Warhawk's Blog, bikes, guns or whatever

Stoeger Customer Service

2011-12-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

I recently picked up a Stoeger Coach Gun that had been abused and led a hard life. The stock had been cut off to make a pistol grip out of it, and the gun had ridden around behind the seat of a ranch truck down here in Texas. No telling how many snakes were killed with it.

It's the satin nickel version with walnut stocks. Looked like this one when it was new.

When I got it, it was in pretty sad shape. Very little finish left on the wood, the forearm rattled around on the barrels, and there were a few significant marks in the finish. The action was extremely stiff and very hard to open.

My plan was to find a stock on EBAY and get to work restoring this thing. I watched for a few weeks and nothing showed up on EBAY, so I called Stoeger. They wouldn't sell me a stock, said it had to be fitted to the gun. I decided to go ahead and send it in, surely it wouldn't cost all that much for a new stock.

I got it back today, with a brand new walnut buttstock and forearm. The metal wasn't refinished, it still has some character marks, but they polished it up and it looks pretty decent. They also worked on the action and it pops open just like my Browning side by side now.

You can see the two marks on the barrels, one about the end of the forearm, the other about halfway from the chamber to the other mark.

The charge for all this ... nada. Stoeger is part of Benelli, which I believe is part of Beretta. And a company with excellent customer service.

Colorado Fall 2011

2011-09-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Colorado in the fall on Two Wheels

I had been waiting for this Colorado trip like a kid waiting for Santa Claus! The day finally came to head out and I was more than ready. I rode from my home near Fort Worth up to Wichita, I was able to see my brother and his family before heading for Colorado Sunday morning.

Sunday - I woke up early to the sound of a thunderstorm, with some small hail! Not a good sign. But it passed quickly and we were able to leave at about 7:30. We got about 30 miles up the road and Alice discovered that she had left her cell phone at home. She made a mad dash back to Wichita to get it, while I had breakfast in McPherson, KS. We got back on the road and about the only thing notable about Sunday's ride was that we rode on wet roads for over 200 miles without ever getting rained on.

We got to Colorado Springs about 5:30 and our other friend, Gary, rolled in about 6:00. We ate supper at the Back East Bar & Grill, highly recommended.

Monday - It was chilly early, so we waited until 8:30 to head out. Had a fantastic breakfast at the Hungry Bear Woodland Park.

Gary and Alice are ready to head farther up into the mountains

We rode west on Hwy 24, then north on Hwy 9 to Fairplay. North of Fairplay we crossed our first high elevation pass, Hoosier Pass. There would be many more.

Hoosier Pass

Gary and his Ultra Limited, Alice and her Ultra, and my Electra Glide in the back

Yours truly

After Hoosier Pass we rode through Breckenridge, Frisco and took a quick hop on I-70 over to Hwy 91. It was a bad day to hit Hwy 91, three separate waits for flagmen and one lane roads due to road construction. They say there are two seasons in the mountains, Winter and Construction.

We finally got to Leadville and had lunch at the Silver Dollar Saloon. Did I mention that the weather was gorgeous? Absolutely perfect our whole time in Colorado.

A look down Leadville's historic main street

After lunch we rode south and took Hwy 82 towards Aspen.

Made a quick stop for pics at Twin Lakes. What a gorgeous place!

Soon we were headed up Independence Pass.

Breathtaking scenery. Gary said this was what flying a helicopter looks like.

Three good looking Harleys at 12,000 feet

We came down off the pass into Aspen, where we were glad to find a gas station, even if they did rob us with gas that was almost a dollar higher than anywhere else on the trip.

When we got to Carbondale we turned south on Hwy 133 along the Crystal River.

Our destination was the Hotchkiss Inn, where else, in Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Gary likes Colorado, this was his first time in the Colorado mountains.

The Hotchkiss Inn was very nice, with a fire pit and a horseshoe pit. There is a great little family restaurant across the street, plus a grocery store and a liquor store. What else could you possibly need?

