Sol Power–BrammoBlog.com

Blog 52: Finishing up the weekend trip. The Trinity Site and White Sands: DONE. Still the trip home has a few more wonders to show. Plus: Bonus Balloon Fiesta photos (non-Brammo related)***

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First: Leaving White Sands (a great Nicolas Cage movie) I got a wonderful sunset in my rear mirrors. I wanted to hit White Sands a couple of hours before sunset and timed it pretty well. White Sands is most beautiful in the hours just after sunrise and the couple of hours before sunset. It is also quite beautiful on a night with a full moon. Sadly the moon as only at half full.

Still I got there in time to ride around and take lots of photos and video as the sun slowly lowered and the colors of the sky and dunes multiplied and deepened. See yesterdays blog for the photos.

On leaving I had to pull over and get a few shots of the sunset. If I was smarter I would have stayed in the Dunes for some shots. It would have been legen…wait for it….dary. But truthfully I didn’t want to ride the 15 miles from White Sands to my motel in the dark. I don’t really know the area and it was all highway from White Sands to my motel. And “on a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air”…is not the safest place to ride when you are not familiar with the surroundings. Plus people in New Mexico are CRAZY when they drive.

Most importantly, I didn’t know it would be soooo pretty. But I should have guessed. Clouds plus Sunset in New Mexico almost always equals pretty. Next time I will stay at the dunes well past the setting sun. Red and purple dunes at night would have been so very lovely.

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I spent the night in Alamogordo (about 15 miles north of White Sands) and thought about maybe going to White Sands again in the morning. But I knew there were some nice Puebloan Ruins I had never visited about 2 hours from White Sands. And they were on my way home. Or at least one way home 🙂

I wanted to get some nice photos at the Ruins before the Sun got too high in the sky. So I woke before sunrise and loaded up the Enertia Plus into the pickup and headed back north towards home.

I traveled some of the most empty lands I’ve ever driven. Nothing, nobody for as far as the eye could see. I even had Prong Horned Antelopes crossing the road in front of me and cows grazing beside the highway without fencing (Neither are very comforting. Driving a truck at 60 mph and seeing a cow 1 foot off the road slowly chewing the grass is just unnatural to this city boy). But I guess they don’t do secret Nuclear testing in populated areas. So they had to pick a place like this for both the Trinity Site and White Sands Missile Range.

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Not my photo…I was driving too fast and the Prong Horns are very quick too. Not that I didn’t try 🙂

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I always thought Prong Horn’s were imported to this country…but they are indigenous. The oldest bones at the Ruins are Prong Horn bones.

They just look so “African”. Plus there are Oryx breeding in Southern New Mexico and I know they were imported from Africa.

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Oryx at the edge of the White Sands. They were brought in for hunting. Which is mildly sad. Neither Oryx or Prong Horns are overly fearful of people…and the lack of trees and cover make them insanely easy to hunt. Still a person gets his trophy kill and head to mount all for the extreme effort of driving a truck to an area, walking less than a mile and getting 30 feet away from these beautiful creatures and then shooting it with an expensive, high powered rifle. Yea.

Eh, Whatever. There are worse things happening everyday…just don’t pretend you are some great warrior or hunter. It only slightly harder than shooting a cow.

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But I’m off subject. My first stop was at Gran Quivira.  http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/66gran/66gran.htm

This Puebloan Ruin is literally in the middle of nowhere, as you will see in my panorama shots. It does have a nice walkway and a gift shop…as do all 3 ruins in this general area. And a Ranger. Nice man. Though he did tell me to stay in the middle of the path to protect against Rattlesnakes. Ha. A) I have caught and moved quite a few rattlesnakes from my home when we lived up north of the mountain in Placitas. B) It was 9:30 in the morning and still below 40 degrees. No rattlesnake is awake and alert in 40 degree temps. I assume his comments are there to impress the tourist and to keep people from venturing off the pathway…But it doesn’t do either with “locals”.

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Map showing the 3 Ruins. Gran Quivira is the furthest South. It is about 130 miles North of White Sands and about 100 miles South of Albuquerque.

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Sadly, for me, this Ruin is only accessible by foot. And no way to position the bike for a photo op. Still they are quite lovely and I’m glad I stopped and got some “non bike” related photos. 🙂

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These Panorama are big files. Click to see “the bigger.”

