Sidecar driving school.

On Thursday the 23rd  Sandy drove out to SD to visit with her parents and sister for a few days while I went to Milwaukee to take a class on driving a sidecar.

Our classes started on Saturday morning with 4 hours of classroom training and 4 hours of on the bike training in the afternoon. Of course, it would have to rain when we got on the bikes.There was one other guy, Tom, taking the sidecar class with me and three taking the trike class; they were Betty, Holly and Don. Although the three on the trikes had never driven motorcycles before, everyone did well during the maneuvers we had to do.

Because we had a small class and everyone was doing so well on the maneuver training, we did not start classes until 10:00 on Sunday morning. I had time to take a drive to the Milwaukee lake front. Along the way I drove past a house that reinforces my belief in rules and covenants for home associations.

 

 

 

When we started at 10:00 we again had some class instruction and then took a written test in the morning. In the afternoon we had some more maneuver training and then were graded on our skills. Everyone passed with flying colors.

Here is Tom with a sidecar furnished by the driving school and Tom by his Harley with a Lehman trike kit.

Here is Holly with her Honda with a Hannigan trike kit.

Here is Betty with her Harley with a Lehman trike kit.

Here is our instructor, Warren, showing us the maneuvers we have to do.

Here I am with the sidecar rig furnished by the school.

I know one thing for sure after taking the class and that is it’s a lot better to be on a trike or sidecar when you lock up the brakes on a wet surface. You don’t tip over.

Now I just have to wait for the sidecar to be built and then I go Murray, KY and have it installed at the Hannigan factory.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy

The final leg home.

It’s Wednesday the 31st and we are heading for home over the next two days. Here are Chuck and Lorraine seeing us off.

As we make our way with a stop in Murray, KY so Sandy could get a ride in a motorcycle with a sidecar, I had a brain fart and did not get a picture of that event.

Sandy took this thinking it was a pretty neat country driveway, maybe a little tight for our motorhome.

Some road construction we came across. We were pretty fortunate in that we did not run into a lot of road construction on this trip.

 

We did get to drive some on the Natchez Trace again. We’ll have to drive this sometime again when everything is green.

 

More trees blooming.

 

 

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

 

Bush stadium where the Cardinals play baseball.

It seems our friend, Richard, has made his mark all over the country.

Crossing the Missouri River.

As you can see, I am moving to the center lane. It looked too narrow in the right lane.

The campground we stayed in at Urbana, IA. We will be home tomorrow.

 

It’s nice to see this kind of temperature in middle Iowa.

When we awoke in Urbana, IA it was 56.3 degrees and when we got back to Lakeville the temperature got up to 81 degrees. This was the first and last snow we saw and it was just before we got to the Minnesota/Iowa border.

We are home!!!

It was a fun winter on the road, but it’s good to be back home.

We’re home now so we won’t be posting again for awhile.

Have a Happy Easter everyone.

Dave and Sandy

Driving from Asheville to Huntsville, AL, Visiting with Chuck and Lorraine and visiting the US Space Museum.

3-27-10 Saturday: Today was another driving day, this time to Huntsville, AL, to meet up with our friends Chuck and Lorraine.

We did not get into the Smoky Mountains but we did get into the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

 

I like those roads that have just a little asphalt to the right of the white line, but they make Sandy a little queasy.

There were a lot of kayakers along this river and they even had a obstacle course setup.

 

I have never seen a kayak shaped like this before.

Passing through Tennessee again.

Maybe a little more asphalt to the right of the white line would be good. Sandy must be getting used to this as she was still able to take this picture.

Is this a good sign?

And maybe a little fill would be good also.

I think this is what I should have been riding on these roads.

This is for our friend, Donna.

 

This was the view as we turned into the campground by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Next to the campground was an area where the kids who go to Space Camp can launch the rockets they built.

This is the launch station.

 

One of the spent rockets. Parachute, nose cone and rocket body.

 

On Sunday Chuck, Lorraine, Sandy and I went to the Space Museum.

 

This Saturn V seems to rise forever when you stand under it.

Here we are as we start or tour.

This is a Saturn laid on its side.

This ring between the first and second stage is basically a large circuit board.

View of the second and third stages.

Moon Lander.

This is the actual command module from the Apollo 16 mission.

 

This missile brought memories of my time in the Army when I was stationed in Germany. I was attached to a Sergeant Missile Battalion as a section chief of a survey unit. It was our job to survey in a position so that when they fired the missile they could calculate the distance and direction. Basically, it took a seven man team to do what a $100 GPS can do today.

 

Here Chuck and I are trying to land the Space Shuttle. All I will say is you better ride with Chuck.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the view outside our motorhome.

 

We spent the day visiting with Chuck and Lorraine and working on their Direct TV box. Later Sandy made supper for us with help from Chuck, Lorraine and I. We met Chuck and Lorraine in March of 2008 at the Tiffin factory and have been able to cross paths several times since then.  It will be good to see them again this summer when they come to visit on their way through Minnesota.

 

 

Until next time.

Dave and Sandy