Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

As promised, here are some more parade piccies. :)

This group surprised me! A rather good bagpipe band marched and piped their way down the street.

Later, they were to be heard making tunes in and around the city.

I’m not sure who this lady was, but she looked like a mountie and was perched way up high on that horse.

Not to be outdone, the Army towed a helicopter down the street. Here is photographic proof.

Then came the monocyclists, whirling and twirling! Really excellent.

I chatted to this kid a bit later; it took him three weeks to get the knack. Apparently you put all your weight on the seat, not on the pedals like with a bicycle.

This man was leading a mule train, presumably as a living history exhibit. He took them round in some really tight circles.

There were a bunch of old cars tootling away, some with “California historic vehicle” plates. Primer is good too. ;)

The Clampers had a purple fire truck, because they could! Alas, I couldn’t find it later–I wanted to talk to their plaque-master.

And finally, another round of cheers and appreciation for the other kind of hero–our firefighters.

Let’s examine the Virago’s valve timing in detail.

We’ll start with the basic characteristics of this four-stroke engine.

The Virago engine is a four-stroke ‘Otto cycle’ engine.

(Trivia: Nikolaus Otto demonstrated this kind of engine in 1876. (Wikipedia article)

Four strokes of the piston (up-to-down, down-to-up, up-to-down, and down-to-up) are required for each complete engine cycle.

The four strokes are (in order): intake, compression, power, and exhaust. (more…)

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I headed down to Weaverville for their Fourth of July celebration. For once the smoke had cleared, leaving nice blue skies and large crowds–more people than I would have expected, so there was a very nice buzz.

This was my first ever Fourth of July parade. Normally we don’t do it because of the crowds, but the fireworks were canceled and I wanted to do something to mark the day. This was fun–I’ll definitely do it again!

This chappie from the newspaper stepped up as the first group arrived. I like photographing photographers. :) (more…)

The elevators at the Luxor in Las Vegas were weird. They follow the line of the building, which is to say, they go diagonally. With our room almost at the top of the regular floors, with only two floors more before the suites and penthouses, we had plenty of opportunity to experience this disorienting ride. In return, we got a fantastic view of the endless desert.

The occasion? A group excursion to see Blue Man Group. I’m a long-time fan, and was excited to join the excursion which had grown from the fan forums into an event of some thirty attendees. The July heat kept us inside the casinos, admiring the ever-changing ceilings at Caesar’s Palace and the vast toy shop and the luxuriant mall; but when it came to gather-time, it was all about the party.

One of the members had made cheerleader pom-poms for us all. We went in en masse, and were picked out in the pre-show for a special welcom. The show unfolded in its usual spectacular fashion, with laughter and unique avant garden art and stomach-pounding drums. When it ended, we went down to the bottom and bounced in the mountain of toilet paper. And my friend lost her contact lens.

Helping her out in the bathroom, which incidentally plays the BMG Bathroom Song as you do your bathroom thing, we discovered that the rest of the group had gone. It wasn’t until we got home and back to the forums that we found out why: The organizer had arranged for us to go backstage, but hadn’t actually told anyone in advance. A great surprise had backfired, but oh well. There are many other things to do in Las Vegas, after all.

Besides, I might one day get a chance to go to their new custom-built venue at the Venetian…and won’t that be a party?

Trusted Tours & Attractions is running a contest now to win a $150 free iTunes gift card. All you need to do is sign up for their free newsletter. There are many online travel guides on their site which tell you about places like Madame Tussauds (are the Blue Men in there yet?) and their many tours help you pick out things to do in Atlanta and many other places.

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Moo Moo’s Burger Barn is a small local chain with three restaurants in Lodi and Stockton (we went to the Trinity Parkway location, which is off I-5 at the Eight Mile Road exit).

Encouraged inside by my mild obsession with cows, this place didn’t disappoint: The decor was akin to walking into a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and to my delight, the menu was stuffed with cow-type puns. Even the salt and pepper shakers were little cows! (more…)