Arrival

We have arrived in Kentucky. Left around 8:00 pm on the 29th. The temperatures have steadily decreased as we have gotten farther away from Florida. Low in the mid 50's during the night last night and a high of  70 today! What a change and what a welcome relief. Travel was without incident and we will go into camp tomorrow to set up. The leaves are just starting to turn here and the reds are the most prominent of course. We trailered the motorcycle up and plan to take some of the scenic tours recommended for this area. We have several places we have always enjoyed driving in the car or truck and can hardly wait to do it on the bike now.

We are here to visit friends during the time of sukkot. We will live in tents, share meals and other fellowship with a small community of believers, dance, and sing. A time of celebration and thanksgiving to YHWH for the fall harvest and HIS never ending provision for our lives.

I'll keep you posted when I can get back to an internet connection.

Work, Work, and more Work

I haven't blogged the last couple of weeks because, again, I think what we do as a normal course of days or weeks isn't part of our exploits and then I think they really are, just not as interesting as others.

We have continued to clean up around our place and it really does look great. Even the UPS guy commented on how nice things looked. We have cleared an eight acre piece that was totally overgrown and now is almost totally cleared, we have new fence in some areas and had others refenced, we hauled several tons of garbage to the dump (mostly from the 8 acres), rerouted electric and water lines in the yard etc. etc. etc.

This week begins the preparation for a long trip, something we haven't done since last November. We are leaving next week to go to Kentucky to celebrate sukkot (we will live in tents) with our friends from that area. And then we may be will stay over and help them work on their house. They are doing an addition. We'll see how that goes. However, this week Jim has been hard at work preparing the place for us to be gone. He has mowed, mowed, and mowed some more and I have to admit the place looks really nice.

I on the other hand have gone shopping with Tiffany, had my hair done, lunched with Marge, had dinner with my parents and generally goofed off. Sunday will be crunch time for me to be sure we have all the necessary items inventoried, cleaned, prepared, and ready to be packed up in order to leave out on time after sundown on Tuesday. Jim will be helping with the preparations also, no goof off time for him!

I'll try to find time to blog from the road. Kentucky should be into fall leaf change during the time we are there and we are taking the motorcycle to get some good ride time on the mountain roads. I can hardly wait.

Night Rider

Last night (09/09/09) Jim took me for a long night ride on the motorcycle. Now this isn't the first night ride but it was the longest. We went out 470 to 44 and wanted to go across on 475 back to Marion County line but that is still closed for repair so we continued east on 44 down to 468 (Adamsville Road) to 501 to 470 home. I didn't take any pictures because I still need to read up on night photography, however I have incentive - the Cemex plant at Sumterville is beautiful at night with all the lights. This will most likely be my first night photo.

Then tonight, since I was such a good girl all day, Jim took me for another long night ride. Can you tell we are likin' this? Both rides were about an hour long. Tonight we went north on 301 to Wildwood and out to the Girl Scout road over to 239 and back to 44 and then ... Jim got on the interstate - his first night practice ride on the interstate. His first trip on the interstate was southbound from Lake Panasoffkee to the Webster exit but that was in the day time and a little shower of rain.

I didn't drive on either of these trips and haven't tried to drive on the interstate yet at all. But I have driven once at night for a short distance. Both will require more practice for me.

The Harley Mamas

09-01-2009 - Today is the day! Ever since we bought the Harley, Marge (my very best friend in the whole world) and I have been planning to ride together. Jim took Marge for a ride around the block a few days after we took delivery, but I had to practice, practice, practice. We decided there was no rush and we prefer safety over speed. So today, after many weeks of practice (every mile was fun, fun, fun), I rode to Bushnell to pick Marge up for our first practice ride together. We plan to practice together a few times around town before we hit the road to any other location.

First we went by Marge's office where Vicki and Ashley took photos. Then it was off to the Mexican Restaurant. We went down Florida Street at about 30 mph to Seminole and across to 301. Marge said it seemed awfully fast (and we didn't get over 30). It does seem different on the bike and takes some real getting used to. Then after lunch we went west on 476 to one of the county roads that cuts back over to 48 and then east on 48 back home. Marge didn't like the traffic on 476, but she'll get used to that eventually too. First time experiencing that on a bike is rather unique. She never said what she thought of the speed at 55 mph, so she must have adjusted quickly. We'll go again soon for more practice.

Marge and I have experienced a lot of things together over the years and always have the best of time together. Today was a stand out moment in our exploits. As Marge said, this is what retirement is all about! I'll keep you posted.