Bubba

Our rescue dog, Anne, at the beach.

I'm making a supposition here, so figger this post is based on zero hard factual data and means doodly. Flame away.... The most likely scenario to this story is that the real crime against society is that the baby mamas also chose to bring a life they couldn't financially support into this world. Pretty damn sure they will be receiving monthly rent subsidies (Sec 8), welfare, food stamps, and Aid to Dependent Children money. The amount of money that comes from federal, state and local agencies must be astounding for this one individual and his 11 beotches. As a democratic and free republic, it's ridiculous to suggest mandatory sterilization for either, but at some point, society must somehow find a way to stop paying money for people's poor choices. Some here have suggested that ignorance plays a part, but I'm beginnning to wonder who's being played for the fool....

I know a number of my friends who simply contributed to their IRA. Depending on your tax situation, the money may be tax-deferred, similar to a 529 plan. The biggest benefit is that you maintain absolute control of your funds. If your kid(s) decide to head to Colorado to become ski bums or decide to dedicate their life the monastic life, you're still stuck with an unused lump of money in a 529 plan. Plus, I don't think the 529 plans are quite as flexible as to where/how they can be used. However, funds can be withdrawn from your IRA PRIOR to 59 1/2 without penalty and be used for post-secondary education/college/vocational school for yourself, your children and your grandchildren. See below: "When you take money out of an individual retirement account before you reach age 59 1/2, the Internal Revenue Service considers these premature distributions. In addition to owing any tax that might be due on the money, you'll face a 10 percent penalty charge on the amount. But there are times when the IRS says it's OK to use your retirement savings early. Two popular, penalty-free withdrawal circumstances are when you use IRA money to pay higher-education expenses or to help purchase your first home. OK for school When it comes to school costs, the IRS says no penalty will be assessed as long as your IRA money goes toward qualified schooling costs for yourself, your spouse or your children or grandkids. You must make sure the eligible student attends an IRS-approved institution. This is any college, university, vocational school or other post-secondary facility that meets federal student aid program requirements. The school can be public, private or nonprofit as long as it is accredited. Once enrolled, you can use retirement money to pay tuition and fees and buy books, supplies and other required equipment. Expenses for special-needs students also count. And if the student is enrolled at least half-time, room and board also meet IRS expense muster. Read more: IRS rules for early IRA withdrawals http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/irs-rules-for-early-ira-withdrawals-1.aspx#ixzz1unmmZ6Hq

I hope everyone who rides a MC on the street, especially at a pace that may not meet the definition of "legal speed", has read this article by Nick Ienatsch from a long time ago. I've seen it posted on many forums and has certainly been posted here as well, but this thread and this time of year begs for it to be posted and read by all riders again. My apologies if you've already seen it and abide by "The Pace".... http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/flashback/122_0911_the_pace_nick_ienatsch/index.html

Dealing with gravel mid-corner is a street hazard that usually doesn't happen on the track, but reacting to a loss of traction in a turn is no different whether its a result of sand/gravel or a result of a tire at the limit of adhesion. Learning trail braking will give you the confidence to handle a bike while sliding and crossed up. Most of my skills--limited as they are--came from riding dirt. Sliding around on an off-road bike will teach you many skills that translate to the street as well. I wasn't accusing you of being 'squidly', merely disagreeing with your off-hand dismissal of track riding vs street riding. You are 100% correct about having to leave a margin for error, either on the part of the rider or other drivers on the road.

Ummm, NOT THIS ^^^ If you're talking about going to the track to learn how to ride 10/10ths on the street, then you're correct. Anyone riding at the absolute limit in the real world is a fool....soon to be a dead fool. Always leave something in the box when you're on the street! However, pushing your skills to a limit BEYOND what can be safely acheived on the street is what track days are for. If you can learn skills and sharpen your reflexes at a fast pace on the track, it's probably gonna save yer bacon the next time you need to save your ass on the street.

