Yesterday, the sun rose on a beautiful morning, but the temperature was too low for me to want to ride. It clouded up and Karl was back and forth about it, so I suggested that we take the day and go shopping: at three nearby Harley shops. Neither one of us was particularly interested in doing chores, so we decided to make a fun day of it.
First stop: Patriot Harley in Fairfax. Karl was mainly interested in looking for used bikes for Da Boy. His birthday is coming up in April and by then he'll have his motorcycle license. ("Da Boy" will be 27) And Karl really wants to go riding with him - you know, male bonding. There were some promising looking bikes, but at this point it's just a recon and when they finally decide on a bike, Da Boy will have the final say. But Karl likes to plan way far in advance. It took us from Memorial Day until the end of July to finally get our Baby.
I looked around the store and didn't see anything I couldn't live without, so after Karl showed me the prospects for Da Boy, and we talked about them between ourselves and a salesman, we got his card and left for shop #2: Witts in Manassas.
On the way there, Karl and I were talking, and I told him that I really loved that Black leather jacket with turquoise embroidery that I saw last year and couldn't find in my size. It was in and out of the inventory in about a month. But Michelle special ordered another one that was on its way out and she could get it in my size. It's black with a more subdued purple logo and trim. I told Karl that if they ever came out with a jacket with a phoenix in deep reds and oranges on black leather, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
I tried on a few things off the sale rack, but in the end, walked away empty handed. Karl really didn't see anything promising there, so it was off to our home store, East Coast Harley in Dumfries. I love that place.
I love hanging out in the gear and apparel area, and more often than not, I end up walking away with something I hadn't intended to buy.
Yesterday was no exception. I met Anji for the first time and we hit it off. We bonded over riding and writing - we both have blogs. Before I knew it I had just bought a half helmet (which I needed for warm weather riding), and Karl Honey, as Anji called him, found a cloth vest with a turquoise and yellow phoenix embroidered on it. They had one in my size and of course, I had to have it. I think we spent about an hour and a half just looking and hanging out. We were really in no hurry.
Walking out the door, we noticed that it was decidedly warmer then it was when we walked in. The sun had burned off all the cloud cover. We got home, and hurried to grab a quick bite to eat and get ready to ride. It was about warm enough for me to ride. I put on my silk long underwear, jeans and a sweater, boots and leather jacket and gloves and we were rolling by about 3 in the afternoon.
We went out through Warrenton and out to Culpeper. We have a good friend who lives there, but we didn't stop. It's the house of no return. We took a break at a gas station and then came home by way of Sperryville (quaint little town) and back through Warrenton again where we stopped again; this time for a fill up and a water break and the took it on home on Aden Road. That's one of my favorite back roads.
It was some cool riding, especially in the very shady areas, but I never got chilled. It was good to be back on the bike again, watching our corner of the world from the back of the Baby. I love the smells from the back of the bike. We ride through a lot of farm country so even in the cold, you can smell the manure going past a dairy or cattle farm. To me it smells better than the city. But I grew up down the road from a farm.
There was the occasional skunk - inevitable in the country. Then there were the wood fires coming from the houses with fireplaces. Homey smells. There were cookouts going on all over the place. We cook out year round, and I smelled burgers and dogs and grilled chicken wafting on the breeze as we rode by. Riding through the larger towns we could smell the restaurants cooking up good stuff. Steaks and BBQ, yummy stuff.
The forsythias, harbingers of spring are in bloom. I saw daffodils full out. Mine at home are still buds. Red buds on trees waiting to pop open on the first warm day. The willow trees have a greenness about them, but no leaves just yet. Most of the fields have that brown-yellow winter deadness about them still; but I noted one single verdant field near Sperryville - spring alfalfa. Surrounded by winter-dry grass.
The wind gusted a lot. That's March telling us that winter is not yet ready to give way to spring. We lost the sun about a half hour from home. the sunset was behind us, but when we stopped in Warrenton, we put on our reflective vests. I could see the orange sun reflected in Karl's helmet below the tops of the trees - also reflected in his helmet.
We arrived home to four happy dogs and a cat, and a cup of warm tea and dinner.
All in all, it was a beautiful cool day.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Midwinter Ride
First, let me apologize for leaving this blog out in the cold for so long. I have been busy with my other blog, and as I haven't been riding since the end of October, I haven't had much to blog about here. I have also been dealing with a few health issues that will be resolved soon, God willing.
So after a several months long hiatus, I got back on the bike again.
Karl has been taking advantage of the unseasonably warmer weather in the last couple weeks to ride to work on nice days. I have noticed that for Karl, time spent on the bike is good therapy for the winter blahs. It really does add to his peace of mind when he can get out there and ride. He rides solo when it's nice but colder. I gave him a pair of leather chaps for Christmas, and he says the chaps with his fleece lined jeans are great for the colder weather.
