Santa Baby

I mailed my letter to Santa and doggone if he didn't fill my stocking early! He took the Kawasaki KLX250SF (I dubed it "the peanut") and the old golf cart, then traded it for a 2012 Kawasaki 650 Mule. He was so kind that he even had a roof and windshield installed.

Santa is such a doll! :)


Sparky and the Mule
Can you tell I like it!? (Duh) Got any ideas what would be a good nickname for my new toy?

Aw, Yes, Something New Has Been Added

Seriously, this is all Pappy's fault! He sent me a heart-tugging video recently that must have effected me more profoundly than I realized. Well, I'll let you watch it for yourself:


Wasn't that precious? Now that I'm rabidly approaching the double nickle, things like this are starting to effect me!

Sweetie and I did one of our Day Trips to Savannah this week. We were actually on a quest to find what has become one of our favorite beers, Flying Dog 'Ol Scratch. 'Ol Scratch beer is so good with steak it's probably illegal in some States. *giggle*

Well, The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry ...

For those of you who have followed me from almost the beginning, may remember that I requested something from Santa in December of 2008. Well, Santa didn't come through, but he is known to be unreliable since the anti-Christ was elected and the Great Recession hit. I have desired a street legal dirt bike for quite sometime. We happened upon a Kawasaki shop whilst on our beer quest and dropped in for a visit.

I can't pass up a motorcycle shop.

Anywhere.

The quaint little shop with friendly, helpful people had the usual cruisers and some sport bikes. Off in one little obscure corner was this ...

2009 Kawasaki KLX250S Super Motard

Ok, it's not the Kawasaki Sherpa I was lusting after, but it is something even better. It has a little more horsepower than the Sherpa. And unfortunately, for me, Sherpa's are like hen's teeth these days. People buy them and keep them.

Like the Motard was a magnet and I was made of steel, it drew me to it instantly. I touched it. Sat on it. WANTED IT and I'm sure it showed. My husband always delights in saying that I do not have a good poker face. Alas, the price was just out of our price range. *sigh*

So, we left the shop and resumed our beer run. Suddenly, my phone rang and it was the salesman from the shop. Let's just say, he made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. *grin* Back we went and after finalizing the deal, the serviced Motard safely tucked into the back of our truck, I went home with the HUGEST SMILE on my face that hubby kept getting tickled at me.

Is that a Sparky in the works?
It gets 70 smiles to the gallon too.

And I was going to say that we need to now sell our two Honda 230 CRF dirt bikes, but they've already sold!! After one hour on Craigslist, they both sold. One locally and one out of State. So cool!

I feel 18 again ... at least for a moment.

Now, if I can just loose 30 pounds I'll be livin' in High Cotton ... *lol*

Dear Santa

Think he'll bring what I really want this year?

Kawasaki KLR 650
Yeah, big surprise I'm sure ... that I want another motorcycle. :) Let me rephrase that ... I want to ADD another motorcycle to the garage. Hubby (my Santa) said that we may be able to rearrange things so that this could be a reality.

That's a lot of "if's" but I can dream, can't I?

Looks pretty in blue, doesn't it?! My current Suzuki V-Strom is in this very same blue and CC's. The Kawasaki KLR 650 is a street legal dirt bike, usually referred to as a Dual Sport Bike. I've been hankerin' for one for quite awhile now. You can read all about the bike here. It's a relatively cheap bike at about $5,999. And it's light as a feather too, with a curb weight at 432 lbs. I'll bet it would just dance through the hair pin turns I like to take. With that seat it's not a touring bike to be sure but it would be fun on these country back roads around here.

You know my philosphy: one can never have too many bikes or guns.

Well, I hope every one's Christmas is full of joy and good cheer. And if you see Santa, put in a good word for me, would ya? I need all the help I can get. Tell him "I can explain ..." [giggle]

God bless!

Sparky And The Horse

I have had a nice break from typing and posting this month. I hope everyone is having an enjoyable July? We haven't done much of anything except survive. It is unbelievably hot (the heat index is 110 as I 'pen' these words) and incredibly humid in southeastern Georgia. We can barely go outside for the gnats, horseflies, deer-flies, yellow-flies! They are atrocious this year!

We decided to go for a ride this morning anyway. We left early, of course, before the air reached the current unbearable temp. I needed a hair cut anyway, so, a nice little jaunt to the barbershop was in order. Apparently, some of our neighbors had the same idea. There were a lot of people out ... for our area anyway.

