| Author | Message | ||
     Pdxs3t  |
More photo's please!  Its already winter here in the NW! | ||
| Jerry_haughton  |
soon, my friend. | ||
| Lonitaylor |
I'm enjoying the photos to, keep them coming! Ferris did you get the ones I sent of SPLASH? Yours are way more interesting. Love the farm houses. Like Jim said: "It's winter here in the NW, freaking cold out." Loni Taylor | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
hi Loni! yep, got the pix, thanks!!! this past week has been a bit busier than normal. it's a good thing, tho, as part of that "busy-ness" has been spending a little time with Wade (you remember my "young" son Wade, right? ), who is home on leave from the Army. got to spend the better part of the day with him yesterday, doing the dinner and movie and mall thing. Friday he's back on a plane, back to his duty station in South Korea. all that said, i've got a lot more pix to post. this week will be tough, tho, with the Holiday and family coming over, and working extra long hours trying to make up for some extra time off of late, BUT... ...having survived about 45 Northwest winters i feel your pain, and will get back to this story as soon as possible!!! hi and hugs to you and Chris and the rest of the Rain Forest gang! XOXOXO, FB&D | ||
| Pdxs3t |
Give Wade a big hello from the Corso's! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
consider it done, Jim. DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  this is not far from JB2's house, maybe five minutes, and is an elk preserve of some sort. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  coulda got some great shots - the lighting was great and me 'n JB2 were in the mood - but the resident elk wanted NOTHING to do with us. this big guy - segregated from the rest of the herd - was particularly anxious during our visit, running back and forth along the fence line, glaring at us all the while, and occasionally dragging his antlers along the fence, making a distinctive sound that i took as either a call of distress or a shout of defiance. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  couldn't even come close to this group before they were up, snorting, nervous, anxious. i quickly shot two or three pix at max digital zoom and then left them alone. we only stayed for a minute or two. we certainly wanted to stay longer, but we both felt extremely bad for making the elk so skittish, and the yearning for a noteworthy photo was vastly overpowered by the desire to leave these magnificent creatures in peace. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  just a few minutes from JB2's house the OTHER direction is Lake Placid. look close, across to the far side of the lake, and see the clubhouse for Indiana's oldest continously operated nudist colony. who knew??? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  Dino, meet Mackie. none of the rest of you know, but you're about to. my adopted brother Dino and his wife Charlotte are, among other things, bird people. they rescue birds, they rehabilitate birds, they release birds, they have some pet birds, they LOVE birds. of this i've known for quite a while. only recently did i find out, however, that my adopted brother JB2 and his wife Kim are bird people, too! it's a small, very cool world sometimes. i SHOULD have taken lots more pix of Mackie and Mango, the Bantz's OTHER winged light of their life, and next time i will. in the meantime, here's Mackie getting all dolled up for his BADWEB debut. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  i've known JB2 for a long time, but this is only the second time i've spent any time in his company. it's cool to finally get to know someone you already know. one of the things it was cool to get to know is his and Kim's love for their birds. i like birds well enough, but have never been a "bird person", so to speak, nor spent much time around someone who is. it was SO cool to see and hear the interaction between the Bantz birds and the Bantz humans. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SIXTEEN, cont.  ya just gotta love it. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 24, 2004) | ||
| Blake  |
I just spent five minutes trying to figure out what kind of vegetable or herb that was being rinsed in the sink. Kept thinking "asparagus with blooms?" LOL. I know, enough beer for me. Great pics. Good to see Jim again. Cool bird too. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
like, Happy Thanksgiving, man. | ||
| Dino |
Personally, I can't imagine having birds running amok in my house like that.   Happy Thanksgivings from ours to yours, JB2. (Message edited by dino on November 25, 2004) | ||
| Dino |
Getting pie-faced on Thanksgiving...a Hoffman family tradition.  Blake, please note the moto content. | ||
| Firemanjim  |
Dino,is that a small hawk/falcon?My older brother was a falconer for years and was involved in a project for breeding Peregrine's.Made for interesting conversation when we had people over to our basement room.They would assume the bird was fake and would get the crap scared out of them when it decided to wake up. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
