A couple of noteworthy items

First, the good news: I received the date for my motorcycle endorsement exam - September 18. Yahoo! I am looking forward to getting it over with as I hate being limited to daytime hours for riding. And, the second bit of good news is I am contracting with the Department of Health and Human Services as a consultant for the Behavioral Health Managed Care Request For Proposal! That means I will finally be recompensed for all the work I have been doing to make sure the Managed Care system doesn't negatively impact consumers.

The bit of bad news is that I installed the saddlebags on my motorcycle and everything was fine for a few days, but yesterday that all changed. I was riding back from a meeting and somehow one of the bags got too close to the exhaust and melted. Of course, it didn't melt all the way, but it is too damaged to be saved. I took both bags off the bike when I got home and put the good one behind the backrest. It seems to be okay, but I am still without the needed space for all the paperwork I have to carry back and forth to the meetings I attend. I guess I will have to bite the bullet and buy the supports and the bags made especially for my bike.

As my pal Vera would say, "oh, well..."

Speaking of Vera, the surgery went well and she is home. The medication is keeping her mostly pain free, but has the side effect of making her weepy. She has never taken narcotics before this and so doesn't understand the problems associated with them. I try to be patient, but every now and then, I need to go outside and just be alone for a while. David is away at a faculty retreat and will be home later today. I look forward to the much needed break from caretaking. Of course, it goes without saying that I would take care of Vera for however long she needs, but it is especially nice to be able to share the load with her husband. I honestly don't know how my Grandmother took care of Grandpa for so long without running from the house screaming. Every day I learn more about her, through this experience, that tells me I didn't know her at all, and now it is probably too late to tell her. She has alzheimer's and wouldn't remember it if I did explain how amazed I am.

Surgery, saddlebags and frogg toggs

Well, Vera's surgery is tomorrow. Needless to say, I am concerned. But I trust the doctor to do everything possible to get her through it. She will stay overnight and I hope the nurses will keep her medicated enough so that she can finally rest. She has been waking up a lot at night with pain.

My saddlebags arrived today, and with minor adjustments/modifications they look pretty darn good. David and I took a really nice ride for about an hour this afternoon. The roads he lead me down were just great and we jumped on the highway- just to make sure the saddlebags were not moving around or having problems at higher speeds. All is well and I will make the final mods either Saturday or Sunday. I will also cut the lawn again. It had gotten so long, between my surgeries, the kids' visit and Vera's fall, that it was not cuttable with the bagger attached. So when I go over it again, when the cut bits are drier (is that right?) it will be easier to pick them up.

I ordered Frogg Toggs. This is a company in Alabama I think, which sells rain gear and the product was well reviewed all over the net. I am looking forward to my next rainy day ride!

Well, all is not well with Vera's shoulder. We saw my surgeon on Thursday and he had a look at the x-rays from the ER. It is much worse than we thought and Vera will have to have surgery as soon as they can set the date and get the cumadin out of her system. The head of the humorous has been split by the glenoid bone like a piece of kindling, but not all the way through. The glenoid is sitting like a hatchet stuck in a piece of wood. Apparently, the shoulder dislocated and then was trying to relocate as the impact happened. All in all, it is really bad. The doctor gave her more powerful pain meds until the surgery and she is sleeping more, but not having the pain she had before. We are hoping all turns out well.

Monday the kids leave, I am supposed to quit smoking and I am taking my bike to the Kawa dealer to see if we can't track down the reason I can't start my bike with the clutch pulled in. I bought a new pair of boots today, leather hiking boots- but so different from my rocky mountain boots to almost have no relationship whatsoever. I took them for a ride, and they are light and comfortable. I waxed them to insure their waterproof qualities and I am looking forward to riding distances in them.

more on patience and best friends

I am still waiting for the test date for my MC endorsement. Now that I have decided to go ahead and try to get the full endorsement, it has become really annoying that the DMV is so SLOW in handing out dates. Arrrgh!