As I was cycling down our one-lane country dirt road, I spotted the horses approaching us at a gentle pace also. I slowed my speed as a courtesy, not wishing to cause the horses to become alarmed. My husband very wisely came to a full stop but I soldiered on in first gear, being careful not to make any unnecessary moves. I love horses too but know they can get weird on ya in a moments notice.

As I approached one horse, I glanced at him and noticed he was a young stallion. "Uh oh!" I thought. This is not good. He's not calming down. Suddenly, he turned so that his hind legs were INCHES from my bike! "HOLY CRAP!" flashed through my mind in an instant. He was preparing to KICK me and bike! Thank my precious Lord, the rider was able to calm him and prevent a catastrophe. It happens really quickly on the video. It's at about 3:24 on the timetable.



Well, I'll go back to relaxing for awhile. I had to share this little event. That the closest I'd come to having my life flash before my eyes in a long time.

I pray your summer is a lot less dramatic.

Our Church And Some Motorcycle News

Our Church
You've never seen our little church, have ya? A couple of weeks ago, one of the elders gave me the project of compiling a notebook featuring the history of the church, who the members were/are, etc. I've learned quite a bit about the church. It was organized in November of 1936 and had many more members back then. This brick building was not the original structure [go here to see the original]. It's tiny!

Our Pastor, Byron Scott, is still very ill. Pastor has been put at the top of the list of a heart transplant. We are humbly asking for prayers, if y'all would. Thank you so much. I'm sure if he could speak directly to you, Byron would say "heart felt thanks" for your prayers and concerns. :) We all miss him and his family very much.

Stained Glass Windows
There are 12 stained glass windows in this structure, donated by various families. I made sure to feature them, including the family data, in the notebook I made.

Honda CRF 230F
Today, my hubby took apart the carburetor on one of our "new" Honda CRF dirt bikes. This one had been running too rich, wouldn't idle properly and was spilling gas at every opportunity. He tore the whole thing down on our kitchen table and gently cleaned every little port. Then carefully put it back together again. Now the bike runs like a top! Yay! I'm so proud of him. He saved us about $100 doing this at home and we didn't have to buy a rebuild kit. I enjoy projects like this too. It reminds how we used to save money doing our own auto repairs when we were first married. We didn't have much money then, but those are fun, happy memories.

Well, I hope everyone else has had a good week in spite of the sad political news? I'm sure we're all praying our law makers will REPEAL THE BILL and take us back down the road to economic recovery instead of their attempt at fascism. Thankfully, whether "they" like it or not, God is still in control. :)

Christ Episcopal Church, St. Simons Island, Georgia

While the Senate diddles away our futures in Washington, we hopped on our iron horses and rode to the coastal town of St. Simon's Island, off shore from Brunswick.

Hubby worked in Brunswick for three years before his retirement from BellSouth, so, he got to know the area really well. Even though we've lived here for over 17 years, I've not taken any time to explore "The Island" (as the locals call it). He wanted me to tour an historical church and grounds. Christ Episcopal Church was founded February 1736. Many of the graves are very ancient. Some are enclosed by something similar to coquina rock. It sure reminds me of Florida with all the hanging moss and the way the buildings are constructed. I guess most all the southern coastal areas look alike.


Parked outside the cemetery


Historical Sign


Christ Episcopal Church (front)


Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery And Grounds


Unknown plant
Anyone know what this is?

It was definately worth the trip y'all! The weather is absolutely picture perfect for Southeast Georgia: blue sky, light breezes, and the smell of Spring in the air. Dreamy!! The fly in the ointment was the gnats and the sand gnats. Once the cool weather is over, they're baaaaaccckkk! Yuck!! But I'm still glad we went.

Thanks for visiting. :)

Our Honda CRF 230 Fs

Our "new" dirt bikes
Well, we finally found two dirt bikes worth having. Hubby and I bought matching Honda CRF 230 F's last week.

I know, I know, it's not the Kawasaki Sherpa that stole my heart so many months ago but that's OK. We tried for many weeks to find a quality used street legal dirt bike but they are like hen's teeth. Aw well, not a problem. At least with the Honda's I won't have to tag nor insure these. Good deal!

Anyway the Kawasaki Sherpa had a recall issue. It was found the product could have a defective oil passage in the cylinder. Every Sherpa had to be brought in, inspected and many times the cylinder replaced. Now I understand the line has been discontinued and removed from all showroom floors. Guess I would have been disappointed if I'd bought my heart's content.

Most people probably already know this but we found a grand place to search for used motorcycles or darn near anything for that matter: Craig's List. There's a lot of neat items for sale right now. He even found another 1979 Kawasaki KZ 650 similar to my first bike. The one For Sale is blue and didn't have the Vetter Fairing like mine. That was a very nice bike to learn on.

