Travelin' Man Day 8

Well, today proved to be pretty interesting for the fellas.  I think they must have went into this trip with the intention of experiencing every kind of condition possible this time of year.  If so, they succeeded. They left in good weather to go ride US 129 aka The Dragon. This is the famous road in North Carolina with 318 curves in 11 miles. Bikers everywhere love to challenge themselves on this road. Things were good and the roads were dry. When they were riding the Dragon the rain started coming down.  They made it to Deals Gap and as it got steadier, they considered their options.

This is what they were looking at. 

Rather than take the longer way around, they decided to go back through the Dragon and therefore take the shorter albeit more treacherous way back.  Now this is what has happened to some of the bikes on this road if you think I'm just being dramatic. And these were probably not in the rain.

 They call this the tree of shame in Deals Gap. On the way back the conditions just seemed to get worse.  It was rainy and foggy.  Their windshields and glasses kept fogging up.  They said the Foothills Parkway was the toughest riding they had ever done. Now that's saying a lot considering Steve and Ironman have been through two tropical storms before. At one point Steve was going a bit slower because of the fogged up glasses and got behind. Rodney pulled over to wait on him and between the steep downhill grade and the momentum, the bike went over in the gravel. It kind of scared Steve when he came around the curve and saw that. There was a car there by him and he thought they might have hit him, but they had just stopped to help him get his bike up.  In the end horse and rider were both fine.  Rodney had a skinned up arm and helmet. His chariot had a broke turn signal, bent foot peg and brake assembly. They had to make some quick roadside repairs which is also miserable in those weather conditions and then they were off again.  They were back at their room by 1:30 and ready to dry out and put their feet on the ground for awhile. If you'd like to see some pictures of their adventure, there are many photographers on that road most days. Here is a link to one. store.129slayer.com Look for them in the 9:45 and 11:45 time slots. And here's a another for now. 

 Even with all that rain gear he still got wet. I'm just glad my knight in shining (wet) armor conquered that dragon again. And I hope if he tries the challenge a third time (actually fourth since he did it twice today), that it will be on a dry road. 

Travelin' Man Day 7

Now if you're a rider, these are the kind of days that show what you're made of. I'll tell you right up front. I'm not made of that much and therefore I chose to just write about this trip. They left Champaign, IL with the goal of the Smoky Mountains in mind. There was a chance of rain everywhere in their path. Plus that's a heck of a long way to go on a motorcycle. Now it's true that they went at least that far on their first day, but nobody said it was fun.  And they weren't worried about rain that day.  Both bikes were running good today though and both the riders were in high spirits, so off they went. They managed to thread the needle again and miss the rain. They got wet from the knees down when they hit Louisville, KY, but that was just because the roads were wet.  They dried out in no time when the sun came out again. The best riding all day according to them was the interstate between Berea, KY and Knoxville, TN.  They loved this road. They made it to Pigeon Forge with 520 miles under their belt for the day and this view from their room. 

Now that's what you call dodging a bullet.  Or a rain suit.  Regardless, they couldn't leave well enough alone.  They tempted fate again by making a liquor run and that's when they got wet. At least they didn't have to go far. Plus I have to admit that it was worth it for this. 

 So drink up guys.  You earned a good scotch after that day.  Next stop is the Dragon.  Wonder if the weather will cooperate as well this time. 

Travelin' Man Day 6

This was the last day in Iowa, but it was a good one. First stop was the National Motorcycle Museum.  This was one of the main reasons they chose this destination and they were not disappointed. Now Steve has been to the Harley museum in Milwaukee, but there aren't too many Harley riders I know that have always been exclusive to the brand.  Even I started on a Kawasaki and was kicked off a Yamaha on my maiden voyage as a driver.  The point is most motorcycle riders have a diverse brand background. Therefore a museum that covers all brands is a very appealing place to a rider that wants to take a walk through motorcycle history. This ended up being a walk down memory lane for both of the guys. 

