Equipment Evaluation

2008 Harley-Davidson FXDF FatBob: (http://www.jimshd.com/) The best bike I've owned hands down! What a pleasure it was to be able to ride fast and hard and put the bike away wet without even a miss fire. That bike can run and didn't get its legs until it was in 6th gear at seventy five miles an hour where she held steady hour after hour. Fifty-three miles to the U.S. gallon at that speed and she didn't use a drop of oil for the entire 3400 mile trip. Now I couldn't say that about my 1971 FX, or any of my Sportsters and my 58 Sportster used to drink oil like I drink tea.

Now I'm a rider and not a loafer so putting on a windshield was against my better judgement but boy did I thank the gods that I did decide to use one. I would have been bug splattered and tuckered out after the first hundred miles. It was an easily removed shield so I went to Port Dover sans the shield only to discover that eighty per cent of the bikes were sporting one.

2008 Yamaha Raider: (http://ridenow.com/clearwater) I've ridden this bike and its a tree puller with 113 cubic inches! Smooth, fast and gone before you could think "twist of the wrist." We were planning on using it on the farm to plow the fields in the off season. Phil chose the smaller shield and rightfully so because we saw another Raider with the large shield and it looked like a bull moose in heat. But the smaller shield did give Phil more of a fight in high winds. His bike got about forty-eight miles to the gallon, which is very respectable.

Road Master Luggage Rack (http://www.motorcycletravelrack.com/) Well I was the best dressed and up first in the morning and ready to ride because of the ease in which I could load my Kuryakyn bags on the bike by simply placing them and buckling the straps. The rack held my equipment in place no matter what paces I put my bike through. I did put a couple of hose clamps on just for safety sake and peace of mind. It even held firm through "The Tail of the Dragon" 318 hairpin turns in 11 miles. The bumps in the road, which seamed to be every few miles, would bounce me around but the bags didn't move a hair.

Frogg Toggs: I know Phil mentioned that I burned through my rain pants by touching them to the pipes. Here's the lesson learned, "Don't put your rain pants on when it's windy and always dress away from a hot bike." Simple enough! They worked perfectly, it was me who failed them not the other way round. Couple of tire patches and they're good as new.

The Wholefood Farmacy (http://www.revital.wholefoodfarmacy.com/) Nutrient dense survival food that tastes good and fills you up and keeps you full! Both Phil and I ate Phi Plus while traveling to and from Canada. We only ate in a restaurant once on the way up and once on the way back. Why eat fake food that makes you fat when you can eat nutritious food which is fullfilling and gives you energy. I continued eating Phi Plus and drinking a mix of AmpliPhi and DetoxiPhi in the morning to start my day. The food stayed fresh and tasted great.

Here's my video from the photos and videos I took with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX30, 7.1 megapixel camera. I carried this tiny camera strapped on my belt within easy reach so that I could pop it out and start shooting. I'm always amazed at the quality of the video and photos as well as the sound for a camera that fits in the palm of my hand.

Paul Turnbull

Guinness World Record(?), Zoom Zoom and We're Home

Port Dover, Ontario, Canada: "Friday the 13th has roared into the record books as the largest single-day parade of motorcycles, says a Norfolk tourism official, and estimated about 25,000 motorcycles made their way into the tiny town by mid-afternoon yesterday. She also speculated that attendance this year may have surpassed last year's 150,000 people, which would set another record." -thespec.com

After the Port Dover Bike day was over we decided it was time to head home. Also, we hadn't tested the rain gear and we heard there was plenty of rain and storms south of us. Early Monday morning we headed out early and by Tuesday we were in the thick of it.

West Virginia and Virginia had the heaviest rain, which sometimes came up fairly quickly as we rounded a mountain. There were times when it poured pretty intensely.

The rain gear worked very well, keeping us dry and somewhat warm.

Once we were through the rain we kept up a good pace, around 75 to 80 (and sometimes a bit better) all the way home. The bikes handled superbly.

When we hit South Carolina it was monstrously hot. Must have been over 100F. By mid-afternoon we were toast, so we packed it in and found a motel. We got up around 3am and hit the road to avoid the heat. It was perfect. Nice and cool, less traffic, and relatively smooth sailing. It did heat up quite a bit later but we managed to land at home around noon, so missed the worst heat of the day.

We had one newspaper and one magazine follow our trip. We may have some of our pictures featured in one. We'll let you know if that happens.

There are still some pictures and comments we'll add over the next few days as the dust settles.

Thanks for following. We love the comments.

Best,
-Phil

Port Dover Bike Day, June 13, 2008!

