I just don't know yet.

For the first times in months I rode.  For the first time since the accident, I was on the back of a bike.


A woman in my community is selling her former husband's Honda Silver wing.  She is asking a fair price for it and Sue prompted me to go and take a look.    Sue knows how much I enjoyed riding and owning a bike.  The owner told me the year but I don't remember exactly.  I think it was within five years old and she had a tad over 17K on her.

In didn't take me long to grab an old helmet and a borrowed set of gloves to take her for a test spin.  I'm not sure why I consider motorcycles women, but to me they are.

So I started her up and she didn't roar to life, she didn't have the "oomph" that Kimmie did despite being a bigger engine.   Of course, she was also a bigger, heavier bike than my old Xciting and that matters.

I rode her around a bit, through some local twistie's I know of on a back road, I opened her up slightly on a straightway and I did feel comfortable, despite wearing none on my safety gear except a pair of borrowed gloves and an old helmet I picked up somewhere along the way.

It felt.....odd.  I don't know what I expected, taking her gingerly through a turn.  Where was the excitement?  Where was the feeling of awe?  Of being on the edge?  The tires seemed a little squirrel'y but they were brand new, still having the nubs on them and the bike had sat for about a month  so the pressure was probably off.   I took my time and was careful.

I knew I was also probably gun shy too.

There were things I like, the former owner had put a Givi windshield on it and that would come in handy on the cooler days or in the rain as the wind and rain where whipped around me and not into my chest as with Kimmie.   The storage was nice, and the previous owner had placed a pretty decent, but now great top box on it.  All the storage departments locked with a singe key.  He really did take good care of the bike and it had undergone a full maintenance review about 1000 miles ago.

Maybe it's just the fact that I never really cared for the looks of a Honda Silver Wing.  Maybe I'm still afraid, still touchy after the accident. Truthfully Sue and I can afford the bike and still have a good chunk of change left over, so I can't say "I can't afford it."

I just don't know if I'm ready yet.  Maybe I never will be.  Maybe this is just not the bike for me.  I just don't know yet.

Into the depth's of the earth

Sue and I about to enter the depth's of the earth

I have never gone spelunking.  Although frankly the idea of caving has always appealed to me.  The idea of seeing something unique, or something that very few others have seen fascinates me.  However I learned long ago, when I explored an underground pipe system with some friends as a young man; is that I hate being wet, cold and in the dark.

So given the chance to take a rare free weekend and go caving in Florida's only open air cave, I would jump at the chance.  Sue and I drove about five and a half hours north into the panhandle of Florida.  Some 40 million years ago Florida was covered by a shallow sea, and this resulted in limestone being deposited.  The limestone is raised up and then water seeps into the limestone, slowly dissolving the limestone and creating a cave.  This is known as a Karst formation.   

These caves can take million of years to form and each one is unique in it's own way.  They grow and change, admittedly very very slowly, over time.  Each one can, and often does, support a fragile ecosystem.  As such very little of the cave was open to the public, and my few attempts of photographing it, do not do it justice.  You can see the full album of the caves on my Facebook page  (please note there are two different albums).  

nom nom

We also decided to explore the nearby town of Marianne, Florida a bit as well.    The panhandle of the state was the first part of the state that was "truly developed" as plantation owners in Georgia and Alabama expanded southward into what was then Spanish territory in the early 1800's.  

As such the town had a variety of historical buildings and styles throughout it.   From the Spanish influenced post office building to the antebellum southern style of the early to mid 1800's.  The rest of the state would be developed after the Civil War when the railroads started to push south along the coasts. 

Sadly we went exploring on a Sunday morning/early afternoon and the city was pretty much empty and shut down.  Still though we managed to find a few things of interest and plan on making another trip somewhere different soon.  

It feels good to be getting back to exploring my adopted state and all it has to offer.  

"straws" and an example of "cave bacon" in the upper right corner

a pool filled with water, so still it appears as glass would

Example of the Spanish style I love so much

Not technically Antebellum but lovely still

Learning Patience

It's been a long time since I posted anything to this blog.  I've been away, it's been a busy week as I went home to Pittsburgh to be with my loving parents - who recently celebrated their fiftieth (50) wedding anniversary.   It's hard to believe I've known these people all my life.

This trip allowed me to do some other things as well.  My lovely Susan has a daughter named Stephanie who just celebrated her twenty fifth birthday.  My brother adopted a lovely little girl two years ago and she had a birthday on April 15th.  So I got the chance to celebrate that with them as well.

Sue and Steph

And of course, it was Mother's day...least we forgot that.

