Here's the latest add ons to Lucille

A thousand bucks doesn't get ya much these days. Not at a Harley dealership anyway. But damn she looks good. I never started out trying for an old school look but it's leaning that way a bit. Not that the big-ass passenger seat for the long haul contributes to the look in a positive way but you can use your imagination.

Next post will be post Laughlin unless I can or better yet, if I feel like posting from Laughlin on a Blackberry.

Let's spend some big cash on the Harley

I had an appointment made to take Lucille, yeah she has a name, in for a 15k service before we took off for Laughlin. And before anyone even starts, No, I don't do my own wrenching. Why? Because I don't enjoy it much, because I can afford to have a mechanic who enjoys his work and isn't stressing over missing tools, and mostly because I don't have time.

Okay, so we got that out of the way. So like I was saying, I had planned to take the bike down to get the 15k service and since the fuel gauge is acting up and she's till under warranty, wanted that taken care of.

I dropped her off and was walking through the Harley dealer looking at the bikes and saw a new Heritage Classic on the floor with very little customizing. A little chrome here and there, nice beach bars like mine and the same stock paint. What this bike DID have that I didn't was whitewalls. It was like seeing my bike with that feature.

When I bought my bike I had decided I didn't want whitewall tires but the more I've gotten into Harleys and the more bikes I've been around the more I've fallen in love with that old school look. Especially the look of the Deluxe. I love it.

So I was sitting with my wife last night and told her when the time came to change out the tires, I'd probably switch to whitewalls. She asked me how many miles I'd get on my tires and I said I wasn't sure but that the rear tire looked a little worn down. I have not checked for wear marks so I figured I had a few thousand miles left.

Wrong. First thing this morning I get the call from the Harley mechanic telling me he would suggest a new rear tire as mine was showing the wear indicators. So, considering we're heading almost 300 miles through the Mojave desert in two days where gas stations are about 100 miles apart, I figured I didn't have much choice. I'm sure she would have been fine but why risk it huh? So on top of the service tab I get to dish out the big bucks for the tires. How in the hell can two motorcycle tires cost so much??? And I also figured while I was at it I'd have them pop the chrome sprocket on there as well. Ya know....let's just keep spending huh?

Broke but looking good. Hope to get some pics of her up when she comes home tomorrow.

Boozing it up at the Laughlin River Run

Jesus, the run is still 3 days off and I'm blogging about it non-stop. Gee...I wonder if I'm stoked??

I decided to stop drinking about a month ago. Not permanently but just felt I'd been enjoying a few too many martinis or just vodka straight up in the evenings so for the sake of my stomach and sinuses (yeah, I wake up totally congested after about 5 of those puppies the night before) I made a decision to not drink at all during the month of April until we get to Laughlin on April 26.

And let me tell ya, I haven't really missed it at all. There was one night a few weeks ago where I really could have used a belt but it passed. And any rides we've had to local biker hangouts on the weekends have been no problem since I've at least allowed myself to drink O'Douls. 0.5% alcohol so I'm counting two bottles at a sitting as still being on the wagon.

But here the deal. Last year when we checked into the room in Laughlin we decided to take a nice walk to the liquor store and get our booze of choice: Vodka for me (no mixer thank you) and gin and tonic for my wife. We found out that the city sells no (as in ZERO) glass containers for the weekend!! WTF??? I managed to find a plastic fifth of vodka at some ridiculous price and we got gouged at the hotel bar for a bottle of gin.

So now we have to decide: Do we shlep two big bottles of booze in the bags all the way across the desert or do we get into town, check into the hotel and then make a booze run down to Bullhead City for liquor? I'm more inclined to pack that shit in the bags coz I'm gonna want to drink up when I get there. Of course there's always the crazy prices for a drink but man..I want my own stocked bar in my room. As long as I keep the bottles away from the pipes we'll be good I'm sure.

Some comfort for the Laughlin River Run

My wife told me last year that I needed to step up and get her a bigger passenger seat for this years Laughlin River Run. I'm not opposed to having her enjoy the ride in more comfort but I'm also not big on adding more crap to the bike. I'm usually torn between leaving the bags and windshield on when we take long rides.

For me, I can handle it without a windshield but it does tend to tire out my lower back due to disk surgery some years back. No problem for an hour or so, even at 75-80 mph but longer than that and I'm starting to feel it. She on the other hand insists on the windshield anytime we're on the freeway for more than a half hour and I have to admit, it's pretty nice on longer hauls.

But anyway, last year I thought she held up like a trooper using the stock seat on the Heritage Classic but she admitted to having a sore butt when we got home. How some gals make it on a little pillion is beyond me. So I went down to the Harley Davidson dealer and dished out $149 for the studded passenger seat that is wider than the stock one. We took a nice little ride out to Ojai, CA last weekend to see if she liked and the word is good. So we're ready to go in comfort. Clock is really ticking down now and we're getting pretty jazzed!

Movie Review - Wild Hogs

Okay. We've all seen it by now, hell, it should be on dvd soon. I guess I've been too busy with other crap to even mention that I saw the movie "Wild Hogs" a few weeks ago.

I imagine that my opinion is that of just about any other biker who saw the movie - It was hysterical. My wife in particular almost peed in her pants during the movie. I was a little more subdued but have to admit to laughing out loud at some scenes that would not normally make me laugh if the movie was about something other than middle aged bikers.

I mean, come on..how many of us would go see this movie if, instead of bikes, the guys had taken off in an RV? The humor was slapstick which I typically dont' go for but laughed at anyway.

And while I'm the least homophobic guy in the world, the gay cop creeped me out. But it was a pretty good movie and Peter Fonda walking on at the end was the best scene.....

Until the very last part where the Extreme Home Makeover crew rebuilt the clubhouse for the gang. That was, to me, the best part.

Overall, if you havent seen it and it's still playing, check it out. Stupid jokes, slapstick comedy but nevertheless, a fun 90 minutes of biker fun.

Countdown to Laughlin River Run

Southern California has had just about the driest winter in it's recorded history so it only stands to reason that one week before the big Laughlin River Run we get a nice, final rainstorm.

It came down pretty good here today (by Los Angeles measures anyway) but it's supposed to be high 70's and low 90's in Laughlin by next weekend. And unlike parts east of the rockies, weather predictions are usually pretty accurate. If it's not supposed to rain, there ain't gonna be any suprise thunderstorms to piss everyone off.

So we got a final cleansing rain before we all head out through the desert and into Laughlin. About 75,000 bikers celebrating the 25th anniversary of the run. It should be a blast.

We'll be heading out early Thursday morning and will probably be picking up some other riders somewhere around Victorville or Barstow CA. With luck, no chaps will be needed early in the a.m and we'll be able to travel light.

This will be a great run!!