I prefer to ride in weather that is from the mid 50s and higher. We haven't had any riding days in that range. Friday evening when Karl got hime from work on the bike, he came in the house and said, "Get your stuff on and let's go!" I was all over it because it was still above 70.
Of course in Friday rush hour, it took us about a forty minutes to get out of the rat race to really ride, and by that time it was dusk and the street lights were coming on, so we stopped at a closed gas station to put on our reflective vests.
We don't usually ride at night, and night riding is so different from day riding. The smells are the same. (Don't skunks hibernate?), but the sights from the bike are only what is illuminated by the lights that come on. I was thinking about how houses and other things look at night.
I know that lights are for practicality, but they also highlight things. When I saw a pile of junk in th light at one house we rode by, I wondered if the people who lived there were aware that they were showcasing their junk pile. It made me wonder what shows up in the light at my house when it's dark out. What is hidden and what is laid bare for all to see?
Then I saw an old farmhouse with a single white light in each window. It was quite picturesque sitting by itself in the farm field with the sunset behind it. I'm sure the owners of that place had some sense of the scene they had created both for their own enjoyment and for others to see. There was an orderliness about it.
The sunset from the back of the back of the bike was lovely, in orangey pink hues. The darker clouds above looking slate gray. It's more beautiful to see a sunset from an outdoor vantage point than from a window. There's just something about being outside that makes you a part of it.
We drove down rural roads and through farmlands. It was full dark by then, and although it was still too early for the moonrise, it was still bright out for that time of day. I knew we must be one or two days waxing or waning of a full moon. And there was also the ambient city light in the distance.
At one point in the ride we found ourselves behind another rider there in the dark. In the daylight, rider's acknowledge one another on the road. At night they don't. The dark hides the acknowledgement, so why bother? After about ten miles, we came to a crossroad. He went his way and we went ours.
We turned toward home, back into streetlights and heavier traffic. There was a chill in the air, a reminder that it is still February, winter's domain. Just as we turned onto the main road, we saw the orange moon just over the horizon, peeking through the trees. As we turned into our neighborhood, we saw it in it's orange fullness. It had the illusion of looking larger then normal.
What a perfect way to end a midwinter ride.
So after a several months long hiatus, I got back on the bike again.
Karl has been taking advantage of the unseasonably warmer weather in the last couple weeks to ride to work on nice days. I have noticed that for Karl, time spent on the bike is good therapy for the winter blahs. It really does add to his peace of mind when he can get out there and ride. He rides solo when it's nice but colder. I gave him a pair of leather chaps for Christmas, and he says the chaps with his fleece lined jeans are great for the colder weather.
I prefer to ride in weather that is from the mid 50s and higher. We haven't had any riding days in that range. Friday evening when Karl got hime from work on the bike, he came in the house and said, "Get your stuff on and let's go!" I was all over it because it was still above 70.
Of course in Friday rush hour, it took us about a forty minutes to get out of the rat race to really ride, and by that time it was dusk and the street lights were coming on, so we stopped at a closed gas station to put on our reflective vests.
We don't usually ride at night, and night riding is so different from day riding. The smells are the same. (Don't skunks hibernate?), but the sights from the bike are only what is illuminated by the lights that come on. I was thinking about how houses and other things look at night.
I know that lights are for practicality, but they also highlight things. When I saw a pile of junk in th light at one house we rode by, I wondered if the people who lived there were aware that they were showcasing their junk pile. It made me wonder what shows up in the light at my house when it's dark out. What is hidden and what is laid bare for all to see?
Then I saw an old farmhouse with a single white light in each window. It was quite picturesque sitting by itself in the farm field with the sunset behind it. I'm sure the owners of that place had some sense of the scene they had created both for their own enjoyment and for others to see. There was an orderliness about it.
The sunset from the back of the back of the bike was lovely, in orangey pink hues. The darker clouds above looking slate gray. It's more beautiful to see a sunset from an outdoor vantage point than from a window. There's just something about being outside that makes you a part of it.
We drove down rural roads and through farmlands. It was full dark by then, and although it was still too early for the moonrise, it was still bright out for that time of day. I knew we must be one or two days waxing or waning of a full moon. And there was also the ambient city light in the distance.
At one point in the ride we found ourselves behind another rider there in the dark. In the daylight, rider's acknowledge one another on the road. At night they don't. The dark hides the acknowledgement, so why bother? After about ten miles, we came to a crossroad. He went his way and we went ours.
We turned toward home, back into streetlights and heavier traffic. There was a chill in the air, a reminder that it is still February, winter's domain. Just as we turned onto the main road, we saw the orange moon just over the horizon, peeking through the trees. As we turned into our neighborhood, we saw it in it's orange fullness. It had the illusion of looking larger then normal.
What a perfect way to end a midwinter ride.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monticello and Old Friends
After Baby's 1000 mile maintenance, we made plans to go to Monticello the following Saturday. After all these years living in the area, I had never been, so that was one of the first places I wanted to go.
Our friends in Culpeper resurfaced in an email. They were sorry they missed us, but they had been out of town for a couple weeks and were we planning any trips in or around Culpeper again any time soon? We made arrangements to stop by their place on our way to Charlottesville.
We were off to an early start. As the temperature was in the high 50s, but was going to be in the 80s, I started off with a mock turtleneck long sleeved shirt under my leather jacket and full gloves. We put T-shirts and vented gloves in the saddlebags because it was supposed to warm up into the low 80s throughout the day.
We arrived at our friends' place within the appointed window and no one was home. But there was a note on the back door with a strip map and details about where to meet them for coffee. There's a nice little coffee shop next to the Farmers' Market accross the street from the train station in the old part of town and that's where we met them.
We spent about an hour catching up on the last several years. Work and family obligations on both our parts have kept us from getting together more frequently. And now we both find ourselves with more time to renew old friendships. Our friends graciously invited us to their house for an early dinner if we were going home the same way we came, and we gladly accepted their invitation.
After coffee, we left for Monticello and it was a nice ride there. By the time we arrived there, I was ready for a break. Unfortunately, the first pass through the parking lot yielded no place to park, owing to a fall festival that was happening on the estate lawn. We ended up having to exit the parking lot and back out onto the road that brought us in and make a loop back to try again. This time we found a place, and none too soon. I was fidgety to get off. And we got lucky and found a place close to the Visitor Center.
We bought tickets to take the shuttle up to the estate, which was also a ticket to enter the building for a guided tour, which we did not take advantage of because of the crowds. Working backwards, our entry time would have put us back at our friends' very late in the day, and we were still hoping to be on our way home from their house before dark.
We had lunch at the little cafeteria in the Visitor Center and changed our shirts before venturing up the hill. We did take the shutle up the hill, but the fall festival and crowds put a damper on my fun because I could not get around as well as I wanted with so many people. Karl's not a crowd person either. We ended up walking down and stretching our legs and we left without the interior tour, earlier than we had planned to leave. I was happy to be away from all those people.
I told Karl that I would need a break somewhere along the way back to Culpeper, so we stopped at Waugh Enterprises in Orange, one of the first Harley dealerships in the state of Virginia. Nice place. You walk in on the top floor, which is their showroom and downstairs is the service center and clothing and accessories store. Karl was lucky. I saw an entire rack of THE jacket I wanted, but alas, none of them was in my size or I would have had two leather jackets. They had a lot of other stuff, but nothing I couldn't live without. We called our friends to give them a heads-up on our arrival time and then headed back to their place.
Once again we were back on our friends' front porch and we spent the next several hours regaling each other with stories of the latest goings on in both our lives. Our friend had recently left his job and lost his father, and built a small sailboat which he then sailed down the Rappahannok River into the Chesapeake Bay. The boat story was quite a tale of adventure - I would expect nothing less from our friend. We picked up right where we left off, and that is the way it should be with good friends. Now that we all have more time, I expect that we'll see a lot more of each other, after all, this friendship goes back more than thirty years.
As always, our friends' house is the house of no return for us. We left before dark, but we knew it would be after dark by the time we arrived at home. It did not help that we ended up in a small "parade" of about 20 cars being led by a moving van of the do-it-yourself variety towing a bread truck type of vehicle, followed closely by an SUV carrying the rest of the people in their party. The parade went for about 10 miles before the truck leading it figured out that there was a growing line of cars full of people who were not happy about doing 15 under the speed limit. Not to mention one lady on the back of a motorcycle who just wanted to give her backside a break. The moving van and hangers on pulled into a small business parking lot to let the rest of us pass.
By this time is was well after dark, and we still had miles to go. We chose to take the most expedient route home, and made it by about 8:30. I have to say, I am not terribly comfortable riding at night. For me, it is mostly a safety issue. People don't always see motorcycles in the daylight, at night, even with good lights, it can be hard to see us. Note to self: get a reflecting vest for night riding.
It had been a full day with many adventures and a renewed acquaintance with a pair of old friends. Who can ask for a better day?
Our friends in Culpeper resurfaced in an email. They were sorry they missed us, but they had been out of town for a couple weeks and were we planning any trips in or around Culpeper again any time soon? We made arrangements to stop by their place on our way to Charlottesville.
We were off to an early start. As the temperature was in the high 50s, but was going to be in the 80s, I started off with a mock turtleneck long sleeved shirt under my leather jacket and full gloves. We put T-shirts and vented gloves in the saddlebags because it was supposed to warm up into the low 80s throughout the day.
We arrived at our friends' place within the appointed window and no one was home. But there was a note on the back door with a strip map and details about where to meet them for coffee. There's a nice little coffee shop next to the Farmers' Market accross the street from the train station in the old part of town and that's where we met them.
