A video to make you smile

Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe

Attempting to talk to my very good friend in Africa this morning and
the phone kept cutting off!

I know its Africa and the cell service is terrible, but it wasn't the
signal that dropped. for some reason or another, she couldn't hear
me. It would work fine, then I'm gone. I could still hear her just fine.

Oh well, guess I'll try again tomorrow

My little aluminium butt trip to GA

I’ve been planning on going to visit my friends on north side of Atlanta for something on the order of 2 months now, so as the time drew near, I thought it would be kool to take the bike.
Since the ST1300 was finished, it looked like a prime opportunity to give the thing a good long run. and besides, bikes all get 40+ MPG on the hwy, I can’t even get 20mpg out of the 4Runner. sounds like a no brainer to me.
I had been watching the weather for the week prior to the trip in hopes that it was going to warm up and be a nice ride. It didn’t. I decided that I was going to go ahead and take the ride. Thats what heated grips and Belstaff jackets are for right?
When I started loading the bike at 0530 the thermostat in the apt was claiming it was 28.4*F

The bike thought it was a bit cooler then that

(forgot to reset the trip meter prior to the pic, but you can see the odo 15308)

it was cold, so I layered up, cranked the heated grips to High (or so I thought) and hit the road. the clock on the bike read 0607 when I pulled out of the driveway.

I didn’t make it to Dallas before I thought I was going to get lose my hands to frostbite. I stopped 3 times to warm my hands on the exhaust and/or the heads.

By 1000 it was all the way to 38* (according the the not-always-correct bike)
All this and my body was just fine. Knees got a little cool, but it was hands and toes that were cold. So I kept stopping every ~30-45min to warm back up. to say the least it was a slow trip.

About 1130 I made it to the LA border
yes, thats ~250mi in about 4hrs, yeesh

Stopped and grabbed a Quizzno’s sandwich and hit the road again about 1220. I was warmer by this point so I was able to make some better time.

Somewhere in LA, I stopped for a break and saw this sign. What are they implying??

I’m sure they *meant* to point to some specific area other then the trash can, but I just couldn’t resist a little creative interpretation ;)

Back on the road I ran into a back-log of traffic on I20 near Ruston, LA. Turns out that they had shut down East bound I20 from Ruston to Monroe. I don’t know the cause but they routed us down LA33 to HWY80 and over to Monroe. That trip which is normally ~25mi, took almost 3hrs.

I got stuck between a couple big rigs and the one in front had a shiny trailer!


I wish i’d had a CB during that time so I could at least have somebody to talk to!
My hands were getting warm so I flipped the grips from Hi to Low, I QUICKLY discovered that they were wired up wrong! they got HOT in a hurry. too bad I didn’t find that out sooner
I don’t know for sure but I think the instructions on the grips are wrong, because I remember double and triple checking that I had them right before buttoning the tupperware back on, but I could very well just had some cerebral flatulence and put them on wrong. I’ll have to take the plastic off and get them straightened out.

I had my VX-7r along so I plugged that in and found a little country station out of Monroe. Their DJs weren’t good at all, but the music was great!

By the time I got to Monroe, it was about 1500. time to make some distance. next stop: Vicksburg, Miss. landing there just before 1700.

I spent the rest of the evening doing my best to make tracks across Miss.

I crossed the border in to Bama around 2200. It was dark so I didn’t stop to get a pic of the state sign. I decided that I’d had enough for one day and it was getting darn cold again. so I grabbed a room in Tuscaloosa, AL for the night.

Woke up about 0700 and hit the road by 0745. It wasn’t any cooler Saturday morning either.

all that time and I’d still only gone 600mi!

I was able to make better time on Saturday. Stopped for breakfast at Waffle House around 0900 then back on the road to GA. Crossed the border in to GA around 1100. Construction started at the border so I didn’t want to risk stopping for a pic of the sign.

I turned North at Villa Rica
headed up HWY61 towards Dallas, GA. From there it was up 92 to Acworth and I was done by 1215. phew what a trip.

Saturday I didn’t do much of anything. sat around and talked, read letters from their sister/sister-in-law in Africa and just had a fended off the 2 dogs and a cat appropriately named PITA.

Saturday night we went into town and picked up another controller for the newly-acquired PS2 (yes, the old cheap one :deal: ) and then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening playing games.

Sunday we got up and played more games. it was down right funny to watch her playing GTA: San Andreas and attempting to get away from the cops.

