A Mean Drunk...

 

"Did you get in a fight, Jim?" you ask.  No, I'm a lover, not a fighter.  Well, I'm too old to fight, and too slow to run.  ;-)

I'm talking about Rufus.  "But... but... he's a good boy!"  He found some catnip while we were out for our walk this morning...

He doesn't eat it, he licks it.  Then gets real stubborn about leaving... "NO!  This is where I live now!"

"It's going to be where you live if you don't mind."  Not much of a threat, because cat's don't really mind - they do what you want them to do, IF it's what they want to do.  He had a blade of grass stuck to his belly... I reached down to pull it off and he scratched my hand with those razor claws.

"What did you do?" I scolded him.  Cats also don't feel bad about doing something naughty; they feel bad about getting caught.  He got caught.  You could tell by the blood.

We went back to the motorhome - he sat outside with his Momma while I went inside to wash the scratch and put some Neosporin on it.  He'll be back to normal shortly - the effects don't last too long.  The mark he left, however, will last a while.

In the meantime, he's out on the patio, thinking about what he did.  I'm kidding - he's a cat; he's thinking: "Why didn't I get a treat when we got back from our walk??"

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It's sad to see the changing of the seasons.  "Summertime is slipping away?" you ask.  No, it is going to be 88º here for a high temperature.  I went for a motorcycle ride, running the length of Iron Mountain Road (as well as some other roads).  I waved at the few motorcycles I saw on Hwy 79; most waved back.  Turning west onto Hwy 36, it was pretty much the same situation... not that many bikes to get a real sample.  Turning onto Iron Mountain Road, things changed: more bikes; well more traffic than I've seen since we've been here.  After about 20 of 'em didn't wave back, I stopped waving.  We are officially into the "Not Waving Season" here in the Black Hills.  The Rally officially starts in a few days.

When it isn't wall-to-wall bikers, most wave at each other.  It isn't "Hey, look - we're both riding motorcycles!"... I've always considered it more of a sign of respect.  I don't care what kind of bike you're riding - it isn't a Harley thing, or a Honda thing, or a BMW thing... well, to be fair, most BMW riders only wave at other BMW riders.  LOL  My CTX is a different looking bike from the front: most people can't tell if it is a Harley with an FXRT fairing, an older BMW RT, or what.

But, there are just too many bikes in the area during the Rally... not to mention that many riders coming here for the Rally are too cool (tough?) to wave.  ;-)

Some stills from today's ride...

Turning onto Iron Mountain Road (above) - the truck in the image tuned in about 5 seconds before I did.  The license plate on the truck... yep, Minnesota.  Why are the slow drivers always from Minnesota??

This was the "last wave of the day" (probably the season)...

No wave...

It wasn't long before I was behind several bikes...

They were moving along at a decent pace.  A warm one today, so no jacket...

This car was a pain in the ass...

I moved over to try to pass him, and he started straddling the center line.  But, he eventually turned off.  This guy on the Harley seemed to be out of his element on these twisty roads...

He would put his leg out (above) like that as he slowed down for the curves.  I don't know why.

I gave him plenty of room going through the first split (above).  I had pulled off at a parking area to get a drink of water and stretch my legs - I think that is the Minnesota truck in front of me again...

I did get the second split to myself (above).  Then onto the pigtail bridges...

Once off Iron Mountain Road, and through Keystone...

Good curvy roads the rest of the way back to Hart Ranch.  I will be working up a "short" or two to show more of the ride perspective.

Videos!

 

Over this past week, I've been trying the new Go 3 camera in different mounting positions to see what I like best.  This little camera has two microphones on it that do a decent job... until you add in some significant wind noise.  As in: on a motorcycle.  What I generally wind up doing is cutting the video file audio to almost nothing, then adding a music track or a voice over.  Sometimes I caption the video with a written scroll.

I have no delusions about how many people are watching these videos.  Or, how few.  I enjoy making them.  I don't "monetize" anything I do with this blog or the videos... it's just for the fun of it.  Some videos get as few as 50 views, others get over 15,000.

Last night, I worked up a couple videos I had shot over the last few days.  One is just music with an occasional text scroll.  The other has music for the intro and sign-off, with me talking through the rest of it.  The topic of the talk: Dual Clutch Transmission.  I think DCT is a great advance in motorcycle technology.  Seems like most riders don't understand how to use it... used properly, it is faster, easier, and more precise than a manual transmission.  But, you don't just hop on and go, riding it like it is a big scooter.

So, with that in mind, here are two videos.  They both feature some fun riding roads.  If you happen to view each and have an opinion, let me know which you prefer.  And, if it is neither, that's fine, too.

Music and riding...

A voice over the riding, and the topic of DCT...

Thanks!

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Another guitar player from the carbon fiber forum lives in the Black Hills; his name is Mark.  He was traveling back from Colorado today and would be going close to Hart Ranch - we made a plan to get together.  Here's a photo of us: him playing my Virtuo, me playing his gorgeous X20 with a koa veneer...

Some "show and tell," swapping guitar stories, visiting about how we got to where we are now.  Mark is a good player; we have very different styles, but we were able to make music.  Me playing his very class black X20 (yes, he has two X20s)...

It would have gone into the evening, but Mother Nature chased us off - yep, more thunderstorms.

 

Moving Ahead...

 

Regarding the new house in Arizona: we got our progress report today from Steph and Dan.  Big changes: the block wall around the house is up, the interior walls have been textured.  Little changes: the shower tiles have grout.

The yard looks bigger with the walls up...

 Well, except the "skinny side"...

The front of the house...

Grouted tiles...

