A No Fall Color Ride

I was feeling a little down today after yesterday's, not so enjoyable, trip to the dentist. What better way to lift my spirits and clear my head than four hours of therapy on the big Kawasaki.

This afternoon it was a cool 50 degrees, with a partly cloudy sky. While I geared up, I started the bike in the garage and let it warm up. I skipped the liners in both the Venture pants and Cortech jacket. When it gets another few degrees colder, I'll be needing those. I stopped in town for some no ethanol premium and headed east.

I noticed that the fall colors that were so brilliant the last week of September, have really faded. Only a few Birch trees still have color, and most of the Oak trees are hanging on to dry, brown leaves. Most of the other leaves are gone. The fields around here have been harvested, and almost all the corn and beans are gone. The only green things are the evergreen trees and a few grass fields.

No color!

This would be a nicer picture if I knew what I was doing and got the depth of field right...

On the way home, I stopped at a road side plaque and checked out the back side. That was almost 10 years ago, from one of the first motorcycle rides I brought Nancy on. I love you dear....

A little more color along the Mississippi River.

I got home just as the sun was hitting the horizon. The temps were falling fast!

Last Thursday, I put the Super Sherpa on craigslist. There is someone coming over Saturday morning to look at it. He's pretty sure he'll drive it home. Update Saturday...... He came here in a car with a friend. They test drove it around the block. He drove it home for $100 less than my asking price! I'm happy.... He's happy. He called me a few hours after he rode it away. He drove it home, an hour and a half away, in 40 degree temps. He said it was cold but worth it!!! I say, enjoy!!!!

Now, do I try and sell the FJR????? It's a great bike, but since I got the Zx-14, I just don't ride it as often as I should.

100 Miles Round Trip to Ride 10 Miles of Great Road

Yesterday, John came over and we went for a ride on some of the local "alphabet roads". I put about 100 miles on my FJR on that ride. It was a nice fall day, with cool air and bright sun.
We'd been riding for a while, when we found ourselves on County Road SS. A few miles east of Lund, at the start of a nice downhill run with fast sweepers, we had to slow down. There was a grain truck and 2 H-D dressers in front of us. I never ride as if the road is my race track, but the speed of the vehicles in front of us was depressing. By the time the grain truck was at the bottom of the hill it was quite a ways ahead of the Harleys, yet they were still dragging their brakes. AARRRGGG! I got the feeling that the grain truck wasn't slowing them down, if you know what I mean. We stopped along side the road at the intersection of SS and U. We waited for the truck and bikers to move a ways ahead of us before we continued. While we were stopped John and I decided to head back to my place. We cut short one of my favorite roads, and headed west.
When we got to my place I changed oil in the FJR while John and I shot the breeze.

Today, I went out by my self. I had the supplies to change the oil in the Zx-14 and wanted to warm it up before I started that project. I took a swing through town to try and gage the "biker" activity in front of the local bars. Weekends in Prescott can find the main street and bars packed with motorcycles. Today the turn out was light. It was probably due to the rain earlier and the Packers Vs. Vikings football game that was going to be on TV in a while. It was so nice to have the roads to myself.
I headed south on WI-35 along the Mississippi River. In the little town of Maiden Rock, I turned left onto County Road S, then right on CC and down to Lund. Out of Lund, I followed SS. Unlike yesterday, there was no one on the roads. I got to ride SS from Lund, past the Porcupine Cemetery, past the junction with D, down hill, all the way to N. That's about 10 miles of really nice sweepers and right angle, 30 MPH corners. Fun!!
I rode through Arkansaw, out to Hwy 10. I went west towards home, but stopped for a pop in Plum City. The cashier told me that the Packers were ahead, 27-17?. Go Pack!! I fed the trout in the city trout pond. They look like they're between 12 and 24 inches long!

After a short break, I drove non stop to home. I pulled in the garage and changed the oil in the Zx-14. Two down, one to go.


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Super Sherpa for Sale----SOLD!!!!

On Monday, I took the FJR out for a nice ride through the rural Minnesota countryside. I took the long way down to Plainview Powersports. I wanted to look at a new '09 Yamaha Wr250x that they have listed on Craigslist. They have it priced at under $5000 with no "freight and set-up" fees, and I'd pay the sales tax and registration fees when I register it in WI. The little Wr250x is still brand new, and sold with the full warranty. New 2011 Wr's are over $6299 plus the BS "freight and set-up".

