A Little Wind in the Face is a GOOD THING

Finally, Spring has sprung and the motorcycle has made it out onto the open road for a ride through the Arizona desert mountains.

One of my annual "gotta do" items is to take a motorcycle ride down from Flagstaff to the Valley of the Sun to take part in the East Valley Firefighters Charities Poker Run that starts out at Superstition Harley Davidson in Apache Junction Arizona. The Firefighters from Mesa, Apache Junction, Gilbert and Globe Arizona put on one of the best events of it type in the state during Arizona Bike Week each year. This year was no exception.

After the registration part is done and I buy some

raffle ticketsthe Mesa Local 2260 Firefighters put up

a big pancake breakfast for all the hungry riders.

Then it is TIME TO RIDE!

The poker run route traditionally runs up to the copper mining town of Globe/Miami for the first stop and will then vary from year to year.

For the 2013 ride we then ran South from Globe through the scenic Gila River Canyon to the town of Oracle and then to Florence and finally ending in Mesa at the Cactus Moon Sports Grill.



We had a little bit of extra fun this year when Steve "Munk" Mundell, one of the riders in our little band of IAFF Motorcycle Group members was able to draw 4 Kings and a Jack to put together the winning High Hand and take home the prize of $1000 cash!

 

The next big event is the Laughlin River Run where we will be meeting up with other firefighters from around the West for a ride and BBQ that I started 4 years ago and is now being put on by the Leatherheads Motorcycle Club.

 

I'll have our Damon Outlaw set up at the Riverside Casino RV Park along with my good friends from the Las Vegas Fire Department for 4 days of riding and enjoying the rally.

De-winterizing projects de jour

The snow has melted and I can get a few projects done that I have been putting off with the excuse that it has just been too freakin' cold! The main catalyst has been that we are getting ready for a little run to Laughlin for the 2013 River Run motorcycle rally in a couple of weeks.

The first thing I had to do was replace the galley faucet that had retained a little water when I drained all the lines and, unbeknowst to me until I turned on the water, had broken. The shriek from my lovely bride when I turned on the water could probably be heard in the next county.

The hole in the base  of the faucet

is NOT supposed to be there!

The new faucet is very high quality with brass fittings instead of plactic. I will also be sure to open all of the taps when I winterize and blow air through the system. Lesson learned.

We also had this Add-a-Wall soft wall in our small 16' toyhauler trailer (in the background) that was too long for the trailer but fits perfectly in our '07 Damon Outlaw. The install took about an hour mostly because I was working solo. I'm pretty sure that if evolution were to really kick in we would all start growing a third hand out of the center of our chest.

 

My next project is to install chains to the ramp to hold it level so we can use it as a patio.