Jump to content

KTMrad

Admin
  • Content Count

    8859
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    24

Everything posted by KTMrad

  1. KTMrad

    "Kaw'ees Cuts"

    Kawee, when are you cookin' up them little fellas for a SDAR bbq ?....mmmmmm I want mine with a hot Buffalo wing sauce !!
  2. If you need help thru the rough sections, you're really not a "Hero" Yes, it's a crowded area, but I think the difficult trails attract a lot less people. Also, judging from the ride DigDug put on up there a few weekends ago, most people were pretty good about letting us know how many more bikes were behind them by showing the number of fingers as they raised their hand when passing by. Posting this from working on the beach in Florida again.....will be back Thursday.
  3. Dug, I'm going up with 3 or 4 other friends...they're all taking the wimp route , so I plan on riding with you. We're going up sometime Friday and staying at the Motel 6. I think Brett posted more details about what we're doing in the previous post. See ya there !! Rad
  4. KTMrad

    Cellular Service Coverage and Riding Solo

    Most of my long distance rides are solo, and I don't rely or even think much about cell phone coverage. I rely on doing my best to be prepared for any occurence, make sure if I go down a trail, I'll be able to come back up it if I have to turn around, think about where I'm going before going there, and what will I do if something does happen, how long will it take it I have to walk out, do I have enough water, do I have some emergency food or power snacks. It's all about being prepared. If I worry about what happens if I get hurt by myself, then I would never enjoy going exploring....there is some risk involved, but riding a motorcycle itself has some risk. In the future, I plan on getting an emergency beacon that costs about $500, it broadcasts an emergency signal on the FAA airwaves and they have to send Search and Rescue out to look for you.
  5. KTMrad