It looks like this. (stock Yamaha photo)

I have an '01 Kawasaki Super Sherpa. It's a great little bike, but not quite what I'm needing. I picked it up in the fall of '07, and at that time, it had 6640 miles on it. Sadly, it only has 7300 on it now. When I take the Sherpa out for a ride, I keep thinking that it would be a blast to have street tires on it. There are so few unpaved roads in my area of WI.

I placed the Super Sherpa on craigslist today. If it sells before the end of the riding season, and the Wr250x is still available, I just might have a new bike.

Dulono's Pizza First Thursday. October 2011

I was able to make it to Dulono's Pizza for 1st Thursday this month. Last month I was in the hospital with a-fib. John and I rode the FJRs over. We got there fairly early and parked in Dulono's parking lot. I also learned a good lesson for next time. If possible, find a spot on the street, not the parking lot. We were blocked in and had to wait for other bikes to pull out before we could leave. There was a very large turn out this month.

John and I ate early to avoid the rush, we split the usual Dulono's Delite. It's a thin crust, pepperoni, sausage, and onion pizza. It's very good!

After we ate, we walked around and checked out the bikes. There were a few I recognized from before, but also a lot I'd never seen.

I'm normally not a huge H-D fan, but I can appreciate an original bit of mechanical excellence. I thought this was really interesting. It's an Electra glide trike, with an S-S motor that's mounted sideways, then a shaft drive to a transaxle and rear suspension from a VW bug. Pretty Trick!

There were a number of custom old Japanese bikes.

And quite a few nicely restored UJM's

I think I found my next bike... I'd have to sell the Super Sherpa, but this caught my eye. A Yamaha Wr250x. A supermoto, kind of like an off road bike with street tires. Hummmmm. Maybe....

Do You Recognize the Red Mark?

I have a question to ask..

Does anyone know what the red mark on my chest is from?
It's the red outline, NOT the pimple
It's about 3.75 inches wide and 5.0 inches long.
There's a identical one on my upper back.
No, I didn't fall asleep in the sun with something on my chest.
I know how it got there, do you?

Anyone?

Click pic for bigger image!

Seeing as no one answered...I'll tell the story.

On 8-31-2011, around 8:00 p.m., I was sitting at my computer, when suddenly, I didn't feel so great. It felt like my heart was racing and that there was something wrong with me. I took my blood pressure, and was a little surprised by the results 185/95, pulse near 200. With a long family history of death by heart issues, I didn't want to delay getting checked out.
By about 9:15 p.m., I drove down to the Regina hospital E.R. in Hastings. When I told them I had a rapid pulse and a high BP, they looked at me like, ya OK, go have a seat in the waiting room and we'll get to ya when we can. A short time later a nurse wheeled over a cart to take my vitals. She took my BP and I was immediately brought into a room.
The E.R. Dr. had them take an EKG. He read the strip and told me I had an irregular heart rhythm called AF, or Atrial Fibrillation. He informed me that while AF is not "life threatening", failure to treat it can lead to blood clots forming that can cause strokes or even massive heart attacks. I was given a couple of different meds to help me. One to try and slow my heart rate and restore normal rhythm, and one to try and prevent clotting.
I was admitted for the night, while they continued to try and restore a normal rhythm.
Around 7:00 a.m. the next morning, another Dr. came and told me that they were going to send me to United Hospital, to see a cardiologist. She also told me that there was an elevated level of Troponin in my blood, and that I may have either heart damage or had a heart attack! Just what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning.
By 9:00 a.m I was being rolled through the hallways at United and was brought up to the 4th floor. A short time later I met Dr. Olson, a cardiologist. He was great! We discussed what they had planned for me.
By 9:45, I had a process called an Electro-cardioversion performed. I had been knocked out, given an electric shock that restored a normal rhythm, and was awake. That took all of about 2 minutes. While I was recovering, I had an Echocardiogram.
When that was over, I was rolled back to my room. I had to wait a bit until they could get me in for a heart CT scan. While I was waiting, they had to draw more blood from me. I think I was stuck at least 15 times while in the 2 hospitals. Some of the needle sticks were successful, some were not. I still have black and blue marks on my arms from all the pokes.
In the early afternoon, I was rolled down the hall again. I had a 2 CT scans of my heart. One with no drugs or dye, and one after a nitro pill, and contrast dye. The dye made me feel like I was going to pee my pants.
When it was all over, and Dr. Olson had time to check my results, we talked. He told me that sometimes people go into AF once, get treated for it and it might never have it happen again. Or that they can get treated and have reoccurring issues for a long time. He prescribed some meds, recommended a follow up visit with my regular Dr., and we discussed what to do if I feel that way again. He also said that he noticed no damage to my valves, and that I showed no signs of coronary artery disease! That was great news.
I was discharged from United around 4:30pm on Friday, 9-1. I had been in for around 18 hours, and had not had anything to eat for almost 21 hours. While I was being discharged, they brought me juice, graham crackers and peanut butter. It was the best snack I'd had in a long time!!!

