It was 14° F when I started the Vespa this morning. The weather forecast promised temperatures rising into the mid-20’s under sunny skies. These kinds of days always provide a break in the bad winter weather and allow a ride if you are so inclined. Roads were free of snow and ice with only an occasional patch of gravel or salt. Still cold enough for ice where springs wash across a back road or an energetic car washer allows water to run out onto a neighborhood street or road. As always, special attention to the road surface is required in sub-freezing weather.
The first destination today was to meet my daughter and her boyfriend for breakfast at the Waffle Shop. I had the best of intentions to share the hearty feast photographically with camera in tow but as the food arrived my attention went directly to the home fries and bacon and the camera remained untouched.
As much as I enjoy a hearty breakfast during a ride I’m not sure how an idea it is when it’s cold outside. Gearing up for the next leg of the ride I could feel the heat heading towards my stomach to begin work on breakfast. No matter how much I am wearing I have to accept a level of chill that nears discomfort. Gratefully the sun was bright and the reflection from the snow made it easier to imagine I was warm. Ten miles down the road the temperature had raised to 20° F and things felt absolutely balmy.
Other than few errands I had nowhere to go and nothing to do but enjoy the ride. My choice today was to swing south through some of the open farmlands and long undulating roads. The Vespa seems like it’s made to ride on these roads and I am never disappointed regardless of weather. If I had time today I would have made it a 200-mile day. I had to be satisfied with 40 miles for this ride. This picture was made along one of the roads that cut across the valley south of town.
Before returning home I stopped at a local store to pick up a few chocolate chip cookies to enjoy with an afternoon cup of tea. As many times as I see the cow on top of this restaurant I can’t help but smile. Every town needs something to make you grin.
Wonderful story, Steve.
I’ve just added your feed to my RSS reader, and this popped up when I logged in tonight. Hope to see regular updates, the more you write, the more you see of me, afterall.
Great blog mate.
I like the little things in life, and your mention of stopping for chocolate chip cookies to have with your tea caught me just right.
The day just seems so much better when we plug these moments into them.
Have fun,
Bill
Steve, What a great ride. I love the picture of the snow fields and your vespa. Now I feel like a marshmellow. I didn’t ride to church like I wanted to because it was 22 degrees, but it got a lot warmer by the time we got out of church.
I, too, love the part of the cookies and tea. Made me think of the time when we were stationed in England. Love the cow.
I hope to ride to work tomorrow. I got called in to sub in a school library.
Have a great week,
Betty 🙂
matt: Glad you like the blog. There will be more posts once the weather clears.
bill: Riding a Vespa has allowed me to appreciate all those little things life offers.
betty: Warmer weather can’t be far off now. We’ll be mowing lawns and complaining about the heat before you know it.
Steve,
How do you get such clarity in your photos? I have a Kodak digital camera. It has an automatic focus and a wheel I can rotate for different conditions. I’m presuming your camera has manual focus options?
Of course, it could just be that I’m shaky when I snap the picture!!
irondad, good lighting and good balance will help imrove photo clarity. If still blurry, clean lens and reduce exposure. 🙂
Thanks for the reply Steve. I’ve been reading past stories every day, this blog is brilliant, the area you ride in sounds fantastic. 🙂
I’ve seen that bull elsewhere. Seems to have short legs for his body. Good to see you are able to get out and ride again. The new scoot is really pretty against the snow.
John
Mmm bacon! Food of the gods. Thanks for the comment on my blog. And glad you are enjoying the GTS. It really does open up more riding opportunities. We will have to meet half way and do some riding together this summer Steve. Let me know if you hear anything about a Top Secret rally this year. Tom
irondad: I always use autofocus on my digital camera but I am focusing selectively. I’ll focus on what I want and by holding the shutter button down half-way I can then re-compose the shot and keep my subject in focus. This is useful if the subject is not in the center of the frame.
The cure to being shaky is learning to SQUUEEEZE the shutter but and not jam it down.
combatscoot: That bull looks like some of the Angus breeding bulls I have seen at shows. This one looks more like a Polled Herford though.
matt: thanks for your kind words!
gts250: There is something magical about the aroma and flavor of bacon. I know a lot of people cringe at it for a variety of reasons and I have to admit I couldn’t deal with it for several years after a photo project at a swine enterprise but I am again under its sway….
We will have to meet for lunch somewhere when the weather gets warmer. My friend Paul and I want to ride down towards Centralia and Shamokin to take pictures. We could ride on down towards Reading and meet somewhere.