Artmageddon

I don't shoot much, but my dad is real into the 1911's. He and some of his buddies are always praising the Dan Wessons.

Here is the forum he is always on about them:

http://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52

I'm pretty sure he has the Patriot.

we def. should plan at least 2 more good rides this year before the weather turns too cold... maybe head down the back way to the Ren. Festival in waynesville.... I got a hankering for a turkey leg....

Let me know if you do that, I like that crap. Jousting rocks.

Nice intro.

Nice. Glad you guys made it back safe with no issues.

How are we supposed to be a super sweet biker gang if all you nerds keep talking about how nerdy you are.... ????

We're still cool only because you are part of the gang. You make up for the rest of us.

I watched it last year, I like it. One of the few shows I watch regularly. Looking forward to this season.

F/X does a good job with it's series. Rescue Me, The Shield, Sons. My only problem is that they show a season, and then don't show the next for like a year and half. Easy to lose interest. Used to love Rescue Me, but after the hiatus, just couldn't get back into it.

Well.. I'm watching Swordfish for about the 20th time after having spent some time reading a book about the Holy Grail, birdwatching with my wife, installing satellite on my computer and reviewing the various structure of silicone polyethers as background for a patent application...

even my daughter calls me a nerd...

balaormiga for the lame Friday win!

I just got back in a lil bit ago. Damn any those cuties over there Art??

Damn Lance, sniffing Shauna's friends and you're not even here!

Nah, there is only one left anyway, I think they are crashing. They have been drinking since 3.

No more crazy drinking for me. I am poor and now I guess I am lame.

Young and poor is a whole different world than being old and lame. We've all been there, man. No worries.

What's really sad is my wife and her friends are downstairs partying it up. Teachers really freakin' drink and whoop it up. They act like they are still high school.

I did. Welcome to Lameville. At least you're in the boonies and have an excuse.

Sorry, bro. Happening way too much lately. Ride safe boys and girls.

It's Friday night, nice weather in late summer, and I am sitting at home, installing a new motherboard and processor in my pc. I am now officially a nerd. I was only pushing towards geekdom before.

Looking at my buddy list, looks like I have plenty of company in the land of lame (jagr, mr. anderson, wheezle, reconrat, yeah you guys.)

Sorry to hear that, man. Like others have said, OR is here for support if you want and need it. Whether we know you or not, we are behind you. Bust your ass in rehab, you never know what might happen. Best wishes and good luck.

I missed you dude. I need a hug.

Glad you're back.

Awww. I'll see you Sunday, cuddly bear.

about 7400 since April or May.

Fuck the cold and rain, the wind sucks.

I hear ya. Was even worse through West Texas on I10 on my way back.

I was just reading about something like this on cracked.com. For a comedy site, it is pretty insightful.

http://www.cracked.com/article/114_5-superpowers-you-didnt-know-your-body-was-hiding-from-you/

Not related to perception, but still a damned fine article on cracked as well....

http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

way to go Art!! you hit some mighty fine spots. I really could live in St. Lou; and were from OKC, in fact my brother is moving back next month. glad everything went well, welcome home.

Thanks Pat! St Louis is really nice. I want to go back there, didn't seem motorcycle friendly though. No parking and I saw very few riders there. Still, we should ride there sometime, not til spring though.

Alright, had a few minutes to get the pics together finally. Like I said, I didn't really didn't take a lot of pics. I was into hardcore technical photography for so long, it is hard for me to get interested in taking snapshots.

But here are a few and some ride descriptions.

Day 1:

Indianapolis- Friday, Rush Hour, Pouring rain. Fun.

Illinois- I never realized it was so goddamn empty. It was border, Effingham in the middle, and Troy near Missouri. Everyone must live in the northern part.

St Louis- Cool town. would like to go back. Architecture is pretty cool, and they are trying hard to be a larger city and arts center.

Day 2:

Missouri- Got a late start, stayed in Joplin near OK border. The only thing I remember about MO was they have mile markers every two-tenths of a mile. This really drags out the ride, because they are in your face and makes ever mile feel like five.

Day 3:

Oklahoma. Toll booths anyone? Never got off the highway once and went through 9 different tolls.

Oklahoma City smelled like fresh laundry.

Texas- stayed in Shamrock across from one of the buildings they used in the Pixar movie Cars.

Day 4:

Rest of Texas. meh.

New Mexico, this is where the trip started getting good. New Mexico is a pretty scenic state. As I was getting closer to Albuquerque, I watched a giant rain cloud just get larger and larger for about 50 miles. I finally got under itand it dumped on me for a few minutes, and dried up. Just enough to soak me in one one the dryest states in the country. Made it to Albuquerque and crashed.

Day 5:

Cruised through Albuquerque for a while, love this town. I love old signs, and Central Ave(Route 66) still looks like the 50's. Awesome, should have stayed and explored here a bit more. Decided to stop going west here, and head south through Texas and go see a friend in Houston. Best decision of the trip. The ride from Albuquerque to El Paso was amazing. Giant

sweeping highways through the desert and mountains, 75 MPH speed limits and no cops anywhere. I25 follows the Rio Grande for a while, and I reccomend this drive to anyone that is out that way.

