Farkle Shelf

I finally got enough of the 50CC acquired bugs off so you can see the shelf. It worked great for the MTF's 50CC as is, the only two things I wish I had had time to add before leaving (and will add before the Utah 1088 ) were a reading light and some kind of writing table/shelf with clips. I'm not sure how I will do it but I'm looking around for something that will work. It has plenty of room for another GPS and a Spot, I expect they will be coming soon as well.

It was great as a dinning table and/or junk holder when stopped, because of that it made the gas turns easier and the ride a little faster. Of course I'm pretty slow, I can't pass a Iron Butt Motel with out stopping for a quick nap, guess I'm getting old .

On the just finished a 50CC across the southern US, I rode for two day with LDComfort riding tights and turtle neck shirt under my mesh riding suit. The temps were from very cool (needing electrics) to 95F with 80% humidity. I was comfortable at all times, no monkey butt, no pressure points, not too hot when it was hot and not too cold when it was cool. Really comfortable riding gear but what convinced me was after riding in the same gear for two days they were pretty ripe and I didn't have time to wash 'em out before heading home. So I went back to my old riding gear for the first leg of the return home. Now I had covered almost 3000 miles the previous couple of days in the LDComfort riding gear in a very comfortable fashion, in the jeans and UnderArmor after 200 miles my butt was screaming "No Mas, No Mas". I shut it down in Pensacola, washed the LDComfort gear in the sink, wring it dry as directed, hung it up and it was ready to wear the next morning. Wore it the rest of the way home, no pressure points, no monkey butt, comfortable when it was hot, comfortable when it was cold.....great stuff, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

More 50CC

I started the 50CC with a big sleep deficit. That is not too unusual for me I have a hard time sleeping most days. My usual sleep pattern is 4 or 5 hours a night with an occasional 6 hour night, I can go forever with that pattern. Needless to say it didn't happen on this ride. Part of the reason I missed sleep Monday night was beating up on myself for being a dumb ass and playing the "what if" game in my head. I know counter productive but what the hey...that's me.

I'll cut to the chase....Monday night was a little less that 3 hours from the last time I looked at the clock till the alarm went off and I had to go to work. After work Tuesday, I had to take care of a couple of last minute things I had missed Monday, finish packing the bike and go by AZDMV to get a new plate sticker. I didn't make it to San Diego until about 2200 and I still had to eat, turned out I made it to bed a little after midnight and I had to be up no later than 0330 to meet the witness at 0400 so I could start the ride at 0430. It didn't get any better.

I rode all day Wednesday, with stops to check into the Iron Butt Motel, making it to San Antonio 0215 Thursday morning and leaving the hotel at 0645. Can you see a dumb shit pattern here? From Monday night to Friday morning I had at best 10.5 hours total sleep, throw in a max of 1.5 hours of power naps at the IBH and I was in major sleep deprivation.

It gets worse . I arrive in Jacksonville Beach a little after 0200 Friday morning go to check into the hotel and find the reservation is for the wrong day, there is a major golf thingy going on and there are no rooms. I beg and plead, threaten to us his check-in desk as a IBH and promise that I will be out of there by noon. I finally get a room, go out to the bike and have another dumb ass moment....I can't find the sheet with the name and address of the ending fuel station. I go back in, ask the desk clerk if he knew which station was being used and he said "I believe it is a Gate station". Back out to the bike, look for nearest Gate fuel station and it is just around the corner. Someway manage to keep the bike upright, get the ending fuel receipt at 0252 my time (0552 EDT) go back to the hotel and fall into bed. I can't go to sleep, I stink so much from the heat and humidity I'm keeping myself awake, not only that my riding clothes smell even worse. I get up put my riding clothes in a plastic laundry bag, seal it and hop in the shower. Finally I go to sleep. My phone rings about 2 hours later, "where are you, I'm waiting at the Gate station to sign your witness form". We finally figured out I had gone to the "wrong" Gate station and he asked me to meet him in the lobby so he could witness the end of my ride and take photos of my time line and receipts. By this time it was almost 1000, I had to be out of the hotel by noon and Doug was still several hours out. I loaded up, someway managed with several stops at the IBH to make it to Pensacola, saw a LaQunita and bailed out.

After a good night's rest, food, and water the ride the next day from Pensacola to Junction was one of the best ever.

