July Riding

I haven't been able to get the Blogger site up and running for weeks so this is a condense of what has been happening.

I rode down to Sam Hall's in McClure, Pa and Kandi, Cora and the boys rode down in the truck. I loaded some things in the bed of the truck that I brought back from Florida that Sam bought on his vacation down there. On the way back we got in to a nasty thunder storm with lightning, high winds and some heavy down pours. Outside of Lewistown I went to make a turn onto rt 22 and the bike wouldn't turn. I was going up a slight hill and a sweeping right hand turn. I came about 3 or 4 feet from hitting the cement guard rail, but I didn't and at the last moment the bike decided to turn. I got home fine. Cora complained to me that I was riding too slow in the storm! I was going anywhere between 25 to 35 when it was in a heavy down pour.

Tuesday I took Kandi up to Altoona on the bike. It was her first ride on it since July of last year. That was when we got caught in a nasty thunderstorm. This time everything was fine. She put her oxygen bottle between us and I had a make shift back rest. I rode about 60 most of the way. When we got there she asked me why I was riding so slow. I told her I was going 60 and she didn't believe me. Comeing back I showed her on the speedo that we were doing 60 and she said the speedo was off because we were creeping along. So I hit 70 and 2900 RPMS. The Owners Manual says at 2900 I should be anywhere between 68 to 72 so it is right. Then I hit 80 mph and told her to look. She said no way we was going that fast., but I was flying past cars so she believed it. She asked why it seems like we are poking along. I had to tell her because that is the quality of the motorcycle. It means it is well balanced and such.

I found a rode coming back from the Lewistown Hospital last week. My mother went into the ER because she couldn't get her breath and was shaking. So I left the ER around 2:30 AM I took a wrong turn but found a great riding back road from Lewistown to McVeytown. Even at night this was a very good road. I prayed that I would make it home safe. Less than 30 seconds after saying "AMEN!" I noticed a car coming at me. I flicked my high beams off and on but he still came at me. I stayed in my lane but slowed down and downshifted to 2nd gear. At the last second I swerved over to the other lane and he ran off the road on my side! The rest of the way home I noticed many deer along the road in Farmers' fields.

Yesterday I went down to my mother's with the boys so we had to take the Van. We cut the grass and trimed a little bit there and at Aunt Nancy's My mother called so we left to go pick her up. I haven't been the whole way down 35 and the Lewistown turn off since I was a little kid and maybe not even then. Man what a great riding road. Rt 35 has many hills and straight streches but futher down it does have some turns. We turned off on what I think was 333. I followed a sign that said "Lewistown 14 miles." I'll have to go on this ride again but on the Harly. This road had at least 4 or 5 15mph switchbacks on it! at 60 mph the van wheels were flying off the road some some of the hills! It was fun in a van, I can't imagine how much fun it is going to be on a bike!

End of Florida Rides for now

Harley-Davidson of Ft Myers had their Motorcycle Safety Saturday and free test rides on 2007 motorcycles. Kandi went with me and bought the boys a new full face helmet. Because her mother was coming over I had to take them home and could not ride the new bikes! I wanted to test ride the Softail Classic, Fat Boy, V-Rod, Ultra Glide and a Big Dog Chopper. I took them home and went to ride my 'Beast" back and Kandi said "No Way! You were just there! You don't need to ride another bike!" So that was that.

A week later I took the boys on their last ride to Ft Myers Beach, Lovers Key State Park and Bonita Springs. Jordan took video with our Sony HandyCam of the rides. They were bumpy but that's okay. I then made them into a DVD. Jordan and I went to Times Square on the Beach and a Steel Pan Junior High School band was playing. It was nice and they let Jordan try playing. I got that on video tape.

We loaded up the bike on the trailer and headed home. The ride up was terrible. By the time we got to the Tampa Bay area the Love Bugs were everywhere. I stopped 3 times to clean my windshield and Jordan cleaned Cora's. We stopped in Southern SC for the first night. Then we took off around 9am. 5pm when we stopped for supper it was in Northern Virginia. Kandi said she had a migrain head ache so we got a Hotel room for the night. I then noticed that my trailer tires were low. As I was pumping them up at a gas station I noticed that they were bald, they had no tread on them and also had bumps on the tires. We made it home with out the tires blowing. On the way home we took rt 655 back towards Cassville. It was then I made a mental note that I had to ride the bike on this section of road. It had many twists and hills on it. I drove it before but never rode on it.

Jordan and I took the bike to Shade Gap the next day to mow my mother's and Aunt Nancy's grass. Coming into Three Springs the road was blocked and we had to take a detour. The detour lead to the last part of rt 655! Jordan scream in the back. I asked him if anything was wrong. Jordan said, "Dad this is awesome! One of the best rides ever!" So that assured me to ride the whole rt 655.

