Wanderlust

And now on with the show.

Kimmie roared to life the other night, yes roared.  I could just hear her say, in the petulant voice of a pretty Korean girl..."I need to go further, I need speed.  I need the open road.  It's been so long since we gone on a long ride!"

Perhaps it's the summer weather but I have gotten tired of the daily commute.  I am up for an adventure, I need...no, crave something different.  I've been reading blogs like Road Pickle, Riding the Wet Coast and Scoot Commute,  I envy their tales of long trips and adventures and just doing something different for a change.

I suppose every rider experiences that need in their life to just keep going, to see what's down the road and around that corner.   In our case I've been thinking about a ride to St Augustine.  Sue and I visited recently but traveled by car with my family.  The idea of taking the bike there has appealed to me for some time.  I know that Kimmie will hold a overnight bag without issue, so a weekend trip is within grasp.  I feel ready to make such a trip.  I suppose given enough time I'll want to travel the country.

Only two issues.  I don't have any (unplanned) vacation time left this year, so  it needs to be next year.  Susan has been using my jacket and back up helmet so we still need to get her proper gear.  Plus she is not feeling comfortable behind me.
She has confidence in my ability, but I am a full foot (0.30 m) taller than her.  So she sees nothing but the back of my helmet (and I refuse to ride without a helmet).  At a little over 200 pounds (90.7 kilos) I'm very good at blocking air flow.  So she's hot, with pins in her back from a car accident in her teenage years she needs to sit a certain angle to be comfortable.  That may not be possible on the bike.  Funny how you learn new things about someone you have been with for a long time.  I've a feeling we will be doing more 2-up riding in the fall and winter when the temperatures fall to a much more manageable degree.  Now that I'm used to having her back there, I can't imagine riding without her.

Kimmie quotes Keiichi Sisawa in my ear:   I would think that a motorrad's purpose in life is to go places isn't it?  The traveler's purpose in life is to travel.  - from Kino no tabi.  "Let's go." she whispers.   I turn the throttle and she purrs.  I think of Jack Kerouac “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”

She whispers, demanding now...."Let's go for a ride"

Does the "Gearing Up Saga" ever end?

A few days ago at work a buddy of mine asked me how hot I was wearing my jacket every day.  I explained to him that I just bought myself a new mesh jacket that allowed for better airflow, and that lead to a little discussion about safety in general.  How wearing a jacket or a helmet just becomes habit, much like putting on a seatbelt.

At this time if you are still reading then good for you!  Hopefully this is NOT going to be a "boring safety post."

Well  maybe a little bit of safety.  I am going to review my new mesh jacket and talk a little bit about my future plans for Kimmie.  All of which, strangely, seem to revolve around safety issues.  I've already done more "farkles" on Kimmie than I ever did on the Burgie.  I'm counting the new seat as a farkle even though it was not planned that way.

  Ten years ago if you would have told me I would have fallen in love with Motorcycling (actually I'm a Scooterist) I would have thought you were nuts.  Five years ago I was giving it some thought, for the same reasons I started riding.  To reduce my costs and make my life simpler.  To a great extent it has.  Sometimes I pull next to a bus or some other reflective surface and I find myself wondering who is that guy in the dark helmet, the new grey and black jacket wearing the heavy boots is.   I've come a long way from the guy in the half-helmet wearing a bright yellow spring jacket with no armor at all.  No gloves, no boots.  Riding my little Zuma 125 down twisty roads in the middle of the night.  So paranoid of being hit from behind I would pull off the road at night to let cars pass me.

Today, on a bigger machine, I wear proper gear most of the time.  I will admit that I've gone to work on hotter days sans jacket (one of the reasons I bought the mesh jacket).  Or I've had a meeting sometime in the day where I've slipped on my dress shoes instead of my boots.

Now that Sue is starting to ride with me, we have been looking at jackets and a new and better helmet for her than the old half helmet she wears now. I only bought my new jacket at her insistence (Yes I'm that cheap!).  It's funny how suddenly having a passenger changes things.  Suddenly the lighted license plate I toyed with buying takes on more urgency.  Installing a air horn becomes less of an issue and moves up the "to do" list.

