Tire Blow Ride April 4th 2009

Tire Blow Ride April 4th

Saturday turned out to be a great day for a ride so we had decided to ride down to an estate sale in Lancaster that we knew a friend of ours would be at. I had to take care of some work before going so we did not get going until 1:30 PM. On the way there we realized we had not had lunch and we were hungry. We got down to 1382 (Beltline) and 67 and found a place called David’s which had a very nice deck. We wanted to eat outside so we pulled up and went in. When we asked about sitting out on the deck we were told they did not have an outside wait person. I could not believe it, it is now like 2:30 and they were not busy at all. You would think the wait person could handle the outside. After looking at the menu (it did look good and reasonable) we decided to leave. We really wanted to just eat out side. We kept going down Beltline and could not find a place to eat and we were now so close to our destination we decided to go to the estate sale first and then grab something to eat on the way home. It was a nice visit we met John’s brother sister and daughter. They were a bunch of very friendly folks.

The house next door had an old bomb shelter that I had to take shots of.





Val grabbed the camera and took this close up shot.



After about an hour we left to head back towards home and some food. At this point we were starved so my thoughts were let’s shag it to our neck of the woods and eat at the Southern Recipe Restaurant and if it was not too late we could ride someplace else.

We took off heading north on 35 and West on 20 and turned north on 360. Just before the Abram exit in the center lane with a bunch of traffic doing 75 miles an hour just to keep up with traffic the rear tire went flat within about 3 or 5 seconds. I guess I have earned my stripes on this type of incident. We each over the years earn different strips such as the riding in heavy rain stripe, the needing to lock up both tires stripe, the taking the shoulder of the road to avoid getting side swiped stripe etc.,. Well I now got the blow out stripe. I do not have the front tire blow out stripe yet and man as bad as it was with the rear tire I do not want to earn the front tire stripe.

Well here we are on the side of 360.






After I was done celebrating my big accomplishment of not wrecking I realized it was not me, but the good Lord. The chances of the cars all around and behind us seeing what was going on and take corrective action had nothing to do with me, all I did was keep the bike up and get on the side of the road. Normally on 360 with that amount of traffic we should have been killed.

So I quite the dancing and praying while Val was crying happy tears but she was shook up I decided it was now time to take some action like get a tow truck. I called AAA and they said they could have someone there in 45 minutes. They called me back in about 5 minutes to tell me I did not have coverage for motorcycle towing and would need to call the tow company myself. Now on 360 with the traffic and the wind I could barely hear her so I pleaded with her to call the towing company. I told her I did not have a way to write the number down standing as far from the bike as possible to hear her and I would most likely not get it right. Well she did but then she called me back again to explain it would be $100 bucks for the tow truck to show up and then $10 bucks a mile. I told her that the fact that I am alive to be calling her money did not matter at this point. So she called them back and said it was a go.

After I started to calm down and the cost sunk in I then went to my wallet for the Cyclone Motor Cycle Rescue card I remember getting but the numbers had wore off the card. Being in the state I was I thought what the heck what is a ton of money when I least I am around to spend it. The tow guy showed up about 45 minutes later and this was no fun at all. He had a great amount of difficulty with his straps and I did want my bike messed up. Well we finally got it figured out and as you will note by the pictures below I had my second scare of the day.







Notice how far back my legs had to be to hold the bike. This was one of those things that as he raised the lift the straps would tighten so as I am being lifted off the ground the higher I get the more stable the bike is strapped down. Now the problem is however as you go up the bike is being held by me and man I thought I used muscle I did not have to keep the bike up when the tire blew, this was even more drain on my old bones.




Well we finally get home and I get the bike motored up the drive way into the garage. We order some pizza for dinner and then Scooter Express calls and him and Tammy come over. I feel real sorry for them as they had to hear the story over and over and over again. Needless to say I dove into the beer and Scotch. Val took a shot after Jim and Tammy left of me and the tire.




Well a few lessons learned. Do not ride the center lane in high traffic situations, do not hesitate when you feel something wrong, just get off the road. I lost at least 2 seconds before taking action trying to figure out if I had a problem or not. Your first reaction is to wonder if you have a problem, just figure you do and get off the road till you confirm it is or is not.

Well Monday I will call the shop and get the bike down there to get a new tire, learn what went wrong with the tire, and get back on the road again.

