Bubba

If you like BC, stop in at Versailles SP on 50W. Definitely closer than BC and certainly as good, altho without the total mileage. Even closer to you is MOMBA @ Huffman Park. Very neat trail system and worth a visit. EDIT: Caesar Creek and East Fork are good trail systems, too.

Sorry our paths didn't cross today, dude. You missed a great ride on awesome roads. Maybe we can hook up again later in the spring. Hope you got out and enjoyed the weather anyway.

Well, I was right. God DID want me to ride today. Good weather, great roads, tolerable companions.... Dice, Zach (Bitani) and I met up at the AA Speedway and rode toward Mt Olivet on 915/10, then jogged onto 62/1504 and railed toward Cynthiana --what a great road that is. We ate lunch at Bianchi's and headed west on 356, ending up in Williamstown. Gassed up and rode more west on 36 and then hit up some of Dice's FAVORITE goat paths like Ford's Mill and 1942. Ran out'a time, so we jumped on 71/75N at Walton/Verona and blew north, scattering the cagers as we went. Thanks for the good time, guys. I ended up with just under 210 miles on the day, but Zach must be the big winner with at least another 75-85 more miles. It looks like it's gonna be 'hunker down time' for a few days. Stay warm!

Wanna meet us in KY? You're not that far away. 275S to KY and get off at Rt9/AA Hwy. Head south 1.2 mi to the Speedway on the right.

Meet up between 10:30 - 11:00 AM at the AA Shell/Speedway/?? in Alexandria with kickstands up at 11 sharp. Heading south on usual roads toward Cynthiana and/or Williamstown . Lunch along the way before 1-ish. Prolly somewhere around 150-175 mile route. Warm moist air and cold ground temps mean damp/wet roads all day unless the sun peeks out, so be careful out there today!

Good on ya, Zach. Not sure what the plan is yet, but will post up in the morning when the "whether" idjits decide if it's gonna rain all day...or not. I can see worrying about some salt if yer riding a vintage Norton/BSA/Enfield--or any bike that's appreciating in value--but the stuff I own isn't going up in value, whether it sits in my garage or gets ridden. If I was worried about keeping my 'spensive shit purty, I'd be riding my beater bikes in the winter so I could leave my $20K Ford pickup in the garage.

There ain't no salt left on the roads...the rain washed it all off. And as far as potholes, that's why I heading south. For some reason, the state of KY looks on their road system as an asset, as opposed to Ohio that looks on theirs as a liability. And it shows!

Leaving from SW Ham Cty (Cinti) and heading south into KY. No planned route, no timing, no sense, but there will be twisties.

So what the heck does that mean, anyway? Well....I'm purty sure it means that God wants us to ride motorcycles tomorrow, Bubba, that's what. Anyone else up for a spiritual adventure? (dontsecondguessGod)

Damn. I knew "blank" was the wrong term. Thx for the help.

Prolly a dumb, or at least, uninformed question: Can you get blank shells for a 12g pump to use for training kids/wife/mom? Want something so they can get used to loading/racking/dry firing without the issue of safety. I presume this wouldn't damage the firing mechanism. Thx!

Never on the street. Did get caught above tree line this past summer riding over Engineer Pass in CO in a storm that brought rain, lightning, thunder snow and quarter-size hail. Went from this: To this in a matter of minutes:

