Richmond Va chatter

Went for a little ride today. After several misadventures with the GPS, I finally made it here.



My GPS told me to drive down somebody's cow pasture driveway. I didn't trust it so we re-routed. It then had me go down a dirt road off of Briar whatever road it is that actually leads to Redish Knob. It then wanted me to ride up the hiking trails. At one point it took me to Hearthstone lake but then told me to turn around. When I came back out to the main road though, there was a big sign pointing to the left that said reddish knob.



There were lots of trees down on the roads leading up effectively making it a one lane road. The actual road up to the peak was blocked by a fallen try but there was an opening in the branches big enough for a motorcycle. I got a cool video of it with my new go pro HD hero2. It is current uploading to YouTube, which is taking forever. The road down on the WV side was in much worse shape as gravel has washes across the road in each switchback. Lots of folks in the area are still on generators or just without power all together. On the plus side, it was much cooler out that way. The humidity would hit pretty hard though as you descended into the valleys. I wonder how Jeff's place fared in the storms the last couple nights?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PM1Ued6kVBE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Look for the deer at 3 minutes right after riding through the branches of the downed tree.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FgmjRsQtEDg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

New Pro Gun Laws go into effect July 1st here in VA

Went for a pretty good ride today, left my house just after 9 and met up with my buddy Neil. We headed for the BRPW through Batesville and some other small towns. We went down the gravel rd. that leads up to Shoe Creek luckily they had just finished cleaning up the storm damage. 2.5 tanks of gas and about seven hours of seat time, it was a pretty good ride.

http://nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2012/6/pro-gun-laws-take-effect-in-virginia-this-sunday.aspx

opps......didn't see your post JHVA

Well, that certainly was an adventurous two days. No power, no water, no working toilets, no TV, no computer, no Facebook, no phone, no sh*t I loved it. The afternoons were tough, but on Sunday we just chose to go tubing in the Smoke Hole. Did the entire Big Bend loop in about 2.5 hours. Incredible. Floated over some trout that must have been 18" long and 6" thick. I know, I know. But dont' give me crap about guys not being able to judge sizes.....

Power finally came back on about midnight last, but most of our conveniences are vastly overrated. All I really need for comfort is flowing drinkable water, refrigeration for the food, and maybe to turn on the whole house/attic fan for a bit in the evening to cool the inside down. Everything else is just fluff. Funny, the deer and the hummingbirds didn't notice the power was out.

So now my priority list, along with continuing the restoration of the old homestead is a solar array on the roof, a huge battery bank in the basement, and a micro-hydro generator on the spring below the house. Then I can tell Monongahela Power to shove it.....

jeff

Best $8k I ever spent was getting a 18KW whole house propane generator with a 500 gal tank. A must have when one lives in the country and has a well and a few refrigerators and freezers.

If you haven't read this before, you absolutely must read it. :eek1
http://www.skippii.com/MC/ReddishKnob.pdf

Skip, if that is the account of your date when you went off roading on the ninjette, I read it back in the day on ninja250.org. Like, mikeinrichmond, hbninja and yourself, I too started with the little ninja on that forum and found my way here. It is worth the read if none of the others have read it. I'll never claim to have as much adventure as you Skippii. Until now I didn't put two and two together and realize that was where you were. I suspect my GPS was trying to get me to take the same shortcut yours was.

Edit: just looked at the PDF. That was one of the trails the GPS tried to route me up.

I generally enjoy adventure. I draw the line at what happened during my commute home from work a few days ago, though...trying to outrun a tornado chasing me on Mechanicsville Turnpike was not my idea of fun.

Man, I wish I had $7300 of disposable income right now! I saw this beauty in the FM. It is too gorgeous not to share the link. Even though it is a 30 year old Honda, $7300 seems very reasonable considering the quality and amount of time put into this build. This has the cool factor of bikes costing two or three times as much as this one!

Enjoy...

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=805031

Thanks Eddy....I'm sidelined, medicated and have an internet connection...I'm susceptible to all kinds of bad ideas
That is a sweet looking bike!

Just moved out another BMW that originally came in for a leaking final drive seal (Hig, you lucked out):



Turned out to be a little worse than that; total main bearing failure.



Spent several hours getting the bad stuff out, bits cleaned up, and new bearings/seal installed. Hopefully, this will last another 125K.











Splines slathered up with Honda Molypaste:



Can finally move around in here again - somewhat.

.

Surprised to see universal joints on the shaft drive, I would of expected a CV joint. The difference is a u joint actually doesn't transmit a constant rotational speed like the CV joint. I guess since the angle of bend isn't great that it doesn't have too much variance in rotational speed.

But what do I know, I dropped out of engineering school.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tVEPvXBEOSE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Happy Birthday America, Happy Independence Day!!! Here's a big thanks to all those who sacrificed so much to make our freedom possible!!!

VERY funny Skippi!

Fair deal...No affiliation

http://richmond.craigslist.org/mcy/3117310652.html


Happy 4th of July everyone! Enjoy your families, be safe, have fun!

My sister, who lives in OH, posted that up on FB a couple of days ago. A journalist herself, she found it hard that he could do that and keep a straight face.

.

After Godzilla mystery Weds, looks to me like he used turning back to the screen to hide a smile that was starting to work its way out.