Great biking day… The Smoky Mountains are gorgeous
I am running about a day late on the blogs. Too much activity at night, coupled with intentions to get on the road in the morning.. Boots, gloves and jacket still wet from previous days rain. Its pretty humid out there.
I woke up after a good sound sleep. A probable result of the natural relaxant qualities of the secret recipes of the Scots. God bless them.
A couple pots of home brewed coffee followed by efforts to focus on pushing out the blog. Tried but nah.. We needed to become one with the countryside. Warriors of the retired if you will. Places to go. Houses to look at. Curvy roads to conquer.
We rode down to the Post Office to see if some meds arrived. Nope. We will live another day. We headed to countryside.
Saluda, Tryon, the backwoods of South Carolina… Places not in the Michelin guide. They probably should be. But also reasons why they are not. Very pretty.
Woke up 7ish and loaded up. Had checked the ole google map and the closest coffee place was 21 miles away.. really? Super 8 coffee. Two cups. 830 on the road. Fresh morning. Body was rested and ready for the day.
Nice ride through Virginia. Some neat fog in the valleys. Great roads. Great vistas. Took my time. Totally easy ride. Not much traffic…
Long hot day… Left early, standard routine. Nice and cool leaving MI. Absolutely nothing to report. The faithful were in church so traffic was light. Construction in OH for the first 50 miles or so speed was down. If any of you have driven trough Northern OH you can visualize. Quite flat. Occasional trees. Lots of farming. One unique feature that still amazes me after all these years is the use they make out of highway side retention ponds. You know the small ponds that they put in to control runoff? a couple of hundred feet long. Right next to the highway. Well, they turn them into summer resorts. Put some sand at one end. Spots for some trailers. There ya go. I guess you do what you can.
Three weeks ago was my final day at work.. 35 years at the same company and working 10 years before that. Nice, but time to move on and do the ‘stuff’ we all think about doing….
The first week was big, real big. Got my hair cut. Signed up for COBRA. A trip to Costco. Total decompression. I kept saying to myself, I can do whatever I want and I did pretty much nothing.
The second week I started purging ‘stuff’. Lots of stuff. I mean lots. Also learned to not look at my phone every three minutes for emails. Feels good Continue reading
In anticipation of a few trips before the snow flies, I have been adding a few things to the Bandit and I thought I would share some solutions and tips I had. I put together a YouTube. Albeit some of this would be pretty basic to many but I thought I would share… Things I added and addressed are;
Healtech GIpro w ATRE
12oClock Labs Speedo DRD
AdMore lighting kit for Givi bags
USB Charger
Garmin Zumo
GoPro or Action Camera
Thanks!
Paul
Finding a considerable lack of ability and the manufacturer’s lack of foresight in design to tap into the Suzuki’s electrical system, I put together my own switched and fused wiring harness to add some things to the bike.. I took the opportunity to share on Youtube!
I picked up a ‘new to me’ 2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250sa a few weeks ago. Last weekend out riding with Alex, about 50 miles from home, the bike just quit. After a rather costly tow home (on a flatbed) I finally repaired it this weekend. Just for grins I did a YouTube repair video. Gotta get the bikes ready for trips this summer. Time for a scotch.
Pure ramblings a few days after.
Two lane roads. Staying off the interstates when possible. Big believer in this. It makes the trip. Any trip. People wave at you. You can easily stop. You see the people. The towns. The way they live. It takes more time. If you just need to get somewhere, highways are understandable. If you want an experience, take the time. Life is an experience. Continue reading
Again took our time getting up and loaded. That’s ok with me. I microwaved some water and had Starbuck’s instant, sat outside and pushed out the blog. 930a we were ready to go. Fueled up and went exploring the WIU campus. Seems smaller. Nobody on campus. Labor Day weekend I guess. No idea when classes start / resume. Took some pics of the dorm I was in. I think it was anyway. Rumor had it torn down and rebuilt. No worries. Saw enough.
Continue reading
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