Re-posting my pics, since they disappeared.
VN900 Classic with Fairing and Hard Bags from www.tsukayu.com . I made the lower saddlebag supports out of round bar and 1/8"x2" steel plate.
Hey everyone,
Soon as I get to learn how to drive the site a little better, I'll message you.
"till then, let me say thanks for your support, to each of you.
Now it's back to putting the jigsaw puzzle together for the run at the end of the month.
Catch ya !.
Guys and Gals
From my heart let me say that Samantha, myself and Ajay are humbled and deeply moved by the comments, thoughts and the well wishes that we have received from you all.
On behalf of my family let me say "Thank You" one and all for the support shown. It is such a simple word and does not truly convey the gratitude that we feel...... this is yet just another example of the Brotherhood which makes this Community such a wonderful place.
Samantha was in a state of shock when I got there and was a bit of a mess. I Spent some considerable time just holding her whilst she had a major teary.
Whilst she was distraught over the wreck of her pride and joy, she understood how lucky she was to have survived what very easily could have been a very serious accident.
She is still very sore today and is suffering considerable pain and discomfort in her neck, chest and back. The bruising is also starting to come out on her chest.
Once again, THANK YOU ALL, you are a most wonderful and caring group of people that I am PROUD to call FRIENDS
A6
hey everyone, hope ya'll had a good weekend! first off i wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who wished my daughter well... i thought i would update ya'll on the aftermath. she is doing good, she suffered no broken bones just lots of bruises and some road rash. what upset her the most was this happened on friday morning and on saturday a local biker group was playing their annuall football game against the police, its a charity event to help raise money and toys for our local toy run which is held in december, and she knew with the damage to her bike she couldnt ride it to the game and on the poker run afterwards. with some help from me she was able to ride on the back of mine even though getting on and off was somewhat painfull and we did get some weird looks from people as we rode by with crutches bungeed to the bike , lol, as the doctor wants her to stay off her knee for at least a week. i was really upset thinking she may never want to get on a bike again especially after her witnessing my accident in july ( she was following me when the car hit me and she saw the whole thing ) and now her getting hit herself but talking to her later on friday evening she cant wait to get her bike fixed and get back on!!!! well parts are ordered and on their way so it should be all fixed in about a week or two. again i want to say that we appreciate all the support and well wishes from all of you !!!!!
p.s. the bikers won the football game 20 - 19 !!!!!!!!! the weather was excellent for the day, lower 70's and sun shining made for great riding weather, but alas in colorado it dont last long this time of year and it rained all day today and will turn to snow tonite...
keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down and be safe !!!!!!!!
Nearly 10,000 BCE, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians arrived in what today is referred to as the South.[12] Paleoindians in the South were hunter-gatherers who pursued the megafauna that became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. After thousands of years, the Paleoindians developed a rich and complex agricultural society. Archaeologists called these people the Mississippians of the Mississippian culture; they were Mound Builders, whose large earthworks related to political and religious rituals still stand throughout the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Descendant Native American tribes include the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Other tribes who inhabited the territory of Mississippi (and whose names were honored in local towns) include the Natchez, the Yazoo and the Biloxi.
The first major European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was that of Hernando de Soto, who passed through in 1540. The French, in April 1699, established the first European settlement at Fort Maurepas (also known as Old Biloxi), built at Ocean Springs and settled by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. In 1716, the French founded Natchez on the Mississippi River (as Fort Rosalie); it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. The French called the greater territory "New Louisiana".
Through the next decades, the area was ruled by Spanish, British and French colonial governments. Under French and Spanish rule, there developed a class of free people of color (gens de couleur libres), mostly descendants of European men and enslaved women, and their multiracial children. In the early days the French and Spanish colonists were chiefly men. Even as more European women joined the settlements, there continued to be interracial unions. Often the European men would help their children get educated, and sometimes settled property on them, as well as freeing slave children and their mothers. The free people of color became educated and formed a third class between the Europeans and enslaved Africans in the French and Spanish settlements, although not so large a community as in New Orleans. After Great Britain's victory in the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), the French deeded the Mississippi area to them under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763).
