customsteve01

Day 1, 07/05/09 Well after spending time cooking and going to the 4ht party we fell alittle behind in leaving. We pulled out at 5:30 pm in the rain. I think this has to be one of the first times I have ever left home for a trip wearing a rain suit. I knew the rain storm was a pretty good band that ran west to east and was traveling east. So I opted to heads south first to get out of the rain. Well it worked and after about 120 miles at the first gas stop I was able to put away the rain suit and so far have not had to put it back on. About 50 miles from home I was passing a truck and there was a little rabbit in the road well Some how he was able to stop right in my path and Devil Duck got his first and hopfully his last victom. We have decided to leave a car in Houston so Caroline is following me and is not riding on the back. We made it to Ashville,NC and stopped for the night. Here is the first gas stop about 15 miles from the house

I will Glen. BTW the briskets are up to 150 and only about 5 hours to go. the pork butt is on, the ribs are ready to throw on and chickens are next. They will be getting rubbed and injected before going on the rotisory. Caroline is making a Key Lime Pie too. can you say mmmmmmm Steve

Ditto Ditto Ditto, great album for sure. Steve

We wish yall were here to, Glen. Steve

I thought you might want to see what DD didn't want to inspect. There was a cow killed bringing you this picture.

Devil Duck got an early start this morning in helping get the smoker going. What a beautiful morning 57 degrees and clear skies with no wind to speak of. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Independance Day. DD said he did not want to inspect the inside of the smoker.

On Sunday July 5 Devil Duck is going on an adventure acress the United States and back on a Harley. Right now he is in Powhatan Virginia, Just west of Richmond. He is trying to find his way back to Amy. I will try and updated this post daily if possable with a small write-up and some pictures of DD's progress to find his way home. Here is a link of the route. It is subject to change and the pins are probably not the exact overnight places its just a draft or simple guide. He will be forging his own route somewhat close to this. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=3571+Pineview+Dr.+Powhatan,+VA+23139&daddr=I-40+W+to:I-30+W+to:I-35+S+to:US-59+S+to:TX-249+N+to:I-40+W+to:W+Tomichi+Ave%2FUS-50+to:US-50%2FUS-6+to:US-50+W+to:E+Hwy-20%2FCA-20+to:US-101+N+to:Central+Oregon+Hwy%2FOR-20%2FUS-20%2FUS-395+to:US-12+to:I-90+E+to:I-90+E+to:I-680+E+to:39.880235,-86.049042+to:3571+Pineview+Dr,+Powhatan,+Virginia+23139&geocode=%3BFaQJKAIdWJ_g-g%3BFQ5UBQIddGdw-g%3BFbwOxQEd1PEm-g%3BFdINxAEdSFJN-g%3BFdmyyQEd6JdN-g%3BFX4AGQIdzBju-Q%3BFQYkTAIdhlOg-Q%3BFRyXVAIdSM8w-Q%3BFY9OTQIdlQjG-A%3BFe5cUwIdmlyx-A%3BFQrybQIdgQSZ-A%3BFXjdmAIdbA7n-A%3BFQxAwAIdWFEc-Q%3BFS4fugId9POH-Q%3BFdgGoQIdqGfY-Q%3BFZQneQIdLEVJ-g%3B%3BFWz7OwId53pb-w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=15,16&mrsp=17&sz=10&via=10&sll=39.774769,-86.088867&sspn=0.537226,1.231842&ie=UTF8&ll=41.310824,-90.527344&spn=33.461241,78.837891&z=4 More of DD's adventures to follow. Steve

i'm getting the bike ready for my trip, had a little set back last night with a parts issue but I will get around that. Then I have to get 10 acres mowed and do some repair work on the horse fence. Tomorrow I and cooking all the meat for a big party down at the end of the street, 70 plus people and kids. So the smoker will have brisket, pork butt, sausage, and chicken going on early in the morning. Party starts at 4pm. Loved the picture Roger, very patriotic indeed. Steve

The story with the bat picture is. We went out to the barn to let the horses out and we opened the sliding barn door and BOO the bat fell out. I assume he or she was hanging, sleeping between the door and the barn. Well, he landed on the ground and stayed there long enough for Caroline to run to the house and get the camera. I took the picture no zoom, I was just standing over him. I touched him with my boot and he spread his wings and opened his mouth making for a great picture IMO. Mark, Caroline said those are some great pictures and that you should get ahold of your state parks and wildlife and see if they would like to have a copy of the pictures (that is if your willing to share them) They could use them to show kids how the baby birds grow. Steve

We have Hawks around here and an occasional bald eagle. We have tons of birds living in back of the house. For some reason we get lots of vultures in this area too. Its pretty creepy looking out and seeing 10 or so vultures hanging out on top of out silo's. Do bats count as bird's or prey?