Some serious paranoia on this forum. That being said, I'm all for defending our personal and law-given rights, but my first impression of someone who's open carrying in a public space like a Walmart would of one who's seeking attention. IJS...

I had an interesting 'confrontation' with a guy in KY last fall. Was riding rural roads outside of Verona in a group of 5 sport bikes. Dude in cage was poking along about 10 under in a 55. First guy passed him and as I went to go around, the car started swerving back and forth in the middle of the road, right on the center line. I dropped back and less than a half mile up the road, he came to a stop sign and I saw him reach over to the opposite side of the car. I pulled up beside him and tapped on his window to see what his beef was, and as I look inside I see: 1) it's an old guy (like me) prolly 60s, and 2) he's got a very serious looking piece sitting on his passenger seat cushion! Needless to say, I wasn't in mood to argue much anymore and I left him ranting and cussing at the intersection. I don't carry and I don't pass judgement on those who do, but just a reminder that if you do carry and you really plan on 'flashing' your piece as a deterrent, you better always be prepared to pull the trigger and live with the consequences. I'd rather use the superior warp speed of my bike to avoid the crazy dumbasses than try to shoot it out with a nutjob. Let's be careful out there!

Standard rule of thumb for single-axle trailers is that you should have approx 10-15% of the total weight on the tongue. So, according to the numbers you and IPapa have posted, your tongue weight should measure between 145-220#. I'd shade that to the light side based on your observations. Be aware that too light in the tongue can result in self-induced sway under certain conditions (cross-wind, braking, cornering). Your proposal of loading the front and rear of the trailer isn't a great solution, either. Result is larger rotational mass around the pivot (axle). Place the heaviest items (bikes, generator) nearest the center of the trailer/close to the axle and load the front/rear with lighter items.

Rope is a defiinite 'No!' Bungee won't work--too stretchy--unless we're talking a bicycle. Get yourself at least two decent quality tie-downs. As far as the hard part, loading a bike into the back of a truck is the hardest part. You'll need at least one sturdy ramp that's at least 7-8' long and preferably, a raised area that you can back up to so as to minimize the angle of the ramp. Another swell idea is to use a tie-down to attach the ramp to the truck so the ramp doesn't scoot off the tailgate when you're unloading. And if you want to see why it REALLY matters....well, YouTube is full of videos of painful and expensive bike loading FAIL. Best advice is to get yourself another body to assist.

Humbly suggest Porky Capone's in Lebanon. Mark is a rider and...oh, BTW, he has the best dead pig in SW Ohio! No beer license, but he let's you go to the Quickie Mart next door and bring your own poison.

Loading on a single-axle trailer is more critical than on a tandem axle. Tongue load should be approx >10% and <15% of the total trailer+load weight. If you load the trailer so that the COM (Center of Mass) is close to or behind the axle, you will induce an essentially uncontrollable sway. Read here: http://www.sherline.com/lmbook.htm#refrn9 Check out the site for additional info on hauling loads. EDIT: For weighing a lightweight trailer like yours, you can use a simple bathroom scale (most read to 250-300#) to get a measure of how much weight is on the tongue. Use a few blocks of wood for supporting the tongue at the ball hitch to prop the trailer at the proper height, i.e., frame level with road surface.

That truly is an amazing and touching story! Truth be told, tho, when I first read the thread title, I figgered it was gonna be a story about a woman's mouth-breathing husband/BF....

Oh, c'mon guys. Anyone over the age of 12 knows that Daytona Bike Week has absolutely nothing to do with bikes! Now maybe if they called it Daytona Trailer Week, it'd be more accurate. Here's what Bike Week is about: And if you want the awesome banner--approx 4' x 24'--in the last pic for your motel room/camp site, I'd part with it for a fairly low sum of money, but I ain't giving it away free 'cause I....ummm....appropriated it from over the main street area and spent a night in lock-up in Daytona to get it.

