grapes

[mbramley]

 So last week we had a nice day for a ride. I head out to see if the grapes are ready yet. I probably live about 20 miles away from wine country in N.E. Ohio. There's a winery every couple of miles. I don't drink wine, JD yes but I do love the Concord grapes. There's a particular farm where their grapes are very close to the ones my Dad grew so every year I make a couple of trips there. I can smell the grapes are ready as soon as I get in the area so to the farm I go. Put the grapes in the saddle bag and on for more Therapy. When I get home I tear into the grapes, yep good as usual. Next day the rain starts and for close to a week the weather kinda sucks so cage bound I am. We got a break in the weather so I decide it's time to take advantage of any riding day I can so I decide to ride to work. Half asleep still I put my lunch in the bags and head to work. When I take my lunch I smell something, almost like wine? I get in the shop and can smell it better. Here some grapes had fallen out of the basket and vibrated under the towel I keep in there and after a week was starting to rot and putting my lunch in there had squashed them. Nobody questioned me on it, cleaned up the lunch bag and as soon as I got home emptied the saddle bag. I sure was glad I didn't get pulled over and have to pull my registration out of that bag. I thought I was supposed to get wiser as I got older.

[scooperhsd]

No worries mate - we all screw up sometimes .

[Bret SD]

So last week we had a nice day for a ride. I head out to see if the grapes are ready yet. I probably live about 20 miles away from wine country in N.E. Ohio. There's a winery every couple of miles. I don't drink wine, JD yes but I do love the Concord grapes. There's a particular farm where their grapes are very close to the ones my Dad grew so every year I make a couple of trips there. I can smell the grapes are ready as soon as I get in the area so to the farm I go. Put the grapes in the saddle bag and on for more Therapy. When I get home I tear into the grapes, yep good as usual. Next day the rain starts and for close to a week the weather kinda sucks so cage bound I am. We got a break in the weather so I decide it's time to take advantage of any riding day I can so I decide to ride to work. Half asleep still I put my lunch in the bags and head to work. When I take my lunch I smell something, almost like wine? I get in the shop and can smell it better. Here some grapes had fallen out of the basket and vibrated under the towel I keep in there and after a week was starting to rot and putting my lunch in there had squashed them. Nobody questioned me on it, cleaned up the lunch bag and as soon as I got home emptied the saddle bag. I sure was glad I didn't get pulled over and have to pull my registration out of that bag. I thought I was supposed to get wiser as I got older.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.. nyuk nyuk 

About a month ago I went to Costco to load up on some stuff, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what will fit into side bags and the trunk. I also pick a box that will fit between the backseat backrest and the driver backrest, in which I can stow more groceries.
A day earlier I'd tried to rivet some fringe to the bottom of my leather bags and the rivets didn't penetrate deep enough to hold anything, right at that moment I got called away and just left the un-popped rivet shaft sticking up in the bag.

I put two gallons of milk in that right side bag along with a couple other smaller items and headed back. As I'm pulling into the garage I see milk dripping from the bag.. So I pulled everything out and put it away, then had to unbolt the bag and bring it in the house to rinse it out in the sink, we have a hose bib in the garage but I don't have a hose for it yet as we have recently moved in there.
I have the ABS plastic bag stiffeners in there and milk underneath that plastic in between that and the leather was gonna to stink badly if I didn't get it all cleaned out. All's well that ends well I suppose. It's amazing how many people stop and make comments as I'm loading groceries on to the bike.

My honey asked why I never want to take the car to Costco, so I explained that I never want to take the car anywhere if I can ride    she just shakes her head and laughs 

[..]

I went shopping at SAMS a few years ago when I had the ST1300.

A couple with young son stood and watched me load a cart full into my expanded tank bag, trunk and saddlebags (they are enormous).

I got the boy to push the starter button for me. Kids like that.

As they walked away the guy said to his wife "see if I got a bike I could go do the shopping".

[Bret SD]

"see if I got a bike I could go do the shopping".

Now there's a guy thinking on his feet, what a great opening bid in negotiation.. of course, when I was married I'd have gotten the bike regardless.. maybe that's why I'm not married anymore? 

[mbramley]

So last week we had a nice day for a ride. I head out to see if the grapes are ready yet. I probably live about 20 miles away from wine country in N.E. Ohio. There's a winery every couple of miles. I don't drink wine, JD yes but I do love the Concord grapes. There's a particular farm where their grapes are very close to the ones my Dad grew so every year I make a couple of trips there. I can smell the grapes are ready as soon as I get in the area so to the farm I go. Put the grapes in the saddle bag and on for more Therapy. When I get home I tear into the grapes, yep good as usual. Next day the rain starts and for close to a week the weather kinda sucks so cage bound I am. We got a break in the weather so I decide it's time to take advantage of any riding day I can so I decide to ride to work. Half asleep still I put my lunch in the bags and head to work. When I take my lunch I smell something, almost like wine? I get in the shop and can smell it better. Here some grapes had fallen out of the basket and vibrated under the towel I keep in there and after a week was starting to rot and putting my lunch in there had squashed them. Nobody questioned me on it, cleaned up the lunch bag and as soon as I got home emptied the saddle bag. I sure was glad I didn't get pulled over and have to pull my registration out of that bag. I thought I was supposed to get wiser as I got older.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.. nyuk nyuk 

About a month ago I went to Costco to load up on some stuff, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what will fit into side bags and the trunk. I also pick a box that will fit between the backseat backrest and the driver backrest, in which I can stow more groceries.
A day earlier I'd tried to rivet some fringe to the bottom of my leather bags and the rivets didn't penetrate deep enough to hold anything, right at that moment I got called away and just left the un-popped rivet shaft sticking up in the bag.

