Karen dropped me off while she took Teddy to the vet for her checkup. Peepers didn't think much of a big dog sitting in a car in his parking lot and made sure Teddy knew as much.
I aired the rack back up and pulled the bolts out and reversed them, saw they were too long anyway and traded them out for shorter ones that fit perfectly. I paid Andy the remainder of what I owed, said my thanks and put my jacket on. The motorcycle started first kick. I pulled on the helmet, dropped it into gear and went out the way I had went for my test drive, down 45W headed for Kenton, home of white squirrels. Honest, they have albino squirrels running around the town, although the only one I ever saw was in the street and tinged with red.
Smooth is the word, rolling past fields where water is still frozen in puddles in places, and snow stays tenaciously defying the sun in the shade of pine trees. Turning onto 89 in Kenton, missing the road to Hop In and Sidonia, missing the road to Big Cypress Tree National Area, just riding, enjoying the muted thumping of the engine. Alone on the backroad, taking sweeps faster than I should and ending up in the other lane, bringing myself back and ready for the next. The ignition is part of it; I'm easily going 5MPH faster than I was before at the same throttle. At one point as the road straightens, I have to back off because the engine still doesn't have its 2500 brake-in miles on it yet. Hey, I got busy at work once I finally got it running, then the weather turned foul. So hold the poser guff and garage queen talk. I had to pay for all this fun somehow.
I'm lost. I've never been this far out on this road before and I have no idea where I am and where I'm going. And I really don't care. It didn't make it to 50 degrees and the wind is nippy, but not enough to make me want to stop. It may be a while before I get to ride again; rain is forecast for tomorrow.
There are things to do at home and winter offers only so much daylight to do them. Reluctantly I take a turn to the right and follow the road until I can turn right again, and then another right takes me back to the road I was on. I head back to the Sidonia road and head home. I notice a plus to winter riding... there is only one small, hardy bug that has made a nosedive into my windshield. At my shop I put the saddlebags back on, put the tools back in, and take some pictures of the new additions. 70 more miles on the odometer and a much better attitude toward the world in general.