All in all, a perfect day of riding.

Tuesday - After another excellent breakfast at the Home Town Cafe across the road from the Hotchkiss Inn, we headed out on Hwy 92 to ride along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Another spectacular place in Colorado, this one is actually a National Park.

One of those places that makes you feel like a bug crawling across the world.

Gary and Alice like the Black Canyon.

More breath taking scenery

A long way down to the water

After some great riding on Hwy 92, we came to US 50 and rode it along Blue Mesa resevoir until we turned south toward Lake City on Hwy 149.

I had to swipe a pic off the web, but it's impossible to do justice to the beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir

We had lunch at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill in Lake City. Lots of great little places in cool little towns in Colorado.

Next stop, the Headwaters of the Rio Grande. I told Gary he could throw in an inner tube and ride it all the way home to El Paso. Might get there by Christmas, maybe.

We continued on Hwy 149, the Silver Thread Highway, thru Creede and into South Fork on Hwy 50. Took a right on Hwy 50 and started over Wolf Creek Pass. Does anyone remember this old song about Wolf Creek Pass?

Made a quick stop at Treasure Falls between Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs.

There are those three Harleys again

Durango was tonight's destination and we stayed at the Caboose Motel, another nice little "mom and pop" place, my kinda place.

Gary, cleaning off the days bugs at the Caboose Motel

We rode the trolley downtown and had supper at the Irish Embassy Pub, if you go, the fish and chips are great.

Wednesday - Today we ride the Million Dollar Highway, aka Hwy 550.

More of that beautiful Colorado scenery.

Another 10,000+ foot pass ... one of many

The view atop Molas Pass

The San Juan Mountains

Next stop, Ouray

America The Beautiful

Ouray, Colorado

We stopped for a bowl of chili at the True Grit Cafe in Ridgeway, where we decided to deviate from the plan a bit and head over into Utah, since Gary had never been there.

So we hit the road toward Moab, Utah

We saw this monster bull elk that a Utah hunter had taken near Moab

Moab motels are full this time of year, even on a Wednesday night, who knew? But we had a friendly motel owner make a few calls and find us a couple of rooms at the Silver Sage Inn. The place looks like a morton building, but was nice and clean.

We rode a little ways out of town on Hwy 279 and saw the Indian Petroglyphs. There is more info here if you're interested.

While we were there I took some of the best pics I've ever taken of the Moab scenery along the Colorado river. Believe it or not, I took all of these from the same place, in about 10 seconds.

My GPS had quit on me, and my memory isn't what it used to be, so I led us off down the wrong road looking for Dead Horse Point. When we came to the end of the blacktop on Hwy 279 Gary punched up Dead Horse Point on his GPS and we took off, with barely enough time to get there before sunset. But we got there ... I have no doubt that if this place was in any other state than Utah, it would be a National Park.

Alice and Gary at Dead Horse Point

I made this short video of Dead Horse Point

Rode back to Moab in the dark, had dinner at the Moab Brewery. They have an 18oz margarita made with "silver whiskey" that is goooooood!

Thursday - Back to Colorado, it was a bit warm in Utah and we decided to head straight back to Colorado this morning. Rode Hwy 191 down to Monticello, then Hwy 491 over to Dolores, CO where we picked up Hwy 145. And my GPS decided to start working again, and worked fine the rest of the trip.

We passed this place, but didn't stop, maybe we should have.

Hwy 145 was another great ride, the weather and scenery were perfect along the Dolores river. We stopped in Rico and picked up sandwiches for a picnic lunch a little farther up the road.

We stopped for lunch at the summit of Lizard Head pass

Next stop, Trout Lake

Those three Harleys again

I almost reached scenery overload up there, but that quickly faded as we rode into Montrose. When did Montrose get so big and so crowded?

We headed east on Hwy 50 and turned south on Hwy 114 toward Saguache. I had never ridden this road before and it has some nice sections, mainly the part near Hwy 50.

