Big Burn sculpture comes to life

Getting ready for the Octoparty/Big Burn next Saturday, Oct. 7 at Windbeam Farm. All the cool kids will be there.

Cold War Ride, part III

The final installment.

In rural North Dakota, you can pose right smack dab in the middle of the road.

From the atop the Nicollet Tower.

Inside the Stirum, N.D community hall, where they used to play high school basketball.

Zach is the king of the pothole prairie.

Neal at the old homestead outside of Oakes.

Evil triplets doubled.

Navigating.

Cold War Tour Part II; inside the silo

The whole point of this ride was to visit the nuclear missile launch facility in Cooperstown, N.D. The site, Oscar Zero, has long since been abandoned by the USAF as part of the START treaty signed by the US and Soviet Union. The state of North Dakota recognized the historical significance the nuclear missile sites played in the Cold War and turned Oscar Zero into a museum. Worth the trip. Here it is, in pictures, of course.

Type in the secret code, insert the house key and give these knobies a twist
 and it would have been Ka-Boom City on the other side of  the globe.

Johnny, is it suddenly warm?

The chair of Armageddon; comforting to know, right?

Missile crews worked 24 hour shifts and were locked into the launch capsules
buried 50 feet below the surface. Coffee powered these guys through long shifts.

If the elevator did not work, you'd get hauled up from the launch capsule via a dumbwaiter.

Lock box that stored launch codes.

Would you trust these guys to run the show?

First Ducati ever parked upon a missile silo.

Blast door of epic proportions, yo.

Entering the launch capsule.

Them is big locking pins, right there.

Atop missile silo.

Outside Oscar Zero launch control facility.

At the missile site south of Cooperstown.

What happens when you send a bunch of photographers on a motorcycle ride to North Dakota?

You get a ton of photos, that's what. Round one of the Cold War Tour of North Dakota. (we visited a defunct Minuteman III nuclear missile facility near Cooperstown, ND. Who knew the end of the world was so nearby?)

Nicollet Tower near Sisseton, SD. It's a 75-footer.

Literally, out there. And this is what it looks like.

The David Brown tractor on the Lambert homestead.
Yes, this is the tractor James Bond would drive.

Yep, we visited silos in a Soviet Block town.

No one, and I mean no one, can resist a photo with a large fish statue. Neal doing the selfie.

Roaming the Prairie Pothole region of ND

Brett reflects upon life in the prairie. Hahaha.

A few from the North Shore Shindig in Finland, MN

Yep, it's way up there in the Arrowhead. For those of you who don't know what that is; it's the pointy area of northern Minnesota along Lake Superior. And there is a shit ton of gravel, fire roads, single track - and thanks to a lot of rain -a lot of mud and puddles. Fun as hell? Ya, you betcha. Am I tired this Sunday eve? Ya, you betcha. A good time was had by all.

What makes a great tire stand? A fire pit grate, that's whut.

Apparently we were not too far into the ride: bikes are far to clean at this point.

Coming off a forestry road, pre-crash, of course.

As usual, a good group of guys to ride with.

Tearing along a wall of some really loose stuff.

Getting ready to head off down another forestry road

This is what a broken foot peg looks like on a Honda Africa Twin....

This is what the field repair looks like on a Honda Africa Twin.
 Locking pliers are your friend, boys and girls

This weekend: stuff to do

See the poster below for details.

 ....and a few from last year's show

And if that don't float yer boat, how about?:

Random Motorcycle Picture of the Day

Some riding in the "hollers" of Welch

Found no stills, but plenty of nice gravel, trails and whatnot.

Random Motorcycle Picture of the Day

It's over (but not really). Octoparty/Big Burn on the books

Labor Day is just about kaput and at midnight tonight, the official summer season comes to close. But that don't mean shit to us as we view fall as the best time to ride, never mind  all that waning daylight business. Anywhooo, Fall also marks the return of the annual Octoparty/Big Burn event. It is set for 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 7. However, this year will mark a venue change as it will be held at Paul Sr.'s Winbeam Farm in Wisconsin. (Simply put, I want to take a break from hosting this year.). Don't despair, there will still be a large burning of a moto-inspired sculpture which will be built soonish. BYOB and bring some food to pass.