My best friend is home and doing well, considering her horrific fall last Thursday night. She is going to see my orthopaedic surgeon tomorrow just to make sure everything is going well healing-wise. Her bruises are still really dark, almost black (most likely due to the coumadin she takes, but she is up and about more and the pain is being managed with the meds.

The kids are still here from Germany and they seem to be having a pretty good time despite Vera's fall and subsequent bed rest. David and I are trading off taking them where they want to go so they have hit the hotspots - specifically, the mall.

I had to send the last pair of pants I ordered back and am awaiting the new model of Tex Mesh Pants, not available until Sept. 1. My jacket zipper slide broke and I took it in to have it repaired. It will cost me about the same amount it would have to send the jacket back for a replacement, so I would rather have the one I have repaired, rather than wait for god knows how long for the Motorcycle Superstore to replace it.

I ordered saddlebags for my bike last week and expect them sometime late this week or early next. I got a pair for 80 bucks plus postage, and no need for the very expensive hardware other bags require. I also ordered Ride Like a Pro IV, the DVD. Everyone says it is the best tool for learning. We'll see.

Cherishing my best friend

Well, yesterday early evening, there I was going out to take a friend her forgotten passport so she could get back to America after she finished sightseeing Canada with a couple of teenage German visitors and I thought to myself, "ya know, Kait, those clouds look pretty menacing." But I didn't listen to myself, so I hopped on my bike anyway and started out on the hour long trip to meet a pal who would pony express the passport the other hour, and no more than 10 minutes into the trip, it started to sprinkle. I thought to myself, "ah, you've done this before, no big deal." Well, another ten minutes into the ride and suddenly there were monster gusts of wind coming from different directions- unpredictably, and it felt like my skin was on fire from all the little drops hitting me at 60 mph. Finally, I started listening to my smarter self, when I saw the 15th mile turnover on my trip odometer and realized I had another forty to go. I was already soaked to the skin and the water was pooling under me on that big comfy seat. It was also literally pouring into my hiking boots and the temperature suddenly dropped twenty degrees. The lightening started and I headed for the next exit to turn my stupid ass self around and go home. It took another twenty minutes of very scary riding behind cars I was sure couldn't see me and probably didn't care if they could as they were just trying to keep it between the lines like I was. As I pulled into the driveway the rain started coming down at my house. I ran inside, called the other half of the pony express and told him of my unbelievable stupidity and the sudden clarity that I was a bonafide idiot, and arranged for a new meeting place to drop off the passport. I got home around 9 in my nice warm and dry truck- a reminder to self- appreciate all you have, including the truck that you have been neglecting since you got the motorcycle. An hour later just as I was crawling into bed, still appreciating the lesson learned without disaster, I got a call from one of the teenagers telling me my best friend (she who had forgotten her passport) had fallen down a flight of stairs and was going to the hospital, that she was mostly okay, talking and moving and all, but possibly with a broken arm or something. I talked to the pony express (my best friend's husband and my favorite motorcycle pal) and he told me she was okay, but we wouldn't know the extent of the injuries for quite a while. He would call in the morning with news. Well, I got an SMS from the kids at 730 this am, and I called David (mr. pony express) and spoke with Vera (best friend and failed superman impersonator on flights of basement stairs). She has a pretty bunged up knee, with no known damage other than soft tissue injuries; a broken head of her left humorous (shoulder), a cracked rib and tons of bruises on her other knee and right arm. Actually, she is damn lucky, or blessed, to be alive. She could easily have broken her neck or back. Needless to say, the trip to Canada was cancelled and they came home. We have been icing her shoulder and knee with, you guessed it, the cryocuffs I got from my two surgeries. How handy is that? She is in a lot of pain, but with appropriate med management and tons of ice cold water filling the cryocuffs, it has abated somewhat.

