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Tatonka

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Everything posted by Tatonka

  1. Thank you Lord! Please watch over all of our children and keep them safe.
  2. Thank you God, that Gary wasn't hurt. Thanks Bob and Earl for helping a buddy. God bless and have a blessed Sunday.
  3. The fever has got you too, huh? Hope you have a good trip in any case. I'll be leaving DC and heading to Indianapolis/IN on August 13th where we'll be doing the 2009 Legacy Run from Indy to Louisville but riding 1200 miles through OH-PA-WV before reaching Louisville. We have our convention there until Aug 28th when I hit the road to camp and ride through TN-AL-MS-MS with a big tour through Texas including Big Bend and returning on September 28th to DC. I did 10,116 miles last year from DC-Indy-Phoenix- west coast and down the middle before heading back to DC. About half of the trip on side roads. Lots of places to see on the east coast, some where you can just stop for a few minutes and say, "Whew- glad we don't have to stay here". If you are traveling up the I-95, be sure to watch out for the signs for South of the Border. At least you can tank up there and say you've been there. From DC going south my end point is always Florida, so I ride as fast and long as possible on the I-95. Florida with the coastal road is nice and you can see nice places like St. Augustine, Cape Canaveral, Singer Island, North Palm Beach and Jupiter on the way down towards Miami. That will be too far though if you want to turn off to go north after coming from the west. I'm still planning my trip through LA-MS-AL and will send you a couple of tips later if you want. Heading north, the Outer Banks are a great idea and you can take the ferry to Ocracoke. Just be sure to carry food with you since the last time I was there (2001), you couldn't buy anything at a grocery store. Kind of hard to know where to send you up north. DC is worth a trip on its own and you can ride the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Rt 50 (at least ride through Annapolis and see the Dock area and Naval Academy) through Salisbury to Ocean City. Be sure to stop at Assateague National Shore but don't play with the ponies. There is a campground there also but you might prefer to stay in Ocean City to walk on the Boardwalk and be in civilization (with food, sights and lots of tourists). On the other hand if you came up the coast from Norfolk, you could also follow Rt 50 all the way out to West Virginia and visit th places I mentioned above (add Chincoteague Island where Misty the Pony was based). Baltimore is only about 45 minutes from DC. Skyline Drive, Shenandoah Valley, Harper's Ferry are also nice places to ride. Guess we need to know a little more of what your interests and intentions are. I'll send you a list of things I wrote down for me to see in the southern states and a plan I made to travel from DC over Ocean City to Nova Scotia that I'm working on for next year (Nova Scotia to Alaska). When are you leaving by the way?
  4. I rode through parts of CA-OR-WA last year while on my trip (10,116 miles). I left Phoenix ahead of a storm and still managed to cross Hoover Dam ahead of it and on through Las Vegas. I rode then to Barstow and then up the scenic Rt 395. Stopped just before Bishop/CA at Brown's Town Campground where bikers can stay for $10 a night. That storm finally caught up with me and after trying to ride the 395 to Mammouth Lake, I was knocked over with the bike by wind when I stopped to pick up my magnetic map case that had been blown off of the tank (they clocked winds over 70 mph and later closed the road). After seeing a boat blown off a trailer, I returned to Bishop and camped for 3 more days until it calmed down. While waiting, I rode out every day and once took a trip out to South and North Lakes just outside of Bishop. You climb from 3,000 feet to over 8,500 feet in about 5 miles but it is a scenic ride. There are also hot springs and great fishing in the area. Finally packed up and travelled through Yosemite (this was now just after Labor Day and the falls were "turned" off). I then traveled to Klamath Falls/OR, Crater Lake, back up to Rt 20 (there was a fire on Rt 138 and it was closed). Rt 20 isn't as scenic since there had been a lot of logging along the sides of the road. (Will go back and try Rt 138 with its many lakes and falls.) At some point found myself on Rt 101 going up the coast and fought wind constantly in spite of the nice scenery. Across the bridge at Astoria and stayed at Rivers End in Washington where I paid biker's rates for the campground again. Gave up on Rt 101 because of the wind and headed across country ot Spokane and then on into Idaho on the way to Glacier Park/MT.
  5. I guess I should have read this section before I took off on my trip last year. Glacier was one of my planned stops because I wanted to ride to Browning MT before heading to Devil's Tower and the Black Hills, etc. in SD. I came across from Bonner's Ferry ID on Rt 2 (after coming from Phoenix over Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Mojave CA then up Rt 395 through Yosemite and then on to Klamath Falls and on to the Rt 101 into WA). It was just after Labor Day weekend and the weather was pretty stable although I heard they had snow in Glacier a few days earlier. I had been camping but I discovered the 40° F sleeping bag was getting a little cold for the season lol Saw snow on the mountain, but there was a lot of construction west to east to Logan Pass. Lots of ruts and gravel, with lights and lead vehicles. I always managed to be the first vehicle following the constuction truck. Missed not having my jacket liner with me. Still an awesome ride and I'll try it again when the construction is done in a couple of years.
  6. Hey Shane, Welcome to our riding family. You issue has been discussed quite a bit in Royal Star Tour Deluxe and Tour technical section because some have already done the switch. Also a lot of great tips in there about carb cams and rear end gears. One of our members, Pegscraper, is great on this topic as well. Here is a link for a 96 carb swap, but it should get you going in the right direction. http://www.venturerider.org/carbswap/ I haven't done my 98 yet although I had considered it. Think I'll ride some more this year and then consider stepping up to a somewhat younger RSTD or Venture with the larger carbs next year. Ride safe.
  7. Hey Brother Bob, Prayers have gone out and you know you have a lot of people who care about you, including the 7,498 members in this family (I assume you care about yourself too ). Some of us are just shy and don't always write what we have in our thoughts. Look for you to be riding soon.
  8. Great pictures Peggy, Thanks for sharing!
  9. Tatonka

