ramblings2003c - Page: 1 of 1

7/3/03
Hmmm, have you noticed a pattern forming? I think this working for living thing is cutting into my leisure time so I don't update this but once a week. Heck, I can't even remember what I did last weekend. We DID have a weekend, didn't we? Oh yeah, I got fixed up with a lady-friend of a friend and rode to HH last Saturday evening. It was a nice ride; she rode VERY well behind me, but there just wasn't a "click".

Those of you who have been following my ramblings for some time may remember my mysterious lighting saga of a couple of years ago. Well, I've had a new one going the last couple of weeks. I developed a buzzing sound coming from SOMEWHERE in the fairing area, between 3,000 and 3,400 RPM. At first, I thought it was coming from my radio housingso, the first of this week, I took the radio off the scoot and took it apart...finding nothing loose. kay, as long as it's off the bike, I might as well do some painting, replacing the antenna with a shorter, amplified, antenna. While I had the radio off, I took the scoot out and, lo and behold, the buzz was still there, but it sounded like it was coming from the instrument cluster. I HATE to work on the cluster since I have to take the fairing off to get to it, but I did, after work tonight.

Taking it apart, I couldn't find anything loose but I have had a problem with the speedo and tach needles dragging on the underside of the glass. With time and heat, the needles seem to have bent upward, so I decided to take the covers off and see if I could straighten them. It's amazing what you can do with a church-key besides opening a beer. Unfortunately, with very old plastic, you run the risk of snapping it off...which I did! Well, believe it or not, I found a substitute and it looked so good, I broke off the speedo needle, as well, and replaced it. As long as I had it down that far, I also swapped out the wiring harness and case from my parts bike. At this point, I took my very naked-looking bike for a ride around the block (with no headling or front turn signals, since these are in the fairing)....and I FOUND the buzz. If you run into me somewhere, I'll tell you what it was, but I'm too embarassed to publish it on here.

Anyway, tomorrow morning is going to be taken up putting the radio, fairing and instrument cluster back n the bike, so MAYBE I'll see you running around. Maybe it won't rain, either, but I doubt it. Y'all have a great Fourth of July, but make it a safe one!

7/28/03
If you've been holding your breath, waiting for this one...STOP IT! Blue is not your color. Maybe no news is good news, but this rain has GOT to stop. The one good thing is that I've caught up on lots of maintenance. Carbs synched, new rubber, fore and aft, new clutch cable (noticed a couple of broken strands) and new handlebars. Well, I wouldn't have needed the new bars if I hadn't dropped the bike off the rack for the carbs...but at least it was MY bike and not someone else's.

Looks like some folks are headed for Sturgis this week, and I wish 'em the best of luck on the road. Maybe it'll be drier than it is around here. Keep up to date on the "Happenings" page; there's bunches of stuff going on. Oh yeah, if you get a chance when you're out Nine Mile Road way, stop on by The Station. They're real biker-friendly and gonna have a benefit poker run on August 6. Ride safe and TRY to stay dry!

8/11/03
...but at least it didn't rain this weekend...on me! Okay, I will make a concerted effort to update once a week or so. Actually, I've had two good riding weekends in a row. Last week it was up into Alabama for a couple hundred and last Saturday was over to Backwoods Bash, over to Bonifay, down 79 to Ebro, and then back on 20. Although I rode through a few places where it had obviously just rained, I only got a couple of drops on me.

While I was doing all the running around this last weekend, I reached another milestone on my old Honda. Unfortunately, I was in traffic at the time so I couldn't take a picture of the odometer showing 11111.1. That was actually 111, 111.1 miles, and now I'll have to wait another 11,111.1 miles to see it turn to 22222.2.

Some of you may notice a new e-mail contact for me. My old ISP has gotten so erratic and persnickety lately that I'm trying a new one, and will run parallel until I decide if I want to permanently change. One of the consequences though is it limits the number of mailings I can make (anti-spamming). That, combined with the recent rash of virii and spoofing of my mailings, has made me decide to stop e-mailing out the 350+ copies of "What's Happening". If you were a subscriber, you've already gotten my final mass-mailing explaining it. It was a nice run, but it had to end sometime. Please continue to e-mail with event to add to the page; it's an invaluable aid to all of us!

8/15/03
GOTCHA! I'm back! Between Monday and Friday, it's just been work for me, but I thought I'd just update you on Kevin. The surgery to give him an articulating knee has been put off 'til the first of next year but he is going for therapy three times a week, outside and working on it himself at home. He has an extra incentive to get more mobile by October since his Major called him at home to let him know he would be flying to D.C. in October to recieve a Top Cop Award. Now, if that don't make a Dad proud...!

