Merry Christmas

Also Wishing You Bling Under the Christmas Tree

I Hope this year was as great for you as it was for me. Even though I didn't get to post as much as I would have liked toward the last half of this year, I was busy out on my motorcycle. Sorry I didn't share the adventures with you, but I did have a lot of fun ;)

This winter has been more fierce than past winters and I have hardly gotten my bike out, sigh. We have been getting snow off and on for the last few months. Just yesterday we got a decent dusting and it is very Christmasy outside. When the snow melts off the roads there is a lot of that little gravel all over. I do need to get my V-Star out for a run around the block just to keep the battery charged. I did do a few very cool things on my bike that I will have to share over this winter with you.

I finished my first two college classes the first week of December and earned A's in both, yea!!! For those who are new to my blog, at 48 I have gone back to college to earn the degree I never finished. Turns out I waited too long and now I must start all over. Because I work full-time, I'm going the an Associates in Computer Information Systems. I love computers and am really excited about this. The two year degree will take me 6 years at the rate I'm going, lol. For anyone just graduated from high school or graduated in the last two years or so - Don't do like me and put off college. Get it done now and over with!!! It's much harder with a family and a full-time job.

I'm already enrolled in the next two classes that will start mid-January. I really enjoyed and learned a lot with the last two classes - Intro to PC Applications (the Business Suite of Microsoft 2007) and PC Spreadsheet Concepts (Microsoft 2007 Excel). They are already coming in handy at work helping the kids on the computers. The school district is converting over to Microsoft 2007 this coming spring and I will be so ready to help others learn the new layout. I love Microsoft 2007, but boy is it really different from any previous updates.

I had better go, with it being Christmas Eve I have things to do. I've been thinking about everyone and hoping all is well with you and yours.

Happy Holidays,
Biker Betty

Campus Security ?!?

Yep, this summer has been incredibly busy and not with as much motorcycling as I would have liked - sigh. Early spring we bought a house that is a fixer-upper. It was a lot of work to get it ready for us to move into. Then we had to turn around and tidy up the house we want to sell. We still have projects to finish in the new (to us) house. We also did a lot of camping again this summer. My parents were camp hosting, so we could camp for free. They were right off of a lake. It was beautiful. This summer was a bit cooler then last.

After 20 (something ish, ahem) years I have gone back to college this fall. I don't have a degree and would love to learn more about computers. So I am now working on my Associates in Computer Information Systems. It's a two year degree, but with me working full-time I figure I will be lucky to finish it in 5 years. I get at least 6 projects a week between my two classes. One of them is online and I go to campus for the other after work.

I get out of class this evening and what do I spy? Campus Security scouring my motorcycle and writing notes!!! Another student notices me in my gear and looks at the scene at my motorcycle and quickly puts 2 and 2 together as I quickly speed up my steps. I walk up to my bike and ask what's the problem.

You see, I'm parked in motorcycle parking and I had checked that I don't need any parking passes for my motorcycle or car. So I just can't figure out what he could be upset about. From a distance I could see him taking notes about the front of my bike, inspecting my helmet, gas tank, sides and then writes down my license plate number. My first thought was "did I remember to put my new tags on my license plate" and yes I'm sure I did. I was then trying to figure out if I had parked wrong. By now I'm at my bike.

He quickly backs away when he hears my voice and figures out I'm the owner. One look at me and he says there's no problem now that he sees who the owner of my motorcycle is. He does ask me what time I get out of class and what time I left campus on Monday. Seems a few motorcycles left campus at about 70 mph in a 25 mph zone. I had actually drove my car on Monday, but had noted that quite a few motorcycles were parked on Monday. Tonight it's just me and two others (one on each side of me). He informed me that he had their information and they were in a lot of trouble for speeding. I ask him how does he know that they were the ones and he give me this "Oh, I know" speech. I ask him what time it happened and he said around 8pm. It's dark at that time.

He then asks me what is the sticker on one of my front forks. I tell him it's a military base sticker. He asks me which base and I tell Peterson (just like it says on the sticker, lol). Seems he does ride motorcycles and gives me some advice about winter driving, which I already know. We chat a little longer and I get out of town fast (a, slow that is - at 25 mph). I tell my husband he does have my info and I hope I don't ever get notified of "reckless indangerment," as I believe the guy called it he was ticketing the others for. Not sure I want to park in motorcycle parking anymore now on campus. It is closer to the door then I could get with my car, but not sure it's worth the other hassles.

