Leaving for Texas

[Coyote Chris]

The weather is just crazy....beautiful here in Spokane and my friends and I are doing a 280 mile ride around Lake Pend Oreille on Monday but its gonna be hot...80 degrees....we are way down on Precip...should have 6 inches and we have only 4 and none in sight. At least some states are getting much needed water.....

 

[junglejim]

The weather is just crazy....beautiful here

Well not here! Another foot of snow yesterday, still snowing today, turning to freezing rain.
Fishing season opens tomorrow, but still a foot or two of ice on the lakes.
It melted some last week causing a bit of flooding in places.
We are still 100% snow covered with no nice weather forecast till next week.

I've ridden the bike about 4 times this year for a total of about 200 miles.
This is the worst spring (if you can call it spring) in my memory.
We're way beyond cabin fever here.

So to all you folks out riding - enjoy and appriciate.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Sorry about missing your call today...not supposed to talk on my phone at work

I kind of figured it was something like that. Don't worry about it. I hope you can work something out, but we might just miss each other this trip.

 

[junglejim]

I only did 356 miles today, but with the wind, it felt like more. I don't feel too wimpy about it, either. I'm about to be a retired person, and I can set my own schedule. So, there!

Phil, just be glad you're out and riding. Pulling in early and staying in a motel are OK if it makes your trip fun. Motorcycling is supposed to be fun and whatever it takes to make it that way is good.

We haven't heard any more info about your leg pain so we would like to assume it is resolved. Hope so. You deserve a retirement free from pain (well at least big ones).

 

[Phil Tarman]

Jim, the leg is lots better. It doesn't hurt while I'm riding. Getting on and off the bike is "interesting." Yesterday it had done pretty good all day and then last night I was just sitting here reading and BOOM! it started hurting. I think the trend is in the right direction. Thanks for the good thoughts!

 

[Chucksklrst]

Phil, I was just thinking about your legs and the issues you have with them getting on and off the bike. What are your thoughts about a Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter? I have a couple of friends that ride them and they will eat up the NT on the highway. And in the twisties. They have top box and can carry more than the NT can and not have to worry about lids opening up in flight. Just some thoughts, no disrespect intended. If and when my knees start to give me issues, I will be looking at that option myself.

Hope you feel better and have a safe trip. Did you say hi to Wichita Falls for me as you rode over the fly way on 287 through town.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Jerry, thanks for chiming in on this discussion. Your thoughts mirror mine. Chuck, the leg is slowly getting better and riding doesn't bother it at all. The most pain I had yesterday was while I was sitting on the bed reading, when, out of the blue, it started hurting.

But, a scooter would be better for me, I think, than a trike. When and if I can't get on and off the NT, a big Burgmann would be on my short list. I saw a guy on a Burgman pulling a trailer that was about 8' long, 4' wide, by 4 1/2' tall up Hoosier Pass at a pretty good clip three years. He was slower than the NT, but probably over 50mph. He probably had his cruiser in the trailer.

Oh, yes, I did think about you and say a little prayer as I rode through/over Wichita Falls. The town's changed since I was two -- not that I can remember anything much except a hospital room at Shepperd AFB, the little garage apartment we lived in in town and the train yard where our landlord took Dad and I one afternoon and let us climb up into the steam switcher engine he was engineer on.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Keep those cards and letters coming , Phil, we just love 'em. You be out there on the road for those of us that cant. What part of your leg is giving you problems? Thought about you the other day cause at the last Spearfish rally I thought I saw you having problems getting your leg over the bike and my friend Max, who could be your twin brother but who carries a few more pounds than you do, and I went for a ride and he had to lift his leg with his hand to get on his Goldwing....I have issues too but so far if I take it slow, I can get on the bike pretty well. When I get out of bed in the morning, there is this small part of me that isn't stiff and sore but the more I move, the better the ole body works...stay safe and have fun....

 

[Coyote Chris]

Well not here! Another foot of snow yesterday, still snowing today, turning to freezing rain.
Fishing season opens tomorrow, but still a foot or two of ice on the lakes.
It melted some last week causing a bit of flooding in places.
We are still 100% snow covered with no nice weather forecast till next week.