Don't forget the Gulf Coast Chapter ABATE meeting this Sunday. Our State President will be visiting the westermost outpost of Freedom Fighters, and we want to give him a good turnout. Y'all come!

8/18/03
...and another weekend down the tubes... Well, I started out Friday evening to ride to Ava's up in Cantonment, but as soon as I hit 29, it started sprinkling. Looking to the east, I could see the great black mass but the west was pretty clear, so I figured I'd ride through it. The further north I got though, the worse it got, with some real stingers in the forehead. The road was slick and the cages totally oblivious of the rain so I cut over on Nine Mile Road, hoping to run along the edge and cut up the back way to Cantonment. Not too good an idea! The black was overtaking me and as it was getting darker, the headlight flare of the rain on my glasses was making it awfully difficult to even see the road.

When I got to Pine Forest, I went south instead of north, and I was mighty glad it was repaved, 'cause I couldn't even have seen those old potholes if they had been there. Getting safely back to Myrtle Grove, the dang rain stopped a mile from the house...but I was too soaked to enjoy it. Got up Saturday and Muff dropped by to show me the new Victory he bought, so we went riding out to Hawg's Heaven. Going out Sorrento Road, the bottom drops out...again. We dried out over beer and headed back...right into it agan. Sooooo, Sunday morning I decide at the last minute to drive the truck instead of the scoot to the ABATE meeting...and never saw a drop. Sometimes you can't win!

9/20/03
Well. Jimbo, this one is for you! When you told me that this was entertainment to you ever since you dropped the scoot and broke your ankle so you can't ride for a while...you put me on the spot! (Whoa, what a run-on sentence) Anyway, this one's for you. After I got home from work today, I put the first clear-coat on the new tank...and botched it! Oh well, that's what sandpaper is for. I'll just have to do another 400 grit instead of the 1500 I was gonna do, but I sure wish I had a spray booth. After supper, I headed on out to Nine Mile Road for the cars and scoots and ran into ol' Curtis with IRide2 for the first time in months. He's been out of town, trying to work up a rally for IRide2 up in the Atlanta area. I wish him a lot of luck. We are both working for bikers' rights, in one arena or another.

While we were rambling around the scoots and cages, he introduced me to a lady who's just getting back into riding after taking a few years off. She got a purty new Suzuki with just 500 miles on it so I figured since I was going out to Ruby's, I'd let her get some practice in and introduce her to the place at the same time. Son of a gun, if she didn't take me up on it. I took it easy on her and didn't exceed the posted limits...too much... and she rode that Intruder right well. She took to Ruby's pretty well...I think...and Reese didn't even scare her off! At least she seemed to hold her own (how about it, Lynn? (or is it Lynne?)) Anyway, maybe I'll find a riding partner out of this...

Anywho....time to get this uploaded to the site and get to bed so I can make the ABATE meeting in the morning. Sorry if you were looking for the e-mail reminder I used to send but my ISP thought I was sending spam and put a crimp in it. Y'all take care and I'll catch you on the flip. Just keep the shiny side up!

7/16/03
Hey, I TOLD you I'd be doing this Ramblings thing whenever I felt like...and I just hadn't felt like it! For that matter, I don't really feel like it now, but enough of you have commented that I feel guilty for depriving you of whatever this brings you. Dang, and I thought I needed to get a life.

There's not really that much to update you on that isn't covered on the Happenings page, but here goes... Work, heat and rain! That about covers it except for the police being called to the 9th Avenue Sonic last Tuesday to run off some rowdy sport-bikers. Beadman, Hawk, Professor and myself dropped by there this Tuesday to check it ut, and the folks there couldn't have been nicer to us. I guess it was an isolated incident, except they only had about 10% of the usual squids there.

When we left there, we went on an old-biker quest to 9th and Cervantes to see if the "Hot donuts now" sign was flashing. Yeah, it was and we each had 3 of those melt-in-your mouth delicacies with some of the best coffee in town. Okay, enough excitement for you? Oh yeah, pray for dry this weekend; Motorcycle Emporium is having a poker run for the Shriners' Children's Hospitals and if I have to work all day on a Saturday, I want it to be a great event. Y'all come see us!

