September 22nd

Happy Birthday to my brother Jimmy and Happy Anniversary to Jimmy and Sue. One of the new status symbols in this country is a long marriage. You can not buy it, you have to earn it. Congratulations.

Never Forget

9/11 by the Numbers

Total number killed in attack 2,819
Fire Fighters / Paramedics Killed 373
NYPD killed 23
Port Authority officers killed 37
Number of employees lost tower 1 1,396
Number of employees lost tower 2 614
Number Killed on Flight 93 40
Number killed in Pentagon 184
Number Killed on WTC air craft 152

The numbers speak for them self. Today I heard more about the man that called Obama a lyre and ACORN than I did about 9/11. This should be a day of reverence and reflection, not politics. I am not one who thinks this should be a national holiday. Americans tend to make national holidays as a day off and forget what they are all about, look at July 4th and Christmas. I think it is up to all of us to keep this day a raw memory. How many people under 50 can tell you about Pearl Harbor?

I have been wanting to blog since last weekend but just haven't had time. I got a call from my buddy Larry Collette telling me he had use of a cabin in Blue Ridge Ga. and wanted to know if Dan and I wanted to take the bikes and go up with him. We have stayed in the cabin before and it is great so I told him to count me in.

Dan and I met up at 7:00 Saturday morning and headed north to have breakfast with Larry in Canton. We hit some rain in Atlanta but out ran it by the time we got to Marietta. Larry was waiting at Cracker Barrel and when we were finished we took a round-a-bout mountain ride to Blue Ridge. We got to the cabin at 11:00. We drooped off our clothes and groceries and took off. We headed north/west past the Olympic white water sight and found our way to Telico Plains Tn. The Cherahola Skyway starts here and is one of my favorite rides. Check out the pictures and you will see why I come here,

The Skyway goes east from here and in about 50 miles you wind up in Robbinsville NC. We picked up HWY 129 and headed back to Blue Ridge.

The cabin is a log cabin and most of the furniture is made of logs and branches. Check out the pictures and you can see why I come here.

Larry did the shopping, I think he did well. Can you see why I come here?

We ate dinner on the back deck, it is hanging over the Toccoa River.

We had a few drinks, relaxed and hit the sack. This is my sack, see why I come here"

In the morning Dan and I headed south/east threw Suches, Dalonega, and home. Larry went west to meet his wife on her motorcycle and spend the day riding.

Great weekend, great ride, Great friends.

Haven't had much to blog about lately, so I just wanted to let everyone know Deb and I are doing well. We have both been working a bunch, and Deb has been out of town some. She took her mom up to Tennessee when she got home from Canada and called on a customer up there. Too weeks later she went to a family reunion in Louisiana.

It has been to hot to ride the motorcycle so I have been working around house and relaxing. I pressure washed and sealed the deck two weeks ago and took my grill apart to clean and replace some parts this weekend.

Like I said not much going on, we are looking forward to seeing Katie, Bryan amd Maddy next week. Talk to you all soon, Bill

I guess it's my turn to blog about the 4Th of July. I took off last Thursday and deb and I headed out about 8:00am to run some errands. After the errands we got to mom and dad's house about 9:30 and on the road by 10:00. We took I 85 to Greenville and picked up Deb's niece, Sydney. Syd is heading to Canada for the summer so we got to spend a few days with her before she flew out. We got to Peg and Steve's about 3:30 or so and just relaxed the rest of the day.Some games were played and some baseball was watched. Friday the weather was great, the deck is in the shade and was the perfect place to hang out.Steve cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and we watched the Braves. Saturdays weather was just as good and everyone basically hung out all day. It was great to have Mike, Michelle and the girls with us. All three girls Hannah, Heather and Sydney are all big readers, so when they were not playing games with grand mom and aunt Debo they were scattered around the house with books. Steve put a pork shoulder and a bunch of ribs on the smoker in the morning and let them go all day. After the feast we watched the NASCAR race out on the deck. then came the fire works. Steve had a nice selection that would have awed the crowd until the neighbor broke out the professional set. just one of those things was 2 feet high and 12 inched across. Thay were wild.

On Sunday we headed home. After dropping off mom and pop we made a stop at Sam's for some grocery's then home to get ready for another work week.

An other Weekend

Another weekend and I have a lot going on. Dan and I went on another Patriot Guard Ride. Three members of the Georgia National Guard were killed in Afghanistan last week. They were only in country for 20 days when they hit an improvised explosive device. A fire fight ensued and 3 lives were lost.

We went to the funeral of Sergeant John Beale. Sergeant Beale lived in McDonough with his wife and 2 children. His body came home last Thursday, his son’s 13th birthday. One of the neat things I saw at the church was when the family limo came up to the door it was flanked be 2 State Patrol motorcycles and 4 Patriot Guard bikes. The bike in front of the limo has the 13 year old son on it. The PGR had a good showing, 140 members showed up to honor the family. This was the largest procession I have ever seen. Not counting the PGR motorcycles It took 35 minutes from the time the first vehicle left for the cemetery till the last one got out of the church parking lot.

It was 22 miles to the cemetery and every car in both directions stopped and most of the people got out and stood at attention. Hundreds of veterans stood saluting in front of their homes and subdivisions. Every police and fire man in every jurisdiction we went thru were along the road to pay respect. The city of Lovejoy has 2 ladder trucks with an American flag across the road. This all tells me that AMERICA STILL CARES.
I would invite any of you to join me or Steve on a PGR mission. You do not have to be on a motorcycle to participate.

After the ride Dan and I went to Peachtree City to see a C130 storm chaser that was on display. The line was very long so we did not go in but we spent some time with the load master and got some great info.

The picture below is a probe they drop in a hurricane out the bottom of the plane, and it has a parachute to get weather info. ( I was told if the Russians got a hold of this picture they could play havoc with our weather for years to come,so do not pass this on.) Hay Bryan, This a modified J model (Early J model)

All in all I had a good day. I got some sun and shed some tears, but it was good.

New Car

Well I found a new vehicle. It is a 2005 Kia Sorento. I had never thought about a Kia, but I needed a car for the wedding and the Sorento was the biggest one the rental company had. I really liked it and started to look in to them. The Sorento is rated very high by all the consumer magazines and web sites. I started looking for one and found quite a few in the price range I was looking. After looking at 4 or 5 I found this one in Gainesville. It has 45,000 miles, so I still have 15,000 on the warrantee. It has more options on it than anything I have ever had. All the normal power stuff plus a sun roof 4 wheel drive and remote start. It has 3 garage door openers built in the rearview mirror.
I think it will be a good car, and the best thing is it is not a Taurua.