It's a great day to be alive!

There's a great country song by Travis Tritt with the same title as my post today. The reason I mention it is because I was humming it all day today while riding! There's one line that goes "I might take my old Harley for a three day cruise" that I was absolutely feeling today. Like a cowboy (or cowgirl) I could've rode off into the sunset on my Harley and been perfectly content!

My friend Dave works with me at the OTC and rides a sport bike. I usually get to work first and pick a spot and leave room for him to park in with me when he gets to work a little later in the day. It's a seemingly insignificant courtesy, but for bikers it's a huge camaraderie thing!

We've been working together and talking bikes for a year now but have never been able to ride together due to our conflicting schedules. His wife had other plans for the day, so we took advantage of a little down time and took to two wheels.

We took a route that I've ridden many times before with Whit, Bridie and Fred- Hwy 94 along the U.S/Mexico border to S1 that straddles Borrego Desert National Park and Cleveland National Forest. I started the day in a long sleeve fleece shirt as we rode the twisty desert Hwy 94 to Campo. At the foot Mt. Leguna, we stopped and I put on my jacket and gloves.

As we ascended in altitude to 6000 ft, the temp dropped but our speed certainly did not! As you can see from this picture of the stock pipe I removed from my bike after the ride today in order to put my after-market Rush pipes back on, I was leaning pretty heavily into the turns! I let Dave take the lead knowing that he was much more maneuverable in the turns on his Honda sport bike than I would be on my Sporty. Without a single car ahead of us, we pressed our handlebars into every turn of the twisty mountain road like it was made to be leaned into by riders on two wheels. I can't even describe the euphoria we felt as we pulled over half way into the 25 mile mountain road to high five and gloat over our good fortune of perfect weather, minimal traffic and great roads! Due to my incompetence of the day and forgetting my purse at the diner in Julian, we road the S1 mountain road three times today! The motorcycle Gods were smiling down on us!

I've had a lot on my mind lately and have felt weighted down by the responsibilities of a working grown-up, but today reminded me that the raw sensory experiences that comprise everyday are the things that make my spirit light. Today was a great day to be alive!