RickkciR

Beautiful day for a ride ; Sunny n' Hot!  But after a few months of triple digits, low 90s felt GOOD!  Chief asked me about doing lunch this week and I was like .. um... today?  Dutch chimed in he could make it, Boudreaux was out of pocket as was Hose A.  So, the three musketeers it was ....   BAM!  I missed these lil getaways.  We've got a busy three months coming up for riding and traveling... holding on for the RiDe! Picked up KRUSH yesterday after a new rear tire and some fresh fluids.  The drivebelt was realigned; can finally grab some serious throttle and acerbate 'correctly' without chatter when ripping through the gears.  Zoom Zoom  YUM! Zoom Zoom! 

 Monday Morning Chief busted my Balls on my birthday with " Happy Birthday. Just think, you’ll eligible to draw social security now! Welcome to the old bastard club ."  Now, it's obviously in humor and I busted his balls back .. but... he had a point.  One of my brother-in-law's recently initiated his at 62.  My buddy who retired last week imitated his at 62. Now, his wife whom also just retired waited much longer since she was older than him still working and they both retired simultaneously.   When I'm doing my 'retirement financial calculators' they always ask for the date I'll start withdrawing and sometimes I put in 62.. sometimes 65.. but up until yesterday when I made a joke about it and many of my buddies whom are withdrawing chimed in .... I had zero clue. I've never seriously looked into it.  All I knew before yesterday was 62 was the earliest and you are supposed to by somewhere around the age of 70 no matter what.  I knew there was a

Will be updating this often over the next few months ... feel free to check back as needed: I'm traveling later this year with some of my peers to a Secrets Resort.  This post is directed at those folks (though applicable to most traveling to the Rivera Maya at some level).  Many of you have never been here, so I'll see if I can make it easier with this document, specific to our trip.   We're all rolling in the same day, but not the same flights so some of us may be on a shuttle without the others.  Minor stuff....  The Cancun / Rivera Maya area/region is extremely safe.   If you see Police or Military dressed up Commando style with Automatic weapons, they are there to ensure we are all safe.  They are not our problem. They are there for 'you.'  I find this area safer than many US cities.   No worries.... Most of us have traveled overseas so I won't wear you out with specifics, but... once you land you'll immediately go through Customs.   Zero worries...  th

Several months back Lucy and I were joking around on .. .what to do .. what to do .. for my B'Day if anything.  Well, we happened to be at SWG as usual, saw Zach Romo and asked if he'd be interested in playing here again....   the deal was sealed when we got a resounding YES!  We were in a quandary of how do do the invite list, but in the end decided to keep it local. In the past I've had folks come from several states (which will humble someone quickly) , but this time just folks nearby .   In the past, I've pushed it out to groups that I'm active in (ex Iron Indians) in conjunction to my local friends.  I'm pretty active in the CVMA but chose not to push it out as a blanket offer, however I did have a half dozen of my CVMA family here.  Probably the only twist to that whole thing I just said was we were talking with the Donihue's and they wanted to come so we locked down our only extra bedroom and they came in a day early from Hot Springs, AR.   So, the B&

Damned..they beat me to it!   Mark n' Nancy's kids threw them a retirement party this past week at The Brass Rail.  That's our old throwback place from the DET that Mel reopened next door in a nice modern space.  She's still doing the bartending which is sorta surreal to me... a throwback in time for me I guess. This past Friday we rolled into the Brass Rail around 1800 hrs and The fun began.  Mark n Nancy were there of course, Mike Grasta, their kids, Larry Kea and the list grew from there.  Jerry and Donna rolled in, Mark Eaton and many many other folks that I've met over the last 27 years via Mark n Nancy, or my years at the DET on the program.  Lehockys where there; I've known Ken since my Omaha days and we served together in Desert Storm flying together on a shit load of missions in the desert.  Hell, Grasta and I go back all the way to our early Keesler days.   So there I am with dozens and dozen of folks that spanned almost the last 4 decades of my life p

 Damned I feel GOOD!   Rode out this morning with Frank on a 95 mile run, and I felt Awesome!   Temps were 90-98, but didn't affect me like they have as of recent.   Had my mojo back in the twisties.   I'm back! We did about 95 miles on mostly two lane country roads with a stop in Commerce at an awesome lil' joint he discovered and visited last week.  I want to make this one often now, with Eggs Benedict variations and multiple Skillet variations to try!    Waitress's rocked, they have a military discount (it's the principle!), and ...   off the beaten path.  I dig it. CVMA POST about this < click here >  Frank led this ride doing 80mph, I kept a tight stagger most of the time and if just felt.... RIGHTEOUS. I'm already scheming for when the next one will be .... hmmmmmmmmmm

