Bessie and Me: Shifting Gears

Morning came way too early...we were both exhausted from the previous day's ride...not nearly as tired had we rolled on home Sunday night. I didn't even clean my bike before heading out, just polished the windshield...that's how tired I am this morning. Coffee....mass quantities of coffee. As I stood in the lobby of the Hampton Inn chugging caffeine...the pot was right there and I didn't want to get too far away from a refill...I noticed a large hardback book on an antique book stand ( the decor is lots of antique looking suitcases, books, etc). The kind you see Bob Ctratchett bent over in a Dickens novel....from the 1920's. I started to absent mindedly flip the pages and reading the entries. One page listed salaries (the highest salary was $88/month), another listed payments to the city (somewhere in New Jersey....you think they could have found antiquities relevant to Heorgia, but I digress), one listed supplies, and another services. It was this one that caught m...

Saturday Oh-Dark-Thirty The Plan...again, was an early start. Pulled out of the hotel parking lot, came to the stop sign, let up on the throttle to brake and my throttle kept tacking at 30 miles per hour...yikes! I thought it might just be condensation, so we eased onto 75S, but when I let up to shift, the throttle kept revving ..not a good thing. It was only 630a, so the Tifton HD wouldn't be open, next HD was in Macon 100 miles up the road. Let's just say I didn't have to use cruise control.....the throttle stayed where I put it! Got to the Macon HD about 20 min before their service department opened, once they were, they were very accommodating. While the techs made Bessie well again -clutch cable was loose too - we enjoyed a riveting conversation w Mr Grover, the owner. He is 'going on 95,' and has the distinction of being the Worlds Oldest HD dealer. He and Trig, his chocolate lab, hold court with all the customers in a comfy conversation pit of HD leather chai...

Embarrassing to have only done 300 miles today when our goal,was 6! Didn't get out of the driveway till past noon, roughest start to a road trip I've ever had! Planned this trip to the mountains for weeks, searched properties we wanted to look at in the Blairsville area, secured a Realtor and we both took today off. Poor Paul couldn't get home from Dallas, one flight cancelled last night, another delayed. He came in at 430a, his luggage stayed in Dallas. After a few hours sleep, and a gallon of coffee, we loaded the bikes, and I fired mine up.....nothing. Battery was dead. Plugged in the tender...waited an hour, while I fussed and fumed, tried again...nothing. Trip to Xtech...God bless Jerry and Xanda...brought the battery home and dropped it in...this time it cranked like a Harley-Davidson should. By now we are both hot (it was at least 100 in the garage), and tired. We decided to ride at least half way. I am grateful however that the battery died in our garage and not 180...

I awoke this morning to a new reality; I’ve hit the 60 mark in birthdays. The twenty-something in me is still saying, ‘what the hell happened?!’   “No matter how you tell yourself, Its what we all go through. Those lines are pretty hard to take when they’re staring back at you.” Bonnie Raitt I stepped out of the shower, took a quick visual inventory, and realized: I am the woman I was always meant to be. I’ve arrived at this milestone of birthdays in a state of disbelief for sure, but with a greater sense of ‘self’ than I’ve ever imagined, and a whole lot of gratitude. For someone who spent the first half of her life balancing on the edge, I managed to learn a few things that I have helped me become the woman I am today and probably saved my life a few times over. “Well I don’t know, but I’ve been told; you never slow down, you never grow old.” Tom Petty This much I know is true: Love “To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no ...