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I didn’t ask, but I think it is very likely that some major renovation was done to the site. It is 1000 years and abandoned for over 300 years. Though I gather the big Church is only 400 years old or so. It would have been added during Spanish rule. The Pueblo People didn’t do Churches till the Spanish came and forced them to.

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Notice the distance behind these last two images and the “nothing” that fills it 🙂

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So a nice short walk about. Nobody else there, just me. Beautiful morning, beautiful site. Nice.

Then off I went to Abo. Abo is the Ruin that got me interested in going here. A friend had put up some images of Abo and I just had to go. The Quarai Ruin is supposedly the largest and nicest, but I saved those for the next trip. They are also the closest to people and the most visited. I wanted to have the Ruins all to myself.

http://www.turnerinnandrvpark.com/Quarai%20RuinsPage.htm

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Again, like Gran Quivira, the Abo Ruin had a gift shop and a Ranger there. Another nice man who told me to come back on a weekday and he gives petroglyphs and rock tours of the older parts of the Puebloan Ruin. Where Gran Quivira was white rock, Abo is dark red and the sunlight was in a great position hitting the large East facing wall. And the nice thing, for Brammo Photo Ops, is that the road runs right in front of the Ruin. I still couldn’t take the bike on the 1/2 mile path that went around the Ruin, but I could get some nice shots from the road.

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The Ruin has a rather extensive older portion on the other side of the creek. It is totally worn down to the ground and really only an archaeologist would know what is what.

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All the panoramas are large files ready for some clickage by the viewers.

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Far Warning: I took too many photos…and I still could have taken tons more.

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Aimed higher to include the almost half moon. The moon, especially when full, always looks so much bigger to the eye than on camera.

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I may have been standing a bit askew* for this panorama.

*(i wanted to put standing a bit zygoggle or psygoggle..but I don’t know how to spell it….)

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Having a round Kiva in the middle of the church is supposedly very unusual for Puebloan design.

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By the time I was leaving (multiple photos and the 1/2 mile walk around the Ruin) the moon was much lower in the sky.

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Abo from behind….

hmmm, there is something potentially nasty in that phrase, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…

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And further down the pathway.

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I didn’t know if I wanted to insert a Talking Heads “Road to Nowhere” reference or a Wizard of Oz “Follow the Red Clay Road” joke. So I am doing both. It is just concrete painted to look like packed red clay. Tricky. It’s Tricky Tricky Tricky.

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As you can tell I took too many photos. I only used a few of the many many many I have. It is the combo of red brick and blue sky that always makes me fall in love…and the jagged Ruins are just icing on the cake.

Till next time.

Gavin

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For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

***Balloon photos are moved to Tomorrow’s Blog….which will be, interestingly, tomorrow. I figured this blog post already had too many photos.

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A Funky Bonus.

I was interviewed by a fellow EV enthuisast over the phone. And you can find it here. Personally I hate the sound of my voice. I have huge, expansive sinus cavities (i’ve got the xrays to prove it) which helps keep my huge head from being too heavy. At the same time those hollow chambers echo and expand my tinny voice so that I hear myself in my head sounding not unlike Barry White. A deep, sex-drenched voice.

But on tape I hear my true voice and it is so unlike the sound in my head that I find it quite unsettling. I sound similar to Christopher Lloyd at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Sigh. The brave, darning and foolish can listen to it by clicking this link.

http://esbk.co/2012/10/02/esbk-studios-episode-10-interview-with-gavin-mccullough/

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A Funkier Bonus

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Me with the Albuquerque Isotopes Mascot: Orbit.

Blog 48–Where I share buried treasure found by Google Alerts…and by buried I mean “out of date, old and kinda useless.”

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Large Photo Blog coming tomorrow…lots of fun…but today I am just throwing up (eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww) some images I found on the internet….

I suspect that the images are oldish and out of date…but they do show that Brammo is pushing forward with their huge Walmart site in Talent, Oregon. Whether this is the final design, I don’t know.

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Overhead drawing of current site.

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Overhead shot of Walmart and parking lot.

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Front view of remodeled Walmart into Brammo Headquarters.

