u/Scoobywagon

I was enjoying a nice, sedate ride yesterday. I let myself get just a little too close to the fog line. I found a patch of dirt/sand/whatever and the bike started wanting to shift to the right. I didn't have enough room to correct and I found the ditch. I think the rear tire found a rock because it bucked me off like a horse.

Helmet is messed up, armor is messed up, gloves are messed up, boots are SLIGHTLY messed up. And I have a broken leg at the moment. Could have been SO much worse. But thanks to armor and a conveniently placed scotch broom bush, I'll be alright.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

This may not be the place to ask this since it is really more about taxes than anything else. But here's the thing. I have a good job that is 100% work from home. As a matter of fact, not only is it work from home, but the company doesn't care WHERE I work from, just so the work gets done. I already own a truck and travel trailer and I'm toying with the notion of just ... traveling around.

I know that many states want a cut of your income if you work within their state lines. And I've even seen a case where a state wanted income tax based on the full year's income despite having only worked in that state for less than 30 days. So I'm wondering if there is something I can or should do to avoid taking a beating come tax time. Or maybe the thing to do is just ... maintain a "home of record" in the state of my choice and then just not say anything to anyone.

If I'm gonna start planning rides, there's gonna be stuff I want to do in there. So I'm thinking about a recurring ride to the water, up a mountain, whatever ... and go hang out and smoke cigars for a while.

Anyone interested in such a thing?

Edit to add: So it turns out there IS some interest in such a thing. I'm just north of Tacoma, but the PNW is a pretty big place. So now I'm thinking maybe instead of an organized group ride, maybe more like a set time and place to be somewhere. Then folks in different areas could organize rides to that destination. Would that work better for the broader crowd?

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New album dropping soon ... from the hypest live show in the alpha quadrant.

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A little crossove/callback action for your enjoyment.

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I'm gonna give this a go ... I've never been a ride leader before, but I'm tired of hunting for group rides that don't seem to exist so I decided to do it myself. I'll just do the best I can and muddle through it. So ... Inaugural South Kitsap Thurdsay Ride ....

Meet at the 76 in Gorst on Thursday 8/13. Kickstands up at 5:30. For this first trip, we'll ride to 7 Seas brewing in Gig Harbor. Obviously, we'll be staying off of the highway as much as possible. All bikes, all riders welcome. If you show up and I'm on the Ultra Classic ... you're in for a bit of a lazy ride. If I'm on the Livewire, you can expect it to be a bit more spirited. We will be running through some neighborhoods, so be nice. Google says this route will take about 50 minutes. I'll be scouting it sometime this week. If it turns out to be total crap, I'll update here.

Edit: Yeah, so ... pre-rides are a thing for a reason. Not gonna meet in Gorst. It's WAY harder to get out of there than I remember. Instead, we're going to meet at the 76 at Kitsap Blvd and Tremont Blvd. Easier to get in and out, slightly cheaper gas. Also: Not gonna be 7 Seas Brewing. They have almost NO parking and it would be kind of a dick move to take up their parking if there's more than 3 or 4 of us. So we'll probably go to Tide Tavern instead. If there's anyone in the group under 21, we'll come up with something else. Probably the little Mexican place there on the waterfront.

A friend of mine has a BX24, unknown year, I think it has about 300 hours on it. It was working fine yesterday when he did some trenching with the backhoe. Today, he went out and started it (no problem), put the hydro in low gear (no problem), and it immediately stalled when he gave it some pedal. The way he described it to me sounded like the brake was on. When I tried it, what I found was that as soon as you give it some pedal, the engine defuels. If you stay in it, the engine will defuel to the point of stalling.

My gut reaction here is that there is some kind of safety interlock (or something) that has decided we're not supposed to be moving, so it's defueling the engine. Anyone have any ideas what it might be doing? Anything to go look at?

Thanks in advance.

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How screwed am I? Am I going to have to re-shoot the whole panel or do you think I can make it work with a cut and buff?

I'm looking for a rolloff (hooklift) trailer and I have come across a good deal on a Horizon RDZ trailer. It is a 15,200 GVWR roll off trailer that measures 61" X 16' X 30". 2 7k Lippert spring axles, 3850 Tare, 11,350 payload.

The welds and such don't look terrible. Paint looks like decent quality. Anybody ever run a Horizon trailer or know anything about them? Thanks!

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Attention all non-human residents: Please stay clear of level three of this station for the next 48 standard hours. This is a precaution for your safety. In the 3 millennia that humans have been a part of the broader Galactic society, this has never happened. Given the volatile nature of some human responses, and out of an abundance of caution, we are urging all non-humans to steer clear. The Costco on level three has changed the price of its hot dog and soda combo from 1.5 units to ... 2 units. In the event of possible rioting, station security forces will respond as needed.

A1: *visibly shaking in his footwear* er ... Your most holy putridness we ... uh .. well ... there's a bit of a problem.

A2 (with a stupid, overly grandiose title): What is it, WORM????

A1: *still shaking ... thinking about vomiting* er ... well, you see ... we followed your orders. We shot at the human officer. We hit him, but he didn't immediately die. We shot at him again, but the human medic got in the way as he was tending to the wounded officer. At some point, the officer dropped one of their "grenades" and it went off, killing the unit's working dog. I'm pretty sure we're fucked and I gotta get out of here. *bolts for the door*

I'm headed out to go put a few miles on the electric harley. If you're in Port Orchard, Purdy or Gig Harbor and would like to put in a few miles, I'd love to have you. Anyone?

My apologies up front if this isn't an appropriate place to ask. Some backstory:

A friend of mine bought a 12-acre distressed property as a project to keep himself busy after his wife died. Honestly, I think this may be the first thing he's ever actually done for himself. The property used to be a horse boarding facility ... 30 years ago(?). We've gone after it several times with brush hogs so MOST of the really nasty stuff is out of there, but there is still quite a big of scotch broom and blackberries out there.

Fast forward to now ... he's in his early 80's and is no longer really up to the task of mounting the brush hog on his tractor. So he went and bought a little John Deere zero-turn which does well enough most of the time. But he is forever more changing drive belts and the mower deck is beat to scrap after only about 3 years. So I'm wondering if anyone makes something like a ride-on zero-turn but with a deck that is more of a brush hog than a finish mower. Or at least has a deck that can tolerate the hard hits of scotch broom and blackberries. He's not trying to produce a golf course, he just likes cutting the grass.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I've had a couple of people ride with me before, but they were already experienced motorcycle passengers. I've recently been asked by someone who has never ridden before. I've never had to have the "how to be a good backpack" conversation.

Any pro-tips? Am I best off just saying "keep yourself centered over the bike and hope I don't fuck it up"? What's your approach to that convo? Purely curious here.

Thanks!