Fall in North Georgia

Yesterday, after Antonio's football game, we headed north to the Blue Ridge Mountains. 
Our first stop was Bert's Pumpin Patch.  WOW - was that place crowded! 

We picked up a couple of pumpkins, a few bags of popcorn, then on to our next stop.

Amicalola Falls

What a beautiful place!  We hiked the short trail to the falls and took a few pictures.  Then we drove up to the top of the falls for some more viewing.  The kids were starting to get cranky, so we moved down to the visitors center and looked at some of the animals they have (live snakes and some stuffed bears).

Once we got home, we decided to drag a table out in the driveway, start a fire, and carve pumpkins.  Well, I carved pumpkins, and the kids ran around the yard.  Once again, it would be a shame not to share a nice fire with friends, and a few nieghbors came over for a couple of beers and a chat.  In all, it was a perfect day of fun - I am really enjoying fall again!

Friday Night BBQ - Dr. Pepper Ribs

Friends of ours, Rob and Holly have started their own Sauce Company - "Sweet Life Sauce Company".  They just launched their website and have some great recipes.  http://www.sweetlifesaucecompany.com/index.html
I have been wanting to try their Dr. Pepper Ribs recipe, so when Antonio begged me to make them Friday night, I figured it was time to try.  I had lots of food - ribs, homeade Mac and Cheese, a fruit salad, and some corn on the cob - a real down home meal!  I couldn't eat all this stuff myself, so I invited a couple neighbors and their families to come over.












BBQ PERFECTION
The ribs turned out perfect!    The recipe is on their website, but here is a summary of what I did:
1.  Buy 3 racks of ribs at BJ's Wholesale - it's good quality at a good price.
2.  Cut ribs into racks of 5
3.  Pour 1 liter of Dr. Pepper into a boiling pot - add ribs - then add enough water to completely cover ribs.
4.  Boil for 35 minutes
5.  Remove from pot and immediately place into a cooler or other sealed container - allow ribs to steam themselves for 45 minutes - 1 hour
6.  Fire up the grill - low heat setting - you are looking for 325 - 350 at the top of the grill. 
7.  Prepare the ribs with a "Rub" or other seasoning of your choice - I made a homeade "Smokehouse Rub as follows:

• 1 cup sugar, 1 cub brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayeen pepper

8.  Place ribs on top rack or on the coolest part of your grill - cook for 35 minutes - rotating at least 2 times.  8 minutes before they are ready to come off the grill, baste the ribs with your BBQ Sauce of choice.  I would recommend "Spice of Life's - Sweet Life" sauce. 

The end result will be a traditional brown sugar flavored smokehouse style meal!

Random Thoughts on the Day

What nice weather we are having this week!  Temps are in the low 70's, no humidity - light wind and no rain!  I am hanging out at home this week since Belinda is on her cruise.  It's been really fun to spend some quality time with Marco - just me and him when the kids are at school.  This little guy has a lot to say - but is often drowned out by his older siblings.  I realize now more than ever what my wife goes through everyday when the kids get home.  It's a big chore to get them through their homework.  They are very bright kids, but hate to do homework - they would rather be running around outside.  Today, I decided to give them their wish.  I let them play first, then do homework.  It seemed to work out pretty good.  We had dinner out on the deck with a fire burning, then roasted marshmallows.  Then, we watched some silly You Tube video's, and I put them to bed - well, Marco is still running around....he is our night owl.  I am heading out to the garage after I get done writing this to Jam some tunes and tinker with some things on the workbench. 

Dining Out(doors) tonight

With Belinda gone, it's a challenge for me to keep everyone happy at meal time.  Belinda is an awesome cook, and can throw together some really good meals at the drop of a hat.  I on the other hand have a pretty short list of things I can make quickly, and the kids don't necessarily like all of them.  So, tonights solution?  Distract them.  I threw together some Hamburger Helper, some sweet potato fries, and some manderin oranges - and when they saw what I was making, they quickly started to complain.  So, I said - hey guys, let's eat on the deck and start a fire and roast marshmallows after we eat.  Problem solved.  They ate it all. 

