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+ Week Rocket Science and other Riding Tales

I've found there is no perfect place to live. It's what you make of it. However, I did try to integrate in Tejas. The people I got along with the best were the other transplants who were made to feel awful by the locals. We became antagonistic toward the faux Christians in that state, and there are a LOT of those in TX. Prior to Covid, I almost secured a well paying job at the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, Sweden. They were willing to hook me up with a visa so I could get a residence visa, and work my way into assimilating into their culture. My Mom's side is a mix of Swedish, Danish, German, and Swiss. It would have been some sort of coming home for me. I was planning on emigrating and sticking around. Covid happened and communication ceased. :(

My problem is making enough money to comfortably live on in red states. I thrive in the blue ones for some odd reason.
 
Soggy Biscuit said:
I've found there is no perfect place to live. It's what you make of it. However, I did try to integrate in Tejas. The people I got along with the best were the other transplants who were made to feel awful by the locals. We became antagonistic toward the faux Christians in that state, and there are a LOT of those in TX. Prior to Covid, I almost secured a well paying job at the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, Sweden. They were willing to hook me up with a visa so I could get a residence visa, and work my way into assimilating into their culture. My Mom's side is a mix of Swedish, Danish, German, and Swiss. It would have been some sort of coming home for me. I was planning on emigrating and sticking around. Covid happened and communication ceased. :(

My problem is making enough money to comfortably live on in red states. I thrive in the blue ones for some odd reason.
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Interesting. We moved to Texas in 1997 for my job. We have never felt unwanted here. Career and income wise Texas was much better for us than living in a small town in Central New York.
 
Simmons1 said:
Interesting. We moved to Texas in 1997 for my job. We have never felt unwanted here. Career and income wise Texas was much better for us than living in a small town in Central New York.
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When I moved to Amarillo, I was out chatting with all the neighbors. Once my friend retrieved my car from the car hauler, the neighbors saw the WA plates, gave me a dirty look, scoffed, all walked back into their townhomes, and I heard the deadbolts turn. They never spoke to me or looked in my direction ever again. The cops would always stare out their windows or stand with their arms crossed whenever I was outside doing some minor work on my car, when I would talk to the other "undesirables," or follow me to the pool when I'd go during the summer. I don't have a criminal record of any sort and always pass federal background checks. I often wondered if the same could be said of them. It's no secret dirtbag cops get canned from other places within the state often wind up in small towns and continue with their corrupt behavior, because a good chunk of conservatives are fine with it as long as they're in agreement to what type of tyranny is being inflicted upon people they don't seem to like. That is wrong no matter what. I was also very openly affiliated with Come and Take It and Open Carry Texas, and I know it rubbed the po-pos the wrong way. Not that I care what they thought.

I also lived in Bexar County for a short stint in the early 00s. I got the same impression there as well. But that's not what drove me away. It was the overall shitty infrastructure, traffic in San Antonio, and awful humidity. The cities I like the most are San Angelo and Longview. Maybe I might end up in either one if circumstances play in my favor.
 
Sounds like you'd be happier away from cities, whether in Texas or elsewhere. I know I am.
 
Since this is a ride report in a motorcycle forum I'll tie this best place to live in with riding because I ended up in the SE due to motorcycles. In 2000 I was still in the Navy and stationed on Brunswick, Maine. I was due to transfer in 2001. My next duty station was likely to be my last as it would take me to 20 years and I planned on probably retiring. I wanted to transfer someplace that I would be willing to stay after i retired from the Navy. The things that were important to me were overall quality of life things such as cost of living, job opportunities and weather. At the top of my list was the riding in the area. i had lived places where the riding sucked and I had no desire to do that again. One of the potential places I could go was Atlanta but it was very hard to get because everyone wanted to go there and no one wanted to leave. I lucked out and did get orders to go there. then things changed and I ended up getting stationed in Montgomery, AL for a year and then I would still go to Atlanta.

Years earlier I had discovered the riding in the N. GA. mountains as well as NC and TN so that was the biggest reason for wanting to go to Atlanta.

So we moved to Marrietta, GA in 2001 and bought a nice house with a 2 car garage plus a large basement with a garage door perfect for holding multiple motorcycles. At one point I had 7 motorcycles and a 5 x8 trailer in the basement with room left over. I expected that would be my permanent home and that we would never move again but we eventually moved to Huntsville for work. Huntsville ended up being a much better place to live and ride than I expected when we moved. We made more friends in our first year in Huntsville than we did in 11 years in GA. The local riding ended up being better then expected and I'm not that far from the fantastic riding in the Mountains of N. GA, NC and TN.

The biggest drawback to this area is that it is growing like crazy and the traffic is getting worse although still not nearly as bad as Atlanta. There is a reason why so many people are moving here from all over the country. The biggest is all the new jobs here. Then there is the fairly low cost of living compared to the wages here as well as low taxes ( Except for sales tax).

