My Motorcycles Over the Years

Whoa! First "bike" I had. A Honda Cub 50. I have a black & white pic of me on it somewhere, but this is all I've got right now. Step-thru frame...nasty! A couple friends and I had these monsters. We took off the beige "wings" and removed the muffler's baffles. We thought we were terrorizing the populace. Pitiful little bike, but you gotta start somewhere. Nowadays, folks start out on a Hayabusa and die real quickly. We learned on small ones and worked our way up.

Again, this isn't my bike, but I can't locate the one pic I know I have. Will replace these first 2 with my shots when I locate them. Black and gold Yamaha 250. Bought used. Mine had a ridiculously high sissy bar. 2-stroke screamer. I raced this mutha in a field where we'd built a racetrack for dirt bikes! Many times I'd ride home with turn signals hanging by the wires after dumping it in a turn. But I hung with those dirt bikers! Everybody knew that bike 'cause I'd also take it up the huge hills when they were building the new interstate.

Next up is my beautiful '74 Kawasaki 500 Triple. A two-stroke, 3 cylinder rocket with no suspension and weak brakes. Made to go really fast in a straight line. Pictured is me in my wild days and mom on the bike. I absolutely loved this bike. Wish I had it now. A power company employee caught up with me one afternoon and told me he'd seen me scream by beneath him as he worked on a power line earlier in the day. He wanted to buy the bike right then. And he offered me enough that I parted with it. Like I said, I wish I had it now. Beautiful styling and a crazy fast engine.

The Kaw 750 Triple to the left is exactly like the one that a good friend was killed on. I rode it once and it was dangerous...in a good way. FAST!!! Poor ol' Mike was riding without a helmet, though, when he left the road and hit a tree.

On to my Yamaha 750 Special. Another favorite. Also a triple, but a 4-stroke with shaft drive. Took my first long trip (to Oklahoma, Texas, etc.) on this baby. Had it for years and years. When my wife and I lived in the sticks in Bullock County, I rode it 45 miles to school at Troy State University for 9 months. She and I took it to the Smokies and camped out and then rode on to see a friend in North Carolina. Eventually I slapped a good ol' Vetter Windjammer on it 'cause I was riding so many long rides. That fairing didn't add to the bike's aesthetics at all, but it served its purpose. The aforementioned Mike bought this bike from me and I bought it back a year later.

Here's my oldest son and me with my '79 Suzuki GS850G. I hadn't bought a used bike since the Yamaha 250, but I got this one in Birmingham and thought it was a diamond in the rough. Lotsa rust and wear on it when I got ahold of it, but I had it looking brand new in no time. Excellent machine. Thoroughly enjoyed this one, but didn't keep it long. The boys were young and money was short. Plus, I wanted to be around to see them grow up!


I took the pic below at the farm we lived on in Posey's Crossroads, AL.

I didn't own a bike for quite a while. As the boys grew up and I worked 2 jobs at times, money was tight and time was short. Working a bar job for extra cash also meant too many "extracurricular" activities, so bikes had to wait. My current wife then suggested I should get a bike. WHAT?! A wife suggesting a husband buy a motorcycle?! Has she got insurance on me that I'm unaware of? Who cares?! Yeeha!!! Rushed over to a friend's dealership and plopped down the money for a new Suzuki Volusia, now called a C50. The pic above is of a girl who owned a bar/restaurant in Selma.

The Volusia (at left)was a very good bike. Just a little underpowered. When I was offered virtually what I'd paid for it, I sold it after a year of riding. On the way home after delivering the bike to its new owner, I saw a motorcycle parked at a bank. It was one of those, "Holy crap! What is that?!" moments. i stopped, tracked down the owner and asked him about the bike. It was a black Honda VTX1800. BEEYOOTEEFUL!!!

I had to have one. A couple days later, en route to see my wife's parents, I stopped at a dealership and inquired about a 1300. I'd read enough by this point to realize I didn't need the 1800. Couldn't afford it anyway. The owner took me in the back and showed me a black 1300S in the crate. He told me he'd have it assembled for me to test ride that afternoon.

