My new "wheels"

[burkbuilds]

I've been waiting on the shop to finish this for me since Thanksgiving. I finally picked it up Friday night. Here are a few picks of my new "ride".

[JWR]

Nice Ranger, BB.

[Water Warrior 2]

Well shades of grey. Looks like mine but a little shorter from front to rear. I have a 2007 4 door 4x4. Gutless wonder 4.0 six banger with a 5 speed. But I'll never knock a Ranger for reliability and comfort. It just works too well for a basic little truck with no major issues in it's history. Bought it new in July of 07 and just clocked 50,000 kms the other day. Almost broken in now.
So BB, what year is yours?? Looks newer than mine.

[grasshopper]

nice ranger bb. mine is a 2001, 4.0 v6 auto 2 wheel drive four door with a little over 263,000 miles on it. it is rough but does what I need it to do.

[bpdchief]

Nice ride. So much warmer, cooler and dryer than a motorcycle - and you can roll down the windows for the "wind in your hair"!! Congrats

[Water Warrior 2]

Nice ride. So much warmer, cooler and dryer than a motorcycle - and you can roll down the windows for the "wind in your hair"!! Congrats

Until the wind whistles between your ears.

[bpdchief]

Imagine the dust that would swirl around in YOUR cranium!

[Water Warrior 2]

Imagine the dust that would swirl around in YOUR cranium!

Ear plugs will help. BTDT.

[burkbuilds]

Sorry to be so long in responding WW. It's a 2009 with 40,000 miles on it. I've been busy moving and haven't had easy internet access until this week. We had a little white stuff down this way and I've been rewarded with two days off from work.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sorry to be so long in responding WW. It's a 2009 with 40,000 miles on it. I've been busy moving and haven't had easy internet access until this week. We had a little white stuff down this way and I've been rewarded with two days off from work.

Are you still in Georgia ?? Snow must be really rare that far south.

[burkbuilds]

WW, yes, still in North West Georgia. More or less about half way between Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga, TN. You are correct, we do not get snow here very often and when we do it usually shuts everything down for a while because local governments are not set up to deal with it. Even just a few inches can bring things to a screeching halt for a few days. I saw the local road department using a road grader as a snow plow during this event. We do not have actual snow plows apparently. A salt truck often means a dump truck filled with salt and two men with shovels flinging it out on intersections. Often there's no salt, so they just put crushed gravel out to give some friction. Which creates problems for bikers after everything melts. My co-worker went down from some gravel at an intersection the Sunday after this last snow event. He broke his right leg and did $3K damage to his triumph.

[Water Warrior 2]

I can fully understand the snow dilemma and it's effects on the riders. Having both ridden in a snow bound city and being part of the temporary snow removal crew one winter. That was the only time I ever rode all winter due to being really too broke to fix the cage.
Until that time I never understood the complete cycle of dumping sand/salt in the winter and spending the rest of the year cleaning it up. The first less experienced riders out in the spring tend to have get offs due to being caught out on the sandy streets.
As much as I wanted to get back into riding the last 4 or 5 years I lived in Edmonton the short season and the dirty streets made my decision for me. Here in my little Paradise the streets are very clean and the highways are almost as clean although they do a lot of sanding and salting when it snows. The winter and spring rains help a lot to freshen up the entire situation. The snow and rain cycles keep everything fresh and clean. Gotta love it.
More riders are venturing up from Vancouver lately so I am getting a little itchy for the old Gl650 to be up and running safely. Looking forward to seeing a lot of coffee buds again as it gets warmer and sunnier.
I seem to be in a mood to babble so I better quit while I'm ahead.