Ok, so with the craziness of the holidays, the strange weather, and the frenzy of to-do's lately I haven't been keeping the blog updated. A quick summary....

Hanukkah at Becca's was a blast - it was just the gals (Ronnie, Becca, Amy, and me) and we had latkes, brisket, ratatoui (sp?) and ice cream for desert. I think I've started getting used to how Ronnie calls Becca vs. me. LOL

I've added Xmas lights to my bike, but at the moment only half of them are working. I haven't taken the time to find the weak link, so the bike sits. Here's what it looked like when I took it out to Sharkey's Machine with friends from work last week:



Nikki ended up with Mono and was caged in the hospital for four days. She's feeling better now, but no riding for two months (her spleen is still vulnerable). For now she'll just cause a stir over on www.MotoHouston.com.



Went for a ride with folks from www.TWTex.com last Saturday. We met up in Hutsville and did a loop that brought us back to Montgomery by early afternoon.



I've been working on getting the house decorated for the holidays, but never quite finish (the story of my life). No matter how many are already out there, the lights just seem to want to multiply! I'm going for a "Winter Wonderland" theme on the back patio, and the colored lights are reserved for the tree. Not sure if you can spot it, but the Menorah is on the shelf (next to the tree LOL).



The Post Office and UPS delivered a few packages with my name on them! I have been good (so far) and haven't opened them, but there's been lots of shaking!



And the craziest of all - I'm heading to Florida tomorrow to pick up a bike. Last-minute thing, quick trip, but should prove to be an adventure! I'll get to see Andy & his new wife out in Coral Gables, too.

This stuff is reaaaaly soft when you fall in it!


Video of a six year-old trying to get up a steep hill:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8330564743552823118&hl=en

GeorgiaPeach and SonOfGeorgiaPeach enjoying their morning cocoa.


L-R: PlaneDr, STrider, me.


My steed for the weekend thanks to Mrs STrider, who wasn't able to join us. Honda XR250R. Tall enough that I don't feel like my knees are up by my chin like some of the smaller bikes, but not too much power for a newbie.


STrider gives me the abridged version of the kickstart routine.


Max came along, of course.


He didn't come out on the trails with me because he didn't want to get dirty. Good thing he stayed back - I went rear end-first into a mud puddle with at least three people behind me to witness the entertainment...

...and then to clear the flooded motor and get it started again :giveup:

Hanging out and having a good time.


We'd form up groups haphazardly and head out to nowhere. I was so confused, I stopped trying to figure out where I was or where I was going and instead just followed the person in front of me.

Thing is, I was unaware of the possibility that the person in front of me might pick a difficult section or path at a split that I should avoid....

...and so it was that I went up onto the "dirt hiccup" :lol2: in the middle of the field, I rolled over the first bump and caught air on the second. As I defeated gravity, I knew in my head that "this can't be good". I never thought to ask about body position during a jump (I had no plans to try to jump anything), so I stayed put over the tank and came down on the front tire. STrider might be able to fill y'all in more, but all I know is I landed on the ground on my right, knee first, then shoulder, then head. Ouch.

I quickly wiggled all my fingers and toes and knew I was Ok, but it hurt. Irondawg came and stood over me and asked what hurt.

My knee
Which one?
[I tapped my right leg with my hand]
On the inside or the outside?
huh? inside meaning bones and outside meaning skin or inside/outside like the sides of my leg?
Just move your leg
[I dragged it across the grass side-to-side]
Ok, just lay there a minute and catch your breath.

I got up, walked around on it, and decided I was Ok. In my nearly three years and 45k miles of riding, I had yet 'till this day landed on the ground. Apparently I'd stored up crashes somewhere and cashed them all in since I'd found lots of softer places to land than pavement.

Seven times.

Yup. On at least seven occasions (heck, I might even be forgetting some?) my body became one with Mother Earth. Some wet, some dry, some sand, some mud, in the woods, in the field - I really wasn't picky about where I'd crash.

When Vern brought the quads out, Snoopster and I went for a few laps, and traded off driver/passenger. She may never be able to take me on the back of her bike, but after the way she handles that huge machine today I can say she's braver than I am!

