Friday, August 29, 2014

Wildcat Mountain Rally #28 - The Start

I look forward to this rally more than any of the others, I suppose for a variety of reasons.  Among those reasons, not necessarily in this order but maybe, the people, the location and that includes the riding this region offers, Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, typically cooler 'summer' temperatures, the fact that our gathering is motel-based, insulating in a fashion poor camping weather and so on.  So while it is really just one more rally, it stands out, at least it does to me for all of these reasons.

It's been a rather hectic, challenging and busy month.  As a rule, our August's have had a certain level of normal with a bit of surprise thrown in.  This year our August seems to have flip flopped these two things with all sorts of new surprises.  The bottom line is that I was more ready than ever for this weekend to happen.

The weather forecast wasn't the best (and that may just have something to do with fewer numbers this evening?) and up until the last minute this morning, I was just as prepared to ride down as I was to tow the bike on the trailer.  We had an inch of rain overnight and the predicted patterns for the day sounded rather gloomy.

I tossed my loaded luggage into the van, hooked the trailer on the back and got the bike strapped down.  I was off in conditions that seemed threatening but the wet never happened.  Just before I stopped for breakfast in Alma, I passed a popular diner and noticed that some of my riding friends were just suiting up after stopping for breakfast.  I turned around and went back to say hi.  This group travels down to the motorcycle activities every Labor Day weekend in Davenport, Iowa. After helping them with a group photo, I headed the 10 miles south for my breakfast.

It was early but they let me check in anyway at the motel.  I quickly changed out of my shorts and sandals into riding gear, got the bike off the trailer and headed out for a ride.  Attendees drifted in the rest of the day; we all took care of dinner in various ways and later found things to discuss outside in the parking lot.  Lawn chairs were out, some gathered around the bikes, that is until the lightning and very dark clouds weren't just on the horizon but getting close.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll have riding weather, each of our thresholds for that being quite varied.  I'll do my best to get out and see some miles on the Honda.

I'm writing tonight on the Kindle and though I took photos today, I have no reasonable way to post them.  That will happen when the weekend is complete.

10 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the pics! Which kindle do you have? I have one of the older versions and it doesn't allow me to blog from it. I am thinking of getting my hub a kindle fire for Christmas.

    Hope you enjoy your rally and get sunny dry weather!

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    1. Dar, I have a Kindle Fire and when I take it with on the bike, I bring a small keyboard as well to make typing easier. The two items together are relatively small and pack easily. Lots of music, online access with easy email and I even have a few books loaded. :)

      Hard rain over night though nothing coming down right now. I'm betting today's photographs will be moist shades of grey.

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  2. Thanks Coop! I have an iPad mini which I love and it does the trick for me most of the time, but the kindle app doesn't allow me to download books to the mini, which kind of grates my cheese. Looking forward to seeing 'shades of grey' pics. We had a hard rain last night and it was thrumming on the roof of the motorhome, pretty noisy night.

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    1. I've got a few 'shades of grey' but had it not been for the morning fog (with fantastic clearing after it lifted) there wouldn't be very many greyscale images. 3 glorious days for riding other than that first hour or so Saturday morning. Martha's clouds put on magnificent displays all weekend, making favorites impossible so there are way more blue/white/deep grey photos than the more dismal shades.

      Back in my room tonight after the banquet and awards, expecting rain by midnight.

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  3. Looking forward to your photos ... it's nice that you have a trailer when you want it.

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    1. Karen, the trailer opens up options that are so very welcome. I left it on the van all weekend, the Canyon Dancer and straps were inside with ignition keys above the visor. I gave everyone the option of grabbing the outfit if anyone or anything needed hauling.......the rig never moved all weekend and that is a very good thing.

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  4. It takes age and wisdom to know when to trailer the bike. I'd say you made a good call. Hope you are having a great weekend.

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    1. Brandy, I expected to need (want?) the van and trailer this weekend and so far, it's only been an easy place to store riding gear without bringing it all in my room. Tomorrow the story will likely be different if the predictors are to be believed.

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  5. My iPad was unhappy on the trip last summer. I think it was the heat. It would reset to factory state. I gave up on it.

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    1. We have iPad's in the family but I only have the netbooks and this Kindle. Some day I may sign up to make my phone a Hotspot but so far have not. This Kindle/keyboard combo should be more than enough.

      The iPhone works for mini-Posts but I've not taken the time to better format the photos, at least so far. If/when I go out for more than a weekend, I'll have a baby laptop along, not only for the images but for GPS Route adjusting.

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