Hopeful Signs

March 8th Snow
 

Looking out my front door to the street is still quite depressing. There is a lot of snow to melt though the next few days might do just that. Forecasted highs in the 40s and sunshine should make a dramatic difference within 2 or 3 days! By Sunday I hope to see nothing but dead grass instead of all the snow.
Lots of motorcycling activities to think and read about now. Advertisements, facebook posts, catalogs in the mail, dealer open houses, swap meets, and notifications from places such as the National Motorcycle Museum and AMA regarding upcoming events help get over the inability to ride yet.
I started the King in the garage today to once again circulate the oil and make sure everything is in working order. I'm ready to go as soon as the roads dry and the temperature gets a little higher. Maybe a St. Pat's Day parade next weekend, if the weather cooperates.
I'm making summer trip plans. One of them will be to celebrate the centennial of the Lincoln Highway - the first transcontinental road (actually a muddy dirt horse trail) laid out in 1913 by auto industry executives. They simply 'hooked' existing trails and farm roads together on paper so that a network of lanes extended across the continent. The executives knew that if people didn't have anyplace to drive their newfangled vehicles they had no reason to buy them!  The federal government didn't get into road building, design, or marking until the mid-1920s.
Kearney, Nebraska is hosting a big centennial celebration June 30 / July 1 which I plan to attend - hopefully to participate as a vendor as well as a ride destination. Kearney is on the Lincoln Highway - right in the middle of the country, 1,733 miles from Boston and the same number of miles from San Francisco.
I might also do the Rolling Thunder ride to Washington DC for Memorial Day again, since it's been several years since the last time I went.
This period of planning and anticipation is an important part of the riding year for me. I've always thought that thinking about and planning for an event is half of the fun. And it helps extend a short riding season.
Attended a Patriot Guard funeral service yesterday for a veteran who died and whose family requested our presence as an honor guard. It was a cold, cloudy, breezy day. One brave soul rode his bike but the rest of us drove our cages. I guess I'm just not that tough any more.
So once again, it's time to Think Spring.

Old Man Winter is so Thin-Skinned!

So a few days ago I wrote a short blog about how much I dislike February, and in particular this year's vacillating weather and Old Man Winter gets pissed. The very next morning 4 - 5 inches of new snow fell, making driving difficult and of course requiring shoveling from the driveway and sidewalks.
You would think he, and his fickle mother - Mother Nature - could take a joke!
From the looks of the long range forecast it looks like the joke will be on me for the next couple of weeks.
At least two more weeks of hibernation for the Road King.

I really dislike February!

Even as a kid, when I really liked winter, I disliked February. After months of cold dark slushy slippery uncomfortable weather that severely limits a person's activities, it's just time for it to move on. Maybe if I lived in a snowbelt where deep clean snow could be counted on for virtually the entire winter it wouldn't be so bad. But living in an area where one day it can be forty degrees and raining and ten degrees and snowing the next just stinks. Even the warm days are almost always too cold or wet to do much outside, certainly not suitable for motorcycling, and of course the cold days have their own issues.
It's been over a month since there was a day with the combination of temperature and dry conditions needed for a ride. Several of those days were above freezing, some even well above freezing, but accompanied by melting snow and rain. Not good conditions to go for a ride, or winter activities such as skiing.
It's just time for winter to move on!
Looking at the long range forecast makes me doubtful that I'll get a ride in this month. I usually ride at least one day each month but sometimes the weather and conditions just don't cooperate in the long dark cold days of winter.
I attended a motorcycle swap meet this past weekend and enjoyed talking with lots of people about riding and about my books. I was pleased that several women bought Grace and Grit after my telling them about the marvelous adventures of women riders of a hundred years ago. I am pleased that my motorcycle touring series continues to be popular. Many people make it a point to stop at my table to tell me that they bought the book or even two or more of the books, and how much they enjoy them. Always happy to hear that. It's nice when work is appreciated.
These swap meets and bike shows are nice breaks in the non-riding season.
Spring is just a month away, so there is a light at the end of this dark cold tunnel. Hang in there!