Oh, she decided that on GT4, the Ram 1500 Hemi Quad Cab is the best thing out there cause “it doesn’t turn quick” :scratch:

While she was playing GT4 we got under the house and ran a network cable so they could have all their computers online at the same time.

Then it was off to bed for some sleep before I had to drive home to TX

Sunday I got up 0700 (CST), had breakfast, loaded the bike and hit the road right at 0810.
Sunday was much prettier then friday!

Made I20 by 0900, topped off the tank and headed west for home.
Made a quick stop at the Alabama border for the requisite sign pic

and continued on my way.

First stop was for lunch at 1200 in Miss, but I don’t remember town name.

Hit LA at 1600 and kept on trucking.

It started raining just past Monroe and was wet and/or foggy from there to home. stupid weather. Fortunately Belstaff knows how to keep the water out, now if I can remember to tuck the gloves INSIDE the sleeves next time I’ll be set.

Crossed into TX and stopped in Marshall at 2000 for gas and food. Pulled out of there around 2030.

Once I got West of Canton the fog started settling in. It would be clear enough to see stars one minute then the next you couldn’t see the road 200ft ahead of you.

Arrived home at 2330, all told, 14hrs and 20 min to cover 850mi, need to work on my efficiency.


So what would I do different?

• if the high temp for the day is below 40F, don’t take the bike.
  
• make sure you know which setting is actually hi on your grips
  
• take more pictures
  
• stop less, or at least quicker
  
• get a throttle lock
  
• repeat
  

no taco bell?

Listening to the news this morning and heard that in the North East
there's been an outbrake of ecoli (sp?) from people that have been
eating at Taco Bell.

so my first thought was, its ok, its up in the north east. Well
listening to the news story a little longer, I discovered that the
supplier of these Taco Bell's is located in Dallas!

is this the end of the world as we know it?

Tools

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is
used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts not far from
the
object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of
cardboard
cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes
containing seats and motorcycle jackets.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in
their
holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling
mounting holes in fenders just above the brake line that goes to the
rear
wheel.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more
dismal
your future becomes.

VICE- GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available,
they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of
your
hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable
objects in your garage on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease
inside
a brake drum you're trying to get the bearing grease out of.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and
motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2
socket you've been searching for, the last 15 minutes.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat
metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and
flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly
painted part you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere
under
the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint
whorls and
hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say
"Ouch...."

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a motorcycle to the ground after
you have installed your new front disk brake set-up, trapping the jack
handle firmly under the front fender.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering a motorcycle
upward off
a hydraulic jack.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.

PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor to see if he has another hydraulic
floor jack.

SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and
is ten times harder than any known drill bit.

TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease build
up.

TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile
strength of ground straps and brake lines you may have forgotten to
disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool
that
inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end
without
the handle.

BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulphuric acid
from a battery to the inside of your tool box after determining that
your
battery is dead as a door nail, just as you thought.

METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop
light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin,"
which is
not otherwise found under motorcycles at night. Health benefits
aside, its
main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate
that
105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of
the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is
somewhat
misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be
used, as
the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads and can double as
oil
filter removal wrench by stabbing through stubborn oil filters.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning
power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that
travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty
bolts
last tightened 60 years ago by someone in Springfield, and rounds
them off.

PRYBAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket
you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short.

Amen

A good friend sent me this today.
I whole heartedly agree.
If your offended by this, then you need to read it again.
-------

I am Proud To Be White

There - someone finally said it.

How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans,

Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc.

And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.

You call me "White boy," "Cracker," "Honkey,"

"Whitey," "Caveman"... and that's OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger,

Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink ... you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you,

so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King

Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You

have Yom Hashoah You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP.

You have BET.

If we had WET (White Entertainment Television)... We'd be racists.

If we had a White Pride Day... you would call us racists.

If we had White History Month... We'd be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to "advance" OUR lives...

We'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of

Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.

Wonder who pays for that?

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships

... You know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed

Black Colleges in the US, yet if there were "White colleges"...

THAT would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching

for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights,

you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're

not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride...

you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police
officer

shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running

from the law and posing a threat to society .. You call him a racist.

I am proud.

But, you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

There is nothing improper about this e-mail.

Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.

"unsafe speed" is really hard to beat

For what its worth, the ticket "Unsafe Speed" is rather hard to beat. Its
rather large and broad in its specifications.

Oh and when you are unable to beat a Unsafe Speed ticket, you can't take
drivers ed for it either