ST Ride Report - Gonna try it again

UPDATE MAY 28, 2009
Gonna try it again...

After a couple more days of driving poor sick Maggie Crazy and the realization that I can do nothing for her I am going to GO RIDE again

I'll do at least McDonald Pass, Lolo pass, Glacier going to the sun, then back home.
4 days maybe... if the Canada forecast improves then I have my passport

I'm off work 'til Jun 17 with this foot injury, I'll make sure not to rub the left foot on the asphalt!

Click here for all the photos

ST Ride Report - the Burwashout

May 23 and 24, 2009
The trip to the Burwash Strawberry Farm in Washington was quite literally a washout. The forecast called for good weather all week all the way to the coast. I was rained on into Virginia City, spent the night in the tent and then drowned for 6 hours on the way home yesterday. I gave up and headed home after hitting a wall of water on Pipestone pass. The bike didn't hiccup. I was very aware that I was riding on the very same tire off Will England's bike when he crashed in the rain.

Early in the trip, before the rain in Bozeman, I did manage to catch the match of my tennis student Thomas. He and his partner won the State Double Championship. Thomas is a junior and his partner Joe is a sophomore. They should do well next year too!
http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/05/24/sports/local/18-prepseniors.txt

Martin Burwash is a farmer and terrific black and white photographer and a railfan writer. I met him in Helena as he was doing an article about our RR for Trains magazine.

Go: http://ramblingwest.blogspot.com/

I did some black and white photos myself on this trip.... interesting with the stormy skies.

For all the photos click here.... pace yourself!

ST Ride report - the plan

Original post May 22, 2009

As you guys probably know, I've been unable to work as it is difficult to walk with a injured achilles tendon.

But I have STD... Short Term Disability Ins.

I can get around well enough to ride and I'm going stir crazy so I'm gonna GO RIDE

Any suggestions, accomodations, etc?

I plan on spending TUE-WED next in Burlington, WA working (observing) on a Strawberry Farm (a buddy)

The planned route is:

View Larger Map

Less than 3

Less than 3 years 'til I retire. I made a resolution the start getting fit for my retirement trip but I'm on injured reserve now. If I had a desk job, I'd not even mention the damaged achilles situation. I planned on riding the bike slowly today. See MichaelsBicycle.blogspot

Copycat Motorcycle Thing

I've been dwelling on less than fun thoughts this month.
It's time to move on so I am going to copy my buddy Will's idea.

I've done some serious miles on the bike in the last few years. And these are just the non local trips. Of course there are some pictures of Rick in the links
2008
Photo link



View Larger Map


2007 Local trips only except for this one.
There was some distance involved in this one!

Click LINK for more Pictures

View Larger Map



2006
more Pictures



View Larger Map


2005 coming soon

It's cold again... appropriate somehow

Pic : Laughing with a friends during BearSTOC.com

Will I make it to retirement?

My world was shaken today when I found out a good buddy (on my left here) died just months short of retirement.

I'm not in the mood to share so I'll leave it as just a lousy month. My wife lost a good friend last week. No rule of three, please.

And it's cold again in Billings.... appropriate somehow.

Paris is crap

Paris is crap... not the city. I like France. What I saw of it. And the French are smart enough to get out of a hopeless war situation like Viet Nam and Iraq... I can't fault them for that and I do not understand why we are so hard on them. So they are rude. And they don't want to speak English. New Yorkers don't either. The difference is New Yorkers don't know how!

It has occurred to me that there is no longer any good source of news. I watch poor Anderson Cooper trying to get through reporting the crap about Paris (no NOT the city of lights). It's all he can do to keep from rolling his eyes. Poor bastard. OK.. rich poor bastard. I can't get away from Paris , she was even in Naples.

At this point I guess people would actually like to hear about her and maybe even drivel like this rather than the economy.

Fox news has been a comedy channel for sometime now. CNN actually has DL Hugley who IS a comic by trade but really doesn't belong on CNN does he? It's impossible to get any decent news. One would think that in light of this newspapers wold be thriving. The Rocky Mountain News went broke.

I've been watching BBC Americaa if anything at all.

All I know is what I read in the paper - Will Rogers

RR content - 21 years

Today I have been 21 years at MRL.

I never though t I'd be here this long.

Best RR in the world to work for!

Taxes

I had a good year last year... Wonder what will happen if I get behind in my taxes.

The new Secretary of the Treasury (to be... STILL) did not pay his Social Security taxes for a number of years. You know he knew about it.

If I didn't pay my Tier 1 and Tier 2 for RR retirement, I'd be in deep do-do.

It's disgusting the level of greed in the government today. Can we get no one who is honest and truly wants to be a public servant. We are all gonna be in a world of hurt if this crap continues. If I was in the club I would just look the other way too, I suppose.

See story here

We made it

The pic is two of my brothers and I riding barefoot with no helmets in Houston about 1960.

Now...I have no idea who started this.... I got it from my Aunt

To Those of You Born

1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tire s and sometimes no brakes

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations,Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no person al computers, no Internet and no chat rooms
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

New Orleans for Christmas

We drove out of the cold iad into Dixie for Christmas... it was -9F in Billings when we left and +82 in New Orleans on Christmas Day. Arriving late on Christmas Eve we were able to walk around Canal Street some. Chritmas Day brought more good wqeather and good food. We at at the buffet at Harrahs Casino. Turkey, Prime Rib, Chiken, Taters, Jumbo Shrimp, Fruit, and a number of desserts... I could hardly waddle out of there.

After New Orleans we drove up through the rain to Memphis to visit the kids. And I took another drivr up into Tennessee to see my brothers little farm... nice!

Back into the snow and home on Jan 3rd... uuugghh

Red Lodge Christmas Stroll

Where is my bailout?

Seems like everyone is asking the question... where's my bailout? The elitist CEO types expect it... they actually think they are entitled to make millions while their workers make a fraction of their salaries. They think they are entitled to fly around on the private jets and throw 1/2 million dollar parties while the workers wonder if they are going to have a job next week. Citi Bank gets a huge bailout then the legislators turn around and refuse to pass a bill prohibiting them from gouging customers with high late fees and loan shark style interest rates.... the very next day... Smith takes a Golden Parachute that was nearly the exact amount of the UAW wage concession.... that's ballsy! Elitist bastards. The CEO types actually don't see that they are killing the golden goose. The very people that payed the taxes to bail them out. Shamefull. And the government lets 'em get away with it... shameful.... God isn't gonna let 'em buy their way into Heaven... remember you can't take it with you.

See my related blog about Public Transportation, Airfares vs. Train fares