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View of building from the opposite front angle.

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Click to access brammo3.1.pdf

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So forward motion happening. And the site will be huge (and the overhead shows maybe expansion space across the road). So they should have plenty of space to make lots and lots of bikes 🙂

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Till Next Time…

Gavin

For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

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Teaser for Tomorrow….I have photos and stories from The Trinity Site, White Sands Monument and some Pueblo Ruins. Good stuff. Here is one, slightly altered to be current with the slightly delayed Balloon Jump in Roswell (120,000 feet above sea level…crazy stuff)

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Blog 47: A quick Friday Update

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I don’t like to Blog on Fridays…AND I was going to keep this weekend trip a surprise…BUT I am awful at surprises…AND it’s not really a surprise (like getting a new bike or growing more hair on my head).

But it is a fun and busy weekend…So I wanted to share. And I will have photos up next week.

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The weekend starts tonight with DATE NIGHT. My wife and I are going to The Lion King at Popejoy Theater. It is the Broadway show and should be fun. Of course my wife has already seen it ON FREAKING BROADWAY with my daughters many years ago when it first opened. But it will be the first time for me.

Not really Brammo related, but thought I would share :)….of course I can make anything Brammo related…So:

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A touching Father and Son moment…quickly marred when Mustafa is crushed beneath the stampede of wild Enertias.

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Then comes Saturday and early rising to start my 2 day road trip. First stop: The Trinity Site. And I’m not talking this Trinity:

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Nope, I’m talking this Trinity Site:

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Then I’m going down to White Sands National Monument…A just lovely, otherworldly site.

And then hitting some Pueblo ruins on the back way home on Sunday.

Lots of Photos and lots more info next week.

Gavin

ps…if I get a Black Enertia Plus…she shall be named T-Challa….

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If I get a white Empulse…I don’t know what name…at least not yet 🙂

Blog 46: Ok…this will be a bit much for some out there…but….

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A while ago I put up a photo of David Bowie on a Brammo Enertia. Just for fun. And when Brammo shared the photo on Twitter they said: “Bowie on a Brammo.” And I like that. But I thought I could do better. So I made “Bowie on a Brammo in a Bar.”*

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And instantly the Dr Seuss center of my brain went a bit berserk. And I had random rhymes going through my head. And thus:

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Bowie on a Brammo in a Bar

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Bowie taking things a little too FAR….

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Bowie dressed up like a Clown

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Bowie Right Side Up

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and Bowie Up Side Down.

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Green Bowie

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Pink Bowie

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Red Bowie

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Blue….

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Here Bowie Thinks: “I’m cooler than you.”

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Alien Bowie makes a Brammo fly with his Powerful Mind

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Here we see Bowie from Behind.

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Bowie in a Tux standing next to Iman

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Bowie kinda sad, Buried to his neck in Sand

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Punk Bowie

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Drunk Bowie

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Bowie holding on to what looks like one of my Grandmother’s Chairs**

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Bowie’s Like a Honey Badger,

Cuz Bowie Don’t Care.***

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Bowie on a Brammo, Wearing Large, Puffy Pant

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Bowie on a Brammo Singing 1983’s hit “Let’s Dance”

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and finally we see Bowie…Wait, that’s Adam Ant!

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Till Next Time…

Gavin

For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

*It seems very Very VERY unlikely that David Bowie would sue me over these photos…But if he did, well at least I would get to meet him. Yes it would be in Court, but still could be fun.

**You would think Bowie’s concert budget would be enough to spring for a better chair.

***Wasn’t sure which image “showed” Bowie not caring…so did two…Bonus Honey Badger image.

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Blog 40: Ok, this is an extra blog post as yesterday’s was getting a bit long in the tooth. Whatever that means.

We ended yesterday’s blog post with this:

Part 3: Miller Motorsports Park: For some reason I keep calling it Miller’s MotorPark…and then I think of this:

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But I don’t see the Enertia as the victim…so….

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Yeah, that Enertia is one bad mutherfu….Shut your mouth…But I’m just talkin’ bout Enertia.

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Shaft is soooo cool that he can swing in on a rope WITH an Enertia between his legs and shoot some bad dudes stone cold dead.

