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| On the River Road at Big Bend |
With the above title you may correctly presume we enjoyed some (mis)adventures this year. But first, the usual stuff that is boring for you to read year after year and equally boring for me to write: I remain involved with
Houston Investors Association; Bettie continues actively in
Allen's Landing Band and president of
North Boulevard Park HOA; we both do a bit for
Houston Early Music.
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| Allen's Landing Band |
Allen's Landing Band grows better each year, and we are very pleased with its artistic quality. There have been changes in membership, but the core of Bettie, Bobbie, and Renna has lasted intact for several years. Though it remains only a part-time activity, unaffiliated and unbiased enthusiasts have deemed it the best vocal bluegrass band in Houston. If you are in Houston, please try to catch one of their performances at Hickory Hollow.
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| Riding the "Three Sisters" in the Hill Country |
And now for the adventures, centered around (surprise) our motorcycles. Since taking up the sport three years ago I have ridden over 40,000 miles, and Bettie in one year 12,000 miles. In
our 2010 letter I described the bikes, and we are still riding the same. During the first half of the year we went to the
Hill Country twice, to
Arkansas, to
Big Bend, and I completed the de rigueur
Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000. These are blogged separately (follow the links and read forward in time) so I won't repeat. Bettie achieved her own "
mini Iron Butt", riding 600 miles in one day from Fort Davis to Houston. So at this point I think we can claim to have graduated from apprentice to journeyman motorcyclists.
All of these trips were very enjoyable and without regrets other than sore butts. Now about the misadventures ... In July we left Houston on bikes for a two week
trip to Colorado. We endured two days of hellish heat getting out of Texas, and then the fun began, motoring across northern New Mexico, through Raton Pass and into Colorado. But as we approached Denver in a rainstorm, in executing an ill-judged rest stop Bettie's bike tipped over on her foot, breaking three metatarsals.
This misadventure is also blogged separately, so I will just say that she recovered completely from the injury, enough so that we were ready for our next (mis)adventure.
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| The instructor showing us what not to do. |
Our "enduro" bikes are primarily road bikes but also capable of modest off-road travel with riders of sufficient skill. To gain those skills we enrolled in the highly regarded two-day BMW Performance Center
off-road motorcycle training in Greer, South Carolina. There, riding school bikes similar to our own, we would learn how to negotiate trails, sand, gravel, hills, ruts, and rocks. And to add to the fun, four other friends from our local "BMW gang" signed up as well.
Most of the first day went well, and all of us gained knowledge, skill, and confidence. We all took a few falls, of course, but that's part of learning and our gear prevented any injuries. ... until
in the mid afternoon, Bettie caught a bad mud patch on a slope, spun out, corrected, then fell as the bike headed for a fence. Dejas vu all over again: the bike landed on her leg (same one), this time breaking the distal fibula and tearing the ligament. So back to Houston, to surgical repair, and now she is on crutches for a couple more weeks.
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| A dollar bet won by the Texans from the instructor |
An old joke goes "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" Well, we actually did enjoy the experience in spite of the injury. Later as I was on the phone describing the mishap to a couple of friends, one a psychiatrist and the other a psychologist, I could well imagine them trying to decide exactly which section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual applied to our particular psychopathy, and perhaps you are pondering a similar question. Why subject ourselves to this risk and damage? I can philosophize about the need to accept life's risks etc etc but that will be unpersuasive for non-motorcyclists and for motorcyclists, unnecessary. Suffice it to say Bettie and I are eagerly waiting the time when she can get back on her bike and we can again be off. Our plans are to ride to Arizona this April and see the Grand Canyon, including a ride down to Phantom Ranch (this last on mules, not motorcycles).
Thus, we look forward to 2012, and another year of living dangerously but hopefully accident-free. And we wish the same for you.
Leigh & Bettie
A few more photos
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