Lot on my mind on a dreary day.

In March after a lot of reading over the years of various motorcycle sites and publications I decided I wanted a bike as in Motorcycle. Along the way. I have found a few Blogs/Forums I periodically read. Most are travel related. Some are "scene".
Few of them are:
http://thevintagent.com/
http://advrider.com
http://lecontainer.blogspot.com (some motorcycle content)
http://bmwcaferacer.com/
http://www.caferacerculture.net
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/
http://weissundblau.blogspot.com/ Blog of Scott Williams who has one of my dads old bike.
http://miles-by-motorcycle.com Enjoyed his Alaska trip and need to finish reading it. 
http://themotolady.com/ I ran across a Post she made about a friend of my parents, Dot Robinson and been following her and her Monster build ever since.
She recently turned me on to Jason Cormier's http://www.odd-bike.com

So I did end up finding a rough around the edges 1995 BMW K1100LT AKA Brick in BMW circles in March after quite a bit of shopping.

Here is is parked at The Barber Vintage Festival.

So today Ive been reading back posts on Jason site and this one got me thinking.

http://www.odd-bike.com/2013/06/in-praise-of-slow.html

 I'm very late into becoming a street rider. I dont have a full year under my belt with an actually Motorcycle license. 20+ years ago I rode dirt bikes often with Friends and occasionally take one of their Hurricanes or Ninjas for a lap around the block.
 His post makes me feel better about my approach to riding again. I'm really not fitting in with the Cruiser crowd that several of my friends are in. I'm sure not into the assless chaps crowd and they seem to have a propensity of parking at 10 under in the fast lane the couple rides I have taken with them. I have zero desire to try to keep up with anybody on a sport bike and honestly most of my friends are beyond that as well. I like the building part of the Cafe Craze but "Ton up" and racing from Bar to bar isnt working for me either so I find myself riding solo mostly becaeu I have as yet to find a group that rides how I do.

 My Parents rode and in fact that's how they met as they were both members on the Highwaymen MC Detroit (before they were a gang). My old man parked his 1961 BMW R69s not long after I was born. It was last tagged in 1967...I have its tag. It sat in the corner of the garage under a blanket till the early 80's after my father passed when it was sold expressly to keep me off of it (and I'm trying now to get it back). I guess that "I'm a parent now and have a responsibility to my Family" thing kicked in with Dad. He did have a couple wrecks, one he was very lucky to survive.

 Lord knows I spent enough of my youth running around with my hair on fire. Mom managed to keep me off bikes (to the best of her Knowledge) with stories of her bouncing off Guard rails with the scars to prove it that I was regularly shown and stories about their friends crashing like Bob Leppan crashing the http://www.gyronautx1.com/ at 274mph almost loosing his arm as why I shouldn't ride.

  How a World speed record crash was relatable to the street I'll never know but thats how I most ofter heard about it. The GyronautX1 was a BIG reason why I made the trip to the Barber Vintage Festival to see the bike that I had heard so much about in my youth.

 I also had 20 years of threats of divorce from my wife (her dad had somebody pull out in front of him and laid him up for a long while) if I ever thought about getting a bike. So in March I did the only reasonable thing (in my twisted mind) and bought a bike. It just finally came to a head and I despite everybody's threats and warnings. So far I have not been served by my wife. Shes letting me have my mid life crises just not very happy about it.

As I was shopping I was looking at a BMW K1200RS and after talking with the owner who was a well seasoned rider in his 60's he pretty well talked me out of it with much of the same wisdom as Jasons post story. "Buy a bike for how you want to drive. If you buy a bike like this your going to drive it like an idiot. Every time I get on it I find myself looking down and seeing that speedometer tickling 100mph. It just feels better and better the faster you go. Its not a bike you have any business buying for your first bike. It will get you in trouble".

So I mostly took his advice. Bought a Sport Touring bike instead. It better reflected my desires for a bike I could do some traveling on but still be fun in the twisty roads we have in the Appalachians just north of me without dragging floor boards. Yeah I probably should have got a smaller bike but thankfully age has brought me the maturity to understand my short comings as a rider and to take it easy and "slow" as Jason put it.