Port Dover bike day! It was packed. Every street was completely full with bikes and bikers. By noon it was shoulder to shoulder. Paul and I got there early, about 6am. Paul knew a back way into town so we could avoid some of the traffic. We got great parking spots right downtown, near the water.

I learned something about Ontario, Canada: Women are allowed to go topless,, legally! And yes I learned this by personal observation. Yowza!

OK, the bikes. There were bikes of every type, size, and modification. Incredible. I'm not sure how many people were there but I heard estimates of over 100,000. In spite of the crowd there wasn't a single instance of 'trouble' that I noticed. Everyone was friendly and well behaved.

We took lots of pictures and rather than put them all in here we did a couple of short montages.

The first is a bit of Port Dover ambiance, and me with the Hooter's girls.


Next is the bikes.

And here's some video of the constant stream of bikes into, and through, and around the town.

There were plenty of 'characters' there as well. Here's a shot of Paul with a costumed couple.









There's lots more but we'll try to get more up onto the site over the next few days or so.

The last leg of the trip is coming up. We'll be heading out on Monday through upstate NY and into Pennsylvania.

Thanks for following along with us. We love to get your comments.

Best,
-Phil

Port Dover Preview

Yesterday we visited old friends and met new ones. Our first stop was at Poole's Harley-Davidson where Paul started his motorcycle adventures in 1965. He thought it was was great to see his old friend Bill Leslie and talk about old times.










Then we rode to Port Dover and our first stop was a Mr. B's for a natural bison burger and sweet potato fries! The natural nutritional craze that is sweeping North America landed in Port Dover in April 2007. We had a good chat with Brenda, John and Jen and swapped some more stories. The "I'm at home feeling" is ever present at Mr. B's and you can tell right off that you are welcome and can stay as long as you want.










We introduced ourselves to Lynn Sonnenberg at the Port Dover Maple Leaf Newspaper and told her about our trip from Florida. She's been following our blog and was impressed with what we had done to get to Friday the 13th. There will be over 100,000 people attending so get there early, you might even consider going a day early and camping out.

And there is no hope for those that go to Port Dover and not take photos of the beach, so here's one. Did you notice the man standing in the window in the house on the hill in the background?









-Phil

Arrived in Canada!

Yesterday we rode up through Pennsylvania (all back roads) and then stopped for a civilized lunch in Aurora, NY at the Roycroft Museum/Restaurant.










Then around mid-afternoon we crossed the border into Canada and shortly after arrived at Campark Resorts in Niagara Falls. They also have a blog with some great hints and tips.

The resort is only 2 miles from the falls. We took a tour around town last night and stopped for some Italian ice cream. Lots of Italian heritage here from back in the canal and hydroelectric plant building days.


Today was a quiet day. Cleaning bikes, and catching up on rest.

-Phil

Day 6. Great riding. Hot.

I thought we'd left the heat behind in Florida but it's been in the 90's yesterday and today. We rode up through the Shenandoah Valley, VA and then up through West Virginia and into Pennsylvania. All back roads. Fantastic riding. We should arrive in Canada tomorrow sometime mid-afternoon.

With all the back roads we've taken it's added over 400 miles to the trip but it's been worth it. Met a lot of nice people and yes,, all the waitresses call me 'Hon'.

We got invited to line dancing tonight but decided to forgo it. We thought they might be after the bikes. After all those young girls couldn't be after two old farts like us.

Ok, even hard riders have to take a rest sometime.









-Phil

Day 4 and 5, What a Ride!!!

Awesome riding yesterday and today!!! We did the Foothills Parkway, Dragon's Tale, and Blue Ridge Parkway.

Yesterday we drove through the Foothills Parkway and then did the Dragon's Tail. '11 Miles and 318 Hairpin Turns'. There were a lot of bikes and some were sure hot doggin' it. Amazing to see some of the sport bikes zipping around those bends.


We settled into a nice cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. We rented it from Mike Duff at Jim's Harley-Davidson in St. Petersburg, FL. Pool table, hot tub,, very nice.









This morning (June 5th) we rode most of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was some of the best riding anywhere. The views were spectacular. The roads just the right mix of winding up and down hills. And no stop signs, or lights. Very little traffic and it was like having our very own road.









Ok, now here are some shots, well, just don't try this at home boys and girls. I was doing about 50mph (or so) and grabbed the camera for some pics and vids.















,, and video:


Tonight we're in Virginia and heading north tomorrow.

-Phil

Georgia Country

Hiram, Georgia. We put the bikes in the barn and decided to stay a few days.



It's just beautiful here. The weather is perfect. To earn my keep I raked out the horse corral and fed the horses. This was a moment of tranquility for me. Today we're heading into town to find a nice place to have lunch.