This is a picture of Connie in BFE Wyoming. A little bitty town that I stayed in because of getting caught in a Thunderstorm late in the afternoon. I coffeed up and headed out (for Las Vegas) just at sun up.
Something compelled me to stop at this statue even though I had a long way to go and was on a schedule. That is a memorial to 28 people that lost their lives in a local coal mine disaster. I'm not sure why, but it had a profound effect on me and I can't look at this photo without thinking of the line from "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot.
And all that remains are the faces and names of the wives and the sons of the daughters.
Wow so much to say about just a bike I'm seeing right now 🧐 but it's cool and I can only remember you promised me a ride just last week 😌
This is the one that is going to go away. It is genuinely fast and steady. I've put a lot of miles on that bike...
Oh that's great to know, you sure do know a lot about bikes
Nice wheels Tom, many happy hours in mileage!
Stopping off to learn a bit about the regions history always leaves one confounded.... Work has always been dangerous, just getting in a vehicle today is much the same, somehow when many are lost in fatal accidents it does shake one to the core.
It's a really small town (maybe 3000) in a really big area, so you have to think that everybody there lost someone in the disaster. I don't know why it affected me so, and still does.
Some places do affect us, perhaps we heard a story when young which is in our memory bank somewhere. Enjoy the ride don't linger on the past too much.
A nice bike and a nice place to stop by happenstance. It's always sad when one hears about such loss of life of people simply doing their jobs. One thinks of the families left behind, as per that line you quote.
It's just amazing how that affected me. I feel it every time I look at the photo.
Stuff like that sort of makes one appreciate life a little more. Or should.
Sometimes, I wonder how Kawasaki bikes get to the US having heard that US engineers makes some powerful bikes too.
This you bike is an envy for me. It fully padded and standing firm.
Here, when it storms, we enjoy the wind and stay under it. It's cozy and all the kids too wanna play in it. Over there, you guys run away to safety and coffee to keep warm. Isn't nature amazing?
In truth? US bikes (Harley Davidson) are loud, slow and underpowered. I've been riding Japanese bikes since 1964. In that time, I've owned one Harley and hated it.
I have test ridden the new Indian a couple of times, and liked it fine. But it was slow and heavy, too.
Well, I wanted out of that storm. I stopped at a closed gas station right at the edge of the little berg to keep from getting completely soaked. When the rain let up a bit I could see there was a motel less than a mile away. That's where I spent the night. I was a bit over 1000 miles from home and would have put in another 100 miles that day except that riding in a rainstorm is not all that much fun.
That bike looks strong. Here, in the east, Japanese bikes are very famous for speed and durability.
If I am not mistaken, there are more bikes than cars here. .
What if it falls down... Kind of thinking though🤔
I always wear armored riding gear with helmet, gloves and boots. I haven't been down on the road for over 40 years but still know that it's inevitable.
Or did you mean falls down in a parking lot? That I have done, a couple of times with this bike. I can get it picked up, but usually there is some one right nearby to help with picking it up.
When talking about bikers my parents always used to say " There are two kinds - those that have come off and those that haven't come off ....Yet" They were big into Yamahas for many years. Those things are often way heavier than they look. Trying to lift up even a 600cc for me is hectic, I don't know how people lift the massive ones.
The ST Owners Club would say "It's not if, it's when you are going to fall down". They also used 30,000 miles AND three years to call a rider 'experienced'.
There is a technique to picking up a big bike. Like this:
Yup I guess there's risk inherent in all things just to different degrees, bikes leaning towards one end. Over here the majority of the time it's caused by idiot car drivers who don't check the road & especially their blind spots properly and taxi drivers - taxi drivers here do not give two hoots about anything.
Shot for the link, I'll have a watch and keep it in mind incase I ever need to lift a bike again (doubtful)
Here it is usually a left turning vehicle that 'didn't see' the motorcycle. I'd guess that would translate to right turns. I wonder if anyone has ever checked the frequency numbers for left and right drive?
That would be interesting to have a look at the stats. I was driving behind a few Harley's this morning, stopped at a light and they were in their full leathers in this heat of 30 degrees.
I don't know how they do it, but I guess the second skin is worth how uncomfortable that must become.
Wow! That's good to hear, good to know you have had experience
A nice tribute to the miners, I think the song fits many lost disasters not just the Edmund Fitzgerald. Gordon was a great balladeer. He has a lot of great songs, one of my favorites of his is Cotton Jenny, always liked that tune from day one of hearing it. Of course now I need to go listen to both tunes.
I just couldn't get enough of Lightfoot in the 70s. What a prodigious song writer and a great performer also.
So now I have to go listen to Cotton Jenny, too!
Such a contrast the two songs make.
There's another I remember well-I can still sing it mostly fifty years later.