A very nice campsite along another beautiful Colorado river, on Hwy 114.

Another 10,000 foot pass

We considered staying in Saguache, but there was only one motel and ....

Gary says we aren't staying here.

Alice isn't staying here either

So we rode north to Salida, where we found our new favorite hotel n Colorado, the Silver Ridge Lodge. Another very nice mom & pop motel, the owner rides a Harley and it's walking distance to the Country Bounty Restaurant where we had a great breakfast the next morning.

I didn't get any pics, but we had another great meal (steak tips for me) at the Wallbangers Sports Bar in Salida.

Friday - Alice decided that she needed to head home, so we split up in Salida and she headed back to Kansas. Gary and I rode south toward La Manga pass and Chama, New Mexico. Only one of my pics in Chama turned out.

A steam engine of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad

Gary and I had lunch at the Foster's Saloon in Chama, then Gary headed south toward El Paso while I headed southeast toward Fort Worth. I stopped in Amarillo for the night then rode on home today.

This was one of my best motorcycle trips ever, perfect weather, beautiful scenery, fantastic riding, and great friends. 3265 miles in eight days. What more can you ask for?

DFW to Atlanta to trade bikes

2010-10-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

	227.1

	I've been lusting after the 2004 Screamin Eagle Electra Glide since they first came out, couldn't afford one then but recently a friend ran across one at his dealership. Trouble was, I'm in the Fort Worth area and he is in the Atlanta area. No big deal, long distance riding is what I do. Most folks would think I'm crazy, but I traded a 2007 Electra Glide Classic with 40K on the clock for this 2004 SEEG with 21K. Made the deal over the phone and rode over there last Sunday. 2007 Electra Glide Classic that was traded in .. I spent Saturday going over the bike, making sure it was ready for the trip and removing a few things that wouldn't add to my trade in value, like the panacea tail light system, drivers backrest, etc. Checked the air in the tires, checked the oil, and packed carefully, knowing that I wouldn't have a tourpak on the new bike. Went to bed early Saturday night and was up and on the road at 2:30 am Sunday. The trip across DFW was probably the lightest traffic I've ever seen, one reason I left at 2:30 in the morning! My club requires a 1000 mile in under 24 hours ride annually, and I planned to knock one out on this trip. My route took me to Shreveport, then south to Lafayette, LA, east to Mobile, AL then northeast to the Atlanta area. I made it to Alexandria, LA by daylight and on down to Lafayette where I met a couple of friends for breakfast at Prejean's. You gotta love south Louisiana, where else can you get crawfish for breakfast? The breakfast was great too! East through Baton Rouge to Mobile, uneventful except that Louisiana and Mississippi have some of the roughest roads I've ever ridden, and my back is still paying for it. I made it up to LaGrange, GA by dark and was almost there. It got really chilly after dark and I had removed the wiring harness for my heated gear to use it on the new bike. I was sure wishing I could crank up that heated jacket liner! Made it to my buddy's house in Ball Ground and was so cold that I couldn't talk right. If I hadn't been so close I would have made a warm up stop someplace, I probably should have anyway. Monday morning I was at the dealership when they opened at 10am. It took a while to get the bike ready and get all the paperwork done but I was on my way by lunchtime. I stopped to mount my GPS, wasn't sure I could get back to my buddy's house without it. As soon as I took off I had a major problem, no brake lights, no speedo or tach, and no turn signals! I headed back to the dealer and felt like an idiot when they told me that my GPS power adapter had come apart and shorted out, blowing a fuse and causing all the other problems. 