I just don't think he has a leg to stand on. Wish I knew the other motorcyclist so I could hear how it pans out. They weren't officially clocked or followed. They were just observed from afar, as far as I can tell. Not sure how legal his tickets are. He says maybe they will slow down if points are taken off their drivers license. Can he do that?!? I'm doubting it. He lets me know he has their license plate numbers and VIN numbers (mine too as I saw him take it!) He assures me I'm okay and not considered one of the speeders, so time will tell. He had me guilty at first just because I was parked in motorcycle parking. If I hadn't walked up, he was going after me too. Seeings how I wasn't even there Monday when it happened, makes me wonder how well he could see anyone if he was going to blame me too. Hmmmm...

Wishing you exciting driving stories in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

Photo Hunt - Water

Photo Hunt - Water

Theme: Water ** Become a Photo Hunter

I must brag on my husband who designed and made the above pond. We have enjoyed this water feature in the backyard of our previous house for 3 summers. It was so great to hear the trickle of water when sitting out on the back deck. Yes, we plan on putting another pond in the backyard of our new house. My husband already has a few neat ideas in mind, but it will probably wait till next summer.

I can't leave out a motorcycle photo, lol. This was taken two summers ago when the Mountain Shadow Riders were doing a scavenger hunt with our motorcycles. One of the items on the list was a waterfall.

Here's another water photo. It's another scavenger hunt photo. I needed to find ducks to get with my motorcycle. I thought I was sunk with this item, but then I remembered a park in town that had a pond close to the road with ducks. How lucky was I? Just over the seat of my motorcycle is frozen water. This was take late September of 2006 and it had snowed, ugh!!

This Photo Hunt is so much fun. Wow, it is hard to believe that I have been participating in this off and on since 9/2/06. I will be coming up on two years this September, Yahoo!!! Consider doing this. It is lots of fun :)

Wishing you fun in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

Photo Hunt - Bad Hair

Photo Hunt ~ Bad Hair

Hello fellow Photo Hunters and other wonderful visitors. It's been a while since I have participated and I've really missed this. When I read "Bad Hair" I instantly thought of the awful state my hair gets in after many hours of riding my motorcycle with my helmet on ~ hence the famous term "Helmet Hair," LOL. I had my hubby take these photos just today after an all morning ride we took.

I absolutely hate my Helmet Hair and as soon as the helmet comes off, a hat or bandana usually goes on to hide it. The above is a very rare photo you will see.

Whew!!! There that's sooooo much better. I put the helmet back on. Now don't you just love the purple gear? I sure do!!! I love my Joe Rocket mesh jacket and ICON Motosports helmet. A huge thank you to these two companies for thinking of us ladies with such super gear and making it purple at that. Now I just need Joe Rocket to create very warm winter jacket in that beautiful purple design for winter riding in the mountains and I will be all set :)

Wishing you better hair days in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

RIP Jessica Terrell

Today I have been doing a little house cleaning of my blog. I was going thru my links, as I have discovered that some blogs have retired. But sadly I also discovered a fellow motorcyclist had passed away in January of this year. I actually learned of this tragic accident thru Helmet Hair magazine.com. I go to the MotoFeminia website occasionally to see if a new project has begun. Jessica actually died in a car accident and the little bit of information of her and what happened is about half way down the page here.

I got to know Jessica thru the MotoFemina project a few years ago. MotoFemina ran from April thru September 2006. It was a lot of fun chatting with Jessica, Synth and Laura as they learned to ride motorcycles and compete to win a BMW F 650 GS. They had to do and learn so much that summer. You can still go back and read all about it in the MotoFemina link above. Jessica is the one who one the contest.

So I'm sitting here stunned and sad by the information I have just learned a little while ago. My thoughts and prayers are with her family.

Everyone, take care with whatever you travel in,

Biker Betty

Gorgeous Day To Do Errands?

