In Flux

I have not given up on riding, nor on writing.  I got this comment on my last post from Steve Williams who writes, "Scooter in the Sticks," which to me is the Gospel of scooter blogs:

OK. Just because you reach a mileage milestone it doesn't mean you quite writing and posting. Seems like that scooter has at least another thirty thousand miles in it. That translates into at least a few more posts... 

I felt guilty when I read it.  I put it aside for a while, as I have this entire blog for nearly the past three years during which my life has been on hold in a limbo of sorts. The end of the tunnel is in sight and it's terrifying to me.  The entire course of the rest of my life is going to be decided sometime in April and I'm scared to near death.  No, it's nothing like I might go to jail or anything horrible like that.  I haven't been THAT bad yet.

Now I hate on Facebook when somebody posts, "Oh no!  I can't believe it!" leaving the reader wondering what the hell happened.  Good?  Bad?  How big?  But for now I have to do that.  Still I felt the need to reply to Steve's note in some manner and here I am, simply saying that before summer I'm going to be back in riding and writing mode, or perhaps not getting to do much of either of them again to any great degree.

If you're a person of prayer, I'd appreciate your offering a few or many intercessions on my behalf for a favorable outcome of the ordeal I'm facing.  If not, perhaps cross your fingers for me now and then and send me some hopes and wishes that all will be well.  Thanks!

Major Milestone: 20,000 Miles!

The odometer read over 20,000 miles after my ride yesterday which I didn’t know I was taking when I left the house with no particular destination in mind.  It was simply one of those days that promised to be gorgeous from start to finish without a drop of precipitation anywhere in sight, cooler air temperatures, and sunlight aplenty to offset the breeze created by moving on two wheels through standing air.  I meandered here and there, changing my course as often as a girl changes outfits before an important date, and managed to make sure that I was somewhere safe to stop at when the big 20K rolled over from 19,999.9. 

 

As you can see, it was also my first jacket day even though technically it was still summer, albeit the very last day of it.  I enjoy stopping beside moving water whenever I can.  There’s something peaceful about a brook, creek, stream, etc. that’s moving along without a care in the world.  

I ended up in White Haven, and it was there, after consulting the odometer that I realized it would be a good day to make the milestone number of miles.  After that it was just a matter of deciding where to go and how to get there.  

Well, I didn’t decide it all at once.  This kind of haunting pic was made on a road I’d never taken before as I headed to Blakeslee.  It promised to lead to Lake Harmony and it did, but the lake wasn’t impressive enough to hold my interest more than a quarter of the way around it. 

 

The same road gave me this unique view of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike which leads to where both my daughters live, though an hour apart from each other. 

Diuretics aren’t much fun when one is out riding.  Bathroom breaks are a necessity and here I am after taking one at the Wawa convenience store at Blakeslee Corners.  I picked up a huge brownie too, but didn’t get around to munching on it till I was back at the house.

 

Like a little kid, I’m still fascinated by heavy machinery doing its thing.  I paused at the red traffic light that controls the single lane of traffic that has to take turns here because of the construction in the other lane, and after snapping a few pics I looked up just in time to see the light going red again.  I wasn’t in any hurry, and nobody was behind me, so it didn’t matter.

 

I was still 20 miles out from rolling the odometer numbers to the new milestone, so I thought about where I might head so that I’d be close enough to the valley to be able to stop for the picture safely.  I road a bit more toward the Poconos and then turned around, headed back to Blakeslee Corners and then turned onto Route 115 north which would bring me back to the valley. 

  

The scenery when I take the back roads and byways is always worth taking in around here and whenever I could I stopped to get a picture of something I enjoyed seeing.  Here it was a stand of pines lined up like soldiers right beside the road. 

 

This “Pinchot State Forest” on a map makes one’s head spin.  It’s not a single area, but rather a whole bunch of different places not physically connected to the others.  I’ve been on roads where multiple signs welcome you to Pinchot State Forest, and then inform you maybe a half mile later that you’re leaving Pinchot State Forest.  And then after a few miles, the same thing happens.  Very odd indeed, but that’s Pennsylvania.

And here it is!  Twenty thousand miles, just a month shy of nine years from when the Piaggio came home with me for the first time.  I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every single turn of the tires on the BV!   In order to get to the spot where the odometer actually read the perfect 20,000 I rode about a half mile down a side road from Rte. 115, and then turned around to complete the mile where I knew I’d be safe to take the shots I took.

