Ole Yeller Lives Again!

[Kerry]

Yesterday I went on my first "real ride" since I got Ole Yeller running again.  (Gas station, inspection station and DMV don't count.)  Here she is just before we left for our quick 57-mile jaunt:

         

I didn't take any pictures during the ride because it was cold and getting dark fast.  (We didn't get underway until after 8:00 PM.)

I'm hoping to go farther this weekend, and to get in several good day / overnight trips in the next 3 months.  I need to get "reconditioned" for the 2-week / ~4,000-mile trip that I have planned for September!  (From Utah to Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, and back ... wish me luck. )

[jestercinti]

O-H-I-O you say?  I'm in Cincinnati.  There are several others near here too.  If your ride takes you through or near Cinti, and need some riding companions, let me know.  A few years ago when I had my 82 GS450L, I picked up a few tricks from bbburma.net 

[Kerry]

Yep!  O-H-I-O.

My dad was born in Kentucky, but spent his teenage years in Dayton.  Then he joined the Air Force.  After doing a tour in Canada (where he met and married my mom), he was stationed close to home - in Bellefontaine.  Four of us were born there.

We're going to try to hit extended family reunion events in Kentucky and Ohio, on consecutive weekends.  Not sure what we'll do in between; maybe hit the Smokies, Blue Ridge Parkway, etc.  But I definitely want to get to Bellefontaine to see the rented farm house where we lived when I was little.

You know how trips are - never enough time to do & see everything you want to.  Still, I'd be glad to have your contact info "just in case".  If nothing else, maybe we can plan a quick stop in Cincinnati to say hello!

[jestercinti]

Boy, isn't that the truth.  I'll PM you my info just in case you need anything.

[Twisted]

So what happened to Ole Yeller that you stopped riding it?

[Kerry]

That's actually a very good question.  For a long-winded (but probably unsatisfying) history, see the introductory post in my recent Odometer works, speedometer doesn't thread.

After reading that you might say something like, "OK - I get that you had no reason to ride your bike to work every day, but that's true for a lot of us ... and we still get out on the weekends or whenever we get the chance."

I don't have much to say in my defense, except that life tends to go in cycles.  (No play on words intended.  )  I can think of several hobbies/interests I've had that, once they were solidly interrupted for some reason, weren't picked up again for a long time (if ever).

Having said that ... if I had just taken the time to track down the clutch switch issue last summer, I wouldn't have been off the road so long.  ( There's a lesson in there for me!)