Summer Vacation 2017 - Day 1

In June of 1974, I got my first motorcycle, a Suzuki TS-100 Enduro. I immediately started dreaming of riding to glances far-flung. For the most part, until I was in my late 30s, those dreams went unrealized. About as far as I ever rode was from Memphis to Nashville, to visit my uncle.

In 1998, my wife and I separated and I was, for the first time in my life, a single adult male. I answered to no one, and I could make whatever plans suited me. The next year, I rode from Denver, Colorado to Savannah, Tennessee, on my GSXR-1100, to visit my parents along with my sister and my nephew's who drove down from Pennsylvania. That was the first of many trips back to visit the parental units, via motorcycle. Probably the best of those included riding my 1996 Trident straight through, 1238 miles in 20 hours, back to my apartment in Sherman Street.

Nowadays, I limit the mileage to 500-700 miles per day. I'm no longer young and flexible enough to randomly throw down 20+ hours in the saddle.

Today, I rode about 610 miles in 11 hours, from my house in Denver to Cameron, MO. Along the way I stopped at a motorbike museum in St. Francis, KS, and rode past the prettiest cornfield I have ever seen (what wasn't corn was mowed and manicured like the fairway on a golf course). I've seen that field before, and it always looks like that. It's impressive, but also a bit puzzling...

Speaking of corn, I noticed that for every 100 miles I rode toward the east, the height of the corn in the fields increased by about a foot. I figure the corn in Pennsylvania will be about 15 feet tall once I arrive!

Riding alone, with no music or conversation, I always realize how much I miss just sitting and thinking in my day to day life. I want to hear the bike running, and the traffic around me, as I ride, do I don't wear earbuds. That leaves me alone with my thoughts, for long periods, just like the old days before constant internet connection made idle time and daydreaming obsolete.

I love it.

Weather as perfect (sunny, peak temps in the high-80s), except for a bit more wind than I care for out on the plains. But, it's always windy on the plains.

The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same. I hope my luck holds.

Time for bed, now. Tomorrow, I Head for Iowa and The National Motorcycle Museum.


(For  some reason, Blogger won't let me post photos from my phone. So, no pictures, today...😕)

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