I recently came into a large collection of photos and a small collection of 1972 magazines. The photos present a huge undertaking, so I have chosen to take the easy route first and scan the car and motorcycle ads.
Looking at the photo above, I can only assume the rider and passenger were moments away from a ambulance ride given the wet conditions, tire quality (of 1972), the pivot points about to touch down and the sudden onset of power a 3 cylinder two-stroke engine has. I'm also curios if this could be a action photo of a infamous blogger known to have had a Kawasaki two-stroke street bike? If that were the case I'm sure they rode off into the sunset on the bike and not an ambulance...
If you are feeling nostalgic and wish to see a few more motorcycle and automobile ad's from 1972 you can watch the slide show below or visit my Picasa Album.
My first motorcycle. The above image is a cropped scan of a Polaroid photo taken in January of 1980. I'm astride my new 1979 Yamaha DT100 Enduro, and yes that's a smoke bubble visor. The photo was taken at my grandparents farm. I would have been 11 years old, just a month shy of 12. If not for this little green motorcycle, you probably wouldn't be reading this blog. My father was responsible for me getting my first and second motorcycles.
I came to find this photo and many more while cleaning out my childhood home this past weekend. My father passed away 2 days before Thanksgiving, he was only 67 years old. I would like to tell you more about him, but for the moment it will have to wait. I'm searching for a photo of him on a brand new Honda 305 Dream, when I find it I will tell you more about him.
I recently purchased 3 DVD’s each with 4 movies on them, not just any movies, but classics like: Forbidden Planet, Time Machine, Soylent Green, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Strangers on a Train and The Wrong Man just to name a few. Since I purchased them it has dawned on me that there is no chance in hell that I will ever get to watch them, Because...
I have come down with a bad case of DCOD, otherwise know as Digital Content Overload Disorder. It seems that most of my free time is spent sifting through tons of noisy data looking for that one useful fact or funny video. I just seem to lose focus... (It’s happening to me as I write this post, just way to many things going on at one time.)
In the morning when I boot up a computer I usually find something like 200-300 items (all the blogs I read+) waiting from me in Google Reader, 10-15 updated threads in ADVrider, a few worthy items in Facebook and two email accounts with about 20-30 emails (personal, work related and junk that passed the filter). That’s just when I boot up, if I’m having a busy day I can easily have 1000+ items in Reader alone before I can look at it. Of course I can’t leave out the DVR can I? It’s now digital content also. The DVR is always full with MythBusters, Dexter, GoodGuys, Warehouse 13, NCIS, NCIS LA, Gears, Extreme 4X4, Horsepower TV, Trucks, Muscle Car TV, Truck U, Two Guys Garage, The occasional Movie (anything by Tarintino) and the list just goes on. Did I mention eBay or Craigslist? Nope, but let me tell you it take though they add a whole other dimension to the DSOD.
All of this Digital Content is of course on top of working for a living, household duties (grass, trash and cooking 1-2 a week), raising a young child (7 year’s old) and commuting 10+ hours a week.
I currently have 2 post for The Pizza Files, 2 post for ScootnArt and a couple of other digital projects cluttering up my brain. I will try to unload and upload them soon, once that is done I’m going for a bicycle ride, I feel like I’m turning into one of the humans from the movie Wall-E...
I have got to reevaluate my Digital Content and hack some of it off, I’m missing out on two much of the 2-way communication (no time to leave comments when I should because I have to much data to sift...). I apologize to all my fellow blogger’s who’s blogs I read (yes I read them, really) but only leave a statistic in Analytics as proof I was there. I know it’s the positive feedback that keeps one going. I plan on doing better, and I might get to watch those DVD’s too.
I attended the 2010 Falling Leaf Rally this weekend and partook in the GS/gravel road ride. After Lunch in Bixby, MO 5 of us decided to take in a few more gravel roads instead of taking tarmac back to the rally grounds.