I rode my bike up a couple of days ago to Altoona VAMC for my Doctor's appointment. I was running late and rode 70-75 mph the whole way. Yes even on the 45mph 829 outside of Cassville. It was a very Spirited ride. The way back I saw 2 deer standing along side the road at 3pm. Normally deer aren't out at that time of day.

The whole month of May I put less than 200 miles on my bike. That was the fewest out of any month since I bought my "BEAST" back on June 9, 2006. Maybe I'll be riding more in the summer months. I doubt it. I tried to ride 2 days ago and Kandi said, "No! You don't need to go anywhere! Just stay at home." So I couldn't even ride out to the Lake. I wanted to see my friends at the boat dealerships and see how much the dealerships changed. Oh well that's my life.

Easter Bunny Run

Early Friday morning I took Morgan to the Harley Davidson Dealership of Ft Myers. Fox Channel 4 Morning News was there.

From 6am to 9am Fox Channel News Wild Bill Wood reported from the Harley-Davidson of Ft Myers Dealership. The Easter Bunny came and I took a photograph of my now 10 year old son Morgan. He got interviewed twice on the show. He was so excited about being on the news.

On Saturday my other son Jordan, who turns 11 come Thursday, went with me on the Easter Bunny Run. Southwest HOG Chapter of Ft Myers was the sponcer of this run. We started out at the dealership and rode to the Childrens Hospital down here. Everyone was to bring at least one toy. Many people brought more that one toy. There were over 300 people on this run. Jordan really had a ball and he also went up stairs to play with the kids that were in the Hospital!

When we rode up, Lee County Sheriff Department provided the Police Escort the whole way. At every intersection some one waved at us. Then when we got to the Hospital there were kids everywhere. When we went inside to give the toys to the kids most of us got tears in our eyes. Jordan went around playing with the children in the Hospital. It did him a world of good to see these kids.

Cruising the Beach at Spring Break

The last few weekends I have been cruising down Ft Myers Beach in the evenings. I took Jordan one night and Morgan the next night. I met up with my friend Bob from outside of Chicago. He has a 2005 HD Fat Boy. It has over $12,000 worth of chrome and paint on it and other extras.

The rides on the beach has been fun with all the College Spring Break Students here. They really love our lights. I have 7 LED Lizard Lights that change colors on my bike. Bob has 20 LED Green Light Pods on his bike! He got them up at Daytona Bike Week. It is a sweat Scoot!

This week I took Morgan for a day time ride down to the Beach. It is a 6 mile ride from our house to Estero Island which is Ft Myers Beach. When we got to about 2 miles from the beach the traffic jam started! It took us almost a hour to get the final 2 miles! Too many tourist and spring breakers down here. I couldn't even find a place to park my "Beast" there. So I parked it by the store "The Winds." We walked over to Times Square and walked out on the Fishing Pier. I couldn't believe all the people on the Beach! I NEVER seen that many people there, maybe it was because it was 89 degrees.

When I looked down the beach from the Pier I saw over 50 boats which dropped anchor by the beach. Then the people walked to shore to the bars. I seen people swimming a few hundred yards off the beach and past the end of the pier. I bring this up because their were people catching SHARKS there!!! How stupid can a person be? People catching snook and other fish and then someone pulls in a 5 1/2 foot Hammerhead Shark! I think I would be out of the water by that time. These crazy tourist kept on swimming. Oh yeah, Ft Myers Beach has NO LIFEGUARDS!

Walking back to the bike I saw a great t-shirt in a stores window. It had a picture of a Shark and said "Send more Tourist!" I laughed, how true that is. Just one thing that bothers me is, if they call it tourist season, why cann't we SHOOT THEM?

Tonight I am going to Road Captains meeting at the Southwest Florida HOG Chapter. Then on Saturday is the Bunny Ride. We are to bring a toy and $5 for the Police Escorted ride from Ft Myers HD to the Lee County Childrens Hospital. This should be a fun ride. Since Morgan road on the Santa ride, Jordan is going to ride on the Easter ride with me. There will be hundreds of bikers on the ride. How cool is that?! We ride in Parade Formation, which is: we ride side by side, handle bars to handle bars. Not in the stagered formation which is safer but in a parade formation is better for this kind of ride. It is fun riding a couple of feet between you and the next guy at 45 mph. The sounds of a V-Twin motorcycle with loud pipes and all for Charity. What is more American that that. lol.

Until next time, Keep the ride smooth and safe. If you can't ride, dream about it.

Screwing around

March 15, 2007
A lot has been happing. Last week Joe and I went for a ride. He took Venessa and I took Morgan. It was a fun ride. Then Joe, George and I took a evening ride down Ft Myers Beach and Bonita Springs through Lovers Key. It was wonderfull riding and looking at the city lights on the Gulf of Mexico.