 

I was wearing a kind of goofy smug look of satisfaction as I snapped pictures to capture the joy of the moment. 

  

And I frolicked among the flowers at the nearby Bear Creek Cafe to add to the fun I was having from rolled the numbers over. 

 

After that it was down the mountain, back into the valley, with me wearing a huge grin the whole rest of the way. 

  

When I finally parked the bike under the deck I’d gone 11 miles into the next 10,000 miles that I hope to mark on the trusty old scooter.  Finding the perimeter of the continental United States to be 8,878 miles, I’ve gone over the equivalent number of miles twice!  Here’s hoping to do the perimeter of Eurasia next!  LOL!

Pitying the Hurried

“If you’re in such a hurry you should have left yesterday!” my favorite uncle used to exclaim whenever he was driving and some idiot came flying by at an unsafe speed, making it clear that he was a jerk with not enough time to get where he was going.  When I’m in the car and somebody cuts me off I don’t much give a rat’s ass, but on the scooter it pisses me off when somebody is riding my tail because I’m not going as fast as he’d like me to be moving.  

 

Unless I’m scurrying about in town to get somewhere in particular, when I’m on the bike I’m going nowhere and I’m not in any hurry to get there either.  I enjoy seeing what’s on either side of me while I’m scootering along.  I like taking in the smells, like yesterday when I was going past the Susquehanna Brewing Company and they were cooking a batch of wort on its way to becoming a delicious beer.  I enjoy a slow speed that makes it clear to myself that I’m living life and happy to be doing so, and I don’t want to be rushed along by somebody behind me who should have left sooner than he did to get where he’s going. 

It tends to piss me off that if I were in a tractor trailer or big dump truck going 25 miles an hour the fruitcake behind me would likely growl to himself but not likely do something stupid and unsafe like passing where passing isn’t allowed, yet seeing me on a scooter doing the same speed makes some folks itch to fly past me over a double yellow line with impunity.  If I’m Sunday riding, as I was literally today, and if I’m on a straight-away with at least a little bit of a shoulder to the road, I’ll gladly move as far to the right as I can and signal a car behind me to pass, but if he’s practically kissing my ass with the nose of his car, he can wait and I’ll hold the speed limit.

To be certain, I know what it’s like to be that ass hat going or wanting to go too fast.  I got my one and only traffic citation to date for going 102 MPH on an interstate.  Most of the time, though, I leave the house with plenty of time to get wherever I’m going, holding fast to my maternal grandfather’s dictum of, “I’d rather be an hour early than a minute late.”  Yes, I use the scooter to zip about the city because it is faster than taking the car with its speedy take offs from full stops, but when I have it on a winding country road I’m there to savor the ride.  I don’t typically ride under the posted limit if there’s somebody behind me, but I do detest being expected to exceed the limit just because whoever’s behind me is impatiently chomping at the bit. 

All in all, I feel a sense of pity for the people who are in such a hurry to get to where they're going.  They're missing out entirely on the fun of getting there.

Like it or not, the evidence is there that autumn is well on its way with winter to follow.  This lone tree seems eager to be the first to herald the change of seasons.  

 

I’ve switched to jeans instead of shorts for riding now, but on a good day like today I can still get away with staying comfortable in a tee shirt.  It was an unusually beautiful day for riding.  The sky was cloudy, but the rain was still hours away while I was out on the Piaggio.  

One of the best parts of living in a valley is the sight of coming back to it after a trip be it a long or short one.  When I’m out of state and see a “Welcome to Pennsylvania” sign on the way back, it feels like I’m coming home even if I’m still hours away from the house.  Likewise when I’m out of the valley and coming back into it down the side of one of its mountainous walls, the sight of the tiny looking houses visible in the distance never fails to warm me with that same feeling of coming home.  

It wasn’t all that long ago that I posted my having crossed 19,000 miles on the odometer, and here I am with only 100 miles to go till I’m at 20,000 which I’m confident I’ll arrive at in another week or two.  Finances being as they are I’ve been putting off some needed maintenance, namely getting new rollers and a new drive belt installed.  I’ll need my annual inspection by the end of next month, though, and then the riding season will slowly dwindle.  Hopefully by spring I’ll be ready to get the much needed items replaced.