Category: motorcycle

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Wild and Wonderful Hello!

Hey all, checking in from Wild, Wonderful (and windy) West Virginia. Thought I’d let you all know I’m still breathing, still riding, and yes indeed still having lots of fun playing with the ponies.

I doubt I’ve posted since the re-loaded wedding this summer,

we’ve been busy playing catchup on all the farm stuff we let sit while preparing for and escaping from the festivities this summer… and we’re still dragging our heels here and there on getting pictures up from said extravaganza.

That, and setting up for the sale or refinance of my house in Front Royal… if anyone wants to buy a house in an awesome riding area; send me a PM. It’s right about 5 miles from the BRP in FR and on the AT.

Been a strange year. I’ve ridden horses more than motorcycles this year, but had adventures on both. Been blessed to meet people and ride on some farms with trails and scenery that take your breath away, and had both horse and bike riding through Antietam battlefield.

About the only thing I can possibly think of to complain about… my commute is too short… although really, really fun… to ride to work. It takes longer to get suited up than it does to get to the office. 5 miles. 6 minutes including the trip down the driveway. But on the weekends, fun can be had in all points of the compass.

So, with running a farm and all, I’ve been pretty much lurking via iphone in downtime between feeding and fun,

Friesians and Fords,

horses and iron,

Belgians and Belg…

Our best to all,

Mark & Kirsten

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Thoughts on the Iphone…

So I’ve been thinking about getting the iphone for various reasons. But I can’t help but be really, really picky before I make any rash decisions. I see that today the iphone is now sim-unlockable, and of course, the recent news that 200$ was knocked off the price isn’t helping much.

What I’d really like to see or know… is whether or not the really usefull apps such as Firefox and Thunderbird are or will be available, I really -don’t- like the native Apple apps. Sorry guys, I just don’t. I also think we can do better than 8gb, and be truly on a 3G network… but if it’s 3G capable, I’m good with it. 🙂

Honestly, it’s a great idea in concept for motorcycle riding, especially on long trips. Dragging the laptop around on the longer ones can be a pain, and something small, accessable, and 2 way would be nice, that also limits the amount I have to carry… and especially CHARGE… on the road.

We’ll see…

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Maybe you’ll see this….

Yes, you, Ma’am. The one with the blond, neckline bob… driving the silver minivan with your daughter in the passenger seat, taking the offramp to 7100 from I66 in Virginia. I was the rider you almost killed. What? What do you mean “what rider?” When you came right, into my lane, at the last minute… you didn’t see me in your mirror? I saw you… your head didn’t turn a whit. Your daughter saw me when I laid on the horn.. yet still you came over. Why? What cause have I given you to kill me? I was riding safely, legally, completely within my lane. I was riding on my commute, to work, on my 37th Birthday. Very close to having been my last one. I had my auxilliary headlights on for good visibility, wearing light colored riding clothes.

“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” you say? Ma’am, respectfully, by not looking in your mirror before you moved your 4,000 pound vehicle, you took that risk. Do you want your daughter to have to go to school and say “My mommy murdered a motorcyclist yesterday, I’m scared she’ll go to prison!” You know what spared you and your daughter the humiliation? God, my peripheral vision, and my reflexes.

Wake up. Please.

Regards,

Mark Salowitz (The man you almost killed)

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Fascinating…

For the first time since I’ve been back from my meanderings around one national park or another, I actually got a reasonably respectable night’s sleep. I think the last time I slept this well was in glacier after reaching the titular “turn-around” of my expedition.

Who knows, I may actually get my rythm back one of these days!

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“Maintenance”

Today was marked by a 32k service, getting the BMW back in order from the extensive traveling and Motorcycle photography I accomplished this summer; and matched by some corresponding low-key maintenance of ADDING keywords to this site, and a bit of snooping on status of terrawolf as a whole. Not bad for a day marked with 3 hours of real sleep, an early alarm, and not much to do but sit and wait at Morton’s BMW.

It still amazes me that I doubled the mileage on the bike in 4 months….. and still had time to shoot close to 4000 pictures…

Alas, I have not yet had a chance to check out The Laughing Gypsy nor her Jefferson County Fair photos recently, but I’ll probably do this before I get to sleep.

