Getting things caught up a bit

I've added a few hundred more miles this year, on some easy meandering trips around the area.

I must confess a few things:
1. I have lived in Fort Wayne for a total of about 17 years now (about 14 in this current stretch), and I have never really explored the areas around the city (with a few exceptions).
2. I don't always document each trip, so I'm probably putting on a few more miles than I admit to here.
3. (and this isn't much of a confession...) When I have the option to just 'go for a ride', I rarely know my destination until I get there. That's the beauty of it. It's about the ride, not the destination.

However, as a caveat to #3, sometimes it's nice to know where you are going so you can be sure to have the fuel to get there. Otherwise you spend you time scanning for gas stations instead of enjoying the scenery!

On April 2, I took a little jaunt to explore areas I rarely visit. No disrespect meant to the little towns I visited this time, I just don't have the need to go to these places unless I'm there purely in a recreational sense.

On this Monday, I headed out of the neighborhood without a particular destination. I just knew I would head west and south to see what I had been missing all these years. I figured I'd hit Huntington and try to find some twisties.

I meandered down by FTW airport, and ended up taking back roads to Markle and then west to the southern edge of Huntington. I stopped for a break at a little gas station at the corner of W200N and State Road 9, near Transwheel Corporation.

From there, I decided I would go for Marion. Been a long time since heading down that way. Wondered what the little town had been up to. Apparently not much. But it was relatively busy at lunchtime and I got in a nice little break to watch quite a few other motorcycles enjoying the weather.

I decided I'd continue a bit more south and then head west to Kokomo. Other than that stupid song by the Beach Boys, I didn't recall ever being in Kokomo. So I took St. Road 9 down to US 35 and 'headed west, young man!'. Talk about your boring stretch of farmland. nothing but flat straight road for miles. Gave me plenty of time to work on getting the Beach Boys out of my head!

I found the city to be a bit depressing. Seems like the manufacturing industry there got up and left. But you could also tell these were a hardy people, determined to carry on with their quaint little shops and eateries.
Oh yeah, don't ask me about the obsession with water towers on this trip. I have no idea why I rooted them out to take photos of the towers. Just a goofy feeling that day, I guess.

I was at about 100 miles for the day so far here, and it was mid afternoon, so I thought I'd better head back toward home, sorta. I had a few fleeting thoughts of heading over to Lafayette, but the idea of staying on 35 wiped that put pretty quickly. I needed to be awake. So I opted for a northern route to go toward either Peru or Logansport. Since the weather was beautiful, I wasn't on a schedule, and Cheeto was wanting to run, I opted for Logansport. It just sounded cooler anyway.

I wound up being right downtown by the Cass County Sheriff office and Jail, and next to the Masonic Temple. Very cool old building. Not much traffic downtown, considering it was close to 4pm. I enjoyed a break and fought with my phone about uploading the camera shots to Facebook. The phone won the first round, I won the second.

Cheeto likes to pose for pictures too, so I took this one of my lovely, my precious:

By now, my tummy was reminding me that dinner time was quickly approaching and I was still a couple hours from home (read: free food). The rest of the ride was pretty much uneventful. Took US 24 east past Peru and Wabash, and on the outskirts of Huntington, and into the Fort on the southwest side. Grabbed Engle Road off of Jefferson and scooted home.

All told, about 188 miles on this trip, but all at a leisurely pace. Solo rides are great for clearing the mind, but I'd much rather ride with my wife and other riders.

Today's Ride: 188 miles

Goal for 2012: 7,500 miles

Previous rides: 1,133 miles

Miles ridden so far in 2012: 1,321