Rosco and the blogging thereof

Message
Author
roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

#61 Unread post by roscowgo »

Just the first chunk is on the interstate. maybe 2 hours worth. it's a pretty similar route to the one i take in the car, except bypassing I-81 and the turn off to Charlottesville.

I have managed close to or over those miles on the bike in a day....but always in a loop kinda deal where I would wind up home at the end of the trip.

I navigate roughly as well as a lemming on a prairie, What for normal people in a car would be around a 6 hour trip, to me is usually 8. On the bike, im guessing 11... just because i get lost if the wind blows too hard or a chipmunk sneezes. All things going well, i'd guess more along 8 hours for a person that can manage to read road signs and not stop every 10 miles for pics.

The part that really makes me nervous, and probably shouldn't. Is the return trip. For some reason I'm dreading that drive.

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

#62 Unread post by roscowgo »

A small bit of blogerificness today.

Today....I am in the truck. Why? Because it's too freaking hot to be wearing a coat. Heck it's too hot to be wearing skin. I think I'm going to strip the armor out of my gear and try washing it tonight. it's waterproof right? Meant to be worn in the rain and sweated in on the inside. It certainly couldn't make it any smellier.

I also got a new phone (let me rephrase that) I Got a phone yesterday :( I have been electronically leashed. A razrV3. for 9 bucks. /shrug I know nuttin bout phones. Supposedly this one plays mp3's Which brings me to my real reason for bringing it up. I have my helmet ghetto wired for sound. A cannibalized logitech internet chat headset that I wasnt using anymore in case you're curious. What I suppose i'm looking for now, is some kind of bluetooth gadjet, that will plug into my existing 3.5 mm speaker and mic jacks. failing that, I suppose i'm going to have to get a motorcycle headset. Because i'll be damned if i'll pull over to answer. So if i have to deal with this thing, i might as well listen to tunes from it in the meantime. Of course i'll be beaten to death by jennifer if I Don't answer.

Motorola seems to make a fairly cheap one. HS830 I think it is. That might work. Anyone have any reviews of these things? Other options seem to be the nolan helmets (which i suspect is the best option and the one i'll save my pennies for) or the scala bluetooth helmet headset. 150....id rather save some more and buy the nolan thanks. Can plug my xm radio into that one, and it does bluetooth, would work just about right with the gps i'm looking at getting.

Woops hit submit instead of preview.

The GPS in question is the MIO C220. can be had for about 150 it looks like. Maybe a buck or two lower on ebay. Supposedly easily software hacked to unlock it's underlying windows operating system thus opening up its other features. mp3 etc. If not...it's still a 150 dollar GPS that gets good reviews on the GPS side of things. Given enough money and time, i'll have more gadjets on my bike than i do in my computer room.

Shorts
Site Supporter - Gold
Site Supporter - Gold
Posts: 3452
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:42 pm

#63 Unread post by Shorts »

Hey roscow, the motocomm headsets look decent. I think I'm going to get those for DH and I for our communicado bike to bike. I wish I had the addy, but the part numbers were like HS100 or the like.

Star1 also makes decent equipment, I'm tempted to go that way. Motocomm and Star1 are still cheaper than Baehr and those more expensive dingles. Expect to spend $250 at least for something useable.

User avatar
noodlenoggin
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 415
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:08 am
Sex: Male
My Motorcycle: 1995 Ford Thunderbird =-(
Location: Lithia, FL

#64 Unread post by noodlenoggin »

So, you don't know nuthin' 'bout phones...yet you have no problem hacking into a GPS'r to make it play MP3's and shock your dog via Windows? :laughing:
1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

#65 Unread post by roscowgo »

Shorts wrote:Hey roscow, the motocomm headsets look decent. I think I'm going to get those for DH and I for our communicado bike to bike. I wish I had the addy, but the part numbers were like HS100 or the like.

Star1 also makes decent equipment, I'm tempted to go that way. Motocomm and Star1 are still cheaper than Baehr and those more expensive dingles. Expect to spend $250 at least for something useable.
Thanks much :)
noodlenoggin wrote:So, you don't know nuthin' 'bout phones...yet you have no problem hacking into a GPS'r to make it play MP3's and shock your dog via Windows? Laughing
Thees is correct seenor. What I know about phones... is that If the CEO gets yet another smartphone, and wants me to figure out why it's not petting him in his special place when he dials #69.... I'm going to loose my mind. well thats a little harsh i suppose. He's only had 3 treos, and 2 different species of blackberry in 3 years....

And of course 3 laptops. Woops not 3 laptops over 3 years. 3 laptops right now. He currently has one of those super small 2lb thinkpads, a jetta with fullsize keyboard, and a winbook in the middle. Of course he wants his email+ calendar on all 4 machines at the same time. And he wants them all to match. Did I mention we don't run an in house exchange server? For awhile he had the razr v3 (when it was the latest and greatest), and treo 650 + the three laptops. I won't even Think about the bluetooth printers, headsets, et infinitiy that he has.

