Inaugural Meet & Greet

Last night was our first (of hopefully many to come) Meet and Greet.  At our last chapter meeting a few weeks ago, we agreed it would be great PR for us to do rides now and then to other Posts, to meet and chat with other ALR members, as well as other Posts wishing to form their own ALR chapters.  When we were discussing where our first destination should be, we agreed that our neighbors over in Wrentham, at Post 225, was the perfect choice, as they were indeed one of the Posts that were possibly looking to create their own ALR chapter.

The weather broke for us - kinda.  While it was not as clear or warm as had been predicted, all things considered (for the Winter we've had so far), we weren't complaining.

We rallied at the Post for some last minute preparations (IE: brews and bullshittin') and then saddled up.  Not a bad turnout; 6 bikes/riders, + 2 in a vehicle, + 1 that met us there.

Advance notice had been given to the Wrentham Post and when we arrived, they had a nice contingent of riders waiting for us.  We pushed some tables together, did some quick process and procedures preamble, and then jumped into a great round-table discussion, answering questions, offering advice, and letting them know we'd be there to help them through the process if they did decide to form their own chapter or not.  At the end of the night, they weren't sure they had enough members to start their own chapter.  They're going to get together and discuss it more on their end, and if they don't have enough, then they are going to join our chapter over in Sharon.  (The nice thing about the ALR is they wouldn't have to change their membership from Wrentham, to Sharon.  They can still belong to the Wrentham Post, and also be a member of the Sharon ALR.)

We had a lot of laughs and made some great new friends!!

As the night got long in the tooth, the riders said their farewells and headed for the door.  I stuck around  with Flex (the "+1" that had met us there, as he lives around the corner from this Post), and we continued the brew/bullshittin' thing with the Wrentham members for a bit longer.  All too soon, however, it was time we hit the road as well.  Hugs & handshakes, then head for the highway.

The chill that was waiting for me out in the parking lot was quite a bit deeper than it had been when we all pulled in.  Sure wish I'd brought that electric vest...  Oh well, just crank the music a little louder and duck a bit lower below the low-profile windshield.  Before long, I was rolling back into my driveway and backing her into the garage, safe and sound.

It was an awesome night!  Our next chapter meeting is in two weeks and I'm sure we'll all be in agreement that we need to do this again.  Maybe even once a month, but time will tell as the busy summer schedules start falling into place.  At the very least; this won't be the last time we do this!

Ride Hard, Press The Flesh

I Broke The Seal

I rode the bike in today - first time this year!  It was a balmy 28 degrees on the way in, but I've been promised by the usually-lying weather folks that the ride home will bless me with 49 degrees.  Certainly much too warm to pass up!

The only downside was that when I fired the bike up this morning, I found that I only had about a half-gallon of gas in the tank.  It was barely enough to get to work, and gas stations aren't open at 5am!  The next time I see that A-hole that last had my bike out...  (I'll have to warn myself that I'm looking for me, and that I don't look happy.)

But all that aside - Today was the first ride-to-work of the year!  I've broken the seal!  And we all know what happens when you break the seal...you have to go all the time!  So here's hoping the Weather Gods will grace me with the ability to "go all the time".

Ride Hard, Go Often

Sidetracked and Sad

Winter is holding on as best it can, with another blast of white nonsense going on outside today. The weather folks had said it would start sometime around 6 this morning, but I looked out my window last night at 9 and it was already snowing pretty well. What do we need to do to get some kind of revolt going against these inane buffoons who constantly get things wrong?

Anyway, that is not the topic for today’s post. Today, I’m going to talk about something sad and disturbing that I stumbled upon last night.

Since the weather was going to be so lousy today, I made a point of shooting home from work yesterday and heading right out on the bike to get more miles on while I still could.

I headed for a road I’d recently discovered about 20 miles away from home, determined to find out where it went. In short order, I was soon humming along said roadway, enjoying long stretches of roadway, uninterrupted by side streets, houses, or other traffic. Wonderful!

