The first entry for this year...and
it's raining again! Of course, it's also about 65 degrees in
the first week of January, so I suppose I shouldn't be complaining.
I have been able to get some riding in since the first but I'm still
not 100% from whatever this chest bugs is. WalMart's generic
version of Mucinex is helping but it just seems like it's lasting
forever.
If you haven't been over the new I-10 bay bridge yet,
you'll find it's a far smoother ride than the old bridge; the expansion
joints all seem to match up and there's no more "galluping" motion.
Oop! The lightning seems to be getting closer and closer so
I think it's time to cut the old computer down for the duration.
Seeya on the road; ride safe.
1/15/07
..funny
how the time slips away when you're out riding. It seems a lot
longer to me but, looking at the calender, it's just 2 weekends.
Maybe it's the new jacket? Ever since that little bang-up, almost
5 years ago, now, I've kinda been looking for a riding jacket with
some body armor in it. Maybe it was the bone chips that kept
popping out of my elbow for a couple of years, but something kept
my interest up. The problem was that most of the ones I found
were too sport-bikey and those few I did like were too expensive.
Well, that changed right after my last entry. PMS had a clearance
sale on some Icon jackets that actually fit my long arms and were
black (the only proper color for bikers). Best of all, the pads
actually fit in the right places. I just hope I never have to
use them.
That evening was also my first Friday night back to
the Pace Sonic since the interstate bridge reopened. It's made
all the difference in the world in the traffic on 90! The weather
for then past week has also been great, although I rediscovered in
my riding around why I haven't been over to Ft Walton Beach in ages.
I hadn't really planned on going over there but, while riding 98 toward
Navarre, a snap broke on my helmet sun visor and it started fluttering
like mad! I took it off and then remembered why I had it in
the first place: the sun getting behind my sunglasses was blinding.
At this point, I was about as close to FWB as I was to P'cola, so
I rode on. Mistake! The traffic over there made Davis
Highway look like a Baldwin County backroad.
The first two metric
dealers didn't have any three-snap visors and the Harley dealer wanted
$15 for the only one they had. Finally, I stopped at the Honda
dealership and a young man there told me they didn't have any for
sale, but a customer had bought a new helmet and not wanted the visor,
so he gave it to me. Now, THAT price was right! Of course,
riding west in the afternoon was still hell on the visibility so Sunday,
I decided to reverse course and ride to Alabama so the sun would be
at my back coming home. I actually found a few county roads
I'd never been on before, and only a few dead-ends. All in all,
it was a wonderful taste of spring in the middle of winter...and here
comes another cold spell. I hope your week was as good as mine.
Y'all stay safe out there.
1/23/07
Another 8 days gone and what do I have to
show for it? Well, last week, I went another pint down at the
blood center. I know it's an inefficient way to lose weight
and keeps coming back, anyway, but it's a habit by now.
This was number 97 or 98, I think, but I'll let you know when the
big 100 comes around. Why do I keep dragging this up, you ask?
'Cause the restrictions on giving blood keep getting tighter and tighter
and the need keeps on being there. C'mon, folks, it only takes
a little while to go down to the West Florida Blood Center and help
a bunch of other folks. In fact, you may the one in need someday.
Okay,
soap-box mode off! There's been more good riding weather in
between the nasty spells and I've been taking advantage.
All the good stuff ain't out of town, though. Now, this might
not mean much to some folks, but the park at the end of Palafox pier
is open! Once upon a time, the municipal auditorium sat down
there and, since I first got a driver's license some mumble-mumble
years ago, it's kinda been a Saturday night thing to ride down there
and comtemplate life looking over the bay. Hurricane Ivan took
that away a couple of years ago but now, thanks to the Pensacola Parks
and Recreation folks, we have a new park, complete with benches and
sidewalks. I know, humor the old guy, but it means a lot to
me.
Enough of that stuff for now, I'm gonna go out and ride.
Y'all take care and ride safe; there's some biddie with a cell
phone in her ear drifting toward your lane, so look out for her!
1/27/07
Okay, just a short
one this time....but it IS earlier than usual! The new schedule
of events for 2007 will be up on the What's Happening page soon, probably
next week, after Jimmy Lee sends me the file from today's meeting.
There was a real good turnout at Post 75 in Crestview and it was good
to see old friends and meet new ones. What wasn't good was the
game of rain tag I lost on the way home. It seems Weather.com
was a tad off on when the rain was supposed to start and it was a
cold, wet ride from halfway between Holt and Milton, all the way home
to Myrtle Grove. I guess the guys I razzed about caging it over
were right.