Day 6:

West Texas, El Paso to Ozona. Most suprising part of the ride. West Tex is a combination of New Mexico and Northern Arizona. Beautiful. 80 MPH speed limits, very strange blowing by a Texas State trooper doing 80 and not get pulled over.

El Paso my as well be Mexico. You can walk across the Rio Grande on a foot bridge. I could see Mexico from my room, and I10 follows the border for a while. Pretty cool. If Would have had a pasport, I would crossed over for a while.

Ozona starts Big Hill Country. Reminded me of southern WV.

Day 7:

Ozona to Houston. This drive was fairly boring once I got to San Antonio. After taht it was just hot desert until I got to Houston. Saw the temp, 102 degrees. Got right outside of Houston and hit a big storm. Stopped at and underpass to wait it out, saw funnel clouds. There was another guy there from Houston on a Harley, said I was lucky I stopped when I did. Got pretty bad for a minute.

The wind all across Texas is crazy. Doing 80 in 40 MPH winds beats the shit out of you.

Got hang witha good friend in Houston, first real human interaction in a week.

Day 8 & 9:

Gotta love all the bridges through Louisiana. One of them was at least 16 miles long,I check on the tripmeter. A few go real high in the air too.

New Orleans. I love this town. Hadn't been there since about 2001. While there are still parts pretty torn up from Katrina, overall it's actually built up more than I remember. Cruising through the French Quarter and Magazine street was awesome. Didn't party much, $10 beers on Bourbon St. gets old fast. There was a gay festival there, saw more man-flesh than I needed to. They pretty stuck to one block, so it wasn't an issue. Stayed two nights beacuse I was tired and when I was getting ready to leave after one, it was pouring. Tired of rain. Wish I would have left after the first day now.

New Orleans is not the party town everyone thinks it is. Bourbon St is tamer than comfest when it's not Mardi Gras. I would have had much more fun with my wife. It is more a city for couples.

Day 10:

Sunday, now had two days to go 900 miles for work on Tues. No problem.

Slidell, LA. Floods, pics inthe first post. More torrential downpours in Mississippi. Crazy. Only made it 100.

Day 11.

800 miles to go, I can do it, test of endurance. Would have made it if I could have seen through the fog in the morning in MS, and even worse in KY in the evening. Made it 650. Too tired, and couldn't even see as far as my headlight extended. Decided to pull over instead of wreck on winding KY highways.

Day 12:

Half day late for work, nothing like riding 150 miles exhausted, in the fog, and don't even get to go home. .

Well, even with the bad weather, I had fun. A few of the weather days made for quite the adventure. I won't do this again until I have a big touring bike, and probably not alone. I got a little lonely, and missed my wife and dog. 3-4 max for solo trips for now on. My ass and shoulders are still sore.

Hoooooooly Schnikies.

That's a long, wet trip.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure a storm followed me around the country. I think I got wet almost every day. It freaking rained on me in New Mexico. It rains 3 days a year there. WTF?

Well, a day late getting back, but I made it west, veered south and spent a few days in New Orleans and headed back. Ended up riding 3985 miles. should have taken another 15 mile cruise and made it an even 4000. Almost all highway, and my chicken strips show it. I didn't take a lot of pics, just didn't really feel like it. Had fun, my ass and shoulders still hurt. The wind in Texas beats the shit out of you, especially since the speed limit is 80.

Went To Albuquerque, and then headed southeast through Texas to New Orleans.

Hit a flood and some heavy, heavy rain in Louisiana and Mississippi, only made it 100 miles when I needed to go 400 Sunday, hence the lateness. I had 800 to do on Monday, would have made it if wasn't so goddamn foggy that morning in MS and that evening in KY.

I've been sleeping or busy since I got back yesterday, had to ride straight to work yesterday from about 50 miles south of of Cincy.

I'll post details and pics tomorrow when I get a few minutes.

Here's my route though, and a pic of the water I was riding through in LA.

Was actually picking up and moving the bike. This was off the highway, the highway only had an inch or so of water.

Route(just some random spots to mark the route, google maps couldn't handle all of my stops):

Flood(notice the dude in the white car that just gave up and pulled onto the median).

More to come later. Sleepy time.

I was able to sneak a few minutes at work and came up with this quick design.

I'll do a real when I get back after labor day.

Hopefully one color includes screens ????

Great idea, but what you forget is that different cities have different laws.

For instance in Beavercreek, they have a noise ordinance, but the other cities around that area don't. If everything were the same through all departments, then they wouldn't have city ordinances.

Mostly dealing with state laws, that's why I'm using troopers for most of the info.

Folks can deal with their own city crap.

anything yet?

Sorry, when I started this, i had a lot of free time, since then I've been working around the clock, at least 80 hours a week, and I'm leaving for 10 days Friday. When I get back, it's high on my priority list to finish it up.