| Author | Message | ||
     F_skinner |
Jack, it was truly a pleasure to meet you and ride the rain and cold with you. See you next year. | ||
| Essmjay |
Jack- what sort of adventures did you have on the long trek home? Glad you made it safe. Shane | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Chapter Six - Well Met In Buena Vista After toasting our good fortune two or three times, we decided to roll a mile down the road and see what sort of S2 riff-raff  had turned up. Imagine our surprise when they turned out not to be riff-raff at all, but Gentleman (and Lady) Vagabonds!    A rainbow assortment of S2s were represented and even a few "fellow travelers" of other models of Buell.  Here Denny puts on his best "recruitment face"  and passes out HellBuellies stickers to the unsuspecting.  It's a bit chilly, but the warmth of the company (as well as a spot of Glenlivet) keeps everyone plenty comfortable.  Approaching my S2...  I notice that someone has given it's saddlebags a paint job when I wasn't looking!   Turns out it was okay, though, as the artist was God and he was only practicing on my bike...  Sunset over the Rockies, surrounded by the coolest motorcycles I know of and the people who share the knowledge of their uniqueness. What could be better? Well, time to hit the hay.  It's been a big day and I'm goin' riding with all this gorgeous iron (and fiberglass) tomorrow!  Sweet Dreams, HellBuelly J | ||
| Court |
GREAT reading! Jvv _ Tell Woz "howdy". I'd love to see him . . what an amazing guy and a special person. Court | ||
| F_skinner |
And then the cops showed up. Of course it is not really a party until they do. | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Howdy y'all, I'm back. Had a loss in our family that I've been trying to deal with. Little Lucy Lou (also known occasionally as Lucyfer  ) is gone, leaving a small hole in my heart.  She was easily the sweetest "little" dog I've ever known...  Here is a photo, un-retouched except to digitally lighten it, of Lucy using her "You wiil now go to the kitchen and get me a treat" hypnotic stare.  VERY effective, it was.  Anyway, she's gone and to add insult to injury, when I was preparing her final resting place, I cut my television/telephone/internet feed that some brainiac had buried 'bout an inch from the surface. One thing for sure; if there's a heaven for dogs, this one made it. | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
We now return to our regularly scheduled program... Yeah, I thought our goose was cooked when the police car pulled in and stopped in front of our beer-and-scotch-guzzling group. Fortunately, it seemed that he was looking for the source of a loud "bang" we'd all heard a few minutes previous. Anyway, everybody went to bed and then, a few hours later, woke up and got ready to ride. Here's the groggy multitude, milling about and prepping to head out.  Non-S2s were ostracized and forced to park on the other side of the parking lot...  (not really; I think I speak for everyone when I say that we were very glad to have ALL of the riders that came to the event. They just parked over there by coincidence...or did they...) Here, da Bomb and Smoke (Smokebomb? They should form a band! ) admire Black Bart's White S2...  ...with very good reason! Gorgeous bike!  Still getting ready...I believe "like herding kittens", is the phrase Frank used.  Man Down! ...oh, no, it's just Dan from NRHS (one of the sponsor's of the Gathering) chasing down a recalcitrant oil leak that developed on his ultra hot-rodded S2.  The Nazgul is ready and raring to go, complete with tankbag and, ominously, no rain gear in sight. You did say it wasn't going to rain today, didn't you Frank?  SportyEric arrives,sans sporty, gassed (the bike, not Eric) and ready .  Here's a quick look at where all these fine Buellers have travelled from to come ride the awesome roads on Colorado and hang with their S2 bretheren:  Kansas  Colorado  Colorado  Arizona  California  British Columbia  Louisiana  New Mexico  New York  Texas  Washington Looks like Dan has solved his oil leak and our local guides have arrived (on Triumphs?!!  We gotta edumacate these poor rural folk on what they're missing by not riding a Buell! Frank! Get right on that!). Just kidding; our guides were awesome and terrific riders to boot. I got nuthin' 'gainst them Limey bastard bikes. Everybody saddle up! We're heading out! Yeeeehah!  Thought you were gonna see some action shots tonight didn't you? Hah! I'll save that for tommorow; same Buell time, same Buell channel. HellBuelly J | ||
| F_skinner |
Jay, sorry about your pup. I have had that happen more times than I care to remember. It seems it gets harder the older I get. Great pictures as always. What a great time and the high point of my time as a Buell owner. | ||
