Rusty McNeil
Well-Known Member
I posted this up on Vmax Houston where perhaps it's more relevant but thought you guys would like to hear about it also...
One hell of a trip...
Michelle and I rolled into town last night (wed) about 10:00, drove
straight thru from Ft Davis to Baytown-630 miles...
The trip was great. We arrived in Ft Davis about 7:00 sunday and had
dinner at the restuarant where I took her on our second date (630 miles from home, god I love this part of the country) and
proceeded to fall in love with her ten years ago. Brought back lots
of good memories.
We had a nice little cottage up on a hill overlooking the town all
to ourselves and stayed there Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night. Saw
mule deer and other wildlife out the dining room window every
morning literally not more than 15 feet away from the window.
Also saw a herd of 25-30 Prong Horn Antelope on the road between Ft.
Davis and Marfa.
Monday we slept late, went into town and then took about a 100 mile
ride including the Ft. Davis scenic loop and mostly just chilled
out. Rain threatened but we never actually got any in our path.
We met Ken and Rene over in Alpine for dinner that night. Good food
and good company, getting to know them on a one on one basis was a
pleasure.
Tuesday the weather was as perfect as it could ever be. We met Ken
and Rene in Marfa and made the ride down 67 to Presidio and rode the
river road 170 to Terlingua and had lunch there. We then rode into
the Big Bend park on 118 and down into the Basin. After that we went
back to Terlingua and made the ride back up 118 to Ft. Davis. All in
all about 300 miles that day.
If you have never been to this part of the country you owe it to
yourself to go at least once. To me at least it's the most beautiful
part of Texas and to use an oft overworked phrase it's truly awe
inspiring.
As for Bandera; I had a great time in spite of the weather and was
overjoyed to find out that my Wife can hang with this kind of riding.
Ranch Road 335, 336, 337 are truly some of the best riding in the state without doubt.
Can you say "Honey, fer chris sakes would you please pass the
freakin harley and goldwing at least?, I don't care if it's raining or not!'
We did about 230 miles that day.
I had an awesome time Saturday night staying up with everyone and
hope I didn't embarass myself too much but who the hell cares anyway
right? Were among friends.........
And any future renditions of the "Rusty dance" are off the table
Unless I have to pee really bad and the cops are coming...and I'm
drunk.
As for the "incident"...
I'm still pissed about my brand new stickers..
Note to self..Never try to load a bike in the back of a truck in the
rain, hung over and without stopping to fully assess the whole job
for any hazards..sounds just like at work but it freaking applies.
I've gotten away with loading motorcycles exactly the way I did Sat.
for over 20 years but I guess the right combination of errors
finally caught up with me. Good thing I had an audience so my pride
could be included in the list of damaged items.
For those that were not there what I did was ride the bike up my
ramps into the back of a rather high Chevy 2500HD pickup and hit the
brakes as usual. I had too much forward momentum and also the bed surface was wet and had no mat.
The brakes were totally ineffective to say the least.
I hit the front of the bed and impacted the back of the cab hard
enough to pop the rear window out. End result was a forward bend in
the front bed panel with it pushed forward about 4 inches.
I just put the kickstand down on the undamaged bike and walked back
to the cabin without saying a word to anyone. My wife was doing her
hair so I decided to not bother her with it just yet and just sat
for a little bit and cooled off and went back out where everyone was
standing around the accident scene.
First words out of my mouth were;
"Man, I just put those 'effin stickers on there two days ago" (an
assortment
of vmax stuff of course)
Michelle and I duct taped it closed and proceeded with our vacation.
As bad as it looked the real only real damage is the rear window, $200 bucks.
The bed pulled out fine using brute force and the the back of the
cab fortunately just "bowed" rather than "creasing" the metal so it
sprung back in place pretty easily.
Any way thank you too all that were there offering help to clean up
the mess and get the window patched up, especially Gigi and Wilson?. If I rudely brushed off any
help during my frustration I apoligize, I was a little shook AND
embarrased at the same time but I do recognize that help was being
offered and want to thank those that were there trying to help.
later all and looking forward to this Fall..I wanna do three sisters in one day yet again.
