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!
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
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!
We’ve been wanting to buy a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera since they were first introduced but the prices were WAY too high to even consider. We started looking around recently and discovered that like everything else electronic the prices have dropped to managable levels in the entry level DSLR’s. We curretly have a Canon Powershot SD1000, which is a wonderful little camera that is small enough to fit in a pocket which makes it very convenient to carry on the Motorcycle and takes reasonably good snapshots.
We wanted a camera that would take higher quality pictures without absolutely breaking the checkbook since we have had good luck with our small , point and shoot, Canon we opted for another Canon – a Canon EOS Rebel XSi which is a mid entry level DSLR. We’re looking forward to getting it in our hands by the end of this week.
Canon EOS Rebel XSi
Canon EOS Rebel XSi back
Here’s a link to a VERY in-depth review – be sure to scroll forward to about page 25 or so, the review get’s so technical that it’ll make your head swim (at least it made my feeble brain rattle around a bit!
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?
Some great vintage photos from the collection of Jerry Hatfield, author of The Rollie Free Story.These photos will change each month, but the author has a photo collection numbering in the thousands so he should never run out and have to repeat. Click on the thumbnail to view the article.
It started snowing on Valentine’s Day – when it was finished on the 17th we had about 3 feet of snow. It caused lots of problems for us but we will survive.
The big casualty at our place was the shelter in which I sometimes park the motorcycles. It had my V-Strom and Stella’s Yamaha inside when it collapsed. The only damage that I can see on the V-Strom is the right hand mirror is busted.
I slit the tarp and released the windshield of the V-Strom which was pushed almost flat against the handlebars. Stella’s TW200 took the brunt of the damage, with a busted speedo housing and tweaked subframe. I guess there won’t be any motorcycle rides for me until we get some warm weather and it melts.
After the collapseRocky thinks it's just a big white playground
A really good article about riding a motorcycle in a quick fashion while being safe! First published in Motorcyclist Magazine in 1991 but is still relevant.
We occasionally do some Geocaching on our motorcycle rides.
Here’s some pictures from my Picasa account of a Geocache that we found in the hills behind Paskenta.
There it is!Over here!
We had gone on an impromptu ride after Church and Stella was wearing her high-heel shoes. She climbed with the rest of us to the top of the hill and we found the cache – Lotsa fun!
Everything you want to know and more about Geocaching can be found here.
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!
