I decided to get the bike ready for the spring riding season. I had a slight wobble in the front end at low speeds which appears to be the steering head bearings.
Honda puts flat bearings in the GL-1800 and they wear causing a wobble to start between 12,000 and 20, 000 miles. Mine has 17,000 + on it.
I dropped it off for a bearing change at Fairfield Honda last week and they are going to put tapered bearings in and we should never have a problem again.
They're changing out the air filter and prepping the bike for spring so i'm looking forward to getting it back and warmer weather.
We have some good rides planned for this summer such as a possible trip to Florida to see my dad, Kansas, the Outer banks of North Carolina, Deals Gap, and a lot of day rides to parts unknown.
Come on SPRING!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
January 3, 2009
After missing all of the fall color rides due to my becep repair surgery and really wanting to ride that bike sitting undercover in the garage I decided that the time had come.
The arm has gained a lot of strength and seems to be doing fine. It is 45 degrees out and the sun is shining.
I put on my leather chaps, inserted the liner into my Goldwing jacket and off I went.
It was a short boring ride just around town but the Yee Ha's and Whoo Hoo's were definatly coming from my mouth. It felt great to be back on two wheel after four long months of not going for a ride.
I was only out for an hour and a half but I found this worthy of a post.
As for the arm it felt great with no pains or problems handeling the bike.
After missing all of the fall color rides due to my becep repair surgery and really wanting to ride that bike sitting undercover in the garage I decided that the time had come.
The arm has gained a lot of strength and seems to be doing fine. It is 45 degrees out and the sun is shining.
I put on my leather chaps, inserted the liner into my Goldwing jacket and off I went.
It was a short boring ride just around town but the Yee Ha's and Whoo Hoo's were definatly coming from my mouth. It felt great to be back on two wheel after four long months of not going for a ride.
I was only out for an hour and a half but I found this worthy of a post.
As for the arm it felt great with no pains or problems handeling the bike.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
December 13th, 2008
I hope everyone had a Merry CHRISTmas!
The folks on my favorite motorcycle forum, http://www.rideohio.org/ decided to do a round up for toys for tots. This whole idea came from my friend Tim aka "TDog" and what a wonderful idea it was. Thanks Tim for thinking of this and the children.
Over the period of a month toys were sent to Tim, Bill aka Warlock, and myself, Redtrk.
On December 13th Bill came over from Columbus and I met him in Vandalia where we merged our toys into my truck and drove them to Wauson, Ohio to meet up with Tim and also Jeff aka CUZ.
Were were also joined by Tim and Jeff's better halves.
From Tim's shop we left in three vehicles and went over to the Marine recruiting station to meet up with the Sargent and delivered our toys.
Many pictures were taken that day and i'm sure we put smiles on a lot of children's faces as well.
We then delivered ourselves to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch and some conversation. after lunch we said our goodbyes and headed for home. This may seem like a short and maybe boring entry to this log but it had a meaningful delivery to some children with smiles attached so I found it worthy. The only thing that might have made this better is if it had been a bike trip to deliver toys.
Merry CHISTmas to everyone and may you New Year be a safe, healthy, and enjoyable one.
I hope everyone had a Merry CHRISTmas!
The folks on my favorite motorcycle forum, http://www.rideohio.org/ decided to do a round up for toys for tots. This whole idea came from my friend Tim aka "TDog" and what a wonderful idea it was. Thanks Tim for thinking of this and the children.
Over the period of a month toys were sent to Tim, Bill aka Warlock, and myself, Redtrk.
On December 13th Bill came over from Columbus and I met him in Vandalia where we merged our toys into my truck and drove them to Wauson, Ohio to meet up with Tim and also Jeff aka CUZ.
Were were also joined by Tim and Jeff's better halves.
From Tim's shop we left in three vehicles and went over to the Marine recruiting station to meet up with the Sargent and delivered our toys.
Many pictures were taken that day and i'm sure we put smiles on a lot of children's faces as well.
We then delivered ourselves to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch and some conversation. after lunch we said our goodbyes and headed for home. This may seem like a short and maybe boring entry to this log but it had a meaningful delivery to some children with smiles attached so I found it worthy. The only thing that might have made this better is if it had been a bike trip to deliver toys.
