Year End Close Out - no bargain basement s'miles here

December 29, 2012
Colorado, USA

Another year draws to a close. The talking heads on TV yammer on and on forecasting doom and gloom for our nation's future and fiscal cliffs and gun violence and the never-ending war waging among more talking heads in DC joined by the chorus of bobble-head laughing hyena-types in the mainstream media. And then there's the babble of lunatic commercials insulting my intelligence and testing my patience with year end close-outs and bargain basement offerings for products and services for which I never have and never will find a need. Good grief! It is no wonder the label on the mute button is nearly worn off of the remote for what I have come to consider a 32 inch monstrosity taking up far too much space at one end of the comfort zone. I would rather listen to the refrigerator running than all that garbage.

The cable TV went away last Spring. The streaming content networks went away earlier this week. Both due to mostly a lack of interest with cost running a hard second to that. More and more I turn the TV off and tune in to the comfort of books and sometimes an old movie and yes, most of the music in this house is still on CD. I will cling to the Internet as long as I may. As the winter lingers far beyond its welcome I turn to photos and pleasant memories of a summer just past taking in roads that had/have only one thing to offer -- one hundred percent wholesome made-in-the-USA reality. I would not trade one moment spent on the Harley with Tim for a contrived made-for-TV reality, or a brainless sitcom or anything like it. Not one moment. The reality of politicians and doom-sayers is not our reality. I look back on a year full of 12,369 s'miles and know that whatever the future holds - in the real world, the here and now world, only the promise of the freedom to ride the roads we have yet to travel of this great nation holds true value. We work. We look to the care and comfort of our own. We pay taxes. We ride. That is our reality.

The future is uncertain and always has been as far as I know so while we look to the future with great anticipation and contemplate the places we will go, we do so with an eye to the ground upon which we stand. Free ground. For now. There is no year end close out on freedom. There are no bargain basement s'miles in our world. The talking heads and hyenas may think otherwise but I reckon they will have a rude awakening at some point in the current discourse.

With that said, I close out the year with a Harley road planner in my lap and a file full of last year's photos that need editing and ample time to get to it.

Stay tuned in 2013... the real fun has only just begun. That's our New Year Resolution and we are sticking to it.

Happy New Year!