Time to part with the Nomad

[Navigator]

Well I'll be danged.

I don't want to go into my health crisis that started on Mar 3 but about two weeks ago I discontinued the really vile blood anticoagulant that the docs put me on and got back on my arthritis med that I had to stop back in March.

The blood thinner crap was horrible, causing fatigue, weakness as well as inflaming my knees and joints, such that it was painful even to bring my Nomad up off the side stand. Poison. I thought it was permanent damage but such was not the case.

I can't believe how much better I feel and last week rode the Nomad to Aberdeen near the coast with my brother-in-law with no problems, that is, with the exception of going off the road when I swerved to avoid a big piece of wood that fell off a logging truck in front of me.

I was doing about 55mph on Hwy 108 out of the small tow of McClarey when I swerved and went off the pavement, heading for the ditch with a culvert pipe at the end of it. I thought I was toast but resolved not to be. I cracked the throttle, counter steered and as the Nomad beast burned dirt I pulled back and up over the four inch pavement rise onto the road bed. I had a bit of front end wobble when I hit the edge of the pavement but she rode strait and true. What a machine.

On Saturday I did a charity ride with my club, the VFW Riders Group and did great.

I'm doing another charity ride on Saturday with the local chapter of the Combat Vets MC and then heading to Oregon on Sunday morning.

And I discovered something I didn't realize I was doing. Because of the pain in my knees I became fearful of dropping the Nomad in tight parking lot turns or when starting out in a turn on to a road. Somehow I reverted to the novice practice of looking at my front wheel, or a few feet in front, instead of looking at the the far end of the turn.

With the Aberdeen ride I started looking 100-200 feet up the road as I pull out and now my turns are smooth and effortless. I give it the gun, look up the road and lay her over. It feels great.

The old retired Navy fudd is back!

[Bud2rat]

Glad to hear that you are doing better Mike.

[canuckrider]

I have just stumbled upon this thread, even though it is a few months old already.

First off, Mike, I am glad to hear that your health has improved and you are back riding the Nomad.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one to find that the Nomad is a bit "top heavy". I'm not a big guy and I do find it a challenge at times to wrestle that big girl around, especially in slow speed parking lot maneuvers. From time to time I wonder about another smaller and lighter bike but then I take her on a good long ride and just love the way she feels on the open road and think to myself that I'll never get rid of her!

Originally Posted by Navigator

One of my most memorable rides was to Salmon Arm, BC to meet the wild and crazy Canucks back in 2015. What a great group of guys and with some stunning Nomads.

Thanks for that! I think we all had a great time on that ride. At Chewelah we talked about possible rides for 2018 and Voyager and I will be looking into some options in BC again for next year. Stay tuned to the Western Canada section and once we have a plan we'll let everyone know.

[Navigator]

Originally Posted by canuckrider

I have just stumbled upon this thread, even though it is a few months old already.

First off, Mike, I am glad to hear that your health has improved and you are back riding the Nomad.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one to find that the Nomad is a bit "top heavy". I'm not a big guy and I do find it a challenge at times to wrestle that big girl around, especially in slow speed parking lot maneuvers. From time to time I wonder about another smaller and lighter bike but then I take her on a good long ride and just love the way she feels on the open road and think to myself that I'll never get rid of her!



Thanks for that! I think we all had a great time on that ride. At Chewelah we talked about possible rides for 2018 and Voyager and I will be looking into some options in BC again for next year. Stay tuned to the Western Canada section and once we have a plan we'll let everyone know.

And I still owe you a beer. I sat right across the table from you that evening at dinner and failed recall my "debt". Would love to do a BC ride in 2018. On the way I want to stop by the the town of Hedley on the Crowsnest highway. I think that's name of road.

[duffy]

It's nice to hear that you're feeling better...........I was on blood thinners for over ten years and never had much of a reaction except for excess bleeding when I scraped some skin off. It is a poison though (warfarin is a derivative of stricnine (sp) and used in rat poison) and effects different folks differently. Some of the other ones are even worse.

[hammer]

Glad to see you are doing better now Mike. Like you I had considered moving to a lighter ride but, as Al said, I still love the way the big girl rides on the open road.

[Navigator]

I can't see either of you guys on a lighter side tourer Hammer. Looking forward to 2018.

