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Thank you guys so much. Funny, but I was down at the burn site this morning removing wheels, stripping down the Elgin of fenders, skirt guards etc. since I decided the frame really is shot (brazed joints don't look so good) and I might as well just take the salvageable parts. I'll see what the frame on the American looks like and maybe do the same. The problem with storing whole bikes inside is that I still need a place to catnap and restore myself along the way. I'm not good for long jaunts ever since the lightning strike so as soon as I start to feel a little unsafe on the road I find a place to rest up and sometimes an hour is all I need to recharge my batteries and hit the road again feeling pretty good. I also don't eat much while traveling as that makes you kind of tired. And no coffee to zing me up and down, even though I like coffee any other time. You have to figure out what works for you to stay alive on the highway. Things happen and when they do it's quick.
Yes, as flat as possible on the roof. I hadn't really thought about the gas mileage, but any unnecessary drag would add up on a long trip. I have a couple of bike boxes I brought with me and I was thinking that if I could wrap Camlifter's bike well in old blankets or bubblewrap... something like that to protect it from any kind of abrasion... and then used the boxes to put it inside of... making the boxes into one bigger box so the wheels wouldn't need to come off with (handlebars off or at least turned to lower the profile and yes, pedals off. If laid down on the roof and secured to the racks it should at least minimize wind resistance. Maybe that's my best bet.
Terron,
It must be nice to be able to fabricate things out of metal. I never had much desire to do that until this motorbicycle craziness took my life over. My oldest brother (now on the other side) was a body/paint guy and had a shop I sometimes got roped into doing grunt work in. Sanding, stripping and that sort of thing. I did get pretty good at cutting with a torch and could destroy things like nobody's business, but couldn't make a darned thing. Must be nice to look at something and say, " I think I'll make one of those when I get home", just like that. Cool.
SB
 
I started much the same and only recently have been able to do myself, the one of those hitches that I made was all heavy steel and the bike "slot" was an I beam. We intalled it on to our Suburban for the 250. Let me give everyone who doesn't already know some advise. Be wary of brand new floor jacks, straight knocked my butt out. I was installing a lift kit and watching the springs go down with a new Jack, well New jacks dont move slow like I was expecting. As soon as that sucker broke loose I dropped the ass of a full size suburban on my head, mind you it was way jacked up so I didn't get crushed but that I beam hit me so hard so fast it bouced my head off the pavement while effeciently folding me in half. There is your guy's laugh for the day!
 
Just read all the posts on this forum right now. Sorry for your loss Silver. Glad you and the pooch are OK. I have a 9 year old pooch myself (Sam's his name, shepard and rotweiler mix) and he's like my second kid, after my 10 year old son. Plus my pooch often listens much better than my son. LOL :)

I just looked on mapquest and Ely is only 4 hours away from where I live and that's not bad considering I'm in another country (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada). I went to college in Valparaiso, IN (about a hour south of Chicago) and did the Wisconsin/Minnesota drive many many times myself up I35 then past Grand Marais and Grand Portage up Highway 61.

Anyways, check your Paypal. I'm sending you a little gift to help you along the way. It's not much but it might be good for some gas or a meal and a tootsie roll for the moosh along the way.

Good luck.
 
Terron, that ain't funny. Sure was a wake up call though for you and almost a night, night call.

Had a simular thing happen and now I weld up extra long handles on any small jack I buy. I figure you only get away with that once.

I loved poking an angry bear in the backside with a short stick untill I noticed the bear could move faster than I could. Then it wasn't as much fun.

Steve.
 
TerrontheSnake said:
I started much the same and only recently have been able to do myself, the one of those hitches that I made was all heavy steel and the bike "slot" was an I beam. We intalled it on to our Suburban for the 250. Let me give everyone who doesn't already know some advise. Be wary of brand new floor jacks, straight knocked my butt out. I was installing a lift kit and watching the springs go down with a new Jack, well New jacks dont move slow like I was expecting. As soon as that sucker broke loose I dropped the ass of a full size suburban on my head, mind you it was way jacked up so I didn't get crushed but that I beam hit me so hard so fast it bouced my head off the pavement while effeciently folding me in half. There is your guy's laugh for the day!
Click to expand...

I feel your pain, similar has happened to me before years ago. Ever since then I got into the habit of always opening/unscrewing the little pressure release valve on hydraulic jacks very very slowly and I watch the jack inch its way down.
 
Yeah I always knew to go very slowly anyways the problem with a brand new one is that they dont go slowly at first you have to break them in a lil, the first few days ya use it it goes from not moving to dropping the car quick. Scary quick..
 
