These were taken at various places, like the others, and I thought I'd post some for whoever might like to see them.

The first 8 are of the statue of Vulcan, the Roman God of the Forge, that sits atop Red Mountain in my hometown of Birmingham. The pics of the town are taken from the observation deck near the top of the pedestal, and the last is a shot of my wife with Vulcan in the Background. Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world, (Statue of Liberty and others are bronze), and it is a symbol of the iron and steel industry that was the foundation of Birmingham.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3068-1.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3070.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3069.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3073.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3078.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3079.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3082.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3093.jpg

The one of my bike in front of the house is the former home of an old time member of the Tennessee legislature, the U. S. House from Tn, and Govenor of Tennessee, Alfred Venable Brown. Its on one of the old "Mother Roads", U. S. 31, a few miles into Tn. U. S. 31 ran from Mobile through Montgomery, Birmingham, Nashville, on into Chicago eventually, maybe a little north of there; Hank Williams drove that road going from Montgomery to the Grand 'Ol Opry in Nashville in his caddy convertible. Notice the military grade Poison Ivy growing on the tree trunks!

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_2970.jpg

The rest are from the 2007 trail of tears ride; the first 4 at a rest stop, which can't really do justice to a ride with, by that point, as many as 70,000 to 100,000 machines. The rest were taken at ride's end in Florence. I liked the yellow "caveman" machine, and the old Moto Guzzi Eldorado, which I sometimes lightheartedly referred to as an "El - Dora - Do", but they were pretty sweet machines. There are a lot of shots of The Road King trike, but I found it to be fascinating, especially since it is an in service hearse. (notice the cooling fan) Not a bad way for a biker to be taken to the last resting place. The final shot is of the Tennessee River as it flows past the huge park where the rally is held. Pretty place.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_2977.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_2996.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3001.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_2979.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3012.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3002.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3005.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3003.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3004.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3006.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/Aladave1963/Bike%20shots%202/IMG_3011.jpg

Guess that's it for now.

Great pictures. Love the hearse. That's what I want to go in.

Awesome pics, bet nobody asks the guy with the Hearse for a ride.:eek

bet nobody asks the guy with the Hearse for a ride.:eek

No doubt! :smoke

Great stuff Dave,keep 'em come'n. :thumbup

id like to ride in the hearst. that way when someone looks inside i could scare the crap out of them!!:D

So, Dave, was the Roman God of the Forge instrumental in your Nomad purchase? :D

Great shots! What kind of camera do you have? I'm still looking for a nice one that is fairly idiot proof!

id like to ride in the hearst. that way when someone looks inside i could scare the crap out of them!!:D

Umm..errr ahhh
I hate to tell you this, but you don't need to ride in a hearse to scare the crap out of someone, have you looked in a mirror lately?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.


Great shots Dave.

So, Dave, was the Roman God of the Forge instrumental in your Nomad purchase? :D

Great shots! What kind of camera do you have? I'm still looking for a nice one that is fairly idiot proof!

I hadn't thought about that, Mike, but in retrospect, I should have gotten a couple of little Vulcan statuettes they sell in the gift shop and attached them to the Vulcan Nomad!!! If I ever get another Vulcan I will.

My camera ia a Canon D60, its a fine camera, even though it has now been passed by as far as specs, by the newer cameras. Mine is a 6.8 megapixel, and the newer ones are 10,12 meg, and if you go for the big bucks, up to as much as 15, 18, or more.

That mainly helps as the picture is enlarged, of course, and as far as the images from my camera, one image in the large, high quality mode has a file size anywhere from 2.5 to 4 meg, maybe 3600 X 2400 or so resolution. (In the RAW format it's 6 or more, I think, but I never use RAW so I don't remember, exactly.) So you have to do some modification to get them easily handled through the internet.

The 2nd and 3rd set of images I put up I saved to photobucket at 800X600, and there were two higher settings, but the image size gets big and when viewed, more than fills the screen, so the lower setting makes it an easier view.

My wife uses a Nikon, D40X I think, that's a later generation than my Canon, and hers is 10.8 meg, and you can see a difference in image quality, especially as the image is enlarged.

I would love to have a "pro" model camera, but the price is through the roof, for me anyway, BUT, there are newer consumer versions I would also like to have . The Canon Digital Rebel XTI, I think it is, can be had with a basic zoom lens from online stores for about $599.00 or so, and not a lot more than that at retail stores. It's 10 or 12 megs, and if I was in the market, that's what I would get, although Nikon and others make comparable models. This is a very competitive industry, so it's a "buyers market."

As far as using a digital SLR, either the Canon or the Nikon are very easy to use, and I'm sure other companies offerings are too, I'm just more familiar with those two brands. You can set it on programmed mode and blast away with great results, but they have an incredible array if features if you want to use those.

The Nikon has wonderfully simple and effective imaging editing software that comes with it, and probably so does the Canon, now. My camera is now 9 years old, and that's a lifetime in this technology.

