Sunday, November 1, 2015

Bit Of This, Bit Of That

After last weekend's trip to Texas, this week's accomplishments were on a much smaller scale.  Preparations for winter continue .... there was some painting, more organization though not nearly as much as there should have been.  A couple more of the engines that serve winter purposes have received attention and happily, there were some early, first steps taken towards winter motorcycle maintenance that I just wasn't patient enough to wait for snowflakes-flying to start.  Ulterior motives (two of them) had me working on things that I'd told myself would get taken care of sometime over the next few months....."no hurry."

I received a nice email from buddy Dave P this week containing a fine quote and a suggested book to read.  The book is now in my Kindle and has been started.  "The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs" by Tristan Gooley.  It's been gratifying and rewarding to discover that not every tip or bit of knowledge in his book comes as a surprise to me.  Experience, being open to new things and receptive to the world around us with a certain awareness of surroundings are things we would all most likely benefit from with more attention paid.  I'm enjoying the book and David was right on with his belief that the book would be a good fit.


Son Ben sent a quick text this week, "Honda is sold, picking up on Tuesday."  I'm pleased in more ways than one that the Halloween color Honda is being enjoyed by someone new.

The first Sunday in November is our area's annual Swan Ride.  45 minutes down river from us is a place that not all that many years ago saw hundreds and most likely thousands of Trumpeter Swans making brief stops on their way to Winter Quarters on Chesapeake Bay.  For numerous reasons (Mike suggested that the swans may be missing the current version of Adobe Reader and therefore are off schedule) the swans do not gather as they once did, certainly not when they once did.  Fury Motors in St. Paul sponsors the ride regardless.  There can be snowflakes and then there can be days like today, beautiful considering that we flipped to the November page on our calendars last night.

Some of us handle the ride differently, not doing the free breakfast in St. Paul, nor do we join the group(s) riding down to Rieck's Park on the edge of Alma, Wisconsin.  This year's version found 7 of us gathering together for breakfast in Alma.  Once finished with breakfast, we head the 1 mile north to the park and awaited the arrival of the various groups on their way to Wabasha, Minnesota across and upriver one town.

More of our small group came all of the way down from the Twin Cities than did not.  As I entered Lake City, Mike and Colleen were just pulling out onto the highway, followed for a ways and snagged a photo of me from behind.


They continued on Highway 61 while I turned off to take a route a bit more scenic.


 Joan and Steve, Colleen and Mike, Tim, Dave and I all sat down together at Pier 4 for breakfast.  Justin was there as well but he stayed outside in the comfort of 'his' sidecar, looking for a bit of sympathy here when Mike got the pup's portrait.


In fact, Mike managed to get the next two photos.





The 7 of us at went to the park and found two riders were there even before we were and we were early.



Around noon the groups began to roll in.....







My plan was to come home and get back to business.....projects and things put off and neglected.  But when I got home, I saw the KLR there in the garage with those new couldn't-wait-for-winter new DirtBagz soft bags and brackets and decided that a decent test ride just had to be about the most important item on my To Do list.



Found this witch along the road.....SCARY!!


So today the BMW was able to sneak in its first miles of '15 before the curtain, the KLR managed to pass its test today.  This coming week I'll be able to put the new battery in the ST2 and just maybe test that before snow flies.

My 2015 Mileage Pie Chart is in the oven, we'll give it a few more weeks to finish baking and then the slices will be ready to share.  An early look shows mileage upped over last year and we'll see what the next few weeks might bring for a breakaway finish.

14 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Richard, the RT looks very good considering the little I've done to help it be so. Motormike used to own it and once spring arrives, will again. He's looking forward to having it once more and I'm looking forward to its replacement :)

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    2. the replacement for " Herr Fritz " is already in yer stable.. the Guzzi .. :)

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    3. Might be a Guzzi .... but not the one that's already here....

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  2. Replies
    1. Dave's sidecar is a Claude Stanley out of PA. It's a workhorse model, tough, thick aluminum body and built to take more than it sometimes gets though Dave has had it in some rougher places.

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  3. Great day.... good food...good company... scenic overlooks... Hope to do it again.. Thanks.. :)

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    1. Mike, so glad you two made the effort to come down from the City. We can do this more often and don't need imaginary swans for an excuse.

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  4. Thanks for the tip on the book. I am intrigued.

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    1. Dave is always on the lookout for things I might enjoy and he's found another. I'm enjoying it.

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  5. One of these days 'll have to plan a breakfast run to Pier 4, you never know who you'll run into there. Post-hibernation. Thanks for the book recommendation. And thanks for following my little project, it's been fun to put together.

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    1. Jason, Marietta and Paul are open until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, will open up again sometime in March. Come on down. As a family (in the auto) we make numerous trips to Nelson for lunchtime sandwiches and I'd strongly suggest the Mediterranean Pizza. No need to wait for warmer temps....parking is a whole lot more convenient out of season.

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  6. Are you reveling in a warmer than usual November as well? I love the idea of your swan ride ... this year we had an expanded family of swans settle in the swamp. They discovered it three years ago and have been bringing the youngins back ever since. I didn't notice when they left.

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    1. We are! It's been amazing. Our 5AM temps today were higher than normal highs for this time of year. I was out Sunday and it was lovely, almost too nice if that's possible.

      I've mentioned that I almost never ever ride after work on weekdays. Home today at 5PM, sun behind the hills. Simply had to get the (bright) red one out for a few miles but they were careful ones....it's deer season here and the creatures are hopping across roads at will.

      It isn't rare for our Swan Ride (first Sunday in Nov) to be w/o swans but I'm thinking that at least part of the reason I've seen or heard none is due to our warmer weather. Only a guess though. We live right next to and beneath one of the country's biggest migration flyways. From our home we hear and see them, both directions, spring and fall. Haven't heard a peep this autumn so far.

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