| Court |
Jay: I am very sorry to hear about Lucy. Vickie and I are "dog people" and know what you are going through. Our thoughts are with you. Great photos of the S2. Court | ||
| Road_thing |
Jay: Add my condolences to those expressed above. We had to put Olivia down about a month ago--we're not over it yet. tom | ||
| Bartimus |
Jay, Sorry to hear about Lucy, that was quite a commanding stare she had. Great pics, and a wonderful commentary! | ||
| Gowindward |
Jay, Sorry about the pup. I know that sure hurts! Loren | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Thanks for the kind words y'all. Lucy was a bit of a "special child", deaf and genetically over-bred, but she had 11 good years with people who loved her and took good care of her. It's never those who are gone that we need feel sorrow for, it's those left behind. Jay | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Now! On with our Saturday group ride. Aaaaaaaannnnnd, they're off! Kim and Cheryl taking us up 24 toward Leadville:  More 24.  More 24...Ho hum...  Actually 24 isn't bad between Buena Vista and Leadville. Debbie got a lot of good shots of individual riders and Bad Bart scared the crap out of the slow poke Harley riders! After Leadville, (where Bear's wife Cheryl used to run a B&B in a cool old Victorian) we made a stop at Camp Hale (now mostly just fields) where the 10th Mountain Division trained.    My dad also did some training here back in the '50's. I like this warning from CampHale.org: STAY ALERT! Never touch, move, or remove any suspicious items you encounter on or in the ground. Mark the area if possible and contact the U.S. Forest Service at xxx-xxx-xxxx or the Eagle County Sheriffs Department at xxx-xxx-xxxx.   Thanks for warning us Frank! (he figured if we were all blown up, there'd be more S2s for him, the sneaky bastard.  ).   JVV and BuffaloBolt jockeying for best position to take a group shot:  Here's my version:  Who's that maniac frantically waving?  'Nother view:  Uhhhhh, Dan, where the hell is your gas tank?!!   Oh well, just typical S2 "preventive maintenance".   Onward and upward! From this point on, 24 rocks until you hit the Interstate. Bart rode on ahead and set up to get some action shots on this section, which you've already seen earlier in this thread. The interstate sucks, but not very hard or for very long, and then you get to... ...Frisco, where they just happen to be having a gigantic Bar-B-Q cook-off!  Needless to say, we all ate like we owned the King Ranch (except poor Jaci, who is vegetarian. She was either tortured or terribly tempted by the aromas wafting through town). Also, needless to say, bathrooms were at a premium!   I wandered down some of the side streets where the competitors were smoking their "competition meats". These were not for sale, but a sweet-talkin' Son of Texas might just get a taste or two...  After an hour, we all met back at the bikes, our suspensions groaning in protest at the added weight they now had to carry (sorry Frank. Your picture just happened to be next!).   Lynn says, "Let's head up to Loveland Pass", at least it sounded like that. It's hard to hear in the full-face helmets!  Everybody fires up and off we go, innocent as lambs.  Beautiful scenery; clouds starting to look a l'il ominous...  Up on Loveland Pass:    NICE!  Does this S2 make me look fat?  (no, I think it's the 9 pounds of bar-b-que under your jacket...) I like-a de twisties!  You think the weather's gonna hold?  Uhhhhhhhhh.....   Back down Loveland and over to 9, then the heaven's let loose. 9 is a terrific road; very twisty as it goes over the _________ Pass (forgot name), but in a downpour, you just can't get that lean angle.  I was right behind Lynn, who was doing very well on her Nightster, but she finally pulled over to warm up a bit. I kept going and saw several folks stopped here and there. I'm with Bart that the rain was not such a big deal (even though I had carefully placed my rain gear at the foot of my bed and just as carefully left it there, warm and dry  ), but soaking wet and 45 degrees is not as pleasant as some might think. I ran across Dan and Cil stopped and poor Cil looking like a popsicle!  However, Buell headers make excellent hand warmers, even if they do contribute to the shrinking of the Arctic ice shelf.   More drowned rats...  Fortunately, everyone swam back to safety in Buena Vista. Even more fortunately, Cheryl had an old-timey hairdryer like my mom used to have (you know, the flat, round, spaceship-looking ones with the long translucent flexible tube that goes to a plastic cap? Betcha hadn't thought 'bout those in a long time...or maybe ever!), which was perfect to stick in my sodden boots. They were dry the next morning!  Anyway, I went back to base, dried off, changed and headed with Denny back to the restaurant for the evening's S2-vities. To be continued after I sleep, wake up, shower, eat, work, eat some more, work some more, come home, eat some more, play with my son, and get him in bed.  HellBuelly J | ||