I always recommend a single lens reflex camera, because you get the option of using all kinds of interchangebale lenses, which is a real advantage, and if you have a newer film 35mm SLR, there is a fair chance that the same brand specific lenses will interchange. Plus, lots of folks have used SLRs over the years, and it just feels very natural to use one of the digital SLRs.

Being able to change lenses has always been something that I enjoyed, and nowadays, aftermarket lenses can be had for a very good price, and the major manufacturers also offer lines of lenses that are not expensive.

I've had a small photog business a couple of times in my life, and I enjoy photography a lot, especially since the digital camera has, in my opinion, freed photographers from the tedium of buying film, having it procesed, having it printed (or doing all that yourself) before you get the result. I have a Canon printer that will print anything from 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 up to 17 by 19 and gives wonderful results, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg, either.

My wife uses a battery portable, which also does great work, and she will take it to events and family get togethers and give people prints on the spot. With the imaging editing software, you can be very creative with what you do. I'm rusty with my technique, but the image that had the tower next to Vulcan, although I could have changed my angle a little and hidden it, with the software just a few strokes can eliminate that, and that's just the stuff that comes with the camera. We all know what can be done with photoshop, etc.

By the way, Vulcan was the Roman God of the forge, the earlier Greek God was Hephaestus. The Greeks were more serious in their beliefs in multiple Gods, but when the Romans took over,they renamed them, and it was more entertainment with them.

Vulcan forged Zeus' thunderbolts for him, and the armor and weapons used by the Gods, (which is why I thought Kaw did a smart thing when they named their Vulcan line) and he had a bum leg. He also was not a guy to be messed with.

His wife was having an affair with some other God, and Vulcan found out about it, so he forged a metal net that was strong but also wondrously light, and when they were together, he threw the net and trapped them, then brought all the other Gods in to look at them and laugh at their naked predicament.

I always liked him. :tour

His wife was having an affair with some other God,


:eek

Say what!

http://www.follydiddledah.com/images/rational_spock.jpg

I had to do a little checking back, it's been quite awhile since I studied any Greek and Roman mythology, but if we go with the Greek/Roman names, then Zeus/Jupiter, and Hera/Juno, his wife, had Hephaestus/Vulcan. (it's also rumoured that his mother created him by herself)

Hep/Vulcan was the only ugly god, in fact, that's why he had a bum leg, because he was so ugly that his mother threw him off Mount Olympus and he broke his leg after landing in the sea, (talk about being politically incorrect, I guess he had a face that NOT EVEN a Mother could love!). The alternate story is that Zeus, after Vulcan took his Mom's side in a domestic dispute, threw him off Mount Olympus. Either way, he was rescued and raised by a Sea Goddess, Thetis, as her own.

Later, to make up for this, Zeus/Jup gave him Aphrodite/Venus, Goddess of beauty ,as his wife. Apparently, this didn't work out too well, cause she two timed him often, and her favorite lover was Ares/Mars, God of War.

To complicate things, Ares was ALSO the son of Zeus/Jup and Hera/Juno, so 'ol Hep/Vulcan's wife was bumpin' uglies with his brother(or half brother). Whenever she was seein' someone else, Vulcan would beat his anvil really hard, and Mount Olympus would erupt. (I'm sure there is some kind of symbolism there, those ancient Greeks and Romans were a pretty randy bunch.)

I guess it did him some good to embarrass his wife and his brother the way he did, but he was good at that sort of stuff, and had made his Mom a fancy chair, but when she sat in it it trapped her, as payback for throwin' him in the ocean. His old man got him to let his Mom out of the chair by givin' him the wife, but we know how that turned out. (There is some conflicting conjecture here on exactly why he got Aprodite as his wife.)

Anyway, one time when Aphrodite was with Ares, Helios the sun god spotted them, and ratted 'em out to his bud Vulcan, who did the chain mail thing and embarrassed them in front of all the other Gods. He wouldn't let them loose, either, until Ares paid him an adulterer's ransom. Poisedon offered to pay the ransom for Ares (I don't know how he got involved) and Vulcan let them loose.

Meanwhile, Appolon and Hermes were watchin' all this, and Hermes, when asked, said he "would endure thrice as many bonds if he could only share the bed of Aphrodite the golden" (Odyssey, book 8, line 335). It's been my experience that blonds are often pretty smokin', but WAY too much trouble.

Vulcan also had another wife, Charis, (from whence we get the word Charity, which I guess she had to have a lot of to put up with this mess) so he wasn't the cleanest sheet in the bin, either.

As an aside, Vulcan made the armor for Achilles, who really cleaned house in the Trojan war, until he got shot in the heel, (Achilles Tendon) which was the only place not covered, and which was where his Mom had held him to Baptize him in the river Styx, making him invincible except for that spot.

Yeah, soap operas have been around a lot longer than televison.

