... Splitting the wind on a Motorcycle... Feeding my soul with the Healing power of the Open Road... following that twisting, Ribbon of Highway that leads me on...
I Believe People Think; "That Boy is Brain Damaged"
A biker has a choice. He/she can ride, paying little attention to the weather, or you can lose those days.
You can sit inside waiting for those sunny days... or you can just ride and take what comes...
*Consequence of forgotten rain gear*
If you do plan on taking what comes... I'd suggest you don't ride off and forget your rain gear... after pulling it from a saddle bag while you were rewiring your charging dock... Bwahahahahaha...
I remember pulling into the hardware I used to toil at. The thermometer on the sign board would be flashing 10 degrees as I pulled off my helmet and balaclava walking inside. The cashier would always just look at me and shake her head.
Me? I'd be grinning. I was ALIVE!
I don't care to ride in those temps any more... but... I've no idea why... rain makes me goofy.
Yesterday I rolled though the downpour... and music was swingin' through my head, helmet bobbin' to the rhythm.
I glanced at the dad and soccer mom in their mini van as I passed, the water just pourin' off me and the bike... the look on their faces said it all; "No wonder this country is goin' to hell! So many people are NUTS!" ... Bwahahahahaha.
Some riders lay out big $$$ for exquisite paint and acres of chrome...
I've thought about it. Thought how cool it would be to ride one of those "show" bikes...
... and then thought about all the sleep I'd lose what with the work to clean and polish all that fancy four times a day...
Nah... for me... the finish I prefer, that fits this rider is the patina of miles. I'll wash off the grime once in a while when I pass a carwash...
... but worryin' any length of time 'bout bugs, dirt and rain splatter... well... that's just a waste of time.
Clean it all off and twelve miles down the road it'll all be right back on there... unless a fella leaves the bike parked under an awning waiting on a sunny day...
Screw that... I'll just remember the rain gear next time ;)
I've seen some blogs lately, and had a conversation or two about the nicks and dings bikes get goin' down the road.
Many riders work and spend hundreds, thousands even, keeping their rides in showroom condition. The other end of the biker spectrum bein' the rat rides that are kept together mechanically... but look like rolling wrecks otherwise. ;)
I gotta say... there's something about those battered but not beaten bikes that capture my imagination. I can't help but wonder about all the roads that old Indian I crossed paths with, up in Tok, has seen...
*a 1936 Indian I met on my Alaska run*
You can't help but wonder about the stories behind that scratch or this scrape... or that bent fender...
When I see a clean, unblemished motorcycle the first thought in my head, right or wrong, is; Too bad that guy don't ride much. He'd be a lot happier! ;)
I've talked and schemed a lot in the past about hangin' some fancy paint on Sonja and some other flashy farkles... For a bit the scratches, dings and worn spots bothered me.
Somewhere in there that being bothered about it got to bothering me and I really started looking around and thinkin' on it. Do that and you start to see a lot. Some riders polish... and some riders ride.
I came to the conclusion that other than making repairs to the mechanical faults, keeping her sound and road worthy, doing much in the way of cosmetic repairs... simply erases miles of joyous memories.
Leaving that road patina alone is like maintaining a 3D rolling book of memories! ;)
That was in my mind when I started doing some mods on Sonja this past summer. I began moving away from that spit and polish motorcycle philosophy as I changed over to the blacked out Hard Chrome pipes and powder coated Yamaha Backrest. The main motivation was to improve function, with little thought about the Showroom appearance.
In the bargain I discovered all that chrome really didn't suit me very well. I ended up with her showing a personality I'm a lot more comfortable with. Awesome!
I believe that the future will continue to see Sonja wearing the battle scars of her travels like badges of honor, and a visible testimony of the miles she's carried me.
*The road is nowhere for a weak spirit*
I can't hide the dings, limps and scars I've picked up. I don't believe I should hide those. They're more like beauty marks to a travelin' man whether they be on me... or... my motorcycle. I can't bring myself to call 'em damage. I want people to know... neither me nor Sonja are some prissy trailer queens! ;)
We ride in the rain. We rattle down the back roads. We take our lumps and we keep it in the wind!
And if somebody thinks it's wrong... He can sit in his garage polishin', paintin' and primpin' all he wants. Me and Sonja will be out in the wind somewhere, dusty, dinged and weathered! ;)
Late in September or early in October where ever we are... we load up face west ~ do a left face and start our migration south.
Sonja is ready to go. She carried me through much of our last Colorado winter but she still don't care for the snow and ice any more than I do. She prefers to keep her own tires on the asphalt, but, with the promise of goin' south and many miles in the Arizona Desert while the storms rage up here... she's willin' to accept the indignity of a motorcycle gettin' carried for the southbound journey.
