For Want of Shelf Paper...

For Want of Shelf Paper, They Ate Out of Tupperware

 

For want of shelf paper, the plates were lost

 

For want of plates, the boxes were lost

 

For want of boxes, the packing was lost

 

For want of packing, the basement was lost

For want of the basement, all household items were lost

 

All for the want of shelf paper, the diners were forced to eat dinner out of Tupperware that was laying around.

 

Brief Interlude

RichardM...thank you for the push. Moving took (is taking) much, much, much longer than expected. And it is quite disheartening. We had to cut it off at some point in order to chaperone Moose to a conference.

We worked our butts off to get everything out of the house so our friend/neighbor could move in. If we hadn't had that hanging over our heads we would have taken our time and felt less pressure. But it is what it is. We managed to empty the "house", but there are still remnants in the garage that will have to be dealt with next week.

DefCon is a nice break. Though this too shall end and back to the grindstone we will be dealing with paint, carpet, more moving of his mother, of our stuff out of the basement and into our living area. Sigh. I refuse to think about it.

I had hoped to share pictures, but since we are still in the middle of moving I haven't had time to give you teasers. Here are a couple of walk through images that might tide you over for a little while.

 

Our first day (and overnight) provided us with beautiful patterns coming through the leaded, beveled glass front door windows, and the deer frolicking in the back yard about 30 feet away from where we sat.

This room has since become packed with items that are not meant to be here. You will have to imagine it is really meant for other purposes...the extra wide doorway capable of allowing, say motorcycles with attached saddlebags, to pass right through...

What is terribly depressing is that my entire previous household manages to fit into one room in the basement, with room to spare. Sitting in the emptiness that is upstairs, waiting for carpet, makes me feel the massiveness of this new house. I do not intend on filling it. I'm liking empty space...

But we do have a little slice of home set up in another room in the basement. Oilburner is finally getting his movie/theater room.

 

It's Official

We have way too much shit. (Sorry Grandpa, but that is the best word for it. Crap just does do this junk justice.)

We've managed to pack up about half of the kitchen, most of the bookshelves in the living room (devoid of books, but fragiles remain for packing), and most of the spare room. Remaining: master bedroom, closet (ugh), office, and garage (oh my goodness, I don't even want to think about that!!)

The bad part is that I really want to downsize, I just don't want to spend the time and energy to go through the stuff now as that is precisely what we don't have: time. So it is all getting boxed up and moved to the new place. Oiburner and I have made a pact that as we unpack we will purge.

I just think of Sonja and Roland and friends D&T going through their items three or four times, winnowing down the "important" items and taking only what is necessary. I want a simpler life. I need a simpler life in order to face the changes coming up.

My Mother In Law is no longer capable of living on her own. After some changes of mind on her part, she kinda sprang it on us that she wanted to move in with us. (Yes we had offered, but she was pretty adamant at one time that she wasn't going to accept.) The sudden reversal of decision and subsequent edict to go out and buy a new house had us spinning. Yeah, MIL could live in our house, but then she wouldn't be able to bring any of her stuff.

Her primary requirements were bed (king size), baby grand piano, and grandfather clock. I understand all these things. But they won't fit in our current house. We really struggled with an idea of finally building that garage we wanted, turning the current garage into living space, and calling it good. However, that wouldn't happen in the truncated time table we had to work in. MIL had made up her mind and didn't understand what was taking so long.

So we canceled all vacation plans and set in earnest to looking for houses that would fit all of our requirements. That was not a fun process, especially as Oilburner was traveling in another state for much of it. In between, we also flew to CA to help clean up her house in order to put it on the market. Again...mind made up, it has to be done NOW!

Then the struggles began to include, "So now I get to bring all my furniture" instead of just the three most important items. Yeah... that is a daily, ongoing struggle that will only end when the furniture truck arrives and we put our feet down as to what makes it past the hallowed doors...and what doesn't. I'm not looking forward to this...

As for the moto content...wait till you see the man cave... We close this Friday, I'll post pictures then.

Update: 90% of the master closet is packed (which is also the linen closet), the office closet is empty of various and sundry motorcycle and all other manner of clothing, and the bookshelves in the office are starting to show some bare patches. Wonder if we actually will complete this disaster by Friday???

 

Changes They are A'Comin'

Hello? Is there anybody out there?



Life has a hectic bent to it lately.

Life as we know it is changing forever.