Merry CHISTmas to everyone and may you New Year be a safe, healthy, and enjoyable one.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Well it looks as if the September 1st ride was my last one for awhile. The following weekend we took the grandkids up to visit with us the inlaws. Then I had some work training with two of my men in Richmond, Virginia. The following week brought the end of my riding for the year.
On September 19th I was sitting in me office working on the typical Friday and took a phone call from a customer. The call was to remove some storm damaged metal roofing from a building near the Monroe High School football stadium. Until the hanging metal was removed the schol could not have it's football game due to the possibility of it falling on someone.
I called some of my guys but they were all really busy so I decided to take the call myself and just go do it. I did!
I cut the metal from top to bottom and went to push it off the side to the ground. As I pushed I noticed that the metal was hung up on an abandoned phone wire. The school maintenence guy said to go ahead and let it break because it didn't work and needed to come down anyway.
I pushed aforward on the metal and as I did I felt a snap n my right arm. It was extremely painful and also had a lot of constant burning. I knew I had hurt or tore something in my arm but had no idea how bad it was.
The school maintenence guy asked if I needed help getting down and I told him not until I was finished with the job.
I got the metal off the roof and screwed down the edges. After that I removed my safety equipment and he helped me take down my ladder and put it on my truck.
I then drove myself to the hospitol while calling Vicki and my ofice on the way.
The ER Doctor said it was a torn bicep and told me to go to and Orthopedic Doctor.
I called Dr. Kremcheck on Monday and he got me in on Wednesday. He set up an MRI for Thursday with an appointment with him right after. He confirmed what was a torn becep muscle. The bicep muscle forks out into two branches. The long head and the short head. I tore the long one that attaches to the back of the forearm.
He scheduled surgery for Tuesday.
Tuesday morning Vicki and I got up and headed for the surgery center. When we got there Doc Kremcheck asked if she wanted to observe the surgery and she said yes. COOL! I would have if it weren't me.
A 45 minute procedure, he opened up my upper arm just above the right albow. Reached in and pulled out the bicep muscle. He sewed down both sides in very tight stitches and left two long strings hang off of the end.
He then made an incision on the back of my forearm and pulled the muscle strings through it. He made a grove in the bone and two small holes. The strings were put through the wholes and the muscle was tucked into the grove. He then closed it up and put me in an arm brace which would soon become my new best friend.
I woke up in recovery and the pain was at a 8-9 on a 1-10 scale. Let's just say it hurt like hell.
After a while were could go home and we did. Vicki has done a great job of helping me out wih everything since i'm kind of temporarily handicaped.
Physical therepy started the day after and oh I wasn't ready for that. They told me to take a pain pill before I went. Know I know why. Actually that was the last time I took a pain pill and my pain was at zero within three days after surgery. The only things I really felt for a while were muscle spasms which they gave me meds for. Those have even stopped now.
It's been a week and a half and things are going well and I am learning to do things left handed some of which are very challenging I might add.
I have to wear this brace on my arm 24/7 for about a month or two. I even sleep in it. I'm not really allowed to drive or go to work for awhile the Doc says. He said I could start to drive in about 2 weeks to a month and go back to work on light duty in about 4-6 months.
Well after being off of work for one day after surgery I went stir crazy and drove myself to work the next day.
I have to be extremely careful in everything I do since this surgery could be messed up with a single fall or incedent and we get no second chance to fix it.
It's a long recovery pricess that wil take about 9 months to ayear to get back to strength and forthe muscle to attach to the bone enough to do anything.
Yesterday Vicki and I went on a bike trip with the rideohio.org gang. It was her first motorcycle trip to drive....... HER CAR that is. So I guess you could say I rode in the bitch seat for the first time.
The group met at the Big Muskee in Reinersville, Ohio for a group picture then to the River Queen Tavern for lunch and some social time.
She drove the routes we would have ridden had we been on the bike and while it was beautiful out and the curves would have been awsome it was kind of depressing for me. I wanted to be on the bike so bad. This really sucks!