| Smoke |
really enjoying the pics!! thx Jay. tim | ||
| Essmjay |
Great story and pictures Jay. This will be great next winter, to come back and read while the wind and rain is howling through the trees. shane | ||
| Gowindward |
Jay, thanks for taking us all back through the good times again. Loren | ||
| Ebutch |
James: Got new Gustafsson touring 4" over medium smoke shield today.Hope to drill and mount Thursday.My hip needs rebuilding that can stop things.But can,t wait!!!I really like the looks of it! Thanks for help!  | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Cool Butch! I gotta get another one 'cuz mine's got a big frickin' crack in it! I think I have a stock height one somewhere I can use in the meantime... HellBuelly J | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Just a quickie tonight; I gotta get to bed. You've already seen most of this stuff anyway from others. The group in front of the host restaurant, all toasty warm and dry. Notice the pavement drying right in front of our eyes!   Now just the S-tooligans:  It's odd but, looking into Bart's ear, I swear I can see Frank on the other side of him. Here I am trying to figure out my HellBuelly gang signs. Smoke's already got it going on:  Got it! Looks like Bart's a gang member of some sort also (Apache? Navajo? Bugs Bunny?)  Look at those gorgeous bikes! Notice how clean they can become by riding in the driving rain! Notice how their owners add absolutely nothing to their loveliness!   Cool buellswag:  More swag and trophies:  Man! I wish this was a prize! I'd win it even if I had to eliminate all other competitors!    Looks like Denny got a job here as a waiter. "Would you like fries with that?"  Everybody chowed down. Good food and excellent company!  Oh, NOW the sun decides to come out!  Stupid shadow ruined an otherwise great pic.  Frank reveals the TRUE reason we're all here; "It was Professor Plum, in the Conservatory, with the Candlestick!"   Actually he gave a great talk, as did Rex, and then a lot of cool prizes and awards (I think they just gave me and the Nazgul the People's Choice award out of pity because they left my ticket out of the prize drawing bucket  ). One more shot of some Buelltiful bikes 'fore I go to bed.  I had a great time as did, I think, everyone. On tap for tommorow: The Lone Ranger! G'night! HellBuelly J | ||
| Ebutch |
Thanks for pics and stories some of this reminds me of girly books of the 50s ,35 centers ,blacked out privits.  | ||
| Ebutch |
Once in 1998 I seen two S2ts together in a show -room one was to be mine!  | ||
| Bartimus |
Jay, Once again great commentary! I was LMAO reading through the whole section, You should become a story-teller! (I need to practice those gang signs) Thanks again, and see y'all next year in TEXAS!  | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
I'm back! Boy! I feel like I've slept for a week! What? It's Wednesday the 22nd? Man! That Nyquil kicks a$$!  Chapter 10 - Getting to Know Buena Vista First, here's one for Butch.  It is in keeping with the general theme because it was painted by Al Buell.  Now, on Sunday I decided to sleep in. I woke up long enough to wave goodbye to Denny, Bear, Cheryl and some friends as the headed out on a ride of their own, then went back to sleep. 'Round 'noon, I decided to bestir myself and get some breakfa...er...lunch, then explore the area in and around "Byooney", as the natives call it. Here is a cool rock formation. It kinda looks like it wants to be Mount Rushmore, but with Cabbage Patch Dolls instead of presidents.   This whole area of Colorado was a big mining area back in the late 1800's/early 1900's and had lots of railroad lines running through it. Some of them ran through some tunnels that looked like.... this!    Now the rail line runs beside the river and you can ride through them. Here's another cool rock formation. The guy on top is thinking that he may have made a mistake when he put his mail box up here.  Here's a picture of the Nazgul with the Collegiate Peaks in the background...  ...and here's one without the freakin' tankbag so much in the way. Yeeesh!  Now I'm turning back and heading into town:  More cool rocks:  Picture of car in tunnel for scale:  Here's the S2 showing you the present rail line and the Arkansas river:  ...and here he is hogging the whole photo, just 'cuz he thinks he's so pretty:  and one more for the hell of it:  Can you believe the telephone company blew up this beautiful mountain just so their 'phone lines wouldn't have to climb a hill?  | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Back in Buena Vista, I run across this nice old building that has a sign proclaiming the existence of a model railroad society. My 3-year-old loves toy trains (and my Grandfather Howze was a career railroad man on the Fort Worth and Denver) so I stopped.  Turns out it was the old county courthouse and had been converted into a museum:  Built in the 1880s, it is "dedicated to justice".  Here's a l'il blurb, courtesy of fourteeners.net, of what sort of neighborhood surrounded it and how the county records were acquired: "The town was noted for its wild and wooly early mining and railroad inhabitants and the railroads accompanying low types of people. It is said there were once 32 saloons, many dance-halls, and no churches. The "Palace Manor", a bordello operated by "Coch-eyed Liz", (Elizabeth Marshall), a Buena Vista's madam who married the local plumber, Alphonse "Foosy" Enderline and became a "respectable" woman, is located only two doors west of the courthouse on Main Street. Both "Liz" and "Foosy" are buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, surrounded by a fence made with "Plumber's Pipe." In 1880, Buena Vista became the county seat and Granite residents refused to allow the records to be removed from their court house. Some impatient citizens of Buena Vista commandeered a railroad engine and flatcar and went up to Granite in the dark of night, kicked in the courthouse door and stole the records and all furniture that was not securely fastened to the floor. It is said they even took the pot-belly heat stove, with embers still in it. The records were stored in various Buena Vista business safes until the new court house at the east end of Main Street was built."  Sounds like a bunch of damn hooligans! No wonder Frank chose this place for the inaugural S2 rally! I walked inside and was met in the entry foyer by Methuselah's older brother, who proceeded to fleece me of my last $5.00 and then gave me the "5-dollar-tour". First ('cause it's the most important) the Train Room! One whole room was filled with an accurate depiction of the railroads/towns of Buena Vista, Leadville and Salida.  Here are the tunnels I was in a few miles back:  Cool round table:  Here's the actual building I was standing in!  I peeked in the window, but all I could see was the back of "someone's" head, so I don't know if it was really me or not (cue Rod Serling). Uno mas:  After the county seat moved, the building was converted into a school for a while. These desks were actually used up into the 1970s!    Lots of other great historical "old west" stuff in here too!             This generator used to power all the streetlights in town:  Denny will like this one. Ask him why sometime!  I finally decided to mosey along on my journey, so I told the old guy "happy Father's Day" (he said he didn't have any kids though)  and left. It had rained lightly while I was inside, but I shook off my "seat wooly" and hopped on. I know that some of the attendees were disappointed that Court was unable to make it to the rally, but imagine the chagrin felt by the townspeople of Buena Vista when they heard the bad news. They had even named a street in his honor!  Oddly enough, this ran right by the west side of the old courthouse. Quite a coincidence!  Heading back through town, I'm feeling a bit thirsty, so I look around for a resting place. Hmmmm. I wonder if this guy voted for Obama?   Oh well he's closed (probably picking up his stimulus package). I'll pick up something somewhere else... Tomorrow (or maybe next week?), The journey of discovery continues: Cottonwood Pass! | ||
| Ebutch |
Still remember our old phone #157 please+ I used to have a Home -Comfort kittchin stove.Just got Gus 6" 0ver-touring shield.After I drill and mount maybe cut down 2" well see .Maybe thats why Buells are Sexy bikes.Great post HelBuelly!!!!! Oh and how many miles on S2 todate. (Message edited by ebutch on July 23, 2009) | ||
| Smoke |
frank, thanks for the surprise commemorative!! totally unexpected and appreciated. tim | ||
| F_skinner |
Your welcome and thanks for making it a special event. See you next year Tim. Frank | ||
| F_skinner |
BTW: The design and production of the timing cover was done by our own Essmjay.  | ||
| Court |
My timing covered arrived also and it is a true piece of art . . . . the looks are gorgeous as is the workmanship. Thank you very much. I love the picture of that old switchboard. As a kid I was a consummate tinkerer and my neighbor, Ralph Burroughs, and I used to buy them for 5$ a piece from the surplus store and use them for projects. Great memories. |
