Steve's Page

Welcome

Welcome to my humble little page. Here I have articles written by me and links to other articles that I like. You will find articles about motorcycles, motorcycle trips, personal family stuff, etc. I hope you find it interesting!

Coast Motorcycle Ride-Spring 2010

At the end of April, Norb, Randy, Stella and I took a ride to the central coast of California. We left on Thursday, the 30th of April with a goal to make it to Pismo Beach on Friday to meet with Stella’s Cousin Richard and his girlfriend Nancy. After meeting with Richard and Nancy, we pointed the bikes North up the coast. We saw some awesome scenery along the Big Sur area, through San Francisco and to Petaluma and home. Here is a slideshow of all the pictures and following is my “ride report”.

San Francisco, Bay Bridge and the bay

Continue reading Coast Motorcycle Ride-Spring 2010

Death Valley Motorcycle Ride – April, 2009

Steve at the lowest place in the US

We planned a ride to Death Valley last year in April but a storm came up so we changed our destination to Northern Nevada and Northeastern California. This year we planned a trip to Death Valley on the same weekend as last year and the weather cooperated. There were 5 of us planning to go – Bob (BMW k1100rs), Randy (GS1150) , Rich (GS1200), Norb (V-Strom 650), and Steve (V-Strom 1000). Go here for a picture gallery.

*click on the itty bitty pictures to see big ‘uns

Day 1 – Thursday, April 2 Chico to Bishop ~ 400 Miles

We planned to meet at Randy’s house in Stilson Canyon at 7:00 AM and have breakfast in Continue reading Death Valley Motorcycle Ride – April, 2009

New Puppy – Rocky

Stella and Sparty

We recently lost our longtime companion and friend, Spartacus. Sparty was a Black Lab that we had to put to sleep after 12 years of pure joy. He was a companion for our kids and after they left home he was a friend and companion for us.

*Click on the itty bitty pictures to see big ‘uns.

After losing him we said, of course, “no more dogs”. Friends of ours, Lorie and Rusty, heard about us losing our dog and since they had a new litter of 10(!) Boxer pups they graciously offered us one. So much for the “no more dogs”!

After visiting the puppies at 4 weeks old, we picked (actually he picked us) our little Boxer pup. My dad said that if it’s a boxer, it needed to be named after a boxer so we named him Rocky (Marciano).

Stella and Rocky at 4 weeks

We brought him home at 6 weeks and it’s really been fun and a challenge. Fun to have a puppie romping all over the house and a challenge to get him to sleep at night without missing his brothers and sisters.

Rocky's checking out our front yard for the first time

More pictures of Rocky here.

Ben

Our son Ben sent me some pictures of his activities – he belongs to a minibike stunt team called the 5150′s , they do some amazing things on those little (slightly modified) Honda 50′s.

Tommy Lasorda talks about Kirk Gibson

Kirk Gibson rounding the bases after the historic home run

Even if you’re not a Dodger fan (ya must be crazy if you aren’t) ya hafta appreciate the famous 1988 World Series winning home run by Kirk Gibson. Here it is in Tommy Lasorda’s words, a must read for any baseball fan.

Here’s a video of the big moment with commentary by players and managers of that era.

Rocky is Attacked!

Posted Thu, 11/12/2009 -- 21:27

Our Daughter Becky was visiting from North Dakota and she brought her ferocious Dobernman (of the miniature variety), Swayze. Rocky didn’t know what to think of the killer beast and this little video was the result.

My Iron Butt Association Rides

I’ve done 3 IBA (IronButt Association) rides. I post the trip reports here in case anyone is contemplating giving one of them a try they might get a few hints – I also post them to do a little bragging!

Lots of tips and information about the IBA here

My SS1000 (Snow Sled 1000 ride) April, 2000

Arctic Butt 2000 – A SaddleSore 1000 to remember ( November, 2001)

Four Guys and a BBG1500 – 1500 miles in under 24 hours (Oct 6-7, 2001)

Dual Sport Video – funny

Tim, Norb, Dave and I went for a fun little dualsport ride to Bloomer Mountain. Bloomer is a CalFire lookout with a commanding view of the Northern Sacramento Valley. From there we followed EncinaGrande Road down to Oroville Lake. Oroville lake level is way down and we discovered the remains of an old town called Las Plumas that was inundated when the lake filled. We were able to see the remains of buildings that are usually underwater -- pretty exciting! Pictures and videos of the ride can be viewed here…
http://www.viertell.com/gallery2/v/Motorcycle-rides/BloomerNov14/
Tim had his camera mounted on the handlebars and took some cool videos of our ride. This one is especially interesting as he dropped his camera and it landed perfectly and kept on recording. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Jay Leno’s Garage

Jay's Stanley Steamer

I have enjoyed Jay Leno’s humor for years – he has a way of making you laugh without being offensive. The other side of Leno is where I’ve been particularly interested and that’s his hobby of collectiing antique and interesting motorcycles and cars. While there are numerous Hollywood and sports stars that collect cars and motorcycles, Leno distinguishes himself in actually getting down and dirty and working on them. He has a staff of mechanics to maintain his collection so he could just sit back and look at the collection but he seems to prefer to get involved with rebuilding and test driving the cars and motorcycles.

It used to be that we only had a rare glimpse of his hobby on TV as an article on another show – But now there is a web page with all the episodes of “Jay Leno’s Garage”. I could “waste” hours watching and admiring his collection.

Here is a link to the last episode that I watched about a “George Jetson” device that is a 3D scanner that can be used to prototype parts – check out the plastic 3D printer. Wow!
NextEngine’s 3D Scanner

Here is the link to the page listing all the other videos – Jay Leno’s Garage

I haven’t seen any of the episodes on TV and couldn’t find it in the listings so maybe the show’s run is over?

Weather

John 3:16

Chico ER News

Pashnit Motorcycle Forum