With Sadness...

Ten years ago I bought my Harley Davidson Road King Classic. I had ridden before but this was the first bike I owed. It opened up a whole new world and passion in me. Since getting the bike, I've been on many adventures, I've met many people, I even became an instructor.

Buying the bike also opened up another world I wasn't expecting. Buying a motorcycle isn't like buying a car, where you go in, haggle over a price, buy the car and leave. Maybe only to return for service if they sold you on that. When I bought the bike at Ray Price Harley Davidson, I met and made friends with the folks at the dealership.

In particular was Brenda in Motorclothes. Our son was just over one year old and Brenda would spoil him every time we walking in the dealership. Through the years, we got to know Brenda and her husband Pete. When we met Pete, he was working in the used parts and clothes shop he had opened for Ray Price. If I would ever walk in the dealership without my son, Brenda would ask where he was. Then she would send me home with Tootsie Rolls for him. We would run into Brenda and Pete at the local Waffle House. We were fortunate enough to celebrate Brenda's birthday with them earlier this year.

About an hour ago I learned that Pete passed away today. I'm really at a loss for what to say. Pete will be missed. Brenda is in our prayers. I'm sad. Our family is sad.

R.I.P. Pete.

mountainfest 2012...

the weekend of july 27-29 i was invited to tag along to mountainfest... deciding to go was a last minute because it seemed so much was going on at the time. but i couldn't pass up the chance to spend some time with family.

the ride to mountainfest was fairly uneventful. despite the forecast, i didn't hit any rain. i did, however, get soaked. during one section of road, of course with the most traffic and no way out, it had rained earlier and the road was still wet. i managed to collect enough spray from the other vehicles to make it look like i sat in a car wash!! fortunately after that, the weather cleared up and i dried out before hitting morgantown.

by the time i go there, the others had already pitched their tents, set up camp and rolled out the welcome wagon!! i was treated like a king the whole weekend and it was great.

around camp...

sights from mountainfest...

circus una...

ives brothers wall of death...

someone handing one of the brothers the watch they lost earlier...

john kay and steppenwolf friday night...

before the rain...

after the rain...

and packing up to head home...

the ride home was good. weather was decent although it got hotter and more humid as i crossed into each state. i planned to pick up some bbq stops for my smoke chasing in west virginia but i was in too much of a hurry to get home and there weren't any bbq places directly along my route. i did manage to pick two waffle houses though.

in the end, i had a great time but it was good to be home again...

catching up...

the past week or so has been hectic. now that things are slowing down, it's time to catch up...

two weekends ago, while waiting for the family to return from florida, i took the opportunity to ride around the southern part of virginia snagging some bbq joints for the smoke chasing grand tour. and threw in a waffle house just for the fun of it...

day started early, heading up to henderson to get pictures of a few bbq places. as is common in rural areas and the gps, the locations the gps thinks the place should be and where the place actually is aren't the same. or the place doesn't exist at all. i'd find both in henderson. missing my first bbq opportunity to a place that didn't exist. while stopped at a light on my way to the second place, i stopped another bbq place. ahhh, this will make up for the first one i missed, i thought. only to realize, as i pulled into the parking lot, it was actually the second place i was headed - mis-located by the gps. the rest of henderson would be this way. luckily i only had a few stops in there, including a waffle house, before heading up to virginia.

virginia was good, spanning from south hill to danville. i picked up all the locations i planned. and one additional place that i quickly turned around for because it had the word "smoke" in the title. i ended up picking up seven places in virginia - two more than needed for my goal of obtaining griller status - five bbq joints in three states.

leaving virginia, heading home, i picked up two more bbq places, making for a great day out on the bike. although one of these days, i really should stop into one of these places and take in a meal.

you can follow my smoke quest here or see the route i took for my ride here - track in green.

little ridin', lots of waffles...