*Sonja ready to go*
Seems like with Grandkids in Denver now, this is where we are makin' the habit of comin' through each fall. We'll haul off from here today or tomorrow. This year we're gonna roll straight down I-25 for a bit to Trinidad. The next sunrise, in the morning sun we'll climb over Raton Pass and then cut west across the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation and likely drop into Chaco Canyon for a couple of days.
Then it's on to Goosenecks camp for at least an overnight before moving onl. The goal is to rendevous with a friend in Zion, mid month.
Gotta be honest. That Arizona Desert might have cooled off from the blazing summer inferno of just a few weeks ago... buuuut... I'm willin' to let 'er cool down a few more before we drop down out of the high desert just a few hundred miles to the north.
We don't need to be in the Valley of the Sun until our NASCAR duties commence in Avondale on the 7th of November... so, no need to hurry.
Then it'll simply be the difficult task to live hard through the winter; enjoyin' the quiet desert living with no blizzards and soft desert sunsets.
It's a hard life for a pussgut Ol' Buster like me. Come the Spring, we'll swing our noses around and be rolling back north, followin' the Wild Geese.
You know, this life could be easier for sure. I could be blessed with a few more dollars and my worries would be nigh on to nuthin'! But, no matter what... whether I'm livin' "Fat Cow or Poor Bull" ... my gypsy drifting ways are Glorious Shining Times!
The Only Problem is... I took too long to realize... THIS... is the way I should have been living... a long, long time before now!
I live full time, and do my writing, in a fifth wheel. (The writing being a large and growing chunk of my income)
A good part of the time, my "home" is parked in National Forest Campgrounds, Corps. of Engineer camps, or BLM Campgrounds. The rest of the time... you'll find it tucked up in some dispersed camp, boondocked in Far Country.
*Raider Motorcycle in a RV Boondocking Camp!*
Now, I'm not old enough, yet, for the "Senility Discount" ... uh... I mean "Golden Age" passport ... but, I am the holder of a "Golden Access" card... due to the disability rating I have from the U.S. Army... something about my butt and the ground trying to occupy the same space at the same time...
... the ground won that argument... and... you might could say my spine got a lil' unexpected customizing. The result being that when we're wandering, I can get us into those campgrounds half price. I don't know that walking funny sometimes is worth the discount :) ... but I'll take it!
Still... the price of those dispersed camps, being FREE... are that much better... and keeps maybe five or nine bucks a day, in my pocket when we're bushed up somewhere on public ground. That and the solitude, back here in the woods, is something I value, as highly as my Raider... So, I tend to prefer those places, when I can find good ones.
I do have my standards though :) I pretty much require two or three things when I'm hunting up one of those "Dispersed Biker camps"
... First, since the internet makes access possible, to that large and growing part of my income, I need to have enough signal to run my air card... or at least have it fairly close by so I can run and do my "electronic chores" regularly.
... Second, while most others search for Shady camps... I need a sunny spot to keep my Solar Panels charging my batteries... so I don't have to run that generator!
... and third, though I do prefer to be "Back-O-beyond"... my Raider requires that I'm not TOO far off the pavement, and the road in ain't TOO awful and nasty... That Raider is an Awesome machine... but... a dirt bike she ain't! :)
Most times she rides into camp still up on the truck.
Makes her a lil' self conscious. She gets all twisted up, if she thinks folks are lookin' on her as a trailer queen! :) "I've rumbled up the Alcan! and wallowed through miles of mud, to get home, back in Nunn!" she squalls!
What can I say. When your house is on wheels...you have to make concessions when you move the "House". That bike may have to spend some time on the truck... but, a trailer Queen she ain't... and has the Hail dings to prove it! :)
This camp, She was on the ground already for the ride to Al's Motorcycle, down in Hamilton, for a fresh back tire... uh... maybe ya noticed the strong need for that in the picture? :)
Our scouting found us a real good camp, only a bit over a mile off the pavement... and the road a pretty clean logging road/access... so it'll work fine.
This is a pretty good way to live and Tour on a motorcycle. The Best... Was my mistake to NOT have done this a long, long time ago! It sure beats trying to chase the "Conventional" American Dream...
You don't have to be rich neither! The low cost accomodations, living in an Old fiver, parked in Free dispersed camps, sure fits my poor boy budget...
... and having a warm dry camp, no matter what the weather is... is fine! :)
Though... if the weather would just become a lil' more accomodating for riding... and shut off the freakin' rain for a while, I wouldn't complain!
For a person who wants to "Live Motorcycle"... I can't think of a better way then parking your Motorcycle along side an RV that suits you. Gives you a warm, dry, always there, "base camp" from which to tour the area you're in...until the urge strikes to move your riding to a new Motorcycle Roads!
Think about it... Find a way to live Free... with ever more time to...
