewhat embarrassingly, to becoming a bit animated as we "played". But as the guitar solo neared, I became excited and had a lot of fun with it. It was a very special memory of the night for me as we celebrated my daughter's wedding. Many thanks to Eric, my brother in law, for being able to get a good chunk of the song on video from his camera. (Eric and I used to play guitars together)

Tyler's car, a Subaru WRX, also got some decorations while the reception was occurring. It was tasteful yet a bit obnoxious with a few beer cans tied to the rear of the car as well as some decorations to the windows. The decorators did a nice job.

It was a fantastic weekend! Not only did we celebrate a wedding, but we also got to see a lot of relatives and friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. It was a lot of work and we sincerely thank all of the people that helped out. There are lots and lots of great memories.

The Ceremonial Haircut Before the Wedding

2010-11-05T09:22:00.009-05:00

We hadn't planned it that way, but my son and I were at the barber at the same time to get fresh haircuts before the wedding tomorrow. My son is one of the groomsmen and is in the ceremony.

My son has a beard and requires a little more effort from the barber to make him look good.

Our barber is a bit ornery, (No, a lot ornery!) and he had some hair coloring suggestions for us.

My son with an accent color. Very nice if you ask me.

I was almost afraid of what the barber would do to me. I followed my son into the barber chair. Bob, the barber, is a great guy that has cut my hair now for over 30 years now. He always has funny stories to tell and some of the worst jokes imaginable by mankind.

I get blue instead of red. Pretty nice.

Do you think the bride will mind?

Voting in Motorcycle Gear

2010-11-03T10:48:00.006-05:00

When I went to vote this morning I didn't have to show any form of ID. Just gave them my name and address. They found me in the book and gave me a slip of paper to hand to the person that monitored the electronic voting machines. She was friendly and noticed my gear clothing. She asked me "Did you ride a motorcycle to the polling place?" I briefly recalled Mad Magazine's recurring articles about "Snappy answers to Stupid Questions", but I was nice, and didn't respond with a "snappy" answer, just merely said "Yes". Then she asked, "Isn't it cold for riding today?" (It was about 45 degrees) Again, Mad Magazine came to mind, but I resisted the temptation and said I was dressed pretty warmly and didn't mind the cool temperature. Then she led me to an unused voting machine, explained a couple of instructions, and I proceeded to cast my ballot. It only took me a minute or so, and I remembered that they usually give you an "I voted" sticker to wear as you leave the polling place, but as I was headed out the door I didn't see any of the polling workers nearby and thought that maybe I would not get a sticker today.

I was almost out the door when the same lady spotted me and asked me if I wanted a sticker. I said "Yes" and she walked over to me and firmly planted one on my chest. I said "Thanks" and asked her if I could have an extra sticker for the bike. She said "Sure", gave me a couple of them, and I proceeded out the door after thanking her again.

Sometimes, for example when I am in a grocery store with my gear on, people look at me a little funny. They might wonder what is the purpose of my clothing. There are times when a "snappy" answer to a question could come in handy, but I seldom seem to have a silly answer readily available in my mind.

Oh well, I am just glad that the lady at the polling place knew what the gear was all about.

Wedding Plans

2010-11-01T03:26:00.000-05:00

The planning has been going on for months now. The church is reserved, so is the location for the reception on the 18th floor of one of the buildings downtown. Relatives have made travel plans. Cakes, flowers, decorations and booze have been arranged for. It's gonna happen! Last minute alterations to the dress have been made. The tuxedos have been fitted and will be ready to be picked up. I know what I should say when I give her away. I'll try not to screw it up, but I'm thinking of saying: "Their cats, our cats, our dogs, her brother, her most excellent mother and I do...." Whaddya think? Should I? The minister is coming from Denver. He formerly led the youth groups at the church when our kids were growing up. He will be great at leading the ceremony. Family members and friends are coming from Denver CO, Park City UT, Houston TX, Helsinki Finland (my brother), DFW area, Phoenix AZ, Lillian AL, Kansas City MO, Springfield IL, Pagosa Springs CO, Sandy UT, Lombard IL, many places in Kansas and probably other places I am not even aware of. I am not in charge! Cathy, our most illustrious wedding planner and close friend has done, and will do a fantastic job insuring that everything goes well. She is amazing! There have been a few hiccups along the way and I would not be real surprised that a few more little ones crop up, but life would be boring if everything went exactly according to plan. There isn't a huge budget, but nobody wanted it that way. They just want to be married. And everybody else just wants to celebrate their union and get them started off in a long life together. They are a great couple. Possibly the best couple ever to get married in the history of history.

Recent Bad News

2010-10-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

One of the 11 riders that died apparently suffered a heart attack while riding. I think you can throw that one out as just plain weird. But the article goes on to say that all but two of these accidents were the fault of the motorcyclist. The paper went on to say that this is in sharp contrast to national statistics that indicate that 77% of fatal motorcycle accidents are the fault of automobile drivers.

Excessive speed was an issue in some of the accidents. Alcohol may have been a factor in some accidents as well as mistakes by automobile drivers. But, oddly enough, it appears that the rider's ability to safely negotiate a turn or a curve was the problem in some of these accidents and in many cases, no other vehicle was involved.

The reporter interviewed a local safety instructor, Joe Gattenby, that runs a company that offers training courses for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Joe is a great guy. I have spoken with him before and even had his wife in one of my accounting classes that I teach at a local college. It is hard to get in one of his classes as his courses are booked up well in advance.

Joe's analysis or explanation is that inexperience and lack of training may have played significant roles in a lot of these accidents. He stated that a lot of riders get their motorcycle licenses without taking a training course and that maybe some of those people are more interested in the fun aspect of riding and are not aware of, or ignore, the dangers involved. He went on to suggest that training should maybe be mandatory for getting a license.

Joe said you can't be just paying attention to what's immediately in front of you. You have to be driving a couple of blocks ahead and anticipating the worst of what could happen.

Joe had 3 suggestions that all motorcyclists should follow and be aware of:

1) Proper Gear and Clothing

2) Understand how to safely execute corners and curves

3) Understand and be proficient at various emergency maneuver techniques.

Ride Safe Out There!

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

2010-10-25T03:55:00.000-05:00

I seem to get called up to report for jury duty every few years or so, but have never had to actually serve on a jury. Until this year. Now I am not at all opposed to performing a civic duty, but I suppose, like a lot of people, I'd rather not do it just because of the hassle and the time spent. Then again, I sort of wanted to serve on a jury just so I could say I had done it. On a Monday morning I reported to the jury assembly area along with about 200 other good citizens. Must be a busy week at the Sedgwick County courthouse. In past years I would report and maybe go through the process of jury selection, but not be selected. One time, I was excused because I was personally acquainted with the defendant. And no, he wasn't the kind of person I normally hang out with.

The first group of jurors was called and I was in a group of 45 people or so. We went to one of the courtrooms and began the process of jury selection. At this point I was feeling good about it because the numbers game of picking 12 jurors out of 45 people made the odds of yours truly not getting selected look pretty good. I wondered why this was such a large group, though. I remembered that the group of potential jurors was only about 25 the last time I did this. I would soon find out why.

We were quickly informed that the case involved the sexual assault of a 12 year old girl. The alleged incident was not a rape, but also not a pleasant subject. The attorneys asked many questions of the potential jurors such as "have you personally, or do you know anybody that has ever been involved in any kind of sexual assault?" I was a bit surprised that a significant number of people answered yes.

After spending almost all day on Monday enduring the jury selection process, I found out just before 5:00 pm that I was to be juror #4. Wow! Lucky Me!

The trial started the next morning. I'll not describe all of the circumstances but there was some very unusual details and confusing testimony for us jurors to consider. For one thing, the purported offense had occurred 4 years ago. Huh? Why that length of time? Secondly, the testimony of the various witnesses for the prosecution was somewhat inconsistent. Both the prosecution and the defense had DNA experts testifying on their behalf. We had to listen as each expert witness tried to substantiate their own separate test results. Of course, the purpose of the defendant's expert DNA witness was to raise some doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.

We, as jurors, had been cautioned numerous times that we were to assume the innocence of the defendant until the attorneys had rested their cases. We were not to speak about the case with each other, nor with anyone else for that matter. If we were to convict the defendant, we had to be sure that there was "no reasonable doubt" as to the guilt of the defendant.

