The Big Fish.

I was headed for my brother’s house in Faribault, Minnesota so I took Highway 63 which goes through the western side of Wisconsin.
As is the norm in this part of the country, the scenery is gorgeous. I passed lots of creeks, rivers and stands of woods, interspersed with small towns along the 2 lane highway I followed. One thing glaringly stood out along these roads…there’s no trash anywhere.
Either people don’t toss garbage onto the roads or the clean-up crew had just preceded my drive-through.

I was getting hungry and decided I needed to sample a local pasty. Since my first wife was from Cornwall and Devon in England, I’m no stranger to a good pasty.
More than once, road construction and traffic forced me to pass up some promising looking shops, but I finally found a bakery that had the foresight to put directions to the store on a billboard outside of town. In my haste I once again forgot the camera, but I’m happy to report the Wisconsin pasty is the equal of any in the world.

Since I spent most of the day lolly-gagging, I had only covered a few miles. I like to get situated in camp before 5 p.m. so I don’t have to fool around in the dark.
Looking at the map, I found there was a KOA in Hayward, Wisconsin just a couple of miles ahead. I pulled in and found a huge campground that was practically empty. When I checked in they told me that the next day over 200 kids were scheduled to arrive. Talk about good timing!

I got out of there in the morning and headed for the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in “downtown” Hayward. On the museum grounds is the “Shrine to Anglers”, a leaping muskie over 4 stories tall with an observation platform in its open mouth.

I was the first one into the place that morning except for this guy up on a crane who was painting the fish. I went into the museum buildings first. The place was astounding.
They have collections of everything you can think of that is related to fishing. 2 wings were full of outboard motors dating back to the early 1900s and they even have a Russian made motor that was taken off a boat full of Cuban refugees.
There are also canoes, ice fishing equipment, very early snowmobiles, harpoons, rods and reels, hooks, clothes, 2 Bigfoot statues and a hall of photos of record-winning catches in every classification you can think of.

I’m not even a fisherman and I spent 2 hours looking at everything!

When I finally got outside, the painter was just bringing the crane down for a break, so I went over to talk to him. I asked him about the paint he was using and he told me he originally painted it 30 years ago and this was his first re-paint. After a bit of discussion, I found out he was the original artist who built the fish!
He showed me a square panel on one side and said that it had to be added after the steel work was done. The building code requirements for the steel frame didn’t quite fit the original fish.

By the time I got out of there it was noon so I set a course for my brother’s house in Minnesota. The last time I had seen him was at a family reunion at Big Sur many years ago so I was looking forward to catching up.

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Yoopers, you betcha!

When last heard from, the intrepid traveler had opted for the warmth of a motel room and the promise of a free Continental breakfast in the morning…

I wondered why the cost of a room was so high until I went to the Pizza Hut next door and figured out the place was full of government workers. A good portion of the UP is federal land, so the area is apparently crawling with researchers, biologists, bug catchers and bird and bean counters.
I’ve logged plenty of comfortable hours in hotels on the company tab, so I’m not knocking the system. If one keeps the worker bees well-fed, showered off and up to date on their TV shows, it helps to keep morale and productivity high.

As I laid there on the huge bed, I realized I could have tried out a KOA Kamping Kabin. All KOAs have these little cutesy cabins and surely they must be heated. AND cheaper than a chain that feeds at the government trough.
Oh well…

I pulled out of town in a cold, driving rain and immediately discovered a bunch of cheaper motels just 5 miles down the road.
Oh well…

The road took me through more of the Hiawatha Forest which looks pretty unusual to me.
The terrain is small rolling hills and very short trees. Although I’ve never been there, and have no idea what it’s like, it made me think of Iceland.
There are lots of Finns and other Scandinavians living there, so maybe it looks like their part of the world.
(Make of it what you will, but I base my opinion on Stumble’s faux-scientific principle that California is a lot like Spain and there are a lot of Spanish people there.)
After a couple of hours the sun came out and warmed things up.