2/2/07
Okay,
2 bleary eyeballs and 10 arthritic fingers later, the results of last
Saturday's planning meeting in Crestview has been input and will be
on the new What's Happening update this weekend. Please feel
free to email me with any typos and/or corrections you find since
it is difficult to edit one's own work.
I've only done a
little riding this week but I have been doing some work on the scoot...besides
washing off the result of Saturday's rain tag. It's just been
a case of a minor irritation which, probably, nobody else noticed
but it has been bugging me. I explored a bunch of accessory
suppliers but didn't find quite what I wanted, so it was back to the
workshop. If you see me out and about, it's up to you to figure
out what it is. That is, until nobody notices and I blurt it
out! The one hint is that I finally used the last piece of plate
stock left over from when I fabricate the new instument cluster for
the old CB750. I NEVER throw anything away!
Y'all take
care and ride safe; I'll seeya in the wind.
2/21/07
Egad, he IS still alive! I've been in the clutches
of the beast for, lo, these last couple of weeks but I'm back...mostly.
Never mind the cause, or causes, if that be the case, but Mom's macular
degeneration isn't quite as bad as first believed, per Dr. Casey.
As Mom said this evening, most machines start wearing out after 88
years which still doesn't mean I have to like it.
Okay, 'nufathat.
Now for some good news; Mackdaddy is back! Big Bryan e-mailed
me with the news and I'll let you know on here as soon as they have
a gig lined up. It's been a long time since Cack's and I, for
one, miss their sound. I don't have much else to pass on
for the moment, but at least I'm back. Ride carefully, y'all.
3/15/07 -
...and once again, it's the Ides of March (for what that's worth).
I suppose if I had been an emperor of Rome it might have more significance
but, for me, it just meant my Social Security check came yesterday.
I've been riding quite a bit but just haven't settled down long enough,
or found anything interesting enough, to stop and share it here with
you. Of course, I haven't ridden much the past few days since
I have a pinched nerve which screws around with my right arm and makes
riding a tad risky, but it's getting better.
In lieu of my having
much to say for myself, I'm dropping in an e-mail I just received
and which may interest some of you:
"Just wanted to let you know
we have a new American Legion Rider’s Association (Florida ALR Post
382 Navarre) in Navarre FL. We are not even a month old, so
we are asking for as much support as you and your readers can give.We are a veteran’s organization and not an MC. We have no mandatory
events or probations. All you need to join the ALR is to be
a member of the American Legion, Sons of the Legion, or Legion Auxiliary
and have a bike larger than 350cc (for highway safety reasons only).Please
spread the word that we are in Navarre. We are a perfect stop
off after a Biker’s on the Beach run as we are located right behind
Regions Bank, one block north of 98."
What I'm really embarrassed
about is that I failed to copy the senders name and address before
I deleted his message; please forgive me. (It's not easy getting
old!) Beyond that, please ride safely. It's getting crazy out
there.
3/26/07
The weather's warm and dry, and the riding's good!
After two weeks of sleeping with that damned neck collar, the pinched
nerve hasn't raised its ugly head in a couple of days and I'm feeling
positively human. Adding to the feeling human thingie is good
news on the biker bar beat: Fat Boys has a new, real fat boy,
manager, Henry. He's already made great headway in cleaning
up the ol' place and it was good to see more than a couple of scoots
there, this weekend.
On the sad side, however, Bob "Ragman" Meade
went down last Wednesday, the 21st. Although any biker
down is bad, it's worse to me when it's an ABATE brother. The viewing
will be tomorrow from 5 to 8 at Lewis Funeral Home in Milton.
His family has requested a motorcycle escort for his funeral procession
on Wednesday so we will be meeting at Doc's Southern Cycle in Pace
at 11AM before heading to Lewis' for the funeral. We will escort
him to Barrancas National Cemetary aboard NASP. There are some
group rides we really DON'T want to make. Please ride safe!
4/2/07
...an
interesting date, at least to myself. I was born 64 years ago
on this date, in Wildwood, New Jersey. Wildwood, because a German
U-boat had just sunk an American ship New Jersey and,
consequently, the Coast Guard hospital at Cape May was full, sort
of a variance on the "there was no room in the inn" theme. Somehow,
my life has been full of these little variations on a theme of never
winding up quite where I thought I should be. Two ex-wives are
just further evidence.
Somehow though, right now I AM exactly
where I should be. Mom will be 88 in a couple of weeks and I
like to think my being here has made her life better. My oldest
son, Sean, is my best friend and I get to see him as often as I want.