Day 16. The Last Day.

Friday the 19th.

After breakfast in the cafe at the Chieftain Motel, we left with 2 goals for the day. Vist the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site, and make it home by sundown.
The first stop was just 47 miles away in Cooperstown. 4 miles north of hwy 200 on hwy 45 is the North Dakota State Historical Society's very well preserved Minuteman Missile LCC (launch control center). I visited the similar facility run by the National Parks Service near the Badlands this June. I have to say that the Parks Service facility is nowhere near as complete or nicely restored as the one in Cooperstown! John and I spent nearly 2 hours looking at every square foot of the place. At the Badlands facility, I felt rushed and it seemed like I was through it in 15 minutes. I was happy to pay the $10 admission. I'm sure it's going to help keep the LCC open. It's a great piece of Cold War history.

View of front gate from inside security office.

Underground mechanical room. The floor is hanging on 4 huge shock absorbers. There are parts of 2 of them in the background.

Blast door for mechanical room.

Door frame of blast door for control room. Signed by crew on the last day the facility was active. At the bottom, "in aquilea cura" was the motto of the 448th Missile Squadron. It translates to "under the care of the eagle"

2 red chairs for launch control officers.

Launch control board, 1 of 2. The red box is where the missile launch keys were kept. Each officer had his own padlock on the box.

Keys were inserted here...

After the tour of the LCC it was pretty much a minimal stop run to home. We stayed on 200 until it ended at US-2 near Floodwood, MN.
A quick run down I-35 to the twin cities, and I split off on 694 to Cottage Grove, then into WI on hwy 10. To home... just before sundown

Total mileage for the 16 day trip.... 4753

Day 15.

Day 15. Thursday the 18th

We had spent the night at Fellman's Motel in Jordan, MT. It was a nice place. The price was right. It also had a great shower, small, but the water pressure and flow were awesome.
We left town and continued east. We crossed into ND and noticed all the oil wells and temporary housing. It's a booming area.

We came across a coal field. There was an electric dragline working. It's a Marion 8750. It weighs 13.5 Million pounds. The boom is 360 feet long. The bucket is 20'x16'x10' it weighs 244,000 pounds. It holds 125 cubic yards of overburden(dirt). It's HUGE!!

for a while, we thought the weather was going to turn bad. This was ahead of us, but by the time we got to it, there was nothing but gray skies.

We stopped for the night at the Chieftain Motel in Carrington, ND.

Day 14 More Montana with Nukes

This morning it was 35 degrees in Lincoln, so we were in no hurry to get on the road. It wasn't long before the temps climbed and the riding was good. We continued east on 200.
Our route took us past Malmstrom A.F.B. Home to 150, LGM-30G, 300 Kt nuke equipped, Minuteman III missiles. It was interesting to see the differences between the '90's era LCC's (launch control centers) and LF's (launch facilities) of SD and the current ones in MT.
I toured the National Parks Service's restored LCC and LF near the Badlands in SD on my trip west in June. Pictures Here.

LF...launch facility.

LCC...Launch Control Center.

In Lewistown, we stopped for food and fuel. We noticed that there was a museum with a Minuteman missile on display.

Because we got a late start, we ended up in Jordan, MT for the night. We should be well into ND by tomorrow night.