cool pix, Dino! Happy Thanksgiving all!!! FB&D | ||
| Sandblast  |
Happy Thanksgiving Ferris! Just wanted you to know I am here with you, keeping up with this thread obsessively and enjoying the hell out of it. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
thanks Shockblaster, i appreciate your words, and Happy Holidays to you and your family as well. | ||
| Dino |
FMJ, that's a female American Kestrel. She was recovering from a broken leg at the time that picture was taken. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! | ||
| Dino |
Pathetic, or what?  Okay, enough off topic. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 ok, so i'm breakin' tradition here. normally about this point i'd give you a run down of the day's activities and miles, and wish you all good night. well, THIS pic was the first pic of my 17th day on the road, i.e. bright and early Sunday morning September 19th, 2004, and me and JB2 are saying goodbye. YOU are lookin' where i'm headin'. me 'n JB2 are lookin' back, to where we've been. to use this photo to close out YESTERDAY seemed like a fitting way, on this bright Thanksgiving day, to say thanks, and give thanks. yesterday HAD been a ball, indeed, as the preceding words and pix have hopefully illustrated. when it was all said and done the odo only showed an additional 79 miles - hardly epic stuff, and yet it was. and once back to the Bantz Aviary we all cleaned up, jumped in Kim's car, and drove to Redkey, Indiana, to the funky, old Key Palace Theatre, where we grooved to live rhythm and blues and drank more beer than we had a right to. (thank you Kim for letting all us guys volunteer you to be the designated driver! ) the Key Palace is so cool it's freezing! i left my camera in my tank bag back at JB2's place, as i wanted to be "off duty" tonight. sure wish i'd taken it, so i'd have some pix of this joint to share. and man did i drink a lot of beer... it was a great way to top off a great day. like i said, not so many miles, but man they were GOOD ones. which brings us to this morning: i've gotta say goodbye to my riding partner for the past two weeks and several thousand miles. about four and a half thousand miles, actually, give or take a few. plus another thousand or so for each of us to originally hook up in Colorado. imagine logging these kind of miles "just" to go riding with someone, someone you've only met once before in your life. and yet it was an easy choice to make, for BOTH of us, and you don't spend this kind of time on the road with somebody without forging a pretty strong bond. the bond of the open road. the bond of pain and loss. the bond of brotherhood. the bond of passion, adventure, and camaraderie. it's fitting that i close this chapter of this trip with this photo - it represents the beginning of my next day on the road and the start of the next chapter of MY trip, but more importantly it represents the end of an amazing, spiritual journey with a brother who up until a few years ago i never even knew i had. JB2 may remember that as Kim's brother Randy took this shot i was a skosh cool, possibly even a little aloof. fightin' back the emotions, dude, just like i am now. i've got a ways to go on this ride - sheesh, two and a half weeks on the road and i'm in freakin' Indiana! - but the ground i've covered to get to THIS point will be forever cherished. JB2, in the immortal words of Mikey: "Wayle, you know how I feel about that." i know you do, brother, i know you do. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 26, 2004) | ||
| Jb2  |
Seventeen days. Exactly 6005 miles from leaving until arriving home after the above photo. It's a bittersweet moment. Sweet that I'm home and Kim can rest assured that her worries were all for not. Bitter because in the past 17 days I have forged a truth that I had been in denial of since Dad's passing; my soul belongs to the road and the adventure and now this trip is over for me. I am now a spectator, no longer a participant. I can't say that I've ever enjoyed large group rides or even larger gatherings of bikes(Daytona, Sturgis, Homecoming). I just don't. I grew up on the back on the old man's bike. Just me-n-him on the scooter with our gear, a few bucks and no particular destination in mind. When I was old enough to pilot and own my own street bike we expanded our opportunities. I rarely left on a bike trip that didn't include Dad. In our years of travels we rode some of the best roads and parks in these United States. We had been ran off the road, ran out of campgrounds and on the same day met some of the most unique and generous people you could imagine. We rode in downpours and snowstorms and windstorms. We helped fellow riders repair their bikes at roadside and been helped by others in return. We've ate the worst food and the best food. We've slept in motels, campgrounds, in tents, on picnic tables, in bad weather under them and even on the floor of laundry-mat. We lived experiences that you can only live as a father and a