Sunday, April 19, 2015

First Real Ride of the Season.

Yesterday, the sun was shining but it was still kind of cool. I decided to take the Zx14 out for the first real ride of the season. I rode a little over 80 miles. While on my ride the odometer turned over 49,000 miles.


I headed north from Cable and west on Co Hwy N from Drummond. At Hwy 27 I turned to go north. I wanted to get some pictures of a local "shoe tree".


There were also a couple of old cars (model "T"s maybe?) parked in a near by woods. I find weird things like that interesting...





The rest of the trip was just down Hwy 27 to Hayward and back up 63 to home. It felt good to get on a bike and ride!


This Spring, I've kept busy mostly by working on projects in the garage while Nancy worked in the yard. I finally finished my trailer rebuild. I stained and sealed the last of the side boards. A few weeks ago I had new trailer tires mounted on the wheels...


The tailgate is not in the picture but it's finished too.

I've also made a few modifications to the new tractor. I bypassed the RIO (Reverse Implement Option), it's a switch that kills the tractor dead if you are using the PTO (Power Take Off) and try to reverse the tractor without first lifting up on the PTO switch while cutting grass, using the snow blower, tilling.... Taking one hand off the rest of the controls.... I don't see why Deere couldn't just have the RIO system disengage the PTO and not kill the whole tractor. Lawyers I suspect.... It's right up there with labels on hand held hair driers warning you not to use them in the shower!


I disabled a very sensitive seat switch. I couldn't tilt my butt when looking backwards without killing the tractor...


...added a couple of grab hooks to the top of the bucket...


...almost finished my ballast box. I just need to cut up a rubber mat to cover the sand. I don't want the cats to think I gave them a new "bathroom"...


This winter, I found a large 3'x4' map of the U.S. and colored in as many of the roads from my motorcycle trips as I could remember. Unfortunately the level detail on the map is pretty low or there would be a whole lot more ink around the Black Hills in SD, Eureka Springs, AR and Estes Park, CO.


Happy Birthday Ninja!!


The next ride will be to get pictures of yet another local, but much less decorated, "shoe tree"... Maybe some Cranberry bog shots too.