Who'd Have Thought...

...Atlanta would see these temps? Yes, that is in Fahrenheit.

This may be trifling to some, and I claim no great surprise either, but this is a big deal here. Schools were closed today due to these temperatures. No rain, no snow, no sleet, nice sun, but cold. Kids here aren't generally equipped, clothing wise, for this. The administrators were also worried that the buses wouldn't start. Valid if you think of diesel engines. As well as a concern of heaters not being able to adequately heat classrooms. Ok. I'll give it to them.

I haven't seen any motorbikes on the road today. The big concern would be from breaking sprinkler pipes laying great sheets of ice across the road. Don't laugh. It is happening. :)

 

...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.

Cherohala

I had to stop and play the last sentence of the conversation over again.  Three grown men, none of whom had children, were talking about sippy cups.  Really?!?!

I believe that many men act like children, but the use of a sippy cup?  Well...yeah.  I guess I can see where it would be beneficial.  But I am way off track.

The conversation was actually chiding Oilburner for not having a cup holder on the RT.  After all,Ken had one on his.  And the discussion at hand was the only way Oilburner would be able to drink while riding with a full fact helmet.  Sippy cup came up, but I think they meant something with a flexible straw.

I didn't care.  I knew Oilburner wasn't installing one.  That is a Goldwing farkle.  So I tuned back out of the conversation and thought forward to the ride that was coming up.

We hadn't ridden to Cherohala or the Dragon yet this year.  With the fall colors coming, and winter not far behind, those roads were going to be busy soon.  Therefore the first "autumn" like weekend of year saw us headed there.

Who knew the first autumn week would have us experiencing 37.4 F (3C) at 12:30 on the Skyway.  But there it was in all its blinking glory on my temp gauge.

Where were the 67 F (20C) highs they had predicted?

Nothing to worry about here though.  Starting out in my winter jacket and four layers of winter clothes showed me that would not be sustainable at freeway speeds.  So I switched the layers to the Gerbings heated jacket directly at the breakfast/meetup location.  Two guys had fairings, and one of them heated gear.  The Harley dude, sans a windshield, had on a down jacket.  We were all prepared.

There isn't much more to say about this day.  It was all about the ride in the company of good friends that were well matched in riding styles.  The twisties were smooth and easy. The side trips were agreed upon.  The route was up for changes.  We were all willing to take a lead.

You can see more images on Flickr.  And you can watch the video that sums it all up.


Cherohala With Friends from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

Just Taking it Easy

The weather this winter just hasn't been cooperative for riding.  Unless you really don't mind riding in the rain.  So these past few months have been difficult since the weekdays have been absolutely wonderful and the rain has been coming in just for the weekends.  Then Monday morning dawns beautiful, blue and clear again. Just in time for work...

The past couple of weeks have thrown more into the mix with the freezing temperatures and rain.  Yes, the nighttime temps averaged 18F.  And for a week the daytime temps averaged 29F.  This little mix made for some wonderfully icy roads. Ice and snow are rare here.  So it isn't reasonable to expect the region to have all of the de-icing equipment.  And with the recent economic conditions the state wasn't able to de-ice every road.  The community at large was going to have to make due with having the interstates, state highways and primary roads as the only ones to be taken care of.  Leaving secondary and tertiary roads and drivers to fend for themselves.  Just to reinforce this, the road in front of our house remained ice covered for 5 days.

I have seen a few hardy individuals that did ride through all of this.  But that was just in passing through an intersection.  I'm not sure how they fared on the rest of their journey.  My two friends that don't have cars both hitched rides to work for a couple of days or stayed home sick.  So not everyone is brave all of the time.  At least they recognized a foolish situation and decided not to push their luck.

Here are a couple pictures of the parking lot at work at the end of a 28F day.

Yes, this is ice still in the parking lot after a day of full exposure to the sun.

Once again, the rain was here Thursday.  Was beautiful on Friday.  Saturday was supposed to be partly cloudy and relatively nice with the rains coming in late Saturday night and all day Sunday.  Even if they hadn't been wrong, because today is overcast, cold and drizzly this morning, we couldn't have ridden.  The darn pickup needs some attention.  But Monday should be dawning blue once again.  Not sure if the truck will be back in one piece.  So I just might have to ride to work on Monday.  DARN the bad luck.  ;)