• Location: The Home Office in Seattle
• Mood: content
• Music: Chicken Fried -- Zac Brown Band

A Winter's Day Of Puttering

It's still January, and darn cold, but it was a clear crisp and most of all dry day and I needed to get down to Downtown Harley to pick up the Nighster who had been in for her turn at the Bike Spa, getting tuned and oiled and a going over of her battery and charging system.  Apparently the cold weather took it's toll on the battery so at the service department's advice I picked up battery tenders for all three bikes.  I also had some other stuff in the garage that needed to be done. and figured today was the day to do it.  Tony pandabuff was kind enough to drive me down to the shop this morning where I picked up the Nightster all ready to go. Saturday afternoons at a Harley dealership, even in winter, are hopping.  I ran into a number of friends (one who had even seen me on TVW the state version of CSPAN as I testified against a bill at the legislature that would require employee restrooms be made available to the public - just what I need to be famous for!).  Some of them were out riding, but most everyone was eating at the free food tent that the dealer has every Saturday.  The Nightster was parked by the tent waiting for me to ride her home.  This little bike has a set of pipes that make everyone jump and this time it was no different.  I plugged myself into my electrical gear and roared home, enjoying the torque on the little bike as I ripped up Cloverdale Hill and Roxbury -- although the wind in my face was cold and caused my eyes to water something fierce.

Getting home I parked all three, set up and installed the power strip, put the battery tenders on all three, and then wiped them all down with a nice polishing cloth.  So here they sit, all lined up, plugged in and resting, happy and content, and waiting for me to take them out for a ride.   All three have had their spring tune ups, repairs, and oil changes and other services at the Bike Spa, and they are ready to roll for the summer.   The black Street Bob, (my main road trip bike) even got a new built in garage door opener as well, which I wired in today.   No more getting off the bike to open the garage!

I'm hoping the weather warms up a tad tomorrow as they say it will, and the sun keeps shining, so I can head out for a nice long ride.  I've already planned my first big road trip of the year.  In early May, after the session ends, I'll head south into California to visit my friend Dave and his family in the bay area, then I'll head down to Nogales, Arizona on the Mexican border and pick up the southern most point of US-89 and ride it all the way back up to the Canadian border.   I have a very personal connection to this road -- it's like my own personal Route 66.  You see, US-89 is the main drag where I grew up in Salt Lake City.  It's also the main street in Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona where I lived and went to school.  It starts in Nogales, runs north to Tucson and into Mesa, Tempe, and Phoenix, then up to Flagstaff, through Southern Utah, up to Nephi, Utah where my father was born, through Salt Lake City, and into Davis County, Utah and Farmington where my Grandmother was born, into Ogden, Utah and up through Southeast Idaho where my Mother was born.  I can trace much of my family roots along US-89, so a journy up it might make for an interesting story or book.    I figure I'll take about two weeks to do the circuit, and spend the rest of the summer writing about it.

Meanwhile, the bikes sit content in their garage, anxious as I am to be taken out for a ride.  When the Red Rocker was in for some work a couple of weeks ago I had them paint the oil tank to match the rest of the bike.  The sun was shining in the garage door as I was working this afternoon, and it just gleemed off of her new paint.  I can't wait until summer.