9/1/03
...and MORE rain...I got it Friday, Saturday and Sunday! This working stuff is really cutting into my social life...at least during the week...but the rain on the weekends makes it tad less fun when I can get out. Oh, well, I'm too young to retire, anyway. If you didn't make to the Bu last night, you missed a really rocking partay with my favorite band, Blind Driver. Muff only tied for first in the best boxer contest, but I think it was rigged.

With getting rained on all the time, I figured it was time to wash the old scoot this evening. I was gonna wait until it cooled down a bit, but the danged sun set before I could finish drying her...and I was STILL soaking in sweat from the heat and humidity. C'mon, Fall!

I talked with Kevin over the weekend, and he's looking forward to the D.C. trip in October for his Top Cop award. That's another one I wish I could make, but it doesn't look like it's in the cards. That's almost as good as getting his Eagle Scout award. I did make his graduation from Parris Island, though...way back when. Dang, where are the years going?

It's been good to talk with some of y'all when I've been out and about. It does help me keep this place going when I get a little positive feedback. Oh yeah, someone dropped me an e-mail about Pigiman having a regular Friday night ride over in FWB, but he hasn't returned my e-mail about it. Anybody know anything so I can list it in the "What's Happening"? Y'all help me with this; I can't do it all alone. Take care and I'll catch you on the flip.

9/13/03
Time flies when you're having fun, but I can't figure out why I haven't updated in almost two weeks. I guess I've just gotten busy. At least the rain seemed to have slacked off...until today! The first two times I got caught in the rain were during daylight, today, so I didn't have the headlight flare on my glasses to bother me. The third time was tonight, coming back from Ruby's for their inaugural Saturday night Bike Night. If you haven't been out there yet, you're missing a treat. I've been hanging there, off and on, for a few years and what I really enjoy is sitting outside on one of the picnic benches, drinking a cold adult beverage and listening to the lack of traffic. Granted, it's only a couple hundred yards off Mobile Highway but, down by the river, it seems like a lot further away.

There was a light turn-out...about ten or so scoots...but not bad for a first time, and with weather in the area. What was really funny though was after a few thunder-boomers and lightening flashes, all the Harley riders took off and then only folks left were on a Yamaha, a Kawasaki, and my Honda. Hmm, don't Harley's run in the rain? Hey, just joking there (but it WAS funny!). Maybe next Saturday won't be as damp and we'll see you out there. Cindy, who was out on Perdido Key, is ram-rodding this bike night thing and I'll really love to see it grow.

From the Kentucky side of things, Kevin is progressing, although not as fast as he'd prefer. The again, this is the guy who, as a kid, made Eagle Scout before he was thirteen. He tends to push hmself... Well, that's it for now. I really WILL try to make it a little more frequent...but sometimes I've got nothing to say!? Oh yeah, I turned 112,000 miles today.(Actually, it's probably about 350 more since I broke that odometer cable on a road trip 5 or 6 years ago.)

9/26/03
Oops, I did it again! No, not the Brittney ditty but rather, the truck thingie to the ABATE meeting. I hope everyone appreciates my NOT riding so they can. I just didn't feel like sitting through a meeting wet, so I guess I did accomplish my goal. Jimbo dropped by the Emporium again this week and made an interesting suggestion; how's about a lady's viewpoint similar to my Ramblings, either from the saddle or the pad. I guess his wife noticed this had a decidedly male outlook. Anybody of the female persuasion out there want to take a stab at it?

On the work front, I've managed to regain at least a portion of my semi-retired status. Vic, my chief Honcho at the Emporium, has decided that he's rather be a full-time Certified Wrench, so I'm back to just part-time, from 9-1 (which suits me just fine). Of course, we'll be swapping the Saturday coverage from 9-noon so we'll each have every other weekend off. SURE!...he can't stay out of this place...but WILL have the option. That, of course, got altered immediately, as soon as we set up the new schedule.

Like so many of us who grew up here on The Redneck Riviera, I mis-spent my youth on the beach, so now I'm paying the belated bill for it. Over the past few years, I've had several "suspicious" spots removed, but this is the first time the Doc's have used the "melanoma" word. Somehow, it seems a little different from "suspicious" and has kinda thrown me a curve. The VA Clinic is gonna do their thing with it on the 2d and, in all likelihood, will be okay, but it's just kinda spooky.

Well, Ms Lynn and I are planning on the Seafood Festival and a ride over to PC for Thunder Beach this weekend, so keep your fingers crossed that we don't get wet. I don't know she's ready for it, yet. Heck, I don't know if she's ready for the Coyote...but we'll see! Be safe, y'all,