It's So Flat, and So Straight

So, I've taken to using motorcycleroads.com to look for rides. The ride I did today was in the bottom 10% for Ohio, but goddamn... that anyone thought this was an especially noteworthy ride?  I've taken shits that were more exciting.

Here's The Rocinante, parked at my "scenic" destination. A municipal park, an hour west of my location. I fueled up on the way, as the one gas station where my Ohio Lottery points count towards free fuel was on the way, here. I only had two gift cards, both with about $1 credit on them, so after gassing up to the tune of $2.01, I was on my way!

After docking The Rocinante and walking up a steep hill, I was at the bottom of another steep hill. I need the cardio, so up I go.

Fraboulous joy -- a roadway bridge. Hiking for 10 minutes, into... the somewhat-manicured rural... greenery. This was visible from the top of the hill depicted in the prior photo.

Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at what three park markers assured me was the "scenic overlook." Um. Yeah. About that. I've seen more scenic ditches filled with mosquitoes and tadpoles.

Walking back, I notice Escape Stairs. As in, "God, get me away from this tick-infested hellscape of a completely non-interesting nature."

Well, it was a nice ride. I saw soybeans on my left for miles, and corn on my right. Then, I saw miles of corn on my left, and soybeans on my right. My grandchildren will tell this story for their entire lives, I'm sure of it.

It's Been A Long Time.

Meet Goldie Hawnda, a 2002 Honda Reflex. She's mine, now.

Scofflaw

Kroger, La Vergne.

Scootnashville Saturday Social Scramble

Glorious morning, feeling more like September in Nashville than August!  75°F upon leaving Smyrna @ ~9:50 a.m., and little to no humidity! This is odd. Above: Ed and Dan converse al fresca at Eighth and Roast.

Ross welcomes all, and explains the lack of a route, and the non-lack of ride rules.

Ed is The Man.

These ladies are also The Mans.

"Git yer helmets on, effers!"

Bomber art on a modern Vespa.

The coots pull into a spot across from the Percy Warner Golf Course, to receive n00b instructions from Rossifer.

Ancient Mayan architecture. Left by aliens. From space.

I like stone walls.

Wanda, with Nashville down in the hole behind her. Luke Lea Overlook, in Percy Warner Park.

The well-stocked Wanda.

Planet Janet

Black Card (Premium) Member #8 at the Smyrna Planet Witless, opening late September, 2014, just a mile away from me on Nissan Drive. Gotta have the sticker to win goodies.  :)

1P1P: Ed's Head

... in a leather-wrapped brain bucket. Here's his newest baby: a Kawasaki Suzuki GS650 from the early '80s. He traded the baby blue Genuine Buddy of his even for it. He SO wanted me to ride cupcake and shoot video. Uh... NO.

1P1P: Burgie, Burgie, um... Hayabusa?

Stopped by America's Motor Sports (no link -- never a sponsor!) on 8th to see if they had a replacement visor for my Fulmer AF-655 (they did not, damn the luck). My present one is scuffed up, but serviceable. I had to look at the bikes, which is also where I got the GROM photo. WANT.

Here, L to R, we have two Burgmans -- the 400, and the new (to U.S.) 200. That 200 must weigh in at 400lbs., and it has a seat as wide as Missouri. Can't imagine it's a great performer. Last bike is another 'Zuki of some sort. A nekkid sport bike.

1P1P: Awesome Young Babes & Tommy Chong

Tommy buys vinyl here, a lot. Or rolling trays. It's all good.

So many hotties and hipsters, almost all under 30, flow through this corridor on 8th Ave S.  Two beautiful, astounding young ladies (college shoppers?) asked me if a cafe next door was open. One of my scooter coots spoke up, saying it was a bar (I didn't know!). They then asked for suggestions, so I sidled up and recommended Cafe Coco, if they wanted eclectic yet inexpensive fare, and awesome people-watching. They liked that idea, so I gave directions.