In the spirit of looking on the bright side, or making lemonade out of lemons, the new man cave is going to be something to behold. The woman cave won't be anything to shake a stick at either. More details to follow in one week.

We've taken a a couple interesting moto trips since I last voiced any greetings to you. A couple even deserving of a post. Due to all the other changes occurring, I just haven't had the gumption to write. In all, though, we haven't been doing much riding. Given the upcoming, immediate change of location, it looks like it might be awhile before we get out again anyway.

---

To keep a little motorbike content in this post, another reason for ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time).  This is for those people that believe riding gear is too expensive...

One...

One little hatchling has made an appearance. Not even strong enough to cheep, just lift its little head. Hope momma comes back with food soon! Oilburner is thinking of going to buy some worms...

 

Out for an Excursion, Though Not a Ride

It was beautiful riding weather this past weekend. The temperatures were perfect near 72F, wide blue skies, slight breezes light enough give you a whiff of the blooming flowers. And we didn't ride.

Of course, people are constantly telling us that there is more to life than riding. I guess I have to agree with them, but that doesn't mean that I always want to do much more with my life than ride.

This weekend was a change. There has been some crazy stuff going on in life lately, and it was a wise idea to have a relaxed weekend and just take the 4 wheeled vehicle some place.

Years and years ago we learned of a place in Alabama called the Unclaimed Baggage Center. This is an interesting business paradigm that purchases the unclaimed baggage that the airlines are not able to get back to their owners. (You can read about the process on their website.) They have discovered some unimagineable items in luggage they have purchased, from African Tribal Breastplates to live snakes. They purchase the bags, catalog and clean the contents, and put them up for sale. (This is legal as the airline has already reimbursed the bag owner for the lost luggage.)

We had never traveled there as it was on the cusp of a day trip vs an overnight. It is about 3 1/2 hours away by car, one way. When we had puppies, I didn't want to subject them to us being gone for that amount of time. So we never went. Of course, by the time we lost our beloved puppies, we had forgotten about the place.

We were reminded of it a couple weeks ago when some friends wanted to go. Again, we agonized over making it an overnight trip. But truthfully, there isn't anything in Scottsboro, Alabama that one would want to see, other than Unclaimed Baggage. Going there for just that seemed a waste of a good weekend. (Though there are a couple of good roads on the way, just add another 2 hours to the trip to get to them.)

We also had to question if we should ride or drive. Riding would be more enjoyable, but the saddlebags are only so big. What if a canoe had come in that just had to come home with me?

Well, we decided last weekend was the one, and instead of staying in Scottsboro, we would hop over another hour to Chattanooga, TN for an overnight trip. Now, to ride or drive? Bah...drive. As much as we would have enjoyed riding, we wanted to relax and spend some time together.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center was interesting. At one time it may have been an hodge podge type place where you could uncover some phenomenal deals because someone didn't know what they had. With the popularity of the internet, ebay, and amazon everything can be discovered quickly and can be priced competitvely. Though deals can still be found on items that are not mainstream yet and people don't know what to look for. (Case in point, our friend found a bluetooth headset attached to a charger. It was placed in with all the chargers on a large peg board. For his knowledge of what the item was, and his eye to actually spying it, he would never have seen the $140 bluetooth headset that was priced for $16 amongst the hundreds of other chargers.) However, for iPad's and iPhones, they darn well know the market price for those and price those items accordingly

Not being a big clothes shopper, or handbag user, much of the place is lost on me. Though even I could see the attaction of some name brand handbags for $2. I am just more attracted to electronics. The bags and bags of chargers wasn't appealing, as I had no interest in sifting through them, so I sauntered over to the camera counter. There were oodles and oodles of point and shoot cameras, mostly just slightly used looking. I love seeing the rows of colorful cameras all lined up like little soldiers. But my passion lay in the DSLR cabinet. You could take your pick of Nikon or Canon. I can't tell you what Nikon models were there as I'm not up on those, but there were plenty of Canon's with many Rebel models well represented. Yeah...unfortunately my eye was captivated by the 7D...

We also went to the Lodge Outlet, makers of fine cast iron cookware. I am a firm believer that all women should own a cast iron skillet. For self defense. ;) (No pictures, I don't know what is with me and my missing camera lately.) I did happen to purchase a skillet for pancakes and a couple jars of jam.

Our only form of sightseeing was this cool bridge in South Pittsburg, TN that Moose thoroughly enjoyed. Moose was less than thrilled to see the Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station. Though it has never produced any electricity and has been sitting for more than 20 years, even supplying spare parts to other reactors in the area.

