Run For the Wall 2008--Over Raton Pass

One of the other things that was a minor problem was my glove liners. I was having a problem with a draft up my chin and stuffed one of my glove liners in that space to block the draft. Unfortunately, somewhere on I-25 it became missing.

Oh well, I'll pull out another set of warmer gloves. Except.....I left them at home! LOL.

I did manage to find a cashmere glove stuffed in my pocket (why, I have no idea), so I thought "great, I'll use that as a liner". Well, until I looked at the glove. It was a right glove. My glove liner...was the right glove. Minor problem really--I turned the cashmere glove inside out and voila! Problem fixed.

I put my liners on my hand...one black and right bright red, then put my gloves on and off I went.

Earring lost, glove liner lost..what else??

I pull back on the highway and it is once again windy!! No rain, so I'm not too upset. The ride is pretty uneventful and I kick back, listening to The Phantom of the Opera and cruise on down the highway.

I notice as I get to Raton pass, the temps are noticeably dropping. The sky darkens....looks like rain..yikes!!

Except it is not rain. It's the rain's cousin....snow.

Oh double great! There is snow on the ground and the sky is threatening more.....precipitation.

I catch a few flurries and as I head over the pass, I'm just praying for just that--a few flurries. Well, I am cursing the snow and wishing for end-of-May great temps and riding but praying to get through the pass with minimal snow.

It did just that. As I get over the top of the pass, the sky lightens a bit.

Motorcycle crisis survived.

I continue heading south and get a few sprinkles of rain here and there. Not anything to really amount to much, however, the temps still stay cold.

Those sprinkles never did amount to much and I never did get wet, but with the cold temps and the continuing cold blusters, I decided to pull over on the highway and put my raingear on. One more layer. If you were driving down I-25 on Thursday, May 15 between Wagon Mound and Las Vegas, NM and saw a rider on a red Harley Davidson putting raingear on--well, that was me!

It was a good thing I stopped. The closer I got to Las Vegas the darker the sky got. I finally caught up with the rain. As I ride down the interstate, I was beginning to wonder where the edge of this weather front was.

When I get to Las Vegas, it is outright raining. I decided that I had enough and wanted to stop and warm up and take advantage of the stop to fuel up my bike and my tummy. I'm in search of soup. Gallons and gallons of soup!!

I didn't find anything that looked remotely interesting for a food stop, but I did spot a local Wendy's...and they have chili. I'll take it.

I pull in for my lunch. Wet bike, wet gear, water water everywhere.

Can I wait it out?

Until the next post...

Keep The Shiny Side Up!!

~The Rainbow Wahine

Run For The Wall 2008--To Gallup, NM

It was still overcast and cool when I pulled out of my driveway Thursday morning. As a matter of fact, an inner voice told me that I should just wait until Friday before leaving. However, I had given my word that I would meet my friends this evening, so I decided to head on out.

I tacked my half-shell helmet on my T-Bag. Not because I was wanting to ride without a helmet, but rather I decided that I was going to take my full-faced helmet along--and actually wear it! Those of you that have been reading this blog for some time remember the Iron Butt adventure where I took my full-faced helmet and didn't wear it, lol!!

The weather in the city of Colorado Springs wasn't too bad, so I settled in the groove and started enjoying my ride. That lasted all of 25 miles or so--then the wind really picked up. I was blown and buffeted all over the highway and the wind was COLD!!! I said a small prayer of thanks for putting my full-faced on.

Besides the wind, my adventure was pretty much uneventful. At Walsenburg, I decided that I wanted to warm up a bit and stop for fuel. I pulled off at the usual pit stop at the Walsenburg exit. There, I noticed that there were motorcyclists pulling out and headed north (which should have meant coming from the south, right??). They were wearing rain gear.

Great.

I start my stop by getting fuel. One of the things I dislike about my helmet is yanking it off my head. It makes me want to go and get one of the flip faced helmet so the thing won't yank my ears off. I manage to get the darn thing off my head and gas up. I finish and then pull the bike up to the front of the convenience store.

I go in, grab me a cup of coffee and wander around the store, trying to warm up. As I wander, something tells me to check my ears--to see if my earrings are still in. Nope, one was gone. Not normally a big deal, except this pair are my diamond studs and I'm none to happy to find that it was gone.

I decided to run out to the pump to see if it had been pulled off when I took off my helmet. As I scan the ground, I see a bit of flash. Sigh of relief--I find both the stud and the back. This time I tuck them into my wallet so it won't get lost again. At least on this motorcycle ride.

I finish my coffee and then put my gear back on to continue my journey.

So what does a lost earring story have to do with my Run For the Wall story? Well, the weather, bikers wearing rain gear and lost earring all point to the "maybe I should rethink going on" portion of the story or an indicator of things to come.

I had that fleeting thought and decided to press on. I'll tell you, it doesn't get any better.....

Until tomorrow.....

Keep the Shiny Side Up!

~The Rainbow Wahine

It IS Time

And I'm sitting here in front of this box! LOL...

Well, I'm sitting here trying to avoid the really cold and wet morning. In about an hour, I'm supposed to be pulling out on my Fatboy--to start a weekend adventure and ride in with the folks that are doing the Run For The Wall.

Except it's like 30 degrees outside, wet and windy.

Blech....my favorite riding weather--NOT!!

