Book of Leakes

Harley Ride 2009- Day 3
Green - Can I tell you that I like green. Green fields, green trees, trees, trees. Once we get far enough east to pass the farm lands, the trees become very plentiful. There is lots of rain here. We even got rained on today while travelling into Nashville. We had about 2 1/2 hours of riding in the rain, so, not bad. But all this rain leaves things green.

And then the moisture causes a blanket of fog in the morning. We have been starting out at 7:00 and the sun is just coming up. The air is chilly and the fields are covered with fog. You see the fingers of fog moving across the ground about 6 feet above it. It dances and swirls. Then as the sun warms up the fog, it becomes thinner and almost invisible, until it vanishes altogether.

There are old dilapidated farm houses and new state of the art farmhouses with a yard full of tractors and tractor equipment. My favorites are the old ones. Open windows, gray wood, shake shingles, stalls on the side and no stalls on the sides. Who use to live there? What did they farm? Why is this barn abandoned? Did they just move over to the next field, or are they a product of generational changes?

We crossed the Missouri River, Mississippi River and Ohio River today. Big wide lazy rivers. Lots and lots of water. *Rain* Tom Sawyer comes to mind!

It was mostly flat riding all day again today, but about 45 minutes out of Nashville, the mounds along the way started to become hills, and then they rose abruptly out of the ground with shear rock faces. Granted they are only about as tall as South Mountain, but they were a beautiful sight to see. I love it out here, but I love the Rocky Mountains.

My favorite invention for the day: ear plugs! These are the best things ever! You roll them between your finger until they are small snake like. Then you put them in your ear and wait for them to expand. When they are fully expanded, it cuts the noise out like you are under water. Saved me from another dreadful headache. Love em, love em!

When I get home, I am going to have to work off the 2 ax handle wide my tush is becoming. Instead of a secretary spread, I am getting a Harley spread. I even notice the flattening of the thighs when I take a potty break. All this sitting causes the blood to pool in my behind, so I am grateful for breaks, send the blood back to the feet and to the heart. For exercise, I dangle my feet off the pegs. At 80 miles an hour the wind pushes them at a consistent pressure against the saddle bags. When Kevin let's off the gas, my feet rock forward and back, where ever the wind blows them. This is very small movements, but it is entertaining. So for exercise, I do resistance. I try to hold my feet forward for as long as I can. The problem is that the blood is still pooled in my behind and so the workout only lasts a few minutes. Or, because my fanny gets soar after about an hour, I will hoist my fanny just above the seat and try to hold that position as long as I can before settling down on the seat again. So now you know what my leftie and rightie brain are doing for 10 hours on a motorcycle.

Reflective ride notes: 537 miles today. Went through Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Crossed 3 Rivers, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio. 4 gas stops. Can go just under 150 miles on a tank of gas. Least expensive gas today was $2.49/gal. Most expensive was $2.79 a gallon. Got rained on, but not enough to put on rain gear.