The prosecutors called a number of witnesses. The defendant did not take the stand in his own defense and the defendant's only witness was their DNA expert. Again, we all were wondering why. ???

The jury finally went for deliberation at mid Thursday morning. We talked for a bit with each other, but quickly decided to take a quick vote, just to see where we stood. The initial vote was 11 to 1 in favor of conviction. After that, I suppose that a lot of us, like me, had thoughts about the old movie starring Henry Fonda, "12 Angry Men". I wondered if the deliberation would take a long time. I actually was a bit surprised at the results of the initial vote given the inconsistencies in the testimony and somewhat confusing nature of the DNA evidence. I thought the initial vote would be different.

The initial vote was by ballot and we didn't initially know which one if us had voted for acquittal, but that person (not me), quickly identified himself to the rest of us. And many of his concerns were valid in my opinion. I think we all had questions. None of us were absolutely sure what had exactly happened that night.

But in the minds of most of us, one fact was irrefutable. A fluid substance belonging to the defendant was found in a place where it shouldn't have been. The DNA evidence provided by the prosecution indicated that. In addition, the defendants own DNA expert confirmed the same result, but offered up some additional test result possibilities and a somewhat critical review of the prosecution's DNA testing procedures. That was the primary source of the defendant's argument for potential reasonable doubt.

We went around the table, each of us with an opportunity to express our thoughts and opinions. We discussed our many questions and misgivings about the case, but eventually we started to focus on the evidence that we felt was particularly important. In about an hour, the person that had originally voted for acquittal changed his mind and we became unanimous in our decision. It was just before noon. The bailiff said they were going to order in pizza for us for lunch. We decided not to tell the bailiff that we had reached a decision until after we had a chance for pizza. We were all sort of anxious to "get out of there" but we also knew that the court would not resume until after lunch anyway. Judges and attorneys always seem to be very conscious about proper lunch and break times.

The court reconvened not long after we told the bailiff that we had reached a decision. The final process went quickly and we were released from duty shortly thereafter.

After we had retired back to the jury room, the judge and both attorneys joined us and we had an opportunity to exchange questions back and forth with them. This was extremely valuable for us because we had a chance to get some of our little questions answered. For instance, we found out that the case was actually a re-trial. The defendant had already been convicted once and was granted a new trial based upon the newer DNA evidence. He had other possible counts against him, but this case was the one where the prosecution thought they had the best chance for conviction. A lot of this information was withheld from us for the reason that it might be prejudicial.

He was a bad dude! We went away very sure we had done the right thing. Because of a relatively recent new sentencing law, he will be in prison for a very long time, a minimum of 25 years. I guess I feel a bit sorry about that, but just a bit.

I learned a lot about the legal processes involved. Would I want to do it again? Well, probably not. Mainly just because it interrupted my life for 4 days and was a somewhat mentally draining and emotional process.

Ten men and two women came together to weigh the evidence. We went away knowing we had fulfilled our civic duty in a responsible manner. You could argue that the procedures are not very efficient, but we all should feel lucky that we live in a country where this kind of process is followed. In other countries, the process might not be as careful.

An Earthquake in Kansas?

2010-10-19T03:41:00.002-05:00

Well not exactly, the epicenter was near Oklahoma City about 160 miles away from Wichita. But there I was, on October 13th, innocently staring at my computer screen about 9:00 am, and the building started to feel like it was moving around a bit. Not a lot, but noticeable and it lasted for about 15 seconds. At the time, I didn't even know it was actually an earthquake. I had no clue what it was. I was very busy working on a tax return and didn't really care what it was.

Darn taxes get harder to do every day.

It was a couple of hours later when another person in the building asked me if I felt it and told me there was an actual earthquake in Oklahoma. They determined it to be 4.3 on the Richter scale. I have never in my life felt an earthquake like that. They are extremely rare here in Kansas even though there are a couple of small fault lines in southeast Kansas. You would think that you might recognize an earthquake when it happens, but I didn't. No damage here that I know of. It's remarkable that we even felt it, but apparently it was felt in parts of Texas, Arkansas and Missouri also. It seems that the actual event was only about 3 miles underground and because of that the potential for feeling it further away is increased. Hell, I don't know anything about that. You folks that live in more earthquake prone areas would probably know much more about that stuff than me. I just know it as a bit eerie, and I didn't like it. I wonder what it might have felt like if I was riding at the time. Hmmmm...

Great Riding Weather and A Record Hailstone

2010-10-15T10:10:00.001-05:00

Oh, the farmers are starting to bitch. And I suppose we could use a little rain even though our rainfall has been about normal for this year. Farmers never seem to be real happy with the weather. It is either too hot (or cold), or not enough rain, or maybe there has been some hail. It's that winter wheat they worry about, planted in the Fall, harvested in Spring. Whatever! (To coin a popular phrase) But Damn It, the weather for riding has been spectacular! Low temperatures in the 50's, highs in the 70's or low 80's. I have only missed one day of commuting in the last 3 weeks and the next week looks real good. You might ask what was the deal on that one day I missed. Well, I have to admit to being a bit of a chickensh#*. The forecast called for a 40% chance of rain that day, probably to occur late afternoon or evening. It was a day that I teach an accounting class at a local college at night. I needed the laptop and I don't have a waterproof case for it. I don't personally mind getting a little wet at times, but I prefer not to and the security of the laptop was important. And then, of course, it didn't rain. Oh well, there are always other days.

About a month ago we had a pretty severe storm hit the area. It is a bit unusual for a violent thunderstorm to happen in Autumn, but it does happen. We weren't directly hit where we live, but the storm was close by.

The proud partents of a pretty gnarly looking hailstone. She looks proud, he looks bored.

There was a record setting hailstone from that storm, supposedly the largest hailstone ever to hit in Kansas. Glad I wasn't out on Max at the time. Can you imagine being hit by something like this while riding? Oh well, this is Kansas and we are used to dodging storms on occasion. There was a fair amount of damage to roofs in the area and a golf course just west of town took a bit of a beating.

This golf course was closed for a couple of days to repair the greens.

'Bout time for those homeowners insurance rates to go up. Don't you think?

Golda, The Amazing Dog

2010-10-11T03:02:00.001-05:00

The local animal shelter may only keep animals for 3 days and after that they can be subjected to euthanasia. This particular dog was given a couple of days reprieve from that fate because the people at the shelter liked her so much. Jayna had looked at her one day and took me there the next day to see if I would like her as well. We got to walk her around the yard for a bit and, yes, I was immediately sold on her. We named her Golda. We were never real sure exactly what breed she was. The people at the shelter thought she was at least part Australian Shepherd, but not sure what else. Others thought that there was some Brittany Spaniel in her. It didn't really matter. She turned out to be a great dog. She was about a year old when we got her and she lived to attain the ripe old age of 15 years.

Here's Golda (on the right) with her other two cohorts in crime getting ready for a ride in the famous Canadian Subaru. Madeline, in the background, is a 14 year old german shepherd/husky mix. We found her (or should I say she found us) one very cold winter night many years ago. Sophie, the chow, with a slightly confused look on her face, is on the left. She seems to always look a bit confused and we found her (she found us) on Christmas night almost 2 years ago

The night we got her, we got on the internet and tried to find out more information about Australian Shepherds because neither of us knew much about the breed. We read some interesting "stuff" but one story we read captured our fancy. It seems that one couple that owned an "Aussie" had an outdoor party at their home with food and drinks in their back yard. At one point in time during the evening they noticed that all the people at the party were sort of centrally located in the middle of the yard with the dog walking in a circle around them. The damn dog had gently, but firmly and effectively herded everybody into a circle so that he could keep an eye on everyone.

Golda always seemed to have a grin on her face, especially at snack time after a walk.

I still laugh about reading that story even though Golda didn't always display traits like that. But she was such a friendly and social dog. She always wanted to be near you, at your side. She always wanted to help with whatever you were doing especially if barbecue was being cooked. She would always protect our kids who were aged 11 and 16 when we got her. She would always greet you with a smile and a friendly wag of her tail.

Here she is supervising the barbecue. The coffee can catches drippings from the cooking process and she is always and forever interested in that.

And she loved to run!