My wife suggested that I not tell them that day that I wanted it. I rode it, fell in love with it, walked back in the shop and said, "Service it. I'll be back Tuesday to pick it up." Sorry, honey.

Honda VTX1300S - packed and ready to roll to North Carolina in '06. She now has over 47,000 miles on her. I may keep this one forever.

On the Gee's Bend Ferry in west Alabama.

My oldest son and me with our bikes.

My older son on some of his bikes. He's a helluva rider. A bit rough on the machines though.

My Top Ten as of This Morning

1 - Texas
2 - Alabama
3 - Iowa
4 - Florida
5 - USC
6 - Cincy
7 - TCU
8 - LSU
9 - Oregon
10 - Ga Tech/Penn State/Boise St/Oklahoma (tie)


Do I think Texas or Iowa (or Florida, for that matter) would beat Alabama? No. They all have weaknesses. But so does the Tide. There is no overpowering, dominant team this year. Texas can't run the ball a lick. Iowa hasn't played anybody and their QB turns the ball over too much. Florida's offense is crippled by their inability to pass downfield. I predicted elsewhere that Mississippi State could beat Florida (man, did I catch some hell!) and they damn near did it. Alabama has a similar situation in that they no longer force defenses to respect their passing game. Defenses load up to stop the run and McElroy isn't able to stretch the D.

It's gonna get really interesting the next few weeks.

As far as Bama's win, I still haven't completely recovered. A couple aspirin and two very nice nurses at the local hospital helped after my heart attack, but I'm still convalescing.

The shoulda lost talk, though is strange to me. We were up 12-3 with about 3 minutes left. Mark Ingram, who had never fumbled since dropping a rattle at age 4, had the ball ripped loose. The Alabama defense then allowed their first TD in 3 weeks. Next, whilst I cowered in a closet, the Vols recovered an onside kick that everybody on earth knew was coming. Then Terence Cody asserted every ounce of energy left in his mammoth body and blocked his second FG attempt of the day.

In my mind, Bama shouldn't have lost the game. Blocking field goals is part of the game, is it not? They busted their asses and won. And knew they would win it...even as Tennessee lined up for that kick. The players said they had no doubt that FG wouldn't go through. Not that that means shit. Julio Jones gets so high on blocks, it's a wonder any FG gets up. But for Cody to penetrate as far as he did...wow. Amazing.

The Birmingham News headline was a classic on Sunday: GOOD OL' ROCKY BLOCK.

Tampa October 09

Due to my aversion to putting pics of my kids or their kids online, I wil not be exhibiting any of the pics of my gorgeous granddaughter, nor her beautiful mother, or even her lovely dad. If you know me and I haven't sent you some pics of them...and you actually would like to see them...let me know and I'll email them to you.

Now the "safe" stuff:

Day one I've already discussed: the nasty sewage smell in Tuskegee, the ride itself, the searing Florida heat.
We always gravitate to the Green Iguana restaurants. This trip, we hit the one located in Ybor City, which is the entertainment/shopping/cigar store area of downtown Tampa.

We had a great time with the baby. She never whined a bit, while twins at the table next to us howled. The Iguana serves some really tasty food. My salmon (left) was excellent and the kids enjoyed their meals, too. Dear god...are blogs supposed to be this boring?!


Sure would have liked to hung around and seen Trower at the Ritz. Cool looking theater.









These signs were everywhere. Tampa is very gay-friendly, I guess.







Crappy touristy shot.











'nuther 'un.





Had a blast keeping the baby from noon to 9 on Saturday. She didn't poop once! I coulda dealt with it, but it was nice to not have to. Saturday couldn't have been any better a day: got to spend lotsa time with my granddaughter, the Crimson Tide beat Mississippi, Arkansas knocked off Auburn, then LSU-Florida that night. Excellent day.

My son and I ate at another Green Iguana (we must like that place) on Sunday and watched the pitiful Bucs get their asses stomped by the Eagles. Ate a ton of wings and a good burger. Met Sanovia, a 6 foot chick who was pretty crazy...even by my standards. We had a great time talking with her and her friends. She assumed I was a country music fan because I'm from Alabama. Stereotyping sucks.