 

Hosting a Few More

Back in December and January, Oilburner and I had the great fortune of hosting Rogey of All Things Rogey delight.  We had a great time getting to know Rogey in person, showing him parts of the US he hadn't visited before, and watching him take his first fledgling ride on US roads.  His concern was getting accustomed to the opposite road rules here, and if he could overcome them.  (Like I have any doubts.)

Well, today we are hosting a few more guests, but they will be staying a little longer.

We have a screened patio attached to the house.  For the most part, it has been extremely effective at what it was designed to do, keep bugs out.  In some cases it hasn't been so effective at keeping things in.  Case in point, the first time we had some friends over with greyhounds that had never encountered screens before.  One of their pups decided it would be easier to use the screen opening rather than an actual door.  I mean, they had to wait for the door to be opened, after all.  (Luckily the screen was old and ripped easily.  That instance has given us hours and hours of amusement.)

Over the years I have replace all but one of the screen panels.  Our lawn care folks are making it necessary to focus on getting that done, as they didn't care that their weed-eater shredded the bottom of it.  Tsk, tsk.  Replacing that screen hasn't been on my high priority list as it has been winter and we don't have too many little bugs yet.

We've had the occasional bird manage to get caught in the screen room over the years.  Not sure how they were able to get in.  Probably something to do with those replaced screens.  So we weren't too surprised to find another bird in the patio room the other day.  With the rip in the one screen, and the loose, ripped panels in the doors, the place is far from impregnable.

When we started comparing notes though, we realized we had each been seeing a bird on the patio, separately.  I opened my eyes and really "saw" the patio in all it's messy glory, outside of the yellowish green tinged everything was colored from the pollen, besides the 10 year old breaking down patio furniture, in addition to the "wonderful, useful" items that we had procrastinated in taking to Goodwill (and was now caked with pollen), besides the rolled up hammock standing on end...

Wait a second...  There's a birds nest tucked into the end of the hammock!  What the...?!?!

Some little birdy had taken it as great fortune with multiple passages into our screen room, and made a little nest that was home to a little egg.  We were concerned we had scared mommy bird away since we hadn't seen her in a couple days.  We didn't need to worry long when a look the next day revealed 5 eggs.  Hmmm...

Arriving home last night I was greeted with a little head popping out of the nest inquiring about my passing.  She seems very calm though with our comings and goings for now.  Lucky, since her little nest is about 6 inches from the hinged side of our back door.

Here's a poor picture.  I don't want to completely intrude.  :)

Easing Into Spring

Spring has come in.  Yay.  Blessedly beautiful weather and temperatures for a couple days does wonders for my personal outlook on life.

Last week showed us winter was still trying to hang on with evenings near freezing.  However, the temperatures warmed up and the rain cleared out to produce the iconic spring weekend.

Oilburner has been traveling for three weeks, and was happy to be away from work.  He actually hatched a little plan to take the travel trailer out and go camping.  I would hear nothing of it, since I wanted to go riding.

We had thought an overnight someplace might be the ticket.  But talked ourselves out of it late Friday night.  Instead, we decided to take a day ride on Saturday with a friend that we hadn't ridden with in a very long time.  That just left us with the necessary evil of deciding where we wanted to ride to.

Cherohala Skyway between Robbinsville, NC and Tellico Plains, TN is always a big hit.  However, there was a landslide on the parkway over the winter that had taken out a good portion of roadway.  Repairs had been underway enough that one lane was open.  But Cherohala Skyway in a day is an ambitious plan, and not necessary in my mind for a leisurely opening season ride.  So I talked the guys into a scenic mountain ride to stretch the proverbial legs.

Oilburner and I have taken a few rides in the lowlands of Georgia, but it has been a very long time since we have done much in the twisties.  It was a startling realization of how little we actually have ridden the last 6 months.  The GS had its 6K service just prior to the trip to Maine last year.  That put 4K miles onto the clock, and I haven't yet finished up the 2K to the next service.  The R1200R bike has only seen a couple thousand miles as well, since it hasn't gone in for a service either.  That really pointed out how little riding we have done.

Country road curves are one thing.  Getting back into the serious twisties is quite another, when you have been away awhile.  So I urge you all to do a little warm up and practice before just wiping the dust off the bikes and hopping into the thick of things.