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But enough of all that

This Blog is about my rides and experiences with the Enertia, and now Enertia Plus. And I don’t usually cover events that I haven’t taken part in. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how the Brammo Team did this past weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in the final race of the North American TTXGP.

Brammo has been racing in the TTXGP both last and this year. They have teamed with Icon (makers of crazy good motorcycle gear) for this years races. Last year Brammo won the North American Championship. This year they were in the lead heading to Miller and would repeat as North American Champions if they did well…..

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Steve-O Atlas doing some windtunnel testing for Icon and their new helmet. They have a great video I will link to later.

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I’m not going to give a run down or play by play…remember, I wasn’t there. So I will let some photos and youtubes tell the story.

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The Bikes pre-race. Looking Sharp.

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Eric Bostrom in qualifying

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Nice lean by Eric Bostrom.

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So a great result for Team Icon Brammo. Eric Bostrom comes in first, Steve Atlas comes in second. And Eric’s fastest lap is faster than the 1000cc gas bikes. More on that in a minute.

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And a nice SteveO lean…with the North American Championship Results.

The wonderful things here are: SteveO wins two years in a row. Brammo wins two years in a row. And Eric Bostrom, the newest rider for Team Icon Brammo, only drove in two races, and still was in 4th place.

A great job all around for the team, the riders, the builder and designers.

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So what do you do when you win?

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Well if you’re the North American TTXGP Champ…you pose for some nice photos by yourself…

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And with the TEAM.

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And then you do some wicked burnouts….

I mean you can only be so green. Sometimes you do a little pollution for celebration…though the smoke was quite white and clean looking.

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Congrats to the team. Good luck at the World Championship in Daytona. I might have to see if I can get some time off work 🙂

I wonder how long it would take to drive the Plus out?? Off to Google Maps….

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This next bit is stolen from Protomech over at the Brammoforum: http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=1542.msg11551#msg11551

Brian Wismann on twitter posted that the Empulse RR bikes were faster around Miller East than the latest literbikes at a recent CycleWorld test.

Miller West “Exotics”:
1:34.94 Aprilia RSV4 Factory
1:35.45 EBR 1190RS
1:35.31 Ducati Panigale S
1:37.10 MV Agusta F4 RR
1:36.58 Honda CBR1000RR

Miller East “Workhorses”:
1:40.74 Honda CBR1000RR
1:40.93 BMW S1000RR
1:41.22 Suzuki GSX-R1000
1:41.57 Kawasaki ZX-10R
1:41.84 Yamaha YZF-R1

Indeed, a 1:38.40 best lap for Eric Bostrom is more than two seconds faster than the best literbike (Honda CBR1000RR) tested on Miller East. On the slightly faster Miller West, the higher-spec $23k Aprilia RSV4 Factory and $40k EBR 1190RS bikes are less than two seconds faster than the CBR1000RR.

Different day, different riders, and comparing street-legal (barely) gas bikes to pure race electrics.. but the electrics win.

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Good to see the Electrics are getting as good as the gas bikes…

Till Next Time…

Gavin

For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

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Bonus Photo Time:

Ok, went to the last Isotopes game of the season. It was a day game and one thing the ‘Topes do that is really cool is let people onto the field before day games. Kids playing catch. Old geezers like me just walking around as it is COOL to be on the field. And I took some photos.

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I just love this park…Such a nice place.

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Now to find some parking….

First off: “I Park where I WANT” has now become contagious.

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On the Field…Score!  I mean, Scoreboard.

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Kids playing…and me acting like a fool walking around taking photos of everything.

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After the game…Checking out the University Stadium across the street.

And…… End.

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Blog 22: From Burque to Vegas.

iPad blogging for the first time, so it could get messy. But I shall forge ahead against all odds. Though it is somewhat less dramatic traveling in air conditioned comfort and a cooler of ice tea in the passenger seat. Hardship thy name is…well not Gavin.
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Ok…so the run down, if anybody cares other than the voices in my cranium (the voices like to pretend they are smart and use words like cranium instead of swollen melon of a head).

Left Albuquerque at 9am, full of piss and vinegar…and driving with a nice new car seat bead thingy. My wife wondered if I had mugged a cabbie…nope, just thought I would try it…a “on a whim” kinda thing…

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Insert visual image of your choosing of New York Cabbie with a brown beaded seat cover…I will not be an active participant at this time…iPad can’t allow me to properly alter any image to my liking.

