Oh yeah! We’re going on a road trip! Just Duck and I on our motorcycles! Woot! Woot!

So Mom, Dad, and anyone else who might stress this, pray for us to have safe travels And don’t worry. I’ll be tweeting when we get places so that ya’ll know we didn’t fall off the side of the mountain.

Doodle is headed to the beach with Grandma and Grandpa. She’s in very capable hands. So we decided to take this opportunity to run for the hills We’ll be leaving Wednesday afternoon headed to Roanoke. I hope to see my buddy Heather @ Desperately Seeking Sanity and see if she’s found any sanity yet. Then Thursday we’re on the Parkway all day — all the way to Boone where I hope to meet up with Real Life Sarah. Sarah tweeted yesterday that she wants to have her picture made on my bike I think we can do that!

We’re hanging out in Boone for awhile, maybe hitting the ziplines. Lord, have mercy on me, I’m afraid of heights. But I’m totally determined to *not* ride up on a Harley and then chicken out because the lines are too high. That’s just not cool.

Back home Saturday by the afternoon because Duck’s group is playing Saturday night at one of their hot spots — a local retirement home. Honestly, they love playing Southern Gospel and old Country music, and the residents adore them.

And, since I didn’t post anything about the 4th, here are a few pictures from our weekend project. Duck and I bought Doodle a basketball goal (well, Duck likes it too!) for her birthday. He and I (mostly he — I hate hard labor) put roughly 800 lbs of concrete in the ground and the pole, and over the course of the weekend — got that sucker up! And it stayed up! It’s a miracle I tell ya!

I’m not quite sure what look Duck was going for? Maybe he thought it was going to fall? But actually he was getting ready to slam dunk quite a few. We just won’t mention that it was set at 7′5″ when it should be 10′ for him

I will mention however, that I really don’t like the pictures I take with my camera. I need a new lens, a new camera, or a new operator. Serious lessons would be appreciated. Do ya’ll have any tips?

I’ve always had a thing against V-day. If you can’t love on me 364-days a year, then don’t try to make it up with one day where “everyone” is “supposed” to buy their honeys flowers, chocolate and other assorted gifts.

Last year the day before V-day, I wrote God made me weird. I have some good stuff in my archives by the way. I need to go back and read them! It’s almost like reading a different person writing, and then I think, “oh yeah, I wrote that!”

If you wanted to read about my first Valentine’s Day with Duck, I wrote about that too. Seriously, go read. I’ll wait.

La-te-da-de-doh. Oh good. You’re back.

Well, I have to share with y’all that I absolutely adore Duck. He truly is God’s Perfect Gift to me and only me — so you’re out of luck Last weekend he encouraged me to go to BlissDom and socialize, meet friends, and have a good time. Although I lost my mind and didn’t call him enough — he worries about me — he forgave me.

While I was out of town, he shampooed the carpet in our bedroom (something that hasn’t been done in years probably), rearranged furniture, got rid of some clutter, dusted, vaccuumed, and did the laundry. I can’t tell you how awesome it was to walk into a clean house Yep! I’m keeping him!

He’s also got a great sense of humor. Yesterday I went to eat lunch with him. He told me he was going to run 3 miles and asked me if I brought my stuff to run with him. I don’t run. Well, I’ve learned to run — but only 70 feet at a time (softball bases) — and definitely not 3 miles. See? He knows I couldn’t run 3 miles! He’s so funny!

So, Duck — here’s my v-day card to you. I love you with all my heart. Thanks for buying me a Harley — the one that I actually ride

{edited to fix the link above to God Made Me Weird Thanks Kellie!!}

I interrupt the BlissDom recap to share that I got to ride my bike today! WUHOO! It felt so good to be back on my motorcycle, I just can’t even explain it. We only rode about 20 miles but it was great to get back in the saddle — at least on my iron horse. Until I go live with A Cowboy’s Wife, it’s all I got

Back in March I took a Basic Riders Safety course at a local community college. One of the instructors, Jim ‘Ape Anderson, took everyone’s email to keep in touch with his students. I don’t really know how many he’s had, but I know he taught pretty much every weekend until this weekend. I talked him into letting me start a blog for him with an email list so he doesn’t get accused of spamming — trying to send out 300 emails at one time. That site is Triangle Biker.com. You