    Tire inflators

    I use the cheap air cartridges with the threaded top, you can get them at any bike shop. You need the little attachment that screws on and punctures the top, and has the fitting on the other end that screws onto your valve stem to fill the tire. Those kits are inexpensive....Moose makes one, as well as other brands. It works great. I don't use the gun/cartridge type.
  6. I still want to go....not sure of my schedule yet, but I hope my work schedule in Florida isn't all week, so I can be back for the ride !!
  7. I probably won't be able to make any of these meetings, but sure wish I could. This is regarding the best single track trail system in Southern California, which we've discussed in the past. It is crucial they don't close any of these trails in the Kernville area...Sequoia Nat'l Forest. SEQUOIA FOREST PROPOSES TO CLOSE 160 TRAILS Attend the meetings the Forest will be holding to keep the public informed 6/25 Lake Isabella 6/28 Ridgecrest 6/30 Bakersfield 7/9 Visalia 7/10 Porterville These are your trails are you going to let them be closed? READ MORE AT http://www.stewardsofthesequoia.org/ALERT_...ing_Notice.html -- Chris Horgan Stewards of the Sequoia Division of CTUC 501c3 Non Profit ----------------------------------------------------------------
  8. Please get involved with this and send letters, make some calls, etc. This is another area we will lose access to forests if we allow them to make a new National Park in these areas !! See ITEM B below, and please read the entire e-mail to know what's going on....... LOOK AT THE MAP, folks, at the agricultural and residential areas that will be encircled by this proposed NEW FEDERAL PARK. This was introduced in Sept. of 2004 as S-347. These people NEVER GIVE UP. See areas affected by Rim of the Valley Land Grab: HERE Two new federal national parks are also called for in HR1975, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. This is not just a California problem. All citizens must pay attention and take action on this ongoing governmental attack on property, public and private, where-ever it may occur. From: LandRights Network Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 10:18 AM Subject: Call Now. Rim Of The Valley Land Grab Hearing Thursday, June 14th (HR1835) Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Urgent Action Required Call Now. Rim Of The Valley Land Grab Hearing Thurs. June 14th House Natural Resources Committee Listen to it live by going to <http: resourcescommittee.house.gov> The hearing time is 10:00 AM Eastern Time, Thursday, June 14th. That will be 7:00 AM in the Pacific Time Zone. It is urgent that you call your Congressman plus the three special Congressmen listed below. You may also call Members of the Natural Resources Committee. Send them an e-mail or fax. It is critical that you call your Congressman today to oppose HR 1835. Any Congressman may be called at (202) 225-3121. It is especially important to call, fax and e-mail Reps. Elton Gallegly, Buck McKeon and David Dreier. A major portion of the Rim of the Valley will affect their constituents. The only way for local groups to fight local issues when threatened by Federal national proposals is to band together nationwide and support each other You, by calling, e-mailing or faxing today, will save people who will then be there tomorrow to help you when you are personally threatened if you are not now. Rim of the Valley is a giant new National Park being slipped by Congress as a supposed addition to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It will include and threaten 158,000 private parcels in Los Angeles County and 11,000 in Ventura County. These are in addition to those landowners trapped in the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. There are many National Forest Permittees in the proposed area. Large portions of the Angeles National Forest will be converted into National Park. The San Bernardino and Las Padres National Forests are also threatened. All cabin owners must oppose HR 1835. The Park Service does not allow permit cabins. This proposal will be the most expensive Park Service area in history with a cost well in excess of 2 billion dollars hurting many other parks that will suffer a shortfall in maintenance funding as a result. > > > > > Action Items listed below: (Natural Resources Committee Fax and e-mail addresses listed below). It is especially important to call or write if your Congressman is on the list. A fax is the best way to send your letter. Background: HR 1835 (Rim of the Valley) would surround the parts of: the Santa Monica Mountains; the Santa Susanna Mountains; the San Gabriel Mountains; the Verdugo Mountains; the San Rafael Hills; and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests. In California with a huge New National Park area. HR 1835 and the Rim of the Valley will cost over $2 billion making it the most expensive park in American history. That is the way Santa Monica Mountains NRA started out. It was only supposed to cost $155 million in 1978. Today it is over $1 billion and continuing skyward. HR 1835 is called the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act and would study expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding a corridor of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley. Don’t be confused when they call it a study. If this bill passes, Congress will ask the giant Park Service bureaucracy if they want more land, more money, more power and more people. What do you think any self-respecting bureaucracy is going to say? Of course they want it. They always want more. The Rim of the Valley consists of parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Susanna Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains, the San Rafael Hills, and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests according to Congressman Adam Schiff. The study area will encompass 491,518 acres. That is nearly three and a half times the size of the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area that is 153,750 acres and over two thirds the size of Yosemite. All that in an urban area. You can see a map by going to www.landrights.org Just click on the link on the website