Smarties Bar & Grill #76

~ Famous Last Words :
" My wife said I could have a motorcycle as soon as the kids are on their own and I get a one million dollar life insurance policy ."

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If I get another bike, it would be a cruiser. Not a crotch rocket fan.

Took my endorsement test on a 500 Harley Street. My legs were cramping. I'm 6'2.

I thought about a rebel or a shadow.

 

The Shadow 750 is a nice ride. It doesn't have the loud pipes but it will move . It still sounds like a motorcycle but not obnoxious.

 

Do it.

 

The west coast is prettier than the east coast, at least it used to be. I guess it all depends on what you like. There is a lot to see in Florida if you get on the backroads and stay off the interstates. IMO.

I looked up all the phlox you are rooting and now I know why you are rooting so many.The price is ridiculous. I saw something growing on the side of the road today a patch maybe 3x4 ft area that had purple flowers and I wondered if it was the phlox you are rooting. It wasn't wild verbena or morning glory.

 

I also like the Blue Ridge Parkway. And the mountains. Pretty country. I have rode the Dragon.

 

I also like the Blue Ridge Parkway. Been to Deals Gap and rode the tail of the Dragon.

 

Well, anyway phlox puts on a much better show when there are thousands of them. I use plugs. A 72 cell pack and some cheap dollar store soil can give you 72 plants. But I figure a little more than 95%. I had about 20 trays of 72. I cut and stuck 20 trays. The green stems didn't root well at first. I stuck them and put them in bright shade with some direct sunlight. 3 weeks and they started to root and I got about 80 %. I planted 72 a day and used the empty cell packs to start 72 more. Every day....most of the time this summer. I have several thousand plugs in the ground. Pink, Candy Stripe, Red, and some wild stuff from the roadside. I have slowed down on the Phlox and Hydrangeas are catching my fancy.

 

Photos please

 

Hydrangeas

 

I have one Annabelle hydrangea. Maybe get some cuttings there.

 

The towering skyscrapers of Dubai ✨️​

 

Blooming?

 

Nope.

 

Been looking at bikes. My daughter is also looking at scooters. There are so many choices and prices. I always liked Honda.

 

My dual sport is a brand new Kawasaki KLX 230. It's got all this new emission control crap on it like a catalytic converter and an O2 sensor so it really isn't loud. Lawn mowers louder.

I think I bought it about 4 months ago and I've just rolled over a thousand miles. Fixing to get on Google maps and go to satellite view and find a couple of new back roads that I haven't rode in this county and go check them out.

There really is very few roads I haven't seen.

I rode one with my friend on his four wheeler the other day that I had been down twice. It was a long black top road and at some point it became dirt road and you went through what looked like two ranch entryway arches but there was no gate and no sign so I figured it was still a public road. The arches
didn't even say anything on them like it was a ranch or anything.

But I did notice on my third ride out there with my friend there was a camera on one of them. I told him someone probably knows we're here but I don't think it matters the worst they could do is tell us to leave.


One ranch service truck came down the road and he just waved at us and kept going.

About 15 minutes later a truck came along and rolled the window down and asked us what business we had there and I just told him that we were looking for a place to ride and he told us that the road was private.

So I apologize and told him I didn't see any signs but I'd be more than happy to leave. He claimed it was posted when you left the blacktop but it was not posted.

But he was polite so I didn't argue with him and we just left. Oh well there are plenty of other roads to go check out.

 

As if to emphasize my point yesterday that I am far more afraid of reckless drivers than I ever would be a firearm statistics.
....

Last night I was at a friend's house about midnight and he lives on a residential corner. This dumbass in a car comes tearing around the corner way way too fast. So he goes down about 2/3 of a mile and we heard rubber peeling out. But we couldn't see the vehicle at that point but a few minutes later a guy that my friend knows came up the road in his car and asked if we had seen that car because it just hit his house and took off.

It wasn't long before the area was saturated with police. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about.... I'm far more worried about an idiot like that in a car than I ever would be about a person with a gun.

Because though there are some idiots with guns there are far far more idiots behind the wheel.

 

I did a lot of traveling on State roads and U.S. highways. But I also like long bridges and tunnels. We live in the mountains and mountain roads are fun.

 

I also ride interstate highways.

 

My neck of the woods, or at least close by. Tail of The Dragon is legendary.

 

I would have to get another bike to do that. My bike says it has a top speed of 77 but I've only had it to 70. I suppose I could have eaked a few more miles an hour out of it but that was fast enough for me.

It can Cruise comfortably all day long at 60 but that's not fast enough for the interstate or even most highways. I will go on local highways in the right lane because of 60 is not fast enough for you take your ass around me.

 

I have heard a lot about that in motorcycle circles.

 

I have time to look around. I am almost 70 so I don't have that much time. In traffic like Atlanta you need power. My wife learned to ride on a rebel 250. It was a dependable bike but kinda small for long trips. But she rode it hundreds of miles. Even to Florida. But it did hurt her tail bone and we had to get her a cushion.

 

Nothing wrong with a smaller bike. I see so many new riders that want to run out with very little experience on two wheels and go and buy a full size Harley-Davidson for some reason.

I was considering a Royal Enfield Himalayan 400 but a couple of reasons I didn't get it one the dealership was about a hundred miles from my house and two it was only an inch or two too long to fit inside of my van. I have exactly 87 in and I believe the wheelbase on my bike is 85 but the Himalayan was like 88 I believe.

But now sometimes I think to myself if I would have got the world infield I could have let some air out of the tires and it still would have fit in the van. Lol.

Maybe in about a year I'll have put about 5,000 MI on this bike... And be looking at some more money in the bank and see what I can get for this bike and upgrade?

I'm happy with it for now. So far today I've done 40 miles on mostly back roads and dirt roads but I did do about 5 mi on a 65 mph highway which was a little hairy. I just stay in the right lane at 60 to 65.

I'm standing here and took this photo a couple of moments ago at this boat ramp in the next county over from me. On the Peace River in Hardee county.

 

I hav 1988 Harley formally was N Electra glide, ready to sell it, spend more time working on it then riding it