Last Ride on the GPz

I was expecting to have the bike sold in the next few days so I decided to take one last ride on the Kawasaki. I sure am going to miss that bike. I wanted to drive up to Mt. St. Helens but didn't really have enough time. I kind of wanted to go to Detroit Lake because it's such a great drive, but had just driven that route in the car last week. I compromised and went to Timothy Lake instead. I had planned on taking the "secret" paved northern route on the way back, but the road was closed, probably due to a washout. If I hadn't been selling the bike I probably would have gone around the dirt piles like someone already had. I was tempted. It wouldn't have been the first time. Many of the forest service roads end up being closed for years because there isn't enough traffic on them to justify the repairs. I was a little disappointed because these narrow out-of-the-way roads are usually some of the best ones and I hadn't been on this one for a few years. Luckily there are plenty of other great roads out here.

I went through a big cloud of soft, squishy bugs early on and this is the view from inside my helmet. I forgot to bring any shield cleaner. Bugs along the river in late June? Who could have known? And of course I continued to hit as many of them as I could. I ended up looking through this mess for most of the ride. You can see where I started to try and wipe it off with my glove and then thought better of it. I've played that game before and you never win.

This certainly wasn't the epic final trip that I had in mind, but I was happy with where I went and I rode the snot out of the bike, which is something I hadn't really done in a while. I hadn't even been over 100mph for a while and managed to top 130mph twice on this ride without really trying very hard. I wonder how long it will be until I do that again.

Is it time to take the Sportster to Detroit? I believe the answer is "Yes!" but my butt is already sore just thinking about it.

Online Learning

I decided to drop one of my online classes. Four classes in one term is just too much for me. This is the second and last time that I will do that. Probably. I dropped one of the economics classes. I was a little disappointed, but its for the better.

So far the online thing is moving along, but there has been a bit of a learning curve. Online classes are a lot different than on-campus classes. The flexibility is nice, but I think I prefer to take classes in person.

I hope to get some motivation from the health class I am taking. I NEED to start eating better, exercising more, and quit smoking. I started walking again this week, but have already missed one day. I need to stay motivated and do all of this stuff. Seriously.

My environmental science class looks to be pretty much the same as the last one, but with even more field trips. Yah! We had our first one yesterday and went to Whittaker Ponds Natural Area and Park. It is basically a small nature reserve where they test water quality and do enviromental educational presentations. I had no idea this was here. If you want to know about it here is a .pdf document that you can read. It's kind of long but easy to read. I will be going back here soon to explore a bit more. It's a nice little place that is nestled in the middle of an industrial area and I was surprised it was there. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this class.

The End of an Era

I just finished selling the Kawasaki. And I'm sad. I'm going to miss that bike. I've had a lot of good times on it. But it was no longer the bike that I need. Something smaller would be good for commuting. Looks like its time to start riding the Sportster again. Those two bikes are like night and day and couldn't be much more different. I think the only commonalities are the color and having two wheels.

Computers Suck

Earlier this week I managed to get a virus on my computer. I have tried to be careful and have all the right software and all that, but it didn't work this time. After several frustrating days I was finally able to rid my computer of the virus, but it played havok with my computer. It was now glitchy, crashy, a lot of things no longer worked or worked correctly, it froze up a lot, and you could only turn it off manually with the power switch. I tried some other things and this morning I eventually got frustrated and did something stupid. I had planned on backing up all of my stuff on to DVDs but failed to think of it this morning.

I ended up losing everything. All my pictures, all my genealogy info, all my school and career stuff, all my browser bookmarks. I'm so mad at myself. That was the dumbest thing I have done in a while. I still can't believe I did it. I need to just accept it and move on, but it's so...AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

My Top 8+ Rides

Look at this! Three post in one day. That's as many as I did all last month. Don't get too used to it.

Apparently I wrote this post a couple of months ago and never got around to finishing it. It has the potential to be really long. Which is probably why it never got done. I need to write a book or something. This blog has helped me to see that I've done a lot of fun, dangerous, and exciting things in my life. Most of you have no idea. I think I seem boring to myself right now because I'm in school and rarely do anything else. There are a few parts I'd rather not share while I'm around, but it would be fun to think that my grandkids or great grandkids could read about my exploits and adventures and maybe be a little more inspired to enjoy life. Yeah. Write a book. I'm sure that will happen soon. Anyhow, here's the unfinished post.

Although many of these are on roads that are on my list of favorites and they all play a very important role in each of these trips, this post is not just about the roads. The trip as a whole is what matters. They range from a short 45-minute blast on a very familiar road to 4 day trips through Oregon and northern California. Five of the eight rides are completely in Oregon and seven of them start and end in Portland. That lone ride (number 1) is also the only one on the Sportster that made the list, although there are quite a few honorable mentions for it. I included crashes in the honorable mentions because of the strong memories I have of them. Luckily none of them have been any worse than a badly broken leg/ankle. Except maybe the bruised kidney and liver. The bike made me do it. Really.

In order by date:

1. Break-in ride on the new Sportster (April 1991)

2. Group ride on the Eastern Front  - Erik (Suzuki 750 Katana), Justin (Suzuki SV650), Dave (Triumph Sprint 900), and myself (Kawasaki GPz1100) (August 2002)

3. First Iron Butt 1000/24 (March 2003)

4. Cal 24 rally (June 2004)

5. Moto GP at Laguna Seca - met up with Justin and Dave at campground south of track (Arroyo Seca, CA) (July 2005)

6. Lunch hour ride on the DR-Z400SM - from work to Rosalyn Lake and back in under an hour. Only 22.5 miles one way (45 miles round trip), but normally takes about 45 minutes each way in a car - Map (2005) I miss that bike.

