It's been a long winter!

I haven't written anything in a long time... I have been buried in snow.  We have had nearly record snow falls this year, the kind that I remember as a little girl.  You know the ones, where the snowbanks were tall enough that you could dig a tunnel through them?

 

If you live in a warm climate, just imagine how much fun that would be for a kid.  In those days, I don't think people were concerned about cave-ins, just as we did not wear seat belts.  I can also remember riding in the 'Way Back' of our ancient Volkswagen Bus...that itchy carpeted platform over the engine.  We would 'hosie' it, or claim it as ours on the way out the door.  As one of three kids, there was plenty of room for us in the bus, but someone had to claim it :)   Now, when we had that tiny little 1963 Porsche Speedster, that was a different story.  Put three kids in the back of that thing, and one poor kid had to sit on the itchy carpeted bump.  The same carpet as the bus, I think.  Even though riding in that was torturous, if I see an old Porsche today, I absolutely covet it. Is coveting your neighbor's car a sin, I wonder?  

Oh, how I digress!  Back to the present...  Punxatawney Phil promised us an early spring this year.  The talk about town now is that he is a story teller, (this is putting it gently) much like the weather reporters.  It is Feb 23, and there is the promise of 40 degrees today.  How excited we get at the end of the winter, when 40 degrees is a heat wave as opposed to the fall, when I outfit myself like Nanook of the North to take a ride in 40 degree temps for the weekend!  I can guarantee that I will see kids in shorts today

I am not taking any monumental rides this summer. The desire is always there, now that the precedent has been set, but I have to temper this desire to wander the countryside all summer. I have a family and a business to consider, says the little angel on my shoulder.  But, your time to ride these rides is in a short window says the little devil on the other shoulder.  So, I seek compromise with these two brats.  So far this year, I have two definite rides planned, the first is Memorial Day weekend to Rolling Thunder again, and the second is to northern Maine with about 50 of my closest friends to ride around Acadia National Park and the rugged coastline that I love so much, about 4 days each. 

I won't be a VIP escort at Rolling Thunder this year.  It was a tremendously powerful and moving experience for me, but with my super sensitive heart, it is a little too moving. I truly had a challenge to deliver my Gold Star Mom to the end of the ride without crying. Not that crying is bad, I do it all the time...but while piloting a motorcycle, it can be problematic!  So this year, I will be joining my friends in Washington DC, we will ride behind the escorts and then pull off to watch the rest of the hundreds of thousands of bikes thunder by.  This year will be special, as a few of my dear friends will gather from across the states and be in the same zip code for the first time.  I will write about it, you can be sure of that!

The ride to Maine, is going to be a very low key weekend in June. There are tours planned to sight see, but it is open. So if I get there and simply feel like sitting on the rocks by the ocean, then that is what I will do. I will go with no agenda and see what unfolds. I am pretty nearly counting the days to that weekend!  Stay tuned...

I do have one more wish list ride and hope to squeeze it in sometime later in the summer. For two years, I have pretty much ridden right past the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. The first time, it was not on the agenda and although I was told we could go, I deferred because I did not want to seem selfish about making other people go where I wanted to go.  Last summer, it was because of my crazy tight schedule. I know, I know... self imposed of course!  I have no one to blame but myself, but it would have thrown it off by quite a bit to have essentially taken an extra day.  Honestly, it was because I was itching to launch solo. I had it on my itinerary to break loose at a certain mile marker on a certain day and it was making the most noise in my head, so I listened.  But, after I think the 6th or 7th person has told me that they have seen my photo in the museum, I really need to go!  The following photo is what I seek....check out how short my hair is! And a fairly undorned Dirty Girl with her new sparkly paint job- she was black when new. And those pristine white walls...  sigh.

When my bike was new, I submitted it to the HOG magazine.  Imagine my surprise when I got a note from a rider with a photo attached. "Guess who I found at the new HD Museum?"  I am told it it smack in the middle at eye level when you enter the museum.  I figured it would have been replaced by now, but as recently as two months ago, I was told it was still there!  So, if the stars align, I will buzz out there too. 

The most exciting thing going through my little brain right now, as I start to pull out map books and keep GoogleMaps open on my browser, is another big ride for next summer!  I have decided that Santa Fe, NM will be the main destination.  Years ago, a friend of mine told me that I must see it.  That plea has remained with me... and I look forward to telling her that I will be riding my motorcycle there to take in the artistic sacred place.  I was thinking I would push on to the coast of California, but so many friends are recommending sights and roads around there, in the states that border New Mexico, that I will probably tour around that vicinity.  And after many requests to convert my blog to a book, I am going to see what is involved. There is a lot of information for self publishing out there...so with the help of those who have trod that path before,  let's see what happens!

Now... to find a sponsor or two.  That would just bee heavenly. 

thanks for reading,
peace,
bee