After the American Revolution, this area became part of the new United States of America. The Mississippi Territory was organized on April 7, 1798, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina. It was later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. From 1800 to about 1830, the United States purchased some lands (Treaty of Doak's Stand) from Native American tribes for new settlements of Americans.[citation needed]
On December 10, 1817, Mississippi was the 20th state admitted to the Union.
When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners—especially those of the Delta and Black Belt regions—became wealthy due to the high fertility of the soil, the high price of cotton on the international market, and their assets in slaves. The planters' dependence on hundreds of thousands of slaves for labor and the severe wealth imbalances among whites, played strong roles both in state politics and in planters' support for secession. By 1860, the enslaved population numbered 436,631 or 55% of the state's total of 791,305. There were fewer than 1000 free people of color.[13] The relatively low population of the state before the Civil War reflected the fact that land and villages were developed only along the riverfronts, which formed the main transportation corridors. Ninety percent of the Delta bottomlands were frontier and undeveloped.[14] The state needed many more settlers for development.
On January 9, 1861, Mississippi became the second state to declare its secession from the Union, and it was one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America.
During Reconstruction, the first constitutional convention in 1868 framed a constitution whose major elements would last for 22 years. The convention was the first political organization to include freedmen representatives, 17 among the 100 members. Although 32 counties had black majorities, they elected whites as well as blacks to represent them. The convention adopted universal suffrage; did away with property qualifications for suffrage or for office, which also benefited poor whites; provided for the state's first public school system; forbade race distinctions in the possession and inheritance of property; and prohibited limiting civil rights in travel.[15] Under the terms of Reconstruction, Mississippi was restored to the Union on February 23, 1870.
While Mississippi typified the Deep South in passing Jim Crow laws in the early 20th century, its history was more complex. Because the Mississippi Delta contained so much fertile bottomland which had not been developed before the Civil War, 90 percent of the land was still frontier. After the Civil War, tens of thousands of migrants were attracted to the area. They could earn money by clearing the land and selling timber, and eventually advance to ownership. The new farmers included freedmen, who achieved unusually high rates of land ownership in the Mississippi bottomlands. In the 1870s and 1880s, many black farmers succeeded in gaining land ownership.[14]
By the turn of the century, two-thirds of the farmers in Mississippi who owned land in the Delta were African-American. Many were able to keep going through difficult years of falling cotton prices only by extending their debts. Cotton prices fell throughout the decades following the Civil War. As another agricultural depression lowered cotton prices into the 1890s, however, numerous African-American farmers finally had to sell their land to pay off debts, thus losing the land into which they had put so much labor.[14]
White legislators created a new constitution in 1890, with provisions that effectively disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. Estimates are that 100,000 black and 50,000 white men were removed from voter registration rolls over the next few years. [16] The loss of political influence contributed to the difficulties of African Americans in their attempts to obtain extended credit. Together with Jim Crow laws, increased frequency of lynchings beginning in the 1890s, failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation, successive severe flooding in 1912 and 1913 created crisis conditions for many African Americans. With control of the ballot box and more access to credit, white planters expanded their ownership of Delta bottomlands and could take advantage of new railroads.
By 1910, a majority of black farmers in the Delta had lost their land and were sharecroppers. By 1920, the third generation after freedom, most African Americans in Mississippi were landless laborers again facing poverty.[14] Starting about 1913, tens of thousands of black Americans left Mississippi for the North in the Great Migration to industrial cities such as St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York. They sought jobs, better education for their children, the right to vote, relative freedom from discrimination, and better living. In the migration of 1910–1940, they left a society that had been steadily closing off opportunity. Most migrants from Mississippi took trains directly north to Chicago and often settled near former neighbors.
