Lil' on my mind

Been spending a lot of time on 2 wheels lately.  And when I do, the mind has time to wander ...  think about things ...  plan ahead ..  remember things of the past.  Funny thing is, I've realized my give a shit about this and that, has changed a lot.  Or has it?

My biggest priority in life .. and has been for decades ... my 2 girls .  My bride and my baby girl.  Now that Jess has gotten married, I worry less and less in that department.  Her new Hubby is a rockstar and my concerns now are minimal.  Lucy's health overall is great.  She and I both agree she's going to outlive my ass.  But she's always on my mind.  With me working from home the last few decades, we are together basically 24/7.  She's my anchor; my rockstar. The older and wiser we get, the better our relationship is. Hell, when I take short trips now whether it be business related or personal (rare), we joke it's a lil vacation from each other.  Nowadays, I don't like traveling alone, but until recently she couldn't easily travel with me on my business trips.  With our loss of Peanut, that's changed.  Hell, next month I'm headed to Vegas on my annual pilgrimage (work trip) and for the first time ever ..  (we're talking over two decades), she's traveling with me!  Truly awesome.  Point being, she's always on my mind.  My number one priority.  Fact.

But...  what else is consuming my thought processes?  I hate to admit this .. but ....  not as much as one might expect.  I mean, work of course, but I love what I do and have the ability to take it with me (phone and laptop), so it rarely dictates my life. Few times a year my stress levels peak due to the nature of the job, but I rarely think 'work' all the time.  Now, I used to.  When I first retired from the USAF, my new job /life consumed me.  I was working all the time.  All I thought about.  For a decade +, whenever I was awake, I was working at some level. When I went to sleep, I was thinking about it all.  When I woke up, I immediately was checking email and creating my todo list for the day .. for the week.  It consumed me.  Still, I loved it.. and ... all those headaches got me to where I am today.  Today, my job doesn't consume me.  Hell, most people think I'm retired .. but .. I'm far from it.  Multiple times a day I make my calls.. work the emails ...but, I rarely let it consume my days anymore, at least not like it used to.  So then, what does consume my days?  Riding.

I guess that's the point of this post.  The older I get, the more I want to ride.  Problem is up until about four years ago, it was all simple.   Jump on the bike and ride, regardless of the weather and temps.  No big deal.  Quick hundred miles; no big deal.  Need to run 1,000 miles in a single day, no big deal. Ride with lack of sleep and/or hungover; no big deal.  Nowadays .. well .. shit's changed.  Last four years, I need to HYDRATE.  I need to get some SLEEP.  And at some level, I'm not as good a rider as I once was.  Now, I feel I'm still better than most.  I can handle big bikes easily.  I enjoy leading rides.  I love diving into the corners on twisties. But, at some level I've lost that mojo where I felt like I could do just about anything on a bike. I've gotten some of it.. maybe most of it .. back since my health issues popped up ... but .... still, not the same person.  But my god I love to Ride! 

Somebody wants to grab breakfast or lunch?  Lets Ride! Poker run out of town?  Lets Ride! Beautiful day out and bored? Lets Ride!  I swear, it's all I think about sometimes. My latest bike I spend my time on is an Indian Challenger and it rides better than any other touring bike I've rode to date.  Handling and Power are off the charts.  Fit's me correctly, as most have to be modified for my size (boards lowered, handlebars changed up, etc.) Now, I've done some things to the bike, but .. .out of the box it fit me. My old Kings Mountain Indians fit me great, but they didn't handle like this baby.  Now, throw a leg over it, crank up he stereo (has six speakers pushing 600 watts total), rap the pipes (Bassani 2 into 1), she'll run easily into 3 digits.  I haven't pegged it to 130 yet, but told it'll do 145 with the tune it has. Point being, I can't get enough of it.  As I type this, I'm scheming about a potential trip to San Antonio this weekend. Do I do it in one day?  Or if I can talk Lucy into joining me .. do we break it into two days?   Where to stop half way with her and make it a great trip .. or ..  well .. you get the point.  I'm playing with Google Maps figuring out the best 2 lane roads to stay off the interstates.  The whole time, I'm giddy like a lil kid.  Can't wait! And if that doesn't play out, in less than 3 weeks we've got an out of state ride we've been planning.  Again, all I think about during the day ...  Riding!

An off shoot of that is the Association I ride with. I spend more time thinking about that .. hell, dealing with the duties I've volunteered for, more than my daytime job.  Hell, it's sort of become my job; unpaid job.  But, I love it.  I love what it stands for, what it accomplishes.  And it meets some sort of need I didn't realize I even had.  Being around my fellow military veteran Brothers and Sisters.  After my 20 years of military service, I'd focused on my next phase of life but always missed the 'mission.'  Now, it feels like I've got that purpose back.  In any case, it drives my schedule. Nationals .. Regionals... State .. all on my calendar and everything else is planned around it.  Out of state events in LA, OK, AR, AZ?  Tristate!  On my sched and other things around it.  Nationals location; need to get in that Iron Butt!  Sort of crazy at some level, but ...  hey could be worse?

So ...  on a bike .. for hours on end.... and ..  this is the crap that I think about.  Not a whole lot.  I mean ..  sure... some politics.  Investments. Future Vaca's. Next trip to MS.  All cross my mind, but ... I don't dwell on it.  Last 24 hours I've been crazy focused on Sturgis 2025, the 85th anniversary.  Buddy of mine that I went to it with in '86 brought it up.  CVMA has a meet n greet that week, so I'm like .. LETS DO IT!  Why?  Riding!  CVMA!  And time to spend with my buddy of course and make some memories but I was scheming to put together the puzzle pieces of it all ... and already .. smiling thinking of the 1100 miles each way, there and back. 

This past weekend did almost 600 miles to/from OK with a buddy .. thinking about all this.  Thinking about this post and what it might be about.  Thinking about what all is most important in my life.  My girls and the riding.  For hundreds of miles, I realized.... mainly .. just those two things.  

Huh ......

Living the Dream