We did have an awsome time with everyone and met a few new faces as well. What an awsome group of people we have found.
Doctor Kremcheck said it would probably be about the first of May before i could get back on the bike and ride however i would probably have to wear the brace for a while when I do.
What a wierd tan that's going to be next summer!
That's all I have for now but I will post up a group picture from the Big Muskie trip.
On September 19th I was sitting in me office working on the typical Friday and took a phone call from a customer. The call was to remove some storm damaged metal roofing from a building near the Monroe High School football stadium. Until the hanging metal was removed the schol could not have it's football game due to the possibility of it falling on someone.
I called some of my guys but they were all really busy so I decided to take the call myself and just go do it. I did!
I cut the metal from top to bottom and went to push it off the side to the ground. As I pushed I noticed that the metal was hung up on an abandoned phone wire. The school maintenence guy said to go ahead and let it break because it didn't work and needed to come down anyway.
I pushed aforward on the metal and as I did I felt a snap n my right arm. It was extremely painful and also had a lot of constant burning. I knew I had hurt or tore something in my arm but had no idea how bad it was.
The school maintenence guy asked if I needed help getting down and I told him not until I was finished with the job.
I got the metal off the roof and screwed down the edges. After that I removed my safety equipment and he helped me take down my ladder and put it on my truck.
I then drove myself to the hospitol while calling Vicki and my ofice on the way.
The ER Doctor said it was a torn bicep and told me to go to and Orthopedic Doctor.
I called Dr. Kremcheck on Monday and he got me in on Wednesday. He set up an MRI for Thursday with an appointment with him right after. He confirmed what was a torn becep muscle. The bicep muscle forks out into two branches. The long head and the short head. I tore the long one that attaches to the back of the forearm.
He scheduled surgery for Tuesday.
Tuesday morning Vicki and I got up and headed for the surgery center. When we got there Doc Kremcheck asked if she wanted to observe the surgery and she said yes. COOL! I would have if it weren't me.
A 45 minute procedure, he opened up my upper arm just above the right albow. Reached in and pulled out the bicep muscle. He sewed down both sides in very tight stitches and left two long strings hang off of the end.
He then made an incision on the back of my forearm and pulled the muscle strings through it. He made a grove in the bone and two small holes. The strings were put through the wholes and the muscle was tucked into the grove. He then closed it up and put me in an arm brace which would soon become my new best friend.
I woke up in recovery and the pain was at a 8-9 on a 1-10 scale. Let's just say it hurt like hell.
After a while were could go home and we did. Vicki has done a great job of helping me out wih everything since i'm kind of temporarily handicaped.
Physical therepy started the day after and oh I wasn't ready for that. They told me to take a pain pill before I went. Know I know why. Actually that was the last time I took a pain pill and my pain was at zero within three days after surgery. The only things I really felt for a while were muscle spasms which they gave me meds for. Those have even stopped now.
It's been a week and a half and things are going well and I am learning to do things left handed some of which are very challenging I might add.
I have to wear this brace on my arm 24/7 for about a month or two. I even sleep in it. I'm not really allowed to drive or go to work for awhile the Doc says. He said I could start to drive in about 2 weeks to a month and go back to work on light duty in about 4-6 months.
Well after being off of work for one day after surgery I went stir crazy and drove myself to work the next day.
I have to be extremely careful in everything I do since this surgery could be messed up with a single fall or incedent and we get no second chance to fix it.
It's a long recovery pricess that wil take about 9 months to ayear to get back to strength and forthe muscle to attach to the bone enough to do anything.
Yesterday Vicki and I went on a bike trip with the rideohio.org gang. It was her first motorcycle trip to drive....... HER CAR that is. So I guess you could say I rode in the bitch seat for the first time.
The group met at the Big Muskee in Reinersville, Ohio for a group picture then to the River Queen Tavern for lunch and some social time.
She drove the routes we would have ridden had we been on the bike and while it was beautiful out and the curves would have been awsome it was kind of depressing for me. I wanted to be on the bike so bad. This really sucks!
We did have an awsome time with everyone and met a few new faces as well. What an awsome group of people we have found.