Well I certainly find the light modulation kits annoying when I ride, I can understand why others have them.  I'm not sure if I'm willing to annoy other drivers yet by buying one.  I am not so worried about the personalization of Kimmie as I am about making myself and my riding partner safer.

It's funny how that works.  How something originally intended to get me from point A to point B cheaply became something more.  How it inspired this silly little blog.  How it's taken me further and now I want to share that...that feeling of joy I have when I just go anywhere.

See I told you there wouldn't be to much safety talk in this post.

An unexpected farkel (and a 2-up update)

See the tear in green?

When I bought Kimmie I didn't realize that there was a small tear in the seat cover.  It slowly got worse over time since it was on the seam, and although I considered it a minor annoyance I knew that I would  have to fix it eventually.   In talking to a few people that supposedly know about these things they felt it would be easy enough to take a fabric needle and nylon thread to stitch it together.

When the dealership decided to call me regarding a few things I posted on Facebook,  and in various groups I belong to (including one they sponsor) to resolve a previous issue, one of the things we agreed on was to fix the seat.   I was simply expecting them to replace the cover and not the whole seat.  So imagine my surprise when I get a new and  upgraded seat?

I'm still not happy with the way the company in question handled the whole situation, but frankly the seat goes some distance to resolve those issues.  I am not however rescinding my original comments.  I've worked in customer service and sales all my life in everything from engineering to banking.  I've trained salespeople for God's sake.  So if I feel I'm wronged...you will know it.

So far I've only ridden about 50 miles on it (or 80.5 km) and am still trying to determine if I'm happy with it.  It seems a little less comfortable than the other seat did, and reminds me a lot of the previous Burgman seat - which had some issues.   I do like the backrest and that is a great improvement.  Only more miles will determine if it works for me.  Since there are no seams it's not going to tear, which is good.  The backrest seems to be adjustable, but I will have to take a closer look at that.

I also had a chance to drive over the Howard Franklin bridge twice on Kimmie.   I was very curious to see how she would handle the winds of the bay, since I was severely punished for it on the Burgman before.  It was fine.  Not a single issue to be had, but I still don't like driving highways.

Although we got pounded by the first tropical storm of the season this week and last Susan and I did manage to get some 2-up time.  So far just lazy rides around Zephyrhills and our community.  I took my time, being sure to take turns slow (but not to slow) and stay on the back roads.  Susan thoroughly enjoyed it and raved to all the Facebook friends about it.  I started to enjoy it once I realized how the bike was going to react and that I was not going to dump it.  Although in about an hour from now we are planning on going to dinner at one of our favorite places to eat and relax, and that will require me to drive in some heavier traffic, so we will see how that goes..  No, sadly it's not the Taco Bus but I did finally get a chance to eat there last week and enjoyed every second of it!

Until the next update, keep the shiny side up!

 

Sloppy Seconds or "Rob doesn't really have a topic this week."

It's been one of those weeks where nothing got accomplished.  I got buried at work, the weather did not cooperate and the lovely Susan and I didn't manage to get our stuff together to start trying to ride 2-up.    We did make sure she was able to climb onto the back of the bike without difficultly but we haven't taken it out yet.

In fact, I've not ridden much at all in the last few days.  When I have however I've noticed something about myself and my riding technique.  I've become sloppy.  Not really coming to a full stop when making a right turn at a stop sign.   Looking down a bit when making a turn and not keeping my eye on what's ahead.  Racing through yellow lights.   

In other words, stupid.

I am not sure where or how I've picked up these bad habits.  What I do know is that I need to break them.  If something goes wrong when I'm riding solo that's one thing.  I am responsible for my own actions, my own life.  I've accepted that responsibility.  Riding with a passenger means that I am now responsible for their life as well.   With the additional weight of a passenger the bike will react differently.  Act differently.  It's simple basic physics.  I need to break those bad habits now.

The second thing we need to do it get the lovely Susan some gear of her own.  I have a secondary "back up" helmet which she can wear on our low speed trial runs around the neighborhood, but once we start heading out on the roads I feel a full face helmet for her is in order.  It's probably the safest option as well.  We have not talked about jackets yet but I would hope she go for some Hi-Vis.  