Here we have Rodney by a '72 Yamaha 350. (All you moms out there may want to skip this next part.) When he was 16, he rode one just like this that was purple and white along with his friend Bo (who was on a Honda 350 Scrambler) from Vicksburg, MS to Panama City, FL. (My son is 14 *shudder*) 

Now Steve is standing by his original Ironman. This is a Honda Trail 70. It's the same color and everything as the one Steve started riding when he was 11.  Another frightening thought for moms out there I know.  At least he was mostly under adult supervision.  There were plenty more bikes to see and they got many pictures, but we don't want to spoil the fun for any of the rest of you out there who want to visit and find your own memories.  After leaving the museum, they enjoyed another piece of history.  They stayed outside this one though. 

 It was the Iowa State Peniteniary in Anamosa.

This facility was built in 1880 with other parts being added through the years. Interesting that you don't see any razor wire even though the prison is still in use. I'm proud to say that both guys managed to get away without being detained, but I also know that they both have fast bikes too.  It was time to move on at this point, so good bye to Iowa until another time. Our adventurers started heading south.  They were riding into a headwind for most of the day which any rider knows can be exhausting as well as hard on your mileage.  Also along the way, a truck decided to share part of his load with the road and it hit and cracked Rodney's new fairing. I've got a few names for morons like that who can't keep their loads to themselves, but I like to keep this a family friendly blog. They managed 303 miles though before safely parking in Champaign, IL for the night. Tomorrow could be interesting depending on what the weather decides to do. Stay tuned. 

Travelin' Man Day 5

So finally they made it to their destination. All the riding, rain and breakdowns were for this moment.  How do you make sure you get the most out of it? You make sure you are part of the first 20 bikes there and get front row parking. 

Here's a pic later in the day to give you perspective. 

You name it in the motorcycle world and it was probably there. They got to see stunt riders and TV stars. There was free food and free installation of parts bought.  They both won door prizes for riding over 1000 miles to get there.  Rodney took advantage of the free installation to get a fairing on his bike.  I guess I know who will be riding lead now! 

Now first stop tomorrow will be the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa. After that, with a new stator and new fairing, who knows? These guys could show up anywhere, so keep a look out. 

Travelin' Man Day 4

Well, even though this day started out with Iron Man in the shop, it ended much better. Rodney got the part right away and the guys were able to get started on their work in no time. No here is a sight you don't see often. Somebody else working on something Steve owns, but most especially his bike. 

They were done with the bike by 12:30. Big shout out to  Chipp's Harley Davidson in Osceola, IA. They really went the extra mile to help Steve get back on the road. Even fed the guys lunch. They treated them as well as our local dealer Chunky River in Meridian, MS treats us. 

Now on to Anamosa! This day was not a long day. Only 173 miles. Of course about 70 of those were into a 35 mph head wind and another 25 in pouring rain. Trust me it doesn't matter how much rain gear you have on. Riding in the rain is miserable. They made it to their room by 5. Iron Man ran great all day. Now all they needed was a hot shower and to dry out. 

That room isn't a mess because two guys are staying in it. It's because every surface is draped with something that needs to dry out. The whole place smelled like wet leather. That's not nearly as pleasant a smell as dry leather.  I imagine they both slept like babies this night because they knew they finally made it. And the next day they would be at J&P Cycles 34th annual rally. Albeit a day late. 

Travelin' Man Day 3

Well, we'll put this day down as the shortest day of riding so far. About 80 miles into this day Iron Man (Steve's bike) began rebelling against the heat. It started with speedometer quitting, then there were a couple of hiccups and nothing. The charging system was kaput. Thank goodness for HOG roadside assistance. It still took over an hour for the tow truck though. So what's a guy to do?

Enjoy God's beautiful creation and man made technology of course. At least it wasn't raining. After the tow truck arrived, Steve got a nice smooth ride to the nearest Harley dealer in Osceola, IA.

The owner of the dealer and the head tech guy stayed a bit overtime on a Friday night to check out the bike and determine that the stator had went bad. (Love these guys already and I've never even met them. Can't imagine the dealer in Jackson, MS would even consider that.) The game plan was for Rodney to go to Des Moines first thing in the morning for the part.  Hopefully they'd be on the road by lunch.  Until then all they could do was find a hotel.  So why not find one in sight of the dealer? If you know Steve, you know he's not going to let even the building his bike's in very far out of his sight.

So on day 3 they only made it as far as Osceola, IA rather than the destination of Anamosa, IA.  But you know what they say? It's not the destination, it's the journey. 