Gosh, I'm so tempted ... [giggle]

Honda’s CB Twister Motorcycle

Honda CB Twister
It's hard to tell from my blog, but the majority of my life does not revolve around politics. Most of the time I talk about anything with 2 wheels.

In fact, happily most of our life revolves around motorcycles.

I just had to share this one with y'all.

My husband found an article on the Honda CB Twister while perusing one of his favorite websites Motorcycle News. The bike is a 110cc single-cylinder and sells for about £550 (if my currency convertor is accurate, that's about $803.74 in American money). And at 186 mpg, this little number is a cheap date. It's really popular in India:

"In the first quarter of this year, for example, Honda sold 1,118,987 bikes India."

It's not fair, they get all the cool bikes overseas. :)

Source

Norton Commando Transformer by Steve Twist

This is so clever. Y'all gotta see this. Enjoy!



Happy 4th of July Everyone. :o)

We Had A Long Way To Go And A Short Time To Get There

"Did anyone order a Biker Gang?"
This is outside the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Dahlonega before The Big Ride that day. The restaurant has been in business since at least the 1970s.

This was nice mini-vacation in the mountains. The air is cool and crisp, the landscape beautiful, the rides exhilarating and the natives are friendly. Some of those hairpin turns in the mountains with 15 mph speed limits posted are heart pumping (they're not kidding either, better slow down with those decreasing radius' - yahoo!!!).

The only 'bad' part was the ride up and back. It was nasty, stinky, yuck, pooey *HOT*! I think for the remainder of our vacations this year we will stick with riding in 'cages' (car/truck) or wait until Fall for anymore 2 wheel excursions. It was great though and I'm glad we went.

I'm going to invent a T-shirt that says "I survived riding 2 wheels in Georgia in June" or something like that. [lol]

Steve, me, Rebecca and her husband Tom,
Barbara "Bebe" and husband Dennis "Pappy"
We met Barbara for the first time this trip. She is as sweet as Georgia ice tea and sharp as a tack. I really like her.

One thing I've learned as I age, is to enjoy and treasure all my friends more. You never know when you may never get to see them again. And all my friends are such fun to be around. :o)

Well, enjoy the photos y'all! Thanks for stopping by.


Click on each photo to enlarge and/or
make the scrolling stop
or click here to go to MyPhotoAlbum.

A Kodak Moment

I thought I'd share a couple of the photos from last week. Steve traveled to his sister's house to visit for awhile. I stayed home with the doggies.

Amberlee (5 yrs old)
Isn't she a doll? She is officially my husband's niece and the little rascal wormed her way into my heart when still newborn. My nickname for her is 'cuddle bug'. When she was an infant, her mom put one of those bibs on her for feeding. The bib had 'cuddle bug' stitched on the front and it just kinda stuck.

Amberlee sitting on a 2009 Triumph Bonneville T100
Boy, they start early, don't they? That's me all over at that age and I'm told that Amberlee is the same way. If there were wheels nearby, especially anything on 2 wheels, I was so all over it. [lol] Her Uncle Steve said Amberlee made a bee-line for the green & cream colored Bonneville T100, which happens to be one of my favorite bikes. Good girl!

Amberlee is having an MRI this morning. To-date, it has not been determined what caused the sudden seizure and fever from a couple of weeks ago. Plus, now she has persistent rash and cough! Something is array with this little girls health. Hopefully, the MRI will assist the doctors into making an intelligent diagnosis that she may be healed.

I am in prayer this morning for my little cuddle bug. She's got to be well so she can go riding with her Aunt Sparky! :o)

Deuteronomy 7:15 – And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. (KJV)

Riding Into History 2009

Yesterday, Saturday the 16th, we attended our first "Riding Into History" event near St. Augustine, Florida. It was held at the World Golf Village just right off I-95 south of Jacksonville.

I'm amazed at how many people attended the event. It was all handled very well, I thought. There was good music (Lynard Skynard), beer, hot dogs and lots of fellow enthusiasts. Everyone was very polite and kindly. It was quite pleasant.

Since we met friends there, after touring all the wonderful vintage motorcycles (and a few bicycles), we opted to eat our noon day meal at O'Steens in old St. Augustine. It's located on Anastasia Blvd (A1A) just across the Bridge of Lions. We used to eat there quite often when we lived in Jax. That's what Jacksonville residents call it: "Jax" for short. O'Steens has the most superb seafood. It's always crowded no matter what time of the day or night one tries to eat there. We had a 45 minute wait, so, my friend and I browsed the antique shop next door. I used to collect antique glass, especially the pink shades, but no longer do so. Our new home doesn't have the shelf space for such collections. I still like to look, though.