We spent about an hour catching up on the last several years. Work and family obligations on both our parts have kept us from getting together more frequently. And now we both find ourselves with more time to renew old friendships. Our friends graciously invited us to their house for an early dinner if we were going home the same way we came, and we gladly accepted their invitation.
After coffee, we left for Monticello and it was a nice ride there. By the time we arrived there, I was ready for a break. Unfortunately, the first pass through the parking lot yielded no place to park, owing to a fall festival that was happening on the estate lawn. We ended up having to exit the parking lot and back out onto the road that brought us in and make a loop back to try again. This time we found a place, and none too soon. I was fidgety to get off. And we got lucky and found a place close to the Visitor Center.
We bought tickets to take the shuttle up to the estate, which was also a ticket to enter the building for a guided tour, which we did not take advantage of because of the crowds. Working backwards, our entry time would have put us back at our friends' very late in the day, and we were still hoping to be on our way home from their house before dark.
We had lunch at the little cafeteria in the Visitor Center and changed our shirts before venturing up the hill. We did take the shutle up the hill, but the fall festival and crowds put a damper on my fun because I could not get around as well as I wanted with so many people. Karl's not a crowd person either. We ended up walking down and stretching our legs and we left without the interior tour, earlier than we had planned to leave. I was happy to be away from all those people.
I told Karl that I would need a break somewhere along the way back to Culpeper, so we stopped at Waugh Enterprises in Orange, one of the first Harley dealerships in the state of Virginia. Nice place. You walk in on the top floor, which is their showroom and downstairs is the service center and clothing and accessories store. Karl was lucky. I saw an entire rack of THE jacket I wanted, but alas, none of them was in my size or I would have had two leather jackets. They had a lot of other stuff, but nothing I couldn't live without. We called our friends to give them a heads-up on our arrival time and then headed back to their place.
Once again we were back on our friends' front porch and we spent the next several hours regaling each other with stories of the latest goings on in both our lives. Our friend had recently left his job and lost his father, and built a small sailboat which he then sailed down the Rappahannok River into the Chesapeake Bay. The boat story was quite a tale of adventure - I would expect nothing less from our friend. We picked up right where we left off, and that is the way it should be with good friends. Now that we all have more time, I expect that we'll see a lot more of each other, after all, this friendship goes back more than thirty years.
As always, our friends' house is the house of no return for us. We left before dark, but we knew it would be after dark by the time we arrived at home. It did not help that we ended up in a small "parade" of about 20 cars being led by a moving van of the do-it-yourself variety towing a bread truck type of vehicle, followed closely by an SUV carrying the rest of the people in their party. The parade went for about 10 miles before the truck leading it figured out that there was a growing line of cars full of people who were not happy about doing 15 under the speed limit. Not to mention one lady on the back of a motorcycle who just wanted to give her backside a break. The moving van and hangers on pulled into a small business parking lot to let the rest of us pass.
By this time is was well after dark, and we still had miles to go. We chose to take the most expedient route home, and made it by about 8:30. I have to say, I am not terribly comfortable riding at night. For me, it is mostly a safety issue. People don't always see motorcycles in the daylight, at night, even with good lights, it can be hard to see us. Note to self: get a reflecting vest for night riding.
It had been a full day with many adventures and a renewed acquaintance with a pair of old friends. Who can ask for a better day?
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Baby's First Checkup
"Already?! You've only been riding for three weeks!"
Technically, only three weekends.
Since baby had gone over 1,000 on our Labor Day ride, she was past the break in period and was due for her first check-up. Very important, as the Service manager had informed us on the day we bought her. So here I was on the phone with the same service manager to schedule Baby's 1000 mile checkup and first service.
"We bought it to ride it, not to look at it in our garage. Can we bring it in tomorrow evening and leave it for you to work on during the following day?"
"Of course."
So after Karl got off work on Tuesday evening, he took Baby down to East Coast Harley.
Everyone is on a first name basis with us when we come in now. We're members of the Harley family.
"Karl - Didn't expect to see you so soon."
"How's she riding?"
"Glad to see you're enjoying the ride."
"We'll have her ready by the end of the day tomorrow."
The chrome guy had even called Karl to find out how he was enjoying the accessories now that they were on. He had called while we were out riding and every time Karl was in a position to return the call, he either didn't have his phone handy or wasn't in a position to call. Unfortunately this time, the chrome guy was busy with another customer.
So we dropped her off and the next day she was raring to go and was all shiny from a complimentary wash.
While Karl was in service, I was in the accessories. I needed a pair of fingerless gloves and a new rag that didn't have a sweatband. I bought both and was chatting with the lady in accessories - it was like we'd known each other forever. She's married to an active duty Marine at Quantico and Karl's retired from the army. So we have a lot in common. Plus we both like to ride.