Travelin' Man Day 2

So day 2 went much smoother than the first. After 534 miles in one day it was time for an easier day. Of course the first order of business was a new battery. That took two trips to get the right one. (How silly you are to think they'd give him the right one first on this trip!)  Weather was a concern on this day. They were ready with their rain gear, but it was barely a problem. They just hit enough to get the bikes a little dirty. That alone is enough to make Steve's eye twitch but somehow they managed to thread their way through the dry patches of the thunderstorms all day.  They arrived safely in Maryville to a steak dinner and a cold beer. 263 miles down today and even got 45 mpg from one tank. Maybe things are looking up.  I'll leave you with pics of one of the ones they visited in Eldon. This is Cocoa aka Sidewinder because of the cast. (Yes, my uncle Dan has a sick sense of humor. I come by it rightly.) No worries though. Cocoa was born with a bum leg and the vet thinks the cast will straighten it.  As you can see the dog just loves her too.  Remember when you're traveling, don't forget to stop and smell the donkeys! 

Travelin' Man

So he's off again!  Now he didn't leave in a tropical storm like his last big trip, but the trip has been fraught with problems.  He left last night and went to his biker buddy's house which is north of us and the direction they are going.  That part of the trip was smooth.  Then this morning when they left for the biggest part of their trip, it started with a dead bike.  No, it wasn't the Harley!  It was the Honda! It had to be jumped off at the house before they left and then again at McDonalds after breakfast.  Well, OK now maybe it'll be fine.  The battery will charge up from driving.  Sure until the bike runs out of gas.  Apparently the battery problems messed with the fuel light.  A friend brought them gas and they're off again.  Should be smooth sailing from here on out.  What else could possibly happen?  Oh yeah!  A bee can fly in the back of your shirt while you're driving.  That's what happened to Steve and stung him three times before he got pulled over to get it out.  At that point the flagman for road construction stopped them and they got a unexpected 30 minute break.  Nice!  Thanks ADOT!  Things seem to go uphill from here.  Lunch break, water stops and rest stops.  Life is good.  Just the bike and the road...and a dead battery 30 miles from the daily destination. What the what! (And yes it was the Harley this time)  Push starting 600 pounds when you've been riding all day is not a good thing.  A cold beer would have been much more appropriate.  They did finally make it though.  They are alive and well enough in Eldon, MO tonight.  A trip that should have taken 9 hours by car and maybe 10 by motorcycle turned into around 12 1/2.  That's part of the adventure though.  Next stop  Maryville, MO.  Let's see what tomorrow will bring.  

Revival?

Is it crazy to try to revive a blog in the middle of your busiest time of year?  Maybe. It's amazing what a little coffee along with a requirement to blog for your job can do.  As I typed in the info from yesterday's program onto our system's blog, I asked myself why I haven't done this for myself in about four years.  Anyone who knows me knows I have a lot to say.  Let's see if I actually start saying some of it.  I wonder if there's an app for this....

Summer

Summer means many things to many people. Right now for me it means that it is almost too hot to ride my motorcycle. Notice I said almost. Last Saturday when the thermometer said 101 as we rode through town, my husband and I put 150 miles on our bikes. I liken it to riding into a giant blow dryer. There is enough wind to dry the sweat but not to cool you off enough to keep from sweating. It's a unique experience. Even my husband who is what I would call one step below hard core considering his years of experience and the two tropical storms he has rode through, said "I'm not doing this again." I called him a wuss under my breath. Of course I didn't do it out loud because I'm not even on the bottom rung of the hard core ladder. I would do it again though. The main reason being that if I don't I may not get to ride again until next September. That is unacceptable. There are too many stessors in life to not be able to enjoy my main stress reliever.

Which brings me to the next thing summer means for librarians everywhere. Summer reading programs! Yes, they are stressful. Especially when you are in a single person branch and you have to deal with about 20 or more people wanting to check out at the same time. And you have to remember that most of these people can't see over the desk and are used to my undivided attention when they come into the library. They can't possibly understand that there are other library children in my life. Sometimes the preschool ones look at me like I'm cheating on them when I use my silly, fun voice on another child. It is very interesting. But for all the stress there is so much joy. Every library should be filled with children at least a few times a year if not every time it is open. It breathes life into it. And with that breath of life, it leaves behind a whirlwind of unshelved and misshelved books. Oh well! At least they are using the books. That's what will keep our doors open for years to come.