And what a runner she was! She never seemed to tire and if she did, she'd never let you know it. Our son at the time was running a lot of cross country and track. Golda loved to run with him. It was not unusual for her to run 2 or 3 miles with him. She even ran with the team a few times and everybody thought that was "pretty cool". It was the members of the cross country team that invented the phrase that became the title of this post. They actually turned it into a little song. She also loved to go for a walk with us in the evenings. We did this almost every night. After dinner, when we maybe had settled down to relax and watch a little television, she would nuzzle up against one of our legs, or look up at us with those smiling eyes of hers, as if to say, "Come on, let's go for a walk". We were hard pressed to resist.

Oh, such a sleepy dog!

It was not unusual for a neighbor to see Jayna or I walking with her and say something like "Who is taking who for a walk?". She always wanted to be in front, leading the way. There were always things she wanted to check out like that little rabbit hole down by the creek or that funny smell next to the fire hydrant. She occasionally caught rabbits and possums and was always proud when she protected us from something that she might have considered a threat to us.

At the same time she always had a sense about her to know what our mood and feelings were. There was one time that I had been suffering from some serious back pain. I wanted to take her for a short walk, thinking that the exercise would be therapeutic. I was a little concerned that she might pull too hard and I would end up hurting myself. But somehow, she sensed my feelings and knew I was hurt. She was incredibly patient with me as I hobbled along at a pace much slower than what she was used to.

As her life progressed she developed many little symptoms of what happens to everybody as they get older. Arthritis and other little problems started to take a toll on her physical capabilities. She became unable to really run like she used to, and we knew that frustrated her. But even with these difficulties, when the evening walk might be ready to start, she would try to be the first dog out the door and ready to go. Eventually even the walks became more and more difficult for her and sometimes were only a short jaunt to the end of the block and back. But it was always special for her, no matter the distance.

Jayna and I like to imagine that she is now running in some kind of afterlife with a lot of her old friends and some cross country runners.

We know that is really what she loved to do. .

Golda, We love You! We miss you! .

Go have a good run!

The Morning Sun

2010-10-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

I could be considered a bit overly cautious at times, but here is something that all motorcyclists should maybe consider. Again, I may be preaching to the choir, but........ Right now the sun is getting to be very low in the sky when I leave for work in the morning. I live on the east side of Wichita and work downtown. My commute is almost straight west in the morning, straight east in the evening. As a commuter, if you happen to live west of where you are employed, then sometimes you get to battle the sun on your way to work in the morning, and possibly again later in the day when you ride home. I don't have to face that situation because the sun is usually behind me on my normal commute. But I do sometimes have to deal with the fact that my mirrors will be glared up with the sun behind me. At times the use of the mirrors has been rendered almost useless.

Now I always try to be careful as I ride. I frequently make use of the mirrors and, when changing lanes, I will always turn my head briefly to double check and make sure a cage is not in my blind spot. But when the sun is low in the sky, the resource of using the mirrors becomes ineffective.

One thing I have thought about as I ride west in the morning is that drivers (and riders) traveling east will have the sun in their eyes.

Can they see me?

Particularly if they want to make a left turn?

I have been trying to take that into account as I ride west in the morning.

With the sun low in the sky, shadows become very long. Can make for an interesting picture, even if taken with the Blackberry.

Should I Break out The Winter Gloves Yet?

2010-10-04T03:00:00.000-05:00

I am thinking about it, but have resisted it so far. Our summer here was a little hotter than normal (whatever normal is). The Aerostich Hot Weather Vegan gloves continue to serve me well. They are probably my favorite riding accessory. My mesh Tourmaster jacket and pants have also performed well this past summer. I have however, switched jackets and have been wearing the denim jacket I bought last spring. The denim jacket is not as cool in summer weather even with lots of zippered vents. Part of the reason, though, for changing jackets is that the weather isn't as hot now, plus I just look so damn cool in denim! LOL I suppose I should keep both pairs of gloves on Max, wear one set for the morning ride to work, the other in the afternoon. The cold weather gloves are safely being stored in the garage, but I may have to break them out soon. It was 46 degrees Monday morning when I left the house. My fingers were a bit cold by the time I got to the office, but I had those summer gloves on so I have only myself to blame. Then I will eventually reach a point in time when I will need to break out the glove liners as well, but that may be a few weeks away. I have some silk glove liners and some fleece liners, and sometimes I will wear them all at the same time. I have considered heated grips and other means to ward off the cold on the old fingers, but it only takes me about 15 minutes to get to and from work. I figure I can stand some cold fingers for that length of time. The weather this week has been very conducive for riding. Lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's to low 80's. The famous Canadian Suburu has stayed in the garage for well over a week now. Nice!

Harriers and Rim Rock Farm

2010-09-28T03:00:00.001-05:00

I was 7 or 8 years old, in the 1960's, when the 4 minute mile barrier for running a mile was first broken by a high school student. That person was Jim Ryun and he did it while attending school at Wichita East High School, where my son is now a coach.

Dew on the grass in the early morning sun at Rim Rock Farm, a nationally recognized cross country course near Lawrence, KS.

Ryun's coach at the time was Bob Timmons. When Ryun graduated from high school, he was recruited by the University of Kansas, and to help seal the deal, the university hired Timmons to continue coaching Ryun at KU.

Ryun had a successful career at KU and was an Olympian and world record holder. Timmons continued to coach at KU for many years. He eventually retired and bought a farm near Lawrence KS with the express intent of turning part of it into a first class cross country running course.

Contestants on this team hold a little meeting together before the start of the race.

Another team getting together to encourage each other. Someone said something funny. .

The farm is now known as Rim Rock Farm and for many years now has hosted some prestigious cross country meets including the NCAA championships a few years ago. They host the state high school championship meet each year as well as a large invitational meet each year. This invitational meet is huge with hundreds of runners from the area, and is now referred to by athletes and coaches simply as "Rim Rock".

The start of a race. There were 12 races in different classes this day. . The course is beautiful. It is also grueling and very challenging. Times here at this course are 20 to 30 seconds slower than at a lot of other courses because of the terrain. But everybody wants to race here. They know this is the best race in the region. There could be as many as 2,500 runners at "Rim Rock" this year. .

It's a big damn deal!

About 30 - 40 seconds after the start. .

This year, again, Wichita East High School was invited, and I was invited to go with my son and the team.

After the start on a long slow uphill rise, the runners travel across a grassy area.

A similar view of the first portion of the course. .

It is funny sometimes how the connections in life are made and how they can endure.

. One of Ryun's teammates in high school, Steve Sell, eventually became my son's running coach when he was in high school at Wichita East. My son ran some track and cross country in college as well, but now is back at his high school alma mater and coaching a newer generation of athletes.

A signpost marks the spot on one of the dreaded hills on the course. .

I ran a little bit of cross country in high school myself and my coach at the time, Joe Schrag, became a good friend of Steve Sell as they coached against each other for many years. My son and I frequently see our former coaches at this and a few other track and cross country events each year. It is always fun to catch up a bit with mentors and talk about old times. It is also fun to talk about the new crop of runners and encourage them as they try to battle the course and their own mental attitudes.

One of two covered bridges on the course. After the runners cross over this bridge, they immediately head up Cemetary Hill. .

There is, of course, a lot of physical training involved. Practices are tough and sometimes cover long distances. Sprint work is included in practice on some days. But every long distance runner knows that a large part of running is mental. It is extremely difficult to push yourself to go a little faster and harder when the pain of exertion sets in.

More runners tackling Cemetary Hill. There actually is a small cemetary at the top of the hill. There are no dead runners buried there to my knowledge. .

My own Coach Schrag used to tell us about the best strategy of running on hills. He said to attack the hill and "run hard through the top" and then fly back downhill. You can pass a lot of other runners this way. The natural tendency when you finally reach the top of a hill is to coast a bit and slow down. I never mastered the strategy. In my mind, after reaching the top of a hill' I would say to myself "Screw this! I'm taking a break!"

Looks of concentration and effort by runners on another hill on the course. .

Success in the sport is achieved by staying constant in your effort. It is easy to exert yourself real hard for little bursts of speed and then not have anything left for the remainder of the race. In a nutshell, I never mastered this constant effort. Inconsistency was the reason I never made it above "C" team, but I still enjoyed the sport and have the utmost respect for the people that try it.