Well, if that is the only way to get out and about on my motorcycle, so be it!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We have recently bought a new home in the same city and moved in. It is a fixer-upper and my husband was very busy with projects to get it ready to move in. I helped a lot, but there were some that only he could do. We have moved in and now we must get the other house cleaned and on the market. There hasn't been anytime to ride and we are soooo tired of all the work. We are still trying to get all the stuff out of the other house.

Today I had a lot to clean, but I also had errands to do that I could do on the motorcycle. The weather was perfect. I took the long way to everywhere, lol. Needless to say, it took me twice as long. My husband was at work, so it didn't matter. I love working for a school system. I get as excited as the kids about summer break ;)

One of my errands was stopping by Lenscrafters. I get to the mall where it is and go to lock up my helmet only to discover that I had grabbed the wrong set of keys, UGH. At first I couldn't figure out why the key wouldn't work for the helmet lock. You are probably wondering how I could grab the wrong set of keys and get my motorcycle to work? My husband and I each have very cool key rings. You can quickly detach one key from the rest and we both use that for our motorycle key. This is so we don't have all the rest of the keys flopping in the wind and scratching our paint on the tank. I sometimes forget to reattach the engine key and my husband does too. For the first time ever, I accidently grabbed his main bunch of keys. So I had to carry my helmet into the mall and into Lenscrafters. They had a roomfull of people and boy did heads swivel when I walked in with all my riding gear on and toting that helmet. People really notice me with all that purple in the summer.

As I'm sure you have, I have gotten to where I don't notice the stares much anymore. It's like when my kids get to nagging, I turn them off and don't realize they are still talking, lol. When my kids give me that look that I realize I'm suppose to respond - I'm like "Oh, were you talking to me?!?" How many times have your kids done that to you? Revenge is sweet.

Today was so warm that I took my liner out of my purple Joe Rocket mesh jacket. We are finally into summer, YEA!!! I get my errands done. I get to ride my motorcycle. All is well with the world :)

Wishing you adventures on your errands in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

I Hate To Have To Do This

... But it has been forced upon me. I have had this blog for just over two years and I have now been forced to moderate the comments posted to my blog. Someone has repeatedly been posting very long religious comments on my blog. I delete it and they keep coming back. Is anyone else having this problem recently?

I am religious and everyone has their rights to what they believe or choose not to believe. They should start their own blog and post their ideas. These comments have absolutely nothing to do with my posts. They actually appear to be threatening in nature. So please bear with me and very sorry I had to do this.

Motorcycle Blog to Check Out

I have just today found a fellow motorcycle blogger that has listed his Top 100 Motorcycle blogs. Many of you are on it and there are a few that are new to me and I must go visit. Cristian - who lives in Bucharest, Romania - has a couple of Honda Nighthawks and hence the name of his blog Honda Motorycles blog. I just read one of his motorcyle travels and it is very interesting. He can ride for miles and miles and not come across another vehicle on the road!! WOW!

A few of you have already found him and chatted with him. I'm playing catch-up, as I have been out of the bloggy world for a few months. School is out and I'm finding more time to do the things I love. I do love working in a high school library, but my first year back was hard for me. I worked full-time till my first child was born and then I opted to stay at home and raise my kids and was lucky to be able to do it. I stayed at home for about 19 years, YIKES!!! Without my extra income we had to watch the pennies and couldn't do or buy what many did, but it was worth it. I can say that I'm glad to be back in the workforce and working with teens is fun.

During the time I was silent in my blog I was still out riding my motorcycle when I could. If there is one thing I love - it is riding my motorcycle!!! People at work and the students love it that their library assistant rides a motorcycle to work.

On that note: Let me wish everyone travels adventures,

Biker Betty :)

Dinner in the Next Town

Hello to all - I got back from dinner a little bit ago and what a fun time it was. The Mountain Shadow Riders had their monthly family dinner night tonight. I logged almost 60 miles just getting there and back. It was great seeing those who were able to make it. I've missed quite a few of their family dinner nights lately and really wanted to make this. It was partly selfish on my part, as we went to Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant up in Woodland Park. A few of you may have read in past posts how much I love riding up Highway 24 to Woodland Park (and beyond to Buena Vista - where the famous Collegiate Peaks are). Plus I loovvve this restaurant!!

