Planning time

With only a month left until we hit the road again, it's time to start planning our route, where to stay, and what/who to see along the way. We are hoping to meet some of our riding friends, but before we go we want to ride with our friends here. Just hope the weather cooperates for us.

Talledega or bust!

Talledega race before Florida

Great news for us, we just got our tickets for the infield at Talledega in April. We'll stop there for the races on our way to Key West.

GOLD!!!

GOLD!!!

We got good news from Florida today, Capt Andy and diver Bill, found a gold bar and some silver coins. Today's the Day!!!

This booty counts in our division this year, no wonder we are excited to be heading to Florida next month.

Caught someone trying to take Smokin'

Caught someone trying to take Smokin'

What in the heck is this world coming to, I turned my back for just a moment and this guys is trying to take Smokin'

I'm thinking my only way out will be to buy him his own motorcycle.

Gate Day

Gate in a day

There's a gate that needs a building, but it's saturday so don't get in a hurry, start around 11am, get all the materials together, get your tools together, now make a frame and put in some bars, get that privacy screen in, where we gonna put it, almost done, done, now it's almost 4 oclock, lock it up and go get another beer. Yeah, you don't really think I did this without have a few beers did you.

Whadyadowityurday!!!!!

Berkeley Report

Berkeley Report

Feb 12 I decided to show up in Berkeley in support of the Marine's in Berkeley. The city council had called the Marines "Uninvited, unwelcome, intruders". A group called Code Pink had been defacing the Marine recruiting office there and generally causing a bunch of grief.

I left Fresno before 3am on tuesday planning on being there early as the protesters were scheduled to start that early. I rode through light and patchy fog alone, through the Tracy area I encountered quite a bit of early morning traffic but it moved along well. Upon arriving in Berkeley and it still being dark, it was hard to tell where the protesters were and where the Marine supporters were. I parked on the opposite side of the square where a some people were gathered. I could here some shouting and hollaring, news crews were everywhere. Seemed to be more new media than protesters to me. As I sat there, unfurling my flags and getting ready to ride around the square in an attempt to find out what was what, I had 3 different folks come up to me and ask what was going on. After I explained what I knew, each and every one of them thanked me for showing up and said they supported the Marines also.

As daylight came I was able to find a spot to park my bike amongst the media vans. The groups, protesters and Marine supporters had been pretty much together on one side of the street early on, but my dawn the protesters were on one side of the street and the Marine supporters were on the other side of the street. By 8 or 9 am a fair crowd had gathered and the games began. It actually took until around 11am for there to be enough people there that the organizers of each side could get much of a reaction to their rants.

Early on I talked to the woman who was the organizer for Code Pink people, after talking for awhile she agreed that talking with each other would have better results than hollaring across the street at each other and she also thought that putting a table up on their side and calling it a discussion corner would be cool. I noticed later that she did in fact put up that table and put a sign on it inviting discussion. But she couldn't restrain herself from taking up the bullhorn later on. Oh well.

In summation I would say, " I came, I saw, I laughed!" and let it go at that. You can't take people serious who dress and act like the folks that showed up to protest. It was a true circus.

Later that evening the Berkeley city council changed their position on the Marine's presence in Berkeley.

Here are some pics, enjoy.

Nice Ride

Took Smokin' out for a ride saturday, headed eastbound, found the foothills, twisties, and such pretty much deserted. Found this old barn.

What are you doing this coming Tuesday?

FW: Urgent - You're Needed on Tuesday 12th for Berkeley Marines

There has been more fallout in Berkeley, California after the City Council passed a resolution that called our troops "unwelcome intruders" and called upon residents to not cooperate with any military recruiting center in the city. Anti-military protestors, feeling emboldened by the city's blessing, chained themselves in front of the Marine Recruiting Center and prevented people from entering the facility. The police stood by and did nothing - telling people that they were "trying to remain neutral." See the video for yourself - HERE. Photograph from San Francisco Chronicle Thousands of you have responded to our call to action and registered your protests with the city via emails, phone calls and petitions. Now, as Michelle Malkin reports, city council members are indicating that they may rescind the resolution at their next City Council meeting that takes place this Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 7:00 PM. Move America Forward has already announced our plans for a giant rally outside the City Council chambers at the February 12th Council Meeting. We need people there by 5:00 PM for the council meeting start time of 7:00 PM. However, since the news media will likely be camped out throughout the day, we will have staff arriving in the morning, and are asking as many supporters as possible to join us for at least part of the day - so there are bodies there for the cameras. Our first Move America Forward staff members will arrive at 5:00 AM (yes, in the morning) - this is when the early morning news programs begin airing in San Francisco. The City Council Chambers are located at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. It's right by Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. Here is a map of the location. PROTEST OF BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL * TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008 * 2134 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WAY - BERKELEY, CA * Council Meeting Begins at 7:00 PM (We are asking people to be there early, however - if possible, start arriving by 5:00 PM) ** Also... If you can, please join us for our "picketing" of the City Council Chambers. We will be out there at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way beginning at 5:00 AM for the morning news. We will have a presence all throughout the day - the next newscasts are at 12:00 Noon, so we'll want a good size presence there as well. Finally, we appreciate your financial support that enables Move America Forward to continue to stand up for our troops, and against those who would defame them.

Weather

Weather looks like it's finally taken a turn for the better. If this holds through the weekend like it's forecast then a ride will be in the works for sure. Maybe a ride to San Francisco and have a burger at Joe's Cable Car.