I put two gallons of milk in that right side bag along with a couple other smaller items and headed back. As I'm pulling into the garage I see milk dripping from the bag.. So I pulled everything out and put it away, then had to unbolt the bag and bring it in the house to rinse it out in the sink, we have a hose bib in the garage but I don't have a hose for it yet as we have recently moved in there.
I have the ABS plastic bag stiffeners in there and milk underneath that plastic in between that and the leather was gonna to stink badly if I didn't get it all cleaned out. All's well that ends well I suppose. It's amazing how many people stop and make comments as I'm loading groceries on to the bike.

My honey asked why I never want to take the car to Costco, so I explained that I never want to take the car anywhere if I can ride    she just shakes her head and laughs 

 I built a small trailer for behind the bike mainly to see if I can still handle camping. The idea being to travel more extensively now that I know how well our bikes do that. Anyway it makes a great grocery getter, I can fit almost a months worth of groceries in it. I get those looks too as I load up a cart full behind her.

[Patrick]

I too like the smell of grapes, not quite ready up here yet.

[Alien]

Beware!

grapes by Scott Sapers, on Flickr

[John Schmidt]

Many years ago while transferring from one base to another, wife and I stopped at a roadside stand to buy some apple cider among other things. This was in the summer and it gets hot in the trunk of the car. A couple weeks later I got in the car to go to work and oh....what a smell. Traced it to the trunk and there was the gallon thermos jug I'd forgot to remove when arrived at the new base. It was laying on its side and leaking a bit....really....what an odor. I could probably have put it in the gas tank, took weeks to get rid of the smell. I never did open the thermos, just tossed it in the trash.

[Bret SD]

So last week we had a nice day for a ride. I head out to see if the grapes are ready yet. I probably live about 20 miles away from wine country in N.E. Ohio. There's a winery every couple of miles. I don't drink wine, JD yes but I do love the Concord grapes. There's a particular farm where their grapes are very close to the ones my Dad grew so every year I make a couple of trips there. I can smell the grapes are ready as soon as I get in the area so to the farm I go. Put the grapes in the saddle bag and on for more Therapy. When I get home I tear into the grapes, yep good as usual. Next day the rain starts and for close to a week the weather kinda sucks so cage bound I am. We got a break in the weather so I decide it's time to take advantage of any riding day I can so I decide to ride to work. Half asleep still I put my lunch in the bags and head to work. When I take my lunch I smell something, almost like wine? I get in the shop and can smell it better. Here some grapes had fallen out of the basket and vibrated under the towel I keep in there and after a week was starting to rot and putting my lunch in there had squashed them. Nobody questioned me on it, cleaned up the lunch bag and as soon as I got home emptied the saddle bag. I sure was glad I didn't get pulled over and have to pull my registration out of that bag. I thought I was supposed to get wiser as I got older.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.. nyuk nyuk 

About a month ago I went to Costco to load up on some stuff, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what will fit into side bags and the trunk. I also pick a box that will fit between the backseat backrest and the driver backrest, in which I can stow more groceries.
A day earlier I'd tried to rivet some fringe to the bottom of my leather bags and the rivets didn't penetrate deep enough to hold anything, right at that moment I got called away and just left the un-popped rivet shaft sticking up in the bag.

I put two gallons of milk in that right side bag along with a couple other smaller items and headed back. As I'm pulling into the garage I see milk dripping from the bag.. So I pulled everything out and put it away, then had to unbolt the bag and bring it in the house to rinse it out in the sink, we have a hose bib in the garage but I don't have a hose for it yet as we have recently moved in there.
I have the ABS plastic bag stiffeners in there and milk underneath that plastic in between that and the leather was gonna to stink badly if I didn't get it all cleaned out. All's well that ends well I suppose. It's amazing how many people stop and make comments as I'm loading groceries on to the bike.

My honey asked why I never want to take the car to Costco, so I explained that I never want to take the car anywhere if I can ride    she just shakes her head and laughs 

 I built a small trailer for behind the bike mainly to see if I can still handle camping. The idea being to travel more extensively now that I know how well our bikes do that. Anyway it makes a great grocery getter, I can fit almost a months worth of groceries in it. I get those looks too as I load up a cart full behind her.

I'll bet you can get a ton of groceries in even a small trailer.

