Back from a trip to California and a recap for last week.

Four day trip, short visit to re-acquaint the boys with their paternal grandparents as the last visit had been three years ago.

San Francisco remains a crowded and congested city full of "interesting" characters.  We drove through it from the SFO airport across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County.  My folks live in Novato you see, and they don't travel much anymore so they don't want to fly to Colorado; even on my dime.

The visit, I must say, went better than expected.  My folks actually engaged the boys in conversation and told some short stories of me as a kid.  Here's a a now and then pic:

March 24, 2018

March 27(?), 2015

Of course, a bit of negative karma before the trip.  Miles was struck at an intersection by a left-turning idiot the day before the flight; and the car is going to be most likely totaled.  Miles is fine, just a little sore he says.

Waiting on the "official" decision from the insurance company but the auto collision people suspect it's going to be "totaled".  Sigh, Miles just got the 2014 Ford Focus back in January of this year too.  Again, heavy sigh.  

On the positive side, he was unhurt.  On the negative side....must go car shopping again, pay off the existing loan with whatever monies the insurance company comes up with, cover the gap since we foolishly didn't get gap insurance and on and on and on.  Arrrrggghhh.

In the meantime, Miles is now signed for a rental car.  Costs are covered by the insurance company so there's that.  Yep, apparently an 18 year old can rent a car under these special conditions.

Recap continues:  First Sunset of Spring.

 Fiona, my '99 Bural

 Denver Skyline, capital of the Stoner State

 Mount Evans

March 22 Sunset....a little better

 Stoner State capital spotlit by a sun beam

The boys and I are very glad to be back in Colorado.  Side note, don't use Frontier Airlines, their customer service sucks, their seats suck on board their planes and the flight attendant dropped a bad on Miles and didn't even apologize; just meandered away to continuing looking at all of us with baleful eyes full of suspicion.

Here's some pics of the sunset as the plane made its way east from SFO:

Miles and Ken's first sidecar lesson plus a sunset with Brigitta

We took both my Ural Sidecar Rigs out to the nearby high school parking lot; empty since they're on Winter Break.

It was Miles (my youngest son) and Ken P. a fellow Rounder Rider practicing riding the sidecars and learning to lift the chair on purpose.

Not many pics or much video taken, was busy relaying instructions to Miles via the Sena Bluetooth Intercoms and ensuring Ken and Daimler (his German Sheperd and a natural at being the monkey) were doing good as well.

Thing 2, driving a rig for the first time.

Fellow Yearroundrider Ken P and his monkey: Daimler

Daimler looks pretty relaxed for his first sidecar ride!

Later on, I rode Brigitta to the usual sunset picturing spot and got some decent shots of her in the light of a pretty good sunset.

A very short video of both riders.  I should have shot more but was concentrating on making sure they got comfortable "flying the chair" on purpose and not.

Riding with Brigitta and Miles

Saturday's riding, yesterday, turned out to be pretty mellow affairs.

First was a midday ride down towards the junction of CO Hwy 83 and County Road 11 aka Lake Gulch Road.

Near this junction, there's a dirt road leading one southwest to a nice spot to try for long distance/long depth of field shots of Pikes Peak and one's motorcycle.  The light was not right to illuminate Pikes Peak itself unfortunately but Brigitta and I made do.

 Pikes Peak: America's Mountain

Mount Evans from Inspiration Road

Got home after 3:00 PM and worked on the post-processing required for the above shots.  I'll have to wait for the right light and more snow on the mountain conditions for another attempt.

Miles, my youngest son, came home from his part-time work at the local Target department store and we both went out riding.  He on Brigitta, my '87 BMW R80 and yours truly on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol sidecar rig.

Just a short ride to check out his planned parking spot at the local high school and some reinforcement training for safe riding.  We then rode to my usual sunset watching spot and parked the motorcycles in time for a gorgeous sunset.

 Miles pulled off a "heroic pose" better than I.

 He looks like one of those models in the rider magazines

doesn't he?  :)

 The Girls

A good Colorado sunset with Miles

We left earlier than I would have normally, missing out on the rest of the sunset but it was Miles' first night ride and I wanted at least a little bit of light in the sky as we motored home.

So, a good day of riding exercise for Brigitta, a bit of riding experience building for Miles and a good sunset; what more could one ask for right?

Like Father like Son?

Back in 2009, I was working in the garage and my youngest son Miles who was 9 at the time, was "helping" me.

Back then, it was Maria, my 2004 BMW R1150RT, that was my sole motorcycle.

After we buttoned her up, Miles asked about being able to ride a motorcycle...even though he couldn't reach the pegs on Maria.

The full details here on the blog link:  LINK

Since then, I'd not given the above conversation much thought.  When asked about riding by Miles after he'd gotten his driving license, I told him: Make it through two years of car driving without an accident and we'll see.

Well, it's been over two years and no accidents per se.  His car has been hit twice, in a minor manner, in parking lots but that doesn't count.

So this past Sunday, Miles swung a leg over a motorcycle at the Basic Rider Course given by T3RG; the same folks who trained me over 11 years ago.

Here's some snippets from Monday, when I stopped by before lunch:

Dang it, he can reach the pedals now....

We're now in the process of getting him his own, proper, riding gear and helmet because he will be ATGATT, or else.

Tuesday afternoon after work, Miles and I went out for a diagnostic ride.  He rode Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer and I followed behind him on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol sidecar rig.  We were using the Sena intercom headsets to communicate as I gave him instructions and advise when needed.

I wanted to see how well he'd absorbed the material from the BRC and I must say he did pretty well actually.  Some rookie mistakes but nothing major and he learned a few things I think.

Best of all, he didn't drop Brigitta!

More such rides to follow, both to increase his and my confidence levels on his ability to ride safely.  We're looking for his own motorcycle of course, something at 500cc or a bit lower for insurance and power purposes.

He wore my regular riding gear until we get him his own, and he'll be sporting a full face helmet and real moto boots very soon!

Number One Son graduates High School

27MAY16

Big day for my oldest son, Patrick.  He graduated from Eaglecrest High School today, with the commencement ceremony held at the Richey Center on the Campus of Denver University.

It was a big graduating class, I think around 600 students!  The families of the students, of course added to the massive crowd that gathered for the event.

Patrick at his Kindergarten Graduation

and now a High School Graduate

 pre-ceremony pic of my sons....

 Like me, Patrick doesn't enjoy having his picture taken.

 Laura (Martha's sister), God-Mom Terri K. and Martha

 Younger son Miles played his viola in the orchestra providing 

music entertainment during the event

one more to go.....

Here's a very short video of the 90+ minute commencement ceremony.  Patrick did great we thought and now he moves on to the next phase of his life.