5 minutes and they had me on my way. I was really dreading traveling back home without the GPS, as I planned to take a few days and ride backroads all the way. I use a GPS almost daily and am addicted to them. I stopped and bought one of those laminated maps of Georgia but was dreading having to use it. I found almost all the pieces of the GPS power adapter, it had just come apart from the vibration of the bike and with a little quick fabrication work I had it working again, hallelujah! Oh yeah, here are a few pics of the new bike ... It's a 2004 Screamin' Eagle Electra Glide And that big beautiful 103 ci Screamin' Eagle motor Have I mentioned that I absolutely love this bike? I knew I would be giving up the 6 speed transmission and the MP3 capable stereo, but for anything but the interstate I prefer the older 5 speed, the ratios just don't seem right for me with the 6 speed and I find myself rowing through the gears constantly. The 103 motor in the orange bike pulls hard from just about 1500 rpm all the way to redline, it's a blast to ride. I can't explain why, but it feels more solid and stable than the '07 FLHTC. My buddy had Tuesday off, so we headed for some backroads in north Georgia and ended up in the western tip of North Carolina. I had been in this area last summer and knew there is some great riding up there. But Jeff knew of some fantastic roads and we had a great ride, and a great lunch at the Hole in the Wall cafe on the square in Blairsville, GA. http://www.holeinthewallga.com I highly recommend their mushroom swiss burger. We eventually made our way up to US64 in NC and took that west into Tennessee. There is a stretch of Hwy 64 along the Ocoee river that is as scenic as anything anywhere in my opinion. Unfortunately we had to part company and jeff turned south for home while I headed on west. I rode US64 to Lawrenceburg, TN where I got a room at the http://www.abvilawrenceburg.com The room was fine, but don't eat at the Krystal next door, I was sick as a dog that night and part of the next morning. I knew better, but was exhausted and just wanted to grab something quick that I could take back to the room. Wednesday I hit the Natchez Trace, headed south toward US82. The trace is a great ride, good scenery, very light traffic, and no big trucks. The 50 mph speed limit makes for a relaxing ride and there are no stop signs or stop lights at all. The leaves were starting to turn on the Trace, turn brown that is. This bike uses less gas than the 2007 Classic or the 2005 Ultra I had before that. Note that I had 137 miles was just under 3/4 on the gauge. Granted the gas gauge on these bikes isn't very accurate, but I got 40+ mpg every tank and 45+ on the Trace. I rode the Trace south to US82 and then headed west toward Greenville, MS. I think the Trace is the only smooth road in Mississippi, US82 was extremely rough and my back was killing me by the time I made it to Greenville. There aren't many places to cross the Mississippi river, so you need to plan any ride that crosses it around one of these few bridges. They have a brand new one at Greenville. I thought this was an interesting pic of the new bridge. US82 in Arkansas is a great ride, nice wide, smooth road that goes throught the Felsenthal wildlife refuge where I used to hunt as a kid. I made it as far as Magnolia by dark and grabbed a room for the night, I won't mention the name of it as I wouldn't stay there again. On the road again Thursday morning, I have ridden (and driven for work) the roads between here and home so often that I decided to jump on the super slab and blast home. Took 82 to Texarkana and I-30 back to the DFW area. I was home by 2pm. At home I gave the bike a quick wash to get the bugs off the paint before they became permanent, have I mentioned that I love this bike?

Platinum WINGS ride

2009-09-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

I need to explain a couple of things. I'm a member of the Pelicans Cycle Club, and we certify long distance rides at four levels, Bronze - 500 miles in under 12 hours, Silver - 1000 in 24 hours, Gold - 1500 in 24 hours, and Platinum - 2000 miles in 48 hours.

I had previously completed all of these, except the Platinum. Last weekend was the perfect opportunity to rectify that.

Cheri and I got away from the DFW area at about 7:30 Saturday morning, the plan was that I'd ride with her to Wichita, then she would head up to Topeka, her turn around point for a Silver Wings ride. I'd go on north to Salina and attempt a Platinum.

We didn't have much traffic until we got close to OKC, and it was obvious that OU was having a football game by all the cages with OU flags and stickers plastered all over them. About the time we hit Norman and all the OU traffic turned off, the rain started. It just steadly started raining harder and harder until it got to the point we couldn't see a thing and pulled off on the north side of OKC. We got back on the road when it slacked up some and it finally quit raining about the Stillwater exit.

