The weekend before last I spent my birthday weekend teaching new instructors how to present the classroom portion of our program. This last weekend brought a bit of variety. One of the other things I do is conduct what we call Site Compliance Audits. Pretty much what it sounds like. A few of us do these. We have to assure the Oregon State Department of Transportation that we're teaching the same program throughout the state. Each site needs to be visited once each season.
We do a check of the sites and the supporting equipment which includes bikes, fire extinguishers, and so on. We also offer encouragement and guidance to the instructors as they continue their journey towards excellence.
So I found myself headed North. It was dry when I left but the farther North I went the wetter it got. Eighty miles from home and soaking wet. Great start!
Lunch is a simple affair. In a Bobskoot style portrait, minus the bare feet, you can see me enjoying a prepackaged chicken salad in the luxurious Che' Shipping Container.
A man had brought his own scooter for the class. Pretty snazzy looking!
This creature was a one - squirrel cheering squad for the students.
A couple of interesting window reflections of the students in the parking lot. I seem to be open to seeing these kind of things much more often these days.
This sort of scares me. A brand new BMW S1000RR. Ridden to class by a student in our Basic Training. Which means he wasn't endorsed. The worse part is that I saw him ride one of our training bikes. Even at the end of the course this rider was struggling. I'd watch him ride the perimeter and inexplicably downshift to first without the clutch. The bike would understandably lurch and cause him control issues.
The BMW has ABS and traction control. I sincerely hope they do their job for the guy. In fact, I pray he doesn't ride faster than his Guardian Angel can fly until he gets his skills together.
Here's a photo I made in an effort to copy the style of Steve Williams.
A good looking scooter purposely framed by the tree leaves. Maybe not a great imitation but at least I created a photo by design instead of happenchance!
The trip home was interesting. I'd decided to take pity on a Firstgear jacket that had been hanging neglected in the closet. The fact that it had a thick liner also helped in the choice. I took the long way home. No surprise there, I suppose.
When I left it was still raining and Elvira's temperature display indicated 63 degrees ( F ). Apparently it hadn't rained at all farther south. By the time I got south of Salem the sun was bright and the display showed 84 degrees!
Only on a bike do we get to experience the full variety of our surroundings. Cool, eh?
Next weekend I'm off to Central Oregon to do another audit. Katie's coming along. Can't wait to see what adventures we'll have.
Miles and smiles,
Dan