Take care
Pj

Val and I ride Feb 1 2009

A Ride with Val on Feb 1 2009

Who would think that even in Texas you could get a great day for riding in February! I went for a ride yesterday with Jim & Tammy (you may have seen that ride report) because Saturday was supposed to be much better then Sunday. In fact we had planned on going to Jim’s (Scooter Express) house for super bowl. But I did tell him way up front that if the day was good we were going riding instead as I really did not care who won with all of my favorite teams out of it. Well Sunday was MUCH better then Saturday. I never took off my leathers on Saturday but I sure did today.

It was later in the day before we left so we decided to just take off towards grapevine and see where that got us. Well we ended up at the north side of the dam and we decided to get some munchies for the park just after the dam. Val actually found some of those little bottles of wine so she grabbed a 4 pack. No she did not drink them all. Here she is out in front of the gas station.



We then proceeded to the park, man there was a lot of people and yes motorcycles. It really was a great day. We finally found a little spot and started to set up. While we were there I took the following shots.

This one of a little sail boat on the lake. The first shot with my Cannon.



This shot with my Fujifilm, I am not sure which camera I like better so I am going to put some side by side up.




This little tree just caught my eye so I shot it.



Val had to grab the camera and take a shot of me. My family continues to tell me to get more shot of me in the reports. First to you family members, I am normally the one with the camera so it makes it hard, and second I do not like the pictures I get of me much.



Here is a shot of the Dam, notice how low the water, just wait until you see the pictures of another park Val and I rode to today.



I took a shot of Val.



The next shots are just my crazy thought process. It kind of reminded me of the last scene in the Planet of the Apes. If you have seen the movie you know what I mean.






Again another kind of crazy thought process going on, the stairs reminded me of ancient Aztec ruins I saw in a National Geographic once. Of course I had to include the bike.




It was time to go so we decided to head kind of closer to Jim’s house as I called him while at this park to say we would be late at best. So we took the scenic Dove Loop road in Grapevine to ride west by south west. We found a park to go explore and am I glad we did. This captures just how low the water was and some of the cool things we found.

The first one is a pier that goes along side of a boat ramp, it is all on land.








As an once avid boater myself the next one is quite daunting.


The next one is some kind of clam shell I found. I do not know much about them so I am sure someone will tell me the correct species I have in my hand. Oh and if you know that me touching it is going to cost my life in a few months you can leave that part out.



It was time to continue our journey as it was getting later as you can tell by the shadows. So we headed along Dove Pool road until we popped out at 114. We took that back East until we came across a road (forgot the name) that would take us south to Hwy 26. We got to Hwy 26 and had to take a pit stop. After having a smoke the caretaker told me I could have come in with my smoke and I about fell backwards. You normally cannot go into the Shell Station with a lit cig. He said his place was one of the last remaining you could. I guess if you own the place you can do as you wish. Anyway after spending some time talking with the guy it was time to head further south. It was at that point I decided to head towards Jim’s and then found a road I thought that would eventually get me there and give me some new sights and a new route. Well I was way wrong, we got lost and ended up touring a bunch of richly neighborhoods. Some of those homes where huge but way too close to one another. When I found my way back it was now about half time and it was time to head home. It was a great day and too bad for us that we missed the Super Bowl Party at Scooters but it was still a great day.

Pj

A Short Ride with Philip, Jim, and Tammy 013109

A Short Ride with Philip, Jim, and Tammy 013109

It was supposed to be another one of those beautiful days so Philip, Scooter Express (Jim), Tammy and I decided to go for a little ride. Willie was going to meet up with us but his son got into a fender bender and he had to opt out. Philip met me at the gas station and we then headed to Scooter’s. I forgot how nasty Precinct Line road was since it was under construction. It took us nearly 25 minutes to go for a 12 minute ride. One lady decided to go into on coming traffic to make it a left turn lane, another driver decided to follower her (monkey see, monkey do, I guess) so now we were reduced to 1 lane at that intersection and of course we were in the lane she now occupied. Philip said he was tempted to stop just in front of her and wave his hands up like “now what are we going to do”. If it was not for Scooter waiting on us, I would have been all for it. Sometimes you just got to point out stupid, but today was not the day.

Here we are at Scooters house venting our frustration and calming down to head for the back roads and get out of the city chaos.



Speaking of stupid on a driver’s part this one could include us. While on 26 headed north this guy is on the cell phone (that should have been a clue for us) has his left hand turn indicators on, proceeds into turn lane way short of the turn and as Jim was going to pass he starts drifting back into our lane. Well Jim had to hit them hard, (did not skid) I of course was on the power up cycle so I too had to hit the brakes (again no skidding needed) but we had traffic in the other lane so we could not just go around him. As we finally went by I submitted the one finger salute. Could not help myself, sorry!