Low Budget Top Box

I have been riding for a long time without any lockable storage on my bikes.  I have never ever had something stolen off of my bikes, but there is always that chance.  Normally, when I stop for a break, food, beverage, whatever, I usually fill up all my pockets with Camera, Phone, Wallett, etc.  PAIN IN THE BUTT.  Also, because my soft sided luggage is not waterproof, I have been carrying everything in zip lock bags....PAIN IN THE BUTT.  I decided to do something about it. 

PELICAN BOXES
Pelican is a company that makes water proof, lockable boxes of all shapes and sizes.  They are most known for their camera and video equipment boxes used by professional photographers.  They also have contracts to provide specialty boxes for the military.  Adventure Touring riders tend to be very resourcefull, and also "frugal".  Riders have been using Pelican boxes for luggage for a long time as they are perfect for the job, fairly lightweight, and cost hundreds of dollars less than OEM hard sided luggage.  These boxes are so widely used on motorcycles that there are companies that manufacture special mounting brackets for all types of bikes to be used specifically with these boxes.  I have been doing some extensive research on what would be best for my bike and determined that the Pelican 1450 box would be perfect for my tail rack - not too big, just right for the stuff I want to keep dry and secure.  I picked up the box at the local camera store (negotiated a very low price over the phone - they seemed pretty desperate for business).  The installation was very simple.  I used 4 of the existing bolts that hold the tail rack "top rack" to the frame, and simply drilled 4 matching holes in the bottom of the box, bought some slightly longer bolts and some rubber washers - DONE!  Add a couple of keyed Master Locks, a couple of $2 reflectors from Walmart and I am all set!
 

Cub Scouts Pack 8307 - Inaugural Pack Meeting

The new Cub Scouts Pack 8307 is off the ground and officially running!  We have 36 Scouts - a majority of which are Tigers and Wolfs.  It's been interesting to work with the Scouting District Executives and other volunteer adult leaders on this project.  We have had a couple of organizational meetings but Tuesday night was our first all Pack monthly meeting.  We had pretty good attendance - 22 Scouts and their parents brought the total to around 45. It was a basic pack meeting - probably somewhat typical.  We received a flag from Senator Isakson that was flown over the capitol a couple weeks ago - I thought that was pretty cool and very nice of him to do.  Next up is "Cubmobile" races  - stay tuned for more details on that!!!  Oh - by the way - if you want Popcorn, I have some! 

Brianna's Birthday part 2

Few more pictures.

Brianna's 6th Birthday Party

Our darling little girl Brianna turned 6 today.  For her present, she wanted to take a few girlfriends to "Sweet & Sassy", a day spa for little girls.  Basically, it's "play dress up" with make up, dancing, etc.  The girls had a great time.  Brianna is a "girly girl", and loves to play dress up.  We had a great time watching her play with her friends.  All the girls were very well behaved young ladies while at the event!

Wolverines still Unbeaten - Win in Overtime

Saturday was an exciting win for the East Wolverines.  They won in overtime.  Unfortunately, Friday night, we lost another player - Cade McGlumphy one of our defensive stars.  He broke his arm in 2 places - pretty nasty incident.  Tough kid though, after spending the night in the hospital, he showed up for our game Saturday morning to cheer us on!

FOOTBALL UPDATE - East Wolverines Remain Undefeated!

The Midway East Wolverines won again Saturday. Yes, I missed the game as I was on a long awaited guys weekend motorcycle trip. I hate to miss the kids activities, but, I needed the break. Anyway, the team played awesome. We were a little worried earlier in the week because our Quarterback broke his collar bone playing at home last weekend. This young man was very good, and also played tough defense as well. However, a couple other boys stepped up to the plate, the coaches did a great job preparing them, and they won 28-0. Antonio also got to play running back too for the first time. I understand he looked pretty good out there running the ball!

Here is a picture from earlier in the year.

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival - Day 3 - Racing Finals

Once we returned from the pre event ride, it was time to settle in for an afternoon of racing. We moved across the track today to a new viewing location on the west hill in the turns 1, 2, and 3 area. FANTASTIC! Great place to watch the viewing. It was a fairly lazy day, great weather, great racing, nice ride to the hotel, and Mellow Mushroom Pizza for dinner.

Andrew and Chris left for Orlando this morning at 5AM - I slept in a little and left for home at 8AM. I took the freeways back home to save time as the kids were out of school today for Columbus Day and I wanted to hang out with the family. The weather was poor - light rain that turned into a torrential downpour as I approached Atlanta. No big deal - I have been caught in the rain before on 2 wheels. Never something I look forward too, but, one must not let the weather spoil his fun.

