Weekend Write-Up: Night Rider

I need to get me some Night Vision Goggles for the bike

Welcome to June-uary. Nothing short of snow here in the Mid West. I did not get out for a ride on Sunday as planned. As I was getting ready to leave, it was just a constant drizzle which makes for slick conditions.

Since a lot of riders were not showing up, I decided to "cage" it (cage = car). I met up with a few of the regulars from the area. I ate some breakfast and then headed north to do some personal shopping. Not much else to say about that.

Oh, I did stop at Ukes Harley in Kenosha for their open house. Like I said, not much else to say about that either.

(congratulation to Mooney for purchasing his new Buell. We will get out soon)

Friday night, I was able to get out and ride. I decided to surpise my wife by showing up at her event in Kenosha. The ride was perfect going north. The sun was going down. No wind. No chill in the air and most importanlty, no bugs.

For a moment, I had route 45 all to myelf as I crossed into Wisconsin. I just relaxed and took it all in. With the exception of my 1200 cc's, there was no noise. No sounds from telephones, no music, no kids fighting and noone to argue how bad my White Sox are. It's about as close to having a Zen moment that I am going to get.

On the way home, that's a different story. My motorcycle headlight, well, sucks for lack of better words. I don't usually ride after dark unless I am with another rider that I can follow. Knowing that Jenn would be in the SUV, I could follow her home.

We were moving along pretty well coming back into Illinois. Back on route 45, it is pretty much open fields with little cross roads but plenty of wild life. Jenn thought she would be doing me a favor by going faster then what the speed limit suggested. I really didn't want to loose sight of my truck because I was watching the trucks headlights down the road so I kept up. The whole way home, I was thinking to myself, please let Bambi be sleeping tonight. I don't want any forest rat surprises.

A couple of times I look down and I am doing over 70. Now I know some of you are thinking, 70 mph. Thats not fast. Tonight, try 70 mph, in your car, with your eyes closed and get back to me.

Lucklily, nothing happened. I get home and Jenn asks "was that fast enough enough for you?" I jokingly replied "are you trying to kill me?" I explained the lighting situaiton to Jenn. It's all good know.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.