June 20, Route 66 ride

Went on a local Poker Run today.  Another Switchback was there.  The guy has long arms and bad ears. The pipes were short and LOUD.  The guy that rides it is part owner of the shop that sponsored the run.  A little too hard core for my tastes, but really some nice people no matter what they look like.

New friend Al.  73 years old, rides this Sportster.  Canadian, but has been down here for several years. Winters in Yuma, so may get to know him. One of the check points on the run was in Oatman, so we rode together and stopped for a pop at Cool Springs and got a little acquainted.

T-shirt in a Seligman store.  We hit the road at 7 AM to beat the heat.  Had a nice easy ride on the Mother Road.  This bike looks like a '59 Panhead.  I owned one, and wrote a poem about it years ago.

For my friend Bob.  A V-8 Diesel engine, drives an axle with one wheel to turn the PTO.  Don't know what the huge pulley operated, but it must have been a big generator or something

2  half inch slotted steel plates are welded onto the tire axle.  You have to loosen 8 bolts, then use two 3/4 inch bolts with locknuts to line up the driving wheel and adjust the tension on it.  Very good engineering, but very sloppy construction :-)

Back to my favorite store.

The old Supai tries to strike up a conversation with the lady, but she doesn't understand his native tongue, and she's from Brazil and doesn't speak much English. 

The famous Max is getting in a morning nap.  He's been out chasing rabbits and got a little tired

Can't remember this dog's name, but he's a few years older than Max,  isn't very active any more.  He holds down the fort behind the counter

The last "Happy" picture of Ed and Carl

While entering the highway, Ed slowed down to check traffic, and Carl managed to get into him with his front wheel.  About 1200 pounds of rolling Harley and Carl managed to destroy a saddle bag, side cover, and seat.  I was very impressed with the reactions of both.  Very calm, despite a big expensive disappointment.  They are brothers, and display a lot of brotherly love.  Good Guys.

While surveying the damage, this group from Germany pulled in, all on rented Harleys.

They were interested in what happened, but none of them spoke enough English to really get the picture :-)

We were lucky today, no tour buses stopped while we were there.  Just bikes and a few tourists in cars

After removing all the loose stuff, Carl takes the parts inside for them to keep until they come back in his pickup to get them.  No one hurt, not damage to Carl's bike, so it's not the end of the world.  The on-looker is one of the German riders.