Solitude

I've not been writing much. There have been times in the past few weeks when I've sat down to blog but then the thing that comes to mind to write about is some nonsense from our political scene and I decide against it.

Most of those thoughts aren't worth writing about because they either rally like thinkers around you or cause hateful comments from opponents and in the end, nobody changes their mind and a bunch of people are ticked off.

Chris went to a rally for Bernie Sanders last night. I opted out. Even though I would have liked to have seen him, I really wasn't up for waiting in line and sitting for a couple of hours to finally get to hear a few minutes of him speaking. Too many people!
I didn't see anything about violent protests or hear about people being escorted out and booed and beaten on the way. I guess that only happens for another candidate.

I stayed home and watched the Blues in another overtime win.

I did manage to get out a little bit this past week. One of the guys from our church has been wanting to visit some of the homes around our church and just introduce ourselves and our church. These aren't hardcore evangelical kinds of visits; just knock on the door-we're from Hopedale kinds of visits. We've done them for the last two Monday nights and will be out again tomorrow.

I also had lunch with a couple of our high school boys last week -- it was during their spring break. It's been a few years since I taught their Bible study class and it was nice to be able to visit with them outside of a church setting. It's also nice that they still enjoy talking with me.

Even though the weather was generally overcast and often raining, I did manage some time for a little throttle therapy -- about 500 miles worth. Most of that came in short rides but I did manage a 200 mile ride on Friday. It was cool and overcast but the rain wasn't forecast until late in the day. I decided to go for a ride and just kept riding. I noticed a few drops of rain on the window just a few minutes after I got home!
I was hoping to find out if I'd be up for a few hours in the saddle or not. I think that the seat could be a little more comfortable, but it is easily doable for a long road trip. The ride I took was about 1/3 on two lane state hwys, 1/2 on interstate or four lane state hwys and the rest on rural country roads. It was very enjoyable. I figured that I will manage a bit over 200 miles on a tank of gas. I filled up at 180 miles and used 4 gallons for a 45 mpg average.
When it gets a little warmer, I'll take the windscreen off and see how it rides without it. I really like the looks of a bike without one and feelings about riding without one are pretty mixed. Even though with or without seem to be about 50-50, those that are for riding with seem to have much stronger feelings about it than those that prefer to go naked (so to speak). Since it doesn't appear to be a big deal to remove it, I may fall into the camp of riding without it around town and for shorter trips and with it for road trips. Most likely if I decide to use it for the highway I'll just leave it on. We'll see.

Today looks to be free of rain and just right temps for a ride.
Watch for me and other motorcycles on the road!

Be well,
John <><