50CC in May

I Left SD at 0430 local to start my 50CC, rode to San Antonio the first day. I hit Van Horn just as the sun set, can you say worst timing you could have, except for hitting Pascagoula,MS just as the sun sets . Two nights of riding some of the most deer infested roads in the States will kick your butt. BTW, I don't know if the 4G's are a good deal or not. One thing for sure You can see the deer, I thought about turning them off because while I would know the deer were there, I wouldn't "know" the deer were there. Both stretches are close to 500 miles and I couldn't force myself to run over 65 mph on either. Makes a real long night.

Traxxion Mod

I decided to do the full Monty Traxxion Mod to my 'Wing. I called around and JBK Cycles in Santa Ana, CA seemed to be the best place to have it done.

I was pretty skeptical going in that it would make a big difference but I figured it couldn't hurt and worse case I would end up with a $3000 head bearing change, which the bike needed anyway. As a good friend likes to point out I'm not overly fond of my money anyway so what the heck....sounded like a good deal to me.

The ride home from L.A. after the Mod was installed was all on the Slab and a little anticlimactic, the bike rode a little "plusher", tracked a little better, but all in all not a $3000 improvement, oh well, I've thrown more money than that away before.

Last Sunday I had time to run US 191 from Morenci to Alpine (did the Tucson-Alpine-Show Low-Tucson loop...a little over 500 miles of mostly good motorcycle road). I didn't time the Morenci to Alpine portion but the whole ride took just under 10 hours. All I can say is the Traxxion mod was worth every penny. For the first time running US 191 I did not drag any of the hard parts, not on the 1st gear hairpins or the medium and/or high speed sweepers and I was riding as fast as is prudent on a public road, well maybe just a little faster than prudent. Once the chassis was stable the bike was rock solid and road imperfections had little effect, I was able to roll on power earlier because I could trust the bike to hold what ever line I set. There were no bar shakes or wobbles, the bike felt wonderful, it is still a 900 lb. bike but damn it will eat the road. I don't think the Harley guy at work believed me when he asked how the ride was and I told him I did the loop in under 10 hours.

I had one interesting situation, coming around one of the blind high speed sweepers, just as I was rolling power in for the exit, I found a car in my lane backing up. I haven't a clue why, he just did it. I grabbed a hand full of brake and put the ABS to test, BTW ABS is worth every penny as well.

The IBA rally is going on as I type. It is held every two years, I plan on doing the next one, 11,000 miles in 11 days, it should be a hoot.

Road Trip

I love to hear those words. Long story short.....a buddy of mine (lives in Granbury, TX) called last Thursday and said "I can get away for a few days, would you like to meet up some place and ride around"? I scrambled around at work changing schedules and was able to put 5 days off together, Friday, the weekend and Monday-Tuesday. Next was deciding where to meet and where to ride. Well I had heard stories that Sturgis, SD was going to have a big T-shirt sale over the time I had off....sounded like a good place to go, so done deal. We picked Ruton, NM as a good meet-up point, from there it was a easy stroll up I-25 and then east to Sturgis.

We pulled into Sturgis late afternoon Saturday. We bought a couple of T-shirts, BTW while the selection was good they lied about 'em being on sale , and had a good hamburger in the "Knuckle" before calling it a day.

Sunday, we did the tourist thing and rode around the Black Hills with a few thousand of our best riding buddies and then late afternoon headed south to Lusk, WY for a RON. Today we will ride to Las Vegas, NM for another RON, my Texas buddies will split off from there and I will ride to Tucson Tuesday.

My buddy and I traded bikes a couple of times, his is one of HD's with batwing fairings, all I can say is my hat is off to him, 2600 miles on that shaking POS and I wouldn't be able to walk.

BTW, someone once said 'there are no bad roads out of Sturgis", I believe him.

We made it to Paso Robles for the night, the next day Blythe, CA for a RON and then home to Tucson.

I'm not sure how many miles we did but I did the 4000 mile oil change just before leaving home and the odometer had 11,200 miles showing when we pulled into the driveway.

One last photo....just because:

The next day we rode down US101to Leggett, CA where we joined CA1 to Gualala, CA. What a great motorcycle road from Leggett to where CA1 joins the coast, it's pretty good once on the coast as well . The hotel in Gualala was the nicest we stayed in. I can't remember its name but it is on the south end of town and next to the Road House Cafe.

The next morning we continued south pass San Fransisco and Monterrey, once we were south of Monterrey the horse to the barn syndrome kicked in and we headed east for home.

