plus 100 hours

here is a peek at your schogs having way too much fun in Kanab Utah on location...

plus 84 hours...

let me tell you what. exploring america is hard work... and here is apicture of Linda hard at work...

plus 84 hours...

let me tell you what. exploring america is hard work... and here is apicture of Linda hard at work...well. the pic will not upload . so there's that...let me update you on our trip so far.
today is sunday, the 16th and we logged about 275 today.

plus 17 hrs

wow. wow wow... how do i put into words what today was...

plus 7hrs

I am currently sitting in front of Gate 79 waiting to board flight 4448 at 10:30 am.the mountains all around this airport have a nice layer of snow at what looks to be around 7k feet. here at the airport we are 4,200 feet. Could not connect on the plane. Delta has their own wifi, but want 13 dollars per flight or 35 dollars for 30 days. i almost signed up, but you know how cheep i am..Just texted with MK and they are having breakfast in GJ already. waiting for butch to start unzipping hte bikes at 9am...ooops. theres a yorkie puppy. now we know how linda will spend the rest of her airport time...

60 minutes to go...

is it really 3 am? and am i really awake? hell yas. lets ride... Orlando Executive Limoseeeeeen will be here for us in 58 minutes to zip us to OIA. received a picture message from MK already of the snowy mountains in Denver as they landed yesterday...

80 hours to go..

Can it be? Are we under a hundred till blast off. If anticipation is part of the adventure then I've had a great trip so far and am truly starting to tingle. Two point five days till lift off... brb

108 hours...

ok. we are now picking up steam... now the trick is that in 108 hours we need time to slooowwwww wayyy down...It has picked up speed here lately so a slow down seems to in order. Things are going to start popping here zooon. I've spent today getting all avenues for communication set up, so our friends can see, talk, and listen to us on this adventure...
skype: lalindalopezzzzz

justin tv: the garage show

facebook: benjamin r lopez

twitter: junglekingz

131 hours to go...

greeetings keyboard. wow. has it been a packed month or what? We sadly started it off by having to join in with some of our schog family to say goodbye to one of their children. Tears and love flowed and the padre wrapped it up by telling of Sir Winston Churchill's funeral ceremony, wherein WC had ordered one trumpet in one corner of St. Paul's Cathedral to play taps, then another trumpet in another corner to play reveille. And so, we are now in reveille mode and are riding joyously into the future. Then of course we rode to say goodbye to Monk (see previous post). After paying lots of serious respect, it was time to get down and prepped, and our Capitan of capitans, Matt Kantz, hereafter known as MK and his better half Mel Kantz, hereafter known as MLK, graciously opened their crib for our last organizational meeting... Not a single picture was taken. Hmmmm? we were so busy poring over maps and such, that not a single pic was snapped. The finger lickin good food was everywhere and wow, there are schogs everywhere. after all it was the week preceding the "Go Pink" run by our Ribbon Riders and MLK is a very active voice with that rough crowd. Our Phil Cameron, from now on known as PC, was his normal fountain of knowledge, with tips and tricks and a ton of secret backroads to share.

ok. tryingto upload a video and the frustration is outweighing the view... It is currently 60 degreees in GJColo., hmmmm, it's only 75 here today in the jungle. Just got off phone with PC and told him i'd post some pics... hold on... there ya go, thats just a teasse... now to re-catch back up on progress... so where were we? oh yes... MK's party. What a nice home they own and of course one could go on and on about the aquariums. Both the one in the front rooom and the one on MK's right shoulder.
Next up is Leesburg.
http://leesburgbikefest.com/Bikefest/index.htm
which of course is another two wheel pilgrmage to feel the rumble in the jungle

http://leesburgbikefest.com/Bikefest/index.htm

I needed to put in the office hours, but first i putt with the schog chapter, leaving the shop at 9ish., to the belly of the beast. Lake County, Florida is some good m/c riding and the best part of the rally, but i'm on a mission to pick up the 2010 pin. I've ridin/partied every year and i ain't a gonna miss this year. I can always put in the office hours later.