I've ridden the bike about 4 times this year for a total of about 200 miles.
This is the worst spring (if you can call it spring) in my memory.
We're way beyond cabin fever here.

So to all you folks out riding - enjoy and appriciate.

Jim, I do feel for you and all those others that are stuck in winter....all the way to Texas!
I have talked with the weather gods and am sending you some good riding weather next week....
But you gotta send us some rain out west or we shall all be choking on smoke at Spearfish due to the wildfire season....

 

[Phil Tarman]

Chris, the part of my leg that hurts is about 6" above my left ankle -- the one part of my leg that doesn't have hardware installed in it. The orthopedic doc says that his diagnosis is inflammatory periostitis. The periostium is the outer layer of the bone and it's got lots of nerves. I asked the doc what that meant and he said it means that I have a pain in my leg. I asked him what to do about it and he said he didn't know. My family doc says about the only thing is to take anti-inflammatories. I take 1600-2400 mg of ibuprofen a day for it and it's gradually getting a little bit better.

The difficulty you saw me having at Spearfish is because my right knee (the third artificial knee on that side ... I've only had two artificial knees on the left side) only bends about 90-degrees.

Neither leg hurts when I ride. The right leg never hurts, but the left one has had this inflammatory periostitis since a couple-three weeks before Easter. It was at its worst Easter Weekend, and the riding I've done over the last two weeks doesn't seem to have aggravated it much if any.

Today I only rode about 30 miles from one hotel to another. My brother-in-law had told me not to take 183 because of construction. But I forgot. He was right. It was stop and go for about 6 miles. The parking situation down here at the Omni Hotel isn't real great. Every parking space that isn't designated for handicapped parking is on a steeply sloping floor. I ended up parking at an extreme diagonal in compact parking place. If I'd parked with the kickstand on the uphill side, the bike wouldn't have stood on the kickstand. With it on the downhill side, I don't know if I could have gotten it off the kickstand. This way's OK if nobody hits it coming around a corner.

 

[banjoboy]

Phil, I've had my left knee replaced about six years ago and my right suffers from years of compensating for the left (old judo injury at Colorado State about 1967). I've had my two shoulders rebuilt (racquet ball competitions). Anything with 'itis' simply means inflamation. I used to take 3200 of Ibuprophen when I was playing competitive racquetball, stupid on my part when I think about it. I've moved to Alleve, or Sodium Naproxen, at Costo. The orthopods I've seen over the years are fine with me taking up to 1000 mg of Sodium Naproxen a day for a month straight. Alleve is 220 mg per tablet, so I take two tablets before anything athletic or where I know I'll be stiff. Probably easier on my stomach/liver that multiple doses of Ibuprophen. I also have a complete blood analysis (CBC) done each year checking for any liver or kidney changes and I haven't seen any yet. The good new for us is that Alzheimer's is an inflammatory process and a lot of good data now that suggest that long term use of NSAIDs probably reduces the risk of Alzheimers. My wife and I are off dancing in about an hour and I've got my two Alleve on board at the moment. Good luck with you leg issues.

Terry

 

[Phil Tarman]

Terry, thanks for that info! I've been wondering about Aleve. Does it work as well as ibuprofen. I've only taken it once, years and years ago when I was on a long bicycle ride. I couldn't tell that it did much of anything that time. I'll give it a shot.

I have the CBC done every year too and so far no damage. My doc tells me that the ibuprofen can be hard on the stomach. I haven't asked her about naproxen (which is Aleve, isn't it?).

 

[junglejim]

We're a little off topic now, but I used to think the same as Phil about Vitamin I. I used it for pain and inflamation after crashing my mountain bike with some regualrity (riding too fast with too little skill). However, I find Aleve more effective for the kind of pain I have now (being old pain). I believe it is a little easier on the stomach too.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Thanks, Jim. I'll get some before I head northwest on Sunday and give it a shot.