A shot of the pond at the covered bridge before Cemetary Hill. The water was very still that morning. .

It is said that Coach Timmons would have a regular routine on the bus ride home after a meet, of individually chatting with each runner about what they did well that day, or what areas they could improve upon. It was at one of these meetings with Jim Ryun that Timmons suggested to him that maybe he could break the 4 minute mark for a mile. This comment supposedly occurred on a day when Ryun was a junior in high school and had run a 4:13 mile that day. Imagine hearing that from your coach on a day when you had just beat the school record and felt pretty good about yourself. But, damned if Ryun didn't eventually do it.

Even more runners on Cemetary Hill. .

That is part of what a good coach is all about. The encouragement and challenges to try just a little harder are a big part of coaching and life. That is part of the reason that mentors like that can become such an important part of our lives. It does not have to be just in athletics. Mentors happen in all walks of life.

A shot of runners nearer the start from a gully by the side of the course. .

I love cross country meets. There are lots of colors in each team's uniforms. Coaches and parents are scattered throughout the course yelling encouragement. Runners are giving it all they have.

It's a great way to spend a day.

There were approximately 200 runners in each race. .

Cross Country runners are referred to as "Harriers". It is not because they are "Hairy" although I have seen many that are. Back in the early days of the sport in Great Britian, the courses were not marked like they are today. In a sort of fox and hound fashion, a group of runners (the hares) would mark the course by dropping pieces of paper, to be followed by the actual contestants (the hounds)who would then follow the course thus marked by the hares. Somehow, from this early day process the term "Harriers" came into fashion and is used to this day.

A shot of the "Oak Holler Bridge". This area was very secluded and the trees were close to the sides of the course along here. .

I love to take the camera along. I think I actually learned a bit about photography this day. I went there with preconceived ideas about the type of pictures I wanted to take. In many cases I was defeated in my attempts because there were so many people, they went by so fast or somebody would get in the way. It was difficult and frustrating to get some of the pictures I wanted.

At "Oak Holler" there is a relatively steep downhill before reaching the covered bridge. Runners were literally flying along here.

I had a strategy of trying to get some pictures from unusual vantage points. I would for instance climb into some tree areas and try and get some pictures of runners through the leaves. In another spot I went into a little gulley near the side of the course and took some shots through some tall grasses as the runners went by. Some of this worked pretty well.

Another shot just before the runners reach "Oak Holler". The skies became cloudier as the day progressed and I ended up using the camera flash here.

There is about 1/4 mile left to go at this point. Runners are getting serious here and trying to finish as strong as they can. Just about 200 yards to go and this runner from Wichita North was looking very determined. She finished second in her race. I saw one runner slip and fall along this same place. It had to hurt, but she got right back up and finished amidst a few tears in her eyes. The finish line.

Here's Jim Ryun himself (on the left) at the finish line. He handed out the medals on this day. The guy to his right was also a teammate of Ryun's in high school. He does all the announcing at these events and told stories about Ryun's running career as the day transpired.

It would be pretty special to receive a medal from Jim Ryun. .

But most of all, after experiencing some difficulty in getting shots that I thought I wanted, I decided to just look around with my own eyes, and see what shots might present themselves to me. There was very little wind this day and some of the ponds were quite still providing the opportunity for some reflection pictures off the water. Some of these also turned out well. Had I concentrated on solely getting pictures of runners, I feel I would have missed many good opportunities.

A portion of the Wichita East High team with a relatively famous alum.

Some of the best shots I had just sort of appeared before my eyes without any composition in mind, and with camera at hand, I was able to get some decent shots. I took well over 100 pictures this day.

The Hat's Off Department Vol. 1

2010-09-24T11:12:00.005-05:00

The Scooter Cannonball Run

This event comprised 10 Days and over 3,000 miles from Vancouver BC to Portland ME.

No easy task.

It started September 9 and ended September 18, 2010

The event is held every 2 years. The 2008 event actually went through Wichita although I didn't see them pass by.

But what an amzing feat!

My hat is off to all the participants!

Here's a link to the official website: http://scootercannonball.com/

The scooters are grouped into 3 classes, a manual 200 class, an automatic 190 class, and an automatic 250 class. Maxi scoots apparently not allowed.

In 2008, rid.ers on SYM HD-200's like mine placed 1st and 3rd in the automatic 190 class. Alas, didn't find any SYM's in the same class for 2010.

Some interesting tidbits:

A 1966 Lambretta won the manual 200 class this year. Pretty Cool!

A Vespa LX 150 won the automatic 190 class

A Piaggio MP3 won the automatic 250 class. There were 2 SYM's that placed in this class this year.

Many riders modify their machines a bit to make the run. The primary modification seems to allow for extra fuel to enable them to go longer between stops. They must check in at various places on the route and are awarded points for each day based upon time in the saddle and miles covered.

Here's some links to some blogs of some of the riders. Some have written more than others, but there is some interesting reading about their preparations and their rides.

http://cannonball08.blogspot.com/

http://bagelsscooterblog.blogspot.com/

http://bklwashere.wordpress.com/

http://cbr10.blogspot.com/

http://lambrettaodysseys.blogspot.com/

http://vespacrosscountry.wordpress.com/

http://kickstartkaren.blogspot.com/

Here's a toast to all the participants!

A Dream about Motorcycle Waves

2010-09-19T03:15:00.001-05:00

I dozed off this last Saturday morning after feeding the animals at 6:30am. I slept for a little over an hour, but when I awoke I remembered having a very vivid dream about riding and commuting with Max. It's amazing how a vivid dream like that can leave a lasting impression. The last part of the dream, and the most unusual portion involved me riding home after a day at work and approaching an intersection where I had to stop at a red light. At that intersection I met up with 6 other riders that had also arrived there at approximately the same time. Now that may not seem unusual, but the deal was (in my dream) that we all sort of knew each other at least from seeing each and every other one of us sometime on the roads of the city. But we had never met up with each other at the same time in the same location. Previously it had all been occasional chance meetings on the road in various places and various times. We had almost always waved at each other in the past. It was difficult and awkward trying to wave at everyone at this intersection at the same time. We didn't see each other every day, maybe less than once a week, but we sort of knew each other a bit even though we had never actually talked with each other and didn't know any names.

The Encounter. Let me describe the situation first and then give more descriptions of each rider.

It's an intersection where two four lane streets meet with a stoplight controlling the traffic. I am in the left lane going east and a lady on a Harley is in the right lane going east and already stopped at the light. To my left and proceeding south through the intersection are two men on sport bikes. To my right is a man on a Vespa proceeding northerly, but waiting to turn left after the guys on the sport bikes pass through the intersection. Also to my right is a lady on a small Honda who was in the process of turning right to go east. Then directly in front of me was a guy on an old BMW heading west but stopped at the light.

There were some cars in the area as well, but in my dream they were unimportant and I took closer notice of the motorcycles.

As we encountered each other at the intersection, we tried to wave at each other, or at least in some manner acknowledge each other. But some of us were in motion, some trying to execute a turn, others just stopped and stationary. But we all saw each other. All recognized each other, and all were surprised to each other there at that specific place in time. The guy on the BMW actually stood up and raised both arms in the air as if we had all scored a touchdown together.

I think it is funny how dreams create themselves from a combination of true real world experiences and made up fantasies. For example, in this dream, the intersection is very real and one which I passs through frequently. Some of the riders are real as well and people I sometimes see on the road, others are a fantasy.

The lady Harley rider.

She is a real person I have seen just a few times on the road. I am not sure why she made it into my dream, but maybe it is because I have some respect for her. She is relatively slender and possibly no more than 5' 3" tall. Her bike quite possibly weighs over 600 lbs. There are leather saddlebags with little leather frills that can blow in the wind. But the first thing I noticed about her is her blonde hair. Underneath a 3/4 helmet is beautiful braided blonde hair that reaches from her head clear down to the seat of the motorcycle. She wears leather gear and handles her bike very well. We nodded to each other as I pulled up alongside her.

The guy on the Vespa.

