Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[gtmalone]

On the Left Coast, Sarasota/Venice and parts South, they wouldn't notice you if you were running naked and screaming down the centerline with a 12 gauge shotgun.

San Fran and northern CA, Sierra Nevada areas, Big Bear area are great! LA area and south - nope.

 

[Black Out Jazz]

San Fran and northern CA, Sierra Nevada areas, Big Bear area are great! LA area and south - nope.

Left coast of Flor Ida...

 

[GonePlaid]

The FL panhandle has some decent roads if you stay off the major highways. I've been to the Ocala area a couple of times on the scooter. If the rest of the state is anything like getting to Ocala, I'm not interested. From my trips and talking to friends that live in FL, it appears FL has the highest stoplight per capita in the country.

I travel from my house(near Stuart, FL) to Orlando about every other weekend. I use the FL Turnpike to Yeehaw Junction(yes, that's real)then 441 to Kenansville and through the cow fields to St. Cloud and back on the Turnpike. A lotta bikes ride that road(SR 523), reaching it from Okeechobee or Vero Beach via US 441 or SR 60. There's a convenience store at the corner of 441/523 that is usually full of scooters on the weekends.

 

[gtmalone]

Now for something completely different.

A friend gave me a box of LPs a few years ago. Most of them were of no interest and had water damage. There was a 10" 33 1/3 record in the box with six songs. Here are two of the songs. Excellent!




Pretty tragic story about Mario Lanza and his family.
Mario Lanza - Wikipedia

 

[GonePlaid]

Left coast of Flor Ida...

Yeah. In these parts, when we say "Goin' to the West Coast", it ain't California, it's Naples, Ft. Myers, Punta Gorda, Venice, Sarasota, Bradenton, even Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater, and Tarpon Springs.

 

[RodRy]

Exactly. I ride like I'm invisible and use hand signals along with turn signals. A few years ago I added LED DRLs (daytime running lights) and upgraded the headlamp and pass lamps with halogen bulbs. I've had fewer incidents of cars pulling out in front of me since then. The DRLs will put your eyes out if you look directly at them. I have an RTB (run-turn-brake) controller that keeps the rear turn signals on for running lights and flashes the signals and brake light three times when stopping.

I always leave a couple of car lengths in front of me for an out at stoplights, leave it in gear, and keep an eye on the mirrors for cars. If I see a car coming up I'll pull the brake a couple of times to get their attention. I've seen riders not paying attention at stoplights - stop right on the stop stripe, in neutral, while looking at a cell phone. Geez...

I've had a couple of close ones from drivers not paying attention. My only accident was in my early 20s giving a Yamaha 360 Enduro a little too much gas while the front wheel was in the air. Skinned up a little and a few days in the hospital from jarring something loose in my insides. I landed flat on my belly then rolled. Did you know a t-shirt doesn't offer much protection?

Driving as if one is invisible and silent is wise. One never knows who's distracted or not. Even those of us who try to be always focused on driving miss things.

 

[Black Out Jazz]

Now for something completely different.

A friend gave me a box of LPs a few years ago. Most of them were of no interest and had water damage. There was a 10" 33 1/3 record in the box with six songs. Here are two of the songs. Excellent!




Pretty tragic story about Mario Lanza and his family.
Mario Lanza - Wikipedia

How awful!

 

[beans-on-toast]

Now for something completely different.

A friend gave me a box of LPs a few years ago. Most of them were of no interest and had water damage. There was a 10" 33 1/3 record in the box with six songs. Here are two of the songs. Excellent!




Pretty tragic story about Mario Lanza and his family.
Mario Lanza - Wikipedia

I have his Christmas album. Still a kid when he died. He was well known to common folk before opera gained in popularity.

 

[Black Out Jazz]

Yeah. In these parts, when we say "Goin' to the West Coast", it ain't California, it's Naples, Ft. Myers, Punta Gorda, Venice, Sarasota, Bradenton, even Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater, and Tarpon Springs.

In July I took my son to Ft. Myers to a giant baseball tournament. Well, the tropical storm screwed the tourney up, but after it passed OH MY FREAKING GOSH that place is HOT.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I stopped riding motorcycles after many years with them. The roads got more and more crowded. Car drivers lost all common sense. It got a lot more dangerous, I saw too many serious accidents. The number of inexperienced bikers went through the roof when biking became more popular. I also got fed up with riding in cold weather.

I don't know if it's just the lower cost of technology now but I'm seeing more people out walking with body cams. Many vehicles have them as well. Maybe it's just fun to document where you go. Some seem to want that extra security though.

 

[GonePlaid]

I stopped riding motorcycles after many years with them. The roads got more and more crowded. Car drivers lost all common sense. It got a lot more dangerous, I saw too many serious accidents. The number of inexperienced bikers went through the roof when biking became more popular. I also got fed up with riding in cold weather.

I don't know if it's just the lower cost of technology now but I'm seeing more people out walking with body cams. Many vehicles have them as well. Maybe it's just fun to document where you go. Some seem to want that extra security though.

Or to prove that they weren't the one who f---ed* up.

*oul

 

[Jeff Scott]

For no reason other than some of the best Buddy Rich sound on film, with a minor adder of some nice shots of a P bass. From the Théâtre St-Denis in 1982. Buddy at his best!

The only time I got to see him perform was in 1985/1986 (can't recall which but he wasn't dead, yet), at Prisneyland (look it up; no, not that one, the one I'm referring to is far more obscure, from 1976).

The Italians aren't ..... obese to the extent we are.

Except for Italian opera singers, right?

 

[Jeff Scott]

WARNING! Banjo, ahead!!!

 

[spiritbass]

WARNING! Banjo, ahead!!!

The Cleverlys are .

 

[beans-on-toast]

WARNING! Banjo, ahead!!!

 

[GonePlaid]

Wonder if the Zombies have ever heard this? Effing brilliant!

 

[markwrob]

Reminds me a bit of these boys. Saw 'em once quite a few years back now.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

And then there's this classic. Henley liked it so much, he asked Mojo to open for him.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I stopped riding motorcycles after many years with them. The roads got more and more crowded. Car drivers lost all common sense. It got a lot more dangerous, I saw too many serious accidents. The number of inexperienced bikers went through the roof when biking became more popular. I also got fed up with riding in cold weather.

I don't know if it's just the lower cost of technology now but I'm seeing more people out walking with body cams. Many vehicles have them as well. Maybe it's just fun to document where you go. Some seem to want that extra security though.

I retired for similar reasons- part of the decision for me, was the realization that my reflexes weren't getting any better with age- it didn't take a genius to plot the decline of other drivers' skill and awareness vs my own aging process, and see how my motorcycling career was going to end up.

I've got to say that I'm feeling a lot safer now as an (electric-assisted) cyclist. Traffic safety still appears to be going down the toilet (although there's less of it in post-COVID Canada), but now I have a lot of tools that I wasn't able to take advantage of as a motorcyclist: Everything from paved bike paths and painted cycle lanes, to the ability to switch to the sidewalk whenever I don't like the look of surrounding traffic.

It might be slower than driving my van during rush hour, but despite a measly 250 watt mid-drive with a 20mph limit on the electric assist, I'm still quite a bit faster (and healthier) than if I was riding the bus...

 

[Jeff Scott]

Traffic safety still appears to be going down the toilet (although there's less of it in post-COVID Canada)...

It absolutely BONKERS around here! Always got to be on the lookout for dem crazy-ass drivers on the road, and a lot of it, it appears, is not smrtphn related; they're just wild-ass drivers who don't give a about the others on the road.