North Central Kansas Weekly Ride 1/30/17

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Roadpounder
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Location: Salina KS

North Central Kansas Weekly Ride 1/30/17

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It looks like MONDAY is going to be the best of all possible days for the ride, so I got us set up at Joe Snuffy's in Abilene. The weatherman is promising temps in the 60s and it looks great for the end of January.

Since this ride is the day before our weekly world peace summit I've taken the liberty to make an executive decision. (ahem) HEAR YE! HEAR YE! All subjects far and wide. It is hereby decreed that we will be leaving from the Casey's on Ohio and Iron at 12:15.

TIME....................1:00

Here it is.............. Joe Snuffy's Old Fashion Grill
209 W 1st. St.
Abilene, Kansas 67410

785-263-7802

Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Snuf ... 42?fref=ts

Web Page.............

Map site.............http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc



The weatherman has been wreaking havoc with our schedule lately. But the up side is that we've had some pretty good weather for riding, and today was no exception. Despite it being a monday when I rolled up there was what looked like a mini Sturgis at the Casey's gathering for the ride to Joe Snuffy's. It had been quite a while since we had been there and I'm sure there were mouths watering all around. By the time we hit the road there were 15 bikes. That's a mid summer sized group. Richard was even there. He had been conspicuous by his absence of late. Glad to see him back. As we cruised out country club road the bike was singing happily and I slipped into the zone. I even had to back off a little just so I could grab a handful of throttle for some ear candy. There's no sound like that of a V twin. I received a call from Terry Powell informing me that he had a prior commitment and he would be heading to Joe Snuffy's early and to add his name to the list. While cruising down Country Club road Terry and Dave Rose came by returning from Abilene. I added them to the list. When we got there we made up what amounted to the second half of the entire group. Being such a mild and sunny day most of us were still outside comparing notes on our bikes and solving some of the deepest mysteries of quantum physics. I got the sign in book out and set about to chronicle our latest great adventure when I met up with Richard. I handed him the book and informed him that I was calling him out of retirement. His face went ashen and as he stared at the book. Before the need to call paramedics arose I assuaged his fears by informing him that I was not leaving my post. I just needed him to start the book on its rounds while I continued on my photo mission. He started to breathe again and his color came back. After the indoor shots were done I found a seat at the head (or tail) of the main table. In any case I was in direct view of the specials menu. I saw chicken fried steak and that sounded good, but owing to the distance and the fact that I didn't I didn't have my binoculars. I failed to notice that it was a sandwich and not a plate. Somehow a breaded hamburger on a bun strikes me as a little redundant, so I opted for the obligatory bacon cheese burger which came with a generous side of fries. When it arrived we went into immediate hand to hand combat. The burger lost. Back outside for more quantum physics and a few more pictures I hooked up with Richard and followed him to that most evil of places Russel Stover. That is a place I should avoid like the plague. Richard went for his favorite Bloopers and after I bought far too much fudge we pressed on toward Salina where we parted when I turned down my street. All in all we had a great ride and a great day.

We had riders from Salina, Minneapolis, Junction City, Denmark, Lyons, Russel, Manhattan, Culver, Culver, McPherson, Lindsborg, and Canton. Randy from Lyons was our high miler with 101 miles.

We were riding Honda, Harley, Yamaha, Suzuki, Victory, CanAm, Ural, BMW, Kawasaki. And Moto Guzzi.

Just about the time I think I have Murphy back in his box, and then he leaps out like a jack in the box and slaps me in the head. It seems that I have this wall clock that was given to me a couple of years ago. It has been faithfully keeping time in my kitchen since I brought it home from my shop. On minor thing that I always had to deal with was that it had silver hands and a white face. This made it rather hard to read in certain light conditions. I finally decided to take action to change this condition. Never being one to shy away a mechanical took the bezel and lens off exposing the face and hands. I used some paper towels to mask the face and sprayed the hands black. This gave it the contrast to be easily read in any light. I reassembled the clock and hung it on the wall feeling quite pleased with myself. It wasn't scratching building a ¼ scale V12 engine but it went well. There was another issue that I chose not to address at the time. That was the wave in the printed face. This was annoying but I had lived with it for a while and didn't give it any more thought. As time went on the wave started weighing heavy on my mind. I got to thinking that I could design my own face for this clock and replace the original. I have a drawing program in my office suite which I had never used so there was a learning curve to deal with. After several false starts I started to get the hang of it and started pondering what design this new face should take. I figured after I had the design settled and on the computer I could print it onto some water slide decal paper I have. I decided that in lieu of numbers I would use 12 different motorcycle logos. After struggling through the learning of the software I started to draw the face up. I searched the internet to fine the 12 logos I wanted to use and placed them into the face. In between battles with the computer I disassembled the clock only to find that behind the the printed face was largely hollow. This left only about a 1” ring around the perimeter and a square area in the center about 1 ½” square. Now I need something to lay the decal on. I find an old catalog that I cut the back cover off of to make a full surface for the decal. After finishing the face design to my satisfaction I printed it up and tried to apply it to the surface I had just made to fit on the clock. Suffice it to say I was met with less than success. Back to square one. After pondering the situation for a day or two it occurred to me that I could print the face on glossy photo paper. I guess I was overlooking the obvious. Also I was trying to do this project with supplies I have on hand. Now that I have a good print out of the face, how do I secure it to the clock. I considered several kinds of adhesives and decided to use clear acrylic paint. But before I got to that point I didn't overlook the obvious and opted for double sided tape. By now it's approaching 10:00 PM but by this time I'm driven and determined to not let this stupid clock whip me. Since I used the last of my photo paper and I had no double sided tape, it's off to Walmart to procure the needed supplies. I finally get the new face printed on photo paper and start the installation process. I lay out the double sided tape and trim the face to fit. Enter Murphy. While I'm installing it I come to the realization that in handling the face I'm rubbing the ink off. Murphy just got his first lick in. I've now printed two faces, both of which were failures. One on decal paper and the other on photo paper. I'm now getting desperately low on printer ink. I print out another face on the photo paper and this time I spray it with a coat of clear paint (which I'm also desperately low on) to seal the ink. Once the paint dries I mount the face with the tape and trim it and cut the center hole with no further problem. I remount the hands and ensure they are working properly. All is well so I start to reassemble the rest of the clock I reinstall the lens in the bezel. Did I mention that the lens is glass? The clock is running well and looking good. I hang it back on the wall and back off to admire my work. Time for a King Kong chest thump. I sit down to watch TV for a while and give the clock time to do it's thing. Around 1:00AM fatigue takes over and I hit the sack. Arising in the morning I start my morning routine and checking the clock, all looks well. I'm starting to feel pretty good about it now and pretty self satisfied. After about an hour of shaking the cobwebs out I'm getting a little hungry so I get up to make breakfast. Little did I know Murphy is hiding around the corner just waiting to deal his coup de gras. I look at the clock and something looks odd. Remember that glass lens? I look closer to find a crack propagating from the 9 o'clock position to the center of the lens. As the day wore on the crack gradually made its way to the 3 o'clock position. I have no idea how that crack started as I handled this clock with the utmost care trying to avoid this very thing. I looked on line and found the exact clock but I have no idea how to procure a lens. If I ever catch up with Murphy he's going to find out what happens when he runs afoul of Marty's law.
ORIGINAL
ORIGINAL
NEW FACE
NEW FACE
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