I'll ride with them until Saturday, so it's just two days in with the group. I wish I could do more, but realistically, I'm supposed to close on my house on Tuesday...and I still have a ton of boxes to pack.

Well, just a short update...I'll hopefully get a few posts out while I'm on the road.

Keep The Shiny Side Up!

~The Rainbow Wahine

Stupid is as Stupid Does...

So I'm riding up Powers on my way home and thinking it's very cold to be riding when I hear the buzz of sportbikes. Now, really, I don't care what anyone rides and I think a pack of any kind of motorcycles is really cool together. I watch then fly by in all their glory and fly by they do...all buzzing and whatnot.

Of course, I have that warm fuzzy feeling and a bit of jealousy of "them" riding (versus me). Then one of the yahoos decides to pull his bike up in a wheelie.

I'm not impressed.

Really people, do what you want to do--I don't care. If a rider is that skilled enough to ride stunts and do it successfully--that's great! However, to do this in the front of a group of motorcycles is downright unintelligent.

Had that rider lost control and crashed, chances are that the dude or dudette behind him would have run him over. I'm not going to debate whether or not he deserves that in light of his bad choice. But really, does he want to subject his fellow rider to the guilt of running over him (or her, since I shouldn't be sexist and assume it was a dude)? Or risking the 20 people behind him the opportunity to crash?

This wasn't a group of motorcyclists on a street with light traffic. Saturday afternoon traffic and damp roads is not a day for "light" traffic. This rider was the third motorcycle in a large group of motorcycles. I wondered how many of his friends would have crashed trying to avoid him, run him over, or run him over and then crashed. Of course, I've left out just avoiding him. Think he'd get lucky enough to have them all avoid him?

Or it might have been a day where no one flipped their bike over and the rider just put his bike down and the ride continued on like it should. That is exactly what happened.

At least for today. If you want to ride dangerously, go for it!! You take your machine, your skin and your life into your hands. Please, however, don't risk someone else's skin. If you still feel the need to do so, I will pull out and it will be my last ride with you. This I know. It's bad enough that I have to watch out for road hazards like sand, gravel, potholes as well as cell phone laden drivers, bad decisions, and the like. I have to watch out for irresponsible riders too.

LOL....call it natural selection or whatever you like. I used to be horrified at that small group of irresponsible riders "making" a bad name for the responsible riders. No more. It's no different from idiot drivers being a sound representation of drivers of the general population. Instead, I just chalk it up to natural selection...and hope that it is not one of my friends that runs your crazy self over.

Keep the Shiny Side Up!

~The Rainbow Wahine

May Flowers?

HA! That's funny...

Today was the monthly Mountain Shadow Riders meeting...and the May meeting brings the usual meeting stuff. I belong to a women's motorcycling group, right?

So I drove my van. I went outside this morning and thought...hmmmm...it's darned cold and I'm not going to ride. Besides, I saw the big bank of dark gray clouds that were floating over the front range. Uhhh..no riding for this wahine.

As I'm riding down to the meeting, I notice a motorcyclist on a blue Ultra Classic. I pull up along side the bike and I know the rider. I shout out a greeting--he's on his way to teach his motorcycle riding class...brrrrrrrr....he laughs and says that the weather will be great in a few hours. I disagree and wave him on his way.

A few hours later...nope. Still wayyyy cold. Springtime in the Rockies. As a matter of fact, it rained a bit and the rain was mixed with a bit of slush. Yeah.................

It never did warm up as a matter of fact, I started a fire this evening to take the chill out of the air.

Tomorrow, it'll be 73 and gorgeous.

Yep, springtime in the rockies. Nothing quite like it.

I'd like to ride sometime and not freeze, thank you very much. Sigh....

Keep the shiny side up--and ride a few miles for me, willya??

~The Rainbow Wahine

The Power of $1.22

Not really a motorcycle related story....except for the writer is a motorcyclist, lol!

My offer on the house I am interested in buying was accepted...yay! Handed my agent my earnest money check, scheduled the home inspection, etc., etc., etc. One of the major things I need to take care of is the down payment--that 20 percent is daunting, since I'm a first-time homebuyer. I appreciate that I have it, though.

To do so, I have to sell shares out of my brokerage account and yes, it was a sad day to press the "enter" button since I know it's going to "somewhat broke" to "almost broke". Okay, scary too!

Knowing that I'd have to have a casheir's check in hand at closing and that it would be more difficult to deal with with my out of town brokerage account, I decided to transfer the money to my local savings account. So transfer I did. I did a rough calculation of what I need to leave behind--checks outstanding and other transactions.

I missed by $1.22. Yup, you got that right...I was short by a mere $1.22. So imagine my surprise that one of my checks was returned as it's been a forever and a day since I actually bounced a check. Hey, I write maybe one check a month and this month I have written three. Not good statistics, IMO. On top of that, this one particular account does not have overdraft protection.

Sigh.

You know, I wonder how I manage to successfully survive in my existance. I took care of the offending check and just put it behind me with a laugh at the irony. Oh! The Irony!

And vow to never complain about that "little bitty dollar". I think $1.22 would be a great price for a gallon of gasoline! Now that you mention it, with the appetite for my Harley "wanting" premium and the last fill up I had to pay over $15.00 for a tank--almost the price of filling up my mom-mobile not too long ago. I suspect the days of $6.00 fill ups are long gone.

Such is life, eh?

Keep The Shiny Side Up!

~The Rainbow Wahine