I stopped in a café that looked like it belonged in Scandinavia and had the lunch special, chicken pot pie with a biscuit on top and coleslaw on the side. It was an unusual looking (and delicious) dish but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me…note to self: always carry the camera. Also, the waitress was a big, blue-eyed blonde and only needed a horned helmet to look like Brunhilda.

One side of my wife’s family is Finnish from Ontonagon so I headed there.
I pulled into the town, which is right on the shore of Lake Superior, in the late afternoon, found a city campground right on the shores of Gitchee Gummi, set up camp and basked in the sun.

At first I felt like I was right on the edge of the ocean but after a while I noticed a couple of differences. The waves are small and come in without a break. There isn’t that ocean rhythm. There were also no seagulls, or any other water birds for that matter. It was very beautiful but felt a little off balance to this ocean-side dweller.

The town reminded me of home in Oregon in that it’s pretty, on the water and geared up for tourists. Probably has a lot of retirees too.
Some locals told me not to miss the Lake of the Clouds which is in a state park in the Porcupine Mountains west of Ontonagon, so I headed there in the morning.
.
The lady at the gate turned out to be a big fan of Oregon, had been to the coast and even ridden on the mail boats which run up the xx River. (Everyone who has been to the Oregon coast raves about those boats. I’ll have to give it a try one of these days.)
She then told me that there were loads of wood ticks around and to cover up. Great.

The lake turned out to be a mile long and only 15 feet deep, according to the signs explaining the geology of the area. There were also miles of trails that went all over the park, along with backpacker camps and, of course, wood ticks.

On the drive out of there, I was squirming every time I had an itch.


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With apologies to Henry "the Wad" Longfellow.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Sgt Stumble...

Ooop north...

Had a delightfully lazy weekend with my peeps.

Saturday we took a drive up to lake country and Sunday we laid around and watched the Cubs game on TV.

I decided it was time to get moving so I flipped a coin to see which way to go. Heads, I go to Michigan and see the Great Lakes; tails, I go south to get my bike. It came up heads so on Monday we said our farewells and I headed north into Michigan.

The Indiana countryside was really beautiful along the back roads I followed. I saw lots of old leaning barns but didn't notice if they leaned left or right. I'll have to pay attention to that in the future to see if there's a correlation with local political leanings.

I was planning to go into Elkhart to see the RV Museum, but the closer I got, the more the roads deteriorated and traffic grew intense. Rural scenery gave way to depressing industrial sprawl with many empty buildings that looked burned out. I see now why that area is called the rust belt.

I also see what a blessed life I lived on the west coast during my working career. I know there are a myriad of reasons for our present economic situation but it's always the working stiff that gets it in the neck.

I count myself lucky that I actually retired and am getting a pension, small as it is.

I decided to get out of that mess and turned north into Michigan.

On my map, it looked like a road ran alongside Lake Michigan. I imagined a pleasant drive along the coast, similar to Highway 1 along the California coast, but that was not to be. I couldn't see the water at all, just a 4 lane highway. As I went north, the scenery returned to farmland and beautiful woods.

I pulled into a KOA campground in Muskegon and found the owner is an Oregonian from Hillsboro, which is near Portland. I got the special home-town-boy's deal and parked facing a small lake. What a great view to wake up to.

An interesting factoid I learned: after the great fire in Chicago in 1871, the entire area around Muskegon was clear-cut logged to rebuild the city. That must have been a real sight...both the burnt city and the land around it.

I have to recommend the Muskegon KOA as best of the trip so far. Excellent campground, super clean bathrooms and a 1.2 mile trail through the woods around the lake.

I headed north and finally got to see Lake Michigan. At a rest stop was an observation tower. Over the tops of the trees, I could see the blue water. At a few places, the road started getting closer to the lake and I got a better look.