Wanda's Wild Weekend

... of abandon!  Haw. Well, no.

We went to Aldi, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Goodwill -- y'know, all the trendiest places in Smyrna. Also to Gregory Mill Damn Park so's I could walk (exercise!) and take some photos. Here she is in the park(ing lot):

I got some great VR panoramic shots, but not sure how to share them with ya, other than to link to one -- the embed code doesn't wanna cooperate with me. And yes, I know how to edit HTML.  ;)

One of the thangs I picked up at Dollar Tree made a good bandage for Wanda's old boo-boo from back in the West Nashville days:

Yes. Wanda is a dirty girl.

Scootin' Saturday

Laundry day!  I have an over-the-shoulder canvas duffel bag which serves me well.

Got the G-POP Bluetooth speaker paired with the PC!  Still had to go to Big Lots and get a cable, but that was for the external HDDs I have.

Pissed off kid with flattop. Seen at any Shell station.

Safety shirts!

Wanda Has A Watchcat

Scofflaws and would-be-ne'er-do-wells be-freakin'-WARE!
.

The Things You See

Alas, I was in the truck at work when I took this today, but this is a beautiful view in Nolensville, TN (although the residents of this high-priced subdivision are served by the La Vergne Water System). Nice views, and half-million dollar homes. It must be nice.

A tune.

Easy Sunday Photo Bloggin'

The carnival, on my landlady's property, across the street. Last day.

Fulmer and bird shit. At the laundromat. Glad I left the bark-busters on... had a few mornings in the high-40s this past week.

This laundromat does NOT want you stealing their trash!  ;)

What a sky!

Almost as clear and bright as mountain air!

Whoa. Almost got away. Big damned insects around here.

One every three minutes, on average, between 4-5:00 p.m.. today.

Through A Window, Wanda

About time for the bark busters to come off, I think.

The Things You See

... that cannot be translated with a smartphone.

This is the moon, behind a barn and silo in Readyville, TN, the night after the lunar eclipse. In person, it looked like something out of a movie.

The HTC didn't even come close. I would have needed a tripod, small aperture and a 20 second exposure, minimum.
.

No One Cared About The Bling Bear

... and winter has not been kind to it. I will now share its location with you, so that you may pay homage, show your friends and/or dress it up with additional decorations of your own devising.

If you noticed that URL, you may also like http://scoot.to/nashville, http://scoot.to/wanda and http://scoot.to/kymco .

Catching Up

Ramps to the moon: the intersection at Briley & Robertson, looking west at dusk, 2/20/2014.

February, 2014 was a freezing, foggy, freezing-fog-fuck of a month for me -- let no one understate that to you. I for one am glad to see it go... and I hope it ends up far up the ass of a groundhog, not even sanded, sideways. Any groundhog will do.

My electric bill was $202, the highest yet. To heat under 1000 square feet, people.

Getting to work many days was a test of endurance. The work was often taxing for the old man.

Some days were better than others. We had one day that was fully 75°F!

... but the reality was COLD, bitter fucking cold. Almost the entire month.

Consolation prize: I bought a refurb Dell Optiplex 755 to toss with my assorted peripherals to make up my first multi-core 3.0GHz CPU machine with 4GB of RAM. I'm living it up, 2007 style.

COB Sky

Directly overhead as I left the plant at the end of my day, today. No processing.

Gas Is Rising

... and Gus Fring is excited by that, for some reason.

Actually, he's a very nice young man named Yosef, who works at this location. He was riding up on his bicycle, and I didn't even see him when I snapped the photo.

Stupid Google Tricks

Google now has this crazy thing where, if you auto-upload photos & videos, it will sometimes do something called "auto-awesome" to them, and then notify you of its little mash-up project using your files. Here, it took a few shots that I took a year ago+, and stitched together a faux-panoramic composition. So, here we see Ed and Ed-Prime (one has a goatee), and Dan's hover-Reflex.  :)