The Second Great Migration from the South started in the 1940s, lasting until 1970. Almost half a million people left Mississippi in the second migration, three-quarters of them black. Nationwide during the first half of the 20th century, African Americans became rapidly urbanized and many worked in industrial jobs. The Second Great Migration included destinations in the West, especially California, where the buildup of the defense industry offered high-paying jobs to African Americans.
Mississippi generated rich, quintessentially American music traditions: gospel music, country music, jazz, blues and rock and roll. All were invented, promulgated or heavily developed by Mississippi musicians and most came from the Mississippi Delta. Many musicians carried their music north to Chicago, where they made it the heart of that city's jazz and blues.
Mississippi was a center of activity to educate and register voters during the Civil Rights Movement. Although 42% of the state's population was African American in 1960, discriminatory voter registration processes still prevented most of them from voting, consequent to provisions of the state constitution, which had been in place since 1890. [17] Students and community organizers from across the country came to help register voters and establish Freedom Schools. Resistance and harsh attitudes of most white politicians (including the creation of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission), the participation of many Mississippians in the White Citizens' Councils, and the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan and its sympathizers, gained Mississippi a reputation in the 1960s as a reactionary state.[18][19]
In 1966, the state was the last to officially repeal prohibition of alcohol.
The state repealed its segregationist era poll tax in 1989 and its ban on interracial marriage (miscegenation) in 1987. In 1995, it symbolically ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which had abolished slavery. In 2009, the legislature passed a bill to repeal other discriminatory civil rights laws that had been enacted in 1964 but ruled unconstitutional in 1967 by federal courts. Republican Governor Haley Barbour signed the bill into law.[20]
On August 17, 1969, Category 5 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars). On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, though a Category 3 storm upon final landfall, caused even greater destruction across the entire 90 miles (145 km) of Mississippi Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Alabama
On the first day, God created the dog and said:
'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'
The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'
So God agreed.
On the second day, God created the monkey and said:
'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh.. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'
The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'
And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said:
'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'
The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years... How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'
And God agreed again.
On the fourth day, God created humans and said:
'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.'
But the human said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'
'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'
So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.
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The Vietnam Veterans Mobile Wall and Tribute
By Robert (Rocker) Votrain
I am a member of the Patriot Guard Riders an organization mostly known for escorting our fallen heroes to their final resting place while riding motorcycles.
I had been informed the “Wall” was coming to Desloge for well over a month. And the Patriot Guard was going to be involved with the escort and with part of the program honoring our fallen. The “Wall” would be in Desloge from Sept. 30th to Oct. 4th with events and services scheduled every day.
The excitement of our impending mission grew through e-mails as the date grew near and I,wanting to ride with a group, scrambled to find someone from my area to ride to Potosi with. The BACA riders of Farmington asked me to ride with them but I wanted to travel a different path than they had planned to ride that day. Poppy, the former chapter President of Farmington's BACA, agreed to meet me in Bismarck. As I went to top off my tank I met Noel ,owner of Bismarck ATV and Custom Cycle, who along with his son was also going to Potosi. So now there were 4 of us. Leaving Bismarck the air was sweet and crisp traffic was light as we cruised down Highway 32 to Highway 21 to Potosi it was honestly a beautiful morning and road to ride.
When we arrived I was surprised by the turn out of motorcycles and custom cars that were going to participate in the escort. There were also several State police officers,Sheriffs, emergency vehicles and official cars lining up. As they began staging the vehicles I went to a predetermined area and waited for the opportunity to shoot a few pictures as the main body went by hoping to join in to the rear of the motorcycle procession. Finding my vantage point I shot several pictures of the lead group of vehicles, the limo carrying the Mayor of Desloge and the bikes before I hurriedly tucked the camera away and joined the tail of the group of bikes.