    maps

    Anybody interested in doing a Nova Scotia to Alaska trip next year just for the heck of it? I'm retired and the wife doesn't have the time (or inclination) to see some of the wilderness of North America by bike. I get to show her all that she missed when we take the motor home later. I just finished reading an article about a guy who went from Germany to South Africa by bike. Wonder if a Royal Star could make it?
  10. Well, this is in general discussion, so I'll be fresh and comment on changes to my Royal Star Tour Classic: 1- Avon Venom-X tires (even without the www) with stock size front 2. Dyna 3000 DK3-K7-4 set at 6500 (still use stock coil and valve seats) 3- Tall sissy bar with lugguage rack The best changes are the ones I didn't make. I have about 20 chrome and leather items I haven't installed yet and I think I'll leave most of them off since I only have to worry about the deer and bears when I go camping.
  11. My prayers are with you and your family. Alles Gute! Ron
  12. Tatonka

    maps

    Hi Jeff, Only bike from 2006 to present for me. I stopped counting interstate travel in 2005, just side roads and national parks now. I've travelled by bike to Canada and all of the states except for Alaska (planned next 2 years) and Hawaii (has anyone had experience with a jet ski kit for a Royal Star?) since I started riding in 1967. Try to hit all of the contiguous states once a decade by bike. Hope to visit the southern states of Alabama, Mississippi and Lousiana this year with a long tour in Texas to see all of the things I missed last September because of the storm. I did those by car in 2005, along with the northern ones west of New York. Ride safe and maybe see you on the road sometime!
  13. I bought some bags in EBAY from Saddle Bag Liners by TLC products last year when they had a sale going on. Nice bags and they even put my name on each bag (might have been a special). USA made with some nice amenities like inside storage place for papers and such. The handles are nice as they go around the bag and I believe they do have a lifetime guarantee. Just a tip, I don't get a provision or anything. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/YAMAHA-ROYAL-STAR-VENTURE-TOUR-SADDLEBAG-LINER-SET_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZQ7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a30QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em14Q2el1262QQhashZitem3c9eb505d0QQitemZ260360701392QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories They also have different sizes and one of the Harley ones fit my Matazu bags to a tee. Ride safe.
  14. I'm late as usual to put a word in. The previous owner of my 98 RSTC which I bought last year with 10,146 miles on it, said he always used premium fuel and it ran fine. I then bought the owners manual from Yamaha Pubs and found it said regular, at least 86 or higher octane. It also said ethanol up to 10% was ok but recommends not to use methanol because of fuel system damage. I started using regular and my gasoline mileage increased somewhat and the engine ran smoother. While on the Legacy Run last year, we got mainly premium gas at the stops and I started having performance problems and popping. I started tanking regular on my credit card during the Run and I had no more problems. After the Run I did another 7,716 miles on my own, mainly west coast and midwest. I only noticed some problems at some gas stations mainly in Kansas and Oklahoma and one in Colorado where the regular had my bike wheezing and hacking like an old man. Went back to the brand name stations I know and it cleared up. I changed spark plugs in Oklahoma and it seemed to go better with regular gas from well known chains after that. I guess bikes are like people. My 82 XV920 runs well on the middle blend and the premium seems to be ok too. It doesn't like regular, so I listen to it. It ran well in the rain here in DC today until I found that I forgot to close the choke. Ride hard and ride safe and hope to see some of you on the American Legion Legacy Run in August. After that, I plan to ride through those states missing on my map.
  15. Goes to show that everything is relative, including fear and pain. I wonder what he uses for a signature line.
  16. I thought I remembered seeing such a model number when I was looking for a Royal Star 2005 owners manual. Yamaha pubs shows a manual for it, but I couldn't tell you what the bike looks like: http://www.yamahapubs.com/html/itemsearch.jsp?type=MC&Year=2005&Brand=ROYAL+STAR&model=
