Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Day 14 - vs 2.0

Wednesday, 22 Aug.
I started my normal routine and was up with my bride at 5:30am, made her breakfast, kissed her and saw her off to the corporate world. Played ball with our dog Libby, fed her, and unpacked all my gear. Put a load of my laundry in to wash, and uploaded some photos to my web site. Read the paper and pat the cat. Life is good!

At 8am, my bro awakens, and I hear : "hey, I got to do some laundry - I have no clothes to wear!" Good morning, Butch.

Today we will wash our bikes, and try to get an oil change for Butch's bike, get all laundry done, and try to visit some family members and some friends that Butch wants to see before he leaves. Life is good!

More than one person has asked why we don't wear full-faced helmets, or at the least, a face shield. As the old saying goes-if I have to explain, you won't understand. ;-) But I will attempt to do my best. Now this is just my humble opinion. We met a gentleman riding a
Cowasaki motorcycle. He was washing his bike as we were washing ours. He was cracking jokes about Harley's, and you could tell that he REALLY didn't like Harley's or the people that rode them. Since this is the NEW me, I didn't go over and pound some sense into the disturbed man, as I may have been prone to do 5 years ago before the NEW me. I let him make jokes and carry on. Butch asked him something about riding in the rain all day today, and the gentleman replied that it didn't bother him because he had a heated jacket that he just plugged into his bike and was toasty all day. He said that he never felt the rain or hail that we rode in because he wore a full-faced helmet. Now this is just philosophy by jp, but if you are warm and toasty and dry, well, you might as well ride in a cage ( slang for automobile), because part of the joy of motorcycling is being free and enjoying the elements of nature. Butch and I smell everything -things you don't normally smell in a car. We hear so much more than one would in a car. And yes, we get wet, cold, and pummeled with hail - but that is part of the experience! If I have to ride in a heated jacket, heated pants, heated gloves, with a full faced helmet, than I will hang up my keys and never ride a bike again. The newer generation is missing out on the FUN and the CHALLENGE and the EXPERIENCE of motorcycling. Again, this is just my humble opinion.

Got to run........Butch is done with his shower and ready to roll......later.

jp

2 comments:

~Berta said...

I'm just a Harley RIDER ~ don't drive one at all. I love to smell MOST scents ~ not skunks or dead animals. I was showing Dan the pix ~ he's mid to late sixties and drives a Honda Goldwing ~ and he agrees it's just NOT the same when viewed thru the window of a "cage" : )

george & clarine review said...

You are a remarkable guy, Jim Peles. I love people who have strong, firm opinions and know why they do and can justify their beliefs in toe to toe discourse if necessary.