This guy is real, too. I have never talked with him, but see him frequently on the way to work. We generally see each other at another intersection, but in my dream he showed up here. He also wears a 3/4 helmet and also wears a gear jacket, but looks like he wears dress pants. I bet he has a tie on underneath the gear jacket an leaves an extra sport coat at the office. His Vespa appears to be relatively new. He is a careful rider and I have seen him out in cold weather, too. We generally haven't waved at each other, but it is mostly because of our relative positions to each other and the traffic situation when we meet.

The lady on the Honda.

This lady is not big either, but her bike is nowhere the size of the Harley. She is also real and I see her very frequently and know that she is a regular commuter in almost any kind of weather. I am guessing that she works at one of the aircraft plants. She wears a complete set of gear and a full helmet and handles her bike very carefully and very well. I almost always wave at her when I see her, but she has never returned a wave to me.

The 2 Guys on the Sport Bikes.

These guys are a fantasy, but I see people like them all the time. They don't wear helmets or gear. They appear to be relativey careful riders though even if they do "tear out" on occasion from a stop light. They appear to be strong and quite capable of handling a light and powerful bike. It is easy to imagine them with their girlfriends riding pillion with their arms around their waists and a big grin on their faces. They are generally friendly and return waves when I see them.

The Guy on the BMW.

This guy is a fantasy also, and my description of him may make him sound a bit like Jack Riepe of Twisted Roads fame. But this is my dream, and this guy isn't Jack Riepe. (Sorry, Jack) His BMW is old and not really very pretty or clean even though it sounds like it is in perfect running condition. The guy is middel aged and has a very weathered set of gear, maybe an older Aerostich suit. His bike is red, but faded in color. The guy has a grayish colored beard and wears a full face helmet. The unusual thing is that he has a large old red duffel bag strapped to the seat behind him. He almost looks like he has been on the road for hours and has just arrived in town. He is always enthusiastic about his waves as if every two wheeled rider on the road is a close friend of his.

Conclusion?

I gave up a long time ago in trying to analyze my dreams. I fully admit that my mind seems to work in strange ways sometimes, especially when it comes to dreams. I was just so amazed at how vivid the dream was that I thought it might be worth sharing.

Exactly What is a Vincati?

2010-09-13T03:01:00.005-05:00

Book Report

Big Sid's Vincati

I had seen this book in a catalogue or two, and sort of wondered about it, but the interest seemed only passing at the time. Some of my family members think I can be dangerous in a bookstore, as evidenced by this t-shirt I received one Christmas. In an effort to alleviate the fact that books seem to be trying to take over all of the space in our home, my wife and I both now own a "Nook", the Barnes and Noble electronic book reader. Big Sid's Vincati is the first book I read on my Nook. It's not a long book. I read it in about 2 1/2 days. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. In 1950 a Vincent motorcycle was priced at about $1,000. Big Sid and some of his friends were very interested in possibly owning one despite the price. Big Sid was an accomplished motorcycle mechanic, specializing in high performace engines. Sid and his friends felt that the machine was quite capable, with a few high performance modifications, of performing like the machine that Rollie Free had used to set a land speed record. But the Vincent was difficult to find. Sid and his friends said that they would travel the corners of the nation if they had to, to find one. The book is largely about the relationship between Sid and his son. Late in Sid's life, when Sid had experienced some recent health problems, the son concocts the idea that he and Sid should attempt to build a "Vincati". The Vincati is a motorcycle using a Vincent engine, with a Ducati frame. It was meant to be a project where Sid and his son could spend some quality time together. Big Sid asked his son, "Are we really going to build this Vincati?" His son responded, "Come Hell or High Water!" Sid's son did not exactly follow along in Sid's footsteps in life. The son loved motorcycling, but Sid once said to him that "You may be a good college professor, but you are a lousy mechanic". Now statements like this from Sid would and did anger his son, but knowing that as Sid was getting older, that their time together was becoming less and less. Eventually the son would respond by saying " That's me and don't I know it!" Their relationship at times was rocky, like a lot of parents and children, but eventually they became more comfortable with each other. The effort to assemble the machine had some difficulties, some mechanical. some personal. At one point the son wondered whether all the effort was really worth it. After all it was just an object. The son wondered how the motorcycle could have taken possession of him, but eventually decided that he was already and forever had been possessed by the motorcycle. They didn't take an easy road on the assembly, always insisting on the best quality high performance parts. But eventually the machine was finished. At one point Sid's son had to say, "Damn it Dad, I'm not a kid anymore!" I recommend this book highly. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. There was just enough technical information to be interesting, yet not boring. And the descriptons of the relationships between the characters in the book was superb. While reading the book, I thought many times about my own father. At other times while reading, I thought about my own son and daughter. I love it when a book makes me think.

Pizza on the Grill

2010-09-09T03:34:00.002-05:00

I have cooked a lot of different foods on our grill, but not pizza. But my son had found a recipe for grilled pizza and tried it our on his grill. So on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, he offered to cook up a feast for us. We didn't object even if we thought this might be sort of unusual. I was placed in charge of starting the fire and drinking a beer or two, a job which I took with utmost seriousness. The other preparations for various ingredients were done by my son and other family members.

There is no such thing as a recipe card. A laptop displays the recipe and the other toppings are in various stages of readiness.

He prepared the crust from scratch. A litle flour, yeast and water. He carefully kneaded the dough and used a rolling pin to create the pizza crusts.

We covered the grill grates with foil. The idea is to cook the crust for a few minutes on one side, then turn them over, place the toppings on and cook to the finish.

You are supposed to turn the crust over after it begins to bubble a bit. All went according to plan. I just watched, my son did al the heavy work.

The crust is bubbling. A little extra virgin olive oil helps keep the crust from sticking to the foil.

After turning the crust over, the first step is to put on the sauce. We just used a mixture of organic tomato paste and sauce. To the sauce we added some herbs from our herb garden, oregano and basil primarily.

The placement of the sauce done with great care.

The other ingredients go on next. In this case pineapple, ham and sauteed mushrooms. Each person got to put on their own ingredients.

We sliced up a fresh pineapple for one of the possible ingredients.

After the main ingredients are placed on the pizza, the final ingredient was some very nice mozzarella cheese. I think a few people added in some feta and parmesan cheese as well. I'm not sure because I was in charge of drinking beer at this point.

Cheese is good, Cheese is fine, we like cheese all the time!

Some others, me included , opted for a more pepperoni type pizza. I added in a bit of fresh pepper from the garden. We have been disappointed with the production of peppers on our plants this year, but what peppers that have been produced have tasted very good.

A veritible plethora of pepperoni.

Ready to cook. It doesn't take long. The first pizzas produced were placed in the oven to keep warm. We did two at a time on the grill.

Ready to close the lid and cook.

We ate like little pigs, drank a little more beer and generally had a great day.

The pizza was fantastic!

Getting Zenish with the Starter Switch

2010-09-06T03:15:00.002-05:00

Okay, so maybe Zenish isn't a real word. But I did say Ohmmm a couple of times while I was doing this little minor surgery on Max. I have been having this maddening little intermittent (very intermittent) problem with the starter on Max. The problem was so rare that it whas been difficult to diagnose the actual problem, and truth be known, I am not at all sure it is fixed yet. Sometimes I would punch the starter switch and nothing would happen. Nothing at all. I fiddled with battery connections and engaged in various other feeble attempts at diagnosing the problem. Then later, as if by magic, Max would start just like he usually does.

The scene underneath the instrument cluster after removing the shroud covering the handlebar.

I finally determined that maybe the problem was the starter switch itself, or possibly a connection at one of the brake levers. One of the brake levers has to be depressed to engage the starter. To check it out, the cover over the handlebar needed to be removed. Sounds simple, but you have to remove the mirrors, the turn signal light brackets, numerous little bolts and then carefully pry apart the plastic parts that fit into each other with little nobs and indentations. It didn't take an act of God, but I did say "Ohmmm" a time or two.

You can see the starter switch in this picture before removal. The lead wires are shown. They appeared to pass closely to the kill switch (not shown) and the leads to the brake lever for the lights.

My good friend Lloyd told me to look at the brake levers as well. They were supposed to depress or release some very tiny little plungers to turn on or off the brake lights and to open the connection for the starter. I didn't see anything wrong there.

My thought was that maybe the starter switch itself might be dirty and maybe I could clean it. Well. no such luck. It was all sealed and I was unable to take it apart.