We had a bit of a fuel scare at the Kansas state line, the station I always stop at was out of business and we were very low on fuel. It was another 20+ miles to the next station, but we made it. My bike is supposed to hold 5 gallons, it took 5.15 to fill it up ...

We said our goodbyes at this gas stop and a few miles later I peeled off to take I-135 north to Salina. It was a very nice day to be riding in Kansas, no wind at all. Those who have been there can appreciate how rare a windless day is up there. Kansas has some very nice interstates too, the roads aren't all beat up and full of patches and potholes like I'm used to, and west of Salina the traffic was extremely light. Western Kansas had obviously gotten a lot of rain and is as green as I've ever seen it.

It got dark on me on the outskirts of Denver. I'd decided to change my route to include Alamogordo and Cloudcroft, NM. This knocked some miles off my original route and I needed to go through Denver to make it up, instead of cutting off to Colorado Springs. I really didn't want to ride that narrow 2 lane between Limon and the Springs in the dark anyway.

It was getting chilly as the sun went down and I had put on my electric gear at Goodland, KS. It was downright chilly by the time I got close to Denver and I was extremely glad to have the heated jacket liner and gloves. The only problem was that my boots and my feet had never completely dried out from the rain in OKC, and my feet were COLD.

As I headed south on I-25 I remembered that there wasnt much as far as motels south of Pueblo, so I decided to stop there for the night. It was almost midnight and about halfway so I stopped for a few hours of shuteye.

I was on the road again by 5:30 local time and it was really chilly now. The thermometer on the bike said 40 degrees and stayed there until Raton pass where it dropped well below 40 on the thermometer and there was frost on the ground. With my heated gear on I was nice and toasty, with dry boots and socks my feet were fine. I only had on jeans, and my knees were cold, but not bad. I think with my core temp staying up because of the heated gear, my legs stayed warmer.

Just south of Las Vegas, NM I peeled off onto 2 lane roads, headed toward Alamogordo. It was extremely windy, a cross wind from the west. It was pretty miserable until I got into hillier country farther south. The Golden Aspen Rally was going on in Ruidoso NM and there were bikes everywhere, not quite as bad as Sturgis, but about 75% of the oncoming traffic was bikes and I quickly got worn out from waving at all of them .

I had turned off my heated gear by now, but was still wearing it. Good thing as it got chilly again as I climbed into the mountains toward Cloudcroft. This would be a great destination for a get together, if we could get enough folks willing to ride 535 miles west of Ft Worth.

The cross wind from the west was now a strong tail wind and coming down the mountain going east I got some incredible gas mileage, 50+ for sure but I haven't calculated it exactly. I had been on 2 lanes most of the day and finally hit I-20 at Odessa. Uneventful ride home except for the lightning show that mother nature nature put on starting about Sweetwater. Some damp roads around Abilene had me convinced that I was about to get soaked again, but the storms apparently moved south out of the way. I got my final gas receipt in Azle at 10:55 with 2019 miles on the odometer.

The Route ...

2009 Eastern Migration

2009-06-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

2009 Eastern Migration - June 6 - 12

Alice, Keith, Rickey, Tammy (Rickey's fiance) and myself has been planning this trip since we returned from last years Western Migration. This one would be primarily a trip to North Carolina, with some other interesting stops along the way.

Friday - Alice had ridden down from Kansas the day before, we hit the road toward Monroe, LA about 8:30 to avoid the Dallas/Ft Worth rush hour traffic. We arrived in Monroe in time to clean up and relax a bit before meeting everyone for a great meal at the Portico.

Saturday - We were up early and headed east. We crossed the Mississippi river at Vicksburg and picked up the Natchez Trace Parkway at Jackson. Beautiful scenery and no traffic to speak of made for a great ride.

Some new highway construction in Florence, AL confounded my GPS but we soon outsmarted the GPS and found a motel and a great steakhouse (Dale's) where we had an outstanding meal.