Then on Friday I rode to the Library. I came out and found a message taped to my front tire which read "Look at Tire!" So I looked and then took the paper off the tire and found a screw in my front tire! This person could have saved my life!

I called around to different dealerships and tire stores and no one would fix the tire. On Tuesday I went down San Carlos Blvd to Ft Myers Beach to Spokes and Power. The dude there said he had a new front tire for me. I was told by numerous people NOT TO PLUG THE TIRE. So I was going to put a new tire on. Phil pulled out the screw and found out that it didn't go the whole way through the tire. No plug was needed nor no new tire. He told me that it would be okay to ride. Today is Thursday and still no air has leaked out of the tire. So I guess it is good to ride now.

I included a photograph of my bike at the Welcome to Everglades City sign. I also included a photograph of my neighbor Joe and his daughter Venessa.

Because of the screw in the tire I wasn't able to go to Downtown Ft Myers Bike Night and also ride with the Hog Chapter on the Shrimp Festival Parade. But now I'm ready to ride again.

Charity Ride?

I haven't been riding too much here in Feb. 2007. It has been cold down here in Ft Myers. It got down below 40 degress for 4 straight days! Today it got up to 79 degrees so I took the bike out for a ride.

Frank and Allen of Star Touring & Riding Naples Chapter 308 has been emailing me. Back in June 2006 Frank's wife died of Ovarian Cancer. Frank wants to plan an annual charity run for Ovarian Cancer. I told Frank that I would help out in any way possible. I have also been talking to some officers of the SW Florida Hog Chapter. They said they would help out too. It is great that everyone cares.

Today I went for a ride to the HD Dealership. Coming back I got into a yelling match with some anti war protesters. The ride was fun though. In the morning I have to get up and go to my bi-monthly meeting at the VA Hospital for Weight loss. I will also take a ride down the beach to deliver some Full Throttle Magazines for Katie and maybe get some clients for her which could me more Bike Nights in the Ft Myers area. Then come evening I have a Star Chapter meeting down in Naples.

Cape Coral Bike Night!

Saturday Feb 3, 2007 was a chilly day in Southwest Florida. The skies were overcast but every rain storm passed us buy. The day started out with me taking Jordan and Morgan to Home Depot for a kids morning they were having. Both boys built a toy wooden Tony Stewart Home Depot Car. After that I took the boys to Ft Myers Harley-Davidson to look at the new bikes, but mostly to check and see if the new Full Throttle Magazine came in yet. Since it was Saturday, the dealership has FREE Hamburgers and Hot Dogs on a grill outside. Then inside is free coffee, coco, and soda. So we went and had a free lunch!

When I got home I did some work around the house and we went out to eat supper. Coming home my neighbor Joe from Brazil was waiting for me. He said about us riding over to Cape Coral Bike Night. I have never been to the Cape Coral Bike Night. The only Bike Night I ever been to was Ft Myers Bike Night. Joe and I took off. I was wearing jeans but my leather chaps, my Harley-Davidson over the ankle boots, a Ft Myers HD long sleeve t-shirt and my Star Touring & RIding Vest with my Star Vet patchs. Joe on the other hand said how cold it was (about 60 at the time) and he wore his Harley Leather Jacket and button up at the collar. He also said about how cold it was riding. I laughed and remembered riding back from my old high school football game at 34 degrees. Now that is COLD RIDING!

We got to Cape Coral and parked on an alley and walked in. The first thing I noticed was that it only took up one street for about 2 blocks. So Downtown Ft Myers Bike Night was much bigger and there were much less people and vendors. On the other hand it was nice and fun too. Then I noticed a big stage for the band to play on. A Classic/Southern Rock band played. So a free concert and a free Bike Night, what more could a motorcyclist ask for?

We walked around. I noticed a custom bike builder that made trike choppers called Boom Trikes. They make a nice product. American Iron Horse was there with their Texas Chopper and Slammer models. Ft Myers HD not only brought their Harleys but also they are a dealer for Thunder Mountain and Big Dog Choppers. They had them there as well. There were a few Patch Holders of Motorcycle Clubs there. The Outlaws MC and their support club The Black Pistons MC and also the Phantoms were there. I saw quite a few Christian motorcycle clubs there. I even watched a man in his late 50's to early 60's get saved at Bike Night! So people this isn't just a bunch of wild bikers running around causing trouble and raising heck. A lot of good comes out of these events to.

Then Joe and I rode home. We left home around 6:15 pm and got home a little after 8pm. So we were gone about 2 hours and Bike Night still had another 2 hours of fun in the sun. Everything was uneventful on our ride. Just two guys enjoying being with fellow brothers in the wind together.