Hotter than hell

Wow, has it been hot. I really wanted to ride this past weekend, but I couldn't go out in that 100 degree weather. I feel strongly about wearing all my gear when I ride, and I just can't handle it when it's that hot. Today it's cloudy and looks stormy out; maybe we'll get a cold front and things will cool down. I hope so! I'm heading to Portland in a couple of weeks, and I won't be able to ride for two whole weeks. :-)

We went to the Greeley Arts Picnic Saturday, not to check out the art and crafts, but to listen to the live music. One of our favorite local bands, Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams, was playing. We got there about 1:30 and stayed until 4:00 or so. Even though we sat in the shade and drank water the whole time, when we got home I developed a bad headache. I just don't do well with heat anymore. It was worth it, though. We had a good time and got to hear a couple of really good bands.

I'm looking forward to the trip to Portland. I haven't seen Christopher since last spring! That's WAY too long. I really miss that kid. He's coming home with me, so I'll get to have a whole month with him. That will be SO nice. Christopher is getting his first tattoo while I'm there. He's been wanting one for years. I'll get to watch the whole thing, which should be interesting. I've never even been in a tattoo parlor.

I'm also hoping to meet up with some friends while I'm in Oregon. I'll be meeting with some local clients, too, and maybe even making a trip up to Seattle to the unhallowed halls of Microsoft. We'll see...

Crazy sunset

We had a really unsual sunset tonight. I had to take a couple of pictures, but they don't do it justice. The sky was a really odd color, and the sunset cast a very odd glow in the house, unlike anything I've ever seen before.

This needs to be read

This article is difficult to read, but I wish everyone in the US would read it. All we hear in the news is the "good" that we're doing in Iraq. Anyone with half a brain knows that isn't true. We've occupied the country for three years now, and we've only heard about a very few atrocities of the many that have taken place. This is par for the course with any occupying force, so to think it's any different in Iraq is to fool oneself.

http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/20060627_occupation_iraq_hearts_minds/

Got some new bumper stickers

I keep seeing cool bumper stickers on other people's cars and decided it was time to get some of my own. The only ones I have now say "Send Bush to Mars" and "Look twice--save a life. Motorcycles are everywhere." So here are my new ones:

I miss Bill.

Stewart/Colbert '08

Which God do you kill for?

Red Lodge pictures and videos

I used Windows Movie Maker to put together this slideshow. The software isn't great, but I needed to do it on my PC. I was too lazy to add nice effects, like background music, and a lot of the slides are out of order. That's because I started out with all of my own pictures in the right order, then I downloaded a bunch of other people's pictures and interspersed them, so it doesn't make much sense chronologically in spots.

My pictures start with when we left the house with Annie and Dawn and headed up through Wyoming, stopping in Gillette for the night (where we met up with our friends Deron and his son Daniel, Norm, Scott, and Danielle), then continuing the next day through Ten Sleep (beautiful!) and on into Red Lodge. I took pictures of the Alpine Lodge when we got there just because it was so empty and I knew that wouldn't last for long. We were the first to arrive. But within a few hours other folks showed up, such as Debra and John, our friends from Fort Collins. We all went out to dinner that night (that's us in the van, which the Alpine owner, Larry, shuttled us around in). Then, the next day, our small group rode Beartooth Pass. Lots of very tight switchbacks but we all did fine. It's beautiful up there on the pass. Makes Trail Ridge Road look a bit like Kansas. We stopped in Cooke City for lunch, then everyone in the group except Annie and I rode into Yellowstone (Annie and I went back to Red Lodge via Chief Joseph Highway--a beautiful ride). We were glad we didn't go to Yellowstone because the group ran into bad weather. Instead, Annie and I were back at the motel, drinking some nice microbrews and enjoying the company of the other groups that arrived during our absence. That night we all went into town again for dinner (again thanks to Larry's van, which took several trips because there were so many of us).

The next day, Saturday, was the big group ride up Beartooth Pass. Some of us chose not to go because we'd ridden it the day before. Instead we rode up Chief Joseph Highway and back. I was back at the motel when the big group rode in, so I was able to get video of the group riding in (see the link below). Then the party began. Jim (aka the Round Man--who owns the Beartooth Kawsaki, which sponsors our forum) played with his band. Jim's been playing since he was nine years old; the band is quite good--better than they sound on the crappy-quality video I took with my little digital camera (see links below). That morning we had live music, too--the Clintons, a band that Jim's son is in. They couldn't play that night because they were off across the state to another gig.

