Goodson Air Cleaner

Got in my Goodson Air Cleaner from Rich at Shamrock Fabrication, it looks fantastic! I guess Dennis had been waiting on the polishers and these had been back ordered for a while.

There are some little casting marks and imperfections on the top half that could not be polished out, the bottom half is perfect. I would have preferred it to be reveresed so it wouldnt be as noticable but from a pace or two away I dont think its visable and gives it that hand done look. Maybe I should mount it upside down on the other side and keep the GAK air kit so it looks like an old Indian and really throw people off.

The faux vents on mine were polished out also and not blackened like in the pictures, possibly from them having to do extra polishing on this one. You can see how shiny the vents were in this pic, I forgot to take one before I started masking stuff off.

Masking for paint

Masking for paint

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Ruidoso Spring Rally 2009

Ruidoso Spring Rally

Ruidoso Spring Rally

The Ruidoso Spring Rally was nice, it had drizzled and rained a bit cooling things off nicely and helped thin the crowds just a bit. Despite bing in the cage we got plenty of thumbs up and points to my bumper as bikes passed us on the road, I’m glad that I can still be recognized as a fellow motorized two wheel enthusiast in my wimpy econobox. At least my bumper sticker is getting plenty of visibility with the bike out of commission for now.

Military Appreciation Week

Military Appreciation Week

Military Appreciation Week

Memorial Day for too many Americans is seen as just another holiday, a reason to get off work and hit the beach or go fishing. It has lost its significance and meaning. This Memorial Day attend your local parade, visit a veterans cemetery or simply bow your head in a moment of silence to honor and remember those who gave their lives so that you may have the freedom to enjoy your holiday.

Separate from the rally a Military Appreciation Week thing was being put on in Ruidoso. Supposedly the Living Wall Memorial was going to be there the day before and I was hoping to see it but it was gone already and we missed it. Friends online had ridden to see it and said it was well worth their long trips and a very powerful memorial.

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Manny’s Buckhorn Tavern – #7 in America

Buckhorn Burger

Buckhorn Burger

You wouldn’t expect that this small nondescript building in the middle of nowhere would have one of the best burgers in the country according to GQ and the New York times. Its one of those places that if you didn’t know it was there you’d just pass on by without giving it a second glance, it doesn’t help that just across the street is the legendary Owl Bar that has its own top ten nationwide rankings. I have to admit that I’ve not noticed it in the last several hundred times I’ve passed through San Antonio, New Mexico and this was the first time I’ve stopped here. I usually only stop for the spectacular fudge at the filling station, you better not need gas after dark or on sundays though its closed.

This time there was no missing the old house/tavern, it was packed with more than a dozen Harleys, Bosque Del Apache vehicles and beat up old ranch trucks outside, it was hard finding a place to park. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited until a Ruidoso rally when lots of other bikers would be going through to finally decide to try out Manny’s. First thing you notice is the rather bold statement on the door and you think they must have a lot of balls to put up a sign like that with the Owl just footsteps away, no way the food out of a little shack could be that good. We waited and waited and waited some more, about 45 mins total. First for a place to sit and then another half hour for the burgers to arrive, luckily our waiter was highly entertaining and there was plenty of odd decor items to keep us occupied. How many places do you know of that have a stuffed Cougar next to the tables in the back?

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I need a new bike

Triumph Pinstriping

Triumph Pinstriping

No, I dont think I’ll ever get rid of the Star. I need a new bike if only to go with this I bought on EBay. I know this isnt technically a bike related part to be buying but it was just too awesome to pass up. I love the pinstriping on this and its even in my color.

One of these days I’ll get a Triumph, I havent decided which yet. I like the light offroadability of the new Scramblers and if I do wind up getting a place out near Madrid, I will need something like that just to get down the driveway. I also like the looks of the Thruxton and the original cafed bikes. hard choices.

I also got this one, it has a black background with white speckles in it where the paint didnt stick.  Its a cool effect I wonder how its done. The pinstriping is fantastic, this will be a great addition to my future garage or game room.

I’m running out of room for all this stuff LOL. However, when I eventually get my house I’ll already have all the decorations for it heh.

Tim the drunken sailor

No offense to sailors, most I know would never get wasted and go crazy with money, mostly because they’re eternally broke, lol. I feel like I’ve been spending money like its going out of style. OEM parts from one place, new pipes from Shane at sscustomcycle.com, and carb screws and stuff from Ziv, and jacket and upgrades from yet another place. Some artwork from EBay and night sky AIS removal plugs also. I’ve never spent this much or bought this much stuff all at once ever. I’m definitely trying to do my part to bail out the economy.