Tuesday was leaving day. I hated it. May have to move down there.

Got to Homassasa Springs or somewhere along there and decided to go see the Ted Williams museum. I figured I was gonna get some cool pics to blow y'all away with. I mean it's Ted Williams! Took the road to Lecanto and pulled up to a bank with a Ted Williams Museum sign. Odd.


Ted looked pretty lonely. I think Lecanto was where he dropped anchor and retired. Now he's decapitated and frozen in a lab in Arizona. Lecanto wasn't that great, but, considering Ted's current status, it ain't that bad a place.



A guy in the lot waiting for the bank to open told me the museum had been moved to Tampa, at the Rays' stadium. All the memorabilia is in Tampa...where I'd spent the last 4 days! A guy in the bank saw my head drop and he opened the doors

and let me in to shoot pics of the only two items remaining there. Two murals. Damn. Here's one of 'em:








Cross City. Cypress Inn. Ate too many collards and pork strips (odd little bastards they were...but damn tasty). About an hour and a half later the populace of Quincy, FL suffered because of this meal. I destroyed a restroom at a convenience store. Friendly tip: avoid Quincy for oh...maybe a month or so. However, in spite of the resulting apocalyptic event, if you're ever on Hwy 19, and need an inexpensive GOOD meal, stop at the Cypress Inn Restaurant. $7.00 and everything was damn good. Just be prepared to stop again not too far down the road.

A group of old guys was hanging around the convenience store parking lot. One of them stopped me and asked if I was coming down to the big Harley get together in Tallahassee. Told him no and that my bike was a Honda. He was stunned. Earlier, in one of the little towns I cruise through on 19, a guy at a light asked me if I was on an Indian. Damn I'm glad I ride a dependable Honda, rather than either of those two manufacturers' machines!


Inside the restaurant and my view of my trusty steed.

















The aforementioned restroom that I annihilated. Rather than the standard bathroom wall graffiti fare (Rosie gives great **** 867-5309), a football fan had left the local high school coach a suggestion.








Played tag with an FSU coed for a long time on 19 and then 27 into Tallahassee. Wandered around Tally a while just to slow things down. Then hit I-10 (only interstate I took on the trip...hate 'em on the bike) to Blountstown. Decided to take some backroads into Dothan, Alabama, then bring it on home.

Missed a great photo op around Malone or Cottonwood. To my left, two red tractors were discing a field. One coming toward me, one going away. As I went past, my bike startled a gaggle of those white birds that hang around cows. It stuck with me for a long way. The birds all up in front of the tractors...oh shit...anyway, it was very cool looking to me.

Wanted to ask a local how this community got its name, but being this close to home, I just kept boogiein'. Beat the rain and the cool weather and rolled into the driveway about 5:30 Tuesday, the 13th. Another excellent ride. And another shitty blog post.

Bama QB Update

Greg McElroy has regressed badly the last two weeks. Whereas he had been looking to his 2nd and 3rd receivers, he now locks on to Julio Jones and, by god, if he's triple-covered, he's still gonna force the ball in there. And where Mac had pulled the ball down and scrambled, he now seems panicky and tosses it straight to a defender. Uh, Greg, Colin Peek is still around, too, ya' know? Granted, he has faced much better defensive teams the last two weeks, but, if he and Coach McElwain don't straighten things out, the Tide could easily lose to Tennessee this Saturday and to anyone else on the schedule (other than Chattanooga).

To clarify my McElroy post's intentions: I never said he was or should be a Heisman candidate. I said that if Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen is a Heisman candidate, then McElroy should be as well. It was a comparison of QB stats at a certain point. McElroy could turn things around and finish the year with great stats. Even if he were to finish with a better QB efficiency rating than Clausen, I would still not think of him as a Heisman type player...unless he throws 50 TD passes with 0 interceptions the rest of the way.

I really don't care if any Bama player ever wins the Heisman, but,, if he continues racking up yards like he has, you couldn't ask for a more deserving kid than Mark Ingram. And what a polite, well-spoken guy he is. He goes overboard to be friendly and polite to interviewers. He is definitely not friendly or polite to tacklers. What a load to bring down!

