Visions of Harley rides dancing in my head...

December 30, 2009
Fort Collins, CO

OK! We live in cold country by choice. Colorado isn't as cold and snowy as some places (especially Texas/Oklahoma this year) but we can expect snow on the ground for a good bit of the winter. We like snow. Perhaps we don't like it as much now that we have the Harley. Ha! Normally we have snow in Northern Colorado that sits on the ground for a day or two and then disappears. Still, cold and snow set in early this year and Ol' Man Winter shows no signs of going away anytime soon. Worse, neighborhood streets are ice-packed now and we need a good, sunny, week long warm-spell to cure that problem.

So, we sit in front of the fire, drag out the road atlas and talk about rides we would like to do although we'd settle for the 20 mile Dam Ride right now. We look at the photos of last year's rides -- all the great places we visited and beautiful scenery we saw. We remember all the wonderful food we sampled along the way. We talk about places we would like to visit again and those we hope to visit. But, again, we'd settle for flat-landing it on the eastern plains.

Of course, we drag out the back issues of all our magazines, HOG, American Iron, etc., and make certain we have read all of the articles. We check out other motorcycle blogs and shop catalogs on-line and in-hand for - well, anything motorcycle related. Parts, tires, leathers. We both think we may read The Old Man and the Harley again. We watch motorcycle movies, even the bad ones.

We start The Ride and let it idle, sweet rumbling in our ears... we hook up the battery tender... we put the dust cover on and off... then on again. We clean and oil our leathers and boots. We sew on patches and place pins on our vests. We organize gloves and do-rags. We try on the do-rag we got for Christmas. We carefully plan how to best spend the Harley-Davidson gift card we got for Christmas. We tally our Harley points.

As a severe case of cabin fever sets in, we commiserate with our fellow bikers, forming an unofficial support group of sorts. We cheer if someone we know actually gets out of their driveway on two wheels. Are we pathetic or what?

Dad rides December 22, 2009 before Texas Christmas Blizzard

I said pathetic. We do have other things in our life - right? We have children and grandchildren, work, honey-do chores and hobbies, domestic stuff, cooking, cleaning, laundry - right? We have taxes to figure - ouch - right? We all have daily doses of drama that we must get through - right? If all else fails, we have headlines and politics over which to moan and groan.

I mean... good grief our entire lives are not centered on our motorcycles - right?

Right?

For Christmas we received a couple of Harley T-Shirts from Nashville, Tennessee from friends who visited there recently. The front of the T-Shirt says: Life Begins When You Get One. And that, my friends is the answer to the question.

Sure, our lives are full. We are surrounded with people and situations that need our attention. We muddle through the best we can...

Then, the sun breaks through the clouds of oppression, the ice and snow melt and the temperature rises enough to saddle up and ride. And ride, we will... because this - riding - is the one thing we do for ourselves... the one thing that gets us through the rest of it... the one thing necessary to our survival and ultimately, our sanity.

I think it may be a disease - riding - an affliction from which many of us happily and willingly suffer. So what?

LIFE BEGINS WHEN YOU GET ONE.