| Author | Message | ||
     Pdxs3t  |
Wishin I was havin a steak and a cold beer with you and D! | ||
| Jerry_haughton  |
sorry Jim, it was actually BBQ'd chicken breast last night, and D was drinkin' beer, but i was tipping back Carolans. btw, our barbie has two business offices, if you will. in the shot above the chicken's cookin' away on the left, and the campfire (it's COLD here, bubba!) is all ablaze on the right. sorry for the poor pic quality - i'd been into the Carolans for several hours at this point...  | ||
| Usroute66  |
Jerry and Denise...great photos! Having riden some of roads where U took the photos, I am homesick for a return trip to the area. U truly get the most out of that camera (we have the same camera...and it is the bomb). It has rained here so much...Ebear and I were talking today how we feel so fortunate that we have battery tenders. Can you imagine? We live in SoCal and have to turn to battery tenders!?!?!? What is it coming to? Is it global warming, or what? Happy New Year, and look forward to more riding with U all in the New Year...and hopefully with the yellow bird in service! Scott | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
thanks Scott, it is indeed a great camera for this kind of stuff. yeah, the weather's been, well, winter-like, and we have two Tenders going at all times (the yellow bird especially needs one). the ball is back in the DMV's court, and i hope to hear from them soon as to round two. btw, one of my presents from Santa D'Claws was an air compressor for the garage, which ties in quite nicely with the wheel balancer and tire changing tools (also from Denise) that we put to use for you during Oktoberfast. | ||
| Road_thing  |
Ah yes, SoCal does indeed have a winter. Only time I ever put snow chains on a car was on the Maricopa Hwy going from Taft to Santa Barbara. rt | ||
| Denisea  |
Jim, From the weather channel: Today Jan 04 AM Rain / Snow 49°/34° 70 % First time I've seen "snow" in the forecast for zip 93285 - Dress warm for your ride. PS: new 'puter soon enough - first things first. Dino would never believe it but FB has actually opened Rider Wearhouse to the Stich page... or did I leave that laying around?... | ||
| Pdxs3t |
D, Was just reading that there was a 40 mile stretch of I-5 closed north of Los Angeles with 2 feet of snow on top of a layer of ice, WOW! JC | ||
| Denisea |
Jim, Well, FB is off to "heat up" the gear for a ride up river - don't know that he has seen the forecast - not that it would matter. Hey, waitasec, only one bike legal. SOMEONE will have to ride on back... | ||
| Pdxs3t |
I think you should make him ride on back! | ||
| Court |
>>>>I think you should make him ride on back! Laugh if you will folks....I've seen D ride. She'll teach school to the boy! | ||
| Pdxs3t |
That is a very true statment Court! | ||
| Denisea |
 So, I LET him be a windbreak for those, what, four miles. Good thing too, bout froze my hinny off. But Court, you have no idea what you have started... it's snowing up river and guess whose headed that way. Wondering if the Widder stuff was a mistake.  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
i be back, safe, sound (that's a matter of some debate...), and most of all WARM!!! pix in a bit. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 at 3 o'clock this afternoon we knocked off work for the day. i mean, heck, 12 hours is long enough, right? we tossed on our gear for a trip to the post office, after which i had D's permission to take my new Widder goodies for a test ride up-river on her scoot. after grabbing the p.o. box mail i asked D, as innocently as i could, "Wanna go see what's up the Bostrom before we head back?" seemed harmless enough at lake level, about 2500 feet. it was cold, but not quite arctic-like. at about 4000 feet we hit the "Chains Mandatory Beyond This Point Unless You Have Four-Wheel Drive And Even Then You Better Have Your •••• Together" sign (the sign doesn't say that EXACTLY, but you surely get the point.) beyond this sign we weren't legally allowed to go, being only one-wheel drive and all, and the CHP does a pretty good job this time of year keeping us local Hooligans honest. and besides, the deafening chatter of D's teeth signified that we had reached our limit for this particular assault on the Bostrom anyway. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 not sure what this rock face is called; if there wasn't already a pretty famous ThunderDome nearby, i'd be tempted... anyway, this is up the Bostrom, maybe eight minutes from, er, the ThunderDome. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 and this is looking the OTHER way, where the sun don't shine. somewhere up there in the thick, swirling clouds is Alta Sierra and Shirley Meadows. what you CAN'T see in this pic (besides Alta Sierra and Shirley Meadows) is the icy, frigid air (hmmm, would make a great name for a refrigerator) shooshing down the mountain looking for semi-underdressed numbwits out and about on their motorcycle. it was, without exaggeration, B-B-B-B-BITTER. note the charming little chunks of ice hanging from the tree branches above. D, think you could quiet those teeth down for JUST a moment, i'm trying to CONCENTRATE here! (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 this, my friends, is the coldest, and COOLEST, person in the world. when we stopped at the chain-up area i figured i had MAYBE a minute to grab a few pix before D started turning blue. turns out i was pretty close to the mark (it's blowing about 35 mph at this time). and in spite of her textbook demonstration of "shivering uncontrollably" Denise never pressured me to get my ••• in gear, knowing how hard i was trying to grab a couple of decent documentary photos before we u-turned. D, what can i say that i haven't already said??? thank you for being you just ain't enough. on the way down the Bostrom (and on the way up, actually), i periodically hung a foot down and drug my boot along the pavement, testing for ice on the road. none THIS time, but we were certainly close. geez, the things we do to entertain you people. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 i dropped D off at the 'Dome (you SURE you don't wanna head up-river with me, sweety???), and aimed for Kernville and beyond. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 these two shots (looking south, then north) are overlooking the North Fork of the Kern River, about ten miles or so north of Kernville. the pavement you see disappearing off to your right (Mountain 99) is a real gem, faithfully following the river for 30 miles or so before climbing rather dramatically up into the Giant Sequoias. the Kern is pretty quiet right now (it originates on the slopes of Mt. Whitney), but come the spring run-off it'll attract white-water fanatics from far and wide to run it's many world-class rapids. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 i was low on fuel, and it was getting dark anyway, so i pulled over to get peaceful and still for a bit. this rough, rocky road up into the heavens beckoned, but not on a bike i don't own, not this late in the day, not this low on fuel, not this far from a cell phone signal. i DID think about it, tho. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 it's steeper (and rougher) than it looks. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 i hiked up and down the rocky road a bit, fascinated by the peace and quiet and colors. water seeped out of the rock face lining the road at nearly every opportunity, always accompanied by a vibrant display of lush, natural splendor. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 my Nikon focuses down to 1.4 inches. if i had to guess, i'd say the two images above are about the width of three of your fingers side-by-side. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 as i recharged my batteries the sky came absolutely alive, and for about the 23,489,677th time i thanked my lucky stars that i'm addicted to living life in tune with motorcycles. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 pretty dramatic stuff, SO glad i got it on film. not bad for barely an hour's ride, very close to home, on a cold, wintery afternoon, eh? Denise, thank you!!! (Message edited by jerry_haughton on January 04, 2005) | ||
| Blake |
Nice stuff. You've inspired me to create a special new Tale Section topic for everyone to post stories and photos of their home towns. Cool eh? | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
that's VERY cool, Blake, thanks. hope lots of people take you up on this - it's GREAT to see other parts of this world through other people's vision. | ||
| Pdxs3t |
Great Pics! Think you should trade the V-Strom in for a snow machine. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
as long as it doesn't have to be YELLOW!!! |