homepage. This map was originally produced by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. They have deliberately tried to hide the full impact of HR 1835 by how they have shaded the areas in the map. They call it a corridor but it actually surrounds and includes huge areas of land. The Park Service does not like private land within their boundaries. They will try to buy it all. **Be sure to call your local newspapers to get them to print a map of the giant new Rim of the Valley National Park Service area. This is part of the giant plan promoted by the Park Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Wildlands Project for a nationwide series of corridors linking all the parks and forests in the United States. This has the potential for a massive takeover of National Forest and other Federal lands by the Park Service. Don’t dismiss this because it may not be in your area. If they pass this proposal, some Members of Congress will be emboldened to add new and expanded areas where you live. HR 1835 will put a circle of Park Service control around tens of thousands of landowners. Anyone familiar with how the Park Service works knows that is the beginning of ratcheting down the regulatory controls and land acquisition. They want it all eventually. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Action Items: -----A. You need to call, fax and e-mail your Congress in opposition to HR 1835 immediately. Every Congressman can be reached at (202) 225-3121. -----B. Just write a short letter to the Chairman and Ranking Minority member of the Subcommittee with your opposition. Put on it testimony. You can actually send up to 10 pages. It must arrive within 10 working days after the hearing (2 weeks). It is better to send it sooner than later. The e-mails for the Committee Members are listed below. Be sure to send it by fax or e-mail to get it there on time. -----C. Send a copy of your testimony to your own Congressman. -----D. Ask your Congressman to attend the hearing and oppose HR 1835. Ask him or her to get you a copy of the map of the proposed area. Virtually no Congressman has seen a map. When they do, they should realize how crazy this idea is. You need to get your Congressman to look at the map. -----E. Be sure to go to www.landrights.org for a copy of the map of the Rim of the Valley. You can enlarge it to make it more readable. Make sure you ask your local newspapers to print a map of the proposed Rim of the Valley National Park Service area. People have no idea what is coming at them. It is especially important to send e-mails or faxes to these three Representatives. They have many constituents in the Rim of the Valley boundary but are not on the Parks Subcommittee. Their voices are very important. ***** Elton Gallegly (R-CA) – FAX -- (202) 225-1100 – e-mail: Elton Gallegly % of this Legislative Director Brain Feintech at brian.feintech@mail.house.gov Buck McKeon (R-CA) – FAX -- (202) 226-0683 –e-mail: hanz.heinrichs@mail.house.gov; bob.haueter@mail.house.gov David Dreier (R-CA)—FAX – (202) 225-7018—e-mail: mark.harmsen@mail.house.gov; alisa.do@mail.house.gov Here is the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. All can be called at the Capital Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. You can fax the committee office at (202) 226-7736 Minority Members (Republicans) Ranking Minority Member: Rob Bishop (R-UT) Fax: (202) 225-5857 e-mail: casey.hammond@mail.house.gov John Duncan (R-TN) – FAX (202) 225-6440 -- e-mail: scott.fischer@mail.house.gov Chris Cannon (R-UT) – FAX (202) 225-5629 – e-mail: matthew.landoli@mail.house.gov Tom Tancredo (R-CO) – FAX (202) 226-4623 – e-mail: Macarthur.Zimmerman@mail.house.gov Jeff Flake (R-AZ) – FAX -- (202) 226-4386 – e-mail: chandler.morse@mail.house.gov Rick Renzi (R-AZ) – FAX – (202) 226-9739 – e-mail: jim.lester@mail.house.gov Steve Pearce (R-NM) – FAX – (202) 225-9599 – e-mail: tim.charters@mail.house.gov Henry Brown (R-SC) – FAX – (202) 225-3407 – e-mail: chris.berardini@mail.house.gov Louie Gohmert (R-TX) – FAX – (202) 226-5866 – e-mail: Ashley.callen@mail.house.gov Tom Cole (R-OK) – FAX -- (202) 225-3512 – e-mail: scott.parman@mail.house.gov Dean Heller (R-NV) – FAX – (202) 225-5697 – e-mail: leeann.walker@mail.house.gov William Sali (R-ND) – FAX – (202) 225-3029 – e-mail: matthew.hite@mail.house.gov Douglas Lamborn (R-CO) – (202) 226-2638 – e-mail: melissa.carlson@mail.house.gov Don Young (R-AK) -- FAX (202) 225-0425 – e-mail: Pamela.day@mail.house.gov Majority Members (Democrats): Chairman -- Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) (202) 226-2301 – e-mail: david.watkins@mail.house.gov Dale Kildee (D-MI) – FAX – (202) 225-6393 – e-mail: travis.talvitie@mail.house.gov Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)—FAX – (202) 225-4580—e-mail: wendy.clerinx@mail.hoouse.gov Donna Christensen (D-VI) – FAX – (202) 225-5517 – e-mail: brian.modeste@mail.house.gov Rush Holt (D-NJ) – FAX ­­­­– (202) 225-6025 – e-mail: christopher.hartmann@mail.house.gov David Daniel Boren (D-OK) – FAX – (202) 225-3038 – e-mail: Jason.buckner@mail.house.gov John Sarbanes (D-MD) – FAX – (202) 225-9219 – e-mail: Jason.Gleason@mail.house.gov Peter DeFazio (D-OR) – FAX – (202) 225-0032 – e-mail: susan.brown@mail.house.gov Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) ­­-- FAX – (202) 226-0774 – e-mail: moira.campion@mail.house.gov Ron Kind (D-WI) – FAX – (202) 225-5739 – e-mail: david.degennaro@mail.house.gov Lois Capps (D-CA)­ -- FAX – (202) 225-5632 – e-mail: jonathan.levenshus@mail.house.gov Jay Inslee (D-WA) ­­– FAX – (202) 226-1606 – e-mail: garth.vanmeter@mail.house.gov Mark Udall (D-CO -- FAX – (202) 226-7840 – e-mail: stan.sloss@mail.house.gov Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) – FAX – (202) 225-5823 – e-mail: josh.albert@mail.house.gov Heath Shuler (D-NC) -- FAX­­ – (202) 226-6422 – e-mail: sean.obrien@mail.house.gov Nick Rahall (D-WV) – FAX – (202) 225-9061 – e-mail: Jim.zoia@mail.house.gov ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If HR 1835 passes and the huge expansion eventually passes Congress it will: -----1. Will threatened thousands of landowners and recreation users. -----2. By our estimate, it will cost over $2 billion dollars