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Thought about stopping at the Meteor Crater…cuz I LOVE the Meteor Crater. For some reason I can’t drive near it without looking up to the sky expecting a new meteor to hit. Like it would happen just then in the exact same area. But nowhere else do I do that. Look to sky expecting, almost hoping to see huge fireball flying at high velocity toward Arizona desert…crazy.

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When we flew to Seattle, the plane went right over the Meteor Crater…I have no idea why…seemed a strange route. But it made me happy.
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Didn’t stop because it was raining…maybe on the way back.
The rain was on and off. Mostly light rain. Until Flagstaff. I had planned to stop to get gas and a bit to eat in Flagstaff. Seemed a nice halfway point to today’s ride. Just a bit over 300 miles from Albuquerque and I planned to go 600 miles today.

I didn’t stop in Flagstaff…but it felt like I did. It was the hardest rain I’ve seen in years. Almost zero visibility. I was going 30 mph in a 65 mph zone….and I still felt like I was going dangerously fast. I couldn’t see the exits and I really didn’t feel like stopping in a biblical flood, so I pushed on to Williams, AZ for gas and horrid gas mart food.
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Short stop in Williams to stretch legs and then off to first and only detour before hitting Vegas: Hoover Dam.

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On the way back home I think I will take the bike off the truck a couple of miles from the Dam and drive the E over it. Having the bike on the truck felt wrong and wasted. The Dam begged for a more personal experience. A closeness. In the truck I couldn’t feel the mass and weight of the Dam. The heaviness and brute force of it holding back billions of gallons of water. This travel stuff is a constant learning experience.

Anywho…the Dam was Damn nice, as always. And then off to Vegas.
Aside from the downpour, a fairly uneventful trip. Bike stayed upright, truck ran smoothly…so all good…

Except one thing. At Kingman Arizona I had a sudden thought. So I called D and asked, “Hey Honey, I’m driving and can’t look through the truck, but I had a suddenly thought that I left the helmet cam at home. Could you look and see because that would kinda suck as I want to use it some.”
“Yep, sitting hooked up to the computer.”
“Damn,” was my reply…even though I was still 80 miles from Hoover.

Still, not the end of the world, and in the morning D is over-nighting it to Salinas…so I should get it sometime on Thursday. Hopefully in time for our group ride to here:
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Super secret still
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As for now…crappy motel in Vegas…but still I park where I want…

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Once it is no longer hotter than dragon’s piss hitting a propane tank, I still plan to ride the strip…maybe some iPhone video…depends on traffic and the crazy Vegas drivers.

I will be adding some video links here later tonight…so, voices in my head, come back and check this blog a bit later…doing this on the iPad is not nearly as much fun as on a computer…but then the proper tools always helps.

The videos are a mash up of various clips I saved from my “Trashing my videos” adventure.

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Till Next Time…

Gavin

For more info on Brammo, please visit: http://www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: http://www.brammoforum.com

Blog 21: Off to See the Wizard…The Wonderful Wizard of Charge.

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Well that didn’t really work as a rhyme…maybe next time. Now if only I was going to a Boz Scaggs Concert…Then I could be “Off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Boz…”

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Oh My….that is just a hella nice coat…and hair…and what an obscure reference…

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But I should start with this weekend. Saturday was BUSY.  Sunday too. But we will start with Saturday.  And that means: RT 66 SUMMERFEST.

 http://rt66central.com/rt66summerfest.html

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/07/20/entertainment/summer-on-66.html

Started in 2010 with 20k people…Last year was 30,000. No numbers yet on yesterday, but a ton of people out walking Central from Girard to Washington…It would be so nice to have that area closed permanently to traffic. I think it should be shut down all the time for walking and shopping. Won’t happen, but would be nice.

Only a Mile long, but right by campus and lots of shops and food…perfectly placed for a car free area.

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One of the main draws of the Rt 66 Summerfest…Classic cars in gaudy colors. 🙂 But that engine is smokin’.

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First purple, then Yellow and Orange, then Orange…It’s like a box of crayons for Toddlers. Only bright, crazy colors allowed.