I think someone needs to build more places for tourists to pull over and gawk. As it was, whenever I came to a view I was in the middle of a traffic jam. I guess I could have pulled off onto a side street and attempted to get across the highway, but after almost causing a major pileup behind me by stopping to let a pedestrian cross the street, I realized that is not done around here. It's every man/woman for himself.

I went through a few resort towns and it looked like they were pretty vibrant and full of stuff to do. The motels advertised room rates around $30-$35 a night and I was tempted, but resort towns aren't my cup of tea these days. 20 years ago it would have been a no-brainer.

I continued north with the Michigan Upper Peninsula as my goal.

A couple of things I noticed all the way up: road kill and vehicles for sale. As the Spaniards used to say when I was stationed over there in the 60s, the roads are paved with leather.

All along the way I saw cars, tractors, motorcycles, house trailers and motor homes parked on lawns with for sale signs. I also noticed the used car lots had new scooters out in front of the cars. I'm not sure if they give them away with a new car or what. Gas is up to $4.00 a gallon here.

Eventually, I got to the Mackinac Bridge which goes over the straits of the same name. I got to see Lake Michigan on my left and Lake Huron on my right. What a sight. It looked just like the ocean.

However the temperature dropped and it started raining as I pulled off onto a smaller highway which led through the Hiawatha National Forest. Now, this is my kind of tourism! Forests all around, no traffic and tiny villages along the way. Though since it's early in the season not much is open.

The rain turned to snow in some places and I began to rethink my camping strategy. When I got to Newberry, I went to the gas station, filled the van and damn near froze my fingers and ears off. The KOA was right across the street and next to it a motel with HBO, high-speed wireless and free breakfast.

I caved and pulled out my credit card.

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The Man puts the red light on me. I see Mr. T's van.

Yesterday, I drove over to Auburn, Indiana to check out the WW2 Museum and take a look around at the town.

Small Mid-Western towns seem to be built in the same layout. There's a courthouse in the center and the old business district is built around it. Auburn is built in this style.

So I cruised down Main Street looking for the museum, which I understood to be across from the courthouse. It turned out to be a pretty busy town and the folks didn't seem inclined to let some out-of-town-Jasper dawdle along seeing the sights. They were down right pushy.
So I circled the courthouse, went back around to the front and parked, thinking I'd go into a cafe across the street and see what they had in the way of pie. That's when I noticed the police car with blinking lights blocking me in. Crap!

Some young guy came up and introduced himself in a manner reminiscent of a waiter. "Hi, I'm XXX with the Auburn Police Department." I half-expected him to say "I'll be your server today."

He asked if I had an appointment in the courthouse, probably thinking I had a van full of explosives and a score to settle with the local judge. I explained I was just a tourist looking for the museum and he told me it was back on the freeway, but just hang on and he'd give me directions. He took my "papers" and I waited while he ran my ID.
It took a while, probably because I'm from out of state, but he came back and gave me a warning ticket. He said an ambulance parked on the corner was blocking the stop sign and he understood. Then he gave me directions to the museum and sped off. Whew!
He was a very nice guy and wasn't at all threatening or intimidating but I noticed he managed to question me about my business without seeming to be doing so. Must be Homeland Security training.

I figured I better get while the getting was good, so I skipped the pie expedition and headed to the museum.

It turned out the museum was actually a group of museums all in the same huge building. Entrance fee was $10 but only $4 for veterans!
Guess all that time in the military finally paid off.

The WW2 section had a BUNCH of captured German vehicles, weapons uniforms, etc. I think there was more German stuff than American.
I saw a BMW motorcycle with a sidecar that looked just like my new Ural.

They also had Canadian, Russian, English and Italian stuff too, even a couple of planes.
There were mannikins dressed in uniform set in various tableaus, like riding in the vehicles, standing in groups, looking at maps, being taken prisoner and one scene of Russians meeting Americans.
It was really cool for a military buff (like me) and I highly recommend it to all.

