Pine Tree's and FTW,,I got it.......

Doing a start up on something your about clueless about can be fun,,if your into self inflicted whips and chains that is..Meetings and paper work and then more meetings so you have some more stuff to do cause you have no idea..I did find a printer I think will work good group of people who seems to care..So to celebrate I hit the Starbucks and sat back and relaxed..Got a call..Nothing bad but got me thinking. I headed back to the home office to do some more, you got it paper work..

Mind was drifting a little more than it normally does and I keep catching glimpses of the sleds in the driveway..about three I gave up and grab a set of keys, the Tangerine I need some seat time to think things through..didn't ride over the weekend for the first time in awhile better crank it up and get some wind..

I live about forty five minute from one of the most amazing sites on the planet and I never got the time to go stand and admire it..so it becomes clear I need to go...Headed up Highway 180 toward the gates of Sequoia National forest..Now riding the Tangerine the first thing you would think is here goes on of those balls to the wall rides up the hill and maybe I was thinking that way at the start..Didn't work out that way at all..

About half way up the hill I pulled into the last good gas stop and topped off, had a water. Dunlop has grown since my last visit but so has everything..Head on up the hill and as I pass Snowline lodge at about 5000 feet above sea level I hit the pines..the smell of pines at 60 brings my senses to life..a part of bring a rider only others who ride understand..I roll to the gates of this mountain heaven and pay my ten bucks to get it..hey we can only hope it is that easy..LOL

First stop and site are the big trees, Giant Redwoods, the nations Christmas tree the General Grant..If you have never seen it or heard of it that the time to google it..one of the wonders of the world..I can still stand in awe of it,,well I did yesterday anyway..still in need of some more road time I get to thinking it's been many moons since I pulled up some sand at Hume Lake and I point the Sled that way and roll it on..

Hume was a summer norm growing up, spent many a day exploring it in my youth..small and quaint,,just big enough when your 10 or 12 to keep you in search mood..today it is one place I can say has survived the urban growth bomb,,it is still the same today as I remember it from my youth..got to do this trip more often..better get rolling back and find some road grub. Roll back out of the park and head down the hill..at the 245 sign I decide a burger at the mountain house would be a good end to a great ride..I'm relaxed for the first time in few weeks, not pushing hard but soaking it in today..

Belly full I head back the direction of the Casa..Thinking things through and searching for prospective here is what I came to realize today..The smell of fresh pines from the seat at sixty still lights up my senses and brings simple pleasure, I need to feel the coarse sand on the beach at Hume Lake more often, the Mountains house still has great burgers, the young riders that hang out there brought me a smile..They normally annoy me but today I figured that one out..They are me twenty five years ago, got the world by the balls, don't care and let it be known..good luck boys there are some hard lessons out there..I didn't figure out the things in life I have never been able too..and FTW does mean Feel The Wind..ride on friends..

Rat..