His insurance decided that based on the police report they’d accept liability on friday. I got the check in yesterday, talk about fast service. I’ve never gotten anything that quickly to my PO Box. Just in time for my credit card bills too, so I can pay this stuff off before I acrew intrest on it.

Shane contacted me and said he could get the pipes in 4 days and then hed send them on to me, sweet! You have no idea how long I’d been waiting to get those on. I tried ordering last year only to find out that RoadHouse had been bought and the other company was building more of the pipes that sold and less of the 650 pipes. They had been on backorder for 3 months and one of the vendors gave me his contact number for them, and the secretary then forwarded me onto the head guy on the shop floor with all the machining noises in the background, how cool is that? The shop guy told me they werent expecting to run another batch of the 650 pipes until sometime in November, and this was maybe the beginning of October at the time. Its majorly annoying to have a huge purchase waiting to go through on one of your cards at potentially any day that could take you over the limit, I’d rather they just billed me right away and sent the parts later you know so its easier for me to budget. Two years I’ve been drooling over those pipes as they’ve been pulled from nearly every online vendor, I didnt think I’d ever get a set. I am so stoked.

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Police Report

Its about time! Finally got my hands on the police report for the accident. Turns out the kid was 16! and his little brother for a passenger was 13. There should be a law! Actually I thought there already was a law in New Mexico that drivers that young were on a provisional license or permit and could only drive with another licensed driver in the car and not after dark or something. If there isnt, well there should be. Never mind that I got my license when I was 14, do I sound old? heh.

Judging by what the report says theres no way the other party could get out of this one or try fighting it. His story nearly matches mine word for word, well at least he was honest.

Heres a snippet with names erased to protect the guilty. Click for more legible full size copy

Police Report

Police Report

They also had this picture for the last page. Not entirely accurate, collision occurred in the right of the lane near the shoulder area, but close enough to get the general idea.

Accident depiction

Accident depiction

I’ve called State Farm again, they are still waiting to get ahold of the other party. Supposedly they’ve called them like 12 times and sent letters and never gotten a response. They were also waiting on the police report to proceed without them. Luckily I have a copy! so they just had me fax them mine so they can get on this sooner.

Things are starting to looking up. I hope I’m not waiting on a payout too long, I’m going to start ordering stuff now so I’m not waiting months for parts I need like has happened before and be stuck come July when we’re supposed to be leaving for the big trip.

X-Rays

My ankle was killing me this morning. The insurance is paying for medical, and somehow they calculate pain and suffering from medical expenses and lost wages so I might as well get it checked out.

Went to urgent care around 9:20 and the parking lot was a ghost town, they dont open till 10 on saterday? Sorry, you arent allowed to get sick on the weekends.

To kill time I went looking for some breakfast and found the Over Easy Cafe hidden in a nook around the corner, sounds like my kind of place. They have fabulous omelets, can get them smothered with chile or incorporated with chile. Great atmosphere, the guy at the register seemed to know everyone who came in by first name and was happy to talk to you if he didnt. Like a breakfast version of Cheers, I will be back.
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Crash!

Fender Damage

Fender Damage

Well I became another statistic. They say there are two types of riders, those who have crashed and those who will. Count me in the other category now, and Cece too. They also say most accidents happen within 5 miles of home and we did happen to be about 3 blocks from her house but about 70 miles from mine, I wonder how that counts. We’d been to the Gathering of the Nations Pow Wow earlier and it was just across the river from where Cece had been pet sitting in the 5 points area. When we were getting ready to go she started getting all geared up to go two miles. It was hot, there was going to be thousands of people inside in the arena and we were going to be walking around for hours possibly so I made her talk off her riding pants so she wouldnt fry later on, this was the first time shes ridden without her armored pants. Oops, lesson learned, from now on always wear all the gear!

Sorry I havent been keeping up with posts of things as they happened guys. Been just a tad preoccupied. No more of the “so nothing postworthy has happened in the last few weeks like say getting hit by a suv?” jokes, I’m working on it heh. I’ll try backdating these to when stuff actually happened.
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The Rally

Veranda by Country Coach

Veranda by Country Coach

Next we went to The Rally, the biggest RV show in the country. RVers had completely filled the Balloon Fiesta grounds and all of the surrounding parks. They estimated 10,000 RVs had come into town for this event from all across the US and Canada. The Lujan building with the indoor vendors was jam packed with retirees not in any particular hurry to move anywhere. People were packed in there like sardines, all of the electric wheelchairs and such weren’t helping any. I don’t know what the max occupancy was for those buildings but I’m sure we were way over it. I’m never going to complain that those car and bike shows they have there are too crowded again.

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