Just for a point of reference the states I have lived in are OH, CT, LA, FL, CA, MI, MD, ME, GA and AL. For some people riding is just a hobby. For me its much more than that and there is no way I would live someplace where the riding sucks. i did that in the past and it sucked but I knew I would be moving again. I'm getting too old to be moving again so its a good thing I'm living someplace I really like.

Just to add some motorcycle content here's a couple of pics a friend took on the Saturday ride and I am actually in the both pics.

I'm up front in the curve.

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taking a pic:

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ZoomerP said:
Sounds like you'd be happier away from cities, whether in Texas or elsewhere. I know I am.
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I'm content wherever there are genuinely good people. I enjoyed my years in Vancouver, WA. Made many lifelong friends there. Despite how awful Portland has become, it's still one of my favorite places in the country, due to the scenery and the good people I know out there.

Sorry for the hijack, Klaviator.
 
Funny how different experiences can be... you couldn't pay me to live in the Pacific Northwest. The summer I was there was hideous with the endless smoke which gets into everything though I suppose it depends on luck where the fires are, but the huge distances between everything was the big turn-off. Seattle and Portland seemed fine I guess, pretty much like any other cities of similar size I've been in.
 
gpounce said:
Funny how different experiences can be... you couldn't pay me to live in the Pacific Northwest. The summer I was there was hideous with the endless smoke which gets into everything though I suppose it depends on luck where the fires are, but the huge distances between everything was the big turn-off. Seattle and Portland seemed fine I guess, pretty much like any other cities of similar size I've been in.
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Blue skies are something else over there. Fire smoke definitely ruins the fun. I only left because I had what seemed to be a sweetheart deal in TX. It turned into a nightmare both socially and financially. I should have ridden the WA wave for a few more years.
klaviator said:
No worries. Ride reports become boring if no one participates. Most of the ride reports I read get off topic once in a while.
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If you could redo your military aviation career in any branch, which would airplane or helicopter would you fly if you had the opportunity?
 
Soggy Biscuit said:
Blue skies are something else over there. Fire smoke definitely ruins the fun. I only left because I had what seemed to be a sweetheart deal in TX. It turned into a nightmare both socially and financially. I should have ridden the WA wave for a few more years.

If you could redo your military aviation career in any branch, which would airplane or helicopter would you fly if you had the opportunity?
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That's an interesting question. There are times when I wish I could tell people about how I flew F-14s, F-18s or some other cool jet but that would be lying. As it was i think my career in the Navy worked out pretty good and I wouldn't go back and change it. I met my wife because of the Navy. If you saw the movie Officer and a gentleman that's pretty much our story.

I wouldn't change the service I was in. You will notice that the navy has much cooler uniforms than the other services and both Top Gun Movies where about navy pilots, not Air force :D

Yeah but you have to spend a lot of time at sea in the navy!

Yeah, like 7 months in 21 years. I planned my career pretty good.

So here's what I flew:

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That was flight school.
 
Then I did something very unusual in that I changed aircraft my first 4 tours.

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My coolest aviation pic:

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Another pic from that flight.

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So I didn't fly the coolest aircraft in the world but I got to live all over the country and travel all over the world. And then I got to retire someplace with really great riding. I really have no complaints.
 
WOW !

Those pilots are a well choreographed team, they make it look so easy. Both vessels underway too !

Chopper #66 is a real smooth operator, "backing it in" for the grab....

Mad props to all who serve,

God bless America

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
 
FASTRacing said:
WOW !

Those pilots are a well choreographed team, they make it look so easy. Both vessels underway too !

Chopper #66 is a real smooth operator, "backing it in" for the grab....

Mad props to all who serve,

God bless America

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
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The H-46 was a blast to fly. Because of the twin rotor design it flew real well frontwards, backwards and sideways. When we did ship to ship Vertrep like in the video the two pilots would constantly change controls so that whichever pilot was on the side of the ship would be flying. We would go out on 6 month deployments and after a few months of constant practice everyone would be flying like in the video.
 
That's really incredible, klaviator! 👍

How much does a load like that hanging from the aircraft affect the handling?

Have you ever had someone lecture you about how dangerous motorcycles are and then show them that video and tell them that's what you used to do for a living? :lol2
 
DJ_MI said:
That's really incredible, klaviator! 👍

How much does a load like that hanging from the aircraft affect the handling?

Have you ever had someone lecture you about how dangerous motorcycles are and then show them that video and tell them that's what you used to do for a living? :lol2
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Those loads were pretty heavy, up to 3,000 if I remember correctly. We had to fly a lot slower with a load and if it was swaying like you saw sometimes happened in the video you could feel it.

As for your second question, no I never thought of doing that however although, even though I don't consider myself a thrill seeker, I have been doing things that are dangerous all my life. I can't imagine not riding just because it's "dangerous". Not riding would be more dangerous because I would probably die of boredom. :D

I do have a story coming up that pertains to the subject of motorcycles, flying and danger.
 
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