Ride on

So I decided that I was buying a bike for my 40th birthday. But the thought of a bike in the driveway and a teenager in the basement makes your insurance rates jump to the gross domestic product of Belize.

Two years later, the boy is out, the bike is approved.

This is go for launch...

Kawasaki 1600 Mean Streak

My goal is to see every state over the next 10 years. That is 5 states a year. I think this will make the trip a lot more fun.

 

My friend was chiding me for getting such a mammoth "starter bike". I told him it was a "restarter bike" since it is my 2nd or 3rd one. I think I had two Honda's back to back that were about the same.

I have to say. This thing is like driving a wristwatch. The clutch goes from full on to full off in what feels like couple millimeters.

The throttle... It's a freaking light switch. I am riding home on it (last warm day until April probably) and as I hit just the bumps in the road, it is enough to move my arm slightly causing the engine to lurch. Fuel injection takes a little getting used to.

I'll be glad when this thing gets broken in and has a little play in it.

7 miles on the odometer so far.

I'm thinking of getting a personalized tag, but it is just 5 letters. I wanted BLKLAB. I had to put my 12 year old black lab to sleep Monday. Sad, but it was time. She was not eating and her liver failed. She acted like everything was fine, but obviously it was not. I joke that her hearing that I got a bike did her in.

BLKLAB is out. BKLAB or BLKLB make no sense. I'm not putting MADDY (her name) on it. K LAB would be an inside joke to printers. Her nick names were Block Head (she was a block-head style of lab), Otter Tail, Maddy Bear, Bed Hog and Black Dog (actually after the character from Treasure Island and well... the obvious too).

"Aye, Black Dog as ever was!"

If anyone comes up with a good one I will go ahead and do it.

(The Bed Hog was because if you got up in the middle of the night, she would be in your spot when you came back. If the night was particularly cold, she wouldn't get down. She would just move over a few inches and then snort at you like you were an idiot.)