Bottom line, I am so grateful that I was smart enough to realize my stupidity in taking the bike out into what was obviously going to be wet weather for which I was monumentally unprepared. And, I am eternally grateful that the gods were with Vera while falling down that set of stairs and kept her as safe as they did. Believe, don't believe, but with my medical training I know very few people come out of the kind of fall she had with so few and relatively minor injuries. A broken shoulder will heal, as will her knee and her ribs: a sub-dural hematoma, or a shearing injury in the brain, or a fracture at C4 and everything is a crap shoot, all of which were possible with that mechanism of injury. My advice to my friends and family, cherish those around you: especially those who you see every day and may take for granted. These people (yes, and animals too) are precious and irreplaceable. Remind them and yourself of their value every day.

lovin' it!

I just cannot say how much I love this motorcycling thing. I am enjoying the ride every chance I get. And I am making chances happen as often as possible. Today, I clocked in a little over 125 miles and I am still getting between 50 and 55 mpg. What an incredible excuse to go out and ride!

singin' in the rain

Yesterday I rode in the rain on the superslab for the first time. It really wasn't a problem. I had the handy little squeegie thing on the thumb of my left glove and I used it without a hitch. Several other riders pulled over to put on their raingear, but having none I soldiered on. I only had about 20 miles to go to get home, and I figured if I got really wet, I could always warm up in a bath and dry off. The only part of me that got wet beside my face shield was the lower legs of my pants. So today, when the weather was iffy at best, I put my winter gators on, you know the things that keep snow out of your boots, and went on my way. The gators worked even without the rain. I found they kept the wind from blowing my pant legs around and kept the air from getting to my ankles - not to mention the little stones that seem bent on hitting just above my boot top.

I am so happy about this riding thing. I am saving money and having a great time while doing it. I do have to say I nearly got run off the road by an inattentive driver today. I ended up on the little black strip just beyond the rumble strip as he moved into my lane while I was literally right next to his driver door. He even had his window open. How he missed seeing me is a mystery to me, but I kept my head, speeded up - as braking would have put me in even more danger, and shook my head while I passed him and changed into the right lane. I don't even know why he was changing lanes. There was no car in front of him for him to have to pass. Oh well, I made it through without freaking out or losing control, so I feel confident that next time something similar happens, I will be more prepared than I was today.

I also found out a little more about my comfort level on my bike. I had been having a tough time with lower back pain and hip pain after riding for about an hour. So, today I tried a weight belt, like the folks at home depot use. It worked great. I was not as tired when I got home and I was virtually pain free. This totally answers the nightmarishly expensive question of buying a new seat. I just don't have to do it. Yeah! A new seat for my bike would have been over 400 dollars: about 398 dollars more than I have to spend.

I ordered a different pair of pants now that I found out the ones I wanted are no longer being made. They should arrive in the next week. I am checking into getting a good set of rain gear, but want to see if the new pants are waterproof at all, and if so, I will just get a good rain jacket. I also need to think about getting a pair of glasses that are more appropriate for riding. The ones I have are very modern and great to look really smart at a library, but not so good for trying to see my instruments going down the highway at 65 mph. More on important purchases for riding later.

More than I hoped for

What a day! Yesterday, I went to DMV and got the coveted permit and came home. David and I went to practice at the empty school parking lot. Things felt different, but slow turns and figure eights finally came more easily and we took a ride through the back roads. We did about twenty-five miles, with some turnarounds to practice on tight corners (that we could see around) and I felt pretty good. In the afternoon, I had PT and rode my bike through traffic for the first time. I kept in mind all the great advice I had from David and the different forums and magazines I had read and kept my eyes and chin up, continuing to look for all the signs that someone was going to pull out in front of me or rear end me, but it all turned out fine. That was a big relief. Today was the "final test" so to speak. I drove the 132 miles to Augusta and back on the "superslab," that's the interstate for you non-cyclists. David rode behind me on the way there just in case something went wrong with the bike, but nothing did. We had breakfast at Friendly's and I went off to my meeting. After the meeting, I rode home without a hitch. I did have to get gas in Augusta, but I figured the gas mileage and guess what! That's right the gas mileage on this bike is even better than I could have imagined. I got 55 mpg! That is 15 mpg more than I was planning on when I was calculating the savings I would get from having a motorcycle. I couldn't be more pleased.

The picture is of me just before I started out this morning. Helmet, jacket, gloves, and none too hot or cold.