I spent hours there and was getting tired but made a run through the Indiana baseball, Television history and car museums.
Most of the cars were Indy racing cars but one section had Hollywood cars. I saw Batman's car (it's really huge), Robin's Bat-Cycle (an old Suzuki 2 stroke), The Fonz's Triumph motorbike and last but not least... Mr. T's van!! I was totally surprised as I thought I read that it was rusting away in some Hollywood backlot.
It was pretty, shiny, impressive and looked totally cool. I may have to get a part-time job so I can build one just like it and get some gold chains.

All in all an exciting day.

I understand the RV museum is up the road in Elkhart which is on my route to the Great Lakes. This is car-lovers heaven up here.

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The big hole in Hoosier Land

Rick took the day off and showed me around Fort Wayne. We drove by the house where his parents lived, where I stayed a few days in 1969 on my way to my new duty station in Utah.
We checked out The Coney Island Hot Dog cafe in downtown Fort Wayne which has been there since Rick was a kid. It's a funky place but really busy. I had a dog, a coke in a small bottle and a piece of banana cream pie.

It was raining like mad all day but we went by this huge limestone quarry in town and checked it out from an observation tower. Man, it's one big hole, I would guess a mile across. Those little dots in the distance are huge rock-carrying trucks.

Hilary wanted to take me to an outdoor shopping mall that's styled in an Italian manner, but really, an old hot dog place and a big hole in the ground are my kind of tourist attractions.

Rick went to work today so we met him for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Was I surprised to find the food as good as any in San Francisco!

Tomorrow I plan a trip to the War Museum in Auburn, the next town over.


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Into the Land of Hoosiers.

I got to add another cool vehicle to the list of cool vehicles I have piloted.
Ron showed me how to drive a New Detroit diesel tractor.
We went out to his back pasture and I got to “brush hog.” Kinda like mowing the lawn, only in an industrial manner. There were a lot of levers and pedals but I managed to knock down a few weeds.

I did some exploring while Ron and Kate were at work. Drove some back country roads in the morning, then when I got back, Ron had hooked up the horse and carriage so we went out for a ride in his ‘hood. That was pretty cool.
We spent Saturday video-taping a couple of his horses going through their paces, then Sunday editing the videos and napping.

Like fish, visitors begin to stink in a few days, so I decided it was time to head out.
We said our goodbyes Monday morning and I was back on the road.

I took Highway 21 north to Kentucky, heading for Colonel Sander’s first restaurant, but got sidetracked by another road that was labeled “The Tennessee Parkway”, a scenic route. It was definitely scenic and wound through a bunch of small towns.

I reached Pall Mall, Tennessee and stopped to see Sgt. Alvin York’s grave. It was very moving for me, being a military buff. For those who don’t know, he was a great American Army hero in WW1. He’s buried in a simple little church graveyard with gravel roads and a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.

Just a spit and a holler from the Kentucky border I came across a country general store that advertised home made fudge so I had to stop. No pie, but excellent fudge.
I also had a sausage biscuit that was out of this world.

I crossed into Kentucky and drove a lot of back roads and before I knew it, I was in Louisville. I managed the maze of freeways and made it into Indiana.
It was still early so I kept driving until I saw a campground sign. I followed it and ended up somewhere near Bloomington. (I believe the movie, “Breaking Away” was filmed there. It was a movie about a bicycle racer, filmed in 1979, which I really identified with, since I was totally into bicycle riding at the time.)
The campground was empty so I had my pick of sites. I parked next to a lake full of Canadian Geese and had a very pleasant night.

I made it to Fort Wayne in good time, but spent about an hour touring the freeways trying to find the proper exit. Naturally my exit was right in the middle of a construction zone and not marked. The same thing happened when I was trying to find the exit to Jake’s Evil Lair. Must be the Kosmic Joke Center at work again.

So here I am with Rick and Hilary (my brother and sister-in-law) who I haven’t seen in 20 years.
Rick and I were stationed in Seville, Spain in 1966 to 1969. We arrived as bachelors and ended up married to two sisters from Devon. Naturally I went for the redhead, which always ends in trouble for me.

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Toonder and Lightning.

You old folks remember the boxer Ingmar Johannsson? He was a Swede who held the heavyweight champion title in the late 50s. They called his punches toonder and lightning. I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I remember that...

Anyhow, we had lots of toonder and rain yesterday so I took care of some mundane tasks, one of which was getting the van's air vents fixed. Air would only come out of the vents by the windshield. No problem down at the beach, but I needed some air in the cab if I was to survive the 80 degree temps around here.

I pulled into a recommended garage to ask about an appointment and two guys came out and fixed it right where I had parked. A half hour and 40 bucks later I was cruising with fresh air in my face. Outstanding! It would be nice to have an air conditioner, but that would cost more than I paid for the van.

The days before the rain started, Ron and I rode some of his old restored bikes.

We took some dirt bikes out to his back pasture and scooted around and up and down hills like a couple of kids. We came back in with a couple of ticks though. Boy, does that make you feel itchy or what?
I got to ride a Hodaka Wombat. 125cc I think? What a kick!

We also went out on the road and I rode a 1967 Honda 305 Superhawk. It has an antique plate on it so my (new) gray beard, half helmet and waxed cotton jacket fit the image perfectly.
Back in 1965, when I was stationed in Thailand, I had a Super Hawk. It seemed like such a big bike back then. Of course I was a couple of pounds lighter back then.

The little Superhawk ran like a champ as we went along some twisty back roads. The back roads here are excellent, by the way. Smooth, no bumps and no potholes.
We came to a roadsign that warned of a section of particularly twisty road ahead and Ron took off on his 650 Kawasaki KLR.
I hunched down to get it on, looked to my right and spotted a huge billboard in front of a church. "Prepare to meet your maker." it read. No kidding! That really took the wind out of my sails and I putted slowly through that section.

Its rainy again today and Ron & Kate are at work so I think I'll go exploring in the van. See if I can find some pie.

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Kickin' around Harriman, Tennessee

Blackberry shortcake at the Utopia Cafe in Harriman, Tennessee. Not pie, but the best dessert I've had in 8 states!

Y'all ain't from around here...

Today Ron got out his Ural Patrol motorcycle (which is the same as my new one except for paint and accessories) and we went for a ride on the country roads around here. He had never ridden in the sidecar so he asked me to drive. He's a brave man, let me tell you.
I was happy to get some wheel-time on the new model. It's a bit different from my old 650cc but I started relaxing and getting the hang of it.

I have to say this part of Tennesee, at this time of year, is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The roads were practically deserted and wound through farms, woods and over streams.
At one point we surprised 2 deer then a 3rd one jumped out and ran across in front of us. We also came up on a wild turkey.

We ended up in the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area and drove along unpaved roads. There were lots of bumps, ups and downs and potholes but the Ural soaked it all up with ease. They're made for use in Siberia so American dirt roads are easy.

We spotted a rutted hill and Ron wanted to try out the 2 wheel drive so I climbed up the hill and took some pictures of him coming up the trail. The Ural made it easily.

A couple of old guys came by in a pickup (the only car we saw back in there) and stopped to chat. Soon as I started talking he said, "Y'all ain't from around here, are you." Guess I'll have to work on my accent.

We got back to the paved road and stopped in a little town for a snack and drink and saw a couple of prisoners at the courthouse, washing the sheriff's car. How could I tell? Well, they had on black and white striped pants and shirts that had PRISONER printed on them. Pretty hilarious.

I was getting tired so Ron took over the driving and I rode in the sidecar for the last 10 miles to home. He's a lot smoother driver than I am. I started leaning in the turns and he was able to pick up the pace a little and we had some fun.

For those who have never ridden in an outfit, when you make a right turn the sidecar wheel wants to lift off the ground. That's called "flying the chair."
The passenger (or "monkey" if on a racing outfit) can help keep the wheel down by leaning way out to the right.
On left turns the rear wheel of the bike wants to come off the ground so everybody leans left. In racing, the monkey actually lays on the seat behind the driver to keep the wheel on the ground.

The Ural is far from a racing bike but the same principles apply. It's just harder to throw your weight around because the passenger is enclosed in a steel tub. You can go a lot faster when the wheels stay on the ground and it's quite a thrill when you get going fast.

It's also a lot of hard work throwing a 900 pound bike around. We both came home tired.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful day and the scenery was a knockout. If there was an ocean here, I'd live here in a hot minute!

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And the winner is...

Yesterday I went to a horse event (my first), A Carriage Ride in the Country.
My friends, Ron & Kate own a smal herd of Gypsy Vanner horses along with a pack of dogs and a trio of mules. We left early in the morning for a ranch near Nashville towing a trailer containing Bowtie the horse and a fancy 4-wheeled carriage.

Bowtie is a Gypsy Vanner who came from England where he was used to haul freight, then pulled caravans across England, then ended up in the USA where he now lives a life of ease.

Anyhow, after getting all dressed up in a traditional country costume with hat, necktie and jacket, Ron hooked him up to the carriage and went through a "presentation" that was judged by an English lady who's dad was Colonel such-and-so of the Royal Horses or something. All very posh, but Greek to me. She was also in a movie starring Don Knotts. She was personally a nice lady and not at all snobby about it, but how snobby could one be after being in a movie with Don Knotts?

Then, much like a car rally, they went through a marked course at various speeds. Ater that they went through a hazard couse with various things to try to distract the horses.

Then came the endurance cross-country ride. Ron's wife graciously gave me her place on the carriage, so off we went.

Man, it was beautiful! Once we left the arena area we followed a marked course across hill and dale, through the "Fairy Woods", across a creek and past a couple of other ranches (I think that's what they call them around here??) The sun came out and we had blue skies with huge white clouds. The grass and trees were (dare I say it?) GREENER than Oregon. It was the coolest ride I've ever been on.

They had gift baskets in the Fairy Woods with each competitor's number. Funnily enough, since Ron & I are motor-guys, ours was sitting on an old junk Lincoln.

I have to say I have a new appreciation for how rough it must have been on our forefathers, riding in a jolting wagon across country.

When we got back to the arena area, there was wine and cheese while we watched the Kentucky Derby on TV. A horse fell after the finish and broke both ankles and had to euthanized on the spot, which brought down the mood of everyone present, considering they all love horses so much.

Following that, we had a wonderful home-cooked meal with fresh vegetables that were grown in the ground right next to the dining tables. This was followed by desserts and one of the choices was homemade rum-soaked chocolate pecan pie! What a meal!

After all that came the awards. Lo and behold, Ron won 1st place in the endurance race. So even though I was just deadweight, I was on the winning team! Pretty cool.
Then he won another couple of ribbons and took the grand over-all prize! Ron and Kate were about as happy as they could be.

All in all, it was a fine day.

(I'd sure like to ride that course on my Ural!)


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Long distance operator, give me Memphis Tennessee

Fleeing the bugs, I arrived in Memphis, Tennessee pretty early. There was a lot of traffic but no big jam-up like I expect around big cities.
I pulled into the visitor’s center to glom a free map and was greeted by a huge statue of BB King holding Lucille. In the next room was a statue of Elvis.
All around the huge room were displays with pictures of famous musicians, taken back in the day. It was fabulous.
I thought about cruising around the city but figured I’d only get lost and pull some dumb tourist move and get mugged or go down a one-way street the wrong way, so I got back on the Interstate and droned on.

Checking the map, I saw a KOA and pulled in even though it was only around noon. I was beat, needed a shower and had a pile of laundry to do.