I have a few good friends, many great acquaintences and no enemies(that
I know of). I survived my last (I hope) bike wreck with nothing
more permanent than a slipped disk (or is that disc?) and I'm
still pretty healthy. Life is good.
What does all this
have to do with motorcycles, you ask? That's one of the best
parts of life. Please stay safe so you can perhaps be as lucky
as me.
4/13/07
..and a Friday
the 13th, at that! So what's up with the Ol' Coyote? Some
riding and lots of reading. I guess I've been averaging 4 novels
a week, catching up on all the pleasure reading I missed while I was
chasing the dollar. Oh yeah, I donated my 99th pint of
blood...one more for the century!
With the advent of warmer weather,
I've been making more of the Friday night Sonic ride-ins, although
the turn-out is still low. Tonight, at Milton, was the least
I've seen there in ages. I dropped by Fat Boy's (surprise, surprise)
on the way home and found out that Henry has reopened the back for
scooter parking and is going to put some picnic tables back there
as well. I walked around there with him and, believe it or not,
the band actually sounded good back there. I guess that wall
helps!
I'm NOT at the Freedom Rally this year in Tally.
Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe I'm just burnt out on the politicking
part; I dunno. Part of it may be since I'm going to
Talladega at the end of the month, Mom gets uneasy when I'm gone put
of town too much. Hey, she will be 88 this month!
Well, enough
for now. As you can see, it's not real exciting but I;m doing
well. Y'all take care and ride safe now, y'hear!
4/22/07
It's been one of "those"
kind of weekends! Friday started with a slight toothache and,
naturally, my dentist works Monday through Thursday only. By
yesterday afternoon it had turned into a full-blown screamer, naproxen
only slightly dulling it, so I scrambled for my backup. Yes,
I KNEW I had some leftover codeine somewhere and there it was, "one
every four hours for pain". Maybe I would get some sleep!
Okay, what do you do when your 4 hour med only lasts 2 hours?
You wander around in the dark a bit, trying not to wake Mom up while
you wait the other 2 hours. Take another and then wake at 6.
Since
I feel like grousing anyway (that's a complaining ramble), I fire
up the box and...?*%#&@*... I apparently erased the "Ramblings"
file when I was last cleaning old files. Now, I'm having to
rebuild the file from scratch...or, at least, from peices of other
, active, files. Guess what! While I'm finaly starting
to input this current stuff in the new file, I realize I haven't thought
of my toothache for an hour! Of course, the very next thought
is that it DOES still hurt, but I just hadn't noticed it.
So,
what does all this have to do with motorcycles, you ask? Well,
when I woke up (again), I figured I wasn't going to go to the ABATE
meeting this morning, but now I will! Maybe I'll actually find
out when we'll have the Bears for Bears Run, so I can get rid of that
stupid "May ?" entry on tthe "What's Happening" page. Y'all
ride safe now, and see your dentist regularly.
4/30/07
Just in case someone was at all curious as to why the 4/29
"Happening" update didn't appear until 4/30, I didn't get back from
Talladega until around 2AM and I couldn't even have seen well enough
to turn on my computer, let alone post an entry without tempting a
total disaster. As it was, it was all I could to to brush my
teeth (after 25 hours, ugh!) and fall into bed! One of the first
things I did this morning, though, was to hose off my soft cooler
and my Biketoberfest 2002 ballcap. The latter for the salt from the
sweat, and the former to remove the remnants of the spilled beer,
courtesy of my fellow fans.
Lemme tell ya, folks, it was an experience!
One of those you wouldn't trade for the world, but you wouldn't repeat
at any price, especially the $75 ticket in the first place.
You cannot comprehend the size of that place from television alone!
Even just approaching the speedway proper, there were hundreds upon
hundreds of acres of tents, campers, motor coaches and drunks.
Okay, perhaps fewer of drunks because there were families and kids
all over the place, as well, and I do hope well of the family folks.
Of the Good Times Tours folks who got us there, I can't speak highly
enough of their care but, friends, this tall old crippled biker's
legs just flat-out didn't fit those seats.
As for the
race, itself, the experience of sitting just two rows away from a
34 car freight train roaring (literally) by at over 190
MPH beats anything I've ever watched on the tube...but TV give a better
experience of the race, itself. Besides, my recliner in the
air conditioning is SO much more comfortable. After the race,
it took us over 1 1/2 hours just to leave the speedway proper and
the going rate on I-20 was about 5-10mph for the next 20-30 miles.
Damn, I'm glad I wasn't on my scoot!
Y'all take care, ride safe,
and maybe I'll seeya in PC next weekend!