I found I had one major hang up that is going to require some time and practice to get back over.  I've never really enjoyed tight left-hand twisties.  In the South that generally means beautiful views off into some valley...with only trees and rocks to obstruct any forward and downward movement.  I can envision all too well my bike and I sliding off the road and tumbling down the hillside.  (Right curves are much easier in my mind as I still have another "lane" on the other side of that yellow line in case the bike slips out.)  I know, stupid thought process.  But it is what it is.

I had been able to overcome that in the past and taken many a spirited ride through the mountains with various and sundry people trying to keep up.  Not so today.  Today I had reverted back to my "learning" days and had totally psyched myself out.  There were even a couple curves that I just stood the bike up and "walked" my way around. (I.E. no leaning.)

We stopped to discuss my issues and thought about some back aches that I have.  (I carry my work stress in my upper back and neck, and my left shoulder had been paining me.)  We wondered if I was being "tender" on my shoulder and not really performing the necessary moves to lean to the left.  I also figured that I was following our friend and his style was messing with my head.  It's normally just me and Chris, and we take turns leading.  That maybe our friends rhythm was messing me up since I wasn't looking through the curves at my exit/vanishing point.  I found myself fixating on his rear tire, or just behind it.

After lunch, we hit tighter twisties that didn't thrill me.  I had already warned them I was taking it easy and just riding within my comfort zone.  I would catch up at the next turn.  Oilburner worries though.  So when someone caught me up from behind I agonized over letting the Jeep pass, knowing Oilburner would be beside himself if a vehicle were the next thing to come upon him, rather than me.  Luckily I didn't have to worry too much as I was able to keep enough ahead of the Jeep that I didn't feel pressured.  And Oilburner had stopped a couple curves down the road.  He thought I was much further behind than I was, and he was worried.  (AAAWWWW!)

Having the guys out of my sight did wonders for me.  I wasn't having to watch Oilburner nail the corners (which I did yell at him for, knowing we both needed a little warm up before going whole hog into twisty mode), and I didn't have to watch our friend and his strange ways.  (He rides a Harley VROD, what can I saw about that huge rear tire...)  I was able to concentrate on technique and go my own speeds.

So all you out there that are dusting the bike off from its winter slumber, I urge you to take a little notice of fit and feel when climbing back on board.  Think that a little parking lot practice might be in order, with a few road drills coming in handy prior to hitting the roads as if you have never been away.  Muscle memory will account for a lot.  But a little warm up is always necessary.  :)

Happy Spring.  Safe Travels.  Hope to see you on the roads this year.

Gone and Done It

Yep. Rode to work today.

Yesterday started at 31F and ended at 64F. When I walked out of work last night it was just too gorgeous and I lamented not being on the bike.

So I woke up early (had my trusty wake up call), wriggled into my gear, and headed off into the bewilderingly warm temperature of 35F. Waist up was warm thanks to Gerbings. My legs might have been warmer if I had remembered to zip down the bottom of my pants. Shame on me!

The little temperature display on the computer console blinked at 35F with a little snowflake during most of my ride. I remembered to temper my itchy throttle fingers and be gentle on turns with large painted strips, as they have a tendency to be slippery. I tempered the speed on roundabouts and blind curves in case there was some water seepage or spillage that could cause disaster.

It was a lovely ride, just before traffic started to get really crazy. But I'm really looking forward to the 64F temp on the way home. Yeah, I'm gonna leave a little early and enjoy the day. Have a great weekend everyone! Hope yours starts out as well as mine.

Oh...and my reward for riding...

 

All work...

...and no play makes for no fun riding.

Some people like to think they are integral at work; that work will not function without them. I am NOT one of those people. I prefer to teach everyone my duties, so that I can leave for vacation and be able to let work go completely. But sometimes you are integral if people just aren't qualified or prepared enough.

That just means that I have been working way too many hours, shirking my wifely duties of household chores like cooking and cleaning. (Who am I kidding, those don't get done even when I'm not working an ungodly amount of hours.) And no riding...

The weather hasn't exactly been conducive to riding. The last two days we've been getting snow flurries from the grey clouds scuttling by. Nothing that sticks. Just keeps it darn cold.

Oilburner and I did manage a ride a couple weeks ago. But no pictures means no proof. :) That's ok. It was without destination, meaning that we ended up seeking roads that our tires had never seen before. It was laid back and relaxing and kept us sane for a little while.

Time is just blurring by... Grab it while you can.

 

...and This Is Today

Yesterday was warm and sunny, with gentle breezes.