Here's the switch after removal. The Mag Light came in real handy in spite of a relatively well lit garage .

Eventually I determined that it migt be a good idea to wrap some electrical tape around the leads to the sarter switch. This would provide some additional isulation for the wires that appeared to pass very closely, maybe even touch some other wires under the shroud of the handlebar. My hope was that this might solve the problem, Hmmmmm, I know, maybe not.

Here's the starter switch after reinstallation and with the tape around the leads.

We'll see if it works. Max has started fine ever since I did this. But did I really fix it?

If nothing else, I now know how to gat at all the "stuff" under the handlebar cover.

Small steps.

Blacktop Nationals; The Cars

2010-09-02T03:45:00.000-05:00

The first Annual car truck and motorcycle show consisted more of autos than anything else. What few motorcycles I found were on my previous post. This post is dedicated to the automobiles. And this post contains pictures only of what I considered more to be the unusual automobiles. There were lots of Camaros and GTO's and 1960's era muscle cars. There were some nice ones, but I wanted to concentrate on more unusual cars. The next three Vettes are for Bobskoot because I know he has a red one.

The first red Vette The second one

And the third, a very nice '57 (?)

The show had its fair share of modified roadsters

I lked the hood lettering on this one.

Then there was this Crown Vic. Not factory colors obviously, but certainly unique and interesting.

My son really liked this truck. I did too.

Part of the underneath frame was made of wood.

Another pretty nice old sports car. I can't recall for sure what it is.

Sort of a Halloween theme to this roadster.

This one is called a Henry J. Not sure I had ever seen one. It was up for auction. Not sure what the fate of it was.

I always thought these E type Jaguars were pretty neat.

An MG looking into the cab.

And from the front.

I believe this was an Alf Romeo. I thought the gear shift placement was a bit unique.

A colorful Nomad station wagon. Very unique way of opening up the tailgate.

I know, not a lot of motorcycles, but there were some interesting cars.

Probably the silliest car, to me, at the show was a 1971 Ford Pinto station wagon. Truth be known, I owned a 1972 Pinto wagon for awhile when I was in college. It was dependable but exceedingly unexciting. My son took a picture of me near the Pinto, but I looked like such a dork in the picture, I decided not to post it. My gain, your loss.

Blacktop Nationals; the Motorcycles

2010-08-30T03:30:00.001-05:00

How can you have the "First Annual" of anything. I mean really. I suppose you could say the "Second Annual" of something, and no problem thereafter. But First Annual?

Well we did it here this weekend, the First Annual Blacktop Nationals Car Truck and Motorcycle Show. Participants around the area brought in their vehicles to show off. There was also an auction and various vendors had booths to sell wares. Ford Motor Co was a major sponsor

There weren't a lot of motorcycles on display. Maybe they didn't get the message. But there were some interesting ones to look at. I'll do a separate post on the autos.

This old Indian motorcycle was probably the finest motorcycle on display, my opinion only.

The downtown area was lined with cars on display for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The hope is that the event will be even bigger next year. Judging from the number of people there on Saturday afternoon, the event was a success, and might be even bigger next year.

A 1964 Cushman Scooter in fine condition

There seemed to be more motorcycles parked near the display area rather than being displayed. Around here that means lots of Harleys.

A definate non-Harley. A taxi from Thailand.

A nice early to mid 80's Honda

And another one.

At a separate location I found this Bonneville. Wasn't sure if it was actually on display, had no display card I could find. But it was sure nice. Was Conch here?

A Triumph Bonneville

We wandered over to the convention center parking lot. A couple of local area dealers had trailers set up. There is a huge Harley dealer her just north of town.

The Harley dealership trailer with a few bikes on display.

Just down the way a bit is another dealership trailer. This dealer sells a lot of brands. BMW, Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, Kawasaki and even some Kymco and Honda scooters.

They had yellow tags on some of the bikes on display, indicating a special price for the event. I wished that ther could have been more bikes to look at that day, even though it was fun to look at all the cars. This next bike is one I sort of have my eye on. I just like it, and it is sort of a developing dream to own one someday. I was sort of hoping the dealer would have one on display there at the show. I asked and they said they didn't have one at the show, but did have a couple in stock at the dealership. I may stop by and get a closer look someday.

Honda NT700V

A Cooler Morning

2010-08-26T03:04:00.004-05:00

Wednesday morning was very special! I was excited. Monday's high temperature was in the upper 90's. It had seemed like almost every day had been that way for the last 60 days. We hit 109 degrees one day a couple of weeks ago.

But a cold front came through Monday night, we got a couple of inches of much needed rain, and the prediction was for an overnight low of 58 degrees for Wednesday morning.

Absolute heaven!

We left the windows in the house open Tuesday night and slept like babies in the cooler air.

Part of the reason for the excitement though, was that I would be able to wear my relatively new denim jacket on my ride to work, rather than my mesh jacket that I had worn almost every day this summer.

Now, I love my mesh jacket. It has protected me in an accident, and is comfortable on hot days. It has 2 liners to enable me to wear it year round. But for some reason, I have grown a little tired of it. I actually bought the denim jacket a few months ago, but only worn it a few times. It is not a hot weather jacket. It is very nice to have 2 jackets, just for a little change of pace, if nothing else.

On Wednesday morning I donned the denim jacket and took off to work. The denim jacket has zippered vents, but I left them open. The cool air just felt so damn good as I rode. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the ride.

I plan to use the denim jacket almost exclusively in cooler weather. It should be fantastic in the winter months. The denim material is heavy, yet soft and comfortable. As I rode to work on Wednesday morning, I started to imagine what it would be like on a colder day with its own heavy liner and maybe a sweater underneath. It seems like it has been a long time since I have ridden that way.

In a sort of tantalizing way, the ride to work on Wednesday felt a lot more like Autumn rather than Summer. I know there are a few more weeks to go until Autumn is officially here, but I, for one am looking forward with great anticipation to cooler weather. I love riding in cool, even cold, temperatures.

K-254, Too Dangerous?

2010-08-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

Recently, there have been 3 fatal accidents on this road, one of them involving a motorcyclist.

Not sure this was the exact intersection, but there are many like it on this stretch of K-254 between Wichita and El Dorado, Kansas. The intersections are relatively well marked. The construction of the road is very fine.

I admit to not always paying a lot of attention to the news about vehicle accidents. But sometimes my ears perk up if I hear that it involves a motorcycle. In this particular case, a motorcyclist was dead at the scene. He was not wearing a helmet. It might not have made a difference.

The intersection of K-254 and Webb Road. Webb Road is a 4 lane paved road south of K-254, a gravel road north of K-254.

K-254 is a state highway. It is a quick route from the north side of Wichita to El Dorado where you can connect to the Kansas Turmpike. The Turnpike can be accessed in Wichita also, but if you can shave off 25 miles of toll road with an equally good free road, then why not?

I have crossed this road before, but will only sparingly ever travel on it. It's a little fast for Max and I. If I am riding out of town, I generally like state highways as opoosed to interstates and US highways. The state highways generally have less traffic and slower speed limits. But K-254 is an exception to that.

Looks much like an interstate, doesn't it.

For some reason I felt sort of drawn to the area on a Sunday morning. Pay my respects? Maybe. I guess I was sort of curious.

The speed limit is obvious.

Okay, if you are like me, if the speed limit is a certain number, don't you add 5 to that. Well a lot of people do. I have seen people literally fly down this road.

Looking west from one of the intersections

One of the problems as you approach K-254 from one of the intersecting roads is trying to guess how fast the traffic is moving. It is safe to assume that the traffic will, at a minimum. be traveling 20-30 mph more than that of the intersecting road. This requires you to speed up very quickly as you get on the road. There is also the issue of judging the gap of traffic into which you might enter.

Just how visible is this motorcyclist?

He's a little closer now.

This next picture really points out the issue for me. This is taken from a bridge over K-254 at Woodlawn Ave. There are exit and on ramps at Woodlawn. But there are no exit and on ramps at many of the other intersections. It has always seemed a bit strange to me to have a road with such a high speed limit and interstate features with as many intersections, almost every mile, as there are on this road.

In this picture at the top you can see the next intersection. The intersecting road is gravel to the north and paved to the south.

Easy to merge from this street.

