An Unusual Year for Riding

(October 8, 2017) It's been an unusual year for me in at least a couple of ways: (1) I was laid off from my job on June 20 after 22 years, and (2) though I've ridden a lot of miles in 2017, there were relatively few rides. I did two with my significant other that totaled more than 7,100 miles, but beyond that, there wasn't much.

Photo at right: Lena (11 years old) is modeling my new Wrangler denim jacket with Harley/riding patches recently sewn on. As you can see, the tailor apparently wasn't paying attention and I had to take it back and have them re-do one very prominent patch. :-)

Given that I've been unemployed for several months now, I would have thought I'd do more rides. However, circumstances have steered me away from intermediate length rides--pun intended. For example, I haven't ridden to my daughter's house in Hendersonville, NC (500 miles round-trip) or my brother's house in Accoceek, Maryland (600 miles round-trip) because they were unavailable multiple times when I could have ridden there.

On the other hand, I've been on more Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) missions this year than all of my previous years combined. That's because I want to do volunteer work while I'm unemployed. These rides tend to be less than 100 miles each.

Somehow, autumn seemed to arrive in a real hurry and I'm just about out of riding opportunities for the year. I do want to ride to Sunset Harbor, NC and visit my sister-in-law, Eileen, and her husband, Mike, when they return from their summer and early autumn in Cape Vincent, NY, where they own a cottage.

With the cooler weather and shorter days, I'll have more time indoors and at this computer, so I expect to carve out the time needed to share some stories and photos about my rides with Lisa this summer.

As always, keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider