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Post by rk on Apr 19, 2015 13:25:08 GMT
What a LONG WINTER it was !!! Reminded me of the winters growing up as a kid in the `60s................ Lost the last of my snow at my house on April 10th but there is still a little at camp in the shadows and shade. Got the Harleys out this past week and readied them for riding. I`ve put 200 miles on my bike the past 3 days and it sure feels good to get outside and feel the sun and see the flowers blooming and trees starting to bud up and leaves just starting to come out in the lower elevations near water sources. I guess maybe spring is here finally ! I went by most of my usual riding places and stops along the river, in the mountains, state parks and cemetaries to visit old friends no longer with us. Visited my one friend(Ziggy) who was killed on his Harley in 1990 and never got to see his son, who was born after his death and just got his first Harley this year. While puttin` down a country road, just below the cemetary we have plots at(and my friend Ziggy is burried at) two deer came tearing out of the woods and I barely got stopped without hitting the first and then the 2nd nearly broadsided me at a full run. Woke me up immediately to the ever present dangers of enjoying a putt in the country. Just another close call to wake me up and feel ALIVE again after 6 months of near hibernation. My wife is still busy in her flower beds and such; hope to get her out on hers soon also. |
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Post by rk on Jun 28, 2015 11:54:31 GMT
Well, it has not been much of a riding year......so far. Seems to rain 5 or 6 days a week ! Forcast for the next 7 days is rain, except for tomorrow........ So we aren`t getting out on the bikes and my painting contractor bussiness is not getting much exterior work done this year either. Been one terrible year since the bad winter weather broke, and it progressed to bad Spring and Summer weather. For many years now I have driven 75 miles to a biker clubhouse for an annual 3 day biker party on the 4th of July weekend. I just learned that another friend that I only see once a year at that party has passed. I will not be going this year, and instead will be taking my Mother and Father to Cleveland Clinic for my Dad to have a operation. Hope I don`t lose any more friends before next year`s party. Two of my brothers, who ride, won`t be either on 4th of July weekend. One fell and broke his hip, again, and the other is headed to Chicago to get ready for his DEAD show. He saw Greyhounds the last two nights and see`s Warren Haynes and Railroad Earth tonight in the Nashville area. Around these parts bikes and freedom go hand in hand........just not this year. |
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Dana Bowers
New Member
GOt my Davy fix. Absolutely love his new music and new band. Fav song....The Outsider
Posts: 37 
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Post by Dana Bowers on Jun 29, 2015 21:03:36 GMT
Pretty bike
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Post by rk on Jun 30, 2015 13:15:35 GMT
Thank You.....if you are refering to one of my bikes............... However, I think you are probably commenting on the 193? Flathead with the suicide shift. I also think it`s a beautiful bike. Maybe one day I can afford one of the old vintage Harleys too ! Here`s a picture of the first bike I bought, when I was 15, with my paper route money: i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp253/donniejoe77/1971YamahaHT1B.jpgIt was a 1971 Yamaha 90cc Enduro, and is what started my life-long addiction................ Here`s another picture of a vintage Harley from the same day and parking field, and cowgirl, and a motorized picnic table: |
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Post by rk on Jul 1, 2015 12:59:19 GMT
Another day............another rainout ! If not for the flood control dam, built 8 miles upstream in the late `50s......early `60s, my town would be under water. So it`s now been a few weeks since I`ve gone for a putt........... So I`m thinking about riding, but am not going out in this s#!+ ! Here were the other dirt bikes I owned in my teens and early 20s: 1972 Yamaha 175 cc Enduro: www.2040-motos.com/_content/cars/images/95/48995/002.jpg1973 Suzuki 185cc: www.suzukicycles.org/photos/suzuki-history/1973/1973_TS185K_yellow_800.jpg1973 CZ 400 cc: motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/CZ_380.jpgThe last dirt bike, CZ 400, was bought after my first street bike accident, at 21, that almost cost me my life and my right foot. After about 6 months of recooperation I bought the CZ, and it rebroke my right leg within a couple months with the compression kick back, and that ended my dirt biking, and has kept me on the streets since.........no more hill climbing, jumping or motocrossing for me.....only street riding since..........except for 3 and 4 wheelers, that destroyed my left knee at 25 years old and I have not ridden anything in the woods or strip mines since.........although I still miss it ! This is how I spent my free time as a teenager: |
