It's not a real good day to start off... rained all night and it's raining hard now. I don't mind riding in the rain. Not at all... I've said it before, 3000 miles of a 9000 mile Alaska ride was ~ Rain! ~ but, starting off a trip of a few thousand miles in a heavy rain... Well, that's a lil' too sudden. ;)
I'm pretty much a "Rounder"... but I guess I'm gettin' a lil' soft in my old age... Just clicked over 60 a couple of weeks ago ya know!
I've got a few chores that need to get buttoned up before I throw a leg over anyway, so I'll spend the next day or two locking those down and leave Friday or Saturday...
It's still only hit freezing once or twice up Missoula way! ;) Haven't decided yet if I'll be going that way or straight west toward Dinosaur...
This trip is going to be a; "left or right at the Junction" sort of ride. About the only thing truly planned is... uh... I had it 'round here somewhere... where'd I put the %#@ &%#@ Plan?!!
Aw to hell with it... I'm just picking a direction and riding... to start anyway... I suppose it'll mostly depend on the weather when I twist the throttle for that first mile or three.
Spent a couple days in Denver for the granddaughter's B-day. Got back the night 'fore last and spent much of yesterday goin' through the bike changing the air filter, oil change, swappin' spark plugs, gettin' her ready for a long ride...
I love that bike for sure and for certain. But... the fellas that designed her missed a few classes in motorcycle engineering school I believe... Putting the air filter under the fuel tank, and spark plugs pinned under a frame tube lack juuuuust a lil' vision or forethought... IM not-so HO! Good thing she runs so far and so good without service... 'cause doin' the maintenance is a complete, unadulterated PITA! ;)
She's parked under the nose of the fiver now... anxious for the road... it's been too long since she and I have gone down the road for days at a time.
'tween multiple equipment failures on the rig and a lot less rollin' the rig this summer (in a flawed attempt to "save money") compounded by the normal conditions inside my head, and the din coming at a fella from the ugly in the current world... I'm highly needful of some good long miles in the wind to blow the contamination of civilization off me.
Been reading a kids "adventure" on ADV rider... 18 years old, he left Cali on a wore out old honda C70 "super cub"! in August headed for New York... with $600 bucks.
I'm going about as far, round trip, hopefully to the coast and back... on a 1854cc. Raider... with... $260 bucks cash and some topped out plastic! :) I guess some folks don't gain an awful lot of sense twixt 18 and 60! But I am expecting to stack up the miles some quicker than his 35mph scooter!
To hell with "sense" anyway... doin' what folks told me was sensible only ever got me headaches and insomnia... What makes sense to me is to live 'till you die... and then what are they gonna do? Repo the hole they buried you in?
The simple fact is... I've let thoughts of that contaminated world clutter up my brain pan too much this summer... that there is a complete waste of time and an exercise in tee total futility.
The world (all the people in it) is like a skunk... it's got the smarts to do different... but it keeps that hidden somewhere... Like a skunk it's pretty much untrainable... it does what ever it damn well pleases, bullyin' its way along, totally self involved and ignores the Freightliner rumblin' down the road. It refuses to change a thing it does and gets converted to a furry grease spot on the pavement... ONLY 'cause it chooses arrogance over learning ... Even I roll the bike out of the way to let that big wheeler roll on!
So... tomorrow, Friday, or Saturday... I'm gonna throw a leg over and let that all fade behind me for a few days... one more time. A few days of bein', just me... the only place I can be... Straddling two wheels on a Ribbon of Highway.
Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian
Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking
Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share... Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
*Tell us about your... Great Motorcycle Roads
... Splitting the wind on a Motorcycle... Feeding my soul with the Healing power of the Open Road... following that twisting, Ribbon of Highway that leads me on...
No comments:
Post a Comment