 Got some close friends retiring next week ...    others my age have already pulled the plug  .. several many years ago. Most are my age, few are several years younger.  Saw where my buddy Ken said this to Nancy this morning.  Ken retired a year or two (one year older than I )  "Your gona love every day being a Saturday!!!!"  .    Hell, my dad retired by age 57 which has always had my attention.  And of course, this all got me to thinking. I've got several retirement calculators out there I use, but Fidelity's is my fav to date.    I had age 65 as my target date for retirement, with a life span to 92 in there for me, 94 for the wife  and the numbers work. Well to punch 3 years early theoretically, I had to adjust my  Essential Expenses: This includes things that you purchase every month, such as housing, food, utilities, etc. and my Discretionary Expenses: This includes things that you could potentially live without, such as vacations, gifts, dining out, etc. But came

  Man ..... this is a tough subject for me.  Many organizations that I have ties to .. .belong to ...   are in the 'business' of fundraisers to allow them to have funds to help out the beneficiaries of the particular organization.  But ...   I'm the kind of guy that values his time. I value my own pocketbook. If I'm going to help, I want it to make a difference.  I want the outcome to be 'big.' And what I don't want to do, is spend a dollar to make a dollar.  What does that mean?  Well, here's a perfect example.   Liquor Baskets.   Lets say we're doing an event and we want to raffle or auction off a liquor basket or cart.   Lets say that item has a dozen bottles in it.  A request goes out for members to contribute a bottle for it, so there ends up being 1 or 2 dozen bottles that find their way to a fundraising avenue.  But, at an average cost of say .... $20 a bottle, that's close to $500 for two dozen.  How much did that item(s) bring in ?  IMHO

Spent way too much time thinking about this.  As I type this, it's a lil after 3AM and .. awake and thinking.  When did it actually 'begin' I wonder sometimes.  Or as my heart doc said to me two years ago " I don't understand what caused the infection" .. his exact words.  He corrected himself  and said damage instead of infection .. but .. I think he might have been right the first time. Back in Mar 2020 a small group of us were in Galveston.  Due to COVID 19, we canx our trip to Nashville and headed to our old beach home. Not soon after, on day 2 or 3, my chest hurt.  I'd told Lucy if felt like someone punched me right there.  I felt off.  But, this was a crazy weekend for us (i.e. 'party') and after a few Bloody Marys then Margaritas...   whatever I was feeling was forgotten, unnoticeable. Then the next day .. all over again.  She told me I must be hungover.  I was adamant  that wasn't the issue... something else was wrong.  Now . did I have

Two years ago, I had a few AFIB episodes....  and well...  here I am.  Shit Happens .  They attempted a Heart Ablation to no avail. This week ... we try again.   Have to admit I'm a lil' nervous but, it appears to be low risk. And with success, all this BS the last two years should be behind me....so ...  fingers crossed Heart Ablation Cardiologists use several heart ablation techniques to treat irregular or abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). The most common type of heart ablation is catheter ablation, a minimally invasive procedure. People who aren’t candidates for catheter ablation may need heart ablation surgery. OVERVIEW What is heart ablation? Heart ablation (also called cardiac ablation) describes a variety of procedures that treat irregular or abnormal heart rhythms ( arrhythmias ). Ablation describes any technique used to target and eliminate abnormal electrical signals from your heart. During cardiac ablation, a  cardiologist  (a doctor who specializes in heart cond

 Off and On. I wasn't going to go then was.. then wasn't then ....   it got damned hot out there and decided if it was over 100 deg this past weekend, I was out.  Then the person I was going to ride up with backed out so riding up was no longer a priority, just getting there. But if it'd been another triple digit weekend, I was out.  Forecast changed, temps were to be in the 80s due to some rain so .. I'm in. Opted to trailer to Hot Springs and meet up with Double D' a day early, then we'd ride from Hot Springs, about 80 miles to Russellville.  Longrider: photo courtesy of Jill Donihue Wednesday I roll Krush into the trailer and headed east after a full day of work. Thank god I'd trailer because it was 103 deg out and traffic was brutal with multiple complete stops on I-30 along the way.  A/C running full force, no complaints.  Finally after an extra hour on the road, I'm at Diamondhead, and Brother Donnie is handing me a cold one.  Let the weekend begin