We thought about having lunch at Chili’s in Roanoke but then I thought that, one Philip was not hungry, just Jim, Tammy, and I were the hungry ones. So as Jim was taking us towards Roanoke, at one of the lights I mentioned as an option we could grab Subway or Sonic and then go to the park in Justin to eat it. He thought that was a good idea so we grabbed the Subway and went to the park, we must have missed the Justin Riding Group by about 30 or 40 minutes who were going to meet at Sonic in Justin. Just as we were getting ready to dismount Philip mentioned since we were close to Boyd and we were headed that way anyway he would leave early and meet with a friend who just got a Harley and meet up with him in Boyd. He said to call him when we hit Boyd. So Jim, Tammy and I had our lunch in the park.





We then headed west on 407. We stopped at the Kosin’s Gas Station, General Store, and Liquor Store at 477 and 287. We looked at the map to see how we could kind of head back south instead of north as the wind was tough going west with a southerly cross wind. We thought it would be easier to head with the wind on the way home versus against it. Plus there was an event at Post 279 with Rut at 4 PM so that idea might put us more in the area. Well as you might know if you head south at 287 and 407 everything takes you right back to Fort Worth and we were not ready for that yet either. So we headed south on 287 to pick up 144 to out to Boyd. We called Philip and he did not answer so we then decided to head South on 730 to Sandy Beach (Pelican Bay). We stopped and had a beer and took these shots.








Well as usual time was slipping a way and when we got to 199 we decided to take it on home as it was now 4:30 or so and it would be too late to meet up with the RUT guys at the Post. Jim and I knuckled each other and took off East on 820. He honked his horn as he turned off for his house. We were in the middle of the usual traffic jam on 820 and 35 and I need to remember to avoid that area! It was fun and I enjoyed the ride even though it was short.

Pj

A little Ride with John and Anna 012209

It was another one of those beautiful days and John and Anna stop by for a little ride. I decide why not I deserve a little ride so I fire up the Suzuki and head out with them.

We decided to have lunch up at Boston’s which as I mentioned in one of my earlier reports is a very good place to eat.

Here we are in the parking lot.



We then take the scenic route down to River Legacy Park. Here is John and Anna horsing around.



Had to take a shot of my ride.


Another short nice ride with some good friends.

Pj

Lunch at Southern Recipes 012109

This is the second time we have been here and I would whole heartily recommend this place. The price, the taste, and the amount of food is fantastic. So far it would rate up in the top 5 of my favorite places. Val wanted to have lunch and it was late in the afternoon and I too was hungry so we decided to take a ride for lunch. Here are some of the shots while we were there.

Here is Val all smiles, she too likes this place.





Val grabs the camera and takes a shot of me and the bike.



Here is a shot of the sign. Southern Recipes is located on 157 south of Green Oaks BLVD.



It was a great lunch and it was time for me to get back to work.

Pj

Bike Cleaning Day Jan 17, 2009

Man as I look through the January Pictures I have taken, despite all of the cold icy weather we really have had a great January. I did not realize I had so many rides to write about. I think there are at two or three more after this one. I did do some short rides today on both bikes but I did not take any pictures of the ride as they were just out and back kind of rides. But I have both my babies out to clean them up. It is nice when you have a wife that let you play with your mistresses right in the front yard. In fact she even kind of helped, yeah right.

Here is a shot of her helping take the last spot off the bike, now if you believe that I can sell you some nice land under a bridge down in the Everglades.



So here is the results of our day at work.






The next few days we did get a couple of rides in. I will be working on those reports in the next couple of days.

Pj

Lunch with some Friends Jan 12, 2009

Lunch with some Friends Jan 12, 2009

A friend of ours Hailee that goes back as far as when we lived in Denver Colorado came into town so another friend Max dating back that far came to lunch with us. Hailee is now from Seattle Wash and enjoying it there other then the weather of course. Max lives here in the HEB area of DFW. My review of Boston’s located in Grapevine at the 114 and 121 exchange is that the service and food is good. It is a sports bar but with unique pizza, I have not ordered their pizza but I have had their French Onion soup and cheese steak sandwich both very good.

Here is a shot of (left to right) Val, Max, and Hailee.



Max, Hailee, and I.



Our server was nice enough to grab the camera and take some shots so here is, Max, Val, Hailee, and I.



Hailee, me, and Val.



Me, Val, Hailee, and Max.



It was a great time and we talked about the cruise we all took together and all of the many good times we have had. It was great meeting with them and hope to see them all soon. I know this was not really ride related but they wanted to see the pictures and instead of just sending the pictures I thought I would put them here.

Pj