In summary, awesome trip. It was great to hang out and ride with Andrew and Chris again and see all those awesome vintage bikes. It was also nice to unplug from everything for a couple of days. Back to work tomorrow and looking forward to a productive week ahead.

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival - Day 3 - Pre Festival Ride

Sunday, we once again stopped at the IHOP for a hearty breakfast. We decided to do a little riding before the event today. We did a section of road the locals call the "little dragon". Nice section of road with some twists and turns and elevation changes. Along the way, we stopped for a photo op. Also, Andrew has some video floating out there somewhere of us riding...look forward to seeing it!

A Man has to eat!

A sampling of the food and beverage that was enjoyed on the journey.

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival - Day 2 - The Race and Swap Meet

Once we were done looking at all the classic bikes at the museum, it was time to take in the swap meet and the racing. The weathere wasn't too bad all day. There was some light rain but it was scattered and eventually stopped.

SWAP MEET

One of my favorite things to do at this event is to wonder through the swap meet area and look at all the old bikes for sale - many complete piles of junk, others in various states of restoration just waiting for a buyer to make them complete. There were even some bikes that were completely restored and ready to go. One bike caught my eye in particular. It was a Suzuki TS 185 dual sport. Why? Well, I owned one of these as a kid.

RACING DAY 1

The racing started mid day. The conditions were not the best as the track stayed damp most of the day. In fact, we witnessed a couple of spills right in front of us. We have a friend in Florida, Keith Williams, who races an old Norton Manx and a Petty Manx. I have included a couple of photo's of his bikes - very nice! Love watching all these old machines race!

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival - Day 2 - The Museum

On day 2, we got up early to a light rain. So, no rush to get to the festival, we stopped by the local IHOP for a hearty breakfast. Then, we made our way to the event, and started at the museum. This place is just amazing. They say it's probably the world's largest collection of historic and significant motorcycle's of it's kind. Not sure that's been verified, but I can believe it. They have over 1200 motorcycles and over 60 rare cars. I took so many pictures, and will have them posted to my photobucket page soon. Here is a quick sample.

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival - Day 1

Up and out early today. I was on the road by 6AM enroute to Birmingham. My route would take me well out of the way - intentionally of course. My goal was to use no freeway's, stop at some small town coffee shops, do a portion of the Kentuck Off Road Vehicle Trail in the Talladega Forest, stop at Horseshoe Ben Military Park for a photo op, then meet up with Andrew and Chris in Dadeville, AL by mid afternoon.

Well, I figured out pretty quickly that I bit off a little more than I had time for. I managed to hit 2 coffee shops - one in downtown Rome, GA and one in Jacksonville, AL. Then, I hit the trails at Kentuck. That was interesting. Nothing too difficult, but, with a bike completely loaded with gear and a near full load of fuel, I nearly dumped it a few times in the mud. I didn't do very much of the trail system at all - just not enough time. But, I know where it is, and hope to go back someday. Now the fun part began.....or should I say "adventurous" part.

NEVER LOST .......ONLY TEMPORARILY DISORIENTED

So as I headed our of Kentuck ORV Trail system, I thought about backtracking to Talladega and then picking up a 2 lane highway to get myself pointed towards Dadeville. NO, THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY AND BORING! I decided to take a right instead of a left and started following a series of gravel forest service roads. These roads eventually merged with public gravel roads. So here I am, my state map doesn't have gravel roads on it, the old hiking GPS I have has very little road detail, and I am fairly certain I am going to be late meeting Andrew and Chris. I must press on. So I basically just used the GPS compass and kept trying to head in the general direction of Dadeville. Kind of like dead reconing in N25WF - the 1940 Piper Cub I used to fly, except I can't go direct. I have to make the right decision at all these Y's and T roads. Left this way, right at this intersection, now left again. You get the picture. I eventually found a highway so I could reference my road map. My navigating worked out - even with a 15 minute road construction delay, I pulled in to the Dadeville at McDonald's just in time to see Andrew and Chris dismounting too. 2 hours later we would be toasting our day at Joe's Crab Shack.