  17. Wow guys, Thanks, this is making me update my YouTube lists. A lot of the good road songs got mentioned (and yeah, my music includes a lot of country, truckers soft and hard rock), but I also include some old songs from Hendrix, Redbone, James Brown, Ike & Tina, Marvin Gaye (Ohhh, Sexual Healing!), Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Commodores, Kool & The Gang, Four Tops, etc., Harry Belafonte, a little Reggae, some moving Jazz (Kenny G, Bobby Humphries, Who did Axel F again?, Dizzy Gilespie, earlier Miles Davis), throw in some stirring classical overtures (remember Lone Ranger and Quaker puffed rice), and with me also belonging to a Scottish clan, some great Highland bagpipe music (Amazing Grace...), and then a little Bill Withers (I know, I know...) to keep your head and lungs cleared. Oh man, I forgot the Gospels from the various groups. Born to be wild is a great one to get the adrenaline going starting out on a trip. Yee Haah! Ride hard, ride safe and ride with God.
  18. They do get old, but I run a home network with computers running Workgroups 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Professional 2000 and XP Home. I'll wait another year for Vista and hope they get the bugs cleared up. If you want to speed up without spending any money: 1) Check and clear any viri from your computer with freeware virus scans 2) Go into Internet tools and delete your cookies and websites visited files. If you have never done this, the deletion can take up to 1/2 hour or longer. 3) Run scan from system tools to see how your hard drive looks. If you are using more than 50 % of your hard drive, use the file compression option 4) Run defrag program These things don't cost anything and may give you a few more months of use before your go for a new computer. If money is an issue, take a look at new prices with the options that you want and then take a look at one of the reputable used computer sellers in your area. A year old computer with XP may be a good deal and good for the next 2 or 3 years. You can go back to a dealer close to you, but EBAY doesn't give you that option. Just a hint. I bought a used HP laptop in 2005 in Carson City Nevada for under $300 because I needed one to carry on the bike to be able to read emails while traveling and not worry about the cost in case I dropped it or got it wet. After replacing the battery, I have carried it all over the states and through Europe with nary a problem since, including a 10,116 mile USA bike trip last year. Just a suggestion in line with the times. By the way, if you are storing a lot of pictures, music or other files that are taking up a lot of space, try using an external drive. That way you can still use your old computer, back up files to the external drive regularly and have all of your files available for the new computer when you do buy one. Wish you luck.
  19. I knew I missed somebody up there. I took such a beating from the wind on Rt 101 from Newport OR and across the bridge from Astoria into Washington, that I decided to skip Olympic National Park and got off on Rt 12 and rode to Yakima and then got on the interstate before heading north from Coeur d'Alene. Had to make a repair stop in Spokane at Westside Motorsports and they got me in and out, as well as treating me royally. Bonners Ferry ID is also a nice place to visit and I can only recommend the Bear Creek Lodge for nice folks, quarters and good food at reasonable prices. I plan to do Canada east to west in the next two years. I would also like to try Alaska in one direction and ferry in the other. My dad was with the Army Corps of Engineers and worked on the Alaskan Highway, so it will be in his memory. Wanna help me drink the single malt whisky I'll be bringing from Scotland for the purpose?
  20. I went back and checked my notes on the bikes so I have to apologize. I guess I was looking at too many bikes at the same time. The 1100 had the problem with dropping the exhaust to change oil (although there was a rerouting kit available). The 1300 had the spin off filter where you only needed a filter adapter and socket so they considered it fixed. It did have a Yamaha recommended valve adjustment interval of 4,000 miles, which is what turned me off. Sorry for the confusion.
  21. I was thimking about the V-Star 1300 until I checked out changing the oil. Has that been rerouted? Thanks,
  22. Tatonka

