Coop's Corner

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Road Trip, Part 1 Friday

Plans for the trip this weekend started weeks ago, well actually the real roots of the plan began longer ago than that. It was over a year ago that I quite accidentally became acquainted with the Good Lovelies, a trio made up of 3 very talented women musicians based in Toronto. (I took no photos and won't use someone else's, click the link)

Sometime last year I visited their website, curious about concert dates and locations, only to discover that most if not all were spread far and wide across Canada or along the east coast of the USA. Disappointed I resigned myself to the continued listening to their recordings with the idea that hopefully someday it would be fun to see the group perform live.

This winter while looking at my maps and trying to make plans for summer riding trips, the thought suddenly occurred to me that I might possibly plan a trip to one of this season's concert locations. Checking their website back in February, I was surprised and very pleased to see that there were 3 dates in March next door in Wisconsin, next door in Wisconsin being at the Cedarburg Performing Arts Center which is completely across the width of the entire state. Friday the 27th the definite favorite, I quickly walked around the corner and asked the rest of the Coop family to see who might be interested in joining me for a trip to the east coast of Wisconsin at the end of March. When I mentioned the concert, Lauren put her hand up right away, "I'll go!"

Tickets purchased, motel reservations made and a lunch stop was planned on the way over with riding friend John but then a few weeks ago, Lauren suddenly discovered that she'd already committed the date to substitute with an area orchestra so we two very quickly turned into just me. While the primary plans for the weekend had been established, a second stop was being considered, namely the Harley Davidson Museum in downtown Milwaukee for Saturday morning, a mere hour south of where the 'Lovelies were performing. I hadn't been yet and after hearing only many good things, it seemed the perfect time to visit.

Much consideration was given to a Road Trip Partner, someone that would both appreciate the concert as well as the HD Museum. Only one name came to mind, namely Mr. J.P. To his credit, he accepted my invitation knowing only that we'd be attending a concert, the artist(s) a complete secret on Friday evening though there was full disclosure about the planned Saturday morning stop at the Museum. Just recently having sold his old W.D. (45 cu. in.) along with a truckload worth of extra parts, his interest in visiting the renowned museum pretty much pegged the meter.

Here right on time Friday morning, we parked J.P.'s car and hopped in ours for the trip east. The 4 1/2 hours to our planned lunch stop that would be east of Madison went quickly.....we had much to discuss.

"Frank Sinatra?"

"Nope"

More discussion about life, riding, history, likes/dislikes, which bike(s) next......

"Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?"

"Not this trip"

My lips were sealed but he did get a smile in return.

I didn't need the GPS to find our luncheon rendezvous point but it was extremely helpful in planning the time since ETA can be determined down to the minutes. With an advance phone call, we met John and Gayle right on time, then drove a few blocks to a relaxing, discussion-filled hour and a half meal in Lake Mills. With promises made to meet again in a few weeks at the May version of Slimey Crud, J.P. and I headed NE on County A (cross country, we'd seen enough of I-94), working our way up to Wisconsin Hwy 60.

We quickly checked in at our Jackson motel (J.P.....I don't remember, did we freshen up??), then headed north to the nearest HD dealer in West Bend to check out the new-to-me 500 and 750 models. I was primed on the differences between these two by my Road Trip Partner as well as the details on the vast number of models of the other, larger V-Twins on their show floor. Somehow Yamaha V-Stars came up (J.P. had one...we've both considered being future owners) so we did another "motorcycle shops" search on the GPS, gambling that the next multi-brand dealer would carry new Yamahas.

They did not but we saw some fine, clean, other brand used ones.

By then it was time to get something to eat and head to the concert hall. On the way out to the car I said "them" when referring to our performers for the evening and Jim caught it, looked over at me with a smile but I didn't seem to notice.

The Cedarburg Performing Arts Center is an incredible hall, connected to the Cedarburg High School. We found out that Caroline, Kerri and Sue had spent the day pre-sound check with the high school students, amazing when you think about it. From what we could tell, it had been a rewarding day for students and Artists alike, quite an opportunity for both. We two agreed that the area is lucky with its treasures.

We had excellent, 2nd row, front and center seats and the young women put on quite a show. I thoroughly enjoyed their talents, virtuosity and showmanship. Known for their voices and harmonies, I heard all that I'd hoped for and more. Their acapella version of "Heebie Jeebies" the encore, Caroline, Kerri and Sue arm in arm with their toes almost literally hanging off the front of the stage was a very fine way to end the show.

These young women, all married, some of them mothers, their families now quite literally spread across the entire expanse of Canada will hopefully stay together as a group. I'm going to do my best to hear and see them again live as soon as I can.

Road Trip, Part 2 Saturday.......... tomorrow's Post with more American Iron photos than you can shake a stick at.

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)