Sunday - On the road early, with a stop in Anderson, AL for a great breakfast, and it was only $4!

We meandered north until we hit Highway 64 in southern Tennessee. Saw some of the nicest houses and locations today that I've ever seen in my life. Detoured to Lynchburg and visited the Jack Daniel's distillery. I would highly recommend that anyone traveling through this area make time to visit the distillery and take the tour.

Keith, Alice and Rickey at the cave springs at the Jack Daniel's distillery.

A statue of Mr Jack himself.

Our tour group's photo from the Jack Daniel's website.

In eastern TN, Hwy 64 runs along a river for a while and is a great ride.

We stayed at the Newfound Lodge in Cherokee, NC, where every room overlooks the river behind the Lodge and we woke up to views like this.

Monday - Time to hit the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was the highlight of the trip for me. Another very scenic road, with little to no traffic and no big trucks.

We spent the whole day riding the parkway, and stopped for the night at a little biker motel called the Station Inn. Not a bad place, but certainly not up to the standards set by the Iron Horse Stables or the HUB in Arkansas.

Tuesday - No pics today, this was a long hot ride across the North Carolina/Virginia state line. We stopped for the nigh in Elizabeth City, NC. The Quality Inn there comes highly recommended.

Wednesday - Today we ride the North Carolina Outer Banks. A short day in miles, but it includes a couple of ferry rides, one of them 2 hours and 15 minutes long.

Our group (minus Tammy who took a lot of these pics) at the Bodie Island lighthouse.

Riding on the outer banks

Keith, Alice and Rickey at the Cape Hatteras light house.

If you're ever in Topsail Beach, the Breezeway is a great Seafood restaurant.

Thursday - Up early again for a run down to coast to Randor's house near Savannah. We made a quick stop at the USS North Carolina battleship in Wilmington, then on to Randor's place where we stayed the night. Many thanks to Randor and Maleia for a great meal and great hospitality.

Coast Guard ship moored in Wilmington, NC

Friday - We split up and went our seperate ways today. Alice headed north to catch I-40 for her trip to Kansas. Rickey and Tammy joined Keith and I for the ride home. Storms were forecast for the route through Atlanta and Birmingham so went south to Jacksonville, FL and took I-10 west.

Rickey and Tammy dropped off in Mobile to find a room and beat the heat. Did I mention that it was HOT!!! Keith rode a little ways past Monroe to get enough miles for a Silver MERC then turned back towards home. I continued on and got home about 1:30. One of the toughest MERC's I've ever done.

All in all it was a great trip. One I intend to do again, bringing Cheri along next time.

Western Migration 2008

2008-05-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Wild Pelicans Western Migration 2008

Click on the pics to enlarge.

Wow, What a trip! There were so many highlights, I'm sure I'll miss a few.

Day 1

Keith and Rickey had ridden to our house in Texas, and we left from there. We rode west on I-20 until it merged with I-10 and took us thru El Paso to our first days destination of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Somewhere west of Odessa, the speed limit is 80mph! We made a stop at Barnett Harley Davidson in El Paso, the largest Harley dealer in the world. It's quite a place!

It was graduation weekend in Las Cruces, but we got lucky and found a great little mom & pop motel.

Day 2

We rode from Las Cruces to Deming, where we exited the Interstate at Deming for Hwy 180. We rode northwest to Hwy 78 and could tell that we were in for a treat when we saw this sign.

The ride for today was centered around Hwy 191 between Clifton and Alpine Arizona. At the south end the road is very tight and twisty as it passes the Morenci copper mine and winds its way up into the mountains.

About halfway to Apline we met Alice and Ledger, who had done a MERC the previous day and rode down from Holbrook Arizona to meet us. After a spectacular ride, we had lunch at the Bear Wallow Cafe in Alpine, AZ.

We ran into the first snow of the trip on Hwy 191, luckily it was on the ground, not falling on us.

We stayed at the historic Wigwam motel on Route 66 in Holbrook Arizona, where we were robbed a Pizza Hut delivery driver! $42 for 2 pizzas!!!