All too soon (as is always the case with great roads), it led me back into civilization, replete with intersections, crosswalks,…and people. Damn. Oh well, I meandered this way and that, and since I hadn’t really strayed all that far from home, I recognized landmarks from time to time. And each time I realized where I was, I made sure to find an unfamiliar road to try and get a bit lost again.

It was during this “found, get lost again” silliness that last night’s story really begins. I was riding along some strange back roads, when I spotted a mini amphitheater atop a cemetery I was passing by…

I love cemeteries; the serenity, the celebration of lives, and the architecture. So, having seen this incredible edifice, I had to turn in and check it out.

Riding up to it, I set the stand and took a pic – this thing was impressive!

It had a family name on the top center of the structure, and I wondered what sort of life celebration did this formation serve?  I strolled up the stairs and walked to the back…it dropped off sharply…no walls, no stairs, nothing but…is that a door below?  Yes, and walking around to the other side for another pic, it became clear to me; this entire structure was a mammoth family vault!  Holy crap!

There were a few other vaults nearby and I strolled about to take them in.  This one has either been here longer than the others, or perhaps it’s construction was not of the same caliber…

One of the vaults appears to be regularly visited by the family, complete with…food offerings?  The plate looked like it had held some sort of cake, but the local wildlife residents had made a mess of whatever it was.  Those same residents didn’t appear to be coffee enthusiasts, however, as the mug was still full of a dark brown liquid – which I took on faith to indeed be coffee.

From there, it was back onto the bike to ride around and take in some of the grave monuments.  Cemeteries, especially the older ones, often have some remarkable works of granite.  Take this for example;

Amazing detail, and the sadness conveyed is almost palpable. I paused here only briefly, then moved along.

The next one that caught my eye, did so for an entirely different reason. Have any of you seen The Exorcist III? A very scary movie, in which the devil kills people and replaces their heads with heads from statues (so when you saw a missing statue head, you knew someone, somewhere, was being killed). So imagine my shock when I rounded a corner and saw this grim display…

It didn’t occur to me at first that the culprit here was vandalism, I had hoped that it was merely time and weather that had done the dirty deed. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was an arm missing as well. Not a good sign. I felt badly for the family who had placed this here in memory of their loved one, and hoped their sorrow was not compounded too much by the defamation of their memorial.

I was quickly burning the daylight that was left in the day, so I figured it was time to head back out to the roadways. I fired the bike up, clicked out of neutral and began rolling slowly toward the exit, heading through a section of the cemetery I hadn’t passed through yet. And that’s when the night took a sad turn.

What I saw was a US Flag which had presumably been previously placed on the grave of a service member who had passed. It was now lying on the ground, so I stopped, set the kickstand, walked over and reset the flag, tall and straight once again. Turning back toward the bike, I saw another flag off to my side at a very low angle, it’s fabric fully caressing the ground. I walked over to it and righted it, pushing it a bit further into the earth, to keep it firmly in place. As I walked back to my bike, I saw another flag…and then another…and another. Something was wrong here…

These flags hadn’t just fallen over.  Most of their posts were broken – splintered, and twisted back upon themselves, then strewn about without care or concern where they landed.

This was unbelievable - this had been done deliberately.  Who does this kind of thing?  Sadly, probably just young kids who were bored, and not aware of the significance of what they were doing.

I walked back and forth, picking up flags, straightening the posts that were salvageable, breaking off the broken ends of ones which were not, and then finding veteran’s graves to place them by. And each time I fixed a section, I’d get back onto the bike, ride to the next section, and do it all over again.

This guy was too badly damaged to salvage, so he came home with me and will be retired with full honors at the Legion.