All too soon it was time to go. Katie was stopping by the house on her way to dinner with a friend and we were might miss her. As it turned out, we did miss her. He friend was sick and couldn't make it and Katie didn't stick around to wait for us to come home. She had a boatload of stuff do do to get her rental house ready to give back by the weekend.
But Baby was good to go until her next checkup at 5000 miles.
And we were busy planning our next ride.
Technically, only three weekends.
Since baby had gone over 1,000 on our Labor Day ride, she was past the break in period and was due for her first check-up. Very important, as the Service manager had informed us on the day we bought her. So here I was on the phone with the same service manager to schedule Baby's 1000 mile checkup and first service.
"We bought it to ride it, not to look at it in our garage. Can we bring it in tomorrow evening and leave it for you to work on during the following day?"
"Of course."
So after Karl got off work on Tuesday evening, he took Baby down to East Coast Harley.
Everyone is on a first name basis with us when we come in now. We're members of the Harley family.
"Karl - Didn't expect to see you so soon."
"How's she riding?"
"Glad to see you're enjoying the ride."
"We'll have her ready by the end of the day tomorrow."
The chrome guy had even called Karl to find out how he was enjoying the accessories now that they were on. He had called while we were out riding and every time Karl was in a position to return the call, he either didn't have his phone handy or wasn't in a position to call. Unfortunately this time, the chrome guy was busy with another customer.
So we dropped her off and the next day she was raring to go and was all shiny from a complimentary wash.
While Karl was in service, I was in the accessories. I needed a pair of fingerless gloves and a new rag that didn't have a sweatband. I bought both and was chatting with the lady in accessories - it was like we'd known each other forever. She's married to an active duty Marine at Quantico and Karl's retired from the army. So we have a lot in common. Plus we both like to ride.
All too soon it was time to go. Katie was stopping by the house on her way to dinner with a friend and we were might miss her. As it turned out, we did miss her. He friend was sick and couldn't make it and Katie didn't stick around to wait for us to come home. She had a boatload of stuff do do to get her rental house ready to give back by the weekend.
But Baby was good to go until her next checkup at 5000 miles.
And we were busy planning our next ride.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Labor Day Ride
Monday we were back in the saddle again, but we decided after the long ride on Sunday to make a shorter day of it.
We decided to go back to Culpeper to check on our friends again and from there go to Fredericksburg to check on Katie and the new house.
It started off as a cool morning, so we put on our jackets and gloves. We wore T-shirts underneath because it was supposed to warm up again. I reminded myself to look for my fingerless gloves when I got home.
Culpeper by way of Vint Hill and Nokesville is a nice ride down some country roads. I enjoy going through the little towns and wondering how they got their names. One of the towns we went through was Catlett. Just exactly what is a Catlett? Is it a small cat? Not a kitten, but a miniature cat? I know - wierd stuff goes through my head at 65 mph on the back of a bike. Doesn't anyone else wonder stuff like that?
Then there's another place called Summer Duck. As opposed to Winter Duck? I don't think we went through Summer Duck. We just passed the sign that points the way to get there. I'll have to talk to Karl about actually going there.
The last one is Brandy Station. All kinds of ideas come to mind for that one. Is that were everyone went for a tot after a long ride on the train? Are we talking about a girl named Brandy or the drink? I kind of want to do some research on some of these towns. Find out their origins and why they were named so. There are story ideas in there.
That brings us to Culpeper. That has a nice Southern genteel ring to it. Sounds like a Civil War General. There are quite a few battlefields within about a 50 mile radius. Chancellorville, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Wilderness come to mind. There is also a Civil War era cemetery in Culpeper. I think it's a national cemetery.
We arrived at our friends' house and once again everything looked just as it was when we saw it on Friday. No one home. The same small package was on the front porch and the spiderwebs in the doorway were undisturbed. We concluded that our friends must be out of town for the holiday weekend. This time we had brought a small notebook and a pen to keep in the saddlebag, so we wrote a note and slipped it in the mail slot in the front door.
As we said to ourselves when planning to ride to Culpeper, if they aren't home, then the worst thing is we had a nice ride. It's more about the ride than the destination anyway. But still, we hadn't seen our friends in a few years - busy-ness on both our parts.
After a break and a stretch, we put it back on the road and rode out toward Wilderness and the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefields toward Katie's.
The nice part about the route we took is it goes through both Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse battlefields. It was a nice scenic drive.
No matter where we went, we saw many other bikers on the roal all weekend long. Bikers, by and large tend to be an amiable lot. They always acknowledge one another when passing on the road. The folks who ride crotch rockets tend to wave less but I think that;'s because it's easier for them to lose their balance. I draw this conclusion because I watched someone lose his balance and almost drop his bike after takiung his hand off the hanldebars to wave. I'd like to give the rest of the the benefit of the doubt and not conclude that they're stuck up.
We ended up passing the apartment complex where Katie used to live - I recognized it even though we came at it from the other direction. I congratulated myself because I am usually directionally clallenged. Sometimes I can't find my way out of a paper bag. My GPS is my best friend when I'm driving.