I must say the part I like the best is my feet pointing toward the sky. It would seem I have a thing for low water bridges, this is twice in as many months. No harm done that a few zip ties couldn't fix.
Gateway BMW, my local (and the Greatest) BMW dealer had a Open House this weekend, and as they always do, they put on a pretty good show. Quite the spread of food and drink, the homemade cookies and pie are to die for... Discounts galore, test rides and door prize's ( I never seem to win anything). They also had entertainment this year in the form of Chris Teach McNeil, the U.S. Champion Freestyle rider. Chris just happens to ride BMW motorcycles. He sure looks like he has fun doing it too. Oh, just in case you didn't know he has a day job! He's a Latin teacher... His web-site says he is a former teacher, but he told us that he now has a couple of employee's who drive his truck around the country and he just fly's in for the shows, that way he can continue to teach.
I thought this would be the time I walked away without spending any money, but it just can't be done. I bought a chain cleaning brush, maybe you will see it in a future post. I hope to upload Part 2 of the video by Monday night, so check back on my YouTube Channel.
Not much to talk about lately, my family returned from and extended stay abroad recently and they have kept me busy. Until today that is. Today was my day off, the little one had school and my better half had plans. I was off to ride the Creeks of Warren County with my Trusty GoPro HD Hero. It was a Great day of riding, I put about 200 miles on the clock mostly on gravel and I shot 16 GB of HD footage half a 60 fps. Well I filled up the 16 GB card but I only thought it was HD footage. Turns out I shot 1200 5mp images 2 seconds apart and I found the main weakness of the GoPro HD Hero, it's archaic menu system. Even though I studied the user guide the night before my ride I some how messed up when trying to change from 720p @ 30fps to 720p @ 60fps. So until I can sort through all the images (should make an interesting time-lapse) I leave you with a teaser of 3 consecutive images shot at 2 second intervals, enjoy. I guess I found the second flaw in the GoPro HD Hero, it's numbering system! I have 5 sets of images all with the same number!
GAW.
It's called SLIME... and it's slippy, very slippy.
It's been a long eight weeks, but I was finally given my release early last week. So I set to planning my weekend travels. I decided to visit my father and of course there would be pizza. Saturday I was up early, but didn't leave until after 10 A.M. due to a craigslist appointment (that way I had money for pizza and gas). I took what would normally take about 2 hours and extended it to over 6.
The first stop of the day was an old church, there are no markers or signs about it. I think that makes me wonder even more about it's history. The first 100 miles were spent mostly on gravel and I found about 12 low water bridges. I didn't get my feet wet until the last one just after leaving Frankenstein. Yes I went to Frankenstein, MO and no I didn't take a photo. There was not a single sign to be found in the whole place. After a good visit and good pizza I had a twenty minute ride in the rain heading toward the lightning.
Sunday morning I had breakfast with my father at The Brick in Moberly, my favorite breakfast joint. My plans for the day were to eat at Taco Johns in Pittsfield, IL and sleep in my own bed a the end of the day.
As I approached my first gas stop of the day I decided to add two more destinations. The first was the Haunted tunnel (so I'm told), it passes under the BNSF railroad less than a mile from the Des Moines River. The second was Sorrento's Pizza in Fort Madison, IA. The tunnel passed through, but no ghost were seen, just some graffiti. When I arrived in Fort Madison I found Sorrento's Pizza closed. It had been over 10 years since I last had pizza there, and for some reason I knew they would be closed, but it didn't stop me from trying. Finding no pizza in the Fort I crossed the river into Illinois and headed south towards Pittsfield and some Taco Johns. My day ended around 9:30 P.M. when I arrived home. My behind knew I had put a few miles on the clock, but I was still surprised by just how many.
P.S. To those of you that recently attended the International Moto Blogger's Convention in Bend, I have been following along with all of your blog's and have lived vicariously through your eye's, I thank you for that. I would have loved to have been there, but in the end it just wasn't meant to be this time around, next time... I won't even start on those terrible roads in Oregon.
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