Larry and Trish, owners of the Alpine Lodge, cooked up a big barbeque for us that night. And Jim had a big refrigerated trailer brought in that had three taps of different local microbrews. By the time it got dark and the dancing started, a lot of people were feeling ... well ... pretty relaxed. One guy, Bill Austin, was hysterical. He pulled his elastic-waisted shorts up to his chest and did the craziest dance I've ever seen. He's the dude in the cowboy hat. Used to be in the rodeo. A very funny guy.

My personal pictures at the end are when Alan and I left by ourselves for home. We rode east over the Big Horn Mountains to Spearfish, SD, where we spent the night. The next day we took off riding through the Black Hills, via a wrong turn (we crossed the Wyoming border at one point and I thought what the heck are we doing in Wyoming???). We stopped at Devil's Tower and the Crazy Horse Monument before heading home.

We had such a good time that when it was time to say good-bye to everyone we were all in tears, including the dealership owners and the couple who own the motel. They said it was especially hard to see everyone leave. But the good thing is that we'll be back next year. We've already reserved our rooms. :-)

Here’s a collection of still photos I put together:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/jukief/?action=view¤t=RedLodge2006-1.flv

This is the video I took of the big group riding in:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/jukief/?action=view&current=riderscomingin.flv

Here are links to the band playing and people dancing. I loved it when the big tall dude sang the blues. Great voice. They sang a mixture of blues and rockabilly-type music.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/jukief/?action=view¤t=RedLodgeMusic.flv

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/jukief/?action=view&current=MoreRedLodgeMusic.flv

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v108/jukief/?action=view&current=EvenmoreRedLodgemusic.flv

Back from Montana

I came in to add a new post and saw that my last post, which I created the day before we left for Montana, for just a draft and never got published. So I just now published it. Geesh.

Anyway... we got back Tuesday night. We had a really wonderful time. Such good people--the folks from my Kawasaki forum--and the most beautiful riding imaginable. We rode Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Highway--both very spectacular. I took pictures, but it's going to take me a while to get them together. I'm thinking about doing a slideshow in MovieMaker, then posting it to my Photobucket account. Then I can put the link here.

In the meantime, here's a pic of my bike posed in front of Devil's Tower. Pretty impressive, but all I could think about the whole time we were there was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. :D

Off to Montana

We're off to Montana early tomorrow morning. Annie and Dawn (right) arrived safely today, and we've been having a great time with them. Took them up to Trail Ridge Road today. Then we came home and had a nice dinner, packed our bikes, and are heading to bed early. We want to be on the road about 7:00 tomorrow morning.

I'll post pictures when we get home. I know we're going to have a wonderful time, and we'll be sure to ride cautiously. Can't wait to meet up with all our friends and to ride Beartooth Pass.

See you when we get back!

My first real mod

Last week, I did my first real mod to my bike. That is, I did something to the bike other than cosmetic bolt-ons. It's called the Caddman mod. A lot of people modify their big V-twin engines by changing out the stock exhaust, replacing the air intake, and installing some sort of electric modification to the bike's computer to adjust fuel curves. A guy named Caddman came up with a mod that is a lot less expensive than the traditional route and works pretty well. I decided to give it a try before our trip to Montana to see if I get a little more punch out of my bike.

The mod involves blocking off the air that's pulled in from the left side of the bike, installing different air cleaners, and soldering a resistor onto the air temp sensor to fool the bike into thinking it's colder than it is so it will pull in more fuel. The Vulcans are set at the factory to run really lean, and the only way to get around it is to install a computer system, like a Power Commander, or this simple resistor mod that isn't nearly as sophisticated but does a fairly good job of doing the same thing. A lot of people on my Kawasaki forum have done the mod and been happy with it, so I thought I'd try it.

It was pretty easy to do. I had to make a block-off plate for the snorkel on the left side. I also stuck a marble up into the intake hose for the reed valves (some people completely remove the reed valves but I didn't want to go that route). Did the resistor mod by soldering a 680 ohm 1/4 watt resistor inline with the air temp sensor. Replaced the stock filters with Spectre 9" x 2" round air cleaners. It took a couple of hours, and the only thing I had a problem with was the soldering. I'm used to soldering big old pieces of lead for stained glass, not teeny tiny wires.

Took the bike out for a ride the next day. I can tell a significant difference. The throttle is a lot more responsive. The guys on the forum tell me that it'll feel like I have another gear when I'm cruising at high speeds (I'll find out about that this week when we go to Montana). The bike has a deeper, richer sound. And there's a lot less backfiring from my aftermarket pipes. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the mod and proud that I did the whole thing by myself.

If I'd gone the traditional route, I would have paid over $300 for a Power Commander and a couple of hundred for an airkit. Instead, I spent $40 on the air cleaners and a buck for the resistor. Not bad, huh?

I like the way these Spectre air cleaners look, too.