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This old saying about 'the rain in Spain stays mainly on the Plain' is an utter load of bollocks. Having been the recepient of many a sudden storm in the Pyrenees I can say that it rains anywhere it feckin likes in Spain.

Hah, hah!!! I found you bastards!!! Kind of like my parents when i was young, you keep moving hoping i dont find you? anyways, Sunday was a fun dirt day! Took the KTM out to see if it still ran (carbs instead of fuel injection makes for fun times). Turns out, once you get some good fuel going thru it, its alright! North of home is an area known as Carizzo Plains. The little San Andreas fault runs thru it, but we dont worry about them trifles. The main road thru is a mixture of asphalt and gravel, but the best part are the offshoot roads. We probably spent about 3 hours putzing around in there, dropping bikes, etc. Great time had by all, as we prep for a trip to Moab, UT in October. Here's some pics. finished off at a great hole in the wall burger joint in beautiful downtown Taft, CA

We had a bit of a storm this evening. These shots were taken by my mate the copper who was out on patrol when it came down!

Shame on me … only just cleaning bike after last weeks rugged individualism van action … watch this space for more action next week

I hope they didn't put the thermometer in your mouth to check your temperature

I've been busy in the garage today so got a photo for @XTreme

"Except permit holders", i hate those kind, buckets of cunts to permit holders.

I was using my bike for day to day travel to work. My original plan was to carry the tyres and fit them after crossing Spain, but they took up too much room so me I decided to fit them the day before leaving. The rear Desert was fine. The front , which despite being road legal was quite aggressive looking had two problems. First was the very unstable feeling at speed on a tarmac surface. The second was at higher speeds they would not let the bike follow a curve, they wanted to carry on straight. I rode about 30 motorway miles to Strange Dave's house to find that out. If I did it again I would put an MT21 or similar front on. Having said all that, they tyres were very very good off road and tough as anything. Even with only 12-15psi in them they still didn't flatten out on a loaded Africa Twin. In fact, unknown to me, I had gotten a puncture when I got home, I think when I went over a burnt out pallet on a local green lane just before getting back. Wanted to use the bike with knobbly tyres one last time. Next morning I put my son on the back to take him to school and we got three streets away before I realised I had a flat tyre! They are in my garage rafters now, can't bring myself to throw them away. I might get them down and take a picture later.

I’m very familiar with the Victorian attitudes mainly aimed at mothers failing in their duties to walk their kids to school, completely brushing over the bit that most work and just getting everyone out the door in the morning fed, dressed, with the right kit to school early enough to make it to work on time is like a mini marathon. They also ignore that the start times of different schools are all very similar and most people have more than one kid and can’t physically be in two different places within 15 minutes without a damn car. So yer I think your bang on in that. I too have experienced parking outside the school that is so selfish you start to think maybe a licence to breed isn’t such a bad idea after all Its just the measures are always punitive. There’s never much thought about how to make it easy to drop your kids at school or actually reduce traffic, not by the school at least. The school down the road decided they’d stop the free school bus to save pennies showing a walking route through dark, unlit, unpaved lanes through fields that apparently is fine for children over 7 years old to walk to school on unsupervised. Seriously in this day and age who’d want their little girl to walk alone down dark alleys? Exactly the sort of places you’re told to avoid going alone. So now everyone is back in their cars When I suggested they introduced flexible drop off in the form of a supervised area where you can drop of a bit earlier (so everyone wasn’t trying to drop of in the same 10 minutes) that was also ignored. The primary/junior school in the other direction however painted ‘walking bus’ lines on the road (there’s no pavement there) and there a drop of point away from the school where they stick a hi viz on them and walk them the last 200 (ish) metres. That works really well.

Pic 023 is heading east on Hwy 351 to Imnaha... Pic 022 is heading north on Hwy 395 to Ukiah....

This place is my Sanctuary..... can't wait till the water level recovers....

They better get some Dagos out with brushes before I venture on them with my Beemer!

It's got some stripes on it, hence the name, but it lives up to the name by being a right bitey bastard!

Tiger mosquito? Why do they have to give it such a cool name. That should be a fast light aircraft not a bitey bastard insect.

I just went into the bedroom and one of the buggers followed me in there. So I've switched the mozzie killer on and shut the door! That'll teach it!

Pete needs a nice Boat he does....

Careful with the pose!

Stickers? @Renegade will jump at that shit for sure!

If he buys it on Friday I’ll post some pics

Because what he fancies isn’t practical for here and that’s ok, I think sometimes people should just have what their heart desires but I suspect it will be back in the garage after a short time. Im not influencing his decision, but I’m just ensuring I’m not lumbered with a bike to flog over here before we move on.

