GernBlansten

Riding motorcycles is not for girliemen.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day. He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay. He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK.

Golden Rule.

I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flowers. On Wednesdays I go shopping, and hang around in bars.

Pappy, How would you classify Jesus? Girlyman? He did seem to care for people a lot.

There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games. E. Hemingway Words to live by.

I wonder how many trees are left after Pappy's Scout troop marches through them? More or less? Anyone care to guess?

Gotta admit that the Ural looks pretty cool. Might have to put on in the livery if George Bush gives me an extra 10K in tax rebates. Hey, just helping the economy right? ok, the Ruskie economy.

A man has got to know his limitations. I suspect a Suzuki Hayabusa or a Ducati Desmosedici would have been a fatal addiction for you. Imagine everything you dropped, just doing it at over 180mph? Think grease mark, no do over. Friend of mine says he doesn't get insurance on his Hayabusa as he won't be around to use it.

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed, Then one day he was shootin at some food, And up through the ground came a bubblin crude. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire, Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there" Said "Californy is the place you ought to be" So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars. Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin. And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in. You're all invited back a gain to this locality To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off. Y'all come back now, y'hear?.

Kraut asked if we rode to scout events. I rode my Interceptor to a scout meeting last fall as I was going straight from work and commute on the bike. I wear full riding gear, all in black. Like a ninja. I pulled up as a large group of boys were playing hacky sack in the parking lot. All heads turned as I came into the lot. They encircled the bike as I dismounted and removed my full face helmet. "Gosh Mr. Blansten, you ride this? How fast does it go?" Unzipping my jacket revealed my scout uniform underneath. I guess my cool rating with the boys was ratcheted up a notch after that.

Ok, I'm game. Had an old AMF Harley 175 dual sport as a teen. Then upgraded to a pure trials bike. Took a twenty year hiatus from bikes until I bought a HD Heritage Softtail from my brother. Also picked up a Honda XR100 for the kid and an XR650 for myself for trail riding. Sold the HD and moved up to a Honda VFR800 Interceptor, my first sport bike. I'll never go back to an HD now. Maybe a Buell but not a Hawg. Maybe a GW when I become a grumpy old man. So now in my quiver, I have the 650 dirt and 800 street. Son has outgrown the 100 so will probably trade it up to a 250 this spring. If I start racing this spring, I might pick up a used Suzuki SV650 just for track stuff. Wouldn't want to scratch the Interceptor. Its just too purty.

Don't label me too young, just in full bloom mid life crisis here. And the weather here in the Rockies means my stallion is parked until April. Getting a bit anxious if you know what I mean. Just saying you don't need your Gold Wings to fly.

Somehow, somewhere, the ACLU must be to blame for this.

Ah, but how can you feel the heartbeat of the machine if your own chest isn't pressed against the tank? Besides, 500 miles will take you what, 8 hours? Less than 5 for me, give or take a ticket or two.

Goldwings are the motorcycle of choice for those with hearts that can't take the adrenaline rush of a sport bike.

This really aggravates me. My state votes next Tuesday on Super Tuesday. Already, most of the field has been whittled down by just a few states. Not my idea of a democracy. We need to do away with the current primary system and just have a Super-Duper Tuesday. All states caucus the same day. Assign delegates by % of vote in each state to each candidate. Let candidates negotiate/trade their delegates amongst themselves to get a majority and influence policy. At least my vote my have some weight on the direction of the party.

Real Blue Sky stuff: All scouting supplies go online, direct from National. Close the local scout shops or at least allow local retailers to carry the stuff. All BSA properties are owned and managed by National. All workers at BSA properties become employees of BSA National. BSA National is funded by scouts, retail sales, donations and events. Councils own nothing but a small office, are staffed by professionals and are paid for by scouts and local fundraising. Councils are made up of 4 contiguous districts. Why 4? Because I said so! Councils organize districts and hold council wide events. Districts are made up of 42 units. Why 42? Because that is the answer to the universe. See HHGTTG. Districts own nothing and are entirely staffed by volunteers. No expenses. Districts organize units and hold district wide self supporting events. If more units are created, districts sub-divide like cells. Likewise when units die, so do districts and councils. Really no different than today, except all property becomes managed by National and the council/district alignments become more fluid with the changing demographics.

Take the analogy of a two troop town and apply it to councils. Troop A has been around along time. Gets complacent and doesn't meet the needs of the scouts. Troop B is new and energetic. Scouts start flocking to Troop B. Troop A evaluates its program and begins to rebuild. Both Troops benefit, the scouts benefit and BSA benefits. Council A gets complacent and doesn't meet the needs of the units. Council B (same geographic area) is new and energetic. Units start flocking to Council B. Council A evaluates its service and begins to rebuild. Both Councils benefit, the units benefit and BSA benefits.

Or removing the geographic exclusiveness of councils. Allow multiple councils to compete for the units, just like multiple units compete for scouts.

Ok, let me see if I can clean this one up... A lawyer, a priest and a proctologist go into a bar. ....DELETED..... (edited by GernBlansten) Sorry, can't make that one clean.

cad-guy, My recommendation is to borrow as much gear as you can for this venture. It takes a few backpacking trips to figure out what works and what is just a waste of weight and money. Lord knows how much of that that gear sits in my garage. Hook up with a another scout family who might have plenty of old gear they can loan you. Once your scout has some experience, he will know what he wants, what works, what's a gimmick. The key thing to think about is make sure he has fun on this trip. One bad experience early on can destroy his future outdoor experiences. After a few trips, check on Ebay for high end gear as us gear nuts trade up. You can get really good deals on lightly used top end gear that is just a few years out of date.

Merlyn, I'm not so sure you can paint BSA as a religious organization. As Bob stated, Buddhists are allowed to join. Therefore, atheists are allowed to join as long as they are right kind of atheist. Now why BSA allows this is a matter of debate. Where they ignorant that Buddhists are atheists and its too late now or did they just see a demographic group they wanted to reach and quietly ignore it? At best, I think you could call the BSA a schizophrenic organization.

Good response Bob. Now I can relax this weekend at OKPIK. Riddle me this though Bob, How can Buddhists meet the Duty to God and an agnostic not?