That was yesterday. This is today:

I'm at the little dot under all those colors, just above right of the top red dot.

We've had tornado warnings all morning. Warning means that one has been spotted, keep an eye out for more. After noon tornadoes hit north of here, overturning cars on the freeway. The freeway has been shut down and there has been at least one fatality so far. We're getting hit, and this one isn't a joke...unlike snow warnings in Atlanta.

**UPDATE:

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR THE CONCERN!!

Luckily the storm seemed to peter out a little around the office. The weather sirens were going off in a nearby city. I could hear them through the walls at work. (One rich city has warning sirens here.) There was a time when the wind and rain stopped dramatically (read suddenly) and the sky went a strange color of orange, green, and black. Then it suddenly moved on and softer rains came in.

I stayed at work until 4. The worst of it had passed over, but the yellow and red bands were between work and home. I was going home anyway. Wait too late and I would probably be caught in horrible traffic. I meandered my way home with only rain to keep me company. Sometimes it was heavy, other times light. Made it home in 1 hour 30 minutes. Only slightly longer than average. :) All was well at home. The detention pond in the front yard was full. Rare occurence lately. It has probably been full twice in the last five years. (Quite a difference from when it was full four times a year the first couple years we lived here.)

Oilburner stayed late at work and made it home safely as well.

I'll count my blessings and keep the less fortunate close to my heart tonight. Thank you, friends, for thinking of us.

All Kinds of Wrong

Setting foot outside the front door and I am greeted with the wonderful smell of:

I wish we had smell-o-vision.  These are heavenly.

The front planter is presenting these:

The shrubs at the other end of the house are covered in these:

C still loves L

 The sky was a lovely blue:

The thermometer showed:

Come on!!! 66F at 6 p.m. on Jan 29!!!  And I'm stuck at work.  No riding for me.  The weather is supposed to get colder for the weekend.

I'll still have to hop on the bike.  Here's to hoping you can get away too.  :)

The Stable Groweth

As you are experiencing, there is this thing called life that we have to navigate. At times it seems easy. Other times kinda slap you around a little. And others knock you flat on your ass. I've just been experiencing a little slapping, but is has made me lazy.

I'm not going to attempt an all-out catch up. Too much and not enough has happened to warrant that. I will just try to move forward. :)

Long, long ago Oilburner picked up an older Honda XL600R in the hopes that I would start to pick up some off road riding skills. This was prompted by both our desires to eventually ride the Trans Labrador Highway. I'm completely game for this, but don't necessarily want to take the big, heavy GS, and without any experience. Since Oilburner learned, and grew up, on dirt bikes there isn't any concern on his skills.

So...we bought this fun little Honda that I can't start. It is a kickstart. For the life of me, I cannot kick it over. I did enjoy riding it the one time we took it out. I worried about stalling it, though. As that would mean we would both have to dismount the bikes and have Oilburner start the Honda. In addtion, Oilburner didn't feel comfortable riding the GS. He was too afraid of dropping, or dinging, it even though I tried to make it clear that I expected that would happen. (And would let it go. :-) )

So what to do??

Purchase another motorbike, of course!!

Introducing the Honda XR650L. Purchased for me since it has an electric start. I alluded to picking this beauty up in Sept over Labor Day weekend. The bike was in Iowa, but the shop selling it was going to New Jersey and Pennsylvania for an auction. We agreed to meet in Ohio for the exchange.

I won't bore you with all of the logistics of meeting up. There were a few changes in day or time, but we were all flexible and pulled it off without any problems.

The bike was wonderful! Well maintained, quick to start, nice to look at, and had a 37 inch seat height.

Yes. You read that right. 37 inches. My inseam is 30 inches. Long story short, Oilburner has changed the shocks and cut some height off the kickstand, effectively lowering it a couple inches. I can swing a leg over it if all of the stars are aligned, the motorbike is swathed in incense, and I am wearing prayer beads.

I've taken this beauty out and enjoyed riding her. But my very first attempt to get on resulted in a wonderfully executed tuck and roll on my part, and a little nap on the Honda's part. I was very aware of the height at all intersections, and very nervous over rocks.

I could probably force myself on the Honda. Learn dirt skills into the Honda's abilities. I did that with the street bikes when I purchased an 800cc motorbike when I really wanted to start on something smaller. But I don't want to do that this time around. I want to ease in and take this slowly.

What does that mean??

Introducing the Yamaha TW200.