By the time I was done, I must have picked up/fixed/reset over 40 flags. It’s amazing enough (and not in a good way) that such a thing even happened in the first place, but for it to have been tolerated just exacerbates the entire scenario. During my time there, I saw a family walking through the cemetery. At the time I saw them, they were off in the distance, in a section of the cemetery I hadn’t ridden through yet – one of the sections with the flags on the ground. They weren't in a hurry, either.  They were pausing, looking at the stones, taking things in, and taking their time.  That means the family – parents, with their kids – saw the flags on the ground and did nothing. I also saw a guy walking his dog. He was talking on his phone while his dog bounded around between the stones. At one point, the dog ran up to me to say hello – I removed my glove so he could sniff my hand, and then, satisfied that I was “ok”, he let me pet him. I saw the guy watching me, and I know he saw me replacing the flags. And since he and his pet were on foot, this can’t be the first time he’s walked his dog here. So why are the flags still on the ground? Is empathy really that entrenched nowadays?

Given their obvious lack of interest, I don’t hold much hope for the family, but I’m hoping the guy walking his dog will remember what I did, and the next time he sees a flag on the ground, maybe he’ll do the right thing.

There were also many houses lining the street by the entrance to the cemetery, and I hope there were some folks in those houses who saw me. I hope they watched the stranger in the cemetery; a biker, dressed from head to toe in black winter gear, his head, face and hands covered against the wind and chill, setting his kickstand, then getting off his bike and walking the rows of markers, picking up flags, straightening them, then finding appropriate graves to place them back at. Walking back over to his bike, starting it up, riding to the next section, dismounting, and doing it all over again. And then the next section, and the one after that, and so on. I hope that image will stick in at least someone’s mind, and maybe…just maybe…something good will come of it.

My plan for the evening had been to find some new roads and lay out some good rides for when the warmer temps arrive.  However, when the last cemetery section was fixed and I finally rolled up to the exit, the daylight was all but gone from the skies. I’d used up the last of it not twisting corners and mapping new routes, but walking amongst rows of granite and trying to do a little bit of Right.

As I turned my headlight toward home, I counted the night a success.

Ride Hard, Have Some Respect.

Weekend Wrapup

My new phone still has some hiccups to deal with in terms of letting me load blog posts so for now, I'm stuck doing updates on Monday morning.  Oh well, I'll try and get things figured out.  For now, let's see what the weekend brought my way, shall we?

First up; I finised the motorcycle puzzle.  Not bad for two and a half weeks.  (Now, instead of staying up too late looking for "just one more piece!", I can get to bed on time.)  I even managed to flip it upside down (using cardboard and those lightning-quick reflexes...the same reflexes that didn't help a bit when trying to catch my phone last week).  Anyway, the next step will be to get some spray glue, get this thing mounted onto some cardboard backer, and maybe even frame it (thanks for the idea, TEP).

Saturday found me changing the Jeep's oil. Why am I mentioning this on a motorcycle blog?  Because I wanted to point out yet another stupid thing that has invaded our lives.Why do we need containers of oil that are not evenly measured?  (It's not a matter of metric vs standard, either.)  The big jugs (!!) of oil aren't helpful at all.  1 1/8 gallons.  5.1 US Quarts.  4.826 Liters.  Who designs this?  And why???  There's a reason somewhere, but I can gurantee it's not for our benefit.  Do the manufacturers think folks will just give up on the last 1/10th of a quart and toss the container?  I don't know the answer to that question, either, but I can assure you that I save that extra oil, and in another 9 oil changes, I'll have an extra quart, baby!

A nice surprise I received this weekend, was two pics sent to me by Big Bill (the guy that bought my Fatboy).  Not only is the suicide clutch still on it, but he's stripped the tin off and has sent it out for paint.  The last time we were talking, he said he was going for a yellow, I believe.  I don't know if that's still the plan or not, but I'm looking forward to seeing it all back together again!

Last, but far from least, I had some time over the weekend to take my own ride out.  It was quite chilly and the skies were gray, but the roads were free of sand (mostly) and the traffic was light.  I didn't complain (and that's telling you something, right?).

