04-15-10 After six weeks of waiting my rally flag for the 2010 Titanic Grand Tour arrived in my mailbox. The Tour is a six month long rally were a rider chases down town signs that end in “TON” or “BURG”. I took advantage of the cold winter to spend my evening studying maps of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Now that the flag has arrived; the fun can begin! The Rules: 1) Polaroid photos, digital prints, or standard photos are all acceptable. Photos may also be submitted on CD or on SD card. Photos may not be emailed. 2) To be considered a finisher you must accumulate 25 points. You will then earn a Grand Tour shirt and entry into first level of prizes. It took only one Berg to bring down the Titanic, so ... read more

For the past few months I have been planning a number of major upgrades to the Shadow. I have been taking small steps towards turning this once calm little around town bike into a real Long Distance rider. The steps I have taken this weekend, with the help of friends, has gotten this LD Shadow a little closer to a comfortable long distance rider. I ordered a 3 gal. racing fuel cell from Jaz to replace the little 1.6 gal. milk jug aux. tank that I mounted on the rear luggage rack last year. I also ordered a set of Hyper Lights from Cycle Gadgets . I went with the upgraded version that also acts as running lights. The last thing I hoped to get done this weekend was to clean up the rat’s nest of ... read more

12-06-09 It was early when I got out of bed and headed out to the Shadow, not only early but cold. As I walked down the front steps the thermometer caught my eye; 29 degrees. It was a good thing that I decided to layer my clothing. Under my winter motorcycle gear I was wearing a pair of long johns; long sleeve t-shirt, mock turtleneck, and a neck warmer. On my feet I had on two pairs of ski socks, and on my hands I was wearing go good pair of deerskin winter gloves, with liners. I had to use the choke to get the bike started. Before I got to the end of the driveway the Shadow coughed so I switched on the reserve fuel. Five miles down the road I pulled into Bunky’s for ... read more

11-07-09 A good night sleep was traded for Christmas money. I was called into work off duty the night before the RTE that I was hosting in my hometown. Friday was scheduled so I could be a good host on Saturday, but as fate would have it my schedule changed. On Friday I ended up working at my landscape business from 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. having just enough time to get home and jump into the shower to do police work from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I was in bed by 7:30 in the morning and three hours later I was on the Shadow headed to Bunky’s Market. I must say I was dog tired. Before I go any further with my latest BLOG adventure I must take a second to answer ... read more

The alarm clock went off at 4:45 a.m. This usually would not be a problem but I am currently on night shift at the PD and this is the time of morning that my body is getting ready for bed, not getting up. On top of that, this is the first out of state trip I have made on the bike since my accident and I was a little nervous; causing me to not sleep very well. I was scheduled to meet my friend Andy in Graniteville, SC at 7 a.m., which meant that I had to be on my way by 5:30. When I went outside to get on the bike everything was wet. It had been raining a good part of the night and I was glad that the rain had stopped. The weather ... read more