Good ol Snoop Skoot always has a front row seat reserved in Leesburg. So we park and i hot foot it to the "Official" vendor, to find this years version. I run into Reverand Al and his lovely on main street and we have a good chat about "people judging people" and what a poison that can be, especially when those people are bikers. Well, the Pacquets are some gooood peoples, and the world would be a better place if more folks were like them. You've seen Al's sled "Doin Time"? When you do give him a hearty howdy.

Leesburg Sunday, PC and i putt over to Cape Canaveral National Seeshore, to buy our Annual Passes. I finally get the Scorpion in a good position to capture footage using the Mini-Apes as my rolling tripod. Our first stop is the Osteen Diner to break the fast. Thank you PC for paying. We then ride north about 3 blocks to the Osteen Foxhead to meet a schog brother to share our ride with today. Can't go to Foxhead without having one of their famous $1.50 Bloody Mary.
http://www.nps.gov/cana/index.htm




Here is the first of many pics of bikes and signs. Gotta
have the evidence. It was a perfect day for a putt.

Next event, oh keyboard, was Schog Monthly Meeting. MK gave his official Road Captian speech, but all i could do was yabber yabber on and on about this coming Saturday the 8th when we will acutally load up. Ya gotta load up, before you can saddle up... but first we gotta get this party started right and so for the last time of ridin ol Snoop Skoot we zoom down to Wolfy's
http://wolfys.com/
to watch Tiffany's new band Heroin. With the Monster Band of the Year Full Circle.
http://www.heroinemusicrocks.com/
and having been so very long since we've gone honky tonkin, that the loud, raw bar music was fun to revel in.

We listened to Full Circle for a set, then Heroin for 4 songs, then saddled up for home, with a quick stop at Fat Rats for one late night hooorah.

Then finally end friday nite by packing up ol Snoop Skoot with the new saddle bags. Sat morning and its time to finally meet Butch and some of our new riding friends. Load up and zip up and Butch has every sled tied down to his liking for the next 2 thousand mile trip to Colorado.

445 hours to go...

greeeetings keyboard. zup?
Now you know that it is 445 hours till your author pulls up at OIA in a limo and zips on, luggage free, to fly like an eagle, to GC? But it is only 307 hours till my sled and all the sleds will slide into their travelling home for the next week. Are your bags packed? Linda wants to practive packing...Its right now SUnday afternoon, 88 degrees outside, breezy and overcast, and i'm worn out. What a last week. Started out with the sad sad news of funeral ceremonies for one good man, Monk, of Dixie Biker fame. About 6 of us Schogs met at the shop at 9am Friday, and road peacefully and quietly up north on 415 to Taylor Rd. then north on Clyde Morris to Bell View, just behind the Speedway and airport to Lohmans. About 35 or so bikes in the parking lot already. Parked and walked over to the hearse.

There sat one lonely motorcycle. It was as if it knew that its main man Monk would never ride it again.










This was, sorry to say, my first funeral where the Patriot Guard attended to say goodbye to one of their own. I've know one of them, Marine Dave, proudly for a while now, but i let him do his duty and didn't bother him today.

Shadow and his Outcasts come to pay their respect.

Good bye ol Monk, you will never be forgotten and always missed.

612 hours to go...

Greeeetings all. Do you like the way time is speeding up.  I know you feel it. Have had great new insights about the Grand Circle here, found a new side trip, Co. Rd. 133, etc, etc...and now this... a Utah State DOT web cam of Hiway 12...can you freakin believe it??? Follow the link and you will be on Hiway 12. Looks to have lots of dirty snow on the side right now. Good name for a new book, yes? Dirty Snow.  I'd start it off with this great story that Mr. Allen shared with us Friday nite..., but that tale will be for another campfire...
heres the link...
i'll be bright  back...
http://www.commuterlink.utah.gov/

720 hours to go...