I'm admittedly a nerd. But more of make a round peg fit in a square hole kind of nerd. It won't be an elegant refined solution. More like a McGuyver duct tape and bubble gum special.

Supposedly this mio c220 hack is nothing more than sneaking a file into the gps that lets the explorer out and about. right up my alley.

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

#66 Unread post by roscowgo »

I've ran buelah all over hell and creation this weekend. Took off saturday at around 9, got back sunday at about 6:30 in the evening. ~500 miles all told. And most of it on the interstate. I have most certainly figured out WHY people get crash bars and highway pegs. Good gawd a' mighty. If you've ever seen that ol cheesy bloodsport movie. where the old sensi guy is er "training" whats his face. He ties him up to some pullies and sprawls the guy out between two trees....thats azactly what my groin feels like. At one point i was trying my damndest to hold my legs straight out along the tank and rest my feet on the turn signals. yeesh. hours of 70 mph winds trying to make do a split just plain Suck.

After realizing that I was in fact Not a cheerleader, and there is no way on this earth that I could turn my legs around backwards.... I got the heck off the slab and onto the twisties. Double the distance, 100x the gravel and the chicken strip on my new tire is a little more gone.

Like all the backroads on the side of a mountain here... the engineer had some aversion to a ruler. And of course leaned over far enough to get close to dragging my boot is not the best place to find a big patch of gravel someone tossed into the road by cutting the corner too sharp. soon after I was understeering the curves, running wide, and just plain uncomfy. So i stopped for an hour or so, ate an ice cream bar and drank a buttload of water. After that lil break I felt quite a bit better. Other than my groin feeling as if it had just undergone a shiatsu massage while doing side lunges of course.

Absolutely gorgeous riding weather here this weekend. Of course i didnt get any pics since my camera sucks and i'm too boneheaded to bring it with me. :lol:

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

#67 Unread post by roscowgo »

Good freaking lord. It's hot. It's hotter than a cat stuck in a car wash in maryland. I thought i was gonna die. And of course it's not rained there in months...I show up on a bike and it turns into a singin in the rain shot. harrumph.

Started out tuesday at about 9 am. did a good portion of the first bit of the ride on the interstate. Ugh is all I have to say about that. This takes me till about 10:30 or 11 thereabouts. Filled up the bike and started the back roads adventure potion of the trip north. Hauled arse off of I-64 and its maniackal drivers and headed up through george washington national forest. lovely place. Except for the shadows that hid potholes. Yadda yadda yadda middle of nowhere for an hour or two. (have I mentioned this wasnt my intended route? At least i don't think it was, seeing as how i left my directions laying on the bed. So i just winged it.) Eventually stopped at a gas station and asked the clerk where in the hell i was and whether or not the natives were friendly. He kindly pointed me toward staunton va and started sharpening his fork. I scooted on out of there in a hurry.

Made it to downtown staunton somehow. Lovely little town. lots of little shops. Oh and it's summer. lots. and I mean LOTS of daisy duke shorts. Thank you jesus, I can now ignore the agonizing pain in my butt by watching females saunter along in staunton. Things are looking up. By this time i'm lost again, the suns up, and i'm beginning to sweat like the proverbial lady of the night visiting a church. The be-duked girls could no doubt smell me from 100 yards away, and were therefore reluctant to come close enough to give directions. But wait...whats that up ahead. It's a harley!

Aha! I think. this guys driving confidently. I bet he knows where he's going I'll just follow him for a spell. And so i attach myself to him. He leads me unkowingly on a whirlwind tour of...absolutely nothing. He's just cruising around town eyeballing the daisys. Not that i blame him, but he has put me in range of a sign for the next town down the road. woohoo. Off i go again. get to wayensboro (sp?) more of the same... I begin to realize that i'm getting close to charlottesville. No doubt chock full of half naked college girls from UVA. Has been everytime ive ever been there anyway. I decide to haul "O Ring" and bypass, back on I-64 Va edition i go. limit is 65. I settle in at 70. zipzipzipzipzip those are the cars whizzing by. ok...75. zipzipzipziip dodo. that was a farm truck that just passed me. we cant have this. 80? ziip ziiiipzipzip sonofa. i finally crank it up to 85 and only get passed once a minute or so.

