Chief Joseph Toy Run, Dec. 1, 2013

It's been many years since Jo and I were on the Chief Joseph Toy Run out of Action Cycles here in Colorado Springs. It was a great day, temps in the high 40F's and sunny with a bit of breeze, we got there a bit too early but just hung around looking at all the bikes and checking out some the items inside Action Cycles. It was a great ride with a very good turn out the route was thru the Brodmoor area over to and thru Manitou Springs, were the group got to do a round-a-bout turn and we could wave at each other, LOL!  This is the last toy run in the Springs area but we REALLY enjoyed the day and a chance to give to kids that otherwise might not have a Christmas present! :)

 

 

The kick back time of year!

Well, not a lot going on, most of the toy and poker runs are gone with the leaves on the trees and we are just doing short area runs but it's a great time for just "kick'in back" and enjoying being in the WIND! :)  We stay mostly east and south of Colorado Springs this time of year, getting in a lunch run or just getting out for a "charge the battery run", LOL!  It was really nice last Sunday, in the 60's so we headed north then east and back to the Springs. A nice over 100 mile ride and found a new cafe in Elizabeth, CO. on CO. Hyw. 86. Not much to take photos of this time on year but we don't plan on putting the motorcycle up during the winter months like a lot of folks have to. We just wait for those sunny days over 45 degrees and bundle up heavy and RIDE!  :)

High Country Toy Run, Oct. 6, 2013

After 7 years of not being able to afford a scoot, one of the things we really were looking forward to is riding in the local area Toy Run!! The High Country Toy Run is in it's 26th. year and it's just a lot of fun to bungie a few toys on the rack and ride off with a huge bunch of bikers and give back a little bit. 500+ machines, with a police escort, riding thru the streets of Colorado Springs with people waving and smiling at us. It was a beautiful day, sunny warm and lot's of SMILES! This brings out every type of biker from 1%ers to sport bike riders!  As usual I forgot my camera, it's hell getting old but still, it was so great to be able to do the run again after all those years off the scoot! :)

21st. Annual Veterans Rally and Festival, Cripple Creek, CO. Aug. 17, 2013

Jo and I rode up the pass to Cripple Creek, CO. and the 21st. Annual Veterans Rally and Festival on Saturday, it's a excellent twisty road up to the Creek and with "thousands" of bikers, lot's of vendors and the whole city becoming a tribute to American Veterans!!  There is also a HUGE, (3,500 bikes+), 26th. Annual POW-MIA Recognition Ride, that starts in Woodland Park, CO. and is Police escorted all the way to Cripple Creek to come into town at the end of the Veterans Parade! It's such a heart lifting rally, we even had the "travling Viet-Nam Wall and a excellent and stiring "Veterans Remembrance Ceremony in the City Park, with many POW's from different wars. It's a great place and day to be an, "AMERICAN" Veteran and BIKER! :)

Just headed out for Putt! :)

On Monday August 5th., The Black Hills Rally in Sturgis, SD. starts and sadly we can't afford to be there, even though it's my birthday, RATS! ;)  Well there's usually nothing going on here in Colorado Springs the weekend before Sturgis so we just got out on the scoot for a, "charge the battery ride"! There's a sweet little 110 mile loop out of Colorado Springs on Hwy. 24 E. to Elbert Rd. N. which is all plain's ranchette riding untill it get's a bit higher and your riding in the Pines of the far east area of the Black Forest.

It's all sweet 2-lane road up to Hwy. 86 W. heading to Elizabeth, CO. where we stopped at a new Sonic for a strawberry cream slush, YUM. It was sunny and hot so different than Sat. which was nothing but clouds and rain so we were enjoying the putt!  Saw lot's of bikers coming down from Denver, they just do the same route backwards. We got into Franktown and decided to take Hyw. 83S. back into Colorado Springs thru the Black Forest so a bit more hills and pine trees before we picked up Powers Blvd. back into the Springs, stopped and topped off the tank and headed to the barn to put the scoot away, after a bit of "bug removal", LOL. Not a long day in the saddle but very, very enjoyable! Next Sunday we will be riding in the the "I Didn't get to go to Sturgis Poker Ride", put on by the Pikes Peak Ladies of Harley, luckly the invite "all bikes and riders". Someday we will own a Harley-Davidson, (I feel sorry for the Davidson's, they get forgotten all the time!), for now we will just enjoy getting the hell of out of Dodge on our S40. :)