Best,

Mark

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God Help Me….

I’m actually learning how to publish and advertise a website online. At least I don’t have to write much of the html 🙂

This wonderful excursion into the land of Landscape Motorcycle & Travel Photography has been a much more comprehensive reach into the dustbin of admin history than I originally thought. I’ve quite simply never had to do this before. It’s interesting all the same, but I keep wishing for miracle that won’t happen… someone to step up to the plate and do the boring work for me.

But, as with all learning processes, there are benefits. I now have some direction to go with gallery improvements, and have updated the smaller galleries with keywords. No captions yet. That’s next. Keywording Terra, though.. now THAT’s a project in and of itself!

Best,

Mark

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A grain of salt?

:=)

SOMEONE need not mention salt shakers!


“Wasted away again in Margaritaville,
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame,
Now I think, – hell it could be my fault.” -J Buffett

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Wow… Massive Terrawolf Update…

Yep. out of almost 800 shots taken on leg 4, 110 or so have been posted up on Terrawolf for review and purchase. I’m astounded at some of the shots I didn’t think I nailed… there’s one in the Fauna gallery that blew me away when I saw it… it looks like a cow elk whispering to a bull elk… cute shot :=)

Still have a massive amount of keywording to do on my galleries, but the detail work is done for the moment, and the camera gets to take a break. That, and allowing slideshow functionality within the galleries…

Best to all! Check out the new shots at Terrawolf Photography and enjoy!

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The point of the journey…

… is not to arrive. Anything can happen. – N. Peart

And I assure you, it did. What an incredibly fun ride.

4 bridge closures in my way… all after #5… well, #1… the one in Minneapolis. I had just flown over it a few hours before. After that, 3 in Utah and one in… PA? WV? Not sure exactly, but it was blocking I-70. I crossed that stateline back and forth a couple times.

Oddly, told Garmin fastest route, and the fastest route happened to be Interesting. I 67? 79? I’ll have to dig it up, but from Eastern Ohio on was high speed, full lean, fast running all the way down through the western appalachia. Fun :=) Then from Frsotburg, MD, it routed me down WV 28 to pick up 50… Nice 🙂 Yep, I just said it: Garmin got that one -right-. I’m not saying I would or wouldn’t have gotten there any faster any other way… it was just a beautiful ride hands down.

Yesterday… Well, I left North Platt, NB in Mountain Time at 7:22 am (9:22 Eastern), drove for 17 hours and 6 minutes, and arrived in London, Ohio at in Eastern time at 2:28 am, 1022 miles on the gps. 59.76 mph average speed :=) No signed reciepts and all that stuff, so I’m s.o.l. on the plate, but so what 🙂

Only one more oops… another right side drop. Yep, trying to get another picture of the bike. Yep, got some help. Yep, I was embarassed, but no damage done. 5 whole mph. The ground on the sides of the welcome signs at zion? The unpaved part? May look like dirt, but I plowed an 8 inch deep furrow with the front tire. Be warned.

And I noticed one of the warnings signs of a culture that cannot save itself from extinction… in Rocky Mountain National Park, I was driving out the NE towards Estes Park… there’s a long straight stretch. There was a rock laying in the middle of the road, traffic was reasonably light, and just ducking around it. It was a good sized rock, maybe 8-9″ across two dimensions, and 6″ or so in the third… and there was plenty of room on the right. Watched a couple bikes ride by it. Huge area to pull over though… I pulled over and picked it up, and moved it to the side of the road and off the path of traffic. So I get back on the bike, and I see a ranger/scientist type over in the meadows just down the road… other cars driving by… I hae to ask myself… how long had that been there? It was a pretty gentle slope. Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? How many drove by without stopping for 2 seconds to remove that hazard? They just drove around it and kept going. Intelligent mammals remove hazards to the community/pack. We don’t.

Well, I could go on, but for the moment, the bike is unpacked, I think… no, I -know- I need a shower… and some pictures will have to come fairly soon I suppose :=)

Best,

Mark

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No updates…

I will not be making any updates unless I stay someplace with a computer…. travelling light this time. Those who need to know, have my cell phone.

See you in a couple weeks!

Mark