We apologize for the delay...

I've been waiting for over two years for the stars to align themselves such that I can visit the Black Mesa Ranch and Goat Dairy in northern Arizona. I simply need a Friday to ride up (an all day affair of several hundred delightful miles of scenic and fun motorcycle roads), a Saturday for all things goat cheese, and a Sunday to ride back (on a different and equally delightful route.) Bearing in mind that I am a symphony musician, how often do you think I have a Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, not to mention one that corresponds with the "third Saturday of select months" when the Ranch has their open house? My last chance was April, 2008, when a pipe broke in my house immediately before an impending mortgage appraisal. So much for THAT. This weekend was my next chance.

I had done the routine maintenance. I had chosen my routes. The bike was packed. I started it, and dragged it out of the back yard, and stopped it while I geared up in the shade. The usual lengthy procedure. Jacket on (riding pants go on before I drag the bike out), helmet on, oops forgot the headphones, helmet off, headphones on, helmet back on, sunglasses, gloves....

Click. (Check the clutch safety switch that sometimes sticks.)

Click.

Nothing.

This bike isn't starting again. Why did I not THINK to put it on the trickle charger one night this week, knowing that I had added water to the battery earlier, and then asked a lot from it, starting the bike over and over during that routine maintenance??? It's my own damn fault.

I am consoling myself tonight with a sunset walk up Tumamoc hill, pasta with walnut sauce, and a movie with popcorn. My bike is consoling itself with a loooong drink from the "Battery Tender." Incidentally, when I reached the top of Tumamoc hill, the view - the one I've thoughtlessly seen a thousand times or more - caught my eye. Those mountains, bursting forth from the desert valley floor - how lucky I am to live here!

The good news is, today is Thursday. So my side trip to Petrified Forest National Park is probably out, but all things willing*, I'll head out to the ranch first thing in the morning. Wish me luck.

*All things weren't willing, as I explain here.  So I did this, instead.