The authorities have been looking at some of the safety issues. It's a great road and arguably some of the drivers involved were not as careful as they should have been. But some people have wondered whether this road is just too good. Maybe better than it should be.

The motorcyclist that lost his life was traveling on K-254 just a couple of miles from here. Someone pulled out in front of him while they entered the highway. A damn shame.

The First Air Force One

2010-08-16T03:10:00.000-05:00

The monthly ride for the local scooter club, "The Wichita Twisters" happened on August 1. It was hotter than Hades. We had 13 or 14 people show up on various types of scooters from 50cc to 650cc. A few new people showed up as well. Pretty good turn out for such a hot day.

The ride this month was aircraft related. Wichita is famous for the manufacture of aircraft. Boeing, Cessna, Beech and LearJet all have plants here. McConnell Air Force Base sits near the southeast part of town where the old airport used to be. A newer airport now sits near the southwest part of town. Boeing has a large facility on the opposite side of the runway at the air force base. They do a lot of defense related work as well as commercial aircraft work. The Beech plant is on the east side of town with its own runways. Cessna and LearJet are near the newer airport.

I wasn't even aware of the history of "Air Force One". Near the downtown area, there is a display of the first plane designated as "Air Force One". The plane was manufactured in 1937 by Beech Aircraft Corporation and is now on display. I didn't even know this plane was on display here and was glad to learn where it was as we rode.

The sign is hard to read, by picture or otherwise, but describes the history of this plane.

They erected a monstrous fence in front of the display that made a good picture somewhat difficult. I guess they don't want any vandalism. For the day, these were pretty advanced planes and the Beech twin engine planes are famous for speed.

The Beechcraft "Air Force One" , the first one.

Nowadays, Air Force One is a Boeing 747, of course highly modified. We see the plane occasionally in the skies above Wichita because the plane comes here for maintenance and updates. Before that, Air Force One was a Boeing 707.

A shot through the fence of the radial engine

From there on, we rode to the east side of town toward the Boeing facility and the air force base. The old airport building has now been converted into an aircraft museum. Our next stop was to visit this museum and see some of the planes on display there. On the tarmac there is a Boeing B-52, and old Boeing 727 (Fed Ex plane), a LearJet, a Beech Starship, an older Boeing 707 converted to a refueling tanker, and various other planes. Many are very impressive.

Inside the building are many displays of even older aircraft and engines. It is quite interesting. Many early airplane pioneers set up shop in Wichita, and Wichita's growth as a city was largely dependent on this industry.

A Boeing 707 tanker with a bunch of scooters in front

The airplane industry took a major hit when the economy collapsed in 2008. There were thousands of people laid off. It seems to be recovering a bit, but slowly and the unions argue that much work has bent sent overseas to benefit from cheaper labor. After WW II, through the early 70's though, the industry was booming. Cessna, Beech and Learjet now produce luxury jet aircraft while still maintaining a business for propellor driven planes.

More scooters in front of an old Boeing 727 once used by Fed Ex.

The Boeing plant here is huge and does a lot of defense related work. It is convenient for them to have the air force base on the opposite side of the runway. We occasionally see all types of aircraft in the skies here. It is not unusual to see AWACS planes and other significantly modified aircraft.

Boeing also produces the front portion of the new "Dreamliner" which is then shipped by rail to Everett Washington for assembly.

Another "lineup" of scooters.

At the end of our ride we rode out to the new airport and ended up at this steakhouse for iced tea and soft drinks. It was a hot ride, but a fun one.

The destination for cooling off and getting liquid sustenance.

Thoughts on the Road to Nebraska

2010-08-12T03:13:00.002-05:00

Some of you that are more experienced and accomplished "Tourers" than I am may find some of the words in this post a bit simplistic. But my intent was just to record some thoughts, pictures and observances from the longest trip I have ever attempted on two wheels. So for posterity, here it is!

The final decision to take Max to Nebraska wasn't finally made until early Thursday morning. The weather forecast was just "iffy" enough to make me consider the possibility of taking the famous Canadian Subaru instead. But at 5:15 am I moved Max out of the garage and started getting the bags and backpack stowed. It was dark and there was some very visible lightning off to the east of town. But the radar indicated that the storm wasn't headed my way. I briefly considered putting on the rain jacket just in case, but didn't. We took off! I stopped briefly, a few miles away from home to check the packing a bit and was glad I did. I had purchased some new straps a few days before because I was worried that maybe one of the bungee cords would break. It happens, you know. The luggage bag I used was "strapped" to the bike and the small cooler I took was then bungeed to the luggage. The straps had come loose a bit and I needed to re-configure the straps a bit. Oh well, it was my first time using the straps, but I figured it out, got the straps re-positioned a bit better, and moved on again. I got gas in Newton, about 25 miles north of Wichita. Getting gas there was convenient because the next stop for gas would be about 70 miles from there, but after that it would be another 50 miles or so. Didn't think I could push it that far, and I was right. The sun was trying to come up when I got to Newton, but a lot of clouds in the east were obscuring the sun. I took this shot along K-15 about 25 miles north of Newton.

Max in the early morning sun

The next city of any size was Abilene, the boyhood home of Dwight D Eisenhower. His presidential library is there and I stopped to get a couple of pictures.

The chapel at the Eisenhower Center

As I slowed down while entering the city of Abilene, I heard a funny noise of what sounded like two pieces of metal clanging together. Not a bad noise, and not real loud, but it made me wonder. Was it me, or the car next to me? It was me. I didn't see anything right away and Max was running fine, so I didn't worry about it while I took these pictures.

The boyhood home of "Ike"

I needed gas in Abilene as well, and after I left the Eisenhower Center, I proceeded down the street to find a gas station. The clanging noise was definately from Max, and it sounded like it might be coming from the muffler area, but while riding, I couldn't tell for sure.

A statue of "Ike" The actual library where his "papers" are stored. I saw many people using the library.

Eisenhower was president in the 1950's after a successful career as a 5 star general and the commander of allied forces during World War 2. Ironically, he was the first president to coin the phrase of the "Military Industrial Complex". More recent presidents have huge libraries created for them. Clinton's, in Little Rock Arkansas, is immense. Ike's is modest in comparison. In my opinion, Eisenhower was an interesting person and was good for the country.

Max at the Eisenhower Center. If you look closely, you might see that the heat shield on the muffler looks crooked. It was.

While getting gas a little further up the street I was able to determine that the shield for the muffler was just about to come off and was the source of the clanging noise. There were supposed to be 3 bolts holding it in place. Two were missing and the third was loose. I tried to tighten it, but it appeared that it wouldn't hold very well, so the next solution was just to take it off. I did and put it in my backpack. I reminded myself not to stand too close to the muffler for the remainder of the trip. I thought to myself, if this is the worse thing that happens on this trip, then I'll be fine.

I tried to make one more stop in Abilene. I was a bit hungry and a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit from McDonalds sounded good. But as I dismounted, I noticed that a tour bus of some sort had also stopped there, the lines inside were long, and I decided I wasn't that hungry anyway and rode on.

I am always interested in "The Wave" that motorcyclists give each other. I gave and received many waves along the way. But for some reason, I didn't get any waves in Abilene. I wondered if the motorcyclists were just sort of "stuck up" there. Oh well, no matter.

It was just north of Abilene that I hit a bird. It was a small bird and it just glanced off my left shoulder, but I hope I didn't hurt him. I wondered a bit about what it would have been like if the bird had hit my face shield. I went riding on, and I hope the bird went flying on.

My route was primarily along K-15 which I took clear into Nebraska until just west and south of Lincoln Nebraska. There was very little traffic. A few trucks here and there. I sometimes tried to predict how bad the "truck wash" would be when you passed one going the opposite direction. Got surprised a bit a couple of times. Not sure I will ever get used to it, and don't like it, but survived very well.

I was a bit anxious to "get there" and pushed Max fairly hard. For much of the trip to Nebraska, I had the speedometer pointed at about 65 to 70 mph. Now I know that Max's speedometer is about 10% optimistic, so I suppose my actual speed was 60-65 mph, but I was fine with that. That would get me there just fine, in plenty of time to meet Gary. I had told him I thought I might get there about 2:00 pm. I was very close in that estimate.