Meowy,
The gift of caring is never small and I thank you for the gasoline and the tootsie roll for Moosh. I'll tell her the tootsie roll is from Sam. Hey Sam! Good dog!. (Give that dog a bone!) Yes, we're pretty much neighbors. I've been up to Grand Portage a number of times (has to be one of the most beautiful reservations in the country, stretching along the shores of Lake Superior), but I never made it up to Thunder Bay. Maybe this summer if things work out with a trip up that way and beyond which is a possibility. Do you get hassled there by the authorities for having a gas bike or is yours electric? It's a bummer that Canada is making it so hard to have an innocuous little motor on your bike when there are a bazillion 2 stroke chainsaws in Canada. Go figure. There's another guy here on the forum with a motorbike in between us at Two Harbors, Minnesota. Maybe someday we could organize a ride up around Grand Portage. I've never ridden with anybody else but my brother a couple times and he seems scared he's going to wreck or something. Maybe he's just smarter than me. Anyway, nice to meet you, Chris, and thank you.
Terron,
You have no doubt been told along the way that you are hard headed. Don't believe it for a minute. Not when it comes to floor jacks and trucks. Owie.
Fasteddy,
How goes the Monark and sidecar project? Inquiring minds want to know. Anybody who has not seen Steve's work, check out the sidecar thread. Just amazing.
I'm still removing parts from the bikes. The 39 Elgin frame is a loss as the brass at the joints looks drippy in places and when the firemen pulled stuff off the back of the truck it must have been so hot that it bent very easily. But I did get fenders and skirts, chain guard and little stuff. The American is next and actually the frame looks good, so a good bit can be salvaged from it. I haven't looked over the 38 Elgin closely yet, but for sure will save the fenders and that neat chain guard, the skip tooth sprocket and pedal chain. The 55 Huffman also had melted brass at the unions and is scrap and the newish Huffy is junk. The three engines are interesting to look at all melted, the Salvadore Dali models.
SB
 
No problem Silverbear. Just wish I could do more. Hope you and the pooch get home safely. :)

I used to go to Grand Portage and Grand Marais almost once a month for the weekend and on occassion Duluth as well since I'm only 45 minutes from the border. But alas haven't been over the border in about 3 years since the last time I went I got hassled really badly at the Pidgeon River crossing. Got held up for almost 3 hours, they went through my car like I was Pablo Escobar or something. Never got told as to why exactly I was stopped and searched instead of being waved through as usual. Maybe it was the fact that it was Christmas time, late at night, snowing real bad and I was the only vehicle crossing at the time so maybe they decided to do some training exercise on me. Or maybe it was one of those random every 10th car searches or something. Anyways, that kind of soured me and so I haven't been through the border since. But that's not to say that one of these days I couldn't drive out there with my bike and meet you and maybe the other guy you mentioned and we could do the MB thing for the day.

As far as here in Thunder Bay and getting hassled I think you're right. Although I bought my kit (PK80 66cc) last August because of work and family obligations I haven't had the time to assemble it, but I'm pretty close to it being finished and hopefully will be on the road in a couple of weeks. Anyways so I don't have first hand experience but I see an alarming trend. I live pretty much right in the city and last summer I used to see at least 1 or 2 MBs around town on a daily basis. This year even though there's been over a month and a half of nice riding weather I've only seen 3 MBs total on the road but I've seen a good number of them for sale locally in the paper and through Kijiji. So I have a feeling the local cops have finally decided to crack down in earnest and that's why so many of them are for sale. Once I start riding mine I'll see if that's the case or not. One guy I talked to last summer said that when he gets stopped he just tells the cop that since his MB is neither a motorcycle nor a true moped he can't get it plated and registered with the DMV (or MTO as they call it here in Ontario)and he can only get it insured under his homeowners insurance. I figure I'll ride responsibly, wear a helmet and use the same story and that'll be good enough to avoid any tickets. Time will tell. Mind you if you have en e-bike here in Ontario you're home free. No license, insurance or anything like that required. Probably an environmental/pollution thing which like you said is weird because of all the chainsaws here and the fact that we don't have to do the smog testing on our personal cars here either, just commercial vehicles. I wonder how the cops in MN deal with MBs.
 