Our first day's ride south took us as far as the Oregon/California border. We RONed at the Harris Beach State Park outside of Brookings, OR. Harris Beach became a favorite of Ms.OK, beautiful setting and a very nice camping area.

"Short Beach

We had to visit "Short Beach" once more, by this time I was ready to throw a leg over the bike and ride .

More Vacation 09

We had made it to the Oregon Coast and spent a week camping and visiting old haunts, it was time to start moving toward home but first we needed a night in a hotel to do laundry and recharge all the batteries. We stayed in the SurfRider just outside of Depoe Bay, OR. Nice place but the dryer quit working before the laundry was dry.

What can you say about the Oregon Coast other than it is magical, what a special place. When we lived in McMinnville, OR I believe Ms.OK walked almost every inch of the coast. I missed most of it because I was always gone on a trip to BFE, The Sudan or some other place half way around the world.

Low Tides

The tides were the lowest of the year and people were out in droves to walk the beaches and to harvest shellfish.

Made it to the Oregon Coast

From Hood River we rode through Portland, OR then OR6 to the Coast. We set up base camp in Cape Lookout State Park. From there we took day trips up and down the coast and each evening returned to camp for dinner, a campfire, wine, beer, and martinis. I took one day off to have the OEM Dunlops replaced with Metzeler Marathon 880's. The Dunlops still had a lot of miles left but the Metzelers made all the difference in the world when riding in the rain. I wish I had done it earlier.

Photo of Oceanside, just north of Cape Lookout.

Lolo Pass

We left Butte on I-90 for Lolo and US12 to cross over Northern Idaho. Lolo pass was a highlight of the trip. The only negative, the OEM Dunlops do not handle rain well and a couple of times the bike got a little squirrelly going through Lolo pass. We made it to Hood River, OR where we shut it down for the night.

Lake Jackson

After Grand Junction we cut across Western Colorado on CO139 to Vernal, UT to spend the night. I've ridden or drove most of the roads in the western US but this was my first time on CO139. It was a pleasant surprise, I wouldn't say it was a great motorcycle road but it was much better than expected. The next morning the plan was to ride to Jackson, WY to spend the night and the next day do Yellowstone NP. We had a couple of ways to get to Jackson and I picked the eastern route over the western one because of WX. It turned out to have been a good chose. We watched rain to the west almost all the way into Jackson and only had to put our rain gear on about 50 miles south of Jackson.

Yellowstone was pretty much a bust, too damn many people, RV's, cars and road construction to enjoy the park. I almost lost the bike and trailer going over several of the road work areas. The mud was really slick. We exited out West Yellowstone and rode to Butte, MT for the night. The ride up US287 to connect with I-90 was one of the prettiest of the trip. After the crowds of Yellowstone it was most enjoyable. BTW, this part of the the trip, from Jackson, WY to Lewiston, ID was mostly in the rain. All I can say is thank you Frogg Toggs and Shoei, they kept us dry and comfortable.

On the Road to Silverton

After Red River we rode to Durango, CO to position ourselves to do the Durango-Silverton-Ouray (US550) ride the next morning.

One of the advantages of traveling on a bike is people will stop and talk to you, other bikers as well folks in cars, trucks, and RV's. We met a woman just out side of Durango who had been riding solo for 6 weeks. She was from the Seattle area and had lost her job. She decided what better time to see the USA on her Harley Soft Tail. We rode together for a good part of US550. She is on the left and Ms.OKGuy is on the right.

Last for now

I have not a clue what they were doing

Four bikers

Rambling on ROT

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

More Vacation 09

After ROT we spent another day in Austin visiting with our girl child and her SO and short visit to Hippie Hollow. We left Austin early Tuesday AM and rode to Amarillo, TX before we shut it down for the night. The next morning we did the short ride on to Red River, NM and camped by the river.

Red River is still beautiful and not too overrun with people. It had been over 30 years since my last time there and there were a few changes but even with the new development it was one of the best places we stayed on the trip.

09 Vacation

I left Tucson June 11th for Austin, TX so as to meet friends at ROT. Ms.Bubba was in Scotland visiting family and would meet me in Austin for the final day of ROT, after that we planned to ride to Oregon, with many stops on the way, to spend a week camping on the Oregon coast. we needed to be back in Tucson no latter than July 4th.