BACA Run, July 20, 2013

Jo and I rode in the Bikers Against Child Abuse Poker Run today, it's for a great cause and the day turned out to be hot and dry! We started in Security, CO. , this is were Jo and I went to High School and it always feels like HOME!  We started at the Dad's BBQ/Kwik Inn, shared a great breakfast sandwhich, then got registered and headed out. It was a mellow, easy route just to the outskirts of town in several directions. We stopped at points to get a soda, it was a Sunny and hot ride but very enjoyable. BACA does great things for Abused kids and we like to support groups like them! We managed to get back to the barn before the rain came down, got a burger and walked home! A great day, bringing smiles on our faces and a warm feeling in our hearts! :)

 

 

Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, Veterans Run

We rode in the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association's "Colorado Springs, CO. " chapter's  Veterans Run. It was a mix days of sun, clouds and a bit of rain but we enjoyed the run, which went to different "War Memorials around the Pikes Peak Region".  We really we welcomed at the start, got to ride up into the mountains via Hwy. 67 thru Cripple Creek and back to the eastern plains and a final stop and they served a great shreaded beef BBQ with all the fix'in's!  Jo's hand was semi-decent only needed one card to make it great, bought a one shot $5 card but alas it didn't work out so we stayed, ate, listen to some good rock and roll music and then checked out the darking clouds and decided to head home. Got the bike in the shed and cleaned up, sorry no photo's, just didn't feel like taking any. :)

Tejon Street Bike Fest, Co. Springs, CO.

We rode over to downtown and the "Tejon Street Bike Fest"!  They block off several blocks of Tejon St. and hundereds of scoot's of every type, style, etc. show up and take over downtown! A really great live band was playing, lot's of vendors, food and just a great time hang'in out with the tribes. Jo and I look so "grandpa and ma" next to most of the rides but that's ok, we may look like we should ride a GoldWing but we like the "cruisers and bikers"so this is our type of crowd! 


It was a HOT day, we hung around a bit longer, found new biker cap and a "Army Brat" pin for Jo, then headed up to Woodland Park for some "cooler" air! Then we headed home, the WIND coming down Ute Pass was VERY strong but we did ok and finally got the scoot back to the barn and bedded down for the night.  Here's a couple of photo's of the Bike Fest, enjoy!

Fallen Peace Officers Memorial Run, June 9, 2013

Sadly Jo had a migrain headach so I took the scoot out of the barn and headed to downtown Colorado Springs to ride the 8th. Annual Fallen Peace Officers Memorial Run. It used to be named after just, "one" officer but theirs been more that have fallen so the ride name was changed. It was a fantasic day, sunny, HOT and LOTs of scoots showing up!  The run was 103 miles of mostly back roads with stops at different types of stores/bar-cafe's, etc. 

One great thing was I got to ride again with some old friends, it's been 7 years since I rode with Ed and Dianne Wing and it was just like old times! :) It was just us two scoots but at one time, poor Ed was leading about 45 bikes and LOL, he really hates to be a ride leader! ;)  Well we stopped at a Ice cream/cafe in Palmer Lake as the 3rd. stop in the same town was at a bar/resturant and was PACKED with hungry bikers so we traveled a bit farther and had great seating in AC, YEA, did I mention it was HOT! 

Headed back to the start point that was also the last stop, they have a really good live band playing and we bought some raffle prized tickets alas no winners today but it was for a good cause, to help the familes of fallen Officers and any of their childern going thru cancer treatment. Had a great time!

The scoots lining up on Tejon St. down town Colorado Springs, CO. for the start of the run!

 

 

 

 

Our good friends, Ed and Dianne Wing!

