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<\/p>\nIn early June, as I was getting ready to head West, I was suddenly grounded in NW Florida with serious back pain \u2013 bad enough I had to postpone my road trip. \u00a0Because if I took off, I knew I might get only half way across Texas.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t want to be stuck in Texas, especially in the summer. \u00a0Not alone, with miserable back pain.<\/p>\n
Dr \u2013 \u201cHow did you hurt your back?\u201d<\/p>\n
Me \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 Maybe it was 69 birthdays, 600 skydives, over 100,000 miles on a motorcycle, some of which was off-road and a deer in the Rockies who totaled one of my favorite rides.\u00a0 All well-seasoned with large doses of stubborn.\u00a0 Do you think that may have done it?\u201d The doctor didn\u2019t even smile as she ordered a bunch of tests, and I began to reassess what really matters to me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve grown somewhat accustomed to the lines and droops I see on my body, but I was deeply offended to see on the MRI & X-rays that even my insides are OLD.\u00a0 Damn!\u00a0 So now what?\u00a0 Well, I do not have to drive a 4×4 dually diesel pickup; I don\u2019t have to wrestle with a travel trailer or a motorcycle lift to get my bike into the back of that big truck.\u00a0 But I REALLY do need to travel.\u00a0 And I\u2019m NOT ready to give up my motorcycle.<\/p>\n
So I traded in my beloved Arctic Fox travel trailer and Chevy 3500 diesel truck for a setup that an aging gypsy can handle \u2013 a 31 foot Class C motor home by Jayco.\u00a0 And to my amazement, my back is so much better now that I\u2019m not climbing into and out of the cab or bed of that tall truck. \u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not willing to give up the bike, so I\u2019m experimenting with ways to make lemonade from aging lemons.\u00a0 And for me, it\u2019s the idea of NOT having a car or truck.\u00a0 Just the motor home and my motorcycle.\u00a0 I\u2019ve borrowed an open trailer from a friend to pull the bike behind the motor home.\u00a0 So far \u2013 it\u2019s all good. (The logic includes a mitigation of my huge carbon footprint with the motor home at 10 MPG, since the bike average 53 MPG.\u00a0 Plus, I love the bike and am willing to ride it almost anywhere, anytime.\u00a0 And when I need to take my dog to the vet, etc., we\u2019ll just go in the motor home.)<\/p>\n
Right now, I\u2019m back in Northwest Florida in August \u2013 they\u2019ve had 48 inches of rain this year; 8 inches in the first 15 days of the month. \u00a0I\u2019ve ordered new rain gear. Today I rode into town in a misty rain.\u00a0 It felt good \u2013 fun — like walking in mud puddles. \u00a0When the rain is horizontal or the lightning strikes make me duck and cuss, I sit it out.\u00a0 I have large bags or panniers on the side of my bike.\u00a0 Tacky friends refer to them as my metal filing cabinets.\u00a0 Call them what you may, I can carry groceries though I do keep an eye on the volume.\u00a0 I have a cargo net that secures boxed wine to the rear seat but crushes potato chips. I don\u2019t have a washer\/dryer in the motor home, so I\u2019m learning to not let the laundry pile up.\u00a0 I go the Laundromat on the bike, with clothes in the side bags and strapped to the back seat if needed.\u00a0 They come back to the motor home clean and seriously compressed. So far, my attitude and patience are intact.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to be able to buy an enclosed cargo trailer for the bike, but I may abandon this plan and get another truck \u2013 pull the truck with the motor home and put the bike in the back of the truck.<\/p>\n
As soon as my back pain tapped down a little, I left in the motor home with my German Shepherd, Misty, pulling the bike on the open trailer.<\/p>\n
![\"at](\"https:\/\/gypsyjudge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_1309.jpg\")
at City of Rocks, one of my favorite places<\/p><\/div>\n
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it’s easier to get the bike off and on the small trailer<\/p><\/div>\n
But then after only a couple of weeks out West, a much-loved friend became critically ill, and I turned the motor home back to the East.\u00a0 Sadly, Hilda died.\u00a0 I\u2019m staying around a little while to help Tom, with an eye on the road and maps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In early June, as I was getting ready to head West, I was suddenly grounded in NW Florida with serious back pain \u2013 bad enough I had to postpone my road trip. \u00a0Because if I took off, I knew I … Continue reading