That's the back story, as always, when I get on or in a traveling machine I tend to do lots of miles with few stops for pictures or much of anything else. Ms.Bubba is more of a smell the roses kind of person so most of the photos are hers .

The first image is of ROT, let me tell you it was great tacky and tasteless fun

Good Weekend

Ms. OK and I loaded up the trailer with camping gear (new tent, never put up....big mistake) and headed for the White Mountains for a Saturday camp out. We had a great ride up US 191 and found an empty camp site a little over a mile off the main highway. Long story short...one of the main tent pole attachments was defective and after several attempts at a "work around" we gave up, packed the camping gear back into the trailer and rode to Show Low for a good meal and a night in a hotel. Oh darn . The next morning we were up early and headed home through the Salt River Canyon where we stopped for a river side picnic.

Monday Ms. OK had to work so I left the house about the same time she did for a ride. As I went out the door I thought about a comment that US 191 South from Alpine to Clifton is different experience compared to running the road north. Doesn't take much to get me to ride US 191. Normally I ride it north bound but this time I turned off US 191 at AZ 75 so as to join US 180 near Pleasanton NM and then north to Alpine so I could ride 191 south to Clifton. It started raining just before reaching Alpine and by the time I was a couple of miles south of Alpine it was a heavy downpour with pea hail. Thank you Frogg Toggs and Shoei Multitec. After running the fastest part of US 191 in the rain I passed a passel of HD riders in their usual riding outfits headed north into the rain, must say that image brought a smile.

I made it from Alpine to Clifton in a little under 2 hours, including a stop to take off the rain gear. Not too bad considering the fast part was in a heavy rain. Door to door, about an 11 hour day. What a great weekend, I got to run US 191 twice, once two up pulling a trailer and the second time solo. Each had its charm.

Camping in the White Mountains

Ms. OK and I did a trial run with the bike and all the camping gear that we need to take with us on vacation. We finally made it out of Tucson around 1330 Saturday afternoon and headed east on I-10 to join up with US 191 and on to our planned stop at Hannagan Meadow. After riding through rain and just missing snow (still on the roadside), we made it as the sun was setting and had to set up camp in the mud and dark. The sleeping pads and bags worked, the tent for a small backpacking model had enough room and was easy to erect. We warmed a can of Pazole on the auto gas camping stove and got a good night's rest. The next morning, after coffee, we broke camp and rode through the cold for several hours and then decended into the Arizona heat for the last leg before home.

Once home, martinis and the pool to end a perfect weekend.

On the Road

Ms. OK was having her morning tea and said the magic words...."I would really like to go on a long bike ride this morning". Damn I love that woman.

Before she could change her mind I was dressed and had the saddlebags packed . We went north with little plan other than to ride by Lake Roosevelt. We ended up continuing north through Payson and Show Low before turning south for home. The photo is at the last stop before home, we had been on the road for 9 hours with 1 more to go. This was the longest Ms Bubba had ridden in one day, before on the VTX an hour to two hours was the max she could set on the back. Not only do I love that woman, I love my V2K. What a road machine.

New iMac

All the computers died last week. I got the POS HP laptop up and running but the Mac is still in the shop so there was nothing else to do but buy a new 24" iMac. I'd thought about it for awhile as I'm no longer traveling so there is no need for a laptop or even a "lugable".

I've geeked for the last couple of days getting everything set up, still not finished but about 90% there. Damn, it is nice to have a full sized keyboard and big screen to work with....I'd forgotten how nice it is.

Once the Mac laptop returns I will post some bike photos.

The Righr Side of the Dial

The big Kawi likes to run. It is so smooth and stable if you don't pay attention she will be over 100 mph before you know it. I was watching the world go by with the BrakeAway Cruise control on when I looked down to see we were going around 110 mph. I had to make a photo before slowing down.

Sunday's Ride

I rode north out of Tucson through Globe to north of Payson. I made a few photos of the the route, this is one made in Globe.

Motorcycle Photos

I have not photographed, worked on making "ART" for several years. The reasons are many but mostly because of changes in location and work the time and interest were not there. Over the years my photographic work revolved around my neighborhood. I was connected to my neighbors and felt a bond with them that I wanted to share. When I left Ogden Street I lost that connection to my daily life and also lost the need to document my surroundings.

During the last year I've joined a new community, Motorcycle riding, and I'm feeling the need to share the joys of that life. I'm working to find a voice and I'm feeling I've started to do things that are interesting. Not all the images "work" but more and more satisfy me and I will be posting those images as I make them.