Well, I tried to duplicate the Greek/Roman days through the sixties and did fairly well if I remember correctly! :smoke I can't recall getting thrown into the ocean, though...well, there was that time in Panama....

I don't know if I could keep that pace up nowadays although this article in the news yesterday grabbed my attention and I've requested an application:

'Villages' Retirement Home is Widower's Sex Paradise

Monday , January 26, 2009
Lady LAKE, Fla. —

It's 11 p.m. at the Bourbon Street Bar, and Roselyn's gyrating her hips to the blues band, Sue's sipping a cocktail and flirting with her new boyfriend, and Alan is scanning the crowd for cute girls.

"See those two?" a buxom blonde asks, pointing to an elegant couple at the bar. "They were caught having sex in their golf cart a few weeks ago. It happens a lot!"

Welcome to ground zero for geriatrics who are seriously getting it on.

It's a Thursday night at one of a half-dozen hot spots at the 20,000-acre Central Florida complex called The Villages, the largest gated retirement community in America — and one of the most popular destinations for New Yorkers in their golden years — where the female-to-male ratio runs 10 to 1.

It's a widower's paradise, and the word on the street is that there's a big black market for Viagra.

Though The Villages — which spans three counties with 40,000 homes and more than 70,000 residents — boasts 34 golf courses, nine country clubs, two downtown squares and a slew of restaurants and bars, getting lucky is one of the residents' primary pastimes.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482785,00.html

Thanks for the camera info, Dave!

Years ago I was heavy into the SLR's...had a Canon EF and an F-1 with a suitcase full of lenses...they're still packed away somewhere in Alaska but I'm ready to go digital....

I think Kenny (Orion) on here went with the Rebel and his California shots were outstanding!

Time to go shopping! There's probably some pretty good deals out there right now...

Thanks for the camera info, Dave!

Years ago I was heavy into the SLR's...had a Canon EF and an F-1 with a suitcase full of lenses...they're still packed away somewhere in Alaska but I'm ready to go digital....

I think Kenny (Orion) on here went with the Rebel and his California shots were outstanding!

Time to go shopping! There's probably some pretty good deals out there right now...


Sounds like my kinda retirement home.....

Let us know what camera you get, it's time, dude. Better yet, put up pics. (I've got more to put up)

Let us know what camera you get, it's time, dude. Better yet, put up pics. (I've got more to put up)


Put up or shut up 'eh......:D

I've been using my work camera for the past couple of years...it still uses a "floppy disk" (does anyone remember those?) and has POINT 3 (.3) megapixels! Blurry-R-US! :D

I guess it's time to break down and get one! Gonna need one for my retirement road trip! :thumbup2

I've been using my work camera for the past couple of years...it still uses a "floppy disk" (does anyone remember those?) and has POINT 3 (.3) megapixels! Blurry-R-US! :D

I guess it's time to break down and get one! Gonna need one for my retirement road trip! :thumbup2

:rofl most cell phones have 2.0 mp these days

:rofl most cell phones have 2.0 mp these days

Dean has got it hemmed up, Mike, it's time to get with the program !:tour

Sigh....being "old school" is not for sissies anymore! I'm reviewing Consumer Report's review of digitals as I type!!!! I hope my new camera takes better pictures than my camera that took this picture of me on my first bike! :eek

http://www.webbikeworld.com/vintage-classic-antique-motorcycles/images/towner-brothers.jpg

Sigh....being "old school" is not for sissies anymore! I'm reviewing Consumer Report's review of digitals as I type!!!! I hope my new camera takes better pictures than my camera that took this picture of me on my first bike! :eek

http://www.webbikeworld.com/vintage-classic-antique-motorcycles/images/towner-brothers.jpg

I bet it took a better pic than the little box with the X in it that I'm seein'.
Is this it, them ? http://www.webbikeworld.com/vintage-classic-antique-motorcycles/towner-brothers.htm

That's the link I got from "properties" from your pic.

I bet it took a better pic than the little box with the X in it that I'm seein'.
Is this it, them ? http://www.webbikeworld.com/vintage-classic-antique-motorcycles/towner-brothers.htm

That's the link I got from "properties" from your pic.

Thanks, Dave! I guess I'm so "old school" I can't even COPY a flippin' photo anymore! :rofl

Thanks, Dave! I guess I'm so "old school" I can't even COPY a flippin' photo anymore! :rofl

I've thought a lot about those old timers, and back then one REALLY had to want to ride. Like having a bike with a total loss lubrication system, where you pumped oil from a tank to the engine til it started to smoke, then quit pumping til it stopped smoking, repeat as needed.

They had to be a pretty tough crowd, and might get a chuckle concerning us "bikers" of today!!! :tour

I've been using my work camera for the past couple of years...it still uses a "floppy disk" (does anyone remember those?) and has POINT 3 (.3) megapixels! Blurry-R-US! :D

I guess it's time to break down and get one! Gonna need one for my retirement road trip! :thumbup2

Lol! You are talking about the Sony Mavica!!!