Cyclehill Tire Changer 8-23-09

After I got back from SFO, I looked at the tires on my FJR and decided they should be replaced. I thought that if some shop could train a high school aged kid to change my tires, then I should be able to do it too. I found a tire changer that I thought would suit my needs. I talked to John and we decided to go halfs on it. I ordered a complete set up and it arrived 3 days later.

The way I figure it, if I change 3 sets of tires on my bikes then I've paid for my half of the changer. The last time I took off the wheels and brought them in to have tires mounted on them, it was close to $90.00 for the pair. Plus, I can save even more money by buying tires off the internet, rather than a shop. I can save an additional $20.00 to $50.00 on EACH tire! I bought a set of Dunlop Roadsmarts for the FJR from swmototires.com, they them shipped for free, total price $270.90 and delivered in 3 days too!

SFO Day 6, Home 5-4-09

We made pretty good time getting the rest of the way home. I took only one picture.



Ending mileage = 23031
Starting mileage = 21285
Total miles for the trip = 1746

Days with rain = 5

Days of fun = All!

John and I agreed that we'd both go back to Arkansas again next year for SFO!

SFO Day 5, Headed Home 5-3-09

Sunday, time to pack up and start going towards home. We took the long way home. I had heard about a place in Kansas that has the second largest electric coal shovel ever built on display. The shovel is named Big Brutus. It seemed like a place I'd want to see.
We traveled west into Oklahoma, then north towards Kansas. In Oklahoma we went through the small town of Picher. There were HUGE sand piles on each side of the road. It looked like a ghost town. There was a billboard on the side of the road that looked like it was something an Elementary school art class did. It said something about lead, and showed hands being washed. After I got home I Googled the town name and found out they have a huge lead problem. We continued north into Kansas.
It seemed to take forever to get to West Mineral, home of Big Brutus. I paid the small museum admission fee and looked around. HOLY CRAP!!! it's HUGE!!! the pictures don't really show it. Big Brutus is a Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel. It's 160 feet tall and weighs 11 million pounds! It's the second largest electric shovel in the world.

To really get and Idea how big it is.... the people you see in the photo below are average sized adults. I zoomed in to get that picture.

Click on the pictures to see them full size!



You can walk through Big Brutus. They have it set up as a self guided tour. They give you a sheet of paper with numbers and info on it. It corresponds to numbered features inside and around the shovel. All the electric motors had been removed from inside, but the pictures are still cool.




I walked into the operators cab. The bucket is 90 cubic yards! A heaped bucket full of coal would weigh 150 tons. enough to fill 3 rail cars.


After we left Big Brutus, we went through Kansas City and up I-35. We stopped for the night at the Family Budget Inn Motel in Bethany, MO.

SFO Day 4, 5-2-09

Today's a rainy day. John and I decided to take a ride on the shuttle bus and check out the town. We stopped at the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway (ES&NA RR). They have a collection of old railroad equipment and steam locomotives. We walked around the yard for a while and took pictures. We watched them use a turntable to turn a diesel/electric switcher engine around.




We decided to take a ride on their train. It travels only a short distance down the tracks. At the end of the line they stop the train. It waits there for a bit, while passengers in the dinning car eat. We took the no food ride. We had a real nice Conductor in the car we rode in. He was full of facts and interesting information. At the end of the line we got to put a few coins on the rails and watch as the train drove over them a squished them. Pretty neat. Here's John talking to the Conductor after the ride.


John even got to ride up in the cab while they ran the train up the tracks to switch out a few cars!


After the train ride we got back on the shuttle bus and went downtown. We walked around town for a bit and stopped in a small bar/restaurant and had chips and guacamole. There was a group of 5 girlfriends in the bar. I think they had been there a while. They were pretty funny! From there we walked back to the hotel.



That night was the night of the Banquet. Before dinner they had a group picture of FJR's in the parking lot.


The food was ok, maybe a little to fancy for my tastes, but good. Before dinner they handed out door prizes. Everybody got something. I got a few nice micro-fiber towels and a tool for adjusting the neck bearings.

SFO Day 3, 5-1-09

On this day we went for a group ride through rural Arkansas. It was John and I, Mike and his friend Lawrence, both from Kansas, and another guy, sorry I can't remember his name. We left Eureka Springs and headed south. We took rural roads through towns like Forum, Witter, Red Star. Through the Ozark National Forrest. I think it was the town of Ozone where there were houses with Rebel flags in the windows as curtains. There were new, big, brick houses right next to houses that were built in the 30's that probably hadn't been painted in 30 years... It was interesting! We continued south and stopped at a gas station outside of Clarksville.


After a quick stop for a pop, we continued east and north. Up through Dillen, Nail, Swain. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe in the town of Deere.


In the cafe was a nice old gentleman that asked us about our bikes and where we were from. He told us a story of how during WWII he told himself that if he ever got home to Newton County, he would never leave again. He said he kept his word. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have left the county in over 60+ years...

After lunch we headed back up to Eureka Springs. There sure is a lot of beautiful scenery in Arkansas. Both John and I said that we'd like to come back down here and ride some more.


I wish I had taken more pictures that day.

SFO Day 2, 4-30-09

Today, we left Marshall and continued south on 65. We stopped in downtown Branson at a place called Clockers Cafe. After riding in the wet all morning it was nice to get out of the rain for a while.



After lunch we made it the rest of the way to Eureka Springs. We found the Best Western and checked in. It was still raining.




The rain let up around dinner time, and we went out for dinner to Sparky's Ultra Lounge. A very interesting place. John and I sat in the covered outdoor section. I had the spicy chicken enchiladas...mmmmm good

SFO Day 1, 4-29-09

I went out the door at 0630 to start my trip to SFO-2009, Southern Fjr Owners rally - 2009. My starting mileage was 21285. I drove across Dakota County and met up with John about an hour later. We headed down I-35 all the way down to MO.