I guess mostly what I want to say is: This Blog is moving in a new direction and you can expect to see more frequent posts and most of the posts will be about riding and or photographs of bikes and riding.

Last Thursday was the first day in several weeks that I had off and nothing pressing. After sending Ms. OK off to work I headed out with no real plan, I just knew I wanted to ride.

Ended up running east on I-10 about 90 miles to 191 North so I could ride my favorite Arizona day ride. The route runs North on 191 to Eagar then West to Show Low and from Show Low South back to Tucson. Highway 191 is a great motorcycle road, between I-10 and Eagar, AZ, it has everything a rider could ask for: first gear hairpins, slow sweepers, to fast ones. The road passes through beautiful high desert, mountain pine forest and meadows, and even about 10 miles of Moonscape as you ride through a open pit copper mine. The road from Eagar to Show Low runs through the White Mountains and then between Show Low Globe you ride through the Salt River Canyon. None of the road is boring, none of the scenery is boring, it is just a great ride and today was special.

The day had everything, I got hot, and even cold for awhile in the White Mountains, and then hot again. I was rained on a half dozen times, met several folks while fueling, one couple was on a V2K pulling a trailer. They were on their way to California to ride the Coast road to Seattle. Another couple were on their way home from two weeks riding around Colorado. I even watched a beautiful Sunset as I rode back into Tucson. Twelve hours, a little over 500 miles, home just as Ms. OK came in the door, a Martini and the Hot Tub, life doesn't get any better.

Ride to Carlsbad, CA

I had a few days off over the 4th. and Ms. OK is in Austin visiting the girl child so I had to find ways to entertain myself. After dropping Ms.OK off at the airport Thursday I thought "Self what would you like to do"? Well I hadn't stuck a toe in the ocean for almost a year and San Diego is only 6 or 7 hours west.....hummmm can you say road trip?

I threw a couple of changes into the T-Bags, hung 'em on the big Kawasaki V2K and headed West. I ended up in Carlsbad, CA, stuck a toe in the Pacific (yes it is still cold), watched a beautiful sunset as I ate fish and chips, and drank a couple of cold ones. After a good night's rest I rode the coast road to L.A., hung a right on I-10 and rode it like I stole it all the way home. Made it in time to see a great Tucson sunset, I'm not sure which sunset was better. They were both pretty spectacular.

The heat On the California trip was a killer both ways through the desert. I stopped about every 100 miles to cool my core and rehydrate. The photo was made just west of Phoenix, one of the last stops on the way home and by then I was pretty beat up, having a ball but beat up.

Then the next day work called and said my "line" for the week had canceled. Damn the fridge was empty so there was nothing else to do but ride up to Globe for lunch. The Globe, Superior, Winkelman ride is a great bike ride, mostly fast sweepers through beautiful red rock, high desert. Sorry no photos of that part, I was having too much fun riding.

Rode a HD Electa Glide Screaming Eagle

Back in May I wrote a post about my new Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic LT, said it was the best bike I had ever ridden. That statement still holds after riding the HD Electa Glide. The HD was a nice bike but it felt like I was sitting on top of a toy instead of riding in a real road bike. It handled very nicely, quick in the turns and easy to ride slowly but no comparison to the V2K for smoothness and control on the road. We didn't do any "roll on" trials but I don't think that even with the "Screaming Eagle" mod the Electa Glide could stay with me. Lastly while the engine smooths out at speed it still has more vibration than the Big Kawi and there is no way I could ever get use to the engine trying to jump out of the frame at idle

It's a nice bike but it's no Vulcan 2000.

OK Guy at ROT

Here I am; dead man sleeping Saturday afternoon after two days and nights of riding, drinking beer and enjoying the show.

Still more ROT

More from ROT

Ranch-Mobile trolling for beads.

Images From ROT

Biker Bar-B-Que in Leakey, Texas.
Lunch while doing the Three Sisters

Home from ROT

The Republic of Texas Rally may be unique because its venue is set away from the public. All the activities (other than a few rides) take place inside the Austin Fairgrounds away from public streets and normal folks. Austin is a pretty laid back place anyway but for ROT it is hands off, if a bunch of suburban housewives and other assorted freaks wish to act out their wildest fantasies so be it as long as no one gets killed. I've been to most of the big "zoo" events, the infield of the Kentucky Derby, NASCAR, the 500, Mardi Gras, you name it, and none match ROT for shear craziness. It is over a hundred thousand people living Caligula, Dante's Inferno, and a Bible Thumper's vision of Hell all rolled into one alive, pulsating mass of humanity, with rock music blaring, naked women (and men) dancing, squids doing burnouts, HDs with V&H pipes running on their rev-limiters, going around and around the parade route, all day and all night for 4 straight days and all this packed into a few acres.