Disclaimer: I designed and built my own house--using a GC--back 1999. It's a royal pain-in-the-ass!!! If you're married, you will likely be divorced by the time you build. If you're single, you will have tried to kill yourself several times by the end of the process. That bein' said.... 1) There will some fun and 'excitement' along the way. Even if you use a GC, be as involved as you possibly can and visit your build site at least once every other day. Shit can go wrong real fast. 2) It is a rewarding experience....when you're done. And you'll have lots of stories to tell your friends....like the time I caught one of the drywallers shitting down the floor vent. And he wasn't Mexican. 3) Single stories aren't cheaper to build per sq ft than two stories, nor are they as energy efficient. 4) Never build a house with less than 3 BDRMs unless you plan on living there until you die. Resale sucks for anything less than that. 5) Basements are worth the investment IF THEY'RE ENGINEERED AND BUILT CORRECTLY!!! The key to this is drainage-drainage-drainage. I have a strong preference for sloped lots with walk-out potential. And to be honest, there are some areas of the country that are not suitable for basements. Floor plan should keep kitchen/LR/master BDRM/bathroom/laundry on the main floor. Bump the side of the house opposite the master suite to situate additional BDRMs on the second story. I'm not a big fan of huge master suites; you'll spend nearly 99% of your time there asleep with your eyes closed. Put a lot of thought into the areas you'll be in most of the time--kitchen, great room (or LR/family room) and throw a bit of extra money at the master bath. Ground level entry, walk-in showers, minimum of 36" interior doorways should take you into old age; you can always change out your fixtures later to accommodate mobility issues. In areas with snow/ice, I recommend a minimum roof pitch of 6:12 with membrane barrier at he eaves to eliminate ice damming. If I was doing my house over, I would have tried to use either steel or engineered wall studs and pre-engineered floor trusses/laminated beams to minimize quality issues. Over-insulate walls/ceilings/above-grade basement areas. Put in as high a quality window as you can afford. My windows ran $18,000 and they're worth it everyday. Garage space is fairly inexpensive compared to finished space; go as big as you can with available money/lot siting. I put in a 36Wx28Dx10H and it was too small by the time I moved in. You will have be the deeded owner of the land you plan to build on. Unless you're paying cash up front, no one will give you a construction loan to build on property belonging to someone else, even if it's Mom 'n' Dad. You will be able to use the equity value of the property as a down payment on the loan amount. Good luck and be sure to share your experience as you go.

Believe that "dranks 'n' skanks" would be a more accurate description....

WeeStrom is a great bike! I've got an FJR and loved it....until I bought my DL650. Haven't put 1000 miles on the Feejer since. Ridden the Wee all over CO--both dirt and paved--and done several trips to NC on it. Might not be ideal for interstate if you're two-up + gear, and it's too heavy/not enough ground clearance for technical/hard-core dirt, but anything else and it's totally capable. Only issue I see is that when you get home, yer gonna want another bike....

Oil or oil-less?

Gonna take advantage of the nice weather and head across the ferry and meet some folks in Rabbit Hash and maybe do a short roll to parts south. Be leaving from the west side of Cinti noonish. Any interest?

Was on the fence and actually thinking about rolling up from Cinti--even dug my Hippo Hands out of the closet--but the sub-freezing temps in the morning convinced me that a 2 hour ride was not in the works. I'll have to catch up and meet with some OR folks on a warmer day or somewhat nearer to home. Have a beer for me; I'm headed to Perfect North for a morning of skiing instead.

I can't disagree that there are some awesome roads in GA. But don't kid yourself if you think that yer gonna get over like a fat rat in cheese factory down there. Beware the Super Speeder Law! An EXTRA $200 tacked onto the original fine. So we're talkin' maybe $400-450 for havin' fun in GA!!! Y'all be be safe now, ya heah? http://www.dds.ga.gov/faqs/index.aspx?faqcategoryid=34

Recon: This so true. The crack of my ass is almost always moist....

Nathan: So....humor me. Do these actually come with bar-end plugs? In addition to the clamps? If they're just clamp-on, I wouldn't call 'em bar-ends.... If they are true bar-end mirrors that fit inside the bar, send me a PM with price, please. (They look 'spensive!) I've been thinking of losing the stock mirrors on my DL650 to see if I can get rid of some of the turbulence. Thx--Bubba

Awwww. Thanks!

C'mon, guys. You can talk all you want about your returns from month-to-month or year-to-year, but that has little to do with what is realistic over a span of 30-50 years. Last year's market returns--or for that matter, the annual returns since the crash of 2007-2008--have been double digit just about everywhere, even including bonds. My advice....don't count on it being as robust averaged out over the next 20 years or so. Cautionary tale! When I first started investing WAY BACK in the early 70s, I watched my money go nowhere for almost 10 years. The company stock that I was buying in my 401-K actually went down in per-share value from 1972 - 1982 by about 0.5%. Yikes, I thought. That year, I had the opportunity to convert my 401-K stock into a GIC--Guaranteed Investment Contract (similar but not exactly like a CD)--that had an annual return of 14.6% guaranteed for 9 years. Can't go wrong with that, now can ya? Converted 100% of my stock into the GIC. Guess what...at the end of 9 years, the company stock had outpaced my GIC, not by a lot, but I still ended up with less money...at 14.6% annual return! Bottom line: When the market is going up, it's easy to make money. Even a chimp with darts can do it. Sooner or later, essentially 100% of the day traders WILL BE PLAYED FOR A FOOL BY THE MARKET. And that's guaranteed!!!