 

 

23rd Annual United Run

Jo and I rode the yearly "United Run", it's a gathering of all the clubs, weither 1%er or just local riding clubs for a "timed run" to support the Rocky Mnt. Motorcycle Musuem and the Fallen Biker Monument. It was a AWESOME day, finally a day with only breezes instead of big time wind, lot's of sunshine and LOTS of scoots and folks with smiles on their faces.  The idea of the run is to figure out what "route and time" the scouts did and get as close as possible.

LOL, as usual we didn't even come close but that's ok as we mainly just wanted to RIDE and the first leg they listed was up Ute Pass to Chrystola and morning is a great time to find low traffic heading that way so we took it and enjoyed the mild twisty's going up the pass from Colorado Springs. We then headed to different points and places to have our sheet signed and time stamped. One really cool thing is that the local 1%er MC, let us use their club house for a stop, that's something that the avg. rich or poor urban biker rarely get's to see and they we're extreemly friendly!!

One of the check points was a new Biker Clothes Shop, so of course I picked up a sweet T-shirt to re-start my biker wardrobe, LOL! ;)  The ride ended up at the local Eagles Chapter building, we had a soda and some snacks and awaited the drawing for door prizes and the 50/50 drawing. Jo won a door prize of a $15 at Mountain Man Fruits/Nuts and Candies, which was cool as that too was one of the check points and she saw some dark choclate covered rasins she'd like to try but our budget was on the low side being rent due so now she can get them! It was finally over, we headed back to the barn (storeage area), got the scoot bedded down and walked the 6 blocks back to the apt. Fired up the oven for steak and potatoes dinner, YUM. It was just a really good day to be alive and in the wind, can't wait till next weekend! :)

PS: Sorry no pictures, I was just ENJOYING the ride too much to bother with the camera!

B.J.

Memorial Day Weekend

Jo's Dad is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery, just outside of Denver, CO, he was a "3 tour" Viet-Nam Veteran and a 20+ year Army Vet and Retiree. We rode the scoot up to Ft. Logan today to "pay our respects" to him and place some flowers on his headstone. They had posted small USA flags on all the headstones and there was a LOT of folks like us, there paying their respects as well. It's 70 miles from C. Springs to Ft. Logan and although it was a cloudy day most of the time it was quite warm. We went up via I-25N. to just north of Castle Rock to pick up CO. Hwy. 85 into Littleton, then C470W to CO. Hwy. 285 to Sheridan Ave. Our scoot isn't a real good interstate machine so on the way home we took a more "backroads" route. 285 to C470 to 85 to 105 into Palmer Lake, stopped for some EXCELLENT apple pie alamode there. 105 into Monument to 83 back into Colorado Springs.

We will be going to a actual Memorial Day Service at the Vetrans Memorial in Memorial Park, here in Co. Springs tomorrow. It's time to take a few minutes out of your lives and "remember" those that gave their lives so we could LIVE!

Never Forget!! All gave some, SOME gave ALL!!

 

Jo touching the headstone of her Dad, SFC James E. Perse, US Army

 

 

CSTC Poker Run for the El Paso County Search and Rescue

Last Sunday we rode the Colorado Springs Touring Club Poker Run, we got rained on pretty good along the route but still had a great run. The run headed out east of town and up thru the Black Forest area and around then up to Castle Rock and back down to the Springs. 140 miles total and the really cool thing was that my wife Jo, actually won the Best Hand with 3 aces and we picked up $60 and some door prizes too boot, quite the haul for us as we've had a 30 year run of NEVER winning anything! :) Here's a few photo's of the day a great time for a good cause.

Bikers for Kids Poker Run

Well, the weather has been the pitts since Jo went on a weeks worth of "take it or lose it" vacation time! We had only gotten in one "lunch run" on the scoot during the whole week till Sat. and even though it started sunny the BIG storm clouds were forming as we went to register for the annual "Bikers for Kids Poker Run".

We started out good both got Aces but as usual our poker hands went downhill from there, LOL. we got sprinkled on heading out of Colorado Springs and a few drops here and there on the route but we didn't really get wet till heading back to the barn after a good feed of burgers and fix'ins put on the the BforK folks. We enjoy poker runs, they are laid back feeling and everyone has a smile on their faces. Here's a few photo's of the last stop!