What can I say: Beer, boobs and motorcycles, does life get any better?

New Scoot

A couple of months ago I made the mistake of setting on a Kawasaki Vulcan 2000....."just to see how it felt"......BTW, it felt damn good. Long story short, after weeks of reading every thing I could find about the V2K, several more trips to the local bike shop to look and wish, and even a few sleepless nights browsing the web for V2K pics and stories, I brought one home.

What a beautiful bike, rides like a dream, has torque out the kazoo, in short the best motorcycle I've ever ridden.

Home from Texas

just made it back from Texas, three days, two nights, just over 2000 miles. I had a blast....Sunburned, tired, dirty, can't hear, with bugs stuck in my teeth and a grin from ear to ear. Anyway I'm home and after a martini and the hot tub I'm catching up with my email and doing my three turns around the nest.

What could be better: Three days of riding through some of my favorite country, eating great Mexican food, having steak and beer after a long day's ride, Texas Hill Country Bar B Que (not Luling Meat Market but still good), a night in a great hotel and a walk across to the Cadilac Bar

BTW, I did the SS1000 reverse order: I rode a day and a half from Tucson to Laredo, spent the night and early the next morning I hopped on the Slab and "rode it like I stole it" all the way home. Had a close one between Fort Stockton and Van Horn, It is about 140 miles between them, because of head winds I went to reserve at 105 miles. Slowed the scoot way down and made it to fuel (I believe I put 4.5 gals in).

Today I have to clean all the dead bugs off the scooter.

IBA Certification

Received my certification for my Iron Butt SS1000 I did the first of March. I'm now known as IBA Member 33312.

I'm leaving on another SS1000 tonight/early AM. This one will start in Tucson, go to San Antonio via I 10 then end in Laredo. 1030 miles according to MapQuest. I will spend Friday night in the La Posada Hotel. I should get there in time to walk across the bridge and eat at one of my favorite places. Saturday I will do an easy day to Alpine or Marfa for a RON and Sunday finish up in Tucson.

Iron Butt SS1000

What a day. I’ve been planning and working on doing an Iron Butt certification ride for a couple of months. The Iron Butt Association is clearing house and certifying agent for long distance motorcycle rides. The shortest qualifying ride is the Saddle Sore 1000 or SS1000 for short. The SS1000 requires you to ride your Scoot 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. You need time stamped fuel receipts for the start and finish as well as ones at the “corners”. All the documentation is sent to the IBA for confirmation and if confirmed you are rewarded with membership.

I did my first SS1000 Saturday. I departed Tucson early AM for Deming, NM, Albuquerque, NM, Flagstaff, AZ, Phoenix, AZ and then home. 1079 miles on the Scoot’s clock and 19hours 15 minutes latter I was home in hot tub with a martini. What a hoot. It was planned as a 65th. Birthday present for myself and I must say it was the best B-Day present ever.

Will I do it again? You bet, in fact I’m already planning another SS1000 to this summers ROT in Austin, Texas.

Iron Butt

I may do an Iron Butt ride sometime in March….kind of a 65th B-day gift to myself. If I do it, it will be a Saddle Sore 1000 (!000 miles in 24 hours). I have two routes planned, one is a round about from Tucson to Deming, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Phoenix, and back to Tucson. The other goes from Tucson to Pecos and back to Tucson.

I’ve been trying out equipment for the last couple of weeks. I have most of the bugs worked out and should be ready to go anytime after next week. It’s strange the things you find on longer rides that bug the shit out of you….if I don’t put my helmet on just right my hair gets caught in the padding and it’s like someone put itching powder in my hair or the ear piece of my riding glasses will drive me crazy after 20 or 30 miles. Anyway I will try a do-rag this weekend to see if it will take care of the itching.

BTW, last weekend I rode to Show Low, pultzed round there for a while and then rode home, a little over 400 miles total for the day. It was a good ride, the day started off in the high 30’s, warmed up to mid 50’s by the time I went through Globe, then back into the 30’s in the Show Low area (about 7000’ MSL) with heavy snow on the ground, then back up to the high 60’s by the time I made it back to Tucson. All in all, a good test of my riding gear.

