What's next - Vicksburg?

[sas]

Don't leave the rest of us out

Didn't mean to leave ANYONE out, you rascal. But if we're gonna ride, let's RIDE, weather be buggered! Two wheels means taking a chance EVERY time we throw a leg across the saddle. 'Come what may' is what makes the ride one to remember. If we wait until the best possible conditions in the forecast we might as well stay at the house and catch up on our knitting or learning a new crochet pattern.

[oldbikers]

I am getting very good at crochet. But I left the key on the other day and the battery was dead so I tried to charge it and it acted like it was reverse polarity ordered a new battery waiting for it to get here.

[Cajunrider]

I don't know how good they are but I ordered a battery for my son's Kaw 900 from Apex batteries. $57.95 with free shipping. Same specs as the OEM battery. They have a bike finder database where you can match the battery up to your particular bike. I couldn't find the Nomad but they do list the 1600 Classic and Mean Streak. I'm guessing that the Classic and Nomad batteries are probably one and the same.

[sas]

Good price, Mitch. My battery went out while I was visiiting the Honda shop in Brookhaven and it was my own fault. The thing was closing in on seven years old. It requireda special size according to the Kaw chart, something about the 'B' suffix and nobody, even the local Kaw shop had one in stock. Anyhow, I had to have one to get home so the Yusa YTX 16-B5 I bought at the Honda shop cost a whopping $105.53! Not too bad, I guess, considering they loaned me a car to get the 25 miles home and 25 miles back the next day and they did all the installation work when the battery arrived that morning.

[Cajunrider]

Sounds like a fine dealership to work with.

[oldbikers]

My bike had a ytx20 b5 in it and that is what the battery place called for I don't know what the difference is between the 16 and the 20 but I have a 20 on order $92.00 delivered but it is coming from Oregon so I don't know how long it will take to get here.

[sas]

Looks to be the same battery except yours has more amps 1.8 vs 1.4 for more cranking power (CCA) at 270 vs 230. Good on ya!


Voltage: 12
Capacity: 18
Dimensions: 6" x 3.4375" x 6.375"
Weight: 11.0 lbs.
Metric Dimensions: 150mm x 87mm x 161mm
Metric Weight: 5.0 kg
Polarity:
Acid Volume: 0.82
Amps: 1.8
C.C.A.: 270



Battery Family: Maintenance Free
Battery Type: YTX16-BS
CCA test results not available at time of posting - value is theoretical

Voltage: 12
Capacity: 14
Dimensions: 6" x 3.4375" x 6.375"
Weight: 10.3 lbs.
Metric Dimensions: 150mm x 87mm x 161mm
Metric Weight: 4.7 kg
Polarity:
Acid Volume: 0.78
Amps: 1.4
C.C.A.: 230

[sas]

They sure are, Mitch. Top notch mechanical department with trained techs and the ability to work on most brands. And the owners are great folks. I stop in every chance I get to shoot the breeze with the mechanics and the staff and have a cuppa coffee or three, too.

[oldbikers]

Greg I sure wish you could make the Talimena rally you would love it.

[sas]

I'd really like to make that one, Jim, but our own Rally is October 14,15, 16 in Tupelo. Since I'm in charge of the whole thing, Pat and I have to be there early. There's so much to prepare and, as always, so little time. To see what I mean, take a peek at our website.

http://www.miss.gwrra-regiona.org/

[oldbikers]

I understand but we will be back home the 5th of OCT.

[sas]

Again, I appreciate the invite, Jim. But from years of experience of putting on and hosting a Rally this size, I just have to stay close to the house. Prior to Katrina, we had 4000 people attend the Mississippi Rally on the coast. The crowds have diminished since then due to a number of factors affecting everyone's wallets, but even at that, we're looking for 1100 to 1500 folks again this year in Tupelo. Someone is always wanting info or needing vendor space or a number of other things pertaining to our event and that's what I'm here for.

I hate to miss it, Jim, but the Talimena time frame in October just won't work for me this year.

[sas]

Well, since nobody replied to my earlier post about going to V'Burg anytime soon, I rode over by myself Saturday. I've been to the Military Park enough to not to want to go again unless we're with someone who has never been. I camped there as a Boy Scout on a three day Jamboree in 1957 waaay before it was as nice as it is now.

I always like to visit the floodwall on Levee Street in V'Burg at the entrance to the downtown waterfront to see the murals painted on the wall. Now that's a real treat, and even if you don't appreciate art per se, you'll be amazed at the work of the artist, Robert Dafford. There are 30 some-odd huge murals that depict a bit of the history of Vicksburg. Then I puttered around the hills outside of town and the downtown streets just enjoying the scenery. I had a Japanese group ask for pictures of me and the Nomad while I was stopped at a light. Why not, I said, so I pulled over to the curb in the next block. They enjoyed talking about the bike and oohed and ahhed as if 'Lili' was brand new and not seven years old! They left happy and so did I. I think I felt 'Lili' preening at the compliments!

I left V'burg and rode back down US 61 to Port Gibson and took off from downtown PG on the really great bike road that leads past the Ruins of Windsor. Another spot with a lot of history and the perfect place for a photo in front of those hauntingly beautiful columns that are the only things still standing of Windsor Mansion. Not surprisingly that ride was pleasantly cool from one end to the other due to all the overhanging tree branches. It was almost like a tunnel in many places.

Since Natchez was on the way home, if I chose to go that way, I stopped in at Fat Mama's across from Ft. Rosalie for a dozen tamales and a cold glass of tea. A group of riders from Pineville, LA, who were visiting the casino just below the hill, came in a saw my riding gear and sat down at the next table. We jawed a bit, insulted each others rides, swapped lies for a while and shared the comradierie of motorcyclists. Then I bid them good luck at the slots. I headed home via the Old Liberty Road to MS 33 and then through a whole bunch of un-named backroads. All in all a very enjoyable ride with the sun dancing in and out of the cloud cover all day. That made the temperatures bearable even though I don't think it got more than the low 90's. No rain at all, but I saw evidence of a couple showers when I got on MS 570 and back to the house. Ahhhh! The smell of rain on hot asphalt. Nothing quite like it.

I'm trying to get in as many rides as possible within a 150 mile radius before our Rally in October. Once our that event is over, I'll be going in for replacement knee surgery early in November. One thing for sure.... "Ill Be Home For Christmas...". Hey, I gotta get well for the New Year's Day ride that we've been going on for the last 22 years! Should be cooler by then. LOL!

[oldbikers]

Sorry I didn't get to go Greg but I rode down to Sturgis MS Saturday by my self and it is no fun going to the rally by myself plus by 9:00 am it was hot as hell so I left rode up to Starkville to see MY son and his wife and had lunch then came home when I walked in the door I check the temperature it was 101 to hot to ride.

[sas]

We can't make 'em all, Jim, and that's why I decided to go it alone to V'Burg. Hey, whenever someone want's to put on a ride back over there, I'll be happy to join in. However, 'Lil Sturgis is another one of those events I've done enough times to not want to do again. "Misery Under the Sun" would be a better name for that event, imho.