and the "Teacher of the Year" award goes too...

BarnYard's class of 2011 high school year book photo. No other words.

Puerto Rican

So we went to Puerto Rico for Tucks wedding. Stanimosity and LHG came too. Fun times. waves, and friends. I can't explain the love of Puerto Rico for Valentines day but all the Walgreens knew their love. Try visiting Walgreen's Valentines eve and you feel like it is black Friday. Rum, grocery stores named amigo owned by wal-mart, driving behind taillight less cars, and waves were the norm. Cristenberry and wife came to AR island too. Hillbilly take puerto rico

Charleston Beard Contest Ride

The nicest weekend of the year fell upon us these past few days. Darnel and I took a 600 mile road trip to Charleston so I could participate in the 2nd Southeastern Beard and Moustache Competition. On friday it was 75º and sunny. We had absolutely no agenda and it felt amazing. 

 We stopped at the Town Creek Indian Mound outside the uwharrie's. I had no idea this was even existed here. It was pretty cool. Worth the $0.00 price.

 We camped first night on the inner coastal waterway. Full moon over the water and some busch beer and some backpacking meals. Next day in Charleston we met up with an old friend from Reidsville and her husband and we kicked it around Folly Beach and other parts around and within.

 Some sweet graffiti 

On saturday, we met this tweaker, Capt' T. He has this freaky sunken rolled back unusable left eye and this fresh as hell 4 inch scar on the right side of his forehead. He had to get right up on ya to see you, so I can't imagine how well he rides his harley. He and his buddy, mouse, (a meth runner) rolled up next to us because Capt' T's bike was smoking. He jumped off and came up to me instead of checking his bike and said, "Who's that?". He wasn't concerned about his bike at all. The Captain was certainly a crack troll set loose onto the fading light of this early spring day. I wish I was making any of this up, but I'm not. It's all true.

The Quien competing as the "Electric Starfish" He got second. He was robbed.

 Relaxing on the way home. Good Times

Seattle bye Ta-Ta

I haven't spent as much time in Seattle as I did this past week. Blakers and I went to see her twin sister and help celebrate her sons 1st birthday. This time around I found myself really liking the Seattle area and pondering if I could ever live there, if'n we upped and moved. I think I could. Why not? You are surrounded by mountains and lakes, it's ideal for motorcycle trips, Canada (America's hat) is near by (you gotta keep your enemies close), and there's plenty of people to scoff at.

Upon arrival we are stunned to see MetaKa had cut her hair. The shortest she has ever cut it. She looked great, but I fear this is a gateway hair cut to the Mom style dike cut/ brainiac dome fro's.

Portlandia's own Rita-b came up and visited us for one sweet day. It was a great surprise and awesome to see her. On a separate day, careblair and I zipped around on his scooter. I felt corny.

On Vashon Island, we visited on of MetaKa's dear friend. These pic's are of the house that she built. She's an amazing person that is more motivated and self propelled then any person I've met.

Funky fresh dressed to impress, ready to party

Mossy trees at Seward Park. Oh, and the sun.

Art.

So, I was super excited to find that while I was in Seattle one of my favorite bands, The Church, were going to be playing. The tour was called "Future, Past, Perfect", and it consisted of them playing three albums in their entirety. The shows on this tour were lasting anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 hours long. Pure heaven for me, until I went to the show. I was a left distracted by their terrible projections that seemed to be controlled by an autistic 10 year old. By the time they got around to playing the "Starfish" album, the guys looked ready for a sobering shower and a nightcap. Rock stamina ain't what it used to be.

Mt. Rainer only a block from the house. Amazing

Little man opening gifts on his 1st birthday.

 A proud family 

 MetaKa happier then I have seen her in a long time. So happy.

Auntie Blakers

Long time coming

Borrowed a garage for a couple weeks. Moto-entropy has been catching up with me so I am holed up in a condemned garage with little light and surprisingly little room because every few feet there's a ceiling leak from the pools of rainwater that have collected on the roof and are seeping in. It's a lot of water. Two of the ceiling rafters have buckled under the weight and are being held up with makeshift stilts … and to think of all those suburban garages crammed full of canned foods from Costco, Christmas decorations, and bikes that never see the light of day. There's no justice in this world.

From the top: carb cleaning and syncing, new steering stem bearings, new plugs, oil filter and change, new choke cable, new clutch cable, brake overhaul, dashboard lights, radiator flush, and finally: new-old fairings. Got a short list of other things I'd like to get done but it'll have to wait. Need to get the bike back to life for a trip in a few weeks.

Here's a few pics of the process.