Google Video sucks lately, plain and simple. For some reason the videos take longer to load, so I've made them even shorter, then they only play half way and stop. So, Google Video is gone as of this morning and I simply uploaded my own MPG to my web space. Of course, the slow crappy dialup people like me still have to wait forever to load it, so I shortened the video even more to make it a smaller file size. I may just get rid of the whole stupid video thing altogether and if anybody wants to see ATVing videos I'll put together a DVD. Google Video was ok at first while it worked, even with the enormous sacrifice in video quality, but it sucked too much lately to keep. Seems like the older I get the less patience I have for bullshit.

Anyway, once I got done fighting with the video thing (which I may not be done with yet) I went for a nice 80 mile ATV ride (after I pumped up a flat tire on my truck of course). That felt better. Very relaxing and a lot of fun. I was feeling a bit lonely at first, which is unusual for a loner like me, but then I met some old ATVer friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. One of which is a fellow Hawkeye owner! She has 3000 miles on hers and loves it. I guess she had a little warranty work done to the clutch at first, but she said that has been resolved and everything is great now. We had a nice chat.

I rode clear up and around the Goodyear/Deerpoint loop in Bear Bluff. Boy, that's really out in the sticks there! Nothing but wolf tracks, woods, and deer. If Bigfoot is going to show his face and scare the hell out of me, that's the place he's going to do it someday. Lots of baby animals running around today. I saw a grouse and her little ones, twin fawns, and a whole bunch of little turkeys. Threw in a turtle or two and some deer for good measure and that was plenty of wildlife to view. Oh yes, and the wolf tracks. I took a picture of them, next to my size 13 boot for comparison. Too big to be coyote (a lot of them by my house) and if it was a dog track, it would have been a good-sized dog. I don't think it was a dog track though. I was a long way from any houses.

The deer flies were pretty thick. Didn't dare stop in one place for too long. The weather was absolutely perfect! Real dusty, but it was all behind me. We sure need rain. The Hawkeye performed flawlessly. Somewhere between the 500 and 600 mile marks it's personality changed. I think that's about when it finally got broken in. The clutches are loosened up and working freely, the suspension isn't stiff anymore and is nice and smooth, and the engine is like a little Sportsman with a big heart. I don't even have to twist, turn, and stand on my head to start it anymore. No extra throttle or fiddling required, just turn the key and it starts at idle now.