And the coolest thing is, Trent Richardson runs just as hard. Damn, we got some running backs!

Florida and Murderers

Some observations from my trip:

1 - Lotsa golf carts down there.
2 - Lotsa roofing company billboards. Apparently a lot of roofs (rooves? ) become airborne.
3 - Lotsa skanky women with lotsa tattoos.
4 - Lotsa gorgeous women with brown bods.
5 - Lotsa Spanish spoken. I enjoyed it in the stores and restaurants.
6 - Lotsa HEAT and HUMIDITY. Jesus H. Christ! It's October...gimme a break. Record highs all over the place.
7 - Lotsa people gettin' early dirtnaps. You can't ride or drive a mile without coming upon a locale where there was a famous slaughter. Lake City, Orlando, Tallahassee, Homasassa Springs, Gainesville...I mean it never ends. Either some fuckwad offs 4 to 5 women (Ted Bundy, Danny Rolling) or rapes and kills a little girl (Bundy and the old neighbor dude in Homasassa) or a mom offs her kid (Anthony case in Orlando), or a kid is missing and presumed dead (Haleigh Cummings).

Shit, if not for Florida, Nancy Grace would have no reason to live.

I may add to this as my memory returns.

Here's the Chiefland High School photo I mentioned earlier:

Check the years. Quite a dynasty they got going!

The Ride to Tampa

10/8 Left home around 6:15. As I entered Tuskegee, the day looked to be a good one. Approaching my turn at 29 to head to Union Springs, I got a whiff of something godawful. A sewage treatment plant employee would have immediately identified the stench: raw sewage. The right lane a block south of the town square was awash in human waste. The odor was nasty as hell and I made sure to keep my tires out of the wet lane. Oh well, the day was gonna get much better than this, no doubt. And it did.

From Union Springs to Eufaula, there were plenty of signs that somebody is spending a bit o' federal stimulus money. There is a lot of road work going on, folks. No need to doubt that your tax dollars are being spent. Lotsa nice, smooth new asphalt and pretty bright yellow paint being applied in east Alabama. Very nice ride east.

As I rode through Eufaula, which is always enjoyable, I decided I wouldn't mind living there. What a beautiful, but too short, ride under the overhanging trees and betwixt the rows of incredible old homes. Hard not to veer off and wreck the bike as I stared at beautiful house after beautiful house. On to a road I'd wanted to take previously, but never had: 82 east into Georgia. Cuthbert had some weird homes and a very strange-looking school, Andrew College (left). Wanted to shoot my own pics, but needed to haul ass. On through Dawson and into Albany, where it just so happened, my wonderful, sweet mom-in-law was attending a funeral yesterday. Didn't see her, but thought about her. South of Albany, lots more fed bucks at work...road work for miles.

When I left home yesterday morning, my leather jacket was feeling just right. I had all the vents open and just enough cool breeze was blowing through. Couldn't have been more comfortable. As I made ground southward and the hours went by, I knew my attire might become a bit of a problem. Note to self: Uh, dumbass...you're riding in FLORIDUH. Just south of Monticello, I scarfed down some wings and tea and relaxed for a while. There was a lot of bitchin' and moanin' in the Tallahassee Democrat about ol' Bobby Bowden. Speaking of old...my old body was starting to feel the miles. Actually I was hurtin'. But the brief rest did wonders and when I got back on the bike, all was good in the world.

When I got to Chiefland, I couldn't help but smile at the high school's sign. So I looped back around, parked in the school lot, and got a pic. I'll add it later. Signs all around the lot prohibited trespassing and warned creepy old guys on bikes to stay away from the local kids. I thought about how this must look to the school security personnel: old guy, black jacket, black helmet, school is close to letting out, guy's got his camera out, out of state tag on bike...this can't be good. As I sat on the bike, I made a call to a friend who I knew would be able to find me a good local attorney quickly if need be. Yeap wehat! I gotta roll. So on down Hwy 19 I headed.