silverbear said:
Thank you guys so much. Funny, but I was down at the burn site this morning removing wheels, stripping down the Elgin of fenders, skirt guards etc. since I decided the frame really is shot (brazed joints don't look so good) and I might as well just take the salvageable parts. I'll see what the frame on the American looks like and maybe do the same. The problem with storing whole bikes inside is that I still need a place to catnap and restore myself along the way. I'm not good for long jaunts ever since the lightning strike so as soon as I start to feel a little unsafe on the road I find a place to rest up and sometimes an hour is all I need to recharge my batteries and hit the road again feeling pretty good. I also don't eat much while traveling as that makes you kind of tired. And no coffee to zing me up and down, even though I like coffee any other time. You have to figure out what works for you to stay alive on the highway. Things happen and when they do it's quick.
Yes, as flat as possible on the roof. I hadn't really thought about the gas mileage, but any unnecessary drag would add up on a long trip. I have a couple of bike boxes I brought with me and I was thinking that if I could wrap Camlifter's bike well in old blankets or bubblewrap... something like that to protect it from any kind of abrasion... and then used the boxes to put it inside of... making the boxes into one bigger box so the wheels wouldn't need to come off with (handlebars off or at least turned to lower the profile and yes, pedals off. If laid down on the roof and secured to the racks it should at least minimize wind resistance. Maybe that's my best bet.
Terron,
It must be nice to be able to fabricate things out of metal. I never had much desire to do that until this motorbicycle craziness took my life over. My oldest brother (now on the other side) was a body/paint guy and had a shop I sometimes got roped into doing grunt work in. Sanding, stripping and that sort of thing. I did get pretty good at cutting with a torch and could destroy things like nobody's business, but couldn't make a darned thing. Must be nice to look at something and say, " I think I'll make one of those when I get home", just like that. Cool.
SB
Click to expand...
Hey SB Ive been a welder for about 23 years now. the last 12 repairing hevy equipment(CAT) dozzers,scapers anything that moves dirt. I find it hard somtimes to come home and fire up that welder after doing it for 10 hours allday. But if I were closer to you I would fab up a rack of your choise. Coming from me it would be so easy to make. So I will just send you some gas money insted. Have a safe trip home....................weld
 
silverbear said:
Buzzard,
That's real good news about the clean bill of health... and there you are thinking about governors and parts and projects and yeah for sure... one for LadyG! I would think so, or no more lunches for you, Bud!
No trailer this time. I don't have enough to take to warrant the expense and want to aim everything at the gas tank. I can leave frames here which may not be any good anyway. I'm already off to a late start getting home and have three frames there to fool around with and not much in resources to do it with. I think the summer will involve some serious riding, some Huck Finn time at the lake swimming and some fishing. One of my favorite things is to take a swim with a bar of soap and stand at the end of the dock for a shave with an old brass safety razor and a bicycle mirror to make sure I don't remove my nose or eyebrows. To me that is the height of luxury to stand there waist deep in clear water with little bluegills bumping their mouths against my legs, I imagine trying to eat the hairs which must look like something yummy. I don't mind and kind of like it. A loon may come in for a landing and a family of newly hatched Mallards may pass by, the little ones bobbing along like fuzzy corks in the water trying to keep up with mom. It's like being in a great big natural hot tub which is in fact quite cold, but sharing it with a lively crowd of wild things. That's the life... Huck Finn all growed up.
I have never fished for sturgeon, the grand daddies of them all. There is a long standing rumor, perhaps legend in the making of a sturgeon in our lake, Eagles Nest Lake #3. People have said they have seen a dark shadow pass by in the depths the size of a canoe. And there are many including myself who thought they were snagged on a submerged log only to discover that the log lumbered off and snapped their line. I like to think it is there and I hope nobody ever catches it. Talking about fishing makes me all the more homesick for the forest, my friends the bald eagles, all the creatures who are my neighbors and especially for my elder brothers, the bears. Heal up, my friend. I'll think of you when I eat my first walleye...
SB
Click to expand...

I loved the imagery of that post. We don't have any animals in Phoenix. They've all been burned up by the sun. Pretty sad, really.

But on a more serious note:

If you would like to donate to Moosh's Tootsie Roll fund, his paypal address is:

[email protected]

He's not home yet. He's going to need some gas money. If you can send $5, $10, or $20 that would be great.

If you don't have a paypal account, just go to paypal.com. You'll be surprised how easy it is to set up. Also, it gives him the quickest access to the cash. He needs the help now.

Thanks,
 
Silver Bear, nothing done on the bike today.

My nephew got back from Afghanistan today so we have been pretty busy with having him back.

Tomorrow I hope to be able to put the mounting plate on and mount the side car, weather permitting.

Steve.
 
