Archive for the ‘transportation’ Category
motorcycles
So I always swore I would never ride on or drive a motorcycle. The reason being that my mom’s cousin hit a squirrle going like 30mph and flew off his and died. That always scared me away from that. Of course he wasn’t wearing a helmet, but still. Not only did I say I never would get on one, but I forbade my husband and best friend to get on one either because I didn’t want to lose them.
But then last summer came around and my best friend talked my husband into getting into a class and they decided that they were going to move forward. They took the class and got bikes. Then I decided one day to be bold and had my other friend take me out on his Harley. I was super nervous but I trusted him because he had been riding for 2 years.
WOW… wow is all I can say for my first motorcycle ride. It was exhilarating to say the least! I felt like i was flying!
So that convinced me this was going to be fun. So I studied the guide and took my permit test and passed with flying colors. Then came time to learn. My husband and best friend had already bought their bikes so I learned on them. For some reason I was not nervous!
I got on the first time and took off and it was 100% natural to me. Since that day, I have spent a lot of time on my husbands motorcycle. I took it to work, to play to everywhere. I would take the long way to and from work and sometimes, we would borrow my husbands dad’s bike and just go riding.
I am dying for summer to come so I can go out again. It’s like an addiction now (and the leather is fun to wear too!)
Goes to show you, what you are afraid of might actually turn out to be your favorite thing! I feel a sense of release when I am on the bike. I don’t think about my day or what happend, I just feel the breeze and admire the scenery. It is my therapy.
commitment
Every day on my way to work, I see a man on his bike. Depending on if I am on schedule or not, I see him crossing the same intersection I am (a busy intersection) which heads up a hill (a big hill) toward the freeway.
This has captured my attention because it was a stunningly cold week last week. We were in the negatives all week long, with the lowest hitting -21 on Thursday morning. Even though we were suffering through that, HE was still there! He wears this bright florescent green vest (like you would see construction workers in) so that he can be seen. I am on that part of the road at about 7:40am and its JUST beginning to get light out.
There I am, dressed in so many layers, freezing and shivering in my truck - OUT of the wind and on a comfortable seat that covers most of the back side of me. There HE is, dressed in layers (no doubt) but with no big seat to sit in. Also, I got to imagining how hard it must be to ride on those two tiny wheels that are always covered in snow and road junk. And how much of that road junk must be caked on his back and legs when he arrives at his final destination.
I admire this person. He has such commitment. Now, it crossed my mind this morning that maybe he is NOT doing this because he wants to be healthy/enviornmentally conscious/avoid the traffic, but doing this because he for some reason lost his car or lisence. But for whatever reason, I have to give him credit. It can’t be easy to do that every morning.
I do have to say though, for whatever reason he is there…. he is an inspiration. Oh how I wish I could do that every morning.
Roads
I am a defensive driver… I live by the motto (on the road) “Everyone else on the road thinks they are the only one on the road”. Although I have never been in an accident (besides when some lady hit me because she didnt check her blind spot then blamed it on the sun in her eyes - the sun was on the opposite side of her vehicle from where she hit me), I have had a few close calls. I do talk to other drivers knowing they can’t hear me and laugh at people stupidity. BUT, I do have to remind myself to be thankful for how well people do drive here in the winter. If you are asking yourself, “what would make you thankful for stupid drivers?”, I have a story for you…
A few years ago, I had the privelage to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia from December 28th through January 9th. We spent some time there with some friends and travel around a little bit. It was fun and exciting to be in a completely different atmosphere over the holiday season. I saw and experienced things I never thought I would. It was an amazing trip, ending in Amsterdam (wow!).
BUT…….the DRIVING there!!!! Ugh, ok so the roads are wide in the city and they don’t get plowed really at all, so no one can see the lines dividing the lanes so they just drive where ever! They dont obey the normal traffic rules… They will just park anywhere (literally) and to get to their parking spot on the street, they will cut across lanes of traffic and just stop!
It’s chaos and people drive just anywhere… then if someone gets in their way, the will stop and get out of their car, in the middle of the street, and start yelling at eachother! There were accidents everywhere.
Then we travelled north to the finland border (to Sortavala) and we had to ride in this 15 passenger van for 6+ hours on a winding twisting road that had not been plowed. It was the worst 6 hours I’d spent in a vehicle ever! It was so bumpy and slippery, there were accidents and spin-offs everywhere.
The country was so interesting and amazing in its history and culture, but I am glad for minnesota streets when I think back to that week.