Rusty
One hell of a trip...
Michelle and I rolled into town last night (wed) about 10:00, drove
straight thru from Ft Davis to Baytown-630 miles...
The trip was great. We arrived in Ft Davis about 7:00 sunday and had
dinner at the restuarant where I took her on our second date (630 miles from home, god I love this part of the country) and
proceeded to fall in love with her ten years ago. Brought back lots
of good memories.
We had a nice little cottage up on a hill overlooking the town all
to ourselves and stayed there Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night. Saw
mule deer and other wildlife out the dining room window every
morning literally not more than 15 feet away from the window.
Also saw a herd of 25-30 Prong Horn Antelope on the road between Ft.
Davis and Marfa.
Monday we slept late, went into town and then took about a 100 mile
ride including the Ft. Davis scenic loop and mostly just chilled
out. Rain threatened but we never actually got any in our path.
We met Ken and Rene over in Alpine for dinner that night. Good food
and good company, getting to know them on a one on one basis was a
pleasure.
Tuesday the weather was as perfect as it could ever be. We met Ken
and Rene in Marfa and made the ride down 67 to Presidio and rode the
river road 170 to Terlingua and had lunch there. We then rode into
the Big Bend park on 118 and down into the Basin. After that we went
back to Terlingua and made the ride back up 118 to Ft. Davis. All in
all about 300 miles that day.
If you have never been to this part of the country you owe it to
yourself to go at least once. To me at least it's the most beautiful
part of Texas and to use an oft overworked phrase it's truly awe
inspiring.
As for Bandera; I had a great time in spite of the weather and was
overjoyed to find out that my Wife can hang with this kind of riding.
Ranch Road 335, 336, 337 are truly some of the best riding in the state without doubt.
Can you say "Honey, fer chris sakes would you please pass the
freakin harley and goldwing at least?, I don't care if it's raining or not!'
We did about 230 miles that day.
I had an awesome time Saturday night staying up with everyone and
hope I didn't embarass myself too much but who the hell cares anyway
right? Were among friends.........
And any future renditions of the "Rusty dance" are off the table
Unless I have to pee really bad and the cops are coming...and I'm
drunk.
As for the "incident"...
I'm still pissed about my brand new stickers..
Note to self..Never try to load a bike in the back of a truck in the
rain, hung over and without stopping to fully assess the whole job
for any hazards..sounds just like at work but it freaking applies.
I've gotten away with loading motorcycles exactly the way I did Sat.
for over 20 years but I guess the right combination of errors
finally caught up with me. Good thing I had an audience so my pride
could be included in the list of damaged items.
For those that were not there what I did was ride the bike up my
ramps into the back of a rather high Chevy 2500HD pickup and hit the
brakes as usual. I had too much forward momentum and also the bed surface was wet and had no mat.
The brakes were totally ineffective to say the least.
I hit the front of the bed and impacted the back of the cab hard
enough to pop the rear window out. End result was a forward bend in
the front bed panel with it pushed forward about 4 inches.
I just put the kickstand down on the undamaged bike and walked back
to the cabin without saying a word to anyone. My wife was doing her
hair so I decided to not bother her with it just yet and just sat
for a little bit and cooled off and went back out where everyone was
standing around the accident scene.
First words out of my mouth were;
"Man, I just put those 'effin stickers on there two days ago" (an
assortment
of vmax stuff of course)
Michelle and I duct taped it closed and proceeded with our vacation.
As bad as it looked the real only real damage is the rear window, $200 bucks.
The bed pulled out fine using brute force and the the back of the
cab fortunately just "bowed" rather than "creasing" the metal so it
sprung back in place pretty easily.
Any way thank you too all that were there offering help to clean up
the mess and get the window patched up, especially Gigi and Wilson?. If I rudely brushed off any
help during my frustration I apoligize, I was a little shook AND
embarrased at the same time but I do recognize that help was being
offered and want to thank those that were there trying to help.
later all and looking forward to this Fall..I wanna do three sisters in one day yet again.
Rusty