Up and down afton mountain I go. Beafreakingutiful view. Only time i've been over that hill in the summer and the valley below wasnt shrouded in haze. and me with no camera. Ah well. I stick to the slab for about another 20 miles, then begin the remix of backroad follies part 2. scoot through gordonsville, a place called orange and some seriously wealthy looking horse farms. whitewashed fences. rolling hills... very nice. Stop somewhere in there to gas myself up and get buelah her version of a gatorade. Make it to some civil war battlefields. Fredericskburg is looming ahead. For those of you who havent been there.... imagine the 9th circle of hell. Now give it 27 stoplights in 10 miles. with 3 lanes of traffic surrounded by every trendy little shop you can imagine. Oh hellll no.

I go haring off before i get to that particular mess and make my way to spotsylvania. Lots of construction. It appears they are just rebuilding it from the war. I remember that route 17 goes to the north of fort A.P. Hill and bypasses fredericksburg. Off i go in search of it. You have to go toward the hellhole for this to happen. You see where this is going don't you. Yep. not only fredericksburg at rush hour. Downtown at rush hour. So i start and stop my way around town for a bit. A friendly guy on a vulcan pulls up next to me and starts chatting at a red light. I plead for my life and buelahs coolant levels for him to tell me where in the hell rt 17 is and how i get there. He obliges and off i go again. In surprisingly short order i am out of hell and on a country road surrounded by endless rows of corn. I've inadvertently found a dimensional rip to iowa. crap. Don't see any children with sickles about do you?

Hard part is over though. I stay on 17 through port royal, and hit 301 to the Potomac river bridge. Get into maryland, or as I like to call it "tar snakeville" Stop and call in directions to moms. I show up at about 8 pm with no more real trouble.

User avatar
Apollofrost
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 859
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:54 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Bay Area

#68 Unread post by Apollofrost »

I don't know about that specific headset that you were talking about earlier but I've got a nice pair of Motorola bluetooth ht820 headphones that double as a headset for my phone.

I like them a lot but they cut out whenever I look over my right shoulder because my body gets between the line of sight from my right speaker where the receiver is and my mp3 player which is usually in my right pocket. So it's something to think about if what you're linking to the headset doesn't have the strongest of signals.

On the other hand when it's linked to my laptop I can leave the room and be halfway down the hall before they cut out.

If you don't mind going wired Shure has some noise canceling earbuds that have a mic so that you can listen to tunes as well as your cellphone. The only problem is that they might work a little too well and pose a safety hazard.

just my .02


actually more like 1.50+ tax
I'm starting a petition to cull narrowminded dull people - be afraid Peter, be very afraid....
-Anonymous

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

And now for the reverse trip.

#69 Unread post by roscowgo »

I'll have pics as soon as i use up this disposable camera and get em developed :)

Coming back was about the same as going up...only even hotter. and rainier.

Rained on me for the first 100 miles or so. Drought my soggy "O Ring". Came within a whisker of wrecking at a place called hughesville. This used to be a simple 4 way stop. Maryland in its infinite wisdom turned it into a Double Traffic Circle Of Doom. Brand new pavement. I'm going about 20 around the 2nd circle.... AH Christ. Buelah slips sideways enough for the left floorboard to just touch the ground. I'm now in the lane next to me. The suv behind me is unnapreciative of the current SCE that just occurred and beeps at me to add insult to injury. (SCE is a Sphincter Clenching Event).

Get to the potomac and it's stopped raining. only remarkable part of this is that i navigate 17 to spotsylvania without winding up in downtown again. I just reverse my route back down to I-64 and charlottesville. Instead of that I take 250 west. Hop on the slab to by pass the actual city, then i'm back on 250 by way on the IVY exit. take 250 over afton mt instead of the slab...pretty views there too.

Yadda yadda yadda take route 252 from staunton toward lexington. Pretty ride. Rolling country hills. Corn fields. Cows..55mph. buelah and i had a blast. absolutely no traffic on that one. I eventually limp into lexington with about 10 miles left in my tank. Decide i want to get on home. Hop on 64 west and haul arse toward home. thats a whole buttload of interstate i skipped last time. by the time i got home last night i was quite sure my hips were dislocated and that my butt had developed an aching need to be amputated. Really really really need crashbars and highway pegs if im going to do any more interstate travel. a windshield and GPS would help too

Got here at about 8. left moms at 7. so 12 hours. 390 miles.

Oh one other thing, I would like to thank you carmen in staunton for pointing me toward 252. She is one of those accident causing types. You know...where the driver has his head turned 90 degrees from the road drooling and staring before he rear-ends the car ahead of him :D

Life is good and i can feel my butt again. wooohoo. where to next?

roscowgo
Legendary 750
Legendary 750
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:30 am

Ah the weird crap you see at work

#70 Unread post by roscowgo »

I have a laptop here..... thats been.....well, how to put this. Shat upon for 6 months by birds.

:shock:

Some days I get headaches and indigestion. Other days i get laptops that sparrows enjoy crapping on.

I KNEW i should have called in lazy today.

Post Reply