As darkness fell, we settled in for dinner that Blue Bomber and Mini Mom brought over from Huntsville. :eat:


They brought over brisket, potato salad, beans, and all the fixins. Beth even baked us a cake and some brownies! :clap:


Thanks to GeoriaPeach's laborous effort, we had a fire going and the chairs just magically appeared from the darkness.

L-R: STrider, Woodsguy, Pokey Mon, Justin, Triumph (the dog), Irondawg (the other dawg), [?], Tourmeister


L-R: Lois (MotherOfTourmeister), Vern (FatherOfTourmeister), Blue Bomber, Snoopster, [?], Mopower

The carnage...

Ok, so I decided to take the plants in. Well, the ones I could lift on my own, anyway. I have them in the kitchen to still attempt to get sunlight through the few weeks of winter we'll have.

The squirrel (Fluffernutter) and the turtle (Shrek) found a spot inside too!

I woke up this morning around 7am without help. Surprisingly, I wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep.

With a full day ahead of me, I got dressed and tried to run some errands. I left the house shortly before 8, and the desktop weather program told me it was 70 degrees outside. While in Home Depot, the wind began to pick up and the temperature began to drop. Quickly. I got home around 9, and it was 42 degrees.

As I sit here now at 10:15, it's down to 37 degrees and raining. Cold rain isn't fun! I need to bring in the plants and cover the grill, but I don't want to go out there! Time for the multi-purpose rain gear?

Max and I were ready to roll at 8:15. That would give us plenty of time to top off the tank and get to Waffle House early. It was 55 degrees at 8am, but it was only chilly for the freeway ride over to the meet-up. The sun got things warmed up enough to make a liner unnecessary. :sun:



When this little girl saw that a woman can ride a motorcycle just like a man, she had to come over and say hi. Her mom was real happy when I let her sit on the bike and took a pic.



Talking, mingling, getting ready to listen through a reading of the rules... :scott:









Does this look like the face of a man who just crashed? (Not the dork making lame hand gestures, the other one!) :twitch:



The bike didn't look too bad.



He thought his R6 was a lawnmower, but after straigtening the shifter peg he was good to go for the rest of the day. :icon_thum
This was to be our only incident, and it was minor. I'm glad we got that out of the way early! :shame:

We took a road that a few weren't happy about, but technically it was paved. Sorta. Ok, well, kinda. It had one area that looked like a gravel truck took a dump, but the rest was hard-packed and easily passable. Somewhere along it, my license plate bolts rattled off and the whole mounting plate (reflectors and all) fell off my bike. Typical. :headbang: I'm just glad someone knocked it out of the roadway before it got mangled or it took someone down. I was able to go back and get it, and zip-tied it back on.

We made it over to Orsak's in Fayetteville for lunch. Apparently someone else had their license plate fall off along the way, but it too was recovered. Whew! Ok, so everyone else checked their plates before we left, right? :ponder:



Someone got cranky after lunch. Something about none of the men offering to pick up her tab... :whatever:



People starting splitting off for home at 159, 290, and 105. Once we hit Navasota, a few more hit the highway and the rest of is headed to Montgomery. We stopped for a comfort break as we hit 105, and someone tried to sneak in a nap. :sleep:



But wait, maybe he needs CPR? (I didn't quite understand what was going on over there, but it's funny so I'm posting it!) :rofl:



Once down at 1488, some kind of second wind was kicking in with these crazies! It started with a simple pat on the head, then just evolved into some strange entertaining act that slowed traffic on the roadway - everyone was staring! :shock:





"What the heck are they doing?" :loco:







Other than the terribly slow pack of potato-potatos we got stuck behind coming down 149 into Montgomery, the roads were clear most of the day and the pace was decent (IMHO). Some probably thought I was slow, some probably felt it got a little quick at times due to the rubber-band effect, but overall nobody was really complaining.

Some of the roads out there don't have much to them in terms of quality riding roads if all you think about are the twists and turns. Some of the roads are straight and flat, but the scenery around you makes up for it. There were places where the leaves were changing, the scent of burning wood stoves was abundant (as was the stench of rotting roadkill, unfortunately), and it was a peaceful day in the country.

Looking forward to doing it again! (but can we start earlier next time?)