son from the saddles of motorcycles. When I began this journey I had my own hesitations and worries but had to keep them squelched as not to magnify Kim's. She had a real hard time dealing with this trip. The first day out was a half day and event free. The second day was a marathon day of 805 miles and also uneventful. The third day, while on my way to meet Jerry, while following the wheel tracks of a Fed-Ex truck to navigate the snow covered interstate and near blizzard conditions of Vail Pass I realized this is what I live for. This gives life a flavor I crave. From this moment on it didn't seem to matter what the road threw at Jerry and I, we absorbed it. Good or bad, changing some plans and sticking to others. We met many good people and some bads ones. The more time I spent on the road the more I liked the person I was becoming. In the end all of my doubts and hesitations were unfounded. As I watched Jerry heading west I comforted myself by reminding myself "it's only fifty weeks until I can do this again". And indeed, come next September, I will again duck out of everyday life for an undetermined amount of time to follow my front wheel and enjoy non-seasonal tourism from the saddle of a bike. I never dreamed we could live so many of those same memories from the past in one short trip but we did. And now, looking back, it only seems fitting that this part of the journey is posted on Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be thankful for but this thanks is just for you my brother. Thanks Ferris! I know it'd be a stretch to think you could repeat for next year but you know the invite stands. I'll be out there regardless.  | ||
| Jb2 |
Dino, I think you already know that Kim and I have a place in our hearts for you and your wife. It takes a ton of patience and giving to deal with injured or abused birds but the rewards are priceless. It's funny how much a bird can teach a human, eh? BADWEB brother Jack Van Voast is like us in some respects but he deals with "rescue" dogs. Lot of the same heartaches and triumphs, just a different animal. | ||
| Dino |
Ditto, JB2. Really enjoyed the pics of Mackie. Rehabilitating birds like Sally ride (pictured above) is tough for me 'cause it's so hard letting them go. Not because I don't want them to go, but because I worry so much about them. It's easier to send kids out into the world...you know they'll phone if they need ya. Whether you want them to or not. Many thanks to both you and FB for sharing this wonderful ride with the rest of us. Dino | ||
| Edmanning  |
Happy Thanksgiving, This page makes the book waiting for me next to my bed a real letdown. Keep up the adventure' Thanks, Hillbilly | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SEVENTEEN, cont.  there won't be many pix to show you today. i got a relatively late start this morning (man, did i drink a lot of beer last night...) - note the shadows in the pic of me 'n JB2 above, which are not nearly as long as they should be considering my destination today. i considered stopping at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a photo op, but time constraints - and the knowledge that it was unlikely they'd let me do a hot lap - dictated that this be seed for another trip. in fact, first photo of the day was the next "Welcome to..." to be checked off my list. so long, Indiana. i sure enjoyed my stay. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 26, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SEVENTEEN, cont.  wow, the very next photo stop and - POOF! - Illinois is GONE! yer basic Feed Bag Express Lines, boyz-n-goyz. now then. unless you've stopped and actually stood where i am standing in this photo, you have NO idea how dangerous this little stunt is. this is Interstate 70, and the arch across the way MAY be familiar to some of you. this border crossing is yet another where the middle of The River, and hence the middle of the VIBGLIB (Very Insanely Busy Gazillion Lane Interstate Bridge), is The Magic Line, and i knew i couldn't stop Out There to get The Shot. could i? nah, even Ferris knows better than that. so i opted for THIS shot, as a temporary "Welcome to Missouri" pic, and to get the arch. well, i gotta tell you that Interstate 70 on the border of Missouri/Illinois ain't no place to be playing Ansel Adams, and the fact that i managed to click off this pic without being flattened or arrested (or both) is nothing short of amazing. i BADLY wanted to set this thing up to avoid the unsightly power tower, but after a couple dozen big rigs whooshed by so close that the suction of their passing rocked the 'Strom on its sidestand, i decided that the tower of power didn't look so hideous after all. sheesh, the things i do to entertain you folks. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 26, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY SEVENTEEN, cont.  hmmm, a wrong turn on the OTHER side of the bridge and i ended up HERE! ain't serendipity a wonderful thing? too bad it was Sunday and they were closed... (Message edited by jerry_haughton on November 26, 2004) |
