Catching Up

Well, despite the lack of blog postings in the past weeks, I have been out and about.
We took a 51-mile journey from Long Beach around the Palos Verdes peninsula, via Pacific Coast Highway. It wasn't terrible! Actually, once we got off PCH and on to the road that circles Palos Verdes, it was a lovely ride. We had beautiful views of the ocean and Catalina Island. We took a break at a lookout point for a quick snack and to give my hands a break.
On the way home, we took the 110 for a few miles, until my hands went to sleep from the vibration. Yikes! We got off ASAP, and I killed the bike at the stop sign at the bottom of the off-ramp, due to my hands not functioning.
We got off on a little side street, I shook off the needles, and we got back on PCH for the rest of the way home.
Soon after, The Male ordered me a set of vibration-reduction hand grips, with a throttle rocker, a little platform that enables you to control speed by pressing it with your palm. I call them my "old-lady grips." Now, I'm just waiting for my new boots with the rubber soles, which will hopefully cut the vibration to my feet. That vibration at higher speeds is the main reason I am steering clear of the freeways for now.
And, then to continue the tradition of holiday rides, we went out on Memorial Day, too. Friends had invited us to their annual Memorial Day Pool Party and BBQ, the The Male decided we should ride there.
So, we packed up the saddle bags with clothes to change into (from riding gear) and our picnic food to share and barbecue, and bungee-strapped our folding lawn chairs to the ST's back seat. Which we discovered, isn't a good idea, as the chairs stuck out on either side of the bike in direct line with his rear view mirrors.
I tried to sneak in and out without drawing too much attention to the fact that we had ridden our bikes there. But, all that was thwarted as we were leaving and a friend made an announcement, " Hey, they're leaving; let's go watch."
I was just praying that if we dilly-dallied around long enough they would all go back inside, which almost succeeded. We had trouble getting our headsets synced, and all but three of my friends went back to the action. As soon as I started my bike, three heads popped up from behind a truck.
Sigh.
At least I didn't drop it on my way out...