and perhaps a great deal more to carry out their grandiose land acquisition and regulatory scheme. It will become a never-ending money pit with Congress having to keep up with public expectations. -----3. Would study expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding a corridor encircling large portions of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley in California on the North side of Los Angeles. -----3. HR 1835 includes part of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Susanna Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains, the San Rafael Hills, and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests. -----4. The study area will encompass 491,518 acres, that’s two-thirds the size of Yosemite. It’s nearly three and a half times the size of the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area which is 153,750 acres. It will run approximately 300 miles giving it a huge scope. -----5. Will control land use within and adjacent corridors by threatening eminent domain (condemnation) of the land. That is how they prevent building and lots of other uses. ALRA saved a ski area in Maine recently that had been continually threatened with condemnation. -----6. HR 1835 will ultimately dilute the Park Service budget meaning less care for other parks. -----7. The combined length of these corridors is likely to run as much as 300 miles long. The Santa Monica Mountains Corridor NRA is only about 40 miles long and is already costing over one billion dollars. -----8. The corridors will be like a series of giant nooses put around the necks of the many communities in the encircled areas. Economic and social activities will be greatly inhibited. Access people now take for granted will be lost forever. Frankly, the Park Service has a record of being a very bad neighbor. Go to www.landrights.org for several socio-cultural assessments and histories of Park Service abuses. -----9. There will be a massive increase in regulations controlling private and community activities with the encircled areas. HR 1835 will interdict transportation corridors, which will mean new bridges and passageways for wildlife corridors throughout the region. ----10. They’ll use the wildlife as an excuse for substantial new regulatory controls. They’ll build bridges for the wildlife over the freeways but you’ll be locked out. For example over 90% of Yosemite is now closed off to most of the public. They are closing campgrounds and parking lots and soon you will have to take a bus just to get into the park. ----11. Force the closure of hundreds of miles of exiting roadways substantially reducing motorized recreation. ----12. It will be hard or impossible to get communication towers and other utilities installed in these corridors. ----13. They say they will put in hiking trails, but the area is so hot in the summer that very little hiking takes place. There is virtually no water. In the winter, it becomes floods and mud. At the existing Santa Monica Mountains NRA they have to actually bus people out of the center of the City of Los Angeles in order to increase visitorship. People who have a choice don’t spend much time there. ----14. Movie and TV companies who use these areas for films will be prevented from doing their normal work. The Park Service likes naturalness. They don’t really like people. They just want enough to justify their budget. ----15. Creation of the Rim of the Valley Corridor could require tougher Class I air standards that would have a negative impact on private industry throughout the San Fernando Valley and the other areas. If you like the notion of viewsheds and soundsheds, you love the Rim of the Valley Corridor bill. ----16. The House has not held a hearing on HR 1835. They did hold a hearing on another very different bill a year ago. The Senate held a hearing but had no one testify against the bill. That’s fairness for you. You would think they would want to hear from both sides. So Congress is really operating in the dark. ----17. Even though there is very little water, what exists is valuable. S 347 will give the National Park Service a large measure of control over all the high ground around these valleys. Historically that means the agency uses that power to interdict the goals of local communities and business. ----18. The Park Service also seeks to keep communities from allowing landowners to use their land by threatening the cities and towns with the loss of Federal funds of all kinds. Why is the Rim of the Valley Corridor bill (HR 1835) so important? It will threaten thousands of landowners and permittees in the mountains around Los Angeles. It will threaten private owners in the Angeles National Forest and may threaten owners in the Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests as well. When the Park Service takes over a Forest Service area, landowners and recreation users lose. The Park Service does not like private uses and has almost no permit system. HR 1835 will set a standard nationwide for corridor and greenway bills involving many urban and rural communities. It will likely lead to other corridor measures in other National Forests. If you like the notion of viewsheds and soundsheds, you love the Rim of the Valley Corridor bill. If they pass it in California, it will be hard to stop in other areas. HR 1835 is a “study” bill. But it is much cheaper and easier to stop the study bill than to stop the authorizing bill that will most certainly come later. They are using HR 1835 because that is the Senate version of the bill introduced and passed through the Senate by Diane Feinstein (D-CA). If you don’t live anywhere near Los Angeles, why should you care? Because these studies are the first step toward a Federal land grab in your area. They are the camels nose under the tent. Even if you live in Arizona, Washington, Idaho or Colorado, a few calls to your Congressman can make a huge difference. As few as ten letters in a Congressional district will get that Congressman thinking about why he should vote for this bill. Usually he will get very few calls in support from greens in your state. So a few calls like yours really count. Any Congressman can all be reached at the same number by calling the