We got to Katie's and I was ready for a break. Of course, it looked like all of her moving boxes exploded, but hey - she had just moved two days earlier. Whose place doesn't look like that right after they move? It was actually starting to come together.
After a short break, we left Katie to her boxes and put it on the road to go home. We came up Route 1, accross the "Bridge of Death" over the Rappahannok River, through Stafford and past Quantico. We decided to take the more winding route of Joplin Road once we got to Triangle, and that's a nice drivve through Prince William Forest National Park.
We were home in time for lunch.
All in all, my first weekend on the bike, I think I did pretty well. Oh, and we went over the first thousand miles on the odometer. Not bad for Karl's three weeks of riding on the weekends. Time for Baby's first check-up and maintenance.
We decided to go back to Culpeper to check on our friends again and from there go to Fredericksburg to check on Katie and the new house.
It started off as a cool morning, so we put on our jackets and gloves. We wore T-shirts underneath because it was supposed to warm up again. I reminded myself to look for my fingerless gloves when I got home.
Culpeper by way of Vint Hill and Nokesville is a nice ride down some country roads. I enjoy going through the little towns and wondering how they got their names. One of the towns we went through was Catlett. Just exactly what is a Catlett? Is it a small cat? Not a kitten, but a miniature cat? I know - wierd stuff goes through my head at 65 mph on the back of a bike. Doesn't anyone else wonder stuff like that?
Then there's another place called Summer Duck. As opposed to Winter Duck? I don't think we went through Summer Duck. We just passed the sign that points the way to get there. I'll have to talk to Karl about actually going there.
The last one is Brandy Station. All kinds of ideas come to mind for that one. Is that were everyone went for a tot after a long ride on the train? Are we talking about a girl named Brandy or the drink? I kind of want to do some research on some of these towns. Find out their origins and why they were named so. There are story ideas in there.
That brings us to Culpeper. That has a nice Southern genteel ring to it. Sounds like a Civil War General. There are quite a few battlefields within about a 50 mile radius. Chancellorville, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Wilderness come to mind. There is also a Civil War era cemetery in Culpeper. I think it's a national cemetery.
We arrived at our friends' house and once again everything looked just as it was when we saw it on Friday. No one home. The same small package was on the front porch and the spiderwebs in the doorway were undisturbed. We concluded that our friends must be out of town for the holiday weekend. This time we had brought a small notebook and a pen to keep in the saddlebag, so we wrote a note and slipped it in the mail slot in the front door.
As we said to ourselves when planning to ride to Culpeper, if they aren't home, then the worst thing is we had a nice ride. It's more about the ride than the destination anyway. But still, we hadn't seen our friends in a few years - busy-ness on both our parts.
After a break and a stretch, we put it back on the road and rode out toward Wilderness and the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefields toward Katie's.
The nice part about the route we took is it goes through both Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse battlefields. It was a nice scenic drive.
No matter where we went, we saw many other bikers on the roal all weekend long. Bikers, by and large tend to be an amiable lot. They always acknowledge one another when passing on the road. The folks who ride crotch rockets tend to wave less but I think that;'s because it's easier for them to lose their balance. I draw this conclusion because I watched someone lose his balance and almost drop his bike after takiung his hand off the hanldebars to wave. I'd like to give the rest of the the benefit of the doubt and not conclude that they're stuck up.
We ended up passing the apartment complex where Katie used to live - I recognized it even though we came at it from the other direction. I congratulated myself because I am usually directionally clallenged. Sometimes I can't find my way out of a paper bag. My GPS is my best friend when I'm driving.
We got to Katie's and I was ready for a break. Of course, it looked like all of her moving boxes exploded, but hey - she had just moved two days earlier. Whose place doesn't look like that right after they move? It was actually starting to come together.
After a short break, we left Katie to her boxes and put it on the road to go home. We came up Route 1, accross the "Bridge of Death" over the Rappahannok River, through Stafford and past Quantico. We decided to take the more winding route of Joplin Road once we got to Triangle, and that's a nice drivve through Prince William Forest National Park.
We were home in time for lunch.
All in all, my first weekend on the bike, I think I did pretty well. Oh, and we went over the first thousand miles on the odometer. Not bad for Karl's three weeks of riding on the weekends. Time for Baby's first check-up and maintenance.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Skyline Drive
The Sunday of Labor Day weekend was the next ride. We decided to take Baby up on Skyline Drive.
It was a beautiful clear morning, and the temperature was in the 50s. It was supposed to get up into the mid 80s later in the day, so we were deciding what to wear. We figured t-shirts underneath leather jackets. My jacket has vents which are very handy. Since we stopped at East Coast Harley the day before on the way home form moving Katie, I bought a rag with a sweatband and a woven leather lanyard for my glasses. I wore all that and figured that I could unzip my jacket part of the way later in the day if I got too warm.