A in-between the storms ride!

Jo and I double up'ed on the scoot for a lunch ride down to a tiny diner in Texas Creek, CO. It's a one buliding hamlet on CO. Hwy. 50 outside of Canon City, CO.  We've had dire warning of severe thunderstroms all week and of course Jo had to take some, "Use it Loose it" vacation time and the weather is crud!! :(  Today seems the only day we will get a bit of a break for the whole week she's off so we headed out.

We had been using our old "sport touring" style full face helmets and found they don't work well with "cruisers" that have the speedo on the gas tank, ie: You can't see the speedo!!!  So we rode down to one of the local shops and found some nice open faces, with a trick "pull down sunshade system", or so we thought.  The pull down sunshades were useless, luckly they "retract" into the helmet so we just put on the sun glasses and headed south on Hwy. 115 to pick up Hwy. 50.  Well that didn't work well either, the wind force was smashing Jo's glasses into her nose and I was having a hell of a time with my sunglasses wanting to fly off !!  So we stopped at the scooter shop in Florence, CO. and got some clip on visors with flip shields and that solved the problems! :)

Took the back way on Old Hwy. 115 into Canon City and got back on 50W. heading up to ride through "Big Horn Sheep Canyon" along the Arkansas River, it was great as the road flows with the curves in the river and I let the "mighty" single, LOL, haul buns thru the wide sweeping corners!  Got to Texas Creek Diner, had some good chicken tenders and homemade french fries with a large sprite, YUM. Thought about riding up to Westcliffe but the clouds were turning black and ugly! So we headed for home, stopped in Canon City for gas, then let the dark strom clouds chase us all the way back to the barn in the Springs. Luckly we never got wet, that's a good ride! The weather is turning to total curd for the next two days, hopefully it will clear out for the Poker Run on Saturday, Live is GOOD! :)

The Mods

We've had a pretty mean and LOUD backfire on the S40, when shifting down from 5th. to 4th. or 4th. to 3rd. gear since we got the scoot.  Took it in today to the dealer to have some, Mods done that Factory Suzuki says will at least "calm down" the loudness of the backfire. It doesn't effect the way the bike runs and the Service Mgr. told me it won't damage the motor. Still, LOL, when your riding with a bunch of "straight piped Harley's" and they "notice" when it backfires, you KNOW it's LOUD! ;)

Mostly carb adjustments and a different "spring" on the carb, I beleive to shut the carb down a bit faster, tighting of all the exhaust and muffler bolts, ect.  If not, no biggie, I guess we will just "wake up" all the zoned out cagers when we down shift, LOL!

B.J. :)

Just out bumming around!

We got out on the scoot, double up on Sunday, it was finally SUNNY but there seems to be a "constant" threat of afternoon clouds bringing the temps down lately! :(  We headed south towards Canon City on Hyw. 115 which used to be a 2 lane but now is a 4 lane in a lot of spots. Still it's not usually packed on a Sunday and we passed and waved to LOTS of other scooter riders. We stopped in the hamlet of Florence, CO. at the Rose Bud Cafe for a most excellent club sandwich, YUM! :) We were going to take old Hyw. 115 into Canon City but the CLOUDS were building fast and looking very much like RAIN!  LOL, yes we have rain gear but let's face it, it SUCKS to have to wear the stuff as you just turn into a sauna if the sun comes out at all.

We enjoyed the ride and being out and about with more riders, it always seem like a family that's been cooped up for too long and there's lots of smiles being able to be free and on the road again! :)
We just cruised at 60 mph on the way back but even with the "liners" in our mesh jackets it seems a bit cold. Got back to the storage area, LOL, we call the BARN put the scoot to bed and walked home with lot's of black clouds aboves. Luckly we didn't get rained on, once in the apt. we pulled out a nice steak, baked up some big old spuds and set about to GRUB!!  Even if you don't ride far, it's way better when your on a scoot! :)

B.J.

Our first Poker Run in 7 years!