While reading more blogs, someone had fallen in love with this TW200, describing it as a sleeper. No, that 200CC engine isn't going too fast on the freeways, but she is nimble and sure footed on the dirt. And best of all...I can flat-foot this little thing. Yay!!

Oilburner had been perusing the ads and saw this one up for sale about an hour away from us. We look Rogey along to look at the bike, and he was actually the first to get to ride it. I'm looking forward to taking this into the backwoods and having much less fear on the gravel with those huge tires and wonderful seat height.

She really looks like a miniature dirt-bike in the garage, surrounded by the monsters. But it just makes us laugh. Now...how to downsize...

 

Book Review: Conversations With A Motorcycle

You might have surmised that I am woefully behind since I didn't post anything for so long.  Now it is finding the time to get fingers to keyboard to purge the sludge (hopefully coherently) from my brain.  There is one item that I am responsible for and pathetically late on.

Conversations With A Motorcycle by Jack Riepe

Long, long ago Dom of Redleg's Rides wrote an intelligent review of the book.  Due to some smartass comment I wrote, intimating how lucky he was to receive an advance copy, Jack contacted me.  It was time to shut up and put up.  Jack kindly sent me a copy of mine own.

One thing lead to another and I wasn't able to read the book in a manner that I could intelligently review on.  Well...now I have and I have to pay for that trust.

I'm a strange one.  I am probably among a handful of women that actually enjoy Jack's profanity-laced, sexually-charged writing on his blog Twisted Roads.  (No, I am not getting paid to say that.)  There is something in the way he writes that just draws me in and I sit there laughing.  My husband gets annoyed with me reading passages out of context to him.

But to the book.  It is not written in the same tone as the blog.  It is a cohesive narrative into the life of a beginning rider that has two basic [conscious] ambitions: hot pillion candy and acceptance.

We are whisked along on Jack's first introduction to two-wheeled conveyances, and experience with him the moment he is smitten.  It is a feeling we will all remember, rider and non-rider alike. Along comes the introduction to the famed Kawasaki H2 "Widow Maker" and Jack's intrepid first miles on it.  Don't think that he worried about never having ridden before, recognize that his first thought was wishing the gorgeous girl across the street would be outside to notice him on his hot bike when he rode it home.  There is no missing that he bought the bike for one reason.

The story gains depth as we are introduced to the characters he hangs around, and the girls he wants to be involved with.  And we don't have any difficulty in understanding why some hold him in complete attempt.  The story isn't just about the pursuit of women, though.  Read between the lines to learn of the life and lessons that are learned.  There is an allegory in here that must be cracked.

While it is an easy read, I was having a difficult time trying to come up with how to review it. I am not a guy.  So I can't relate to that.  I did not get into motorcycling to attract girls.  So I can't relate to that either.  How am I supposed to think about this book?!?!  It finally hits me.  I relate to the motorcycle.  I'm pretty sure I would have the same remarks coming from me as the motorcycle said to him.

"It's not the destination, it's the ride."

"Don't bother with what other people think."

"If you have to try hard to fit in, you never will."

"What did you think would happen?"

"Dope."

Through so much of the book I had to groan at his setup to a situation.  I could see the outcome, why couldn't he?  His motorcycle would even spell out the error of his way, and he would blithely ignore it.

This book is incredibly well written to take a rider through motoring nirvana.  I am a ghost on my bike beside him as he leans the bike into a 100 mph curve.  I'm displacing the droplets of fog on an early morning run next to him on my whispering bike.  I'm enjoying the drop in air temperature as the road drops in elevation towards the river at the bottom of the valley.  I'm sitting across the table from him when he sees brunette #1 and the snake, watching the action unfold across his face.  I'm watching him across the fire, seeing him tinged in flickering light as he approaches brunette #2.

Jack is able to write in a way that pulls you into the book and brings you along.  No.  I may not relate to his 19 year old self, but I could relate to the riding.  As a rider, I can understand the aspects of the ride. I can revel in the immersion into the elements of the ride.  Jack is able to help me relive simple connections to my motorcycle that sometimes slip my mind.

After my fifth reading, the last half curled on a loveseat, looking through the blinds at an early gray morning, tiptoeing away from a warm bed, I can finally sink into the last chapters, and am left in a pensive mood over the baring of a soul.

I like the book.  Yes, there is still some vulgarity, hinted and obvious, that is "just Jack".  But I read it for the ride.  And it is a lovely ride.  :)