More than a few pteradactyl-sized bugs slammed into my faceshield after I got back up to cruising speed. Not full-grown pteradactyls...more like infant-sized ones with a wingspan of two to three feet. Healthy suckers that bang off your shield sounding like bullet impacts. I hadn't seen a drop of rain yet, so I kept the leather jacket on and the rainsuit stowed away. Sometimes my dumbassery boggles meself. According to the Tallahassee paper, record high temps were anticipated. Lovely. As I hit either Cross City or Crystal something or other, here came the rain. I saw a sign for Lecanto, which I had been considering visiting to see the Ted Williams Museum. (Apparently Lecanto is where the baseball great retired). As the rain wasn't coming down hard enough to clean the road, I dipped into a car wash bay to wait it out or to put the rain gear on. I got off the bike to call my son to ask about how far Lecanto was out of my way and to see if it was raining in Tampa. As I paced and talked, I was sweating buckets in that damn jacket. I was quickly edging toward extremely miserable. Josh directed me toward Lecanto and also to the Suncoast Parkway. I pulled back out intending to see Ted's crap, but then saw that I could hit the parkway (a toll road that cuts off many miles of 19, a miserable, trafficlight loaded, strip-mall blighted stretch) really easily from where I was. Sweat-soaked now, I headed toward Brooksville and hopped on the toll road. Once up to speed, I cooled off and dried out somewhat. That toll road is a lifesaver. Rather than dealing with the constant stop and go and bumper to bumper traffic that I experienced my first ride down here, it's miles of open, lightly traveled highway. Worth the combined $3.75 that I had to give up at three toll booths.

The exit I took in Tampa practically spit me out at Josh's house, so here I sit this morning after an evening of playing with the baby, enjoying a good meal, and scarfing down a beer with Josh and Kim and the neighbors. We're going to Ybor City in a few minutes, I think. I know Kim's glad to have Josh at home on a Friday and is anxious to get out and about for a change.

10/10 Here it is Saturday and I'm alone with a gorgeous woman in my arms. Don't fret, Punk...she's six months old and drooling all over my shoulder. Josh and Kim have gone to a friend's wedding at a beach. They'll be back this evening, so I'm babysitting. Yesterday was hot as hell, but a good day nonetheless. Ybor is an interesting area. Lots of cigar places, good food, and more tanned breasts than a man should have to look at. This morning we watched Josh's flag football team win a tough game, 7-6. Arkansas is wrapping up their win over Auburn and THE game of the day is about to begin, so Ryleigh and I have to go back in the other room.

Must remember to write about bevel worshippers. Pictures to be added ASAP.

Ah...the National Press Finally Catches Up

http:espn.go.com

Regaining the edge: McElroy vs. Snead
October 7, 2009 10:18 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

If any quarterback in the SEC has looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate through five games, it’s McElroy.

And if it’s not him, it’s his counterpart down south in the state of Alabama -- Auburn’s Chris Todd.

I won't post the entire column, but suffice it to say, Mr. Low acknowledges the performance of Greg McElroy (to this point) as being far superior to "Heisman worthy" Jevan Snead of Mississippi. Not that I, or anyone else, needed confirmation from ESPN, but McElroy's numbers are damned impressive, especially considering he had never started a college game 'til this season.

There's a long way to go, and again, I could care less about the Heisman Trophy. But, if you look at the numbers, #12 has to be among the candidates. He may fall flat on his face down the road, but I doubt it. The kid is so much more in control of the Tide offense than any QB in years, it's ridiculous.

The Heisman? Who cares. Another national title is all any UA fan wants.

Whoohoo! Drivin n Cryin is Back!

http://www.drivinncryin.com/store/download/

Listen to the clips on the link above. If you enjoy crunchy raw rock 'n roll with a sweet soft southern edge tossed in, you're probably already a Drivin n Cryin fan. Well they're back. Kevn Kinney and Tim Nielsen have returned with the old DnC sound on this new album, (Whatever Happened To)The Great American Bubble Factory.

Be seeing them in either Tuscaloosa, B'ham or Mobile in November. Pics to follow.

Ah, good times...