million mile monday...

took a ride this morning to participate in hog's million mile monday. ended up contributing 120 miles towards the goal of one million miles. may not be much, but it's my part...

i decided to take my familiar loop around the kerr lake... i figured it would take a couple hours, give me a few miles without getting to crazy - after all, it is monday and i do have to work... if work wasn't a factor, who knows where i may have ended up!!!

when i took off this morning, it was overcast. left over from last night's storms and looking like the sky could open up at any time... i wasn't letting the threat of rain stop me - that's why i have rain gear in the saddlebag. the overcast sky actually made for some nice riding - temps were cooler and i didn't have to worry about the sun in my eyes.

stopped at the lake to get a few pics before heading on around and back home... as i rounded the north side of the lake, the sky cleared up and the sun came out, making for an awesome ride home.

it was a really nice ride this morning - great way to start the day. would like to make a habit out of it, but the need for exercise will probably outweigh the desire to ride everyday before work...

still coming - details of the trip to york, pa and the smoke out...

quick update...

things have been busy here and more details coming...

off the heels of my last post - the trip to york was indeed interesting and fun... more to come when i have a chance to get the pics uploaded.

last weekend was smoke out 9. wasn't sure what to expect, but turned out to be a great event. new and much better venue... again, will post more when i get the pics uploaded.

looking forward, have million mile monday coming up... it's hog's attempt to get as many members to ride and tally up a total of one million miles. not sure where i'll ride, but planning on doing some tooling around...

july brings up ride to work day... not sure if i'll ride or where i'll go... can't even remember if i went out last year...

seems like there's other stuff, but can't remember right now... stay tuned for updates...

road trip!!!

have a week off work and going to do some riding...

daughter and i leave tomorrow, ride up to manassas, spend the night. monday father-in-law, daughter, son and i ride up to york, spend the night. tuesday, take the harley factory tour, return to manassas. rest of the week will be spend squeezing in riding between son graduating, visiting and graduation parties. should be a very busy and fun week.

today, we get a call from father-in-law. he wants to know what time we're leaving so he can meet us on the road. i asking him where he wants to meet, thinking he'll probably pick waugh harley davidson. he says he wants to meet in some small town south of orange. i proceed to ask him if he wants to meet at a gas station, greasy spoon or what. no, he says he'll be on the side of the road, i should look for him. to help out, he'll call me when he parks himself on the side of the road. i explain that i won't be able to answer because i'll be riding. not a problem - he'll call wife, who'll be riding in the chase vehicle. i guess he figures she'll be able to communicate with me while we're cruising down the two lane road.

it ends up easier just to go along with him than to try to work out a more identifiable location to meet.

two things are already apparent on this trip:

• it's going to be very interesting


• it's going to be a lot of fun

stay tuned...

coincidence??

interesting... two days after the fallen officer memorial ride, the news & observer reports a raleigh police officer's family settles a lawsuit...

"The family of a Raleigh police officer who died in a 2002 motorcycle wreck while chasing a speeder settled a lawsuit with Harley-Davidson Motor Co. and the Raleigh store that leased the vehicle to the police department."

"The confidential settlement was brokered in December, but the product liability lawsuit wasn't officially dismissed until May 5, according to court records and Mark Kircher, who represented Harley Davidson. The city of Raleigh also paid nearly $366,000 as part of workers' compensation, according to the City Attorney's Office."

"The settlement was between Paul's estate, Harley Davidson and Ray Price Harley Davidson, the Raleigh area merchant for the motorcycles."

"The lawsuit had claimed that a high-speed wobble caused the motorcycle to become uncontrollable, a problem that some Harley-Davidson enthusiasts, motorcycle mechanics and personal injury lawyers had noted previously. The cause of the wobble has been a matter of intense debate, with some lawyers and accident victims claiming a design flaw in certain Harley models as the source. Others have pointed to improper maintenance. Paul's lawsuit is one of several filed in recent years that center on high-speed wobble."

i'm thinking ray price's sponsorship of the memorial ride may have been part of the settlement...

fallen officer ride...

son and i went on the fallen officer memorial ride this weekend. the ride is to generate money for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty... for the price of admission, we got lunch, a ride and a chance for a door prize. not sure of everything they were giving away, but son won a hooters wing party for ten!!! woohoo!!!

not sure what i was expecting, but a lot of bikes turned up for the ride... i would guesstimate close to three hundred bikes. they were expecting rain, but it was replaced by heat - probably the hottest day of the year so far. i would normally take the rain over the heat. considering the number of riders and the range of skill, the heat was definitely the better option...

the ride left ray price, went to the raleigh police department fallen officer memorial, the north carolina highway patrol fallen officer memorial and the wake county sheriff's office fallen officer memorial...

some snapshots from the ride...


raleigh police department memorial




nc highway patrol memorial



wake county sheriff's memorial


other sights...

world's largest...

once again, had the opportunity to ride with my wonderful wife... seems like we've been riding more together lately and i'm likin' it!! hopefully the trend continues...

memorial day we took a ride to see the world's largest frying pan. great day for a ride... my wife was a little leery about being on the bike for so long, especially after riding so long to wilmington... we decided to blast down interstate forty to get there and take a leisurely ride back...

we rode out there, not quite knowing what to expect or where to find it... turns out the waypoint i downloaded wasn't accurate and led us to a gas station. knowing that we had ridden the street a few weeks earlier and not seen it, i figured we'd better ask directions...

the attendant at the gas station answered my request for directions as if i must be some sort of knucklehead for having missed it - it's at the town square, down a couple blocks on the right...

we hop back on the bike, head down a couple blocks and sure enough, there it is!!







the site of the frying pan was originally a public school... years ago, the school burned down and the only building left is the cafeteria. apparently they use the cafeteria as a town house...


we walked around the town square, which outside of the 'town house' and frying pan, is an empty city block with tennis courts on the backside of the cafeteria and an odd shed-looking building in one corner.



of course we also had to pose for a couple touristy pictures...



i wasn't sure if i should be offended or not, so i thought i would thumb my nose at them...


again, it was a great day for a ride and even better that i got to spend it with my wife... i think that she was kind of humoring me (and probably laughing at me) for wanting to visit the frying pan. in the end, i think she appreciated it as well...

wonder if i'll be able to talk her into going to the world's largest chest of drawers, the world's largest ten commandments or the shell-shaped gas station...

check out the 2008 ride map to see the route - this one in purple...

rolling thunder...

more rolling thunder related stuff this weekend... gathered at a friends house to watch everyone ride off for rolling thunder... not a lot of details, just pictures...
















when they took off, the daughter of one of the guys lead the way... she was really excited about it - i think it made her day...