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Getting all set up.

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Dude was taking TWO Pamphlets!! I had to bitch slap him…Nah, if he wants two, he can have two.

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I have perfected the “fan” display of Handouts between the seat and rear light.

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Straight from the set of Breaking Bad to Summerfest…Nah, just how we look in Albuquerque.

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View toward the Aztec Motel sign…I miss that crazy flea bag motel and sad it got torn down. Though I’m glad the city kept the sign.

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View back toward our area. I love that Albuquerque will have horses, bicycles, skateboards and people walking all at the same time.

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The Urban Transport Booth was right across from a cool Neon store…I have a fondness for Neon that is far from inert.

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Nice couple looking at E.

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Enertie and I were official Rt 66 Summerfest Volunteers…the badge came with exactly NO benefits. Sigh.

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I did go and check out the cars…I especially liked this artistic Carb cover.

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And, from an earlier blog (editors note: Blog 17), I saw the same two guys driving the Trolley…So I guess they didn’t steal it.

Free Trolley rides at Summerfest sponsored by Breaking Bad. The show just went from Awesome to Super-Duper AWESOME.

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And I saved the best of Summerfest for last…This boy’s reaction was great. His family was checking out the scooters and I told him to go ahead and sit on the little Bobber we had there. He liked it, but then he came over to the Enertia and was, “OH MY GOD, I WANT IT.” I wish I was filming his first reaction. It was priceless.

And the funny thing is I get asked all kinds of questions from adults. And sometimes by the 5th or 6th question they will ask the price. But never first. The first question from him,

“I want it. How much do you think it is?.”  Ah, youth…straight to the point.

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I left the Rt 66 Summerfest around 5:30 to go home and pick up the wife. We got some nice Upper Deck clubhouse tickets to the Saturday Albuquerque Isotopes Triple A Baseball game (the “Topes” are the AAA farm team for the Los Angles Dodgers). Thanks Hayley and Daniel. And since parking is so much faster and easier on the Enertia than a car, well “D” rides with me. And yes the Enertia is a single seat motorcycle…And yes Brammo could get mad at me…But it works fine and the Enertia has no problem hauling D and me around for short trips (Isotopes park is about 7 to 8 miles from our house.) Plus I’ve seen two Brammo employees riding 2 up on Enertia’s, so I know I’m not the first to try it.

Just putting up a couple of photos…Sadly I can’t take a photo of D and I on the Enertia…Will have to get one someday soon.

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Good Seats. Great Company. 🙂

We got to the Stadium a bit early. It’s great to leave home at 6pm for a 7pm game and be in your seats by 6:20. No way can you do that in the “Big City.”

The Official Attendance was over 13 thousand…so a full house.

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“Topes” win 16-3 and a good 15 minutes of Fireworks after the game. A very nice end to a very nice day.

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Time to go pack for SECA…I realize not everybody knows what SECA is, so that will be my job for tomorrow. Well that and driving 500 miles to NEEDLES, CA. And why I picked Needles to stop for the night? No idea. 108 degrees tomorrow. It will be NASTY. Maybe I should push on to Barstow instead?

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Till Next Time…

Gavin

For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness:  visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

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Bonus Photo

Ok, so by now everybody knows that–all together and with great emotion—“I Park Where I Want!!” (it should be a game show on GSN)…

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Boz Scaggs seems to be everywhere. Maybe he does have Wizard-like powers. Or perhaps my meds need adjusting.

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But that isn’t the Bonus Photo.

Just yesterday I had to come into work on a Sunday, and if that wasn’t bad enough, I found a driver that puts me to shame when it comes to parking where they want.

I bow before the master, I am humbled and I will have to try even harder from now on…

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On second thought, perhaps he is just a bit dense and thought the arrows pointed to either side of his car,  instead of the whole area.
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Thanks to some rotating Canadian air dropping us down to near record lows, well…. I get to do some COLD WEATHER riding! Thanks Canada. You finally serve a purpose other than being a destination of Draft Dodgers (yep, I’m old and remember the draft) and sending your comedians and folk singers down to the states to make millions of dollars.

