With my vacation days dwindling in late August I did a number of short and moderate rides as often as appointments and setting up the classroom would allow, each time wondering if it might be my last ride of Summer '10. I visited the usual old haunts and a few more distant places totally enjoying the freedom of the open road with its abundance of opportunity for introspection and soul searching. Not that I discovered nor encountered anything new in my own head, but it was nice to visit with myself just the same. Soon enough the leaves will put on their color show and then tumble to the ground, but for now I'm still savoring the green with which Spring was heralded and Summer was enrobed, trying to keep Summer's sweetness with me even as I begin to lament the eventual arrival of Winter's gloom and darkness.
School began two weeks ago and I was fortunate enough to have bike weather the whole time although this week isn't promising to be as nice. Not only have I been happy with being able to come and go on the scooter, but so far my days have been blessed with wonderful experiences with a great bunch of new kids and my kids from last year's classes whom I'll teach again this year at the next level. This is my 28th year with junior high school aged kids and call me crazy, but I still love it! Here I am complete with dress shirt and tie in my special half sized scooter parking space.
I greeted the weekend with an evening ride on Friday after a picnic style get-together at the school. The air was cool and crisp after the sun went down and the ride was brisk and refreshing.
And yesterday, Saturday, I took my longest scooter ride ever to visit my baby at college. It was a 174 mile round trip and taking it has me itching now to do one of my typical Somerset trips next summer which is 240 miles one way. I'm still skeptical that a "little" 250cc scooter is designed to be pushed that far and hard, but I was very pleased that it took to the highway yesterday with as much gusto as the Neon does. The cool air was almost intoxicating and the route I took was quite relaxing. Combined with a splendid visit with my little girl and lunch at a Chinese buffet, the day was next to perfect!
A quick stop at Harvey's Lake to snag a pretty picture.
I'm hoping to take the BV to school most days this year unless there's a threat of precipitation, frozen anything on the ground, or temperatures below freezing. I'll let you know how that works out!
1 comment:
Little scooter indeed. It might interest you to know that this summer my wife did a 210 mile round trip on her Rebel, on Rt. 17 and I 81. She duked it out with trucks and all manner of vehicles every mile all the way to Syracuse and back to attend a computer learning session.
I would think if a 51 year old Elementary School Reading teacher can do it, a Middle School teacher should be able to do a 240 mile one way trip.
Post a Comment