The next gas stop was in Clay Center Kansas. It wasn't all that far from Abilene, and I could have gone much farther, but there were only very small towns after that and it was a pretty good stretch to get to the next town of any real size, Fairbury, Nebraska, so I stopped for gas again.

I used to have this BMW 633csi automobile that had quite the funky gas guage. Now this BMW, my only experience with the famous Kool Aid some of us keep hearing about, was notorious for having the gas guage indicator stay up high for awhile and then drop quickly as the miles went by. I actually ran it out of gas one time, accidently. But because of this experience, I have developed a major distrust of all gas guages, no matter the vehicle.

In addition, I haven't taken Max on many little excursions like this and was unsure what kind of gas mileage I could get at highway speeds. I normally get about 75 mpg in town and Max has about a 1.8 gallon tank. But I assumed that my gas mileage would be worse at highway speed, and consequently I stopped to get gas more often than maybe I needed to. If the indicator got down to 1/2, then I started to get nervous. It turned out I was partially right. I ended up averaging about 60 mpg on the trip.

Helmet Hair!

There was this music playing in the McDonalds in Abilene. It was a relatively popular song maybe 20 years ago, and I knew the song well. As I ride I like to hum songs as I go, and I started to hum this song. Eventually though, I couldn't get it out of my mind and purposefully tried to think of another song to hum. It drove me crazy a bit, but I survived.

Clay Center, the county seat of Clay County had a very nice downtown area that surrounded a very nice county courthouse. I stopped again for a few pictures. I have a client that lives here, but I don't think I had ever visited this town. It wasn't a big town, but the people seemed friendly and I was relatively impressed.

The courthouse in the morning sun Some of the stores in the "square" surrounding the courthouse. A statue on the courthouse square

After Clay Center, I rode through Washington, Kansas. A former business partner of mine was from this area of the state originally. I didn't stop to take any pictures, but rode around a bit, and it seemed like a nice town. From then on I was hell bent for Nebraska. A little turn to the west and then back north to the border.

They say Nebraska is the "Good Life"

It wasn't bad to look at.

I stopped in Fairbury, Nebraska to get gas again, and by now I was getting hungry. After getting gas I stopped at a McDonalds and got a quarter pounder value meal. No pictures. Everybody knows what they look like. The fries were incredibly salty. Do they teach salting fries at hamburger school? I wondered. But it was quick and easy. I was anxious to move on, knowing that at this point I was over 2/3 of the way there. . There was a stretch from Fairbury to Crete, Nebraska, that was pretty boring and Max and I pushed on pretty hard. Both Fairbury and Crete were, to me, fairly non-exciting towns.

Helmets required in Nebraska, not in Kansas. I didn't take mine off.

The ride into Lincoln was relatively uneventful as well. I adjusted my route in an effort to find the hotel, and actually went right to the hotel. I was glad and arrived about 7 1/2 hours after departure. I thought I might be tired, but felt surprisingly good. It was nice to get into the hotel room and cool off a bit, but within a few minutes, I was ready to go again. Gary and I rode and walked around town a bit. I have to admit that Gary's Harley was able to keep up with Max fairly well. (grin) . After spending time with Gary and getting a pretty good sleep that night in the hotel, it was time to re-pack my stuff onto the bike. I discovered that I had two piles of really sweaty clothing that I had worn that first day. Since I am an amateur "tourer" my method of protecting some of my baggage in case of rain was to take along a couple of large plastic garbage bags. I could place the luggage in the bag and strap it to the bike if needed. But no rain occurred, and the forecast was for no rain on the return trip, so the plastic bag was used to house the sweaty clothes for the return trip. I thought that if I hadn't done this, then all the clothes in my bag would have smelled pretty ripe by the time I got home. . Day Two was predicted to be a bit wamer than day one, and I would take the same route home. The skies were a bit cloudy as I left Lincoln and the temperature was in the low 70's. Actually very nice. I was a bit surprised about how much cooler it felt when the sun wasn't shining directly on you. On day one, the sun shone the entire day, but the temperature was actually a bit cooler. Day Two was actually a bit warmer, but partly cloudy. Probably more cloudy than sunny for most of the ride home, and it made some difference in how I felt. It was still warm, but didn't feel bad at all.

I didn't push the speed as hard on the way back. I tended to ride about 5- 10 mph slower on the way home, but I wasn't rushed, traffic was still very light and I wanted to enjoy the ride.

I did. . As I re-entered the state of Kansas, I noticed a Highway Patrol car sitting near the intersection of K-15 and US-36. It ws at this point where I was due to turn back east a bit and approach the town of Washington, Kansas. The Patrolman was just sitting there, but I thought it a bit odd. I made my turn and proceeded east and about 1/2 mile down the road I encountered a funeral procession.

And this wasn't just an average funeral procession.

I became quickly amazed at the size of the procession. It went on for at least what seemed like 2 miles and was pretty obvious that the Patriot Guard was involved. I would guess that there might have been over 300 motorcycles and 100 automobiles involved. My only regret was that I wasn't smart enough or quick enough to even get the camera out and take a picture. You'll just have to believe my description.

It occurred to me later that the procession might have started at Fort Riley, a large US Army base near Junction City, Kansas which ws about 70 miles to the southeast. It was a darned impressive sight. I got a wave from almost every motorcyclist in the procession and felt honored to even see the procession occur. It's easy to take a lot for granted, but here is an instance where I felt a bit humble that someone had given their life in defending something they felt important.

And I was just out here having fun.

Then there was a stretch of road just south of Washington, Kansas that looked like this.

The "Scraped Roadway"

A section, totalling about 20 miles, had been scraped off in getting ready for a new layer of blacktop. Lines and lines and lines. Oh, it wasn't real dangerous on two wheels, but it did command some attention and the front wheel got a but "squirrilly" a couple of times. I slowed down a bit through this area. It didn't last too long, but was a bit obnoxious. I was glad to get away from there.

. The next picture is a bit out of order timewise, but the thought occurred to me about what it was like to "head for home" Kansas has always been my home.

Still many miles to go, but seeing this sign was somehow comforting.

As I rode along, I must admit, that I was getting a pretty sore butt. Day One didn't bother me a bit and sometimes my back gets tired on longer rides. But the way I positioned my bag and cooler for this trip, I had a way to lean back a bit and felt pretty comfortable.

But my butt was another story. I found myself doing things to try and change riding position, like leaning forward, to try and change things up and alleviate soreness. I thought about Jack Riepe's Day Long Saddle. The saddle on Gary's bike was really nice looking, too, and looked like it might be comfortable for a long time. At stop lights I would take a moment to stand up and stretch out the legs. Anything I could do, I tried. But it seemed that mile after mile of bumps from the roadway just added to the soreness. Okay, I didn't die, but it made me consider the fact that if I were going to do some longer touring some day, a different seat might help a bit. . Max is a great bike, perfect, even exemplary, for the commuting purpose I bought him for. And he was great on this trip, no complaints. It's just that if I do more of this touring "stuff" a bigger machine would help, definately with a more comfortable seat. That said, I still have no plans to be a longer distance tourer. But someday, maybe........

The only other mishap, mechanically, on the trip, again occurred in Abilene Kansas, on the way back. What is it about that town? Nobody waves either. As I got gas again, I tried the starter and nothing happened. Now I had experienced a small amount of difficulty with the starter for a couple of weeks before the trip. On occasion, it just seemed that the starter button would not connect. For awhile I thought that the connection with my brake lever was the issue. I have to depress the brake lever for the starter to connect. But then, I noticed that the starter switch itself seemed to be a bit loose in the handlebar shroud. I fiddled with it a few times and seemingly got it fixed. And it never acted up any time previously on this trip. But after trying it about 10 times, I was becoming worried.

I got out the screwdriver and fiddled with it again. I doubt seriously that I really did anything to correct the situation, but the next time I tried, it fired right up, and I headed for home, never turning Max off again, just in case. LOL. Further investigation is warranted when I get home.

After leaving Lincoln at about 8:00 am on Friday, I arrived home about 3:45 pm.

Total miles for the trip were 609 in two days. Not bad if I don't say so myself. Surely not maybe impressive or comparable to what other riders have done, but very significant for me.

The entire trip was a blast. A little shorter of a trip would be more advantageous for Max, but it's nice to know he can do it. He ran like a top.

I, however ended up with a sore butt, but a lot of good memories.