The Year 2016 Ends

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Well the year is almost over.  It has been a good one, I think.

Our family has been blessed by God beyond all possible imagination.  Have there been problems?  Sure, but nothing we can't get through. 

I have not ridden the bike as much as I would have liked, though.

Thanks to the magic of spreadsheets, I figure that I took the bike out of the garage 40 times, and rode a total of 4,274 miles, for an average of 106.9 miles per outing.

That compares with the two previous years, and for the entire time I have ridden this motorcycle (my only one, so far), as follows. 

2014  49 trips       5,319 miles  
                            108.6 miles/trip (last year of work) 

2015  59 trips       6,353 miles  
                            107.7 miles/trip (first year of retirement)

Total  696 trips  56,733 miles  
                             81.6 miles/trip (many short trips to work)

I bought the bike 9 years and 3 months ago, and have ridden an average of 6,117 miles per year since I started. 

[So, Bucky, how come you are not riding more?]  

Church duties, piano playing, and home/auto repairs have taken up my time to a greater extent that I thought they would.  There is more to life than the scooter, you know.  Our cars are getting old -- the newest is 2008, the oldest 1979.  So is the house getting old, and I try to do all the repairs myself, being a tightwad since birth.

Also, I didn't take any overnight trips like I have in the past.  The Rally to Ridgecrest has not been held for the last few years, unfortunately. 

I did meet a new guy and took him on his first longish ride in the mountains.  I hope to ride with him more, but he is away during the day at work, or something like that, so his time is limited. I had a good time that day, and he wrote some of his impressions as a guest blogger. 
A Really New Guy

There was also a potentially life threatening incident on the road this year, that I'd rather forget, but highlights the need for vigilance when riding. 
This Could Have Ended It All
Found! The Van That Could Have Killed Me.
Fortunately, I managed to avoid great bodily injury.

There was lots of political maneuvering in our country, certainly.  We have a new president who will be worlds better than the last one, and certainly better than that screechy woman who was running this time.  The snowflake college kids and bleeding heart liberals are hugging their Teddy Bears and shedding tears over this whole thing, but they will look back and see that this will have been a turning point for the better in our nation's history. 
The Issues and What is at Stake -- Study This Now.
We Have One more Chance

I gave some advice on a topic or two that might be helpful to other riders.
Vision: Eye Glasses or Contact Lenses?

And, there have been some Odd and Interesting Sights I've Seen. 


Anyway, here are some photographs of places I visited near the end of the year, with some older description links:

• Campbell's Covered Bridge.  This is a place I have visited many times. 
  
  
  
• Blue Ridge Parkway, one of my favorite roads. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  The start of Heintooga Round Bottom Road
  in Smokey Mountain National Park near Cherokee, NC. 
  You dual sport riders would like this 28 miles
  of gravel that leads to Cherokee.

   
  
• Tall Pines Lake Lighthouse, another place that I enjoy stopping.  
  
  
  

Have a great New Year. 

See you on the roads of the Carolinas in 2017! 

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