 

[banjoboy]

Jim has it about right. Alleve and Ibuprophen are both NSAIDs and I've learned that Alleve is much more like a time release Ibuprophen. For me it works for about 8 hours. Alleve is the brand name for Sodium Naproxen. You can get Sodium Naproxen as a prescription at 500mg tablets. The Alleve is 220 mg and two tablets gets me close to the 500 mg prescription strength. The best idea is to try it and see how it works for you.

Terry

 

[junglejim]

Jim, I do feel for you and all those others that are stuck in winter....all the way to Texas!
I have talked with the weather gods and am sending you some good riding weather next week....
But you gotta send us some rain out west or we shall all be choking on smoke at Spearfish due to the wildfire season....

Thanks Chris, that's a good deal. I'll be working on that rain for you - not sure I can do anything for California though. I thought the wind was blowing the smoke SW so you should be out of it. One of the worst fires I was ever on in my career was in Wenatchee in about the mid 1990s. You don't have to be in California to have a fire. Most of western US has a lot of bug killed trees for a real high fuel load. Drought stressed trees have produced high bark beetle populations which keep multiplying and causing even more stressed and dead trees. And if some human doesn't light a fire mother nature does. I bet you just love watching those big old air tankers work dropping fire retardant. See you in Spearfish.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Ouch! Say, who designed these human bodies, anyway???? :smile: Make sure you check the side effects of any drug you end up taking.....
Chris who hates parking on hills of any type....

Chris, the part of my leg that hurts is about 6" above my left ankle -- the one part of my leg that doesn't have hardware installed in it. The orthopedic doc says that his diagnosis is inflammatory periostitis. The periostium is the outer layer of the bone and it's got lots of nerves. I asked the doc what that meant and he said it means that I have a pain in my leg. I asked him what to do about it and he said he didn't know. My family doc says about the only thing is to take anti-inflammatories. I take 1600-2400 mg of ibuprofen a day for it and it's gradually getting a little bit better.

The difficulty you saw me having at Spearfish is because my right knee (the third artificial knee on that side ... I've only had two artificial knees on the left side) only bends about 90-degrees.

Neither leg hurts when I ride. The right leg never hurts, but the left one has had this inflammatory periostitis since a couple-three weeks before Easter. It was at its worst Easter Weekend, and the riding I've done over the last two weeks doesn't seem to have aggravated it much if any.

Today I only rode about 30 miles from one hotel to another. My brother-in-law had told me not to take 183 because of construction. But I forgot. He was right. It was stop and go for about 6 miles. The parking situation down here at the Omni Hotel isn't real great. Every parking space that isn't designated for handicapped parking is on a steeply sloping floor. I ended up parking at an extreme diagonal in compact parking place. If I'd parked with the kickstand on the uphill side, the bike wouldn't have stood on the kickstand. With it on the downhill side, I don't know if I could have gotten it off the kickstand. This way's OK if nobody hits it coming around a corner.

 

[U20417]

Ouch! Say, who designed these human bodies, anyway???? :smile:

I don't thin its the design...I think it is our constant lake of care and up keep. If we took care of ourselves as good as we take care of our bikes we might all be in better shape!!! LOL

 

[Coyote Chris]

Thanks Chris, that's a good deal. I'll be working on that rain for you - not sure I can do anything for California though. I thought the wind was blowing the smoke SW so you should be out of it. One of the worst fires I was ever on in my career was in Wenatchee in about the mid 1990s. You don't have to be in California to have a fire. Most of western US has a lot of bug killed trees for a real high fuel load. Drought stressed trees have produced high bark beetle populations which keep multiplying and causing even more stressed and dead trees. And if some human doesn't light a fire mother nature does. I bet you just love watching those big old air tankers work dropping fire retardant. See you in Spearfish.

Out here, July and August can be smokey due to fires many hundreds of miles away.....(Wenatchee had a tough time last year)
You are right about the bark beetles....Helena is surrounded by brown trees in the mountains....
Here is my house a few years ago....I have had fire near my house three times and its not fun.....



The black smoke is one of my neighbor's homes going up....

 

[Phil Tarman]

Was the fire bomber in that first picture a PBY Catalina? It sure looked like one. I didn't know anyone was using them for firebombing.

BTW, I'm starting a new thread called Coming Home From Texas to cover my last two days of riding.