New Scooter

I'm a biker guy now. A couple of months ago I bought a '06 Black Honda VTX 1300S. Someone said a new bike is just a down payment on the accessories, I can testify that it is true. Anyway I'm through adding things for awhile, now I just want to ride.

We did a short ride yesterday, went south of Tucson to a crossroad cafe for a steak and then home. Today I did a couple of hundred miles solo, went north to Globe for some bad Mexican food and a cruise of the canyons.

Move to Tucson

I've retired from flying the line. Starting August 3, 2007 I donned the gray pants, white shirt, red tie and blue blazer; drank the Kool-aid and begin a new life. So far it is good. BTW, I did the change with style, my last flight was a reverse of my first flight for Evergreen, kinda fitting in a way.

The whole trip was typical Evergreen, total FUBR. First Evergreen tried to fuck me on the airline ticket to Abu Dhabi. We had a policy, it had just been agreed to, that on long international flights it would be "business or better". The day before I was to leave I discovered they had stuck me in steerage and to make it even better they had bought the rent-a-pilot going with me a business class ticket. What a way to ensure employee loyalty, back out of agreed policy and then to top it; stick the employee in the back and the rent-a-pilot up in business. I had nothing to lose, for the first time with Evergreen I said "enough is enough" and refused to go unless it was via "business'. In typical Evergreen fashion they grumped and tried to pull the guilt trip about how when "they fly, they ride in economy"....Bull Shit.

Because Smith wanted it, the LearJet, in McMinnville "now", "today is too late", it was hurry, hurry, got to get there and get the airplane back to Oregon No one would tell Smith that the Lear was not ready to fly. I knew it was not ready because I had talked to the mechanic the night before.

To be continued........

BTW.....life is good in Tucson. The photo is of the delightful and very delicious Ms. Okguy in our pool.

Glasgow

I’m on my last trip for Evergreen; the mission is to ferry a LearJet 35A from UAE to McMinnville, OR. I’ve been gone for two weeks and still no end, I may end up flying commercial home. We left Dubai a couple of days ago and made it as far a Glasgow, UK. During the pre-flight walk around the pilot flying with me found a loose wire next to the left engine fuel shutoff valve. We found a mechanic to work on it but so far he has not found the correct “pin” to replace the defective one.

I’m like a horse with the smell of the barn, all I want to do is strap the Lear to my ass and fly. If we get out of here this afternoon I expect it will still be a couple of days before I’m home. I’ll give it one more day then I’m pulling out the AmEx and buying a ticket out of here.

Goodby Evergreen

I have posted my resignation letter. I’m on what I expect to be my last trip as a corporate pilot and boy did I pick a dozy. I’m bringing a LearJet 35A back from UAE to McMinnville, OR. So far we have made it from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. We have been in Dubai for almost a week and I do not expect to leave here for a couple more days. I expect once we are moving it will only take two or three days to finish the trip. The good news, by the time I make McMinnville I will be through flying for Evergreen.

My new gig will be teaching. Life many times comes full circle; this is one of those times. I started flying so I could teach. That was all I wanted to do. The realities of life soon convinced me that I would have to find another way to earn my living or starve. As they…. who ever they is…. say the rest is history. I’m looking forward to the opportunity of returning to the classroom and to the Sim.

Hard time off had a little to do with it as well.

What a Company

A friend wrote the following in response to one of my emails:

“What an amazing company, but I have a feeling we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes that make your missions so unpredictable. They are tied into a lot of situations we will never know about”.

Oh how I wish you were right. I fear it is nothing but incompetence and ass covering. This trip is a prime example.....Smith was on my boss’s ass "I want my airplane here now". So JK is on the mechanic's ass in Abu Dhabi. The mechanic in Abu Dhabi tells JK that the airplane will be ready last Sunday even though he knows there is no way in hell it will be to get JK off his ass. JK then tells Smith the pilots are on their way to Abu Dhabi on Saturday to pick up the aircraft so he gets Smith off his ass. I know it happened that way because I was sitting in JK’s office while all the conversations were taking place. When I had talked to the mechanic about the airplane the night before he had told me it would not be ready before mid week at the earliest. Pure ass covering, so I get to lay around a J.W.Marriott for a week ($500 USD/day/room) paying a contract pilot $1,000 USD a day just because no one will tell Smith the truth. The only reason the company makes money is because of Crony Capitalism, we suck on the government teat. It always amazes me how many right wing nutjobs owe everything to fucking the government but if you were to ask Smith or any of his kind they would tell you government was the problem not the solution. That it is all those welfare queens and immigrants that are sucking the US dry.