So tonight it was to Woodland Park, CO and to one of my favorite restaurants there. The food was marvelous, as usual, and the place was packed. They recently relocated to a new location they had built and I understand they have been very busy since. We had eight people reserve for the dinner from our group, our organizer reserved ten at the restaurant and twelve showed up, lol. We kept playing musical chairs trying to fit everyone in, as they all din't show up at the same time. It all worked out and we had an enjoyable dinner. The people at Casa Grande were superb!!

At this dinner I was reminded that I hadn't posted since January and would I please post something. I will try and post more often, as I miss everyone and hearing from you. So Don, this post is dedicated to you. He reminds me when I have been delinquent in posting, lol. Don rides a motorcycle and has recently started his own blog. He is also very involved with ABATE in Colorado. As soon as I can I will put a link to him. He told me at the dinner, but I didn't have anything to write on and I tried to commit it to memory - but alas my retched memory has failed me :(

I must close for now.

Wishing you adventurous travels to wonderful restaurants,

Biker Betty

PS: The Mountain Shadow Riders has started our ride contest for this year. In a few days I will tell you all about it. It should be lots of fun!!

Blogger Chick - Sick

Just wanted to let you know that I'm around, but I've been under the weather for a week and a half. I caught that awful flu bug and did it knock me off my feet. Last weekend I was in bed from Friday evening thru Tuesday morning and even then I almost called in sick. I felt so lucky I had MLK day off. I'm starting to recover, but then my hubby's dad died. So this blogging chick is busy at the moment. I promise it will only be for a little while. Give me about a week to recover from all this bad karma.

Hoping Your Part of the World is Better then Mine,
Biker Betty

Round Robin Challenge: Railroad

Many of you know me and photo challenges, I Love THEM!!! I found this one thru a link over at Nekked Lizard Adventures. This person is a Coloradian like myself. From there was the link to the Round Robin. Thought I'd have to try this. It's new to me. Gina at Gina’s Spacecame up with the idea for this challenge. Great idea Gina :)

Who doesn't like trains? I don't have any recent photos, but this was was taken two summers ago (2006) when I was doing the Mountain Shadow Riders motorcycle scavenger hunt. I didn't win this contest, but I was one of the upper four people. It was so much fun. The above photo was taken on the road between Cripple Creek and Victor. Talk about a beautiful drive. That train looks like Thomas the Tank Engine (which I loved to watch when my eldest was 4 years old). It's actually the Victor Narrow Gage Line. I have not had a chance to ride it, but it sure looks like fun.

The above is a sample of the views in store with the Victor train. Far out on the horizon is a bunch of the famous Colorado 14ers.

For the same scaventer hunt I also got a photo of the diner car of the train that goes to another famous Colorado tourist location: The Royal Gorge. As a family we went there in our car many years ago and really enjoyed ourselves.

So hop on the train and visit others participating in this challenge.

Biker Betty :)

I'm Not Vain, Am I ?!?

I hope Jovi doesn't mind that I borrowed this photo from her blog. Till I checked her blog, I didn't realize she caught a shot of me riding as we (the Mountain Shadow Riders) were all getting ready to leave for our ride and lunch that I talked about in the previous post. Jovi got a few nice shots of our ride that day. Go on over and see.

Now that it is winter I have had to put away my purple Joe Rocketmesh motorcycle jacket and pull out my much needed and warmer red Fieldsheer motorcycle jacket. The purple helmet clashes with the red jacket, sigh. I do still have the red helmet, but it just doesn't fit as nice as my ICON purple helmet.

Women's FXRG® Midweight Leather Jacket

The above is the jacket I would love to get some day, but the sticker shock of $560 is a bit high. I'm pretty sure the price has gone up since the last time I longingly looked at it a year ago at our local Pikes Peak Harley Davidson store. It has pockets in the liner to put insertable hot packets that you use for camping. If I had just bought something like this when I was first looking, I wouldn't need to be buying another jacket. I also like this jacket because it has the all-important armor in it that I always look for in a motorcycle jacket.

I bought the above motorcycle jacket so that I would be seen on the road. It has worked. It is a sharp looking jacket. I stand out with all my riding buddies who all wear the black leather jackets, but now it is dingy and very dirty. I dare you to click on the photo to see the dirt/grease spots on the neck, front and arms!! On the cleaning lable it says "Gently sponge outer jacket with a non-biological detergent." Do you really think that's going to clean this?!?!?