I remember once in Brazil and some guy in our group said to one of the Brazilians "well your not American". Well the brazilian reminder this guy that he was in fact an American "South American" So sorry to say but Canada can not get out of being Americans, They are in fact North Americans because they share the same North Americian Contenant that we do. Steve

I remember more all of that too and I am no where near as old as you Picky........ Is that Good Wifes Guide for real? Steve

It would be cool if you could drive it from inside too. If the weather got bad just jump inside. I know it would not be practical do to the inablity to see very well with the bike body being in the way. does look cool tho. It would be a head turner for sure. Steve

Happy Birthday Rose!!!! Thats anwhole lot of spankings tho. Caroline and I hope to be able to see you again soon. Glen great read, thanks for posting Steve

Ok here is a link to the ride plan. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=3571+Pineview+Dr.+Powhatan,+VA+23139&daddr=I-40+W+to:I-30+W+to:I-35+S+to:US-59+S+to:TX-249+N+to:I-40+W+to:W+Tomichi+Ave%2FUS-50+to:US-50%2FUS-6+to:US-50+W+to:E+Hwy-20%2FCA-20+to:US-101+N+to:Central+Oregon+Hwy%2FOR-20%2FUS-20%2FUS-395+to:US-12+to:I-90+E+to:I-90+E+to:I-680+E+to:39.880235,-86.049042+to:3571+Pineview+Dr,+Powhatan,+Virginia+23139&geocode=%3BFaQJKAIdWJ_g-g%3BFQ5UBQIddGdw-g%3BFbwOxQEd1PEm-g%3BFdINxAEdSFJN-g%3BFdmyyQEd6JdN-g%3BFX4AGQIdzBju-Q%3BFQYkTAIdhlOg-Q%3BFRyXVAIdSM8w-Q%3BFY9OTQIdlQjG-A%3BFe5cUwIdmlyx-A%3BFQrybQIdgQSZ-A%3BFXjdmAIdbA7n-A%3BFQxAwAIdWFEc-Q%3BFS4fugId9POH-Q%3BFdgGoQIdqGfY-Q%3BFZQneQIdLEVJ-g%3B%3BFWz7OwId53pb-w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=15,16&mrsp=17&sz=10&via=10&sll=39.774769,-86.088867&sspn=0.537226,1.231842&ie=UTF8&ll=42.358544,-83.144531&spn=32.947273,78.837891&z=4 Its all aproximate and subject to change. The plan right now is for Caroline and I to leave on Sunday the 5th and take 3 days to get to San Antonio area, then head to Houston mid week. She will fly home on Friday and I will leave Houston on Saturday. All the rest of the pin points are around where I will stop nothing set in stone tho. The pins were set on the road I wanted and around 350 to 500 miles or more in some cases. I will start a new thread soon and try and post daily with pics and some sort of write-up. Steve

Glen, We are going to take 3 days to get to Texas. and will be there about a week. Between San Antonio and Houston area. Caroline will fly home on Friday or Saturday and I will head west the next day. I figure I can do the rest in around 2 weeks. I am trying to plan the route with approx stops. I am figuring 450 to 500 mile days, at that rate it will be around 12 days so I figured two weeks maybe a day or two more.

well as it turns out I don't think the duck was the cause of the camara malfunction. I purchased some batteries from a store across the street from that bridge cause the rechargable ones went dead, well once I recharged them the camara now works fine. so it was very bad batteries not the very bad duck. Ok here is another scoop. Caroline and I are headed to Texas on the bike on the 5th for a week, I will have the duck in tow so to speak. We have some family issues that need tending to. Caroline is going to fly back to Virginia on Friday the 10th and I am going to ride the bike home. Here is the scoop....... I am planning to come back to Virginia via California. Not really a straight line but It will get me here. Picture this, Houston, Amarillo, Albaquerque, around LA, Sacramento, Eureka to hit the coast, Boise, Billings, Rapid City, Davenport, Indianapolis to return the duck to Amy, and then home to Virginia. How does that sound? I am planning on tenting it most of the time and only stay in hotels when I need to wash some clothes. Unless there is a greatful Forum member that would like to put up with me for a night. (I would let you touch Amy's duck, ah hell you can hold it and take pictures with it if you want to) I have the route somewhat planed out and would not want to add any more days to it if I dont have to. I guess I really need to start another post on this but since it will invalve the Duck I figured I could start here. Steve

There was a sign on the bridge that said, no more than 3 persons on bridge at one time, do not do anything that causes the bridge to sway and no running on bridge. But of course I had to see how much I could make it move (sway) which was quite a bit, Caroline told me to stop. Yea I guess I would be better to keep your duck out of sight in the presents of others. Steve

That is really cool. But they need to do something about the buzzing noise. Steve

Ok last one the beaver we saw.

Duck Picture 2.

Ok first Duck picture.

Well while I was in Indy for the unofficial pilgramage and while in the headquarters building I kinda stole one of Amy's ducks, well she really did know I stole it. well the duck rode back to Virginia on the bike with me and has been hidding out in the tour pack since I got back. Well today we went on a nice 300 mile ride. We stopped in Buchanan, VA to get gas and saw this cool foot bridge over the James river. Well I took the duck to the bridge and took a couple of pictures of the duck and a beaver we saw swimming under the bridge and then my camara flipped out and quit working. So I am saying that the duck broke my camara. Well Amy does call this duck "Devil Duck". I was going to take more pictures of said duck today but no camara means no pictures. I will post what I got. First is a Picture Glen (Picky) took out back of Klipsch Headquarters.

I officially HATE you now. That must have been alot of gear. Thats the bike I wanted but just settled for a regular 09 in Dark Blue Pearl Ultra Classic. For those of you that might not know this. That bike is the top of the line, cream of the crop FLHTCUSE or Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle Ultra Classic. It is so fully loaded that it even has remote control power locks for the bags and tour pack, dual heated seat and grips and a ton of factory installed chrome. Congrats and ride safe,keep the rubber side down, and the shiney side up. By the way thats the color I would have chosen too. Do you want to trade. Steve

Thats a decent price for pro lascalas and would not take all thet much to replace the diaphram in the tweets. It would not be hard to fix up the cabs either if its cosmetic. Good luck..... Steve