Duffy, I was one of those rare guys that couldn't take the anticoagulants. It truly was poison for me and the doc acknowledged that with some folks it is just that way. I was always cutting myself or busting a knuckle in my shop and the blood flowed like red water. I was reaching around my outboard motor today and got a gash in the inside of my forearm. It bled for a few minutes and stopped when I put a bandage on it. Four weeks ago I had a cut bleed for several hours. I'M FREE!

[duffy]

I quit the Coumadin when I retired and started to travel......I didn't want to have to find a lab every 4-6 weeks. I've been on just a regular aspirin a day for over two years and now I bleed normally (a band-aid works to stop the flow).

[redjay]

I have been on Coumadin since 1997. I have come off it twice on the advice of doctors and both times within 2 weeks (2004 and 2007) I got blood clots in my legs.
I went on it in 1997 because of a blood clot in my leg.

[Navigator]

Originally Posted by duffy

I quit the Coumadin when I retired and started to travel......I didn't want to have to find a lab every 4-6 weeks. I've been on just a regular aspirin a day for over two years and now I bleed normally (a band-aid works to stop the flow).

Some of the younger riders are probably wondering how some of these old duffers cut themselves and bleed so much. The sad answer is that our skin gets a bit thin as the hair turns grey.

I'm going to ride to the coast to visit my cousin in Astoria Oregon this weekend. Perhaps I already post that. I also want to get in a trip to Castlegar BC before my Canuck friend heads south for the winter. I think I'll trailer the bike up this time; just in case, and ride Kootenays a bit with him before heading home. I thought about riding to Hedley BC while there but it's about 300 miles from Castlegar. Perhaps I'll just drive back via 3 and Canada 1 and cross into Sumas.

Does anyone know if the fires have reached Hwy 3 and the EC Manning Provincial Park?

[hammer]

Let me know when you are close to Sumas. I live 15 minutes from there.
Duffy knows. Tim Hortons is an easy place to meet?

[Navigator]

Originally Posted by hammer

Let me know when you are close to Sumas. I live 15 minutes from there.
Duffy knows. Tim Hortons is an easy place to meet?

Will do. My BC trip will be after we return from our drive to Colorado, probably within the last two weeks of September.

[canuckrider]

Originally Posted by Navigator

Does anyone know if the fires have reached Hwy 3 and the EC Manning Provincial Park?

Mike,
Here`s a site where you can find pretty current information on the status of any wildfires in BC

http://bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca/hprS...ws/OneFire.asp

[Navigator]

Thanks Al. It's just too horrible. I've stayed in both Cache Creek and a nice little biker friendly motel in Clinton. Poor Cache Creek, flooding out a few years ago and now almost burned out. Last I read about both of the towns was that fire was right outside of town with the towns being evacuated.

The reason I want to go to Hedley is that I was watching an old Burt Reynolds movie, thinking it was filmed in Idaho or Montana because of the beautiful area. I looked it up and it was filmed in Hedley. Seeing beautiful areas in movies and then visiting them is something I've been doing since retiring from the Navy in 2003. It's how I discovered Lone Pine, California on south 395. A lot of the old western movies going back to the 30s were filmed in the Inyo National Forrest in the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Lone Pine is the county seat and is a neat little town with the the old court house being in several movies. My son and I got pics of us in front of it when we rode to Death Valley a few years ago.

I've always wanted to ride to Jackson Hole WY so perhaps next year. Summer is on the way out and it's a fer piece from here.

[duffy]

Originally Posted by Navigator

Thanks Al. It's just too horrible. I've stayed in both Cache Creek and a nice little biker friendly motel in Clinton. Poor Cache Creek, flooding out a few years ago and now almost burned out. Last I read about both of the towns was that fire was right outside of town with the towns being evacuated.

The reason I want to go to Hedley is that I was watching an old Burt Reynolds movie, thinking it was filmed in Idaho or Montana because of the beautiful area. I looked it up and it was filmed in Hedley. Seeing beautiful areas in movies and then visiting them is something I've been doing since retiring from the Navy in 2003. It's how I discovered Lone Pine, California on south 395. A lot of the old western movies going back to the 30s were filmed in the Inyo National Forrest in the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Lone Pine is the county seat and is a neat little town with the the old court house being in several movies. My son and I got pics of us in front of it when we rode to Death Valley a few years ago.

I've always wanted to ride to Jackson Hole WY so perhaps next year. Summer is on the way out and it's a fer piece from here.

Jackson Hole is on my "to do" list also. Maybe next year...........