I would like to get this all accomplished before our second cruise on Celebration Cruise lines (and third cruise overall) to the Bahama's (which we have never visited).  Last year a local scooter group traveled to the islands and  zipped around the whole island on rented scooters.  Susan and I have done similar things on our other cruises, enjoying Cozumel for example in a rented jeep, but this is the first time I will be renting a scooter.  You can see a video of last year's ride here.

When the same group offered a great rate to go this year we jumped at the chance.  We are looking forward to exploring the islands.  My only concern however is other people.  The group we are riding with are all experienced riders, I'm sure the natives are familiar with their machines.  These are not the people that concern me.  I have watched enough You Tube video's of idiots on scooters to be concerned about people that don't know better being out on the streets of Nassau.

Finally I just want to remind everyone that the National Ride to Work Day will be here soon.

The destination is worth the journey

A haunted house on a haunted road.

Susan, my long time suffering girlfriend, and I had a little disagreement the other day.  I took off for a few hours Saturday morning to ride to a few cemeteries and historical markers as part of the Equinox to Equinox rally.  She had hoped to spend some time with me.  We both have a love of history and in particular, old cemeteries.  It's interesting to walk along the stones and see how they reflect the lives of the people at the times.  For example, in Grove City, Pennsylvania,  for a brief period in the early 1800's a woman's name would not even appear on the tombstone.  All it would say was "Mother of" or "Husband of".  It is truly amazing how far woman of come in  100 years.  It's amazing how far they still have to go.  It's very interesting when you consider that other cemeteries of that same time period don't seem to reflect this particular belief.

As of late, I've been riding out to, and actively seeking, old cemeteries.  The problem is that a lot of these are private cemeteries on old roads.  More on that in a bit.

A locked gates prevents entry into the cemetery

 So we reached an agreement, we are going to start to go 2-up, because she wants to share this part of the adventure.  She has been the passenger on other people's bikes, she's actually logged more miles sitting behind someone than I have riding.  While I certainly want her to experience some of the beautiful things that I've seen on my rides...I'm also going to hate myself if something goes wrong.  She may trust me, I don't trust myself.

Riding has also became part of who I am.  It's a escape for me from the "real world".  Something that I'm not sure I want to share with Susan.  Then again when you make a new friend, as in the photo below, you want to share that experience with the one closest to you.

That's the beauty of riding, the beauty of my participation in the E2E rally.  It's gotten me out on the bike, taken me to places that I may not have gone or explored.  Showed me things, even where I live, that I would not have seen other wise.  While I was always willing to explore "around the next bend' the rally has taken me "over the hill and around that bend."  No wonder my lovely Susan wants to see what excites me so!
So the question is, for me...what's next.  Slow and steady at first around the neighborhood.  Slowly move into the side streets.  Being the worry-wort that I am I will panic if she sneezes on back.  I've no doubt we will go down at low speeds at least once.   I worry.  So to the You Tube videos and to the various forums asking for advice and help.  It may be easier to just buy a trike.  Or convince her to get her own scooter!  We will have to get her proper gear in any case.   I have a spare helmet, but she will need a jacket.    ATTGATT is no longer in question if she rides with me.

Speaking of challenges.  I'm rather happy with myself.  Many of the 100 year old cemeteries that I've been finding were originally family owned, although they are of historical importance and therefore listed on various sources.  I've had to go down some dirt roads to a few.  A few cemeteries are even supposedly haunted.  Sadly many of these have been damaged by idiots "having fun."  Kimmie has handled these roads exceptionally well, much better than I would have expected.  It's also hard for me to understand how in this day and age, that a good sized town can still have unpaved roads.  I've been impressed with my own skill, avoiding some major holes and being able to handle the bike on less than ideal roads.

Maybe this 2-up thing is not that scary after all.

Another semi-private final resting place hidden away

A barely used road leading off to parts unknown

The passenger

Thanks to www.animalplace.net

Riding home tonight in some wet but manageable weather I look down and what do I see? 


A little green tree frog riding with me. He tucked himself in tight between the windshield and dash. I was hoping he ride all the way home with me but figured he jump before that....so I pulled off and helped him into some grass by the road.   There is a little pond near me full of spring peepers that I'm sure he would of loved.  I just wish I had my camera.