Bessie and Me: Shifting Gears

July 4th, 2013 Shenandoah National Park Skyline Drive - one of the Top 100 Most Scenic Drives in America - check that one off the ‘Bikeit List.’  I've been able to check at four rides off that list this trip. After a good nights rest (Frostburg, Maryland...)  and no bad dreams of potholes or Pa., Bessie2 and Me hit the road early - I love the hour just as the sun is coming up - to venture onto more backroads asphalt. The goal today was to ride backroads to the North entrance of the Shenandoah National Park, the ride South - 150 miles of Smiles - and head over to Charlottesville, Va., to tour Monticello and a few of the Civil War sites. We hopped on I-68 for a short ride to 51 south; the asphalt was wonderful! For a secondary road through the West Virginia mountains it was heaven. Shortly after turning off I-68 the elevation dipped, rolled, and curved. Hardly any traffic except locals. I love these challenging roads - seems to be a euphemism for life in ge...

July 3, 2013 Typical Pennsylvania Road I always hate saying ‘Goodbye’ to my Dad. He won’t travel since Mom passed several years ago, which means I don’t see him except in the summer when I travel North - or every few years during the Holidays.  I’ve learned many things from my Dad; some of the lessons came hard, some of the lessons were difficult, and unfortunately, most of the lessons were learned much later in life. Had I paid attention the first time, my journey would not have been as rough, and my ability to grasp the many opportunities presented to me would have been easier. As my Dad and I both age, we get a long better, and our relationship had deepened after my Mom passed...for this I am grateful. I left Indiana early this morning - taking 35S  - the fields were shrouded in a chilly mist as the sun cast a pinkish glow to the East. I was filled with anticipation that I was going to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Falling Water’ home south of Pittsburgh.  Wh...

July 2, 2013 Summer Road Trip 2013_Day 11 & 12 Community Arts Building Mural “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”  Kurt Vonnegut Or at the very least, local government. I left Marion - the city of my birth - shortly after high school. It was always someplace I couldn’t wait to get away from; at a very early age, I just knew my destiny, my dreams, resided elsewhere. Shortly after leaving Marion, I left Indiana, only to return once a year or so to visit family. When my Dad retired in the late ’80’s, my parents moved to Muncie and I rarely ‘traveled’ to Marion when visiting. I rode over yesterday to check out the mural on the building downtown....what USED to be there? I guess if you grow up in a town, stay in a town, and age with that town....its like your own reflection in the mirror...the aging and decay are gradual, and you either choose not to notice, or you just reach a level of a...

June 30, 2013 Day Eight....or is it NINE?! Sunday ....church day in the Heartland.  I’ve journeyed up from the South - land of the Baptists - to where the ‘true’ Christians reside. And if you forgot your own personal copy of the King James Version of the Holy Bible...just keep your eye on one of two giant screens located at either end of stage...and todays scripture will scroll for your reading enjoyment. I was raised with a kind of ‘church-rummage’ faith. We lived smack dab in the middle of a Wesleyan Methodist community, but I don’t ever remember my parents - or grandparents - attending church or even providing any kind of religious instruction. And I don’t fault them for that....not at all. It freed up my Sundays.  What I DO remember are the various neighbors and classmates over the years who invited me to attend church services with their families; my Mom always said ‘sure,’ probably because (a.) she didn’t want the wrath of some Wesleyan God coming down ...

June 27, 2013 Summer Road Trip 2013_Day Seven Canadian Rockies_SummerRoadTrip2012 “Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere; and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.” Home; the place I grew up, the place where my immediate family live....”....the dark ancestral cave, the womb from which mankind emerged into the light, forever pulls one back - but...you can’t go home again...you can’t go...back home to the escapes of Time and Memory. You Can’t Go Home Again.”  Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again Can I just say, I love my family.  And in terms of the Dysfunctional Meter, my family pegs just slightly right of ‘Average.’ There was a time, especially when Debi drank alcohol in copious quantities, that my family’s Dysfunctional Meter was always pegging strongly to the right - ‘Extreme.’  Those were good times; sobriety and age has its merits I suppose....I sit here in my Dad’s kitchen (not the home of my youth; when my Dad ...

June 27, 2013 Summer Road Trip 2013_Day Six SE Alberta Canada_SummerRoadTrip2012 “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass; it’s about learning to ride in the rain.” Day six was probably my least favorite part of the trip so far; the jaunt from south of Lexington Kentucky to Muncie Indiana was fraught with rain. I awoke at 4am (Yikes! its summer!) thinking I could ‘beat the bad weather’ but alas, it was raining just five miles down the road from the hotel. There were two things I was NOT looking forward to today; rain and Interstate traffic. After five days of mountain roads and very little traffic (except the metric bikes screaming around the curves ahead of me), I was reluctant to hit the Super Slab. Let me take a moment to say something about ‘rain gear,’ it sucks. But, this is the kind of weather day that separates the fair-weather bikers from the hard-core bikers. If you are fair-weather (and understand I’m not passing judgment, I get it), you do...

June 25, 2013 Summer Road Trip 2013_Day Five “Always go with the choice that scares you the most. Take the road that has more curves, because these are the choices that are going to require the most from you. Never stop challenging yourself.”  Check. I tackled The Gauntlet and Slayed (or is it Slew??) the Dragon ....all before noon today.  Since leaving home on Friday, Bessie2 and I have racked up 1200 miles, and its all good.  My anticipated partner for the ride in Georgia today just wasn’t an early enough riser....sorry, its daylight, Bessie2 and I are rollin....we will catch you on the trip back South Curt. Gray clouds were heavy in the Georgia mountains this a.m. as I packed Bessie2; I needed  to complete the ‘other half’ of The Gauntlet before I left though. I said ‘goodbye’ to the group from Louisiana, checked the room twice for any ‘leave behinds,’ and bid farewell to the Copperhead Lodge early. My ONLY complaint with the accommodations her...