If there was a theme to all this celebration over the last week it was "Patience."  I was not dealing with the plans for my parent's party directly, that was my brother's job, Knowing my mother, he had his hands full.  I got a little bit of that the week before as she called several times wanting us to bring photo albums or other small knick-knack's home.  As frustrated as I was with her at times, I knew it was worse for my brother.  Patience.

If I have learned anything from my parents...it's that patience is the key.  That and communication, as Susan and I discuss nearly everything that affects us.

So these past weeks it's been patience.  My bike is fixed, the electrical gremlin was a rectifier.  The gasket is repaired, the part finally arriving from the Mesolithic era.  Then I got a call from Mike, super mechanic.

"Hey Rob, it's Mike."

Yea Dude, what's up?

"Well we found another issue with your bike.  It's the oil pressure gauge."

Patience.

Luckily this all happened before my trip home, so there was little I could do about it. What I wanted to do was spend time with friends and family.  Visit something called Randyland - which I learned about via the Atlas Obscura website, and generally relax.  Sadly I just run out of time, I was unable to spend some time with some friends but I was able to spend time with others.  Over all a good relaxing weekend.

Some highlights are below, you can see photo's of my parent's 50th here (I'm still trying to get everyone named LOL) and additional photo's of my visit to Randyland here.

My Brother Gary and myself

Sue, Me, Mom, Dad, Avery (little one), Amy, Gary

Some Photo's of Randyland

Building one of two

Taken from within the courtyard

The courtyard itself

I just thought they were cute

Yea, I left my worries there.

A special thanks goes out to the work that Randy Gilson does, he's helping to bring back an old and once blighted neighborhood back with vibrant colors, hope and love...and it's an ongoing work in progress.  I understand he wants to add a little cafe and coffee shop soon.  As well as expand into the nearby neighborhoods.   Support the man and what he does by visitinghis website. Or his facebook page here.

Color the Season - a blog challenge.

Every now and again you have to take up a Challenge.  In this case the wonderful Wisconsinland blog posted a challenge about "Color the Season."  I supposed if I continued to live up north I would need some sort of color to break up the bleak whiteness.  

So I thought I would share a few photo's that, for what ever reason, did not make the cut on the blog.  And a few photo's of things found outside my door.

From the Buddhist Temple I visited.

Sometimes the best flowers are the ones you find on the roadside.

My back yard, the bench will be painted a antique white.

A stained glass window from a Abby.

I have two orange trees in the back yard.

I hope that brought a little color into your day!

Equinox to Equinox rally

Historical marker - Check!

I have a problem.  When ever I get on the internet I have this strange desire to learn.  So a link on a buddy's page takes me somewhere interesting.  That strange word takes me over to another page.  That odd picture leads me somewhere else.

It was this "aimless but interesting" meandering that brought me to Fuzzygalore.com.  A "Girlie Motorcycle blog" without a pink unicorn or pair of house slippers in sight.  So I start to read a little and I'm taken with the idea of a virtual rally,   A virtual rally is basically a treasure hunt.  Your supposed to take pictures of your bike in front of various landmarks and other places and things.   The contest runs between March 20 (the Spring equinox) and Sept. 22, 2013 (the Autumnal equinox).

This rally is being sponsored by the Pace Podcast, which I have to be honest I've never heard of until this rally, but they seem like a fun bunch and have earned a new listener.  

I am number 096 and stole how to place my rally card from Ms. Fuzzygalore.  My initial enthusiasm for the rally has waned a bit however as I think about when I how I will be able to do this.  I work 40 hours a week at one job, own my own business on the side that takes up an additional 16 - 20 hours a week.  Well many of the "treasures" are easy for me to find and take photo's of (you think it was designed that way), there are a few that aren't (you think it was designed that way).  You can see the list here. 

City Hall in Zephyrhills - points obtained!

The whole idea however is to get out and ride.  Win, lose, it really doesn't matter.  I just need to get out when I can (I feel that I can rack up a lot of points in one day if I can actually just spend it riding).  Somehow I managed to get a few points just by riding around town for a bit.  More points to follow I'm sure...and while I sure in hell I won't win, I would like to get a top 25 finish.

Static train car - points obtained!

I've a few more photo's, a few more places to go and some more places to go.  Some major points to obtain.  On those trips I might see some things and that is the whole point of the rally isn't it.

A taste of the Green Swamp.

