Ride to Survive......

The Ride to Survive was wonderful. We couldn't have asked for better weather -- cool enough to need the leather jackets (therefore also LOOKING cool) but not uncomfortably cold. This is the one time I wish I could be a passenger so I could take pictures.

This was an escorted ride, with a group of police motorcycles leading the way. It was absolutely awesome to look ahead and see motorcycles as far as the eye could see, and a long snake of motorcycles visible in my mirrors. The downside of an escorted ride is that you constantly have to shift. Speed up, slow down. Shift up, shift down. But you blow through intersections, and cars pull off to the side of the road -- even on a divided highway, for some reason -- to give the motorcycles room to pass.

I wish I had a picture of the four seemingly identical horses in a field off to the left, all poised in the same position with lifted heads to watch the long line of motorcycles pass.

I also wish I had a picture of the guy who appeared to be fly fishing in his front yard. I'm sure he was just practicing his casting, but it was a funny sight to see. I wanted to shout, "Catching anything?" as we rode by, but I didn't know if he would hear me. Or if he might cast a hook in my direction and maim me for life.

It was my first ride of any length on the new Harley with the new seat, and it made a huge difference in comfort. We stopped midway to Helen for a break, and when I saw where we were stopping, I said to myself, "There is NO WAY we can get all these motorcycles in this parking lot." But surprisingly enough, we all managed to get in there in a somewhat organized fashion, and after about a 30-minute break we were on our way again.

Hubby has a habit of turning in and heading off for the nearest parking place instead of waiting in turn for the line to move forward. Which means we are then separated from him. He did it at the midway point, and then again at the end. Step-daughter and I looked at each other and said at the exact same time, "Why does he DO that?"

We didn't stay for the drawing. We figured we had already won one Harley, so the odds of us winning another one weren't very good. Besides, the one they were giving away was UGLY. Orange, for heaven's sake. We don't do orange.