I leave you with a video from our program this week. We had a bagpiper. In an effort to stay with the artsy theme "Be Creative" this summer I invited local musicians to do a couple of programs. I tried to find instruments they may not have heard played live before. I definitely succeeded this time. Our piper was Zoe Brumfield from Forest. She did a beautiful job explaining the instrument and her garb and what it all means and how it works. The children and adults were all fascinated. It was a big hit. And that my friends is what it's all about.

All-Time Favorite

Here is what I guess is turning into my monthly post. Most of you know that one of my favorite past times is reading to children. I love story time, but I also go and read to kindergartners at the school at least once a week and I read to other groups whenever a teacher asks. Sometimes it's difficult coming up with books that you enjoy reading and that the kids enjoy listening to as well. I always try to find new books to share with them, but in the end everyone who reads to kids has the old favorites they fall back on. This is mine. Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley. I started reading this book when it came in my library five years ago when my son was in kindergarten. It was an immediate hit. (Back then I was still on the back of a bike, by the way.) I had to read the book more than once that year to my son's class. Since then it has always been a hit with whatever age group to whom I read it. The premise is a boy and a girl telling a story together for a class project. Of course it goes wildly different directions according to which one is telling it. At the end I always ask who liked the girl's or boy's story better. Inevitably, there are girls (like me) who prefer the boy's story to the girl's (blech!), but every once in a while there will be a shy little boy who raises his hand because he likes the girl's story better. I respect that in a man. I got a surprise this winter though when I subbed for my son's class for a couple of days. Of course, I brought books to read to them when we had time. What surprised me is that several of them asked for the motorcycle book. They were shocked that I didn't bring it. I thought for sure these grown up fourth graders were way too mature for a book that I had read to them in kindergarten. They were genuinely disappointed though, so of course I went to the library and brought it the next day. They were so happy. It also felt good to have my 30 seconds of being the cool mom. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll be reading this book to them as seniors. A librarian can dream, right?

Right place at the right time

We recently went to Florida for my son's spring break. It was time for a vacation and there is nothing that relieves stress more than screaming at the top of your lungs on a roller coaster. I mean there are many times I've felt like doing that, but nowhere else is it considered acceptable. Try that in Wal-Mart some time and see what happens. Anyway, while we were there we got to see an awesome sight. There was a space shuttle launch. I have been to Florida on numerous occasions and never had it coincide with this event. What makes it even more significant is the fact that there are very few of these left to take place. We knew the launch was around 7:30. We were at Universal's theme parks which closed at 7. We then made our way to the roof of the parking garage and waited. It was well worth the wait. Even though it was a good hour's drive away, we had no trouble seeing it and enjoying it. We ran into some other people there for the same thing. One couple we were talking to was from Canada and they said that the top of this parking garage was where they were told to go for the best view. And to think my Steve thought of that all on his own. I knew there was a reason I married him.

This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. For us, it was a once in a lifetime memory. We got to see it, enjoy it, photograph it and we didn't even have to sit in the three and a half hour traffic back from coast where it launched from. (Deep satisfied sigh...)

Staff Development gone awry.

Now I know there are a lot of cute pictures out there from our staff development in November. I have a post of one of them on this blog and there are more on my fellow CMRLSers' blogs. I just wanted to take a moment and share one of my favorite pictures from the day. Now I have not been able to identify who or what this is exactly. Perhaps you could help me. I have some theories. Whenever a lot of us women get together, health problems usually come up, so perhaps this was an attempt at a close up of someone's melanoma. There is also the possibility that it is some part of the decorations. Maybe a broken branch. An ant in a ten gallon cowboy hat and all we can see is the hat. It doesn't appear to be anything obscene. I'm positive about that since we have not added an open bar to the catering at our staff development yet. (Notice I said yet because I add that to the bottom of my suggestion sheet every year.) Maybe it is a black-eyed pea from lunch although I don't think that was on the menu that day. It could just be a scab, but don't ask me how I got a picture of that. All I know is that these accidental shots are usually a lot more fun than the planned ones. Let's see what you guys can come up with. Don't let me down!