I do quite well on Facebutt. My wall is a work of digital tymmy. All Tymmy all the tyme, facebutt rocks for the photogenic.

Well exactly. I do tell them that but it's going ahead and in some cases in place already. There is an idea that all children should walk or be walked to school and that is fine if it is within walking distance and parents have time to do it. Unfortunately lots of children are sent to schools that are too far to walk, or in the case of little children, the parents have to be at work at a certain time so the car gives them that time. Having said that, the driver behaviour I have witnessed outside some schools in disgusting and unsafe. I live next to a school and they are bad enough, but where I work it is a whole different level. A few months ago I watched a car stopped at a ped crossing by a lollipop man. The driver opened his door, took his child out and walked with him into the school. Left the car in the middle of the road for a few minutes till he came back.

I was hoping you could tell me. I have heard it mentioned, but can't recall what I was told. My next job is to turn this survey, that I've paid loads of money for, into a design for a traffic scheme with no puddles (hence the contour lines and level information). The problem is what was originally planned has now been cancelled due to the fact that word of it caused a local election to get lost by the ruling party, so I have to think of something else in the next few days. Then I have to go and build it. Beautiful spot for something though. right outside some park gates. I worked on the fabrication drawing for the metal part of the gates years ago.

Is that 2 of them things you tie to your feet in the snow.

My dog's playground right behind our campsite... which leads up to Chief Joseph trail & on up into the Wallowas....

Oh sweetheart then we’d all know exactlywhere to find you

Back to work today and knocking out a sign for my boss as I am the only one to have a working version of KEYsign because I put it on my home PC so my employer's own I.T department can't muck it up. Already done 18 of the poxy things, all with different time restrictions and zone numbers and then an extra one dropped into my inbox this morning. The idea is to close streets outside schools to any vehicular traffic except residents during the little darlings' chucking in and chucking out time. The zone number refers to residents in that street who have exemption to pass in and out at those times. Now anyone that knows your typical Brit driver knows that they will go past any new restriction due to the fact they don't care or that they never look at any signs anyway because it was clear in 1985 when they last went through. So they plonk a camera up and ticket them to encourage compliance. Edit Please note despite me putting the screen caps in order, it has decided to reverse this so it is the wrong way round. Edit 2, can anyone identify the motorcycle used in all our No Vehicles signs?

Well served the fuck right I say.

golden flash

The bugger probably died after biting me!

Getting there slowly, sketched this up, new one way. Ran an articulated lorry through it on Autotrack to make sure it can get through and hatched it up the proposed new footways temporarily so I can explain to the politicians what I'm up to. Going to have a contraflow cycle track coming from the right against the vehicular one way. Took out the long island in Bishops Way I put in back in 89 to improve the access to the new one way. Bit of a chicane to slow the fast fuckers down outside the park , a drop for the part time licenced ice cream man to get up to the park gates, a narrower zebra crossing for the old folk so they have less distance to cross, some echelon parking bays in Approach Road to replace the ones I'm deleting in Sewardstone and pinching down the new one way approaches in Approach Road and St James's Avenue.

Unfortunately, due to my tinnitus, I can't hear the bastards either, so I'm an easy target for them!

We've got the normal buggers here and Tiger Mosquitoes. The Tiger bites are nasty. Funnily enough, I was just in the kitchen near the open door and got bitten on my left ankle! Didn't even see the bugger!

What is Mosquito spit made of in Spain? These bites are mahoosive

Salobrena. I think I joined the UK version but I can’t be arsed with Facebook. Oh that reminds me I have to go on Facebook to wish a couple of people happy birthday

First time I got chased by a bike cop he was riding some piece of shit like that.

Where's the IDGAF button?

Top to bottom of Spain is very easy, I had an approximate 50mph top speed when I did it due to unsuitable tyres, they scared me over 55mph until they were nearly worn out when 70 was fine. Even at 50 though it was easy going. We took 3 days but only because Charlie held us up for most of a day getting new tyres for his bike and the fact we got lost afterwards and made him pay for a hotel for the night as punishment. That was April time, like UK weather in Bilbao, cool and drizzly the first day.

Council are out this morning clearing the debris off the roads!

Not anymore.

Ooh yes that’d be way cool, a motorbike that belongs in a 5 year olds dress up box right next to his spidey costume.

A coupla views from closer to 8k ft. elevation....

Red underbrush coming in @ 6k+ ft. elevation from the Wallowa lake tram....

Please do. If only to eliminate Lyme disease from the equation.