Pubs

I love Scottish Pubs.

Farm House Stay

We stayed with one of Pat's friends from her middle school days. She and her husband live on a small farm outside of Sterling. They are rebuilding and adding on to the original farm house. The house still uses most of the old walls which must be 30 or more inches thick. The view out the windows is beautiful. The attached photograph is out one of their windows.

It is so easy to photograph here, every place you look is just as or more beautiful than the last. Here is a quote from the folks we stayed with "Thanks for
the lovely photograph - is that really the view? We just take it for granted after all these years!"

I shake my head :-) ,

Aberdeen

We are in Aberdeen.

The night before we left Kilmarnock for Aberdeen we went to see one of Pat's nursing school roommates and her husband. Their home was beautiful, set high over a valley with a wonderful view. They also had a full kitchen or maybe a better way to put it was a kitchen with States sized appliances. I haven't seen many like it here. Pat was a little envious, can't blame her, it was a beautiful 100+ year old home in a spectacular setting.

The super markets here are running the small shops, the butcher, the green grocer, the fish monger, out of business and what to me is very strange is how every thing in the super market is pre-packaged and how many items are pre-prepared. You can find bacon cooked and ready for the microwave, green beans are cut and wrapped as are the peppers, carrots and almost every thing else, few of the veggies are loose. I guess if I had to work in some of the kitchens I've seen I would want things ready to heat and eat as well.

From Scotland

Pat and I are in Kilmarnock visiting her folks.

My vacation was to start on the 16th, on the 16th I was still in Africa. We were scheduled to leave Portland at 07:45 on the 17th and catch a connecting flight out of Newark to Glasgow. I spent the night of the 17th in the Canary Islands, no way to make the Portland flight. Luckily the GIV was booked to go through KJFK and spend the night before going on to McMinnville. I hoped to make it to KJFK on the 17th in time for me to jump off and get to Newark to meet up with Pat on her flight to Scotland. We left the Canaries at 10:00 local, with the time changes after 7 hours of flight we arrived in KJFK at about 13:00 local. I changed into my jeans and grabbed a cab to Newark getting there just in time to catch up with Pat and board the 19:45 flight to Glasgow. I had a whole 30 minutes to spare. Talk about working without a net.

We haven't done much yet other than visit and catch up on sleep. Today we walked around the city for several hours and I even had time to make a couple of images.

Notes from Vacation

I’ve been on a long road trip. One of those if this is Tuesday then we must be in Italy types. We had just landed in Kuwait City and made it back to the hotel from the Afghanistan day trip and were looking forward to our first day with out a flight or a bag drag since the start of the trip, our ass was dragging, when the phone call came. "We have a Lear in Abu Dahbi that we want you to move to Kuwait tomorrow". It gets worst, they wanted us to catch a 04:30 flight with two of the Principals, wait in Abu Dahbi while they finished up their meeting and bring them back with the Lear. We put our foot down and said "no way Jose", we will get some crew rest, take a later flight and initially only I would go so one of us would be rested for the next day’s flight to Egypt. After I started planing the flight I found out the crew member in Abu Dahbi they wanted me to use didn't have a U.S. fixed wing pilot's certificate. After much thrashing around it was decided that my co-captain would have to go anyway.

We get to Abu Dahbi in the early afternoon load the aircraft, BTW it is my favorite Lear in our fleet, a really beautiful airplane. I let the other pilot take the left seat even though it was my leg because he has very little Lear time (< 200 hours) and I figure it would be a good time to do a little instruction. Little did I know how much instruction I would have the opportunity to do. Just after rotation, as I called "positive rate" the left engine shot craps and rolled back. Once I got the airplane cleaned up and we were climbing, my first thought was “why in the hell did I pick this time to teach”. The obvious good news is he did a OK job and we made it around with out bending anything or hurting anyone.

As it turned out the biggest problem of the day was when we tried to get on the airliner to fly back to Kuwait.....our passports had been stamped out and we didn't have a stamp back in...try explaining that to Passport Control.