A Beary Good Ride!

The Rehab Tour Rolls Along!

The rehab tour has been interesting so far.  I have been on some awesome rides with some interesting people. Howard (The Mayor), Barry (the Janitor), Darren (Doo Rag) and Rodney (Bonk) Johnson. On some excellent rides like The Big Dipper, The Butt Rock trail, and Doo Rags favorite, The Helmet Rock trail that caused him to say, ‘I’m not riding my bike up that!’ when we came to a cobby granite outcropping of rocks.

But the most interesting thing so far was the dual sport on the KLR 650 with Cheryl. It started out as an excellent sightseeing tour to a place we were told about called the ‘High Lakes’.  A really cool ride with incredible vistas and remote roads that allowed us to ride for hours and never see anyone.  Right up to the moment a HUGE cinnamon colored Bear blasted out of the bushes about 50 feet in front of us. We were stopped at the time wondering how much further we should go because we were kinda lost and weren’t sure how much worse the road/trail in front of us was going to deteriorate. So far it had gotten very rough and rocky, especially considering we were on the KLR 650.

As we sat in a trough worn into the road in-between bushes lining both sides, the bike was running when the bear charges out of the bushes directly in front of us and thankfully turned and ran the opposite direction. As I sat there frozen, not believing what I was seeing, I realized if he had turned toward us there was nowhere to go and not enough room to turn around in that corridor of bushes with two of us on the bike. I would have had no choice but to pop a wheelie and dump Cheryl off the back as bait until I could get my .45 Officers model out of my pocket!

Thankfully I never had to and we just waited until he was well out of sight and continued on down the road. We stopped a few hundred yards down the road to take a photo and Cheryl was reluctant to stay around too long. She asked me if I thought he was gone and I said, ‘Sure, he was more scared of us than we were of him. He is probably still running’. I kept one eye on the surrounding area and the bike running while she took the picture!

We found our way out of there and made it back to civilization just in time to have an early dinner and head back to the mobile ghetto (our Weekend Warrior).

I can’t wait for our next outing, maybe we will see a mountain lion. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

#33

“An attitude is contagious, is yours worth catching?”

The Grand Geezer Award!!!!

The Trophy no one wants to win.

(The Fish)

Now that I have been absent from the OTMX race series with a long term injury it seems everyone has done their very best to avoid THE FISH!

A bit of background for those of you that may not know or maybe recipients that had just tried to forget. The Fish Trophy (aka The Grand Geezer Award) goes to the OTMX rider that makes the biggest bonehead move at the International OTMX races. It was started around 2004 when the realization occurred that there were a lot of gaffs going on at the International Oldtimer races all around the western part of the United States.  Crashes are off the table, no one wants any of us to crash and possibly get injured, there is nothing funny there.  But the list of things that have been done to qualify and cause a rider to earn The Fish are, missing the start of your moto, taking off on the wrong gate with another class, pulling off on the White flag lap, running out of gas during your race, pulling off and trying to sneak back to the pits before the end of your moto because you forgot to gas up, crashing in the pits on your way to the gate, showing up to the race on the wrong weekend and any other bonehead move that anyone catches you doing.

So if someone slips up and another rider sees it you can be up for the Grand Geezer Award at the end of the weekend or even the next race if no one tops your boneheadedness! I can hear the wheels turning as you read this, “but what if two or more riders pull a bonehead move on the same weekend?”  Alas, it has already been done, so we created ‘The Fish Council’ and will convene when necessary to take a vote and award The Fish.

On occasion the not so proud owner of The Fish must carry the burden for several races until another rider does something and gets caught. To bring you up to speed on the current whereabouts of The Fish, Mark Kaestner had owned it for a few months because he is Mr. Social and was so busy visiting he forgot to top off his bike with gas.  From there it went to Doug McCaleb, aka Senor Kirby, for showing up to the gate just about the time his race was completing their first lap!  Now Senor Kirby is all smiles, as you can see by the photos, because he just awarded it to Mike Harper (of Halls Furniture Store fame) because Mikey had total brain fade on the line at the Sierra Oldtimers race, which was being held at the Prairie City OHV park using much of the same track that was used for the outdoor National. The starter went down the line and told everyone that the moto was going to be split into two separate starts but somehow between being told and watching the 30 second board go up he forgot he was now on the 2^nd gate! Mikey got one heck of a start and battled in the front even leading for a couple of laps until he noticed he was racing with the wrong guys. Doh!