    SNOW

    You be careful there Margaret. We need you to keep us in line. God bless and keep safe.
  23. Hi Brother Vic, Hope you have a great ride there. I came through Billings in September 2008 during my trip from Phoenix (Hoover Dam, LV to Barstow-Majave 395 to Yosemite, Klamath Falls then coast to Washington State and over to Glacier N.P. before heading to WY-SD-CO-KS-OK-AR-TN-KY-IN on to DC). Glacier N.P. and Going to the Sun (I was going east to west) are normally great trips, but there was so much construction going on that it wasn't much fun with the miles of gravel and one lane traffic regulated traffic heading over the pass. According to the workers, this will continue for the next three years. I believe the ride at Star Days will be Bear Tooth pass, so you might want to miss it on the way there. When I was doing my planning for Aug 2005, my shortest route from Foster City was I-80 to Elko, Rt 93 to I-84 into Idaho Falls and then Rt 26 Grand Teton and Jackson before heading into Yellowstone. I stopped in at Old Faithful again too before heading to Billings. I left there heading for Theodore Roosevelt N.P. (North and South units), but you won't be going that way. The distance I had noted was almost 1300 to Billings which should make a nice 3 day trip since you aren't only doing interstates. Unfortunately the above is almost the shortest way coming back for you. Other possibilites coming back could be: 1) Lewis Clark Trail, Crater Lake and Klamath Falls and then back on the I-5. That is a lot of side roads although it is a pretty ride. (I had planned to head east from Crater Lake but there was a fire on the road to Eugene so I had to take Rt 97 to Rt 20 to hit the Oregon coast). or 2) drop down through Denver on the I-90/I-25 and take the I-70W and then I-15N to Rt 50 and come in over Lake Tahoe. I tried riding the Rt 50 in the evening from Lake Tahoe, but the signs to watch out for bear crossing the road, made me pick a place to sleep for the night. If you stayed on the interstates on this route instead of Rt 50, it's about 1270 miles back to Concord from Billings except you would stay on the I-80 at Cheyenne. If you go that way don't forget to tank up before crossing the Salt Flats (I only pushed 1 1/2 miles to the gas station). Lovely country up there in the Big Sky, but be sure to have enough warm clothes even in summer. I won't even try to tell you about the weather because it can change so quickly depending on the highs out of Oregon and Washington. Ride hard, but ride safe and with God.
  24. It is a Holland product called Carver. Here is a YouTube link: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDSdj-aw7sc]YouTube - Carver Motorcycle/Car Hybrid[/ame]
  25. You would be surprised how frustrating that point can be. I mentioned watch your debit/credit cards in my previous recommendations. I had transferred most of my travel money to one of my debit/visa card cards for a trip to Scotland. After I had used it twice for gas in Scotland, I was "declined" thereafter for that card. I found out later the bank had blocked my card because of what they felt was suspicious activitiy. They sent me a new card in the mail to my home address which didn't help me on my 30 day trip to Scotland. Another tip I forgot to mention was debit/credit cards/cards with magnetic strips in combination with the use of magnetic tank bags and possibly cell phones. They can "wipe" the data from your card so put your wallet and cards somewhere else where they don't get close to such sources. Also get into a habit of wrapping all gear (wallet, cell phone, camera, important papers) in separate ziplock bags in case you get caught in rain unexpectedly. Surprising how fast waterproof clothing does get wet and how much perspiration the body can generate. Ride hard, but ride safe and always ride with God!
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