7. Cascades/Southern Oregon - solo 4-day moto-camping (2006)

8. Hells Canyon, OR/ID border - solo 3-day moto-camping (2007)

Honorable Mentions

• Any crash, some more so than others. Can I even remember all of them?
• Group rides with ABATE (1990-1994)
• Riding the XL on every single day for a year plus, including riding in the snow on the freeway (1991-1992)
• Wildhorse Reservoir to Owyhee, NV - first real discovery of how much fun cornering can be (1992)
• All-Harley drags in Utah - a 35mm camera with a big lens can get you places your not supposed to be (1992?)
• Northern AZ and the Grand Canyon on the Sportster (not strictly a m/c trip - but still an epic and memorable adventure) (1995)
• Winning the slow race at the first Jack Creek Rally (1995)
• 5-1/2 months in Daytona Beach, FL  - non-stop riding shenanigans (1996)
• Late night rides (1996, 1999-up) These never get old
• First trip to Vernonia on the XL (1999)First ride on the GPz to Detroit (2001)
• First ride on the GPz to Mt. St. Helens (2002)
• Getting lost in the Cascades (2003) - It's hard to explain how amazing this can be. This one should probably be number 9 on the list.
• Learning how to do wheelies on the DRZ (2005-6)
• Meeting Valentino Rossi and Mert Lawwill at the Moto GP races (2006) - I didn't ride any motorcycles on this trip, but it was all about motorcycles. It was a crazy expensive trip (at least in my mind) but didn't cost me a dime.
• Riding off-road with the KLR650 (2008)
• Riding the unpaved alleys and streets in Portland (2008-now)

I've been thinking again

I've been interested in building my own 120 sq. ft. tiny house on wheels (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) for the past couple of years. I particularly like the design of this one and think it would work best for me - Tarleton. If I had $10-20 thousand laying around I would be right on it. But I don't. I've been thinking about this again recently. I'm trying to figure out how I could swing this without a job. Unless I cash in all my savings and retirement investments, there is no way it's going to happen any time soon. I do have enough to buy a decent 24-28 foot travel trailer, but I don't know if I would be happy for the next three or four years living in a camper (seems kind of ghetto too). I am also loathe to spend all of my money and not have any cushion. I would have to start taking out loans for school sooner than I had planned. And I would want to park the trailer in someone's unused backyard instead of a trailer or RV park. I wish I had learned about tiny houses a few years before I did. I would probably have one right now. I am going to try and get rid of some of the junk that I have been carting around for the last few years but don't really need. Possessions can be nice, but they certainly tie you down and limit what you can do.

I have also been thinking about going overseas after I graduate and teaching English somewhere. Its an option that I will keep open and might be the only chance I have to travel to another country (I don't count going to Tijuana or Vancouver, BC as leaving the country) and really experience another culture. If I have a lot of school debt, this might or might not work.

And moving to Europe or Central America will always be an option also (possibly even Brazil). Although I would probably want to learn another language if I do either of these.

I'll be thinking more about these and many other issues in the future. This could get ugly.

Two Weeks of Freedom

I took my last final this afternoon. I am glad this term is over. I was stressing out way too much this term. Now I have two weeks before my first on-campus class of the summer term.

The final I took today was for Writing 122. I have been getting good grades in this class all term and I think I may end up with an "A". I was worried about this class before I took it, but it seems that I was, once again, worried for no good reason. I am really happy with the way my last essay turned out. And I learned a lot about the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission since my last two essays were about it. There was an emphasis placed on critical reading and writing in this class. I tried to read critically before, but this class really helped get more practice with this. I think that these are important skills that most people either never develop or they just stop doing it for whatever reason. There wouldn't be so many crackpot conspiracy theories and Fox News, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh would probably not survive for long in their present forms. Our government, our economy, and entertainment would most likely be very different. You may be thinking about things, but if you discard critical thinking, you have already lost the battle.

I also had my math final on Monday. I studied a lot for it and needed to get an "A" on my final to even have a chance for an "A" as my overall grade. I didn't wait around to see what my grade was as the instructor said he would have final grades posted by this afternoon. I must have done pretty well because I did get an "A" for my final grade. That is a relief. There are still a couple of things I'm fuzzy on but I have a pretty good understanding of the material. I will not be taking any math classes over the summer because I want to take this same instructor for as long as possible, and he will be teaching Math 251 (Calculus I) this fall. And I'm pretty sure he will be teaching Math 252 after that. Then I will still need two statistics classes if I want to major in Economics (I'm still trying to figure out my major).

All I will say about my Humanities class is that I'm glad its over. I might have gotten a "C" in this class. Let us never speak of this again.

I am going camping this weekend. I didn't even go once last year and this might be my only chance this year. Every year, a group of guys I know goes camping on this same weekend. This will be my second time camping with them, although I have stopped by and hung out with them a bunch of time before this. It should be fun. As of today, the weather is supposed to clear up after Thursday night and be nice for the next week. Erik and I will be going out Friday morning and setting up camp before anyone else gets there that afternoon. The normal spot is about 10 miles north of Detroit Lake, is on the river, in the mountains, and away from the city. It should be fun and relaxing.

I got into all four classes I wanted to take this summer. Three of them are online. I'm still trying to convince myself that I should get a part-time job. It might happen. I will wait until after classes start to see what kind of time I have available. But I really don't want to work while I'm in school. If I come across a job that is ridiculously easy and I can study while I'm working I will probably take it, but I'm not holding my breath.

I was going to do something special for my 100th post on this blog, but I seem to have missed the chance. This is post # 102. Maybe I'll do something for post # 200. You'll just have to wait for it.