New Picture

I've been wanting to do something different for the picture on my blog title for a while now, and I had this idea mulling around in my head for a couple of weeks, however with my solitary riding habits, I was finding it difficult to get the shot that I wanted.
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I have a close friend who has taken a recent interest in riding, so on the weekends, he has been meeting me out at my place to ride my XS11 while I escort him through the countryside on the quiet roads around my neck of the woods to see if this is something that might interest him. This Monday, while I was just getting off of work, he calls me up and asks if I would mind at all if we went for a ride that evening, I told him sure and to meet me at my place in about 30 or 40 minutes when I got home. He said that wouldn't be a problem considering that he was already there waiting in my driveway for me to get home! I think he likes riding.

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I seized this moment as an opportunity for somebody to take the picture that I wanted for the blog, so when I got home, he got suited up and we went out to a certain dirt road that I had wanted to use for the shot. I explained what I was looking for in the picture and to just take pictures as I approached him. After a few attempts and varying my speed to get just enough of a dust trail for effect, I settled on the one above, mostly because as timing would have it, the Wheat farmer in his tractor climbed over the hill and turned into the shot; I thought that it was a nice touch.

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The dirt road that I used for the shot is one of the roads that I use at times on my commute to or from work depending on how clean or dirty the bike already is. The photo above is a shot that I took from the cockpit of the KLR on the same road while riding home from a weekend stay in Idaho last weekend. Finally it looks like things are going to green up around here.

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We finished the day with about another 30 or 40 mile ride for my friend so that he could continue to get a little more familiar with the riding experience. Upon arriving back at my place, he told me that he is already planning a road trip to Roseburg, Oregon for us; when I asked how far that was from here, he replied, about 550 miles. I thought about that for a moment and then said that I thought it sounds great, but we need to get him a few more miles in the saddle first before heading out that far. By the looks of it though, it appears that the old XS has captured another riders heart.

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Riding the XS in to work this morning I thought about the bike, and wondered about her 30 year history and the places that she has been, and all of the other riders hearts that she has won over the years; and then I thought about all of the bikes that I have owned over the years New and Used and thought the same about them. I wonder if they are still around doing the same little magical numbers to their current owners that they did to me. Coming and going, changing hands, all the while touching souls............Kind of a Pete's Dragon thing I suppose.

Ride well everyone.

E.T.