Good morning,
I’ve been lying abed in the pre- light as night gives way to dawn, quietly processing what has happened of late. Last night I realized that with donations yesterday you good people who I have never seen in the physical world have bought my truck. You will recall I had budgeted one thousand dollars for a vehicle and found one listed for one thousand dollars and last night tallied things up and you have given me one thousand dollars. More synchronicity… something is going on. You bought my truck. You people who I have only known in cyberspace, but live in places like Ohio and Arizona and Florida and a place called Thunder Bay, Ontario among many others have come together through this forum and done something quite beautiful in my estimation. I recall suggesting in another thread at another time that this invisible place in the ethers where we cannot see each other and care not for what age, race, religion or gender might make us all appear to be vastly different.. We are blind here to these outward differences and are drawn by the light of a common passion for these little conveyances we tinker with which help us enjoy our lives more fully. I had the thought that as such cyberspace is a kind of spiritual domain, or at least can be and it is why I like it. We are less distracted here by the outward things and listen to each other more closely in the privacy of our keyboards and screens and electrons flowing in streams and great rivers of intelligent digital energy.
For me, something big has been going on in this past week since the fire. Fifteen years ago I was struck by lightning which has been described to me as galactic as it carries the full band width of energy… sound and light, electrical, infrared, microwave and all of it in one flash of light and transforming energy. Lightning entered my ear and literally cooked (microwaved) the front lobe of my brain as it passed through. I don’t really have any explanation for how it is that I’m able to think and write this communication or even justify being alive, but here I am. As with this recent fire, much was lost on a physical level. The fire consumed the truck, tools, possessions, bikes and dreams leaving a large numb spot, a kind of blank hole. In a similar way lightning took away whole chunks of long term memory, impaired short term memory, impaired hearing and a left a loud and constant noise in my head.. I was tired all the time, confused and had a severely damaged nervous system which led eventually to a rare disease called Guillane Barre Syndrome which is like polio and is now believed to be what former president Roosevelt had and not polio. My life had a big hole in it and I withdrew into the forest, divorced and was in a kind of shadowland. It was in that time that I found my little rescue dog Aaniimoosh who was also traumatized… had been thrown from a moving car as a puppy and ended up in a rescue shelter in South Dakota. In more of the same kind of synchronicity I have described with the Cherokee prayer and Cherokee truck, the one thousand dollars repeating itself, this little dog in a far away shelter several states away came into my life. No need to describe that here, but it was an unlikely finding of each other. This fearful, quivering puppy and I spent a long Minnesota winter sleeping near my woodstove which I hobbled about feeding with wood to keep us from freezing. We were both in the shadowlands. My heart went out to this little being as I came to know her and watched as her confidence grew and with it her love for me. We were like cellmates in that trailer without running water or much in creature comfort, imprisoned by subzero winter, but we shared what we had, our food and our warmth. In reaching out to her I found my way out of the darkness as she became my seeing eye dog.. Depression lifted as winter gave way to spring. She was bigger now, her wag was strong and she knew she had someone safe to be her source of good things. She had the odd habit of curling her lips in a kind of excitement when she first saw me in the mornings… what I call a grin. She looks like a smiling little Ewok from Star Wars when she does that… and I laughed when I saw it which made her grin all the more. Laughter is such good medicine. So her therapist had two legs and mine had four. We made it and I discovered that the hole from lighting had filled in and that what I lost on a physical level was compensated for with an increased spiritual presence. I think I’m a better and more compassionate person post strike and while I’m not going out of my way to find another lightning bolt, I’m also not sorry it happened and even feel that it was meant to. I believe that lightning bolt had my name on it and was sent from Spirit and that I kept my appointment with destiny.
Something of similar kind has happened this past week. The great numbing hole the fire left has been filled in by your compassion, your generosity, your kindness. I can’t say that I’m glad for the fire or the things lost, but I wouldn’t have experienced this coming together of the past week had it not. Once again I lost on the physical level and gained many times over in the spiritual domain. I have friends I didn’t know I had. How rich is that? My estimation of the inherent goodness of people outweighs all of the bad news blaring from the newscasters, thanks to you good people. It restores my faith in the ideas of brotherhood and sisterhood in this family of man, this humanity of spirit. Before I leave on my journey I will be doing a pipe ceremony of thanksgiving and all of you will be there in my thoughts and prayers as tobacco is burned in the alter of the sacred pipe, is transformed by fire and rises to the heavens as smoke, as prayer, as an offering to the Great Spirit.
Miigwetch (thank you).
Silverbear
 
I believe we can officially say that the mission you have undertaken is accomplished. I can make it home now thanks to all of you and that is what these donations have been all about. I do not wish to be greedy and that is not the purpose of this forum to be a kind of charity. What has happened here has been absolutely wonderful, but the donations should stop now as you have helped me so much and no more is needed for Moosh and me to make it home. We'll pull up and I'll keep riding and building. You guys are the best. Moosh says thanks and I'm wagging my tail. You haven't heard the last from me and I'll let you know how things are going, when we are leaving and when we have arrived home.
SB
 
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