Split Personalities

Jim and I do not always sync on our hobbies and plans.  Jim decided last October (with my agreement) to ride the Motorcycle Cannonball.  I decided in the Spring (without Jim’s knowledge if I remember correctly) to open our garden for the Santa Fe Master Gardeners garden tour.  Tour today, leave for Cannonball next Wednesday.  A bit of a collision.  But, we have done similar things in the past–like having a dinner partly for 16 the night before leaving on a 6-week motorcycle trip to Mexico.  Perhaps we don’t always think clearly.  But, we do like the challenge.

The garden after the tour. The rainbow must be a good omen!

The tour was only for the Master Gardeners, but sometimes the internal opinions are the harshest.  Couple that with me being a lazy gardener and there were lots of things to accomplish.  “Jim, could you help me with this?” I used it sparingly.  Such a tension of priorities.  All in all, the garden is looking better than it ever has collectively, Jim and Jimmy’s bikes are running and in pretty good shape, and I think the garden tour went off pretty well!  I am exhausted.

Now to shift my priorities to motorcycles.  Oh, wait.  The garden is really starting to produce and we are going to miss so much of it.  Darn.  I keep saying I’m staying home in the spring (for planting) and fall (for harvesting) but we somehow always manage to be gone.  So, I’ll harvest as much as I can to take with us and share a pic of the lovely ripening tomatoes.

We’ve had BLT’s with just picked tomatoes twice this year. Hum…. maybe a caprese this evening with fresh garden basil

 

Now, we can talk motorcycles. Yesterday Jim and I went for our first two-up ride (Jimmy was on his bike as well).  A total of 18 miles… I had to get back to the garden and Jim and Jimmy had adjustments to effect.   How to explain what is is like riding these bikes and to sit on the back.  The short answer at least for the passenger is, “Mister Toads Wild Ride.”

A whole different challenge photographing from this bike. I’m only using the point and shoot. There is no where to set anything, even for a moment.

Perhaps it is somewhat akin to passenger riding on a sport bike, however, I’ve never been a passenger on any bike without a single seat shared by both passengers.  On this bike, there is no connection between the passenger and rider; we are perhaps a foot apart and there is no way I can scooch up against Jim for more stability.  If I try to squeeze his hips with my legs, I end up squeezing his bike seat.   Couple that with the bike only having suspension in the seats.  The bike frame is rigid–well actually it is a bit flexi, but it has no suspension.  The entire suspension is the springs in the seat.  So, if I grab onto the seat to stabilize myself and we hit a good bump, chop, just like a guillotine.  I am petitioning for grab bars.

Despite all this, the bike is somewhat fun.  Don’t ask me why, but  it is.  I’m really working to figure out how to hold onto stuff and carry something, anything…  This has to be sorted out.  We have some very small panniers on the back (you could not get into them while riding), but there is not even room for a rain jacket.

It is now 8:30 and Jim and I are exhausted.  Dinner is done; we never eat this early, and we are ready for bed.  Our neighbor, Joe Day, is dropping by for a radio interview tomorrow at 9.  So, I’ll close for now.  But… a couple more moto pics for those in the need and, and how could we not included a video.

The boys discussing leg one. Do we go farther? Ok.

Sylvia says “hi!” from the pillion.

 

 

The video clip for today provides a sense of Mr. Toad. Short and sweet. Enjoy.

There is more video (including some nice footage of Jimmy on the dirt in “Jim and Sylvia First Ride Two Up”) on my YouTube site.  Click on the video and it will get you to my site or you can subscribe at SylviaVideo (I think…)

Nos vemos.

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