Life in Motion with Rodney Myers and his motorcycle

Sunday, October 15, 2006 It seems like it was just a yesterday, that I was wondering who would ride into breakfast, as we were headed into spring, and the mercury was rising. Now we are on the downside of that, I have to wonder who might venture out on two wheels this chili morning. I think it was in the thirties, but I can't remember where. I took my usual route this morning, Washington to East Street, East Street to McCarty, and then into the parking lot. I was a little early, but I was the is first bike to arrive. As I crossed the street, I could see the man that Newton got the Chili Lunch e-mail from also entering. I was walking past Newton's car, which I had parked next to. Not too many showed this morning, and no one else on two wheels, even Reed had brought himself to breakfast with truck. As I said, it was a small group, and the conversation and meal didn't take too much time, and we all broke up for another week. I would head up back east on McCarty Street to...

Saturday, October 14th, 2006 So early in the week, I got an e-mail forwarded to me from Newton from another guy that has occasionally visited with us at Sunday Morning Breakfast. It was about a Chili Lunch, going on at the Shelbyville Airport. There was not a lot of info, so I assumed that it was at some kind of restaurant. I forward the e-mail to the masses, with a meeting place of the Thronton's near my house, and meeting time of 11:00 am. I was hoping the later meeting time would allow it to warm up enough for even the fair weather riders to take a chance. I said the meeting place was close, so at 10:55, I headed down to the fueling station in the parking lot of a K-Mart. I stayed seated on the bike under the sign advertising the gas price at $2.07; I didn't need gas. I had said that kickstands would be up at 11:15, and I waited until a little after that mark, put up the stand, and headed out alone. It wasn't a real scenic drive, most of the way, as I headed east o...

Sunday, October 8, 2006 Another Sunday Morning, and another Breakfast waiting for me at Shapiro's Deli Downtown. It is that time of the year when you can feel the Sundays left to ride for breakfast are getting numbered. Another chili start to the week. I rolled the bike out of the garage, windshield covered with bugs, except for a bright pink sticker on the front of the bike! I rolled out of the driveway, down to Washington Street, and into downtown. Another Colts game was being played today, against the winless Titans of Tennessee. I passed several tailgaters, and took a spot amount the other bike in line in the parking lot. I knew it was Wade's, and I could see Newton's car parked next to it. I was a little early. After food and some conversation, we all departed, with Carl and Jim leading the charge, as they were headed out to someplace for lunch. The rest of us had work to be done, so it would just be a trip home.

Saturday, October 7th, 2006 I will briefly mention Friday as a regular ride to work, just a warm up for today. A warm up would be a nice thing, also, as it started with the temps in the upper 30's. 8:00 am rolled around, and I headed out for the south side of town, and a Honda Motorcycle Dealership. This was the meeting place for today's ride. I had several RSVP's but I think that was before the reality of sub 40 degrees had hit. It took me a while to move through town to get to southside as the people in front of me wanted to stop at every light, and the other were so missed timed, there was no way to get through them. I think Beech Grove is working on a tourism campaign with there poorly timed lights on Emerson Avenue. As I was cruising down US 31, I could see my father up ahead. I was trying to catch him, as I knew he would make the wrong turn on Tracy Road up ahead. Apparently, they decided to change the numbering, but hadn't got it filtered through all the m...

Thursday, October 5th, 2006 When the gas prices were soaring, and they might yet again, you would hear people talking about car pooling, but no one has ever talked about motorcyclepooling. I guess between the fact that you can only get one other person on the bike, and the inherent dangers of motorcycling, there just isn't much interest. Today, coupled with the fact that Nina is going to pick up her new car, and that I have a Cruiser Club Meeting, we ended up motorcyclepooling to work. It was going to be a crisp day all day long, and that starts with the morning before the light of day has even stricken. Once again, I must admit to thinking that it would be a much better day with another hour, but time is something the state of Indiana will not get a good grasp on, I'm afraid. The thermometer was hanging in the middle fifties, and without any sunlight, it would feel chillier than any wind chill could do. We took off on the usual route. At Delaware, I would keep on heading...

Monday, October 2, 2006 I woke up after yesterday's long ride, ready to hit the road once again. Today, I was headed down to Columbus to work at Cummins, Incorporated. I like to get down there as soon as I can, so I took Shadeland Avenue south to I-465. I take the loop south and little west to the southeast side of town, and hit I-65. It would be 40 miles on the super slab, churning out the miles at about 65 miles per hour. US 31 south is where I take the ramp into the northside of Columbus. The Cummins Television Network Studios are on the north side of town. We had a busy show, lots of presenters, and not much on tape. I left the studios on a road called Indianapolis Road. I veered off at CR 550, and made way until I passed Simmon's Winery. After that, I decided to ignore, even defy the GPS for a while. I hit lot of roads I have never been on, some good some bad. When the trip odometer moved closed to 150 miles,I decided to plug in a town, New Palestine, and follow t...

Sunday, October 1, 2006 The weather had put damper on riding for several days, plus work on the house. Sunday I was determined to ride to Shapiro's for Breakfast, and from there, head to Bridgeton. Seventeen months ago, someone poured 10 gallons of gas on the covered structure built 140 years ago, and set it afire. All that remained were some steaming piles of timbers in Big Racoon Creek. I had to run a couple of errands on my way to Shapiro's Deli, so I took a different route. I went west on tenth street until Arlington which I took south. I turned west on Pleasant Run, which soon becomes Michigan Street, a one way street through downtown Indianapolis. I veered south west on Massachusetts Avenue, and eventually connected to Pennsylvania Street. I took Penn south to McCarty, which runs right past Shapiro's. After breakfast, we got up early, and four of us, Wade, Carl, Dave and I headed west for Bridgeton and Newport. We started on I-70 to I-465 on the west side of t...