2017

Apparently making up for lost time now, my neighbor Tony sends out word of another autumn ride, this time to the south. I RSVP in the positive once I’ve secured permission from the boss.

Our motorcycles maybe thought we’d retired but no, the hiatus is over. My neighbor Tony and I pull the bikes out to spend a day riding narrow trails through evergreen Idaho mountains.

On the third and fourth days of our annual Brother Ride, we leave the beautiful campsite along the shore of high mountain Big Trinity Lake with plans to descend to historic Atlanta, Idaho, then venture on trails unknown to camp along the North Fork of the Boise River before returning home.

On the second day of our tenth annual ride, my brothers and I descend from Lava Mountain for gas before heading deeper into the mountains. At least that’s the plan. Mountains have a way of messing with plans.

The four of us — my brothers minus Jesse, Kayla’s boyfriend Nick and I — ride northeast from Boise to rise above the desert in search of solitude along narrow mountain paths.

We might care about cosmetic damage if we weren’t focused on more basic things like the engine working. If you’ve read my notes from other trips with the Husky, you may remember it hasn’t been reliable. It never stranded us (my brothers and I) but it added unpleasant hours to our travels.

Before taking it out again, I wanted to put a rebuild kit in the carburetor. While I did that, Nick replaced the spark plug, oil, a weepy stator cover gasket and broken rear fender. It’s nice to have help. The bike doesn’t look much different but I hope it’s happier.

School has only been out a day and already “I’m bored” complaints are buzzing around the house like flies. Happily, we’re close to the river and foothills so we can always hop on our bikes or set out on foot from home for a bit of perspective.

Plants are still filling back in after last year’s rebuild in search of a leak but the ducks are still happy to make our pond their pitstop for a quick snack and the toilet.

It is just Brenna and I this weekend which means … there will be camping.

For my first winter retreat with Gaia GPS, we ski and snowshoe on record breaking Sierra Nevada snowpack to spend two nights in a hut at 8,000 feet. It’s bound to be good team building.