Sunday, April 22, 2018

Only Today

Only today did I finally get out for a ride, my first of the season if you don't count my short foray out on the frozen Mississippi River a couple of long months ago.

Lots has been going on...
  • Last weekend, 8" of blowing snow here in Frontenac, 22" a short 50 miles north of us
  • Plowing and shoveling
  • Plowing and shoveling
  • Plowing and shoveling
  • Closed on mom's house sale early week
  • Spent 3 days...to, in and from Columbus, Nebraska for my employer
  • Ducati officially sold via ADV though we're still working out the details of transport to the PNW
  • Attended author John Weiss's Back Roads presentation of his book at the Lake City Library
  • Received the new Contour +2 camera mount for my modular helmet....and attached it
  • Dropped Peg off at MSP for her trip to Canada
  • Yesterday morning, coffee at Diamond's
  • Yesterday morning, Moto Guzzi Breakfast
  • Attempted to drop off my stash of brass and copper at Kirschbaum's but too late
  • Dropped off the Ducati front wheel with Marty to get a new tire mounted
  • Attended author Lorry Wendland's presentation of her book(s), 19th Century Frontenac
Today, prepping for our upcoming Slimey Crud Run weekend and finally.....

Rode my motorcycle.

But first, Monday afternoon near Emerson, Nebraska.....remnants from the same storm that got us in MN.


I stopped in at the Columbus Curry Bros. Motorsports and the news was in keeping with what sadly has been the recent ongoing theme, "....we just aren't selling bikes......".  The showroom was stuffed with 4 wheelers.  I bought anti-freeze, to celebrate Spring. :)


In Lake City some local things were learned and I always appreciate time spent with someone that enjoys being off the main highway.

Dropped off the Ducati's front wheel so that new owner Josh can actually use the bike (or ride it back to Washington?).  Will be going back there next weekend and hopefully a freshly mounted front wheel won't be the only thing picked up.

 
At the Moto Guzzi breakfast, only 1 rider out of 10 attendees.  Bob's Eldorado a spotless and lovely example.


Saturday afternoon, a presentation by Lorry Wendland of her new books in our Town Hall, the oldest, continuously used government 'center' in the state.  A SRO crowd, my mom and her siblings were there as were 3 of our cousins that grew up on the Century Farm where we now live.  The cousins were instrumental in contributing facts, photos and stories that were included in the books.





Of course I bought both and can't wait to dig into them, though it won't be until after riding season.  Literally 1200 combined pages of photos, information on families, buildings, dwellings, etc.  I really enjoyed Lorry's presentation and as you can imagine, some of the "oral histories" that we've all come to know and mostly love weren't always the complete or even part of the real story.  Lorry and her collaborators did their best to dig deep and dig deep they did.



It seemed to work helmeted in the house so I have every reason to believe that it will be fine out in the wind.




As you can see, we continue to be plagued by wildlife.  Taken this morning from a single spot where 8 deer and 32 turkeys were able to be seen.....and that without even really trying; the ratio of toms to hens quite favorable.





The soybean harvest continues.....






This morning, these fliers were incredibly noisy....but on the video, all you can hear are the robins and birds much closer to Terra firma.  I shot 10 videos of equivalent length, tried to Post the best one.  In other words, these guys were doing these loops for 15 minutes.  Later, there was another group exactly overhead doing the same thing.



Absolutely NO speeding, I watch ever so closely.  4000 RPM, exactly 54 GPS MPH.



Local motocross park......


Home, then on the TW200.


Not sure what it does at GPS 54, but it's a lot more than 4000 RPM and its done that a lot.



125.1 Official miles for my first outing; the West loop on the KLR, the East loop on the TW200.


It's Been Good.

8 comments:

  1. .. the " pie " has start'd to bake.. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike, it's very possible that an effort will have to be made this season to keep most of the slices from looking like crumbs. We are off to a good start though.

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  2. Glad you were able to enjoy this grand day! Looking forward SCR weekend of camping/riding and visiting!

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    Replies
    1. Eric, you said it. I wish it was next weekend but, upon consideration, it's likely a good thing there's a weekend in between.

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  3. What’s the plan for the Contour camera? Vlogging ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard, nothing that spectacular. I'm going to leave the vlogging to the experts. My camera is old, it's only the mount that is new and able to fit the modular helmet.

      Delete
  4. Wow, you have been busy. Glad the weather improved enough you could get out for a ride.

    ReplyDelete