We got ino the parking lot of the Marshall Lodge in Marshall, MO. and it started to rain. It would continue to rain for almost the entire trip.

Pre Trip Prep

Today, I helped John put a set of Koubalinks on his FJR to lower it. They went on in just a few minutes with 2 wrenches and some creative hanging of the bike from the garage rafters. We also went to Bob's cycle supply. I purchased a set of Tourmaster Defender raingear.

It's Here...

Today, 04-22-2009, I brought in the Goldwing

I picked up my new toy


Zero Miles!

I Did It...

On Wednesday 4-15-2009, I drove the Goldwing out to Cities Edge Kawasaki, and met with Clark and Jesse. I was made a good offer on a new ZX-14, with my 'wing and 250 ninja in trade. I did it. I drove the 250 ninja out there on Friday and dropped it off. I also picked up oil and a filter for the new bike. After work on Monday, I'll pick up the new bike. It should look just like this.

I also have to start getting ready to go to the Southern FJR Owners rally in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Im going to meet up with John next weekend to talk about the route we'll take.

I got my taxes back. So far I have paid off the new dual fuel gas/electric stove we bought and paid off my car!!! I think next up will be tires and a Cyclehill tire changer and a mojo bar. John and I will go half/half on the changer.

This afternoon I took some time and removed the Bushtec hitch, wiring harness, X-M radio mount and wiring, and and a few other goodies the dealer didn't mind me keeping. I'll clean all the parts up and post them for sale on the wall at Dr. Mudspringers.

First Nice Weekend

I went for a good ride today. I went with "Gramps" from the FJRforum.com web site. We went out 10, down O, 35, up A, 10, Plum City, U, UU, SS, D, N, Pepin, home. About a 125 miles. Most of the roads were good, but D was covered in sand on all the hills and corners. I only have a few weeks until John and I head out for Arkansas and the 2009-SFO. I still have a few things to do before we go.

First Post of 2009

Today is 03-17-09. I've had the bikes out for 3 days now. I've ridden the FJR to work the last 2 days. I noted the milage on the 3 road bikes. It is... 919 on the 08 Ninja 250, 21071 on the 06 FJR, and 22429 on the '03 Goldwing. My goal this year is to sell or trade in the Wing, sell the 250 Ninja and buy an '09 ZX-14. I stopped at Cities Edge Kawasaki and spoke to the manager. He offered me a deal of my Wing and $2000.00 for a ZX-14. That was 2 months ago. I'd like to ride there and see if I could do maybe just a little bit better.
I went to the Cycleworld International Motorcycle show in Feb with John. He managed to find a H-D dealer that was interested in talking bikes with him. I hung around the Kawasaki display and all the sales people did was talk to each other. NO ONE came over and talked to me. There were sales people from many of the local dealerships, yet they didn't seem to be too interested in talking or selling. Sad really.

CFO, Day 6. 9-15-08 Home!

We made it the rest of the way home today. That was 6 days, and 1934 miles. A great way to spend a long weekend!

CFO, Day 5. 9-14-08, Sun.

At 6:58 A.M. on Sunday morning it was a frosty 30 degrees. I didn't reset the clock from central time.

John and I waited for the sun to warm things up a bit before we packed our bikes. We watched as other people loaded up and headed out. When we finaly did pack up, we took a loop through Custer State Park. Lots of wildlife!

When the sun did come out and warm things up a bit, the weather was beautiful! Road signs like this make the trip all worth while!!

After riding through Custer S.P., John and I went to Deadwood to meet up with his wife, Wendi, and her friend. They were in the Black Hills on a girls only vacation. At dinner time we all met up at the Millstone restaurant in Rapid City. In the group picture it's, Me, Lee, Gabi, Theresa, John, and Wendi.

After dinner John and I took off down Hwy 90 and made it as far as Kimball, SD before we decided to stop pushing our luck with the dark. I had only the dark face shield with me and didn't want to smack another antelope or a deer.

CFO, Day 4. 9-13-08, Sat.

Another group ride day. This time the group went on a loop to Devils Tower. Up 385 to Lead, over to Spearfish Canyon, up the canyon, through Spearfish, up 85 to Belle Fourche with a quick stop at Wyatt's Hideaway Campground to see Kent and Marta, the owners. Then it was out 34 to Aladin, to Hulett, to Devils Tower. At Devils Tower, I bought a fleece vest. The weather was very cool for September. From Devils Tower we headed down to Sundance and stopped for gas and a pop. In the picture that I took at that stop, I see gas was 3.75 a gallon! From Sundance we went down 585 to Four Corners, 85 to Newcastle, then 16 back to Custer. Once we got back to the motel we lined all the bikes up for a few group pictures. Then it was time for dinner and prizes.

The gas stop in Sundance. Bill, John, Marsha and Dale. Not sure where Fred is.

The group at Devils Tower.

The group bike shot in the parking lot of the Bavarian Inn.

I won this banner at the dinner!

CFO, Day 3. 9-12-08, Fri.

A group of us took a day trip from Custer. We went up 89, down the Needles Hwy, up 16A Iron Mountain Rd into Keystone, then 323 Old Hill City Rd to Hill City, 17 through Rochford up to Lead and Deadwood, to Sturgis on 14A, and down Vanocker Canyon, through Nemo, to Johnson Siding, to Lake Pactola, then down to Hill City, and back to Custer. We hit a little off-and-on rain throughout the day. It made the gravel road on the way to Rochford fun.

Marsha taking Dales picture.

Marsha, John, Dale and Fred.

One of the many tunnels through the rock.

The view of Mount Rushmore from an overlook on 16A.