weather has been fantastic the past couple days but the riding's been minimal...
planned to ride to lunch thursday and catch some waffle houses and bbq joints on the way home. unfortunately work got in the way and i wasn't able to make it.
i managed to make up for it, sort of, on friday by picking up son from school. it was a short ride, stretched a little longer by taking the long way home. the best part of picking him up from school is having all the other kids oohhh and aahhh over him because he gets to take off out of school on a bike. although i think he's oblivious to it because he's so into riding on the bike.
plan was to get a little more riding in this morning by swinging by the local waffle house. sorry to say those plans changed after an incident last night that involved a trip to the dentist and the emergency room for him. not feeling comfortable strapping a helmet on tender head we bagged the ride to waffle house this morning.
but that didn't mean i couldn't  pick up some additional waffle house swag for the grand tour...

back home...

got the bike back from twin specialties today... no blemishes on the tank anymore and finally have all the repairs from the crash last year done!! wooohooo!! to make things even better, i was able to snag two more waffle houses on the way home!

waffle house grand tour

signed up for the waffle house grand tour. here's my progress...

day late…

ever wonder where the time is going?? time just seems to be flying lately. i realized it’s already february when i went to pay some bills this morning. which reminded me i needed to flip my waffle house and bike calendars over to february.

this month the waffle house calendar is giving me a free sausage biscuit. i ran out of time to use the free coupon for bert’s chili last month. i’ll be sure not to make the same mistake this month. i also have a coupon for a free waffle and i think they’re giving away something for valentine’s day. if i play it right, i can probably feed the whole family for free!!

my bike calendar is a free calendar i got from an attorney pushing his business. the calendar is supposed to be one of these bikes and babes calendars. the only problem is the models aren’t really babes. i’m wondering where they found these models. out of twelve of them only one is halfway decent. i seriously considered just leaving my calendar on that month for the whole year.

the calendar got me to thinking that either bikers will settle or my standards are a bit higher. i was talking to my wife about the quality, or lack thereof, of the models in the calendar. i don’t even know that many people but i could probably put a better calendar together…

ss1000

got e-mail saying a couple people were riding to daytona. if i was interested, it could be turned into an iron butt ride. i was, so it was… and i completed my first saddlesore 1000 (one thousand miles in twenty four hours) this past weekend.

once a couple more e-mails were sent around, it ended up with three of us going. we had two routes picked out, a northern loop and a southern straight shot. because of predicted snow along the northern route, the night before the ride, we decided to take the southern route. we’ll save the northern route for another time.

saturday morning came, early!! i officially started my trip at sheetz at 4:53am. it was cold morning and i was glad we were heading south. at sheetz, i got my witness form signed and my start receipt. i headed to benson, nc, my first stop and meeting point for the other two riders.

i get to benson, top off my tank and wait for the other riders. i’m glad to get off the bike, move around and warm up a little. after about five minutes, the other riders show up. without wasting time, they top off and we’re off to the next stop.

the plan is to start looking for stations at one hundred fifty miles, stopping before one-eighty. i’m usually good for about one hundred ninety miles. i’ve gone over two-hundred, but was really nervous. i’m good with going one hundred eighty and stopping for gas.

because we were running at slightly higher speeds that i normally drive, my mileage wasn’t quite what i expected. we were at about one hundred fifty miles and i *needed* gas.  that put us in manning, sc for our second stop. i ended up putting a little over five gallons of gas into my advertised five-gallon tank. the new rule is stopping for gas every one-fifty.

stops were long enough to top off the tanks, relieve ourselves and get back on the road. no time wasted. stopped time can really eat into overall time.

with one more stop in midway, ga, we made it to our turn around point in st. augustine, fl around 12:30pm. we were making good time and i was feeling good about the ride. other than a tiny bit of rain on the way down, and being a little cooler than i was expecting, the ride had been great.

after topping off, we talked about lunch. we’re good on time and it’d probably be a good idea to get off the bikes for a short time. without much argument, it was decided to stop at waffle house. we top off our bellies and head back home.

