Butterflies and Wheelies: Random Recollections of Hatfield-McCoy 2010 by A. Richard Gagne

Best gallon of milk ever. Ever. Needle nose pliers, vise-grips and mammoth crawdads. I think you have a bad bearing. It's been making that noise all day. Oops. Your tools smell like cat food. Too much fun. What's the code for the door? Rain + Buffalo Mountain. We should leave him behind, but what if he rolled it again? Evil Yamahas. Candy cigarettes? Wow. Candy cigarettes. Ouch, a butterfly to the face at 40 miles an hour. Coal hill completely impossible this year. Not getting shafted at the ATV parts store. You're in my personal space. Extremely dusty. I wish it would rain. Oops. At least its not dusty anymore. It was awesome. If I was 25 and had no kids, I would get one. Maybe I should check my bearings too. You would think a Yamaha would be on its best behavior when surrounded by so many Hondas. Too much fun. I almost had a date tonight. Whatcha got there? A bowl of dirt. A wheelie from Kentucky to West Virginia. Hans broke Todd's machine. He stole two of Howard's beers. Trail 31, a little rough this year, but still my favorite. I always forget, but heading towards Gilbert is the best way. West Virginia tattoos. smiley face. Barbeque chicken pizza. Three times. Puddles. No Entry. Purple Monte Carlo. Sleep talking. Old Milwaukee. Starters closed. Too much fun. Chinese knock-off knock-offs. Big A's hole. Nate's hill. Rob's corner. Zach's curb. I need my own spot.

Snow Deep

Me stuck.

I didn't have a rope or tow strap long enough to pull it out with my truck, so I strung a couple of tie downs together and inched my truck out of the driveway and into the yard a bit. Then my truck got stuck because under the snow is a yard that has been saturated after a month of rain. I got the truck out, and discovered that the snow was dense enough that with my son pushing and me pulling the ATV would almost float on top of the snow. We got it up into the driveway and I got a running start, all downhill, and put it back in the shed. What good is snow if you can't ride in it? No good, thats what.

For Pete, With Love

Its supposed to be animated but blogger isn't cooperating and I don't feel like circumventing the system right now. Click on it...

Nap Time

I took a nap on my four wheeler this afternoon. I miss her so much. Plus, I think the black seat is more comfortable than the red one.

I'm Back

Didja miss me?

Oh. Ok then.

Is It Time to Go Yet?

Yes, the annual trip to the mountains of West Virginia is almost upon us. I will be out of your hair from Saturday until Thursday, unless we manage to steal bandwidth from some unsuspecting wireless router owner.

Enjoy your time without me. I'll be back before you can miss me.

Behold

Handlebars, grips and clutch lever.

 

The grips are great. No glue necessary, they clip on. We'll see how they hold up in the real world, but for now I'm impressed with them.

New front tires and wheels. Big difference in size. Size does matter.

Before and After

If you weren't convinced before that a black seat looks better than a red seat then feast your eyes on this.

Still not convinced? You have no soul. Of that, I am convinced.

Forgot

I forgot to add something to my wishlist that I've wanted for years. A black seat. And I bought one today. Yeah, yeah. I know its only a seat and most people couldn't care less and wouldn't care to understand why I wanted one so bad. Dudn't matter. I can't even blame it on the ubiquitous "it's a guy thing". Its just a me thing I guess.

Wish List

Parking brake block off












Grips





Handle bars










Clutch perch and lever















Kenda Klaw 23x7x10

This one was a tough choice. I thought about going with the Razrs like my back tires, but they are getting worn out too and I'd like to try something different as I was never fully satisfied with them. Maybe the Knarly.

More Kids on ATVs

I can't help it, I'm proud of him.

This one will make some people cringe, but he was fine. You can even hear him say, "Aw cool. That was fast!"

Aerating the Lawn

A couple of videos of my 4 year old yesterday.





Man. Time flies.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

That's the title of a Dr. Seuss book, in case you didn't know.

If I was single or married without the possiblity of having kids, I would buy one of these four places:

What can I say? It's got a cool garage that looks like a bunker. And is within an hours drive of the Hatfield-McCoy trails I love so much.








This place has 4 rental units. Now, if you've actually been to Gilbert, WV to go riding on the aforementioned Hatfield-McCoy trails then you know that you have to book your lodging months in advance. So let's do some quick calculations. Each unit gets $125 a night. If your unit gets rented 4 nights a week, and we'll be conservative and say that it gets rented 4 nights a week but only for 26 weeks a year, then one unit is rented 104 nights a year. Times 4 thats 416 nights a year. $125 a night. That's $52,000 a year. Not bad. And you don't even have to provide people with working washers and dryers (thats an inside joke).

This place is actually pretty nice, although they skimped a bit on the landscaping. How much will $160,000 get you in Southern New Hampshire? A fancy shack in downtown Rochester. Now that's livin'.







This one is my personal favorite. It's the quintessential diamond in the rough. Every night after work I could hop on my ATV and ride for a couple of hours straight from my back yard. This house prompted Big A to say that "he could never live anywhere that a real house cost less than a 50 yr old mobile in NH". He's probably right. These little towns in West Virginia are a little scary if you're not a local or not one of the "tourists" just spending the weekend riding on their trails. I bet you'd never feel like an outsider more in your life, unless you were from Maine convicted of stealing mail from someones mailbox but you only did it as a joke and you ended up in Federal Prison in Marion, Illinois.

I love West Virginia, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't live there.

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Riding in the Snow

I love riding in my yard right after a snowstorm. Provided of course, there is less than 6 inches of snow. Anymore snow than that and I just look like Chris Royce in a mud pit (for those of you who dont know, that's spinning the wheels at full speed while going nowhere).

Ohhh crap! I should have had my wife take pictures of me while I was actually riding. That would have been cool. Maybe tonight.

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