Turns out this place is next to the freeway so all I hear are caravans of semi trucks. But it has excellent wireless access and I found a great BBQ shack down the road.
Pulled pork, bread, side of macaroni salad, side of baked beans, sweet tea and a brownie for less than 10 bucks! I couldn’t even finish it all.

Loretta Lynn must be from around here too. Her family has a flea market up one of the back roads.

So tomorrow I’ll be in Harriman, Tennessee. My friends have show horses so we’re going to a horse show on Saturday. Then Ron and I will do some bike riding as he has some days off. I hope he still has the W650.

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Attack of the bug things!

After a great southern fried steak dinner with Flicka and Mike, I took off for Hot Springs, Arkansas. It turns out Bill Clinton grew up there. It looks like a pretty well-to-do town so maybe some of the gumment grease rubbed off onto the locale.
To be fair, it was always a tourist spot and attracted the moneyed set so maybe the place made it on its own. Seeing as how motels were sky-high I headed for the KOA campground (official camping hosts to the insearchofpie team.)

There were lots of expensive motor homes with expensive tow cars around the park, but at the tent area there was only one young couple.
They were from Minnesota and had that accent like you hear in the movie “Fargo.”
Lots of “you betcha” and “Oh yah.” They were a very sweet couple and pulled me over to their campfire and forced me to roast marshmallows while we told camping stories.
I told them about the meteor (or whatever) that I saw in Texas and the fellow said he saw that same object up in Minnesota when they were driving down to Arkansas. Amazing.

The next day I got on the interstate heading east. I saw a sign for a state park called Village Creek, so decided to try it out. The ranger even gave me the senior discount after she saw my license. She said she didn’t think I was that old. Bless her heart!
It’s a beautiful park. I think she said it was 7,000 acres, or was it 17,000? Whatever, it’s huge.

There was a big 3 day long musical to-do happening on May 1st (the next day) with a lot of pickin’ and grinning’. What luck!

But luck turned to literal horse poop when I was sent to the equestrian camp ground.
I guess the rest of the park was full of pickers and grinners.
The minute I stepped out of the van I was swarmed by bugs! Little flying suckers that went into my ears, mouth, eyes and nose. GAH!!!!
It was hot and muggy but I locked myself into the van, only venturing out for the bathroom which was a 100 yard gauntlet. They were especially attracted to my bald head where they would land then do some bug version of the Macarena. I eventually tied a bandanna around my head for my few dashes to the head, which made me look a bit like a pot-bellied Rambo wannabe with Tourettes Syndrome and drew stares from the other campers.

Then to top it off, in the middle of the night something kept whanging into my CB antenna. I wasn’t under any trees so it couldn’t have been branches.
At first I thought someone after a night of sippin’, pickin’ and grinnin’ was foolin’ with me, but my van stands about 6 feet tall and the antenna goes up another 3 feet. I have to open the slider door and stand on the step to reach it, so it couldn’t have been a person doing it.
I figured bats would be able to avoid it with their radar so maybe there were birds flying around after the bugs. I never heard any bird getting his breath knocked out or saying ouch or swearing though and once it whanged 3 times in a row.
Every time it got hit, the whole van would reverberate like a big gong. I now know how the WW2 submariners felt hearing the depth charges hit the outside of the boat.

When morning came I lit out of there in a big hurry. I even drove to the bathroom so I could make a quick getaway. Not even a shower, just get the hell out!

We don’t get a lot of bugs on the Oregon coast. I guess the cold and wind forces them to move to Arkansas.

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A change in plans.

I spent Tuesday with Mike, watching as he handmade brackets and mounted various accessories to my new bike.
It now sports a 10 liter NATO fuel can on the sidecar and a large ammo can on the rear of the bike as a sort of saddlebag. Now I wish I had left off the fuel can and gone with 2 ammo cans on the bike. It looks VERY military! I may decide to change it anyway.