Way back on July 24, 2012...I wrote about how I was finally going to get around to riding the Green Swamp Trail.   Well leave it to a world class procrastinator like me to put it off till Thanksgiving day.   It was a clear, blue and cool day and since we were going out for Thanksgiving day there was no reason for me to stay around the house (well there is some yard work that needs done).

I actually live off of route 54 in Zephyrhills, Fl.  The Green Swamp is literally up the road from me, and I have to say I'm sorry I didn't do this before.  It really was a great place to ride, although today was different in that I was literally the only bike on the trail it seems.  I took the southern route, starting on 54 and heading down to 98 and then the left onto Rockridge Road.  Due to time restrictions I was only able to ride the beginning of Route 33.  I did manage to work in some side roads however.

I didn't travel exactly the way the map above, I stayed on 98 south to Rockridge road.  This is a nice, well maintained 2-lane highway and has some interesting land marks on it.  Sadly traffic was two heavy for me to pull over and get some pictures of two of the more unique houses in the area (one which I call the circus house, the other the bat house).  Hopefully another day.   But I was able to get a picture of an old county line marker that dates back to the 1930.  It's the only one that I know of in the area and was built during the Great Depression as a public works project.

 Rockridge Road is a nice cut of concrete ribbon through suburbia, then suddenly and almost without warning it starts to cut through the swap.  Frankly if I had not of been paying attention I would have missed the sign.  After that sign the road surface becomes rough in places, downright nasty in a few spots and with a foot deep culvert on the side in some spots.  Not knowing the roads well and on the look out for animals I took my time, which is not a bad thing because a few of the corners where covered in sand.  

I didn't have to ride to far to have my heart nearly stop.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something, it was big and coming right at me!   It was an eagle.  It swooped down over my head and into the woods.  It was so low that ducked and fully expected it to hit me but there was not even a talon scrape on my helmet and I laughed with joy for a minute or so.  It was beautiful.

This should give you a rough idea of the road surface.  Some of the scenery you will see is in the next two pics.  

There are a lot of little twists and turns on this road.  Sweepers and S-bends, and some can be rather sharp. I rode at a nice easy pace, I did not see one other bike on the road with me and could count the numbers of cars on one hand.  If something caught my eye it was no issue going back for it or even stopping in the middle of the road for a pic.  

For example, this old cow chute caught my eye and I literally turned around in the middle of the road to take a picture of it.  Florida at one time lead the nation in beef cattle production and you can still see lots of beef cattle in the fields.  This little guy however captured my heart.    

Overall it was a great ride, I can't wait to do it again and am looking forward to seeing what lies beyond.  I took my time, explored some ride roads and still managed to get back in time to go to dinner with my family. I have to admit, I've not enjoyed a ride this much in some time, and I only rode about a quarter of the entire trail!

I can't wait to try the rest.  

Falling for Pennsylvania all over again.

I was born and raised in suburban Pittsburgh.  I grew up there and in a lot of ways it will always be home.  It is over 1600 miles from me now and a lifetime away.

As I drove the back country roads of Butler and Mercer county, where my parents are "snowbirds" and my girlfriend's family still lives year round,  I looked for bikes.  Only one Burgie sighting the entire time there.  Other bikes seemed scarce, probably due to the rain and the promise of cold weather - the temperature was in the low 60's and high 50's while I was there; typical for the time of year.  Most but the most serious motorcyclists had put away their rides for another year and the promise of spring.

In another week or two and the leaves would be in full glorious color and as I drove down some of the twisty roads that make up this part of Pennsylvania all I could think was how much I wished I brought the bike.   There is always next year of course.

A simple trip to nearby McConnells Mill State Park brought back memories of college and what first sparked my interest in hiking and other "outdoor activities."

At times I do miss home and all the memories and friends that I had there.  Florida, despite it's own natural beauty and interesting people is just a different place.  In some ways my home here in West Central Florida is home but my heart belongs somewhere else.   Sometimes I think it belongs in Charlotte, NC.  Other times in Charleston, SC.  Two very different cities where I have fond and loving memories.  You never know where the road takes you, and the heart has it's own GPS.

It just calls to you don't it.

Natural springs outside of Slippery Rock, PA

The New River Gorge Bridge in W Va

Just some images from a short ride

The girlfriend and I had a little fight after I came home from a brief 35 mile jaunt, where I feel I don't do enough recreational riding (where I am riding just to ride and not commuting or running errands), she said she gets tired of my daily rides.

I didn't think of it that way before this.  But in any case...here are some random shots of some of the odds and ends I saw today...with some odd little captions.

The backup of memory

The bus don't run here no mo.

She's waiting

The world's loneliest train depot.