Looking back and looking forward. 1 year over and done.

I was going to let the one year anniversary of this blog pass unnoticed and quietly.  Then I thought I might project myself 10 years into the future where the Mayans were right...but how the end of the world was basically a bunch of Vegan Zombie's just wanting grains!  And how a time travel kit installed on the Burgie made it impossible to be fashionably late.

Thanks to Aerostich.com

Instead I've been taking stock of all that's happened in the past year to me.  How suddenly and completely expectantly I've become a "rounder", or someone that rides their bike the entire year.  How I intended to eventually replace my car with my motorcycle...I just never expected it to be so soon.

How I have to do a "big job" on the bike - the replacement of the CVT belt (which I finally ordered and have in hand), and how confident I feel that I can do that, thanks to the friendly people at Burgman USA and some video's on You Tube (Thanks Mitch!)

I would also be lying if I didn't admit that lately all I have been feeling better about riding.  Over the last three days I've been able to do some recreational riding.  Just seeing where the left hand turn goes where I normally make a right, or what lies behind that blind curve up ahead.  Commuting back and forth on my bike is good and all but frankly I want to do more with it than just run to the store or to work.  Getting out, even if just for an hour on unexplored roads with the sun beating down in a clear blue sky has done wonders for my soul.

You would not think so...but passing by a farm that was burning something brought back memories of my parents fireplace when I was a young boy.  The wood smoke so thick in the air that I'm tempted to brush it aside like a gauze curtain.  These memories are triggered by smell and is something I don't think I would have experienced in the car.  I had not thought about these things in decades...and then suddenly I'm that young 6 year old boy shivering and wrapped in a towel that want to go back into the water as I catch a whiff of chlorine from a nearby pool.

Or how good some random drops of rain feel on the skin as I ride through the hot air.

All this is part of riding.  There are some unexpected little discoveries as well.  Like an old tattered flag still flying proudly from someone's home which speaks volumes about this political season.  Or a spot I've dubbed the "worlds loneliest train depot"  which is a single chair sitting near a railway bridge which seems so out of place but somehow belongs there.   A strange house that looks like a anthill/beehive in the middle of nowhere which has to be some sort of artists abode.  I stopped to take photos of all these things only to find my batteries were dead...so a trip back is in order.  If I can find them again, some things might only exist in that moment.

All of this comes as a revelation to me.  This reconnecting to the world, what started out as a way to save some cash has turned into something more...something new.  Reminding me that not everything has to be about work and there is always a life outside my door.  Something wonderful.  That philosophic rambling is for another time

I sit here in my house, protected from the first outlaying rain bands of Hurricane Issac that promise a couple days off the bike I count my blessings, drink my hot tea and smile.   Soon, I'll be back on the road soon and seeking new adventures.  Remembering to always check the batteries in the camera and keep my eyes and ears and heart open to possibilities