Day 3

From Holbrook the next destination was the Grand Canyon. We had to make the obligatory T-Shirt stop along the way, just outside of Flagstaff in Bellemont, Arizona.

Then it was on to the Grand Canyon, the pictures speak for themselves.

Alice at the Desert View watchtower

Jim, Ledger and Keith at the watchtower

Ledger, Rickey, Keith and Alice taking in the view.

Rickey

We stayed at the Cameron Lodge in Cameron Arizona that night. What a great place! My pics there didn't turn out, maybe someone else got some good pics of the Lodge. Everything was great, the restaurant, the store, the rooms, all of it. A very pleasant surprise.

Day 4

Unfortunately Ledger had to leave us this morning, headed home to Oklahoma. We took the scenic route, US Alt 89A, to Kanab Utah then into Zion National Park the back way.

We spent a lot of time the next few days on Navajo lands.

The scenery was breaktaking

Along the way we came to a place called "Cliff Dwellers", where in the 1920s a woman liked the area so much that she built a gas station/waypoint there. Keith is standing by the remnants of the biggest building.

Alice and Jim inside

Keith and Jim

Harley should hire us for ad photos!

Alice is ready to roll

But first we stopped at Lee's Ferry on the Colorado river.

Where we saw some rafters floating the river.

Next stop, Zion National Park

We stayed the night at the Zion Park Motel in Springdale, UT ... another very pleasant surprise.

Keith and Alice taking in the sunset in Springdale

Day 5

Today is a short day, less than 100 miles over to Bryce Canyon National Park. Good thing too, as it turned cold and windy that afternoon.

The Bryce Canyon Ampitheater

Can you see the horseback riders?

Let me zoom in a little, see them now?

Luger and Lucy joined us at Springdale, this on Hwy 12 near Bryce

Day 6

Today's ride was the highlight of the trip for me, Utah Hwy 12 from Bryce Canyon to Torrey then Hwy 24 to Hanksville and Hwy 95 to Blanding.

Hwy 12 scenery

Alice taking in the view

We stopped to see the Natural Bridge National Monument.

Keith's Road Glide on Hwy 12

More Hwy 12 scenery

We ran into snow again on the north end of Hwy 12, no snow in the pic, just some great riding.

Day 7

Keith, Rickey and I did a MERC back to Azle while Alice decided on another day of scenery in Utah and Colorado. We're already working on the plans for next year.

2007-11-16T11:21:00.001-08:00

AR-15 Makover

My youngest son's AR is built around a "ban" era Armalite M15A4 midlength upper. It's a fantastic shooter, and very accurate. I've kind of had an eye out for one like it lately. I've also been kicking around the idea of a hunting AR along the lines of the Bushmaster Predator or RRA Coyote Carbine.

I stopped by a local pawn shop and saw a couple of ugly AR's on the gun rack. One of them had a muzzle brake that caught me eye and I had to check it out. Turns out to be an Armalite midlength carbine from the ban days.

But there was a lot of stuff that was going to have to be changed. Here's a pic of the Krylon camo job, pinned butt stock on a rifle length buffer tube.

Gotta Go!

Here's a dandy, a Chinese "tactical" light, this thing has a yellow lens and a weak 3 led bulb.

File 13!

It did come with an Armalite detachable carry handle and a "Colt" 3x20 scope.

How do I tell if this "Colt" scope is legit or a fake?

But it is an Armalite, in great condition.

I've got some odds and ends (AR-15 parts) around here, but nothing that was suitable for this rifle. So I went looking online at ARFCOM

I found a discontinued Realtree camo furniture set online and decided to do a "makeover"

I think it turned out pretty well, I stuck the ATN optic on it temporarily, not sure if I'll stick with it or try something else. It's a 5x illuminated reticle scope with a rangefinding reticle.

And here's a view of how the camo looks against some typical fall Texas groundcover

So what do you think?