Tuesday, March 31, 2009

the latest rides

March 15th I rode out to Mother Cabrini Shrine. Hubby must have been away or something because it was just me. Here are some photos.


This is a shot of Jesus on the top of the hill. A couple of years ago he was struck by lightning and it blew his fingers off. He's all fixed now though. The line of trees is a path of steps to get to the top. The stations of the cross are along the route. People come here for Easter to trek up and pray. At the top is a rock structure Mother Cabrini built when she founded this place. To the left of this view is a small grotto where you can sit and pray or reflect and light candles. There is also the spring Mother Cabrini discovered when she came to this place. She stuck her cane in the ground and found it and it has been flowing ever since. It is one of her three miracles.

Here is the Rebel parked near the interpretive sign.
And parked near the chapel. It wasn't terribly crowded but there were more than enough folks there for my taste. I was hoping for some quiet reflection time but oh well. Maybe next time.

I have ties to Mother Cabrini through my high school in New Orleans. Her feast day is also the same day as my birthday which was nice to have that day off from school for four years. :-)

But, anyway, back to the motorcycle part. Here is a Google map of the location.




It is a bit windy and that day there was a lot of gravel on the road because we'd had a good bit of snow. I happened to fall behind someone on a Triumph so I followed their line up the hill. Turned out to be a good plan. The curves are pretty sharp 10mph ones all the way up the hill. It isn't a very long way but it is narrow and cars like to take up as much space as they can. And there is wildlife up there too. But, it was a good trip.

I did have a bit of a close call backing out of my parking space. I pulled out but had to go around the lot to make my way out again. I managed to put myself behind an SUV that was about to back out. I was also on gravel so I couldn't speed away or even stop because the ground was so loose. And I couldn't find my horn for some reason either. Fortunately they took their time backing out and I was able to pull away. It was a bit scary for a second there. But all's well that ends well, and the lesson was learned.

More later......

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Blogging

I sure haven't blogged in a while. We've ridden too. Maybe that's why. :-)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Ear Plugs

I wear the disposable ear plugs now but they give me a headache or earache I suppose. I switched to a brand new pair because the others were getting hard. I thought maybe that was the problem. But the new ones, which are nice and soft, still hurt my ear. Mainly just my left ear. I guess I should look into a different kind. It is difficult to know how they'll fit or work since it usually isn't until the end of my ride that they start to bother me. Hmmm. Some thing to think about and research I suppose.