Yelp!

I don't know how to begin this tale of woe. It starts out simple with such good intentions and ends miserably. I keep a bucket of water with Mr. Clean or something similar in it under my desk for cleaning the unmentionable books that often arrive at the desk. Today, I reached for the Handi Wipe in the bucket to wring it out and thought I felt something. Then, as I was cleaning the book, I moved the rag and there was a huge, albeit dead, cockroach (hear the Psycho music that is playing in my head right now for dramatic effect) stuck to the rag. I didn't really scream like a girl because I'm really a tomboy. I'd call it more of a yelp. After several seconds of doing the creeped - out shake, I retrieved it and placed it in the trash. Now the moral to this is not don't clean the books. Although I have to admit, that was my first inclination. Just check the bucket before you put your hand in. My question is why do roaches like the library so much? Should I call MLC reference and ask them? It doesn't seem to matter if the building is old or new, they still seem to show up. I even found one in the paper tray of my printer one day. (That definitely earned a yelp because it was alive.) I mean it's a library, not a grocery store. I know they can live like a year off the glue of a stamp or something crazy like that, but what are they living on here. I guess Mr. Clean when I'm not looking. The only food here is in the refrigerator or sealed containers. What's an entomophobic librarian to do?

Energy

I have heard through the grapevine that I don't post enough. Then I saw that it had been three weeks since I was on here and realized that they were right. So maybe I'll try to post more often no matter how trivial the material. I know I've talked about story time joys. I just can't emphasize enough the energy that comes from dealing with children. Every Monday I go to the school and read to three kindergarten classes. I have never left the school in a bad mood. I always try to pick a fun book. It's as much for me as them. Today I read Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long. It's so much fun to do a pirate voice and watch their faces as they try to figure out which coins they need to make 27 cents. (I always ask them questions like that from the story. It legitimizes me being there.) I don't know though maybe it's just the ego trip. When you walk in the door and hear twenty kids go "It's Miss Selena!" or "Library Lady", I have to tell you it makes you feel like a rock star. I smile and say,"Hey guys! How are you doing today?", but in my mind I'm thinking "And the crowd goes wild!" Needless to say, I highly recommend volunteering at the school.

Storytime joys

I think one of my favorite parts of my job is storytime. Don't get me wrong. I hate planning it but I love implemeting it. Where else can you dance around and look goofy and you fit in without having to drink any alcohol? Also no one makes fun of my singing. It's awesome! It's like "Where were you people when I was in high school and I needed a self-esteem boost?" Anyway, yesterday I got the best of both worlds. I had to fill in for a fellow librarian and do storytime for her. All I had to do was the implementation part of it. That rocks! I had nine children to play with and we had a blast. Now I knew most of the children since I have done storytime there before, but there is one little girl in particular that I want to focus on for a moment. I've known her since birth since her older brother is in my son's class. When she was a baby, she loved me and then it took an ugly turn somewhere around 18 months and she didn't want anything to do with me. She wouldn't look at me or talk to me and don't even think about holding her. Please! She is almost three now. Yesterday at storytime everything changed. It was like she suddenly discovered a new toy. She wanted to dance with me and help me keep my hair out of my eyes. When it was time to color she wanted me to put her name on her paper and then mine too. Then she pointed at it and said, "That says Miss Selena". When they were walking out the door, she ran back to me behind the desk and said "I want to kiss you." Now at first I thought she said, "I want to kick you" since that is kind of how she felt about me in the recent past. When I got over the initial shock, I leaned over for her to plant a sloppy kiss on my cheek and then she ran out the door saying, "Bye, Miss Selena. I love you." Now that to me is worth more than any paycheck you can get. I will still be a little wary of her for a while to make sure this friendship thing is going to stick. Now that it has gotten started though it could very well be lifelong.

