Well, it's time for an update!

I bought my wife the 150cc scooter and she even got her motorcycle license, so hot! We used our unbeleivable tax return and hauled it home in a snowstorm. I also got a CB350 I used to get a nonunion plumbing job. I made it through the summer and over the winter I managed to get back into the union plumbing. My  little CB started running rough and I found a free 85 Goldwing which I got running but felt akward to ride so I gave it to my brother for his birthday.

So with this years tax return I bought a 2005 Suzuki GS500. It's light, 60mpg, 50 horsepower and only $2000. I'm excited to start riding to work everyday. The bike came with a set of rear bags and a tank bag too. I'm hoping somehow to work in a multi state ride this summer. My friends are getting motorcycles too! A Hondamatic 400 for one of them. My mom is riding a Kawasaki 125 eliminator and my dad has a Suzuki S40. My other brother is riding an 82 GS850, vintage cool. My kids have a Razor dirt bike and the powerwheels Ducati Monster but they're getting ready for an minibike! Wow kids grow fast.

Things have changed so much in the last few years, we aren't so poor but we are still rolling...

Parked

Poor, check. Rolling, not so much.

The ghost of winter are starting to haunt. Truth be told I could be riding today if I could keep steady work lined up. I'm starting to think I suck as a painter. Here's to hoping I'll be good at something before I die. There is a long and tragic history in my family of "almost" being good at something. Seems like there is no real talent in the name Haggenmiller. We just plug away hoping to find a calling. Maybe I should get back into art? Is there any need for cute cartoons?

So the motorcycles sit as cold and rain have wondered into our little part of the world. Even the power wheels have been ignored by the kids. It's just not fun to ride in the cold. It's my god daughter's birthday tomorrow and I'd love to bring the little 125 Honda to give kids rids on but I don't have a trailer. If it's meant to be God will provide a way to get the bike there.

I had forgotten when I was in high school I gave all my cousins rides on the old KZ400. Now riding with my wife and kids I realize that I never really wanted a different motorcycle, I just wanted to ride that old Kawasaki on the road. Again, all things according to Gods plan. So as things sit with cold bearing down on us I constantly think about warmer days to come and try to figure out what the heck I'm doing.

Photobucket KZ400 like we used to ride...

Summer is going, going...

As the leaves gather ever higher I know the time is coming to pull the batteries out of the "personal combustion reaction chambers" (my coined term for motorcycles. Storage is a process when it comes to motorcycles. First you drain the reactant (fuel), clean out the lines and carb, and then remove the battery and put it somewhere that it won't freeze which would break the internal components. There are gell batteries which don't freeze but the are expensive. If I ever get down to one motorcycle I'll have to pick one up.

Soon I'll have to choose between the mountain bike or the trike. Bring on the snow, I'm ready!

Here's a flicker image, "Nature and Machine by Anuj Chaman" to get your motor running.

Catch me if you can

So in church they were mentioning that if the lord is prompting you to do something you shouldn't hesitate to listen. I love when church's decide to send out that kind of message, because I've been prompted to ride my motorcycle without registering it with Minnesota. You see there are a lot of dumb laws to keep stolen motorcycles from being used, there is no laws for "my brother bought this from a guy in North Dakota without a title". I guess the only thing to do is ride without registration? There is a long process by which you could, maybe get papers if the state grants you mercy. I can just see getting pulled over though...I should at least put some mirrors on the bike before I take it out screaming catch me if you can!

Riding in the passenger seat

It's an interesting thing catching a ride with someone else. For a given amount of time twice a day you share motion, stories, and space traveling to work. The interesting part is for a while before you catch a ride you anticipate what is to come and afterwards you reflect on the trip and stories shared. It seems to me that this amplifies the time spent riding along because it becomes the focus of what your thinking about. Oh to be able to ride motorcycle to work like I did in Las Vegas. Nothing teaches you to be ready for anything like riding a motorcycle in traffic. You practice thinking ahead, reacting swiftly and correctly, and best of all you can relax and feel alive!

In Minnesota the days are numbered for riding. Most of the year it's just too bloody hard to get out in the rain and snow for a ride. Maybe I need to pick up a scooter with a roof?

Riding in the yard

Like a caged tiger I circle my pen of my yard ever watching for a chance to take my motorcycle out on the street. It's not registered, it most likely can't be registered, but still I deliver a quick kick and with a roar the beast awakens to stalk the edges of the yard once again. Then once satisfied that the open road is still unobtainable the CB125 putters to rest once more in the dark corner of the garage.

Winter is coming and it makes me frantic every year, wondering weather this or that will get done. Will the car hold together through this one, will I crack over the cold and blustery landscape engulfing my home? How long until we're all riding bike in the house once again? The leaves falling and covering the ground, reducing traction, serve to prepare us all for the impending snow and ice that will once again test the limits of our driving abilities.

So many things run through my head while I'm riding in the yard.

The new normal

I've been told that after undergoing a change in thinking you reach a point where you know what to expect from life again. I've had a shift in thinking leading me to get smaller motorcycles handed to me that I don't deserve because I couldn't by them. As I gather myself together I realize that something has remained constant, I don't want to spend the little money I have to get papers so I can ride them on the road. I just started a new job, and after three weeks of not working we were starting to panic again.

Having a job has been such a challenge for me. Just finding someone to need me week after week has been a struggle. I know things only get harder as you get older but I trust there is something for us all in the future. I don't know how to get rich but I know someone up there is going to keep us rolling. Thanks to everyone who keeps me on a motorcycle. You've shown how much I'm love again and again.