just after entering georgia, we hit stop-n-go traffic. not looking good. one of the guys starts darting in and out of traffic to get ahead. i do my best to keep up. after a few miles, the traffic lets up and we hit the speeds we need. i’m able to catch up to the leader, but no sign of the third rider. all this at about the time i need gas. i indicate i’m pulling over at the next exit. not sure what’s going to happen from here.

at the next stop, i top off, get my receipt and am documenting the stop when another rider pulls up. no sign of the third rider. he waited at the exit long enough to see riders we had passed earlier. surely the third rider was already past them. we try to reach him on his phone and decide to push ahead.

as we’re driving, i’m scanning ahead and behind, seeing if i can find him. no luck… until right before our next stop. he’s on the side of the road, accompanied by a local police officer. oops… our timing must have been perfect because as we pull off the exit, he’s right there with us.

talking to a local at the gas stop, the local police apparently patrol a short section of 95 north. they do their best to get as many people as they can. ticketed him for doing seventy-nine in a seventy. lesson learned…

our next stop is in benson, where we met in the morning. we top off and say our goodbyes. we’ll ride together for a bit and then split off, heading to our final stop.

my last stop is at sheetz, where i started. i rolled in there around 9:20pm. got my final receipt, witness form signed and headed home.

i ended up riding over 1000 miles in about seventeen  and a half hours. according my my odometer, it was 1049 miles. according to the gps, it was 1031 miles. the trip was actually a lot easier than i expected. i didn’t get tired like i expected and my butt didn’t start to hurt, as i expected.

my wife asked, dreading the answer, “what’s next??” i don’t know what’s next. but i do know there will be more…

check out the 2009 ride map to see the route - this one in green ...

time with the wife…

had a nice ride with the wife last week. recall the earlier post when daughter lost wife’s glove. well, the gloves finally came in and we decided to go pick them up.

being the knucklehead i am, i start heading out the door with car keys in hand. okay, it was early and i was still mentally asleep. mostly due to the fact that i was faced with another day of work and it would be easier to sleep through it!!

we get out to the garage and wife says she thought we were taking the bike. like a deer in headlights, i freeze. hmmmm, bike… it is a pretty day outside, what better way to spend it that riding around with the wife!!! why didn’t i think of that?? suddenly awake, i head inside and change into more appropriate riding attire…

we hop on the bike and head to ray price. but not without a stop at waffle house first. i think that’s going to be a recurring theme here – what’s better than riding and toppin’ off the tummy with some scattered hash browns all the way?? the waitress didn’t think i was serious and was surprised i finished off the whole plate.

with full tummies, we made our way to ray price. when ms. brenda presented the gloves daughter ordered for her, wife wasn’t real keen on them. no surprise there. so i encouraged wife to pick out another pair. ironically, the pair she ended up choosing is one pair we looked at and thought she wouldn’t like. go figure!!! not only that, wife ended up picking up another pair of lighter gloves for summer riding. in the end, wife ended up with two pairs of gloves and daughter got the pair we originally ordered for wife.

after staying at ray price much longer than i expected, we decided to head home. the weather was awesome and i could have spent the whole day riding around with my wife… unfortunately work was calling and i had to get back… with that, i faced the bike north and started riding off…

the thought of work must have put me back to sleep… as we’re approaching a split in the road, i’m in the lane for the most direct route home. wife leans forward and suggested the longer, scenic route home. nice idea… i do a quick head-check and jump over a couple lanes to take the other fork…

once the road slimmed down to two lanes, i rolled off the throttle a little and took my time getting home – enjoying the beautiful scenery and sharing the ride with my wife… it got me thinking about a few years down the road – when the kids are grown (out of the house) and we can spend more time together. just heading out at the spur of the moment. much like we used to do when we were dating. i miss those days. and i look forward to them again…