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted on here. Not that I have a ton of followers that are dying to know about my life, but I do hate to lose the few I have. If you have been following this blog, you know that back in October I went to the MLA conference in Natchez, MS. It was very informative and fun. An added bonus was getting to learn about a few sights in Natchez that I haven't gotten to see before. For our anniversary this year (19 years if you are keeping track) my husband and I took our motorcyles to Natchez and St. Francisville, LA. It was a lot of fun and I'm posting a few of the pictures from our trip. We got to visit some of the places I heard about at MLA. Steve said he enjoyed having a tour guide. Also I don't know if it is just me or if it is all librarians, but I love to stop at libraries in other places. I got to visit the St. Francisville library on our trip. The librarian there was so nice and they had a little lagniappe. There was a cat. She wasn't an official library cat, but she did allow me to hold her for a picture by the sign. I guess she's official now. It made me wish I had a library cat in Lake. Maybe someday... Sigh...

Whoops!

I just read on another friend of mine's blog about her library goof, so I thought I would share one of mine. I have been helping out at another branch lately that is a man down right now. A lot of my time is spent at the circ desk because that's where it is the busiest of course. This also includes helping people on the computer. I had been working on something in the back and walked back out to the desk and a lady looks at me from her computer and points at her screen and asks, "How do I get this off the screen?" Now I'm used to computer illiteracy, so I just said "Click on the little red X in the top right hand corner." I thought that was pretty easy. Then a minute later she comes up to me at the desk and smiles and says, "So did it print?" I imagine you can guess the rest. As I said I'm used to computer illiteracy, but this took it to a whole new level. She was nice at least when I had to explain to her that she had to type it again because it was gone forever. It also taught me a valuable lesson in asking exactly what people need before I tell them how to exit.

This is a stick up!

Well, times are getting hard everywhere. Sometimes it makes people do things that they wouldn't normally do. It also makes them resort to extreme measures. Well, here we caught on film a normally mild mannered librarian holding up the library board members of her system. Apparently, she was unhappy with her pay/work ratio. She was demanding a raise, which in this economy is just unheard of, so you can already tell she wasn't in her right mind. Rumor has it that she has been watching a lot of westerns and reading books in the suspense genre that focus on crime. Another thing going through the grapvine is that she forgot to take her medicine. We don't know if any of these things are true, but we are happy to report that the employees of her system received a 4% pay raise. We can't say if it is from her efforts or not. We suspect it is from the hard work of the bodacious director of their system, but don't tell her that. That may be what puts her over the edge. We wouldn't want to be responsible for any more incidents of violence.

My purpose!

OK We've all been there as librarians or teachers or mothers. It's the reading milestones. I had a young teenager who has been coming to my library since he was a young child and somehow I just didn't notice how he was growing up. He is homeschooled and he is not quite a reluctant reader but not exactly the voracious reader that his older sisters are. They are the kind that will read ingredients if they don't have anything else to read. He is a bit more of a challenge as most boys are. Well, he's moved from the juvenile section to the YA section in natural progression but still can't find anything he wants. I offered to help him one day and he turned me down and wanted to browse. A few heavy sighs later, I asked him again. He said he just couldn't find anything, so I asked him how old he was. He said 14 or 15. I can't remember exactly, but I thought back to myself at his age and told him what the problem was. I said, "Dude, have you ever thought that maybe it's time to step across the library into a new section to look for books?" He gave me a confused look. I told him, "It's called adult fiction." He wouldn't be bought. I told him that all adult books (like his sisters like to read) don't have to be thick and complicated. He likes mysteries and Sherlock Holmes and whatnot so I showed him Agatha Christie and Dick Francis. Not too thick. Very involving. He still wasn't sure so I left him alone in the stacks to look with instructions not to show up at the desk until he found something. Well, he came back with an Agatha Christie and a very thick Sherlock Holmes book. I didn't say anything. I just checked them out and told him that I hoped he would enjoy them. Well, the books came back today via his sister. I asked her if he read them. She said yes. I perked up and asked if he had read the very thick Sherlock book too. She said yes. She told me that he was driving her nuts following her around telling her all the cool things going on in the books that she wouldn't believe. She said, "I told him, 'Why don't you go tell Ms. Selena?'" I broke out in a giant grin and looked at her and dabbed my eyes and said, "Our little boy has hit a milestone". She said "Is there any coffee left?" Another one of my patrons is stepping into the world of adult fiction and hopefully will turn into another lifetime patron. I may have a job for another generation after all.,