Rambling thru life

After the trip to Sturgeon Bay, I decided to get new tires.  My local shop, Dr Mudspringer , had a sale going on for the Dunlop Elite 4s.  I also got a $75 dollar rebate that helps pay for the mounting.   Woot Woot... Milage at time of replacment: 65235 Miles on the tires: 11,528 Pretty close to 1 year since the last replacement.

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel, packed up the bike and started for home. The trip home was difficult due to the lack of excitement as the fun was coming to the end. We also were worried about the weather. The weather at the beginning of the day was pleasant because there was plenty of overcast.   But west of Green Bay, the sun came out and the temperature climbed. As much as I dislike the Green Bay Packer football team, we did pass by the stadium on our way through town.  Go Vikings, Go Patriots!!! We took a fairly direct route home.  There isn't much to tell.   Well except for the question that kept popping up in my head all the way home:  Is there enough tread on my tires? When the tires get worn on a motorcycle you can tell by the way it handles.  The bike gives you squiggly feelings as you go around corners. This all affects your confidence in the bike and it changes the way you ride.  I caught myself inspecting the tire tread several times on this trip.  Th

Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin is considered the gateway to Door County.  Door County is a great tourist destination on a peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, in the state of Wisconsin.  Here is an excerpt from the Door County Visitor Center : "Sturgeon Bay’s rich shipbuilding history got something of a spotlight during the two world wars in the 20th century. As the nation needed battleships in World War I and again in World War II, the otherwise sleepy shipbuilding town got new life, importing workers to cover the military’s growing needs. While some of the shipyards that provided these military vessels are gone, Bay Shipbuilding still operates out of the shipyard in Sturgeon Bay that dates back to 1918. In the late 1940s, cherry picking in Door County hit its peak when approximately 10,000 workers were employed ranging from eight to 60 years old. Workers were paid on a per pail basis and lived in basic camp buildings provided by growers. The cherry industry is still one of

It is a 3 day holiday weekend in the USA.  So its time for a road trip.  It's Saturday morning, so LoriAnn and I woke up and got on the road right away, meandering East across the Wisconsin country side on the Goldwing. Our first destination for the day is Manitowac Wisconsin, the home of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The  Wisconsin Maritime Museum  features a restored World War II submarine, a 19th - century shipbuilding town and boat rides on the river.  Twenty eight submarines were built in Manitowoc during World War II. The submarine at the museum is the USS Cobia.  Although USS Cobia is not one of the 28 submarines built here, she is a National Historic and an International Submariners Memorial. I kept us on two lane roads as much as possible, barreling across Wisconsin, while keeping an eye on the thermometer as it kept creeping up and up.   We new it was going to be a hot day, so we had to keep moving.  As we approached Lake Winnebago the thermometer reached 103 degrees

As we pulled out of the cemetery onto northbound HWY 169, I saw the motorcycle coming up behind me.   There was something familiar about the bike.  Maybe it was red in color.   Maybe the headlight was one I had seen before.  The bike followed us through town.  As I crossed the towns boarders, I looked in my rear view mirror one more time and the bike was gone. ------------------ This weeks ride was more of a mission to show love, honor and respect to family members.  My little brother died in 1969 and was buried in a small country church cemetery in Lotts Creek, IA.  This is the same cemetery location as my maternal grandparents.  So today, LoriAnn and I road down to Lotts Creek to, as my father would say, do the body count.   I am happy to say that everyone was where they were supposed to be.  But more about that later. We debated which day to make this ride.  Because this was a mission, we knew that we were going this weekend.  It was just a matter of choosing the better of th

I hate it when I am one of the 1st and last motorcycles in the parking lot at work!

Sometimes you have to make the best of what you have to work with.  That is how this weeks journey ended up.  Stubbornness and a refusal to believe that riding North this weekend would be better than riding South, lead us to a change in plans for this weekends ride.  But first!  LoriAnn got a new helmet, Nolan N1004, this week.   On Saturday I spent a few hours adapting the helmet to fit the Sena 20S audio unit we use.  We tried the audio units out that evening to be sure that everything worked.  However, on Sunday when we left home, and got a few blocks away, LoriAnn informed me that she had a rattle in her new helmet.  It was bad enough that I could hear it through my headset.  We made a big circle back to home, trying to isolate the cause.   It became clear that it wouldn't be a simple fix, so LoriAnn jumped back into her old helmet so we could ride. Leaving home, again, we started a freeway blast down HWY 52.  Our intentions were to blast down south to Preston, MN and

Last Friday and Saturday, my wife LoriAnn and I busted our butts to prep the garden beds and to lay down new mulch.  Every 3 years we do a major overlay of much and this was that year. The weekend weather forecast was ideal for motorcycle riding, also for yard work. After receiving 8 yards of bulk mulch, I could tell it wouldn't be enough. So I ordered another 4 yards.  Thankfully, my son-in-law, Tom McLeod, came to our cries for help.   If Tom hadn't helped us I knew that there would be no motorcycle riding for us.  In fact, I wanted to get this job done so much that I was willing to pay anyone to help.   If Tom hadn't stepped us I was going to offer the neighborhood kids money to help. Maybe the stipend that I offered Tom influenced his decision or maybe he loves us enough he wanted to help with the work.  Regardless of the case, he earned that stipend.  The garden beds look great! Finishing up on Saturday left Sunday free for a ride.   With our bodies a