The long weekend!

My other half (Rich) and I decided to join a couple friends and take a run up to Boscobel, WI. It's the home town of our long time friend, we'll call Harvey (cause he looks like he could be a Harvey) and his other half, we'll call her Mary for the same reason. They remind me a little bit of my parents because of the age difference. Harvey is 74 and Mary is 49. My father was 63 when I was born and my mom was 43. I imagine my parent's relationship was similar.

It was a good trip even with the problems we encountered. We left on Thursday and got into Boscobel Thursday night. It was a long ride for someone 74 years young,I am truly in awe of Harvey's riding strength at his age.

Fri we decided to head out along The Great River Road. I opted to leave my bike at the motel and ride on the back for the day to get some scenic shots and just enjoy the fresh air. And for all you women out there who would criticize me for riding on the back when I can ride my own, I say to you, "as much as I truly love having my own bike, I will never give up my right to snuggle in behind my man." There is a bond from riding together that is only rivaled by coupling, if you know what I mean. We have just about 50,000 miles side by side and at least 25,000 2-up on his. This IS my soul mate!!!

We headed north along the river and after a while we headed east to ride some of the hilly twisted roads. We stopped for lunch in a small town, and on returning to the bikes, Rich's bike would not start. He just put a new battery in it Wednesday, yes, just 2 days ago and it was DEAD! We couldn't even push start it. At 1st he thought maybe the compression release valve (he put that on it to help the starter along after installing a 95 kit) was keeping it from starting with a push. We tried it with it off and still no luck. We huffed and we pushed and still couldn't get it to start. We were able to find someone with jumper cables and give us a jump. We decided to cut our day short and get back to the motel, I managed to find an auto parts store a few blocks away with a battery in stock. Of course we didn't have a charger to charge it for the recommended 18 - 24 hrs so he just installed it and we crossed our fingers. It started right up and kept starting the rest of the trip.

On Saturday we headed to the park in town to partake in the celebrations and on returning to the bikes, Harvey's would not start. Now keep in mind he is 74 and has a bagger. No way are we going to try to push start him and take the chance of him dropping it and getting hurt, so again we went in search of jumper cables. I do give him all the credit in the world for still riding at 74 let alone a bagger with a passenger. I can only hope to do half as well at his age. His nephew came and gave him a jump and dropped a charger off at the motel. After charging all night, it started right up on Sunday for the ride home. Turns out it was the regulator going bad on his but it made it home.

Now back to Saturday night. Every year a bunch of bikers from IL come up to ride the curves for the 4Th and party at the motel and watch fireworks. They are a really friendly bunch of people. We had a good time just sitting around the motel bull shitting and swapping bike stories.

That's how our 4Th of July weekend went. All is good!!