10 / 10ths

I'll get back to the Declaration of Independence once I get back to The Suck. For now, I've been on mid-tour leave, and life has been good. The guys tell me things are going pretty well over there, so that's reassuring. I made sure to bring my camera(s) home with me, and have been pretty diligent about taking pictures, so this is gonna be a long post. I've also got a cable-modem connection here at the house, so there are gonna be lots and lots of pictures and even some video!

Made it home okay, and after managing to get on as a standby passenger on the first thing smoking out of the ATL, I caught a ride with a retired AF Col from the airport so I surprised Amanda at home about 4 hours before I was originally even supposed to leave Atlanta.

Couldn't come home without visting the in-laws, and couldn't possibly take this picture of my nephew and not post it. Too cute:


We then went to VT to spend a week, for our first real "don't have to do anything or see anybody we don't want to" vacation. 5 nights in the 1850 River House B&B just east of Montpelier. Doug and Libby were very gracious hosts, and the experience was wonderful all around. Gratuitous Link Here. Getting both bikes in the truck was a bit of a challenge, as the Dodge has a 6' bed where the F-150 had a slightly deeper and wider 8' bed. We managed to get it sorted without killing ourselves, and had use of the bikes for 3 days of running all over VT and NH.


Day One: Southern Loop
The roads were at worst Fair over the beginning of this route, with frost heave damage being the major concern. However, I do prefer the clean but cracked road surface on Rt 12 over the 'covered in tar snakes' version that most other states would resort to. Vermonters understand it'll just crack again next year, so as long as the road surface is drivable, don't mess with it. You'd literally have to cover the entire lane width with tar snakes to fill in all the cracks on some roads. However, they were not bumpy most places, which made that surface much better than the slippery mess the tar would be. We stopped in Woodstock for lunch, and walked over to the local covered bridge:


A little further down the road, I hit a bit of a milestone:


Somewhere in the intarwebz, I've got a picture of where the bike rolled 10k. I was on the way to the Bug Bash (Annual biker party in OH), and it rolled as I was headed in for fuel. I missed the 20k picture, I was somewhere in the vast expanse of AZ, and didn't have a camera. Of course being in VT, this time it happened in a scenic location:


The point of day one for me was the little stretch of road labeled "Buels' Gore" on Google maps, just between Bristol and Waitsfield along Rt 17. I've seen it called the 'Dragon North' in reference to the Hwy 129 madness that is The Dragon, down in NC/TN, and though it's quite a bit shorter, it is a well deserved reference. Full lanes, excellent sight lines in most corners, good pavement... yep, it's a motorcycle road for sure. Here's a look at the scenery from the top:


Of course the point of day one for Amanda was not the MC road, but what was at the end of it: A tour at the original Ben & Jerry's plant in Waterbury:



Day Two: Mt Washington
With the exception of the middle section of the Auto Road going up the mountain (unpaved) the roads on this entire day's riding were in the good to excellent category. I don't have a wildlife picture, but that's only because I was trying to avoid hitting said wildlife. Just after we cleared the interstate over in NH, what at first appeared to be a very large Irish wolfhound started out in front of us from the side of the road. As the hindquarters cleared the bushes, we realized it was not a dog, but a specimen of the Ursus americanus variety (black bear, and a good sized one too!). It didn't even glance at us, it just kept hauling ass to the other side of the road where it disappeared back into the bushes. Wow. We continued on to the base of the Auto Road at Mt Washington, where Amanda informed me that she wanted to ride her own bike up. Another Wow. For those not familiar with the road, it climbs some ~4600 feet in 7.6 miles, with grades in excess of 20% in places. Not a beginner's road. But she did it!


My brother Mike was kind enough to give me a copy of his Canon Camera software disc, which contains an automatic photo stitching program. Thus, from the top, I was able to shoot this panorama from the observation deck behind us in the picture above. Be warned, it's freakin huge...



Day Three: Smuggler's Notch
Situated between Stowe and Jeffersonville is VT 108, which passes up over a shoulder of Mt Mansfield, the highest point in VT. Most of the road is two-lane, but at the top of the pass the double-yellow goes away for about half mile, and the road necks down to just over a lane wide at the top. Here's Amanda wheeling through the very highest point on the road:


And here are two full-size SUVs not wheeling through. The one on the right had to wait for the other one to clear the bottleneck...


Not a 'Motorcycle road' per-se, but definitely a road bikers should ride through. No sight lines, zero run-off, and as you can see no room for error. But gorgeous. Truly gorgeous.


Saturday: NYC
We stopped by and visited my brother and his wife (along with my parents who had come up from NC). This of course meant we had to stop by Karen's work (a vet clinic) and visit their new adopted kitten, Chester:


He's blind, as his eyes did not fully develop, but he's cute nonetheless. We hit a little place in southern Harlem for dinner, and then went to see Spamalot on Broadway. Hilarity. Genious. Sunday we drove the 10+ hours back to OH.


Two wheel Tuesday:
I took the bike over to Kil Kare raceway to see what I / she could do. With the hydraulic clutch and my preference for trying to keep the front end on the ground on throttle instead of the clutch...


It was needless to say a difficult task. I did get better:


Best run of the day:


This is at least a respectable time for a stock-motor 'hawk, with -1 on the front and +1 on the rear sprocket. I am no drag racer, as was apparent from the SV650 I ran against a couple times which leaped off the line and which I had to drive past every single time. If I could launch like that, I would have dropped to the low instead of the mid 11's. The hydraulic clutch is a bear to slip smoothly, so it'd take me much more practice to get this right. Still, I'm happy.

Last, on the way home from the strip, I managed to get a knee down for the first time (minus my unscheduled get-offs). On a pair of Left-right 15mph corners near the house, I dropped it to 1st gear since I was stuck behind a couple of cars, backed way off, then rolled hard on the right hander as they cleared ahead of me. Yeah baby:


Mission accomplished. More later from back in The Suck.

Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Double Helping

I didn't really want to post this after putting up the last post, so I held off until today. I would like to look over the founders' list of grievances with the King in detail at a later time, but thought it prudent to hold off on that until I could get a coherent list together. I'm not trying to do that as a political stunt, more as an azimuth check on how our government is currently treating us, without regard to political party. On reading the list, I thought it would be interesting to use it as a litmus test of sorts on the current government climate.

That said, here are a couple more things from the market that I thought might be interesting. First, we have a sorely mistaken individual who, after realizing the error of his ways, re-thought his travel arrangements. Thus, "What's wrong with this picture:"





For those not 'getting it', note the placement of the fuel can relative to the exhaust pipe...

He reconsidered his arrangements, and re-tied the jug on the other side of the bike. Still not the most advisable mode of transporting what appeared to be about 20 liters of fuel, but hell, it's Iraq. Next, since SFC Shuck has been on leave, I've been the .50cal gunner. Of course this means a gratuitous Ma Deuce picture. I've got Port Arms down, maybe with some work I could get Present and/or Shoulder Arms with that beast as well...


(For those unaware, the M2 weighs 84lbs)

Next we have another dust devil, however I was able to capture this one on video as we pulled out of the market.



Lastly, massive props to my little sister, who took it upon herself to try and stitch the images from the gas station. She noted the color disparity between the images, which I blame partly on the auto white balance, and partly on the lack of a lens shade for some of the shots. She's a graphic design artist by trade and training, and thought I'm a pretty good photoshopper, she probably put that together in less time than it took me to write this paragraph, and waaaay less time than I put into building a similar but less squared-away version. So, here's the shot she sent me:

And you think getting gas is bad in the states...


P.S. I think I figured out how to get the Declaration post to stay at the top for awhile, we'll see if it works...