That all briefed well. On our way out to Front Royal, the northern starting point of Skyline Drive, I was having trouble with both the lanyard and the rag.
I wear bi-focals and even though they are progressive lenses, they still have to sit on my face correctly, and the leather lanyard was so stiff that with the helmet on, it put pressure on the bows to pull my glasses just up off my nose and I was not seeing the way I was supposed to out of my glasses. No matter how I adjusted, I couldn't get them positioned right.
The next thing was with the rag. I was happy to have it because I didn't realize how nippy 50 degrees can get at 55-65 mph. The problem was the sweatband was thick enough that it changed my helmet size and my helmet was fitting too tight. I was starting to get a headache. About halfway to Front Royal, I tapped Karl on the shoulder and asked for a break so I could make some adjustments. Those adjustments were the rag and the lanyard both into the saddlebag.
I noticed on this cool morning that when we stopped for traffic lights, I fogged up my visor, so I'd lift it a couple notches whenever we stopped. That wasn't a problem on the first ride two days earlier when it was
over 90 degrees out.
We got to the starting point, and paid our park entrance fee. Motorcycles get a bit of a break. It's only $8.00 for a bike (as opposed to $10.00 for a car) to get into the park, and with the receipt, we could re-enter the park for up to a week. That's good to know. It helps for making plans for future rides.
We got to the first Welcome Center about four miles into the park. There were quite a few bikers in the parking lot. We parked near the rest of them. There was a couple from Ontario doing some serious biking. They were obviously planning to camp somewhere, and they were on two different bikes. He had a Harley davidson Road King touring bike, and she had a Harley Davidson Heritage Classic. When I saw how low her seat was on her bike, I thought for the first time, "Maybe I can get a bike that fits me." (I can't straddle the Fatboy and have both feet on the ground. It's way too much bike for me to handle.)
I admire lady bikers who have their own ride. One of my neighbors in MI who Karl knew growing up told me that her first car was a motorcycle. Since I didn't know her back when she was a kid and in college, I hadn't ever thought of her riding her own bike. I thought it was pretty cool, and inspiration for me to learn to drive one. My friend told me that she used to love it when she'd walk in to class with ther helmet and people would ask, "Who'd you ride with?" She enjoyed the look on their faces when she said, "Me."
Now having said all that, it seems like it's overwhelming at first. With both hands and feet doing stuff. It will take some getting used to. That's why I think when I'm ready, I'll take the ladies only safety and licensing course.
After a good stretch and a bit of time off the bike, we hopped back on and got started. It was warming up nicely - now in the the 60s, but in the shade it was still nippy. My hands did not sweat in the gloves on that day.
Skyline Drive is such a beautiful place to ride. So many scenic overlooks nto the Shenandoah Valley. Lots of bikers enjoy the ride and on a beautiful day like that day, there were quite a few on the road. Always a friendly lot, bikers always acknowledge each other with a wave when out riding. Even the passengers wave. I am very much looking forward to Skyline Drive again in October when the fall colors are at their peak. I'm trying to talk Karl into taking a day off in the middle of the week so it will be less crowded.
Park speed limit is 35 mph, and it's 80 miles from Front Royal to the other end in Lexington. There is another entrance/exit at about 1/3 of the war from Front Royal. As we neared that place, Karl asked me how I was doing and did I want to get off there? I told him no, let's keep going. So he decided to go all the way to Big Sky Meadow, which is about the halfway point and we'd eat at the restaurant there.
That was a nice long break. While there, Karl asked if I wanted to go on or turn around and go back. I thought about it, and I decided that Lexington was just too ambitious for my second day out. If we went all the way to Lexington, we'd have to find a place to stay overnight because my backside would not be able to manage the ride home from there. So we turned around and went back the way we came and decided to get off in the middle.
I'm so glad we did. We took a break at that park exit and headed home via some byways. It was about 10 degrees warmer at the bottom of the mountain than it was at the top. But we stayed cool enough with the vents in our jackets.
By the time we got to Nokesville, I needed a break and we stopped at a little corner store and had some Dove Bars. That day was also the first time I'd ever seen a woman driving a crotch rocket. Usually guys in their 20s ride those. She and two guys stopped to buy gas at the corner store.
We finished our ice cream and then made the final push home. It had been a 9 hour day of riding. All in all, it was a great day. I think the next time we do Skyline Drive, we'll make an overnighter out of it and ride the entire length of it. Maybe I'll find a nice Bed and Breakfast in Lexington.
Neither one of us felt like cooking, so we ate out and took Kurt with us.
It was a beautiful clear morning, and the temperature was in the 50s. It was supposed to get up into the mid 80s later in the day, so we were deciding what to wear. We figured t-shirts underneath leather jackets. My jacket has vents which are very handy. Since we stopped at East Coast Harley the day before on the way home form moving Katie, I bought a rag with a sweatband and a woven leather lanyard for my glasses. I wore all that and figured that I could unzip my jacket part of the way later in the day if I got too warm.
