Former Mansfield schools superintendent Vernon Newsom died Wednesday in a motorcycle accident while vacationing in South Dakota, school officials said.

His wife, Nadyne, was in critical condition with “life threatening injuries” in a hospital at Platte, S.D., said Capt. Kevin Joffer of the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

Mr. Newsom, 61, retired last month after 13 years as superintendent. Nadyne Newsom, 62, retired as a teacher in 2004. The wreck happened during a cross-country adventure on a motorcycle to celebrate his retirement, friends said.

Here is the link for the complete story:  http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1502555.html

Now our son, who lives in Las Vegas, NV, is coming home for a weeklong vacation.  Will I have to ride in the car or will he be riding in the back seat of the motorcycle?

Hmmmm.  We’ll just have to see.

Loyd Sanders at Guadalupe Pass

My buddy Loyd Sanders, no relation, and I had a really nice ride to El Paso last Thursday–he to try his luck at the slots at Sunland Park and I to attend an El Paso High School Class of 1965 reunion committee meeting.

We left Lubbock about 7:15 a.m. on Thursday under almost perfect riding conditions and headed to Brownfield where we topped off the motorcycles.  From there, we rode to Plains to have a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito at Amigas Restaurant.

After that break, it was on to Lovington and Artesia, where we had the opportunity to buy some of the most expensive gas in the state of New Mexico, before resuming our journey to Cloudcroft. 

The ride to Cloudcroft was pleasant–the roads are fairly twisty and the surface was excellent.  Riders have to use caution, though, and be on the alert for critters–there was one small doe right by the road just a few miles east of Cloudcroft.

After gassing up in Cloudcroft, we began the hardest part of the trip–down the mountain and into the desert where the temperature was beginning to rise. 

We were sweating pretty good when we finally stopped on the Northeast side of El Paso to call my buddy and get something to drink.  After the refreshments, we took off over the mountain where Loyd stayed at a Holiday Inn and I went on to my classmate’s home.

The next morning, we both slept in a little bit, then hoped on the bikes for what was to be a pretty warm ride back home. 

It wasn’t too bad until after lunch in Carlsbad, but it really started to warm up as we approached Hobbs and the South Plains of Texas.  In Hobbs, Loyd used a water hose to dampen his jacket and I used it to spray off my clothes.

Even though it was hot, it wasn’t unbearable, and we were back home about 5:15. 

Both Harleys performed perfectly.

    Temperatures like that make riding the motorcycle less than pleasant and can just sap the energy out of riders. That’s one reason why the Harley Honey and I decided to stay inside the air-conditioned house this past weekend.

    Whenever I think about how hot it is here, I just have to remember that our craps dealer son lives where it’s really toasty. Here’s a link to a weather story from the Las Vegas newspaper that explains what I’m talking about http://www.lvrj.com/news/50710342.html

    Several years ago when we got on the shuttle bus at the Las Vegas airport I asked the driver how hot it was, and he replied that it was 113 degrees. One of the other riders on the bus added, “But it’s a dry heat.”

    To which the driver responded, “They bake turkeys in dry heat.”

    I felt like a plucked turkey after spending the weekend at the gaming tables, but the heat didn’t have anything to do with that.

“Harley-Davidson Inc. is scheduled to release its second quarter 2009 financial results before market hours on Thursday, July 16, 2009.The motorcycle manufacturer has missed expectations for 3 consecutive quarters and the upcoming quarterly report is expected to bring more bad news for the company. The company is expected to report second-quarter per-share earnings of 25 cents on revenue of $1.18 billion. That is compared with 95 cents and $1.57 billion, respectively, a year ago.”

The complete story can be found at http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3343213

    Many people, though, have what are known as “vanity” plates. These plates, which are more expensive than the normal licenses, allow the owners to express a thought, slogan, support, no telling what. Around Lubbock you can see plates that say “GOTECH,” “RAIDERS,” GOTTU,” and numerous other variations.

    When I was editor of the newspaper I splurged on my motorcycle and had a vanity plate that read “EDITOR.” It seems as though I’ve seen lots more vanity plates on motorcycles than I have on cars and trucks.

    They’re fun to have, if you want to spend the extra money, and they also make it easy to remember the tag when you check into a motel.

    The states that issue the tags, though, are always on the alert for tags that may carry a message, in particular, an offensive message, and they sometimes reject the request.

    I recently came across two news articles, one from this week and another from a couple of years ago, that show what happens when bureaucrats abuse their power or spend too much time thinking.

    Here are the links to the two stories: http://www.lvrj.com/news/50348047.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20966693/

    I used to worry about people who said they were afraid of our government. If our government can harass people like Oregon and Nevada have done, maybe those folks who warn about the abuses of government aren’t wrong.

For some reason I can’t seem to get into writing anything–maybe it’s because I haven’t taken a trip on the Green Machine since coming back from the disappointing National HOG event in Oklahoma City.

No matter.  I’m going to try to put my nose to the grindstone later this week and see if I can come up with something. 

In the meantime, ride safe!