Decided that with the outstanding weather forecast and a light schedule at work that I'd take the day off and spend it riding. Starting out my goal was just to make it from home (Edgerton) to LaCrosse and back. With a little bit of planning I decided to ride down the Eastern edge of Minnesota and Iowa before cutting back toward home.
As I hit the road I got to thinking about two things - Pride of Ownership and "Ride the hell out of it" - and decided I might try to make a reflective pictorial out of the trip.
Pride of Ownership is something that can be seen every day in how people keep their properties and/or their rides. I doesn't mean "cherry" or "perfect condition", but it does suggest a timeless quality of care. The first pic is of a Blacksmith shop in Brooklyn. It's an old building but reflects pride.
A few miles down Hwy 92 I saw these two cars for sale. The white Country Squire is similar to the car my parents used to haul us four kids in, although our was a station wagon. What a great car to haul the family from spot, to spot, to spot.
I have a friend who is a great golfer. Well, he was great when he could play all the time. But at the same time that he could finally afford the full set of Big Bertha's the second and then the third child came. So he had great equipment but couldn't play as much. The lesson I took from this was play (ride) the hell out of whatever you've got. I've been thinking a lot about an upgrade to a new FJR. But in the mean time I'm going to keep riding the hell out of the VFR!
This pic is a combination of the two. Dairy farmers have my utmost respect. It's a lot of hard work, 7 days a week. I could see the pride on this property and that they were "farming the hell out of it".
What do you do with the ugly old remnants of a dead tree?
The stuff at the Duluth Trading Post looks to be pretty high quality. I stopped and did a little early holiday shopping. The store in Mt. Horeb reminds me of the LL Bean store in Portland Me. Although it's quite a bit smaller.
I'm glad we've got the resources (had?) to place informational markers like this.
I'm a self taught guitarist. I'm just absolutely awful! I've got two guitars: a Washburn WD 32 SW I bought used and play the hell out of and a crappy Squire Strat that I love and play the hell out of. I took a wrong turn in LaCrosse and found myself here:
If you care about guitars you'll recognize this as Dave's Guitars. I estimated that they had $46 million in guitar inventory alone. (Warning - I tend to exaggerate.)
I made it to Minnesota for the first time on the VFR. Being a cheeshead it was kind of like looking in a mirror. That is to say beautiful!
When I was a kid this is what I imagined "work" meant. Working on a railroad with hand tools and heavy equipment.
Pride is sometimes shown through tributes. This one is a beauty if Ferryville Wi. (By the way - Hwy 35 was empty today. Few cars. Few trucks. Only bike I saw was mine.)
Finally, what's pride without a lion. Sorry, bad pun. I used to drink out of one of these when I was kid!
That's all folks. Back to work tomorrow!
