Coop's Corner: Words Barely Describe

Monday, October 20, 2014

Words Barely Describe

Ben and I took the bikes out yesterday to get our "paved" ride in and oh, my, what a day! A bit cool to start, finally near 70 degrees at the apex of the afternoon. It just can't get any better. All photos are as the camera(s) captured the world.

Eagle Valley Road.....

Pretzel Pass.......

Pretzel Pass a little further around.....

Independence Road.....

I had my helmet cam on yesterday, set this time to take shots every 5 seconds. Included here for my friends that know these roads, sometimes better than I do. :)

Castlerock Museum seen on the right in downtown Alma, just up the street from our breakfast spot at Pier4.

County N approaching Rose Valley Road......

Once again, the familiar Coop's Corner shot, this time a wider angle.

County Road G......just past the little church.

Many of the helmet cam photos taken yesterday show the Hyosung speedometer reading 40-45mph... I was on the Honda here (Hwy 95) and I'm very glad the speedometer isn't seen at the bottom of the shot. The Honda was given its rein.

We stopped on Alligator Slide to swap bikes again. There was a certain amount of discussion about the virtues of a lightweight 600cc sportbike. My oh my does it want to go!

Pretzel Pass photo of the photo process....

Wolfe Road.....

County Road Q....has been and will remain a top favorite....

We were doing so well.

I stopped to ask Ben if he was up for a bit of gravel as we were leaving Gilmanton; neither one of us wanted to quit. Up Gilman Valley Road to the 4 corners where Gilman meets Moy, the plan to take the adventurous Carl Valley back down to County double V. I pulled over to change out my helmet cam battery.

I turned back to see Ben coasting to a stop and looking down at his rear wheel.

Wet and a bit of smoke....

The short story is that we pulled the lower fairing panel off and discovered that the spin-on oil filter was leaking from its base o-ring. We loosened, tightened but it was no use, anything over an idle made the oil flow where it wasn't supposed to. I took off at a mostly brisk pace towards home so that I could come back with the van and trailer.

Dave and Eric know this corner well....it's a VERY quiet place......quiet as in not much traffic...though Ben did tell me that a couple of GS BMW's waved as they went past. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get home and back and told Peg when I came home without Ben that I hoped the bears wouldn't get him. By the time we were back home it was almost dark. Last night Ben pulled things apart and discovered a hairline radial split in the gasket. Today Ben put a new filter on, cleaned up the oil mess and we're back in business.

It was a very, very good day.

12 comments:

RichardMOctober 20, 2014 at 7:51 PM
Nice pictures, are most from the helmet cam?

And aren't you glad you have that handy trailer? You seem to get a lot of use out of it.
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VStar LadyOctober 20, 2014 at 9:42 PM
Looked like a spectacular day despite the mechanical problems. Every day needs a little excitement to make it memorable right? Sounds like you got the bikes home safely with lots of photos too.
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CanajunOctober 21, 2014 at 8:14 AM
Thanks for posting this so I can share vicariously in what looked like a great day of riding (mechanical problems notwithstanding). Sadly I think my "last ride" has now passed. It's cold, wet, and windy here now so unless some spectacular weather comes in, I'm done.
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David MasseOctober 21, 2014 at 9:31 AM
Glad the bears were otherwise busy.

A grizzly hunted a couple in their house this week and fatally mauled the wife when they fled the house.

I suppose if a bear did show up he would have high tailed it out, crippled bike be damned.
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TrobairitzOctober 21, 2014 at 10:15 AM
Sounds like an awesome day even with the bike issues.

Great temperatures and beautiful scenery.
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SonjaMOctober 21, 2014 at 11:22 AM
Nice view from the handlebar, Coop. Glad the bike issue could be fixed (One gotta love a handy man...)
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

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.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

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....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

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

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

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

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

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

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)