Decisions, Changes

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My Booted Harleydude website has been around since 2005. The screen name was selected because:

a) I own and wear a lot of boots. This website was created primarily to catalog my extensive collection of cowboy, dress, motorcycle, and work boots.

b) I was (note past tense) a biker and owned and rode a Harley. I am also an old-school gay Leatherman, so I cataloged my motorcycle gear and fetish leather gear. Over time, I built quite the collection.

Well, come March 2024, I have made a hard decision to sell my Harley, hang up my helmet, and stop riding motorcycles. Long ago, I decided not to attend any Gay Leather events. I don’t have the interest, stamina, or desire to attend those types of events.

Why?
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Where I Have Been

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This blogger has taken a break. A much-needed break from a busy 2023.

During 2023, I logged over 1,000 hours of volunteering in service to my community.

I racked up 15,000 air miles on travels within the U.S. and Canada.

And yeah, I am retired and lovin’ the freedom to do what I want to do, and when and where I live to enjoy a full life.

So where have I been this winter?
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Leather Weather

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This time of year, I am enjoying cooler weather with cool and comfortably dry, non-humid days and evenings.

Being an “old-school” leather guy from way back, I am enjoying wearing my boots and leathers again.

For more than 40 years now, I have had a regular wardrobe of good quality leather garments. I like the appearance, comfort, durability, style, and (when it is cold), warmth. Also, leather is much easier to maintain by keeping it clean and conditioned at home. (Further, by wearing leather more often, then I have much less laundry to do!)

I do not go out much, but when I do, such as grocery shopping, one may see me …
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Musings of Autumn

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I have not written very much for this blog, but it does not mean that I am laying on a hammock, sipping lemonade, and watching the leaves fall.

A few months ago, I added an email subscription widget. I am notified when a new subscriber is added to the list. However, some of the new subscribers may be “bots” that signed up for my email list. I am strongly thinking of removing …
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Big Motorcycle Ride Complete

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I have been lax in updating this blog. Sorry about that… I have been really busy since I returned home on 20 September.

I described in my previous post that I flew from my home in the Eastern Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Maryland to Phoenix, Arizona. That is about 2,500 miles away. Due to self-imposed limitations, I can only ride about 200 miles maximum per day, so if I rode my own Harley, it would take me about two weeks to get there, one-way, and two weeks to return. That is not feasible, safe, or reasonable.

When I have done these big rides in the Western U.S., I fly to a destination, then rent a Harley suitable for long-distance touring with a more comfortable seat and storage for my gear. My personal motorcycle is no longer a touring model (it is a small cruiser with no storage), so that is another reason why I would not ride my own bike.

Where I left off…
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Mid-Big Ride Update

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Greetings from the middle-of-nowhere, Arizona. Day 4 of our “Crazy-Awesome Motorcycle Adventure III” is complete.

We picked up our rental bikes on Tuesday September 12. Unfortunately, they did not have the Harley model I reserved (a Street Glide) and gave me a similar model — a Road Glide. I don’t like it; it does not fit me well. But I will manage.

Our first day out found us riding on poorly-maintained roads, but not terrible. We made it to our destination safely.

However, the next two days of this ride have not been so awesome.
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Next Big Motorcycle Ride

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Readers of this blog know that I am an avid touring class motorcycle rider and enjoy opportunities to ride in scenic places in the United States.

A long, long, LONG time ago, when I was on a first-name basis with Julius Caesar, I rode a cousin’s Ducati from Rome, Italy, to Naples, then on to Sorrento, then on the most iconic (and frightening) ride to Salerno along the Amalfi Coast (dodging sheep, goats, and trucks on very narrow, curvy roads.)

However, that was NOT the most adventurous ride I had ever done. A few months later, I found myself in Anchorage, Alaska. I rented a bike especially built for off-road motorcycling. Together with three buddies, we rode the Alaska Highway through mud, snow, rivers, and a million mosquitos to arrive in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Two weeks, 2,000 miles, 20 million bugs removed from my teeth later, we arrived.

Ah man, what great experiences to have had. These days, there is no way I could endure or want to take such rides. Honestly, I do not know how I survived those two awesome adventures on a motorcycle. (Age of being “invincible,” I guess.)

Then I went to work; real work; real job; didn’t leave much time for motorcycling except for commuting and weekends around home.

I renewed my interest in adventure riding back in …
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Cowboy Boots on a Motorcycle

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Over the years, I have written posts on this blog expressing my opinion about wearing cowboy boots while operating a motorcycle.

Like other guys, I like to wear cowboy boots. I began wearing them at age 10 and didn’t stop. Over many years, I developed quite a large cowboy boot collection.

Most traditional, dress western, and older cowboy boots have smooth leather soles. Such soles are a bad choice to wear while riding a motorcycle because the soles provide no traction at all. The slightest amount of water or oil on the road makes these boots slide on those soles.

Back in 2013 or so, more boot manufacturers began applying rubber soles, Vibram soles, and/or lug soles on cowboy boots. I bought my first pair of Chippewa cowboy boots with a Vibram sole that were perfect for using on my Harley.

Nowadays, many boot manufacturers offer a cowboy boot / work boot with rugged rubber soles.

As an experienced rider, I choose …
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Photos from the Canadian Rockies

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While I was on the trip-of-a-lifetime in the Canadian Rockies one month ago, I took well over 2,400 photos. Many were duplicates using different settings of my camera and from different angles and directions.

I teamed up with two professionals as guides to help me learn how and get the most out of the features of my Canon 80D DSLR.

Since I returned home, between volunteering gigs and routine stuff around the house and community (and rides on my Harley), I culled, cropped, and edited my photos.

Editing these photos took …
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Tribute: Hotboots.com

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My engagement with the internet boot world began with hotboots.com. This was a website that Larry Kenney and his (then partner, later husband) Bill created on March 3, 1997, at the early stages when the internet was just beginning to be available. Larry and Bill were pioneers in developing websites, this one being the premier site for men into boots. This is the introduction from an early page of the site written by Larry:

This is the web site for the man who loves BOOTS . . .the man who enjoys wearing them for work and for play . . . and who likes to look at ’em and talk about ’em, too!

These pages are designed primarily to entertain and inform bootmen, but everyone is welcome to come on in, look around and enjoy whatever interests them.

This site was started on March 3, 1997, and it has been growing continuously since then. It’s a labor of love for me, and it’s a great way to combine my boot fetish with my interest in computers and the internet.

I first found this site in 2000 and like many other guys, was a “lurker” for years.

Back then, I worked in a job where I hid my sexual identity as a gay man in the closet for fear of what homophobic superiors might do if they found out. When I left that job in 2004, I was more free to “come out.” That’s when I became more active on hotboots.

Hotboots.com meant a lot to me in my early “coming-out as a gay bootman” process. Through this site and the people I met, I…
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