Doctor Kremcheck said it would probably be about the first of May before i could get back on the bike and ride however i would probably have to wear the brace for a while when I do.
What a wierd tan that's going to be next summer!
That's all I have for now but I will post up a group picture from the Big Muskie trip.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Monday September 1, 2008 (Labor Day)
Vicki and I had planned a ride to Grand Lake, St Marys for the day. We pulled out of the garage about 12:30 and headed north on SR 503. We passed through Gratis, West Alexandria, and Lewisburg. Then continued north until we got to highway 121 and followed it. We reached Versailes and picked up Route 47 over to Newport, Ohio and we then turned onto 66 north through Fort Laramie and eventually into St Marys, Ohio.
We traveled over to Grand Lake and the state park on the north side where we stopped for a cold drink and to rest for a bit. We took pictures by the lake and a guy even offered to take a pic of both of us and we gladly said yes.
After a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes were off again heading west into Indiana.
We dropped down into Celina and picked up highway 29 west that became 67 and when we crossed into Indiana it became Highway 18. We were detoured a few times including a gravel road where my old dirt bike instincts came back to me. We eventually routed ourselves south on Highway 1 and headed towards dinner in Richmond.
We then took 28 into Union City to 227 to Middleboro and a left onto Cook Road to Porterfield Road to 121 and then a right onto Gravel Pit Road. Gravel Pit Road led us to Highway 40 and a right turn onto it took us to Hacienda for dinner.
We met up with Lymon and Wanda there had chips & salsa along with some wonderful wet burritos.
We mounted up and headed for home on 40 East then eventually to Ohio SR 35 where we picked up 503 again south toward home. When we pulled into the garage Vicki and I had logged exactly 267 miles for the day. It was a warm day in the lower 90's but moving it felt great.
One of these days Vicki will right the details and it won't be so boring. But then who cares as long as she is riding with me because I love having her on the back 2-up.
Vicki and I had planned a ride to Grand Lake, St Marys for the day. We pulled out of the garage about 12:30 and headed north on SR 503. We passed through Gratis, West Alexandria, and Lewisburg. Then continued north until we got to highway 121 and followed it. We reached Versailes and picked up Route 47 over to Newport, Ohio and we then turned onto 66 north through Fort Laramie and eventually into St Marys, Ohio.
We traveled over to Grand Lake and the state park on the north side where we stopped for a cold drink and to rest for a bit. We took pictures by the lake and a guy even offered to take a pic of both of us and we gladly said yes.
After a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes were off again heading west into Indiana.
We dropped down into Celina and picked up highway 29 west that became 67 and when we crossed into Indiana it became Highway 18. We were detoured a few times including a gravel road where my old dirt bike instincts came back to me. We eventually routed ourselves south on Highway 1 and headed towards dinner in Richmond.
We then took 28 into Union City to 227 to Middleboro and a left onto Cook Road to Porterfield Road to 121 and then a right onto Gravel Pit Road. Gravel Pit Road led us to Highway 40 and a right turn onto it took us to Hacienda for dinner.
We met up with Lymon and Wanda there had chips & salsa along with some wonderful wet burritos.
We mounted up and headed for home on 40 East then eventually to Ohio SR 35 where we picked up 503 again south toward home. When we pulled into the garage Vicki and I had logged exactly 267 miles for the day. It was a warm day in the lower 90's but moving it felt great.
One of these days Vicki will right the details and it won't be so boring. But then who cares as long as she is riding with me because I love having her on the back 2-up.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday August 31. 2008
Vicki and I decided on Friday that we would take a short ride on Saturday to Millersport, Ohio since they were hosting the Sweet Corn Festival. We headed out toward the festival about 10:45, a little later then planned but we had a great ride there. We were going to meet a couple from Cleveland that are on the RideOhio.org website. He and I had met before.
We took the super slab as in I-71 and I-70 to get there a little quicker so that part of the ride was kind of boring.