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Post by rk on Jul 8, 2015 15:48:54 GMT
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Post by rk on Aug 28, 2015 16:38:29 GMT
My brother came up from Tennessee for a few days with his wife to visit us and the rest of our family located here. On Tuesday 3 of us 4 brothers took a bike ride back to Sinnemahoning and points north of there, making about a 200 mile loop. My wife let my one brother borrow her 100th anniversary Harley so we could have our fun day together. We also stopped at Austin where the remains of the dam are still intact from the 1911 flood disaster that happened there. austindam.net/images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVyVSh.BV2yEA1jVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Austin+Dam+Break&fr=mcafeeA lot of people know about the Johnstown Flood disaster, but few know about the one in Austin. We see Anders Osborne Band tomorrow in Johnstown and Monday we see Taj Mahal in State College. I keep checking Davy`s schedule, but nothing is surfacing in my neck of the woods of Pennsylvania. |
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Post by rk on Sept 6, 2015 12:30:00 GMT
Before I graduated High School, I had always wanted to hike the appalachian trail up the entire east coast of the U.S. before I started aging. I had 2 Spanish teachers that were married and also mountain climbers. I learned all I could about what to eat, how to pack for it from them etc., and just knew that one day I would do it. Well at 21 I had my leg so severly broken that it would never happen, so my love of music and motorcycles passed by my life of living in the woods as I would have liked to continue it. As a kid, I lived 2 doors down from a guy who ran a tire store. He sold tires for cars, trucks, motorcycles and heavy equipment used in coal mining. I severly broke my arm at like 12 in his back yard by running and spring boarding off of fully inflated Euclid tire intertube.........my first badly broken bone of my life. picture of a Euclid and it`s size: www.vannattabros.com/20071st/wldtrk.jpgThat neighbor had a German Shepherd named Rusty, who followed me everywhere in the woods while growing up, starting my life long love of that breed of dog. Still miss mine....... Anyhow, the neighbor`s son just finished the trek that I had hoped to do, a lifetime ago. I wonder if I had any influence on him? Here`s his story and pictures: gantdaily.com/2015/09/06/mckenzie-finishes-thru-hike-of-americas-appalachian-trail/I LOVE the woods and especially the mountains ! Here`s the view from nearly the top of Rockton mountain overlooking our town, and some places on the mountain. If you are ever going down Interstate 80, in the center of Pennsylvania, and see a sign that says Highest Elevation on I-80 East Of The Mississippi.........then you are only a few miles away from the places that these pictures were taken at. I`ll be headed to these spots shortly for a Labor Day Weekend putt on the bike with a couple chilled ones in the saddle bags........no live music this weekend. |
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Post by rk on Nov 14, 2015 15:30:06 GMT
Anybody watch American Pickers ? We watch it a lot.......... Because of being interested in old things and buying and selling them ourselves, we watch the show. Mike is also a neighbor of my brother`s in Tennessee. I`ve gone to their store in Nashville a couple a times also. Well the show the other night`s big find was in a town called Mahaffey just up the road(and up the Susquehanna River) about 20 miles from here. I ride my bike through there all riding season, and have worked for the Mahaffey family (who founded the town a couple hundred years ago)over the years and never knew this barn had this V.W. in it ! When I watched the video I saw Jeff Shaddick as the operator who pulled the V.W. out for them also. Jeff rebuilt the 2 chimneys on my circa 1904 house several years ago for me. It`s a small world ! Here`s 2 minute segment from the show, showing the recovery: www.history.com/shows/american-pickers/videos#The whole show will be available for viewing in several weeks or sooner on their site. It viewed on TV earlier this week. |
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