The procession was impressive. About 150 bikes, 10 or so custom cars and all the other vehicles, we stretched for about 4 miles. On coming traffic would pull over as we met them, people in the out lying areas came out of their homes and waved flags and cheered. We ended the escort in Desloge at the VFW Post 2426.
The Ride to “The Wall”.... October4th 2009....
Sunday just felt different. I grabbed the camera and dressed warm the morning air had a definable bite to it... Loaded the bike and headed to meet the Patriot Guard Riders in the Walmart Parking lot in Desloge for the Ride to the Wall.
Before I go any further I want to say if you are not Patriot Guard you really need to be. It is an honor to support our Heroes and those who have fallen to save our way of life. I suppose it takes a little time out of our lives but shouldn't we have a reason to ride and what a better reason than to show the world we are Patriots and support our troops.
The gathering of the local Guard brought about about 85 bikes. Some carried regular sized flags others not so much. We put or passenger pegs down as to symbolize carrying one of our fallen with us. We lined up two by two and waited for our police escort to signal it was time. We were headed for the city park where “the Wall” was assembled and displayed. Once we arrived we lined up tail light to the wall side by side about 10 or so feet in front. About 200 spectators were on hand to watch our ceremony honoring the Vietnam war fallen.
All but one bike was in this formation. The last bike was carrying the American flag a POW flag and a Patriot Guard flag. It was decorated with a Kevlar helmet and boots set in the back pegs facing backwards. Just like they used to put the boots in the stirrups of a horse backwards to show the rider had fallen in battle. As he passed we showed respect by covering our hearts and standing at attention. As a group we all walked forward and placed our right hand against the wall. The experience was so very moving. It brought tears to everyone's eyes. They played the National anthem and a prayer was given then a young girl sang a song she wrote about the Uncle she never met... Someone who had died defending our country... The group mingled with the onlookers and the Patriot Guard Riders ceremony ended...
“ All gave some... Some gave all....”
Interesting facts about “The Wall”
This version of the Wall is 180 feet long. Which is about 80% of the original Vietnam Veterans memorial wall in Washington DC. Which is 246.75 feet long, composed of 70 separate inscribed granite panels, plus 4 at the end without names; the panels themselves are 40 inches in width; the largest panels have 137 lines of names, while the shortest have one; there are five names on each line, although with new additions of names, some lines now have six; the walls are supported by 140 concrete pilings driven approximately 35 feet (some are at 20 feet) to bedrock; at the vertex the walls are 10.1 feet in height. There are 58249 Names on The Wall in Wash,DC.
The youngest Vietnam KIA is believed to be Dan Bullock at 15 years old.
The oldest person on the Wall is believed to be Dwaine McGriff at 63 years old.
At least 5 men killed in Vietnam were 16 years old. At least 12 men killed in Vietnam were 17 years old.
There are 120 persons who listed foreign countries as their home of record.
At least 25,000 of those killed were 20 years old or younger.
More than 17,000 of those killed were married.
Veterans killed on their first day in Vietnam 997 (unconfirmed)
Veterans killed on their last day in Vietnam 1,448 (unconfirmed)
Number of Chaplains on the Wall -- 16 (2 Medal Of Honor)
Number of Women on the Wall -- 8 (7 Army, 1 USAF - 7,484 served)
There are 226 Native Americans on the Memorial.
There are 22 countries represented on the Memorial.
Most common name on the Memorial "Smith" with 667 veterans.
The most casualties for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 casualties.
The most casualties for a single month was May 1968, 2,415 casualties were incurred.
(note) information taken from http://thewall-usa.com/information.asp
There were several other memorials that also travel with “the Wall”. They are a Memorial for the people who died in the towers on 911 along with the people who died in the hijacked planes. There were also memorials from the Korean war and WWII. Flags, ride pins, patches and artwork commemorating all the Wars America has fought were for sale. Also on display was a replica tiger cage where American POW's were held and tortured. And a rifle helmet and boots tribute along with dog tags of our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers who fought and died in Iraq.