Texture...

Progress happening.  As of right now, everything is ahead of schedule.

A Car Show...

 

Here at Hart Ranch today.  Before heading out for a motorcycle ride, I stopped to look around...

There were some more modern cars, as well - about 50 cars totally.  Fun to look around!

Magnet...

 

Are you talking about the magnets built into your Go 3 camera, Jim?  No, but thanks for asking.  That magnetic connection is a lot handier than the screw and fingers-thing type GoPro mounts.  But, really, this is a different discussion.

Joan has often said that Rufus is my chick magnet... the ladies do seem to like to pet the furry boy.  I am, apparently, a different kind of magnet.  While riding my bicycle this morning, I seem to have become a kid magnet.  No, it isn't that kids like to hang out with me - rather, they come out of nowhere, trying to crash into me.  Often times, you can see them coming at you from the opposite direction... looking away.  When you shout "Heads up!" as they get too close, they turn their head with a stunned expression, and then come right at you.  Or, they come out of an RV site, between vehicles, and blast into the street; of course, without looking.  Or, Mom, Dad, and the two kids are on bicycles, riding 4 across, taking up most of the street... when you try to find a space to get around them, the kids will veer into your path.  The parents will smile as though they are thinking, "Aren't these kids cute."  Cute... pain-in-the-ass... it's one of those things.

Not always kids, though - sometimes it is a couple walking two dogs... one dog each, with the couple in the middle of the street, each dog extending off a different direction... effectively blocking the road.  I politely ring the little bell on my bike.  They turn their heads, then reel the dogs in a bit, apparently unaware that cars, trucks, RVs, and bicycles also use the street.  The couple I see most often doing this are across the street and one site over from us; they have two Dachshund dogs... these dogs bark at everything that goes by: a car, a golf cart, a person walking, a butterfly, a leaf blowing in the wind... and it turns into a "Who can bark the loudest and fastest" contest.  Seems to be a tie, but they keep competing.

What's that?  No, I don't sit on the porch and holler, "Get off my lawn, ya damn kids!"  I don't have a porch.  It's summertime in an RV resort.  A "family" resort.  In another week, the bikers will come rolling in for the Rally.  Parents and Grandparents will leave the kids at home because... bikers.  The bikers who stay here aren't the rowdy types who will be at Rally campgrounds - they generally have nice RVs, either toy-haulers or pulling a cargo trailer.  And they don't ride 4 abreast down the street so nothing else can get by.  ;-)

Moving Day...

 

Again?  Didn't you just do that less than 10 days ago?  Thanks for asking, and it was nine days ago.  We are out of The Meadows (aka Purgatory Flats to some of us) and back into the main part of the resort.  Back in the site where we started our time here this summer.

The move is about a half mile.  It takes us about an hour and a half or so to orchestrate and make the move: first the motorcycle, then the scooter.  Joan brought the weed-eater to trim up the grass right around the concrete pad (the grounds crew here can't trim too close to RVs and stuff at the edge of the concrete).  Usually, the coach is the last thing to make the move, but it was next this time.  And lastly, the cargo trailer.

Why don't you just put the bikes in the cargo trailer and haul that in one move?  Good question, and I'll answer: the bikes have to be strapped down when being hauled in the trailer.  That means putting the chocks in place and the time spent doing the strapping - it is faster to just ride the bikes over and make an extra trip.  And, we can use the cargo trailer to haul our patio stuff without having to pack it all away in the motorhome.  Making this short move isn't quite like getting everything ready for the road.

Of course, it would be easier to just stay in one site through the season - but that is available to work campers (they deserve this perk) or to a small number of people who put their name in for one site for the season and have the privilege of paying about 2 1/2 times more each month for that option.  This works for us.  We'll be on this site for 3 weeks, then back to The Meadows.

How does Rufus do with the move?  There was this...

 "Dad - this move isn't going to mess with my lunch time, is it?"

"No, my boy - we'll be on your usual schedule.  Plus, you'll get to see Daisy next door."  He's good with all that.

There will be another moving day happening sooner than we expected: the house in Arizona is ahead of schedule... by over a month and a half.  As long as things continue as they are, we'll be in the house before the holidays.  Yes, I know: chickens and being hatched.  

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Rufus and I were out for a walk this evening.  The sun was behind the clouds, almost down.  Decent light.  Rufus was looking more Rufus-y compared to that image from this morning...

Listen to that sound!

 

The new Virtuo?  Yeah, it sounds great.  Plays great.  Is quite the looker.  But, I'm talking about a camera again this post: I tried a new mounting position for the Insta360 Go 3 this morning.  Hmmm... maybe "a new position" would have gotten more interest as the title to this post?  Yep, digressing.

Knowing it was going to be another hot one, I got out early.  Instead of putting the Go 3 on my helmet or on a stalk just outside the windshield, I mounted it on a short RAM mount on the handlebars, inside the protection of the windshield.  That means looking through the windshield.

I wasn't sure if I'd like that point of view.  Turns out, it is closer to the rider's point of view (maybe I'll get a chin mount for my helmet).  And a nice added benefit: it cuts the wind noise significantly, and you can hear the sound of the engine.  Well, to be fair, there is still some wind noise, but it doesn't obliterate any other sound, which is what happens with this camera in the other mounting positions.

I shot video, just to see the perspective and check out the sound; not really intending to do anything with the video.  Call it research.  But, I did download some snapshots of the outing, and may still do a video.  At some point.

On with the photos...

I am still learning the best usage with the Go 3.  The camera is easy to use, but position and angle make a big difference with these wide angle action cams.  A good ride!