That all briefed well. On our way out to Front Royal, the northern starting point of Skyline Drive, I was having trouble with both the lanyard and the rag.
I wear bi-focals and even though they are progressive lenses, they still have to sit on my face correctly, and the leather lanyard was so stiff that with the helmet on, it put pressure on the bows to pull my glasses just up off my nose and I was not seeing the way I was supposed to out of my glasses. No matter how I adjusted, I couldn't get them positioned right.
The next thing was with the rag. I was happy to have it because I didn't realize how nippy 50 degrees can get at 55-65 mph. The problem was the sweatband was thick enough that it changed my helmet size and my helmet was fitting too tight. I was starting to get a headache. About halfway to Front Royal, I tapped Karl on the shoulder and asked for a break so I could make some adjustments. Those adjustments were the rag and the lanyard both into the saddlebag.
I noticed on this cool morning that when we stopped for traffic lights, I fogged up my visor, so I'd lift it a couple notches whenever we stopped. That wasn't a problem on the first ride two days earlier when it was
over 90 degrees out.
We got to the starting point, and paid our park entrance fee. Motorcycles get a bit of a break. It's only $8.00 for a bike (as opposed to $10.00 for a car) to get into the park, and with the receipt, we could re-enter the park for up to a week. That's good to know. It helps for making plans for future rides.
We got to the first Welcome Center about four miles into the park. There were quite a few bikers in the parking lot. We parked near the rest of them. There was a couple from Ontario doing some serious biking. They were obviously planning to camp somewhere, and they were on two different bikes. He had a Harley davidson Road King touring bike, and she had a Harley Davidson Heritage Classic. When I saw how low her seat was on her bike, I thought for the first time, "Maybe I can get a bike that fits me." (I can't straddle the Fatboy and have both feet on the ground. It's way too much bike for me to handle.)
I admire lady bikers who have their own ride. One of my neighbors in MI who Karl knew growing up told me that her first car was a motorcycle. Since I didn't know her back when she was a kid and in college, I hadn't ever thought of her riding her own bike. I thought it was pretty cool, and inspiration for me to learn to drive one. My friend told me that she used to love it when she'd walk in to class with ther helmet and people would ask, "Who'd you ride with?" She enjoyed the look on their faces when she said, "Me."
Now having said all that, it seems like it's overwhelming at first. With both hands and feet doing stuff. It will take some getting used to. That's why I think when I'm ready, I'll take the ladies only safety and licensing course.
After a good stretch and a bit of time off the bike, we hopped back on and got started. It was warming up nicely - now in the the 60s, but in the shade it was still nippy. My hands did not sweat in the gloves on that day.
Skyline Drive is such a beautiful place to ride. So many scenic overlooks nto the Shenandoah Valley. Lots of bikers enjoy the ride and on a beautiful day like that day, there were quite a few on the road. Always a friendly lot, bikers always acknowledge each other with a wave when out riding. Even the passengers wave. I am very much looking forward to Skyline Drive again in October when the fall colors are at their peak. I'm trying to talk Karl into taking a day off in the middle of the week so it will be less crowded.
Park speed limit is 35 mph, and it's 80 miles from Front Royal to the other end in Lexington. There is another entrance/exit at about 1/3 of the war from Front Royal. As we neared that place, Karl asked me how I was doing and did I want to get off there? I told him no, let's keep going. So he decided to go all the way to Big Sky Meadow, which is about the halfway point and we'd eat at the restaurant there.
That was a nice long break. While there, Karl asked if I wanted to go on or turn around and go back. I thought about it, and I decided that Lexington was just too ambitious for my second day out. If we went all the way to Lexington, we'd have to find a place to stay overnight because my backside would not be able to manage the ride home from there. So we turned around and went back the way we came and decided to get off in the middle.
I'm so glad we did. We took a break at that park exit and headed home via some byways. It was about 10 degrees warmer at the bottom of the mountain than it was at the top. But we stayed cool enough with the vents in our jackets.
By the time we got to Nokesville, I needed a break and we stopped at a little corner store and had some Dove Bars. That day was also the first time I'd ever seen a woman driving a crotch rocket. Usually guys in their 20s ride those. She and two guys stopped to buy gas at the corner store.
We finished our ice cream and then made the final push home. It had been a 9 hour day of riding. All in all, it was a great day. I think the next time we do Skyline Drive, we'll make an overnighter out of it and ride the entire length of it. Maybe I'll find a nice Bed and Breakfast in Lexington.
Neither one of us felt like cooking, so we ate out and took Kurt with us.
Her Name is Baby
Who knew? Apparently, the bike's name is Baby and she's a girl.
We finally got some nice pictures on Baby all dressed up with her accessories. Isn't she pretty?
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