Today was the coldest I’ve ever ridden in…but I will probably get to break that record tomorrow morning.*

Some Facts:  The cold weather challenge is a non-prize winning, highly unofficial competition by scooter riders. And my ride doesn’t count in this very unofficial competition because MP3 scooters are not allowed. Likely some form of prejudice or latent fear of a third wheel brought on by being taunted at school or maybe the rules person is just Dutch or a Ginger. God I hate the Dutch and Gingers….**

Anyways….other rules. Ride must be at least 10 miles and lowest temperature wins. Riding more than 10 miles gets you nothing unless 2 entries have the same temperature, then distance is used as the tie breaker for the non-existent prize.

Some more facts: My commute to work is only a bit over 5 miles. So this morning I rode away from work, took a longer, rather serpiginous route and then rode passed work and headed to the Pitt Stadium–Home of the Mighty LOBOS– and then turned around and arrived at work just in time to punch in. Riding away from, and then past work when it is right around ZERO freaking degrees is borderline insane…but then borderline insane was my high school nickname…or taunt name or something….gah, now I keep hearing Madonna’s Borderline song in my head….(“cause you got the best of me”….Gah, shakes head trying to remove song.)

Bundled up…takes photo of Temp from iPhone weather App…

Mmmm. 7:04 am—1 degree. Probably should try and remember to recharge phone at work.

Luckily the 30 plus MPH Sustained winds that we had ALL MOTHER FREAKIN’ NIGHT have died down. So it is actually a nice, but hella cold, morning. (“Borderline feels like I’m going to lose my mind…”)

Snow blown over driveway gives me a nice start out of my driveway.

yep….three tire tracks…thus my Unofficial Cold Weather Challenge is instantly moot…FU rules maker.

So next, before my hands freeze, are some photos as I let my scooter warm up and my body core temperature start to plummet. (“You just keep on pushing my love over the….”….GAH…must remove 80’s Madonna from head.)

Blurry…hands already a bit shaky…or the Whiskey I drank for warmth is having an ill effect…

ok, I didn’t really drink whiskey as I’m heading to work…but if this was a weekend morning at 7 am…well….

Added bonus…Yesterday the roads were icy as heck…luckily today they were clear almost the whole way…expect right in front of my damn house…well I also crossed two ice-covered bridges on my ride to and around work…but the roads were much much better today than yesterday.

First, and only, stop of the ride. Bank by my house. The weather services says 1 degree…the Bank says 4. Either way, COLD.

at 7:10 am.

So it took about 5 minutes to warm up scooter, take a couple of blurry photos and to drive over ice and the couple of blocks to bank…not my fastest start, but it’ll do pig. (gah, now I have lines from the movie BABE in my head.)

Fairly uneventful ride to work. Minimal traffic. Only a couple of easily avoided ice patches on the road and the two ice-covered bridges I couldn’t avoid, but took slow and steady. Hands did get quite cold…and ankles too…should have worn two sets of socks…oh well, live and learn. But body and legs and head all stayed pretty toasty….YEA.

So 10.5 miles and 30 minutes later (hit too many lights…and one light didn’t sense my 500 plus pound scooter for some insane reason and I had to sit through it twice…damn it).

(Horse: The cat says they call it Christmas
Ferdinand the duck: Christmas! Christmas dinner, yeah. Dinner means death. Death means carnage! Christmas means carnage!)–damn BABE quotes….grrrrr, likely brain still slightly frozen.

Ok, get to work and take another weather App photo….

7:40 am, still 1 degree, still need to charge my phone. (and look, tomorrow AM and I might get to drive in negative temperature. Mmmm, I loves me some negatives. Photos, Attitudes, Zones, Link…etc etc)

The best part was parking at work. Motorcycle parking is pretty empty in the winter and hella crowded in the summer. All the Harleys come out around May. But today…

3 scooters only….Scooters rule the cold weather.

Scooters Rule, Motorcycles Drool…gah, another pet themed movie is now stuck in my head….

And with that…maybe I should get some work done…

g

* Tomorrow we have a projected low of negative 5…weeeeeee, I might get to try out negative temperature riding.

** I actually love the Dutch. Tall, pot smokers who love riding bicycles and give great incentives for electric vehicle. Plus wooden shoes, ice skating on canals, windmills, tulips and tons of Dikes, what’s not to love?