... been a bit remiss journaling, so this'll be a sort of catch-up posting ...
... finishing the season on his "little" bike, roger's trying to do 20,000 miles on two wheels this year, so we went for a little wanderabout up to north new portland then through the hills to farmington ...
... i snapped a few pictures of the early foliage, thinking that perhaps using photomatrix pro i might be able to convey a sense of the autumn color ... i was wrong, but it was fun trying ...
... we stopped and took a rest at the wire bridge ... in this shot it might be that roger was pondering some deep philosophical concept, such as, "if i trade in my big road cycle should i get a moto guzzi or a suzuki adventure touring machine" ... or, equally possible, he was thinking, "i wonder if i can get across this stream on my knobbly tired honda without using the bridge" ... of course, my bet would be that it was neither of these, since, as is always the case, thinking isn't really necessary to appreciate this most perfect place ...
... sunday i drove up to west enfield to visit with gerry ... for those of you not in the know, west enfield's a "suburb" of enfield, which is just down the road a piece from "stinkin' lincoln" ... other'n family, and a too-distant precious friend, by virtue of having been teammates our freshman year of college and roommates as sophomores, gerry's the person i've continuously known the longest in my life ... his sweet wife, cathy, my "sloe gin buddy" comes in a close second ...
... gerry's quite possibly the ruggedest person i've ever known ... i've some great memories of climbing mt. katahdin, panting and wheezing with every stride, whilst leading the way he just sort of strolled across the landscape ... sunday he took me kayaking on cold stream pond ... (non-new englanders note: at two miles across and over seventy feet deep in spots, it's obvious the definition of "pond" differs regionally) ... i felt that the rotator cuff i tore earlier this year had healed enough for me to say to gerry, "see if you can get a shot of me leaving a wake" ...
... four months ago the water behind me would've been absolutely smooth ... i'm pleased ... of course, i did notice that as usual for every two strokes gerry took i had to take three, and even then i could barely keep up with him ... only consolation i can take is that if we'd been in canoes the ratio would've been even worse ...
... forget the wildlife, i'm yelling to gerry, "what's that security camera doing on a pole in the middle of lake which is located pretty much at the edge of civilization" ... made me wonder a lot about certain three-initial agencies and face recognition software ... somewhere, in a deep, dark, secret place, i'll bet another page is being added to my folder: "kayaks-lake-maine-rather clumsy" ...
... out in the lake we tied up on the line of boulders the glaciers left stretched out for us, then took a refreshing swim ... a very cool swim ... end of september in northern maine, a very, very, very cool swim ... here, gerry's celebrating, either from the joy of being part of nature or the even greater joy that "shrinkage" isn't permanent ... i stayed in so long that it was only my second stop for coffee on the way home that my insides began to warm ...
... many years ago, in this very spot, gerry allowed me hold the tiller and pretend i was sailing his boat ... check out the sunglasses, after fifty years of "the general" style, i'm giving "traditional" a try ... "an old dog learning new tricks" ... ??? ... nah, simply they were a "70% off list" amazon bargain ... lenses're grey instead of green, but i think i'll manage to adjust ...
... me, having just arrived in rhode island ... the bike, a 2005 bmw f650cs, had 11,900 miles on its odometer when i bought it in may ... as of this afternoon i've added another 10,300 miles ... !!! ... unbelievable ... check out the helmet hair, i'm starting to look the part ...
... as of this afternoon, this is the bike's mirror ... would you believe that a bmw's mirror strut will support the entire weight of the motorcycle ... !!! ... yes, it will ... the glass mirror, however, is obviously a part bmw ordered from some third-world manufacturer ... good news is other'n the broken glass the bike remained pristine ... also good news, i seem to have mastered the art of shooting myself out of the way of a falling motorcycle, and, in addition, it's now clear that my very expensive padded riding gear works ... tomorrow, mike and i will enjoy a round-mirror hunt ...