Coop's Corner: A Long Short Week And An Even Shorter Weekend

Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Long Short Week And An Even Shorter Weekend

You'd expect that a 3 day workweek would have passed quickly but it felt like one twice that long for some reason...maybe I was simply still full of too much Holiday Spirit. Our turkeys are even more present, today there were 5 in the tree at one time; the one below running back and forth gathering what the others were carelessly dropping.

I didn't see this happen, though maybe was the cause. Wingtips in the snow and evidence of a hasty take-off??

The season's ride planning has begun, both the short and long ones. I've been trying to do a central Michigan tour the last couple of years and it hasn't really worked out. Thinking it might finally be an option last fall changed when all my vacation days were used up for other unplanned events.

Last week the "Michigan Travel Ideas" packet arrived and was opened with glee.`As I was reading through the guide and focusing on some potential 'targets', I was made aware of this year's Moto Guzzi National Rally in Lavigne, ONT. So, not only was a new, updated Ontario (I've already got one a few years old) Travel Planner ordered on Saturday, but then later in the afternoon on the phone with Gene I learned of this year's BMWMOA National to be held in Salem, OR. Now that I'm an honest-to-goodness owner and a former MOA member, this one sounds tantalizing.

Those are at least some of the long trip potentials though I'm not embarrassed or afraid of planning weekend rides that are much more local. We do have after all, some very nice riding within 200-300 miles from home. Plans are already firming up for a meet-up with Jeff on his CR230 Honda. I'll meet him on the TW200 and we'll explore some of the more rare, gravel and Rustic Roads in the southern parts of Wisconsin. Finding rural gravel in Minnesota is mere child's play, but in southern Wisconsin, where even small lanes are paved, it's a bit more work. I know where the good ones are and hope to share them once spring arrives.

Then there's always the almost world famous "Doug's 85 miles of Gravel" ride that loops out from our home, using those aforementioned plentiful MN gravel roads. 90% of the ride takes place on non-paved roads, makes good use of 4 Minimum Maintenance roads and never gets further than 20 miles from our home.

Days are getting longer, gas is cheaper....wouldn't it be nice if these trends continue?

10 comments:

RichardMJanuary 6, 2013 at 7:52 PM
There's a ride planning season? I'm missing out on that. I've been to a couple of MOA rally's and have enjoyed them both. Salem should be a great location. Not as hot as Bend or Bloomsburg. I'm pretty sure I won't be riding down but I might still fly down.
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJanuary 6, 2013 at 8:00 PM
We were at West Bend and headed for Gillette then plans changed. It's been quite awhile since I've been to OR.
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Martha January 7, 2013 at 7:39 AM
That sounds absolutely wonderful. Plans for rides. That's true about WI and our Rustic Roads. They did pave most of them and I'm not sure why. Is it a health and safety issue? Can't older tourists manage to drive on gravel? Is it for bicycles? Is it for motorcycles? I don't know why they are almost all paved now. They need to scrap the signs because they are not rustic anymore.

Along the highway the other day I thought I was looking at a couple black garbage bags hung up in the trees along the road. Not black bags- turkeys.
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Martha January 7, 2013 at 7:26 PM
What's the website?
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJanuary 7, 2013 at 8:11 PM
I should have put the link in the post.
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/rusticroads.htm
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TrobairitzJanuary 8, 2013 at 4:18 PM
Planning the trip is half the fun. Let us know if you are heading to Salem, we are only 30 miles south/southwest in Corvallis.

I know time might be short for you if you are attending the rally, but even if we could get together for a coffee or a meal it would be great to meet you.
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJanuary 9, 2013 at 4:24 AM
Brandy, I knew right away where Corvallis was but had to check on Salem. If I get out there, we will meet.
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VStar LadyJanuary 9, 2013 at 7:58 PM
I am always amazed at how long a short work week can and usually does feel ... Planning for the summer is great fun and it looks like you could go in any direction. In all honesty I didn't know where Lavigne was, but having looked it up, I must have gone by or near there on my trip around Superior. It's about 550km (a day's ride) from where I live as well ... Like Brandy mentioned, it's always great to meet a fellow motoblogger if you head this way. Keep us posted.
PS - gotta love those turkeys. There's a gang of up to 40 that hang out around here (the numbers vary dependiing on how good the coyotes are at hunting.)
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The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

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The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

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He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

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We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

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As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

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