My wife and my bike from the ride today. Always a great time with her.

 

Looks like a day memories are made of!

Yesterday we were at Southern Thunder HD for their Second Annual Biker Bash!




Busted Knuckles Stunt Riders, right behind our booth!





Today is Mom's Day!

Pulled 4 filter elements, cleaned them, and oiled them.





The Softail had been a couple of years, maybe 15k miles since the last cleaning.






The Sporty had been about a year and around 10K miles.






The TG had been about 1.5 years and 25k miles.





Felt good to get those done...was nice in the A/C bike room with it 85* outside.

There's nothing better than a 70* early morning ride into the office.

SO Much better than getting in a cage.

Getting ready for my ride in this morning.

 

I've never had a bike that was that clean after it was ridden once. They look good, though. Summers, even up here in Frozelandia, grudges get unbearably hot, but this year it's going to be airconditioned. Got a new window unit ready to put in the window - and this next week will be perfect weather, nice & cool - if my back lets me. Must have over done the yard and garden work, been pretty much laid up since Sunday afternoon. In the past I've done bike work in the dining area. Rarely used the table set, so I gave it away. The Tour Glide frame is in there now. Only way for me to do any bike work in winter is bring it in the house. Have a Honda in the living room now, too, and a collection of Harley parts hanging on one wall. Yeah, I get some comments when folks see that.

 

For years I kept the bikes in the room right off the kitchen. Even did a burnout with the front tire against the coffee table in the living room once...Yeah, Mary is pretty understanding...haha, did it for a photo challenge on the forum here.

After years of antics in the house, she was happy to see me get the building for the bikes in the driveway.

I have 2 window A/C units that keep it down near 70*, even when it is over 100* outside. I use a radiator heater and little fan to keep it warm in the winter.

I spend many an hour out there, relaxing and working on the bikes.

My idea of interior decorating.



Yesterday, on the way to work, a girl was pulling out of a gas station parking lot while texting...



With the nose of her car halfway in my lane I slowed to almost a stop, blipped my throttle. She finally looked up and stopped.

I just stared at her, waiting to see if she was going to go out further or stay stopped and let me proceed, since I had the right of way..she just started texting again and PULLED all the way out in front of me.

Ok....I remembered Nomadmax wrote a few days ago..."The best way to ride is without emotion. Getting angry or wound up about what someone else is doing is like drinking poison hoping someone else will die." .... and in my later years I have become resigned to the fact that many cagers appear to be idiots while driving, and it only is getting worse, there does not seem to be any fixing it. So I did not get upset about it.

Unfortunately, she was going the same direction as I was, so I was following her (at a safe distance) for several miles, as she varied her speed between 45 and 60 on the same 55 mph road.

Before going further, and at the risk of offending some readers, I do not own a cage. I own 4 motorcycles. Every now and then I will borrow my wifes truck, but for the most part, rain, shine, cold, hot, I am riding.

Probably because of that, I have developed a very poor opinion of cagers. I trust none of them, most of them seem completely void of any common sense with their constant tailgating and changing lanes without signaling, then in recent years add texting to the equation, I wonder how some of them actually make their way thru life with, what appears to me to be, a dire lack of ability to think in the simplest of terms.

Anyway, I was following her at a safe distance and she suddenly slams on her brakes (at which point I discovered her brake lights were NON-Functioning). Seems she looked up from texting and realized she had just passed the street she wanted to turn left onto.

I grabbed a bunch of my front and rear brakes and hauled my bike to a near stop. Once I saw she was just stopped on this 55 mph road, and then starting to back up, I looked behind me and saw no one coming, so I passed her and continued on my way to the shop.

I will say I kept my calm after her first antics of pulling out in front of me, but after the second installment of stopping without brake lights, it did get my adrenaline going a bit.

I said nothing to her, just got away as fast as I could....BUT, I was fully awake and energetic (adrenaline is amazing stuff) when I got to the shop.

Just another day in the life.

 

I had one do a max stop to zero in front of me on a wet road, got it stopped just a few feet from him on the edge of the road so I'd go beside him if I didn't stop in time - and a Mercedes went sliding by me on the grass! The stopper turned to make the turn he almost missed and the Mercedes drove off. I would've liked to thank the guy in the Mercedes, most folks would've just stood on the brakes and hit me hard.

I've had a few times in my life when I only had two wheels, but in Minnesota, I'd bet the most die hard rider would be looking for a cage before the first winter was over. I put less than 1000 miles on my van last year, only use it when a bike just won't do. That reminds me, it was down to a quarter tank last time I used it, about time for it's second fill up this year.

 

Yeah, good on the Mercedes driver for going around you!

Prolly in Frozelandia I would have some sort of cage too...as it is, when it is cold or snowing here, I use the Trike....but our "cold" is probably a warm snap for y'all up north.

The kid in this video says it all!

 

The wife and I just returned from a week in Maui- our transportation for the week was a
Rushmore- wanted an M8, but there was none to be had. Most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, bar none. I have ridden most of the well-known roads stateside, and NOTHING here compares to the road to Hana. Not the Dragon, not The Snake, not 421-nothing matched the 56 one-lane bridges, 617 curves, 62 one-lane switchbacks, all carved from the side of a a volcano. In one day we experienced thunderstorms, road closing as they cleared a
rockslide, mud over broken asphalt for 1/2 mile stretches, and the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. What a great week!

 

Bet you saw more of that scenery in Hawaii than any of those folks in cages. I've had several people tell me Maui is the one to see if you have to pick just one. I'd want to do it on two wheels, even if it was a scooter. Someday, maybe.

 

Amazing photo's. Brought back a lot of memories. Mary and I lived in Hana for almost 3 years. The road to Hana is one we know well...Mary traveled it every week for grocery shopping.

Looks like you two had an absolutely fantastic time!

Your pics have reignited the desire to visit there again one day.

 

It was our first trip there, and the most beautiful scenery ever. We packed a lot into 5 days- snorkeling off a catamaran, polynesian luau, hiking the twin falls, riding the road to Hana, trip to Oahu and toured Pearl Harbor, sightseeing tour of Honolulu. My employer footed the bill for the airfare and our accommodations at the Westin Resort in Lahaina, so we were able to really get out and enjoy the local flavor. I can understand how you would love to visit there again...