As we pulled in Kerry and his better 1/2 were walking back towards their bike. We joined up with a couple introductions of the ladies and walked into the festival. After spending some time walking & talking we stopped and each of us got an ear of sweet corn which was wonderful. We did some more walikng & talking stopped for chicken & drinks. We ran into some friends of Vicki and I from home talked to them for a few minutes then went back towards our bikes after stopping by the sweet corn again where the girls each got a dozen ears of corn to take home. We said our goodbyes and parted ways. Vicki and I had a great time visiting with Kerry & Bonnie.
We pulled out and headed toward home using all back roads. We passed through Beautiful Fairfield County along the way and we worked way down to Route 22 which was our main road home.
Once we got into Wilmington we were getting hungry and everyone knows where I like to eat in Wilmington? Beaugards Oh Yeah baby, a half slab for me, and pulled BBQ chicken for Vicki.
Funny thing though and I do have pics & video to prove it. There were some guys who had a "rastlin" ring set up in the parking lot. I kid you not. A van that read on the side of it, "UIW - Ultimate Impact Wrestling" I think that Lymon & Wanda are stopping there tonight on their way back in.
While we left before the rastlin started they should get to see it. We finished up our last 1 hour leg home dropping down onto Route 350 through Fort Ancient then onto 123 toward home. We logged 260 mile today and had a great dat with some wonderful people.
Vicki and I made it home with an hour to spare before we needed to leave for bowling tonight.
Vicki and I decided on Friday that we would take a short ride on Saturday to Millersport, Ohio since they were hosting the Sweet Corn Festival. We headed out toward the festival about 10:45, a little later then planned but we had a great ride there. We were going to meet a couple from Cleveland that are on the RideOhio.org website. He and I had met before.
We took the super slab as in I-71 and I-70 to get there a little quicker so that part of the ride was kind of boring.
As we pulled in Kerry and his better 1/2 were walking back towards their bike. We joined up with a couple introductions of the ladies and walked into the festival. After spending some time walking & talking we stopped and each of us got an ear of sweet corn which was wonderful. We did some more walikng & talking stopped for chicken & drinks. We ran into some friends of Vicki and I from home talked to them for a few minutes then went back towards our bikes after stopping by the sweet corn again where the girls each got a dozen ears of corn to take home. We said our goodbyes and parted ways. Vicki and I had a great time visiting with Kerry & Bonnie.
We pulled out and headed toward home using all back roads. We passed through Beautiful Fairfield County along the way and we worked way down to Route 22 which was our main road home.
Once we got into Wilmington we were getting hungry and everyone knows where I like to eat in Wilmington? Beaugards Oh Yeah baby, a half slab for me, and pulled BBQ chicken for Vicki.
Funny thing though and I do have pics & video to prove it. There were some guys who had a "rastlin" ring set up in the parking lot. I kid you not. A van that read on the side of it, "UIW - Ultimate Impact Wrestling" I think that Lymon & Wanda are stopping there tonight on their way back in.
While we left before the rastlin started they should get to see it. We finished up our last 1 hour leg home dropping down onto Route 350 through Fort Ancient then onto 123 toward home. We logged 260 mile today and had a great dat with some wonderful people.
Vicki and I made it home with an hour to spare before we needed to leave for bowling tonight.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wednesday August 20, 2008
Wednesday evening Vicki and I took a nice but short ride to Dayton, Ohio to a place called Jackass Flats. It's a motorcycle store that also has a restaurant. Every Wednesday there is a bike night and let me tell you it does fill up with motorcycles and riders. I can't imagine how many hundreds of bikes were there. They also had a live band playing.
We met up with some friends there that were all at Tanked 08. Vicki got to meet them for the first time. We had dinner, talked, and took a few pictures. It was fun although we decided to cut it short on purpose to get home before dark. We shot the highway home as we do quite frequently.
Wednesday evening Vicki and I took a nice but short ride to Dayton, Ohio to a place called Jackass Flats. It's a motorcycle store that also has a restaurant. Every Wednesday there is a bike night and let me tell you it does fill up with motorcycles and riders. I can't imagine how many hundreds of bikes were there. They also had a live band playing.
We met up with some friends there that were all at Tanked 08. Vicki got to meet them for the first time. We had dinner, talked, and took a few pictures. It was fun although we decided to cut it short on purpose to get home before dark. We shot the highway home as we do quite frequently.
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