Another Wheel Dock Chock is ordered and on the way to hold the Raider on the truck bed, along with a weld in turnover ball setup to modify the gooseneck hitch location to allow sufficient turning space with the bike loaded.
If you hadn't already known, I use a gooseneck style hitch rather than a fifth wheel hitch. Every mile our 30' Jayco has moved, it was pulled with a gooseneck. Far superior in my opinion... especially when you pull off the pavement in an RV Boondocking situation. I've pulled this trailer 50,000+ miles with the gooseneck... and 10,000 of those with the 525+lb. V Star sitting in it's carrier on the tail.
Well, I've scrapped the idea of building the ramp I need. Once you calculate out the steel cost... opposed to factory built price... all the work involved... and the final weight of a long, steel ramp... I've decided to just suck it up and find a way to squeeze a 10' factory aluminum ramp into our shrinking budget...
I decided that my ambition just didn't fit the requirements of the job... I want to Ride my Raider... not burn steel! :o) same reason my chrome don't shine as bright as that on some other bikes... I'd rather be riding than polishing!
So... we're finishing up the rest of what few preps we need to make while I wait on the arrival of the ordered parts. As soon as those get here, we'll get 'em bolted on... get loaded... and get gone! RV Boondocking and Motorcycle Touring! HooYa!
and, while we wait, I'm working up several pages about different parts of my 25 day Alaskan Highway ride... Just so much to talk 'bout, they keep rambling... hard to get 'em cut down to something readable! :o)
The idea I've come up with is... in this case... Bigger is Better! :o)
Took a long two up ride, well for her it was! Up through Rocky Mountain National Park... Splitting the wind on a beautiful day, herself decided she wants to give "Riding Her Own" some more time to develop.
Bottom line? I'll carry both bikes... on a One Ton dragging a fiver. :o)
What I've come up with... that remains in Early Draft is that the V Star will continue to ride on it's carrier on the fiver... and the Raider will ride cross bed, behind the cab. I've thought of this way before... and just didn't do it.
Well... this decision is made... the Raider goes behind the cab... To get her up there and deal with the clearance issue at the break over point, I'll fabricate a "Dove Tail" section that will attach and extend 2' from the side of the truck. This will be built to split the difference between the flat bed and the angle of the 8' motorcycle ramp that will attach to it... and should allow the bike's low clearance to clear the edge of the bed as she's pulled up.
... and that is Pulled Up. The idea of riding up... and across the bed... into the new Wheel Dock chock... and NOT missing it :o) is not really working for me... so I'll put in a light winch to pull the bike up slow and easy!
All this requires moving the gooseneck hitch on the truck back to give sufficient turning radius... and likely a lil' suspension boost... though the total weight is under cargo capacity... uh... really! :o)
Gotta get this done pretty quick too... we need to leave! Wanted to pull out the 6th of Sept. Looks like a week later at least... But...
If I've got both Bikes along... It's worth the wait!
I'm kind of in the middle on this... and stuck between a rock and a hard place... and... it is, in a way, about Motorcycle Philosophy, ain't it?
My Bikes are not Trailer Queens... but... they, of necessity, get hauled a lot... We live now, in a Fifth Wheel Trailer... I just can't master the skill of driving the truck and riding the Motorcycle... at the same time! :o)
When we move camp... I've got to load the Bike... and in the past it has always been "The Motorcycle"... now... with the addition of my Raider... It's become "The Bikes!"
Now... most times... nobody would accuse my rides of bein' trailer Queens... they ain't that clean! :o) ... and that's my only problem with chrome... If you see a bike with shiny chrome... you're likely lookin' at a bike that gets polished more than it gets rode. It looks fine... but Lordy... it's waaaaaay to much work for a lazy Ol' geezer like me. :o)
Right now, I'm stewin' on a problem... That bein' loading two motorcycles on a truck and fifth wheel RV rig.
The motorcycle carrier on my fifth wheel I designed and had built, works fine, and will continue to carry the V Star... but the Raider can't be carried back there... and stock hitch position is too tight to just roll it up, cross ways, behind the cab.
Plus, the truck sits so tall, an extended length ramp is required so that low ride Raider can clear the breakover, when it is loaded.
What I'm working on is:
1. Moving my Gooseneck Trailer hitch to a position behind the truck axle, rather than the stock position in front. This will give me sufficient room for the Raider to mount with a Wheel Dock Chock, behind the cab. I'll have to take a lil' care in tight, jack-knife situations (which are actually rare) but it should work ok.
The Dodge Diesel is heavy enough in the front end that weight distribution isn't a problem.
2. A ramp... that is long enough, yet folds up for storage, and light enough for a lazy Ol' geezer to move around...
3. Another small winch, like I've got on the carrier built on the trailer, for loading the bike easy.
... or maybe... I should just can the whole dang outfit... and live with just the Bikes and a tent! :o)