After taking a good look at the bike, I’ve decided that disc brake on the front has to go. It ruins the look for me and makes the spare wheel useless if I get a flat on the front.
Anyhow, top speed is only around 60 mph so who needs a disc brake for that?
Mike said he could order some parts and convert the front to a drum brake set-up.
With the trade in parts it comes in at a very good price. So I’m going ahead with that.
The other part that hasn’t arrived is the machine gun mount. I have a kit that turns a .22 rifle into a replica MG-42 that will ride up on the mount (at select times off the public roadways, of course. Gunners, line forms to the right please.)

One thing I hate to do is rush a mechanic so I decided to give him plenty of time and room to get things squared away. I simply changed my plan.
Instead of hanging around for 2 weeks, I’m leaving the bike and parts there and going ahead to Harriman, Tennessee to see my old buddy Ron, then up to Fort Wayne, Indiana to see Rick, my old service buddy and bro-in-law.
Flicka and Mike said to leave the trailer there and call when I’m headed back to pick up the bike.

It’s kind of weird driving the van without the trailer.

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the bike!

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The new Ural!

I left Texarkana, Texas this morning but forgot to go take my picture straddling 2 states. Oh well…

I was really feeling tired for some reason and stayed in the bunk until 0900. Then it took me a couple of hours to eat, shower and get on the road. I was really moving slow.
I took the Interstate to Arkadelphia, Arkansas then a couple of back roads to a town with the California-sounding name of Glendale.

Arkansas is really very pretty. Matter of fact, it’s a total knockout. There are lots of trees and green grass, neat small towns and friendly people. Everyone waves as they pass in their cars and everyone greets you on the street.
I’ve also noticed everyone calls each other sir or ma’am. Last night some kids came into the Laundromat where I was working on my computer and started making a lot of noise. The teen-aged girl in charge rounded them up and took them outside making it a point to say, “Sir, I’m sorry about the noise.”

Once I was watching a TV show showing some jailbirds getting interviewed for parole and they were very brusque in the way they talked to the parole board members. To me, when I talk to the locals I sound like those jailbirds.

As I drove along Highway 8, I came across a bunch of logging operations and logging trucks. It reminded me a lot of Oregon, but the trees are kind of puny here in comparison.

I stopped in Amity and had a burger and piece of homemade coconut pie at Trudy’s Café.Excellent pie.
I’ve discovered sweet ice tea down here in the South. When you order ice tea they ask if you want regular or sweet. Naturally, I go for the sweet. Also, it always comes in a huge glass which they keep refilling, so it keeps the kidneys cleaned out for sure.

When I got to Glendale, I followed Flicka’s suggestion and checked in at the Lux Corner Motel (The Ritz it ain’t) then headed down the road to Bonnerdale to see my new bike.
Bonnerdale is just a gas station and a post office, but I spotted my Ural parked out in front of their place. Actually, I almost missed it since it was camouflaged. That’s good!

I met Mike and Flicka and got a look at their operation. As far as I’m concerned, they have the best reputation in the USA in the Ural world. Notice I drove all the way from Oregon to buy from them.
I then spent the rest of the day with Mike learning how to check fluids, adjust valves, synch carbs, etc. Then we got into war stories and talked about relationships with women as he mounted a cool gas can on the sidecar. He’s a Vietnam vet, an old-time mechanic and a funny guy with some great stories.

After some discussion, I decided I’d like to make some changes to the bike. The biggest thing I want to do is remove the front disk brake (a Brembo which belongs on a Ducati racer) and replace it with a drum. That way all my wheels will be interchangeable and I can use the spare on all wheels. Most importantly, the bike will look like a proper retro military model.
The bike also comes with a fluid can which is usually mounted on the front of the sidecar, but I’ll leave it off since it adds weight in the wrong place. I may also go with an ammo can pannier on the back of the bike.
I might as well get it just the way I want since I came all this way.

I’m going back in the morning to do a little touch up spray painting with Mike and discuss the changes.

Man it is one cool bike!!!

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