Coop's Corner: March 2018

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Behaving Mostly

I currently have no supervision.....I'm "Bach'ing it" as my uncle used to say.

Peg and Lauren are in Paris for a week and any transgressions (a relatively small number) that did manage to get past me have only been of the minor variety. Not a single stealthy motorcycle purchase or "bring home" has occurred but it sure would have been easy.

Since half of you already know, it's probably high time to let the remainder know that I'm waiting anxiously for my new Royal Enfield Himalaya. It will look like this and due in April .....

I won't be going with the hard bags on mine. Some small side pouches for the frames straddling the gas tank and a rack for supporting my current soft saddle bags have been ordered from Bangalore and should be here this week. The first white Himmi in the state, I can't wait. A few weeks ago, Marty at GoMoto said that it was on the water, somewhere between India and Minnesota. One of my friends mentioned that there was word about a cargo ship that had only recently sunk but apparently that was just a rumor going around in some very small circles.

Knowing that adding one more in the garage seemed just a bit over the top and really unnecessary, with much deliberation and prioritization, the hurtful decision was made to sell 3 machines to make some room for the new white one.

This one's been gone a few weeks already.....

Riding friend Jeff bought it, now has it running better than new. If he and his lovely bride weren't over in Belgium right now, he'd have most likely been out for his first ride this past week while it was so mild. He's telling us that this will be his AHRMA Road America weekend machine this year; I'm hoping to take it for one more spin if given the chance.

The red one is listed on ADV, has received some very nice comments, seen some interest in Fly and Ride's from a few people but currently is still mine. If by chance you're in the market, I know where there's a good one. I'll give it another week or so on the popular Dirty Bike forum, then get it listed in a few more places.

Finally, once the 2nd one is gone, the old KLR will be #3. Unable to say why exactly, but there's a growing soft spot in my heart for this one. There isn't really a logical reason; the Kawasaki will be redundant and quite possibly lonely once the 411cc bike arrives but it's being the last one up for sale for a reason, certainly a solid one.

So, if you're counting (and I try not to), this would potentially be a net LOSS of 2. At this point, I say potentially....

These past weeks, not to mention the last year and a half, we've been busy trying to get mom's house cleaned out, the goods sorted and lastly, the dwelling sold. This past week, papers were signed to get it listed and now the weekend's Open House isa flurry of activity. Text messages and emails are far and away the better way to stay up to date on the heavy traffic. Low supply, big demand is fortunately where the house finds itself and there's every indication that an offer will be forthcoming by the end of the weekend. As my brother and I have discussed for months, "there's riding to do....."

Last week, while going to and fro visiting our company's customers, I hit the grand daddy of potholes. I'm conscious of them, watch for them and do everything reasonable to avoid them but this big one got me. The headlights blinked, the wipers turned themselves On to DANGER and before I got back to the office, the car was feeling 'funny'. An egg on the sidewall and a bent wheel will do that to a fella's automobile.

At the tire store on Friday, while paying for a brand new tire, a brand new wheel and the extraneous items, Vicky, my go-to, oft visited counter person said, "be sure and register for the drawing". I did and here's my very own, small version of When It Rains It Pours.

I have 100 Prepaid Solutions.....gas money the way I see it.

Someone not only attempting to, but able to, accomplish much more of substantial content and endeavor than I've ever been able, is our blog friend David over at Life On Two Wheels. Very busy and carrying in a properly loaded-arch way, he's been studying for the Ontario Bar Exams.

My timing, impossibly poor, a request was made for some travel ideas from David regarding Peg's upcoming business trip to Toronto/Montreal. Rather than tell me where to go, David very politely and graciously requested some additional time to respond. Respond he did, not only with an extensive list but with details so thorough that someone without a clue or a GPS could easily follow them. Peg happens to have both and it will be mere child's play for her to execute all of David's suggestions.

David, we truly thank and owe you.

Tomorrow morning, a shared breakfast with Paul and Eric. Been a long time guys, can't wait to sit down over some coffee, eggs and learn about your recent AZ back road riding.

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)