How did camping go? I've thought about taking an extended road trip and doing partial camping/partial hotel, like maybe every other day switching between the two. I think the right gear and packing strategy would work even without a trailer.

[mbramley]

So last week we had a nice day for a ride. I head out to see if the grapes are ready yet. I probably live about 20 miles away from wine country in N.E. Ohio. There's a winery every couple of miles. I don't drink wine, JD yes but I do love the Concord grapes. There's a particular farm where their grapes are very close to the ones my Dad grew so every year I make a couple of trips there. I can smell the grapes are ready as soon as I get in the area so to the farm I go. Put the grapes in the saddle bag and on for more Therapy. When I get home I tear into the grapes, yep good as usual. Next day the rain starts and for close to a week the weather kinda sucks so cage bound I am. We got a break in the weather so I decide it's time to take advantage of any riding day I can so I decide to ride to work. Half asleep still I put my lunch in the bags and head to work. When I take my lunch I smell something, almost like wine? I get in the shop and can smell it better. Here some grapes had fallen out of the basket and vibrated under the towel I keep in there and after a week was starting to rot and putting my lunch in there had squashed them. Nobody questioned me on it, cleaned up the lunch bag and as soon as I got home emptied the saddle bag. I sure was glad I didn't get pulled over and have to pull my registration out of that bag. I thought I was supposed to get wiser as I got older.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.. nyuk nyuk 

About a month ago I went to Costco to load up on some stuff, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what will fit into side bags and the trunk. I also pick a box that will fit between the backseat backrest and the driver backrest, in which I can stow more groceries.
A day earlier I'd tried to rivet some fringe to the bottom of my leather bags and the rivets didn't penetrate deep enough to hold anything, right at that moment I got called away and just left the un-popped rivet shaft sticking up in the bag.

I put two gallons of milk in that right side bag along with a couple other smaller items and headed back. As I'm pulling into the garage I see milk dripping from the bag.. So I pulled everything out and put it away, then had to unbolt the bag and bring it in the house to rinse it out in the sink, we have a hose bib in the garage but I don't have a hose for it yet as we have recently moved in there.
I have the ABS plastic bag stiffeners in there and milk underneath that plastic in between that and the leather was gonna to stink badly if I didn't get it all cleaned out. All's well that ends well I suppose. It's amazing how many people stop and make comments as I'm loading groceries on to the bike.

My honey asked why I never want to take the car to Costco, so I explained that I never want to take the car anywhere if I can ride    she just shakes her head and laughs 

 I built a small trailer for behind the bike mainly to see if I can still handle camping. The idea being to travel more extensively now that I know how well our bikes do that. Anyway it makes a great grocery getter, I can fit almost a months worth of groceries in it. I get those looks too as I load up a cart full behind her.

I'll bet you can get a ton of groceries in even a small trailer.

How did camping go? I've thought about taking an extended road trip and doing partial camping/partial hotel, like maybe every other day switching between the two. I think the right gear and packing strategy would work even without a trailer.

 I haven't done any camping out of it. With all the travel restrictions this spring and all of the quarantine threats and blah blah I just didn't. I did take it to Inzane this year. It was nice just not having to pack everything tight. Had extra food and drinks so I could stop wherever for a break and enjoy with a cold something. It was also nice because all my gear could stay locked up at the hotels. Many on this board do it all the time without a trailer, for some a trailer takes away from the experience , for me I rarely knew it was back there. I'm thinking of dragging it behind me to Maine soon to use it as a cooler to bring Lobster back for a family broil. And yes you can fit a lot of groceries in a 2x3 box. I even brought back a set of Cobra 6 into 6 pipes on it from Inzane, which I am truly enjoying.

[GiG]

Thinking about riding to Cawtawba Island this weekend - they have vineyards there. Is that where you went?
Want to grow grapes at home, finding it hard to determine what variety is best suited for S.E. MI.
Any suggestions?

[mbramley]

Many years ago while transferring from one base to another, wife and I stopped at a roadside stand to buy some apple cider among other things. This was in the summer and it gets hot in the trunk of the car. A couple weeks later I got in the car to go to work and oh....what a smell. Traced it to the trunk and there was the gallon thermos jug I'd forgot to remove when arrived at the new base. It was laying on its side and leaking a bit....really....what an odor. I could probably have put it in the gas tank, took weeks to get rid of the smell. I never did open the thermos, just tossed it in the trash.

  I am believing throwing it in the trash unopened was a really good call lol.

[mbramley]

Thinking about riding to Cawtawba Island this weekend - they have vineyards there. Is that where you went?
Want to grow grapes at home, finding it hard to determine what variety is best suited for S.E. MI.
Any suggestions?

 I go to Geneva Ohio for mine. I don't know much about growing grapes, my Dad and my wife were the gardeners. My Dad grew up plowing with a team of horses to grow vegetables for the hospital and I'm sure others. As far as what I know the grapes he grew were Concord grapes. I'm in N.E. Ohio so the weather should be very close.