Electric Horseman

A good ole fashion serial tale. What helps make it seem dull is not only the oral verbosity I tried to capture on the page, but also the facts are not embellished. My Poetic license has expired, so trust me I am not fishin' for time in the "Gray Bar". True, sometimes the truth can ring dull if the man in charge of the belfry is tone deaf and cannot make the bell ring true. JW 4/20/08

With the gas price at a permanent high I finally realized the only reasonable thing to do was hunt for a motorcycle, honestly I realized I needed something I could identify which meant dirt friendly, that would save me big time on gas, its all about my “carbon footprint”. I was looking for something I could commute to work on and also do some dual sporting or even ride into Copper Canyon if the opportunity showed itself. I searched the papers, Craigs list and ebay for a month or two and finally I discovered that a friend of mine had a 2001 KTM 640 Adventure he was ready to release from his corral. I called him and he told me about the bike, I asked him “what color is it” and he changed the subject. The bike it turned out had just less than 4,000 miles on it, with new tires, chain and sprocket not to mention new oil and a tank full of gas. These facts sold me, so without hesitation, right or wrong, I bought his bike. I figured Fred was someone I knew which meant in the event the thing proved a lemon I could both slander and libel his good name whichever came first and then I could repeat until his reputation was destroyed which would help ease my lemon buying mind. I was satisfied with this plan. To be continued ...

Riding My Motorbike Within a Hairs Breath of Nude's

Sunday April 13th 2008
District 14,15, 16, & 17

Well I just returned from an the annual Sand Goblin Enduro hosted by the Grand Kankakee Trail Riders in Roselawn Indiana which is an area known for its nudists colonies…This has nothing to do with the story, the summer race is when we are arrowed through the colony and it really makes you question why some of these people just don’t put their cloths back on, but this again is another story.
It has been a very wet spring, the ground is saturated the temperature reached a high of 40 and most people expected the worst…Wrong, the corn fields we crossed to trail sections were a nightmare. If you could just keep up your momentum and if you have any luck you will glide across the deep mud. The trails however were absolutely perfect! I had new tires, new packing for my pipe, clean cloths food in my belly etc. It was just a mild drizzle when we left on minute two.
I had a great ride, relatively speaking, I did not fall barely bobbled and only killed it in a transition corn field. I pulled the plug which was white and part of it burnt off, then I put in a fresh plug with all my fingers and toes crossed and nothing; my bike was toast…I was within 100 yards of the road and a gentleman named Andy came riding up on a four wheeler and offered me a tow, I said “please.” He tied on and the rope snapped, so he went to find a new tow rope, I waited for awhile began to feel a chill so I pushed the bike until I felt like I was going to break a sweat and then waited etc. Finally Andy showed up with a tow strap and we made it to the road and headed back to base camp and then the rope broke again. Then after a retie we made it back…Great day despite blowing up my machine. I met up with two friends Jamie, corn field tragedy, and that grabber fella another victim.
Soon Frank Haines along with Jan Werner showed up for a gas stop. I pointed at my head to show I was OK and they gassed up and headed out, Jan had only crashed four times so far and Frank only went over his bars once on the enduro cross section…We all shook hands and went our respective ways. Who won? I don’t know it wasn’t me. So that’s my race report if I find out any further results and if I remember I will post them but for me this is all I need to know.

The Sea She's Rough

I sail on the waters of Eagle Ocean which is in the Indianapolis area. These waters are bound by many restrictions, no jet skies, no motors over 10 horse power and here lies the danger NO SWIMMING!
So if one is law abiding and falls off his boat, he I assume by the law is obligated to drown. I have fallen off on a number of occasions and have brazenly embraced my scoff law nature and splashed about and then eventually dog paddled back to my vessel. However I fear many a law-abiding sailor may be forced to visit Davey Jones Locker some 20 ft. below! Do not think for a minute we in land locked Indiana do not sail in the shadow of imminent peril every time we misstep on our boats. From the Chart room of the Western Flyer
Josh Williams
Indianapolis Indiana