So Halls Furniture store in Citrus Heights, Calif. Is the current resting place for the Infamous Grand Geezer Award. It rounds out the display very nicely with the mounted deer head, the motorcycle awards/trophies and the marathon running plaques Mikey has hanging on the wall showing many of his accomplishments. Drop by anytime and check it out, I am sure he would love to show it to you. But don’t let him talk you into taking it, you gotta earn it!!!

#33

“Be humble, Or you’ll stumble”

On the Road Again...

A Diamond in the Rough

Having gotten the official ‘Oaky Doky’ from the doctor to start riding again I couldn’t wait to load up a couple of bikes and hit the road. It was going to be somewhat bittersweet as the two most pressing things were a wedding and visiting an injured friend that may become a funeral if God so chose’s.

The trip started out on the wrong foot with a small nail in one of the toy hauler tires.  A quick stop at ‘America/Discount Tire’ shop, who I like to use whenever possible, just because they sponsor #22 Chad Reed. They repaired it pronto and we are on the road.

Next on the list is the 12 volt system on the Weekend Warrior. Everything works fine while plugged in but not when using the batteries to power the coach. I have a generator so I will have to diagnose that later.

It is now 500 miles or so and one day later, just had a good night sleep and a great breakfast in Bridgeport, Calif.  Back on the road for a whopping 5 miles when my GMC Duramax starts running like a 1970 Husky with a broken piston. I can only do 15 mph while towing the Warrior. So a quick u-turn to return to Bridgeport.  We get on the phone since we have tow coverage from two sources, AAA towing and Good Sam/RV towing. The response, help, information, follow up and actual towing in this instance is head and shoulders better with the Good Sam’s representative. Good Sam’s coverage tows the truck AND trailer with my membership. AAA tows the truck but a rather costly extra charge is added to include the trailer.

We are towed from the moderate sized town of Bridgeport where there are No Automotive Repair facilities to the tiny little town of Walker, Calif. Because there is a repair shop, Ted’s Automotive repair that can perform the diagnostic and necessary repairs to get us on the road again. We are dropped at Ted’s Automotives front door and out comes a young man I assume works at this garage. He pulls the truck in and goes right to work diagnosing the problem by plugging into the truck computer and downloading the history. It is not like he has nothing to do because he has a couple of other vehicles he is working on as we are dropped off, rear brakes, oil change and injectors on a Ford diesel are all sitting there and he stops to take a look at my truck because he knows we are on the road traveling.

We quickly learn the young man is 24 years old, his name is Nick and he now runs this shop. It seems Ted’s Automotive was his father’s shop until he passed just a month ago. So much for my little inconveniences like nails, 12 volt batteries and a truck that doesn’t want to cooperate. I now just enjoy watching Nick work and marvel at not only all the areas of expertise he demonstrates on so many vehicles as customers come and go with their little problems throughout the day, but at the manner of calm he possesses as he repeats the process over and over. Nick amazes me that he lost his father so recently and is functioning so well, taking care of other people’s problems and running this shop by himself at just 24 years old. I am sure Nick’s father, Ted, is watching over him and smiling because he is so proud of the man Nick has become.  

We had to spend the night because my truck needed a new fuel injector and it had been ordered but would not be delivered until later the next day. However if I unloaded the Dual Sport and rode the 35 miles each way to pick it up we could get it in the morning. Cheryl and I hopped on the KLR and took a road ride when we got a phone call it had arrived.  When I returned with the part Nick showed me how it is installed and explained a lot of things about a diesel while he worked.  I got quite an education and a little better understanding of a few things pertaining to diesel engines.  I am amazed at the amount of knowledge Nick has stored in his head and is willing to share if someone has an interest; he is kind of like a walking automotive encyclopedia.

Nick finished my truck and got us on the road so we could make it to the wedding we were trying to attend the next day up in Sacramento, Calif.  Thank You Nick!

If you ever have automotive problems on Hwy 395 anywhere even close to Walker, Calif. I would suggest you stop at Ted’s Automotive and see Nick.  But remember he is a busy man so don’t take up too much of his time, because he will never tell you to get lost because he is too busy. But he is, believe me!

#33

‘I was once sad because I had no shoes, then I met a man that had no feet’