Last Sunday we hopped on the S40 and headed out "double up" to ride the April Fool's Poker Run put on by the Pikes Peak Laides of Harley. It was a chilly but sunny day and we were really looking forward to being out with other rides on our first Poker Run in 7 YEARS! We thought it would be a local area "bar to bar" type run but it wasn't we headed out of the Springs via 83 to Franktown, then over to Sedaila back on 105 to Monument and ended at BJ's Brew House on north Nevada Ave. A total of 131 miles, we had sun, a bit of rain and even a light SNOW shower and as usual our Poker Hands sucked badly, LOL! ;)

Had great pizza called the "Sweet Pig", (ham and pineapple) and enjoyed being back with a group of riders/bikers. Since we don't belong to a 1%'er MC or even a 2 piece patched, "support" MC, we call ourselves, "RIDERS", not bikers as were not hardcore and don't feel we could ever earn the "title" of "BIKER". Still we love sharin the "ROAD", with the real bikers and everyone was very nice to us and our smallish machine! :) 

As usual, I forgot the camera, DUH, oh well next time, I'll make sure Jo has it so it so we can get a couple of photos to spice up the Blog! Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. and Jo :)

Owing a scoot, can be a PIA! ;)

If you don't own a home and live in an apartment, you only have two choices on where to keep your scoot. 1- Buy a cover and park it in the apt. parking lot, now all you have to worry about is screaming winds, snow, ice, kids and thieves but it's cheap. 2- Find a local and close "storage area" to basicly give you a "rent a garage" and get ready to pay out BIG BUCKS!!

Sigh, with the Suzuki Boulevard S40 being a quite smallish cruiser, it doesn't weight much and when you put a "cover" on it becomes a SAIL!! :O So we went Storage Area shopping and found a couple in walking distance. The first one is OLD and hasn't got 24hr. access so we looked at the second one and it's NEW but man is it weird!! The units are all "inside" a lockable building, like being in a giant warehouse. You have to walk you scoot down several hallways to get to your storage area. Yes, it's got 24 hr. access but you have to use a electroinc card and swipe 2 doors and if you don't get in before 6:30 PM. you can't use the sweet double wide automatic doors, you have to go thru one door, then open another one to bring the scoot in.  As stated, luck has it the S40 is not a wide scoot so it will work but what a PIA!!

We will try this for 1 month and see if we can live with it, if not, I guess it's back to the old style unit and time hassles, BUMMER!!

B.J.
Ride to LIVE, Live to RIDE!

The scoot's that got us started!

B.J. bought his first scoot in 1976, a 250cc 2-stroke street bike,  a 1974 GT250! Then  I decided to play in the "dirt" and bought Can-Am TNT 250 Dual Purpose. Finding out that I "sucked" at dirt riding, finally in 1987 I got my first real road bike a 1983  Yamaha XS650 SK Heritage Special! It was a leftover and cost me a total of, $1,500 dollars brand new in the crate! :)



1992,  my wife Jo started on a 1987 Honda Rebel 250 Ltd, it was really great looking, all chrome and brass pieces and came that way "stock" from the factory! Then she stepped up to a 1986 Suzuki LS650 Savage and was on her way! :)

 

Introduction to Sun Chaser and Army Brat's Scoot Blog!

I'm B.J Ondo and I've been riding scoots, on and off since 1976, my wife Jo joined me as a passenger in 1987, then in 1992 she got her first scoot a 87 Honda Rebel Ltd. 250. We've had many different machines over the years but due to our constant trouble with "MONEY", we've lost, sold or just had to "go without" at times. Jo has got us started again, she picked up a used 2009 Suzuki Boulevard S40 so we are back to being "RIDERS" again.

 I'll be adding photo's of past/present/future scoots, rides and even just some, "thoughts"  ect. to create a little, history, then it will be where ever we head on the scoot! We love Charity/Poker Runs, etc. and just kick'in down the ROAD! :)

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN! B.J. :)

As of March 15th. , 2013, Our new Scoot: 2009 Suzuki Boulevard S40, 650cc Single Cylinder Cruiser