It would be easy to keep a leather jacket clean and it's way more durable. It is hard for me to find the leather jacket for me, as I require armor in mine. There are so many leather jackets out there without the armor. It's like wearing a helmet, it's the individual choice. I'm really impressed with the HD jacket and all that was designed in it. So we will see If it works into the future budget now that I'm working full-time.

But for now, I wear a purple helmet with the red jacket. It's not a pretty sight, but it keeps me pretty warm and riding. When it comes down to it, that's what is most important. What kind of jacket do your wear? Is there armor? Are you color coordinated, lol?

Wishing you adventures in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

Mountain Shadow Riders 1st Ride 2008

Admittedly, it wasn't a long ride. We seem to be between snow storms at the moment. It was a beautiful day and pretty warm when we started off, but the wind was outrageous. A high wind warning was issued for our city and surrounding areas. We met at a designated spot and at noon rode to Chili's for lunch.

Here's one of our bloggers - Jovi who was on the ride. You can see by her hair how windy it is. Another fellow blogger, that many of you know, Christine was also there, but I didn't get her pic.

I never get my picture (ha!!)

It was a great afternoon with friends and good food. We had a pretty large crowd and lots of laughs. We had four new ladies come out on their motorcycles to see what the Mountain Shadow Riders was about and they told me they had lots of fun. As many regulars know, the Mountain Shadow Riders is a chapter of Women On Wheels. After lunch there was a plan to ride to Penrose, but there was no interest with the high winds. It was noticably colder going home. The wind was bad, but manageable. I have been in worse winds. It was another good day of riding, even if it was short. In this case it was quality, not quantity.

Wishing You Winter Adventures,

Biker Betty :)

Yea, Warm Weather to Ride !!!

Today was an excellent day to ride to work. The high today was 58 degree F. and I pulled out my bike and rode to work. Hello everyone - I don't know where the time has gone. Seems like it was just yesterday it was summer. I've got my second wind with my full-time job as a library assistant in a high school and I've had such a bug to get back into blogging again :) I miss not visiting all my blogging buddies and the chats. I could not believe how tired I was the first couple of months I started this job. There was so much work to do. The person before me had stopped working before school let out for the summer and she was just dead space till she got "promoted" to another school. Yep, she did get a promotion. I'm very glad I got this job. I love it and the people I work with are very nice. I love working with the teens. It's so different then elementary school where I did part-time work for 5 years.

This last weekend I opened the garage and tried to start my Yamaha. It has been so cold for many weeks and I hadn't touched it all that time. I would look longingly at it when I walked by it to put recycles in the bins. It was halfway warm last weekend and I decided that if the roads and weather weren't going to cooperate - well I was going to at least start it up just to keep the battery charged. It took some coaxing for about a minute. I was real careful to not flood the engine. I was finally rewarded when it kicked over for a split second, lol. Finally I did get it to start and let it for for about 20 minutes. I had to keep the throttle on twice as long as I usually do. While listening to it run I cleaned it up, checked tires, and made sure there wasn't anything loose and that there was not leaks. My husband and I don't winterize our bikes, as we ride when we can in the winter. This winter hasn't been allowing for much riding. Also, in previous years when I wasn't working full-time, I would get it out and ride a while during the day when it was warmer. Now I have to leave for work at 6:25am and it's just plain to cooollddd!!! By the time I get home I'm too busy to ride, sigh.

One reason I was checking my bike was that the Mountain Shadow Riders have our New Years Day ride coming up tomorrow and I wanted to be sure my bike would start. My husband pulled out his bike and it wouldn't start. When he hooked up the charger to his bike, it wouldn't take a charge and he ended up having to order a battery that he just got in. He bought a gel battery and is pretty excited to try it out. He ordered it Monday and it just arrived. He put it in and his Suzuki Intruder 1500 started right up.

Tomorrow I get to ride with fellow riders. It's going to be in town and we plan on riding to a restuarant for lunch. They are already predicting snow for late Sunday and again later next week, sigh. At least it's going to be nice for tomorrow. Suppose to be close to 60 degrees F. Wooo Hooo, motorcycle ride here I come !!!!

Wishing you warm winter travels,

Biker Betty