Capital Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Ask for the Congressman you are calling when the switchboard operator answers. When their staff answers the phone, ask for the person who handles National Parks or Resources Committee matters or HR 1835. HR 1835 has already passed the Senate and just passed out of the Resources Committee. It stands a good chance to get passed by the House because of the lack of time to really examine the consequences of the bill. HR 1835 is really creating a monster new national park. The size is huge and the cost will be even larger. The size could be a series of corridors with a total length as long as 300 miles and costing you, the taxpayer over $2 billion dollars. Ultimately what the Park Service will want is a giant network of corridors, some very wide, covering all the mountains around the North West part of Los Angeles and part of Ventura Counties. Some of these corridors will likely mean the conversion of multiple-use land managed by the US Forest Service to the National Park Service. The Park Service is famous for its land grabbing and regulatory technique. One example is that Santa Monica Mountains NRA is well known for being a park where the Park Service was sued and ultimately had to pay large damages for initiating a raid against an innocent rancher, Donald Scott, who was killed in the raid. All because the Park Service wanted his land. The Park Service has been a nightmare for landowners in Santa Monica Mountains. Relations with landowners and others who traditionally used the area have always been bad and continue that way. It was supposed to be a “string of pearls” with most land left in private hands. But that concept largely went away as the Santa Monica Mountains NRA gradually grew and more landowners were wiped out. The National Park Service promised they would protect private property owners and that most private land would not be purchased. However, they continually expand their appetite so the scope and cost of the NRA just keeps increasing. The Santa Monica Mountains NRA surrounded thousands of landowners preventing them from getting access. Then they bought out the major landowners and just left the small landowners to twist in the wind. Numerous complaints have been filed about the Park Service creating hardships and doing nothing about it. That is what will happen in the Rim of the Valley Corridor. It will start with a small scope and gradually increase over time until the Federal Government and the National Park Service take over huge portions of the mountains around Los Angeles. The proposed new Park Service area is likely to cost over $2 billion in additional dollars. That could be grossly understated. The funding required would detract from existing National Parks that are already strapped for funds for basic health, safety and visitor services. If you live in California, call at least three friends to ask them to call, fax and e-mail. Forward this message as widely as possible.
  9. My friend Larry, who I haven't seen in 15 years....last time I saw him is when we rode our bikes 11,000 miles on our cross-country trip to San Diego.....I ended up moving to SD two months later. Larry at the Atlantic Ocean boardwalk, Palm Bay. The END....for now.
  10. I had to attend some destructive testing at a resort on St. Pete's Beach in Florida. Flew from SD to Tampa on Sunday, June 10th, then celebrated my birthday at a Beach Bar by the hotel Sunday night. The job ended up being only 2 days instead of 5, so we had some extra time to check out the area....... After work on Monday, Allen and I went to go find a place for lunch. At the Hurricane Bar & Grille on "Pass-A-Grille" beach and harbor area.
  11. On the drive across the state, I had to find some 4 Wheelin' to do in the Jeep.....I found a Wildlife Management Area to explore, and got lost driving around in the woods for about an hour but found my way out.....had a blast !! It was raining, and blasting down the dirt roads, the puddles were splashing way over the roof of the Jeep
  12. Left the St. Petersburg area on Wednesday and headed across the state to the Atlantic side to see an old friend. Here, I stopped at Alligator Lake Didn't see no stinkin' Gators But this dog did come greet me instead...
  13. We found a local place we liked, so we had to go there 2 days in a row...here, Blair poses for us as wildman Allen looks on......... I think we were having a pretty good time
  14. The view out my 5th floor balcony room....man, life's rough
  15. White sand beaches on the Gulf I crashed a wedding on the Beach Sunset at Clearwater Beach
  16. Bagstr, if you're looking to get your shiny, new 990 into trouble, I think I can help you I'll let you know when I get back and have either the 950 or the 900 Elefant on the road.
  17. KTMrad

    totally un-motorcycle related

    Can't make it, I'm in Florida, don't know when I'm heading home.
  18. Hey Steve, you're lucky you're daughter reminded you....don't want to hear of another divorce Your wife was probably thinking...."is he serious, going riding on our anniversary" ? And Happy Anniversary...it's my birthday also.
  19. KTMrad

    When are your tires worn?

    To me, it really depends on what the tire looks like before my next ride. If I don't have a major trip or ride coming up, I'll wear the tires out and run the knobs really low. If the tire won't make a long ride or I know I'll be riding some tough terrain, then I go ahead and change them.
  20. KTMrad

    wishful thinking ride

    As mentioned in a previous post, here's a link to the comprehensive camping gear list.
  21. Another handy link, thanks to the people at Wetleather.......Medical Info Form
  22. From the Wetleather Site..........a Comprehensive List of camping gear. Suggestion....go through the list and highlight only those items needed for your trip or for motorcycle camping. If you review this list and check off all the items needed for a trip, you shouldn't forget anything....this is an excellent list !!
  23. I think it's a bit pricey......I'm undecided so far.
  24. KTMrad

    Let's all get together for a "meet and greet".....

    Kevin, Carguy has offered to host the BBQ.....go to this thread
×

Important Information