Well. It doesn't do anything well.

Wow! Million dollar question right there...literally. Take something as complex as retirement income for 30+ years and reduce it down to one number? I think not. I'm not gonna claim to be a financial wizard or have a crystal ball any better at predicting the future than your average carny fortune teller, but I'll throw my $0.02 worth in just for shits 'n giggles. First, there is a myriad of free financial tools available on the internet for planning retirement. Check out the tools on MarketWatch.com or on the Vanguard or Fidelity web sites for more info. Nearly all of them rely on statistics, past market performance, future inflation projections, longevity/mortality tables and probability calculations to come up with a scenario. These are called Monte Carlo simulations, and yeah, that means were talking gambling here. What they do is use your input about your financial situation to compute the likelihood of whether you will outlive your money....or not. These tools CANNOT give you a hard and fast number of how much you need; they can only give you the percent chance of the successful scenario of having sufficient funds for life. If you're a risk taker and can deal with a 50:50 chance of outliving your funds until you die in a fiery Moto-GP crash at the age of 75, you will obviously require far less money than someone who's conservative and wants a 99:1 chance they will have enough to live on until they're 101. The other big issue is what the outlook for the investment environment will be for the next 40-50 years. Historic returns on the market (we're talking DOW 500 here) have been 11-12 percent, maybe a bit higher with dividend reinvestment. Bond returns historically, maybe 4-6 percent. So, with a diversified portfolio, you could have realized around 7-8% return over the last 50-75 years. The big cautionary tale here is what every investment guru will tell you: "Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns!" As a matter of fact (or maybe more accurately, "in my humble opinion") the broad stock/bond market isn't likely to return anywhere near historic levels going forward, and I think that trend will hold true for the next 20+ years. The current inflation numbers are at a never-before-seen historic low, and this is also likely to bump higher over the next several decades. If I was gonna give you my best advice from where I sit, I would tell you to figure out how much you're gonna WANT as a yearly income to both pay your bills--don't forget property tax, auto/house/health insurance, food, home/auto repair, free-time activities--and do the things you want to do. BE REALISTIC!!! You're not gonna want to sit in your house on your ass and pick your nose for 40-50 years. Traditional wisdom suggests you will need 70% of your current annual income in retirement, but if you're healthy and looking to have just a little bit of fun, I'd suggest the target of 100-125% to be safe. Now, divide your estimated annual income need by maybe 0.03 to 0.05, depending on things like your risk proclivity, your current health and genetic heritage (i.e., how long did your grandparents/parents/siblings live). This is gonna give a pretty conservative estimate of what you need as savings to live for the next 4-5 decades. Of course, Social Security will play a role at some point, but if you plan on early retirement in your 50s (i.e., before your full retirement age of 66-67) you're gonna need to generate income without SS for at least 7-10 years. I retired--not by choice but by force--at 56, 6 years ago. I had planned on working until I was 62ish, but my job went bye-bye in the big push to downsize back in 2005-7. My company didn't offer a guaranteed pension, so my retirement income was 100% dependent on what I had saved from investments in my 401-K and IRAs. When I looked at my pot of money, my overall debt situation with long-term debt (mortgage) and short-term debt (auto loans, credit cards, etc) and ran the numbers, it was obvious I was gonna have to give up the dream of the yacht on the Riviera and settle for cheap beer on the back deck. My options were to try to find another job and continue to save, or scale back my lifestyle to live within my means. Once I had it worked out, I dropped out of the rat race, enjoyed the hell out'a my free time, walked the dog at the park, rode my MC when and where I wanted, went skiing mid-week without the crowds, and NEVER looked back with regret on my choice. Good luck with your decision. Make the most out of your time here--this ain't no dress rehearsal; this is a "live feed" and you only get one take.