Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas Day Ride



We had a nice Christmas morning. Since the kids are older, we don't have to get up so early to witness St. Nick's arrival - I woke up around 7:30am, had a cup of coffee, and even went to town to pick up a few items for breakfast before the kids got up. Also, it's much easier shopping now - cash and gift cards, CD's and DVD's make up their wish lists.

There was no white Christmas in North Bend this year; the weather has been in the 30's for the highs and sunny. I waited until about noon and geared up for a ride. There was frost/black ice in patches in our driveway, so I took it real easy getting out onto the main road. The road itself was dry, but there were some shaded areas that looked like it could be a bit slippery so I took it slow going down our hill until the road leveled off, and it was dry from there and into downtown North Bend. In addition to being cold, it was very windy, so it felt even colder.

One Starbucks was open, and it was packed both in their lot and in the drive-through. My favorite espresso stand, Huxdotter's, was closed today. I took a photo of the Triumph next to their Christmas decorations, and a car came up through the drive-through only to find that no one was there. The ladies who work here are very nice, and deserve the day off.




Like Huxdotter's, most of the shops in town were closed today. The exceptions were one of the two Starbucks in town, two grocery stores, a Blockbuster move rental store, the gas stations and McDonalds. Most of the parking lots were empty.



A nice view of Rattlesnake Ledge from the empty parking lot:



I was thankful that I could ride today - it's been either too cold/icy or rainy, so this was a nice Christmas gift.

14 comments:

Mike said...

Lance,
It's good to hear you had a nice Christmas with a nice ride too. The last shot even looks like it's cold. I hope Santa was good to you!

Conchscooter said...

A really nice Christmas gift for yourself would be a pair of Triumph's leather saddlebags. I use the fabric bags on my Bonneville but the leather bags would look classic on your cruiser.

Danny said...

Lucky you! Wish I could have joined you. We had about 8 inches of snow here on Christmas.

cpa3485 said...

Looks like a cold but glorious ride. I always thought that all stores should close for Christmas. Except maybe for the convenience stores in case I run out of batteries.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lance,

A break in the weather feels like a stolen ride...30f is around -1c, your a more hardy man than me matey!!

Cheers,

Dave....

Lance said...

Mike - thanks, and my stocking had some cool tire related stuff which I really needed, like a digital tire pressure gauge! I hope yours was good as well!

Conch - thanks, and you must be reading my mind! I have a set of the large Triumph leather bags that I got when I purchased the bike, and I was just thinking about installing them with some EZ Brackets so I can remove them when needed.

Danny - this is a bit unusual for us, as it is common to rain on Christmas Day. It was a nice gift. I hope your Christmas was nice too.

Jim - I hope you had a nice Christmas! It seems like many more stores are open on this day now - I do remember the time when the only store that was open was the all night gas station.

Dave - Merry Christmas to you and Linda! I can handle cold OK, but I am impressed with how you can handle the heat!

Jack Riepe said...

Dear Lance:

I have added your name to the list of guys who have bigger balls than mine. I do not ride when there is the slightest chance of finding ice -- especially black ice -- on the road. As far as I am concerned, I will find the frozen spot no bigger than a saucer and ending up sliding into the emergency room.

I believe the winter riding season is over for me now, as the last (and first) storm of the winter cause the local municipalities to dump tons of sand and cinders on the roads. While all of the snow is gone, the roads will not be swept until mid-April.

I hate sanded curves about as much as I hate frozen ones.

Your bike looks great and I'm delighted you got out on Christmas day.

Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads

Linda said...

What a wonderful way to spend xmas day Lance, thankyou for shring it with us xx

irondad said...

I love having so much space to myself at times like these. Doesn't happen too often, does it?

Glad you got to enjoy it.

Lance said...

Jack, thanks for the vote, but actually I am more like you - I hate sliding uncontrollable and meeting Mr. (or Ms.) Asphalt. I think cabin fever had a lot to do with this!

Linda - Seeing your lovely posts, I think I would rather be riding Christmas Day in Turkey! My best for a Happy New Year for you and Dave.

Irondad - You're right, there was a lot of space on the road with many staying home, so that was nice. On Saturday and Sunday I even saw a few riders, which made the encounters even better!

Gary France said...

It was snowy and cold here on Christmas day - I didn't see any motorcycles out for a ride. Waaaaayyy too cold!

Good for you for getting out though. I did feel sorry for the folks having to work on Christmas day at Starbucks though!

Gary
http://garysusatour.blogspot.com/

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(Submitted using NetServ for R4i Nintendo DS.)

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