More to the point, the mods should re-title this thread "It's winter and I'm cranky 'cause I can't ride my bike." Tons of threads on every forum--AFJ too--that are non-MC-related bitchin'. As soon as spring hits, we'll all be best buds again!

You won't see me posting in any of the pro- or anti-gun threads. I recognise that I'm old, slow and fat. I'm gonna be one of the first that gets eaten, so why load up on tons of armament?

OK, the dude making the cardboard stove obviously has kids--snotty nosed ones at that--but there's NO WAY he's still married. If I was doing that shit in my wife's kitchen, pouring melted wax over her granite countertops, it'd be my ballz that were boiling in the tin cup, not water!

Sheit. At my age, camping is a cheap motel with a lumpy mattress and a black&white TV. Sleeping on the ground in a tent is being homeless...

Buddy rides a Honda PC and uses the ME880s. They are great tires for both wet and dry sport riding, but I doubt you'll get more than 6-8K out of 'em if you use 'em hard. He doesn't.... Let's face it. Any modern sport bike/sport tourer/cruiser that has more than 40-50 HP and weighs in at 400# or more isn't gonna get much over 5-7K miles out of a good road tire, and that even goes for the dual compound tires.

For those OR boys/girls who are in the SW part of the state, there's a New Year's Eve Day ride--better weather than Sunday--going out of the AA Shell in Wilder and heading to Falmouth, prolly via KY10 and KY22. Kickstands up @ 11 AM. Here's the poop: http://www.localriders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16750

Interior perimeter drains will generally keep water from flowing across your basement slab, but won't help with water entry thru cracks and defects in your foundation walls or with humidity and the related mold issues. And if you've got a block foundation, fugget about it! Only permanent fix is to seal from the outside and regrade your yard to keep the water away from the foundation. Had the same issues at an old house. Even had the exterior deck, same as you. I undid the deck joists from the band board, dragged it away from the house with my 4x4 in one piece. Paid an excavator the $65/hr for him to dig the foundation to the footer, then I sealed the cracks with hydraulic cement, coated the foundation with waterproofer, installed wicking board, installed new footer drains and pea gravel, then had him come in and backfill and slide the deck back into place. Cost was under $2000 for the whole thing...plus a crappy week of being horribly muddy and tired. If you pay a company to do the labor, you'll get a huge bill...but it ain't rocket science. It makes a gawdawful mess of your yard for a few weeks (months at this time of year?) but it'll look fine come spring. Problem with wet basements is that they cost you a lot of money (or pain) to fix, but the money you spend doesn't add a red cent to the resale value of your house. The value is strictly to you in the "liveability" of yer hacienda.

Well, these big boys made it thru gun season. Whether they make it thru "little-old-lady-in-big-Buick" season is anybody's guess. All these pix were taken on 12/21/11 between 6:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Just gotta figger out how to get 'em to come in a little earlier. Also got these pests coming in. Definitely not true coyote; I suspect they gotta be 'yote/dog mix from their size!

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USNC0577 If I hadn't just gotten, I'd join you!

Here ya go! Try this site on for BRP views. Looks pretty clear to me. 'Course, that don't mean it won't snow tomorrow.... http://www.highcountrywebcams.com/cameras.htm

It can be beautiful down there this time of year. Just got back about a week ago from the Franklin, NC, area and rode the Dragon along with a number of the local roads. Heading to GA is a good bet as well. http://www.localriders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16741 The mornings could be upper 20s/low 30s, but by mid-morning the temps will be into the 40s or better. If you stay out of the higher elevations--i.e., BRP and Cherhola SW--and stick to the valleys, it'll be fine. Traffic volume is way down altho there will be lots of LEOs around doing the holiday enforcement for the next week or so. Watch your speed in GA especially--they have the "super speeder" law that tacks at least an extra $200 onto the normal ticket price for 15+ over. Be sure you do your homework on the weather situation before you blow out'a Dodge, and be prepared for the weather situation to throw a curve at you, and of course gear up appropriately.