Winter has apparently taken offense to my premature declaration of it's impending death last week, and has instead; mustered its strength to launch one more great assault upon our roadways (and temperments).  Tomorrow's forecast is calling for as much as a foot of snow, followed by somewhat chilly temps for the rest of the week, which won't really allow for much melting.  Bring it on, you Bastard.  Everyone knows this is nothing more than baseless chest-thumping, and while I have had to don a jacket as I sit out here in the graveyard, anxiously awaiting the delivery of your body, I'm still whistling a happy tune.  Your time is nigh, and I can wait you out.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Return To Serenity

The heavy rains from earlier in the week have washed away much of the nasty snow, as well as done a commendable job with cleaning the sand and crap off of the roadways.  Add to that a nice dose of non-freezing temperatures last night, AND it was our monthly Legion Riders meeting night.  That all added up to a great reason to rush home from work, toss everything onto the counter, and fire the bike up.  Took it out for a bit of a spin before pulling into the Post's driveway and parking it...right next to George's bike.  And across the way, Phil's bike was keeping watch on the other side of the parking lot.  Very nice, I like seeing it!

We had a good meeting  and even put a plan into place to try and organize some semi-regular group rides to go visit other Posts from time to time.  Help to spread the word that Sharon, Post 106 is in the area and looking to make friends.

When it was time to head on out, the temps had dropped, understandably.  The cold riding gear made sure the temps were not a proble, though, and I was soon boppin' my way along some back roads on my way home.

One thing that is markedly different is the new front tire.  I'd worn so much of the tread off of the old one that it had lost it's "roundness".  (Not to mention that it had a slow leak, causing me to fight the steering more than I had realized.)  Take all that away and replace it with a full-inflated, fully round tire, and what do you get?  A front end that floats like a dream and responds at the slightest prodding...it will take some getting used to (on sharp corners, it feels like it wants to just drop out from under me), but I'll get the hang of it quickly.  (I'd better, or I'll be losing some of that nice blue paint I'm rather fond of, not to mention some of my own personal outer layer, which (pardon the pun), I'm quite "attached" to.  Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk...

Man, did it ever feel good to be out last night.  Winter, despite it's vigorous resurgence of late, is still on it's death bed.  It's relatives are outside in the hall, whispering about how pale Winter is looking, and wondering how much longer it can hold on.  Me?  I've already got the grave plot dug out and am whistling a happy tune, standing by with shovel in hand, ready to start tossing the dirt back in.

Ahh, sweet Spring.  How we've missed you.  You can be a temperamental bitch, sure, but your brother Summer, well...he's not far behind you, and he's the one that everyone loves best, anyway.

Here's hoping everyone is getting their bikes readied, and doing their stretches.  Riding season is about to come knockin'...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

TGIW

What a day.  Close to 8 inches of heavy, concrete-like snow were waiting for me when I got home last night, and then another 6+  had fallen overnight...and from looking out the window so far today, it looks like there will be much more waiting for me when I get home.  Oy, my achin' back.  But, I digress...

After shoveling this morning, I went inside, grabbed my phone...and promptly fumbled it out of my fat fingers.  Grabbing for it in a wild attempt to save it from hitting the floor, all I managed to accomplish was to hit it in such a way as to triple it's downward speed, smashing it into the hardwood floor, below.  A quick examiniation and my worst fears were realized; I'd sent my almost-new phone to the big technology place in the sky.

Damn.

I made it in to work, took care of some work stuff, then headed off to the store to get a new phone.  The guy at the counter asked how long had I had the phone for, and did seem genuinely sorrowful when I informed him I'd only had it for a month and a half.  Did I have insurance?  Nah, I don't need that stuff - hell, I'd dropped my last phone onto the highway from a speeding motorcycle, and all I needed after that was a new battery.  Ahh, but these smart phones are much, much more delicate than the flip-phones of old.  But I digress once again.  I handed over my credit card and did my best to ignore the audible gasp it let loose when the charge was applied.

The good news is that the guy was able to pull my SIM card from the broken phone and insert it into the new one, and I was up and running...sort of.  All my contacts are gone, but had them saved in an Excel file, so I'll be able to re-enter them.

So it hasn't been a fantastic Friday.  Hence the title; instead of TGIF, I'm going to settle for TGIW; thank god it's the weekend.  Hopefully it'll be better than today has been...