Anyway, back to the show. If y'all would like to view the vintage motorcycles, I've uploaded them to MyPhotoAlbum. Hubby only snapped a few photos this time. I think after the visit to Barber's in Alabama, that place spoiled us. We've "seen it, done it" now. [lol]

Enjoy!!

Now I Know Why It's Called Sweet Home Alabama

Now I understand that song! I've been to southern Alabama many, many times and was not really enamoured. This trip we journeyed to northern Alabama. The Birmingham - Tuscaloosa countrysides, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, are absolutely breathtaking!

This journey to far off lands was to visit the greatly acclaimed Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds near Birmingham. Well, everything good said about it is true. The BVMM is one of the best motorcycle museums I've visited to date.


First, though, we went a little further into Alabama to visit my new good bloggy friend, Gator Mom and her delightful family. This is the first of what I hope are many visits with Gator Mom and family. They sure are nice folks and we had a splendid time. 'The boy' is an intellegent, well-rounded young man. We plan to do something special for him, but don't tell. [shhh] Hubby has something he wants to give the boy that I think he will really treasure.


The museum has multiple over sized statuary scattered about the 720 acres. I wish I had made a note of the name of this one. These out front were about 12 feet high and quite impressive. The driveway up to this place took a while to get there from the highway turn off.


The museum is five floors of vintage motorcycles and a few automobiles, bicycles, and outboard motors. These are all real working machines.


Even the elevator was impressive! It was completely transparent. I have a fear of heights but rode the elevator anyway and I'm glad I did. At least I can say "I did it once".


One of the Easy Rider custom choppers was located for the museum. This was the one that the film crew used in the wreck at the end movie. So, it had to be refurbished and reassembled for display. There are strict rules about DO NOT TOUCH and DO NOT SIT ON BIKES. I can't tell ya how tempting it was to hop on some of these beauties and ride off into that lovely Alabama sunset!

"No officer, I didn't touch the bike!"
Yeah, it's a mannequin. First time I saw this I had to do a double take.


Here we are in front of one of the vintage Triumph displays. I had to drag him away from the Triumph's. :o) "Silly boy, PUT THE CREDIT CARD DOWN!" [lol]

Oh, and a special note, there is a superb Bass Pro Shops practically 'next door' (as next door as over 800 acres will allow). The driveway up to this place alone is worth the stop. It's so overdone with the 'outdoorsy look' that it reminds me of DisneyWorld. The inside was wall-to-wall outdoor clothing, fishing equipment, guns, pet products, etc. There was even a simulator for children to play Nascar. Back to outside: the landscaping was to die for! I now have some really good ideas for future yard projects, on a smaller scale, of course ... (my husband just sighed and rolled his eyes ... ha ha)


Sadly, it was time to leave. We hugged Gator Mom and family goodbye with promises of writing, calling and visiting. It was raining when we left. The roadsides were all green and lush with profusions of lovely nameless wildflowers.

We left Birmingham heading southeast and drove over a small mountain. We're hoping to go back again as much as possible. I just want to live at the museum! Do you think they'd notice if I built a house right on the grounds? [lol]

There are many more photos. The whole enchilada has been uploaded to MyPhotoAlbum. Enjoy!

Shadetree Mechanic's R Us

My better half put a set of Lowering Links on my Suzuki V-Strom today. My bike has been just a little too tall to flat foot it at a full stop. With the Lowering Links in place, I can now rest my feet completely on the ground.


In the rear, he replaced the two factory suspension links with two after market suspension links which are about 1/2 inch longer. This raised the rear suspension by about 7/8 inch thus lowering the bike so I can reach the ground easier.


One of the new Lowering Links


I learned something new. I've owned this bike for over 2 years and didn't know the gears were plainly displayed on the front sprocket cover.


Everything went along dreamily until he got to the plastic pop rivets on the fairing. The fairing has to be open to reach the forks.


"These *&^% plastic pop rivets are making me vewy angry!"


"Now open wide and say 'Ahhhhh'"
The bike with the fairing open.


The source of all the cussing ... I mean, fussing.


Then he raised the front forks by 7/8 inch by loosening the pinch bolts on the front yokes. This lowered the front to the same as the rear. It has to be precisely balanced or it can be a disastrous ride!


I played with Maxie for awhile. I'm surprised she braved the torrent of flying insects. This little dog HATES bugs with a purple passion but she will walk over hot coals to play with that tennis ball.

Well, now we go out to eat and try to cool off ...


"This crab is really fresh, isn't it?"
I hope y'all have a great weekend. We're going riding!