Greeeetings all. Time to start pre packing, yet??? Time to pray loud for our own Mr. Allen to get his knee right in 719 hours...Time to get those "must see sights" highlighted in the gps
"Far Away, Across the Field. Toilling on the Iron Bell. Calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell."
A good old friend who was an elk hunting guide in the mountains all around Aspen has turned me on to a nifty by way to check out, just 20 miles south of Moab. The road is called officially, County Road 133, or Needles Overlook Road. A "must see". I'm looking at heading up to Hanksville via 95 and Fry Canyon.
Also, my friend has told me of a "must see" bookstore (I'm an old bookstore junkie from way back, all the way back to Mo's Books in Berzerkley California in the 60's, but that a story for another camp fire), named Back of the Beyond Bookstore, on Main Street. After a few cold ones at the Moab Brewery, i'm off to drool there fer sure.
http://www.backofbeyondbooks.com/

and if you all see any of these type of local history book stores on the way, be sure to give me the location. thanks...

888 hours to go...

Can that be? Eight hundred hours to the future? Man time is warping along.
Had a nice weekend. Worked a bit then met Phil/Karen at the Foxhead in Osteen, for one of their world famous bloody marys and to listen to a very good 4 piece rock and roll band. Older men, who just dig playing their shit. My youngest son pictures himself as being a rock and roll star, and i tell him of how many good pickers are washing dishes right now. its a cruel world, but there it is. We bottoms up'ed, saddled up and roared out of there heading to Ron and Venus's for her deck warming. We zoomed south on 415, then east on 46, over puzzle lake and into geneva for some cold ones, (hey, we are schogs), then stopped in at P/K's to see his shrine to the Golden Circle. Wowwie Zowwie and he's excited about going back? This must be one out of this world adventure on the horizon.
So, i got the call from World of Wheels. "Your bike is ready." Nice, that was fast. What's the damage?" "Well, you had two new tires, front brakes replaced, rear brakes replaced, 50k tune up, with synthittic, blah, blah, so thats ***dollars and ** cents." "Yahooo. Yikes. Well, ok. thank you. I will pick up SnoopSkoot tomorrow" "That'll be fine. Wer'e open till 6" Thats about *** more than i budgeted, but i'll be totin precious cargo, the wifey, and so it is worth it. Now...... for the important news... Phil turned us on to "the Grand Circle" and here is their website   http://www.grandcircle.org/Home/tabid/1168/Default.aspx
wow is all i can say...while surfing today i struck gold and found this book, "Desert Solitaire" by Edward Abbey. My words seem sorely insignifficant compared to  EA's skill's, but then whose doesn't... This book is about his time as a National Park Ranger in Arches. I'll quote his first line and you'll understand. "This is the most beautiful place on earth."yahoooo lets ride.... Our next and most likely last pre ride meeting is Friday, the 16th of April, 7 pm at our illustrious lead road captn's crib up north. Last chance to ask questions...

1,176 hours until the future

Greeeetings bikers. My boss tells me the Pharoh wants to surf, so i gotta row harder. Not much room for this keyboard here in the belly of the boat, jammed packed with my two seat mates pushiing and pulling this blasted oar, along side our 54 rowing hoodlum shipmates.... I need a break from list building, and so, thought i'd pop in just to say hey...and to say a big Thank You to Daytona Gear.   http://daytonagear.com/    The chief over there, Dan Shay, (actually Nancy), sent us two of his brand new tank bags, for our upcoming adventure, so we can give them a test run and show them off too. glad too amigo, you know i think your bags are fantastico...

stay tuned...

1296 hours to go...

Grreeeeetings all,
I just guaranteed that it will not rain on us while we are exploring America. Because, yes, i finally broke down and bought some rain gear today. Da shop was having 20% off. Anyhoo, i've been swamped busy with work and projects and now it's time to get serious because these 1296 hours are zooming by... I'm going to start an exhaustive list of possible points of interest with web sites, in order to help organize our expedition...Much thanks to Phi for his lend of his copy of "Grand Circle Travel Planner".  Be sure to visit
www.nationalparks.org/pass.html
and order your pass.
It's raining big time today, so this is a good time as any to start... Ride./Write Ya Zooooooooon...
brl

1536 hours to go...

Greeeeetings friends. What a great time had for Bike Week... Now on to the future... Linda and I like to watch the show "DogTown"...
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/dogtown/all/Overview on the Nat Geo channel... Well, it turns out Dogtown is in Kanab Utah, one of our stops during our Canyon Run this year. I would like to propose that we make a stop at their "town", and maybe kick them in a couple of bucks to support their cause. The Schogs are known for helping out these places, like we did for Judys Pet Rescue...
http://www.petrescuebyjudy.com/ . Well, kick it around and see if you guys want to. Linda and I will surely be going there....
ridetolovelovetoride

Schogs Do the Belly of the Beast...

1632 Hrs till the future...
but till then, we just had to try out this different version on Bike Week 2010...

2136 hours to go...

Man o man, the hours are zooming by. Once they are less than 2k they will really slip by. I've finally mapped out our adventure and made a copy that you can open and manuvure... Last week we finally booked our airplane ride into Grand Junction. Found and price of 316, but over the weekend it popped up to 360 then 380. The trick is to wait till Tuesday at noon. That is the time when fares, are most fair. I locked us in thru Cheap O Air. Ya gotta love their name. So, i locked us in tuesday at noon for the 316 price, round trip per person.
Now, we wait for Daytona Beach Bike Week, http://www.officialbikeweek.com/  so i can shop for a rainsuit and saddlebags. Big Jim S. said, "Go cheap. Large garbage bag, and small ones for your boots", at least i think he said "boots". There are so many vendors for Bike Week, findinig the bags should be easy. I don't do bags. I like the way the bike looks without them, but Lovey says, well, you kknow...I also have to stop in at Destination, to find the Iron Braid guys http://www.ironbraid.com/  and get a tune up on my braids. i dont see much competition for these guys, they are that good.
well anyhoo, check out the map, see if it works. give me a heads up, if it don't...
ridetolovelovetoride

View Larger Map

2448 hours to go...

hey now motorcycle fans. i just got in the mail tolday my free travel guide i ordered from http://www.utah.travel/ last week. wowwie zowwie are going to have some choices to make. i want to experience it all. i'm a "gotta get my monies worth" kind of guy.
first of course We plan to fly into Grand Junction, Colorado on Friday the 14th around noonish. The rest of this gang are flying into Denver Thursday and enjoying a drive across the Contenental Divide and will be in GC by the time we get there. First score Snoop Skoot out of that confined truck and let her see the wild wild west and breathe in that fresh air, with an initial exploratory snoop around Colorado National Monument where they filmed "the American Flyer" in 1985, with the best bicycle racing scenes on film. I want to screw it on with ss on those same race roads.  here is the link  http://www.nps.gov/colm/index.htm

but here is something else i've found to experience and i haven't even gotten out of Moab yet.

http://www.canyonlandsbynight.com/  Its a little pricey 65 bucks and "no cameras allowed". hmmmm. But they do have air adventures too. Well, you guys snoop around and see what cha tink.  Here is another river cruiser possibility http://www.moabadventurecenter.com/ . Wow. i'm going to need a week off to rest up after this vacation.

We kinda sorta plan to spend saturday cruising in from Grand Junction with a stop at The Arches National Monument http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm and per Phil/Karen's guidance we have to go to Dead Horse Point  http://www.utah.com/stateparks/dead_horse.htm .
so am not positive about the arrival time yet. . . oyyvaaa, its late... i'll be back.

2520 Hours to Go

Greeetings fans. I've just added a new link on the left side. Our very own Clara Allen has some wild wild stuff and this link will let you peek into her world.

http://www.itsalotalike.com/index2.html

2640 Hours to Go...

and by "we have a quandry", i mean "I have a quandry". You see this summer i turn the magic 60 years young. So, having to do something memorable, i  started planning to finally attend the oldest bike rally in America.  LaConia, New Hampshire.  http://www.laconiamcweek.com/index.htm
Flights were checked, Auto Train connections were set, scheduling time to visit family along the way was set, hotels were scoped out in NH, and the daily ride schedule was set, till that fateful day when when someone mentioned "the Canyon Run", and the wifey went, "ooohhhh Now that sounds like fun". i was gobsmacked. "What did you just say". i asked in order to be sure i was understanding the words coming out of her mouth. "It's just that i've never been to that part of the country before and it looks awesome". "ok" i say, "but you know that we will be riding about 200 miles a day?" Then i quickly pushed on with the sales pitch, now that i knew i had her 90 percent. "But you know, you've done ove 200 miles in a day before, and thats just around here on poker runs. Out West we will be on the road, going from point a to point b and we'll have all day to do it. Winner, winner, chicken dinner." she chuckled and replied "Ya, i can do it". She wants to celebrate my celebration of life with me and that makes me the luckiest man in the world.
Well, the die is now cast and we are excited to be a part of this adventure. All the planets have alligned perfectly and this cast of 10 bikers are going to rule the world this May.

Now, be sure to stay tuned and make all the comments you want. I will be adding links on the left side to sites of interest, under "Places to Visit". Mel has already sent a great link to an adventure that will be going on in Moab, while we are there, and i've posted it on the left side.
http://www.rallyontherocks.com/Welcome.html

You didn't see me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBNyuf533Go


Be aware. Be very aware...

2760 hours to go

Greetings. What a grand meeting was hosted tonight by the most gracioius hosts, friends and riding mates, the Allens' in Orlando. We gathered in the nippy evening around 6pmish and jibber jabbered about what to expect and what could we wallow in a way out West. Phill and his lovey, Karen, have been on this run before and even brought a dvd of their last time out, and to see a room full of grown men going ooooh and ahhhh over scenery and roads, like little school girls at a puppy farm,  was quite insightfull. Looks like we are all of the same mind, to see, experience and revel in our American West.

This whole trip started for us about 2 months ago, just after getting back from our first Hogs on the High Seas cruise onboard the lucious Freedom of the Seas. I've posted a peak video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymYutBZe240



oooops. well that went on for a bit... sorry. i could'nt get the "link" link to work. Oh well this is a work in progress, yes?
We go on our first club run in a while to the Sloppy Taco Bar. Now you know with a name like the sloppy taco bar, it's going to be good. And every one was goin "you goin on that canyon run?"... "Canyon Run?? What da hell are you talkin about? I don't know nuttin bout no damn canyon run." Well, it turns out that Phil had brought a flier to the December SCHOG Club meeting and the word was out about big Jim Singletary and
http://www.shipnride.com/

and the absolute fun they were going to have exploring the wild west of John Wayne and John Ford. Hmmmmm? Now we have a quandry? What would you do?

2784 hours till liftoff...

2832 hours till the flying/riding portion begins, and only 2 days till our very first pre ride meeting...

Greeeetings and saultations to the first entry of this blog. We are a family of riders from deep in the jungles of Florida who are going to explore America with our fearless leader, Jim "Butch" Singltary. The main players here will be:

Phil Carmon
Karen Carmon

Ted Allen
Clara Allen

John Costello
Susan Costello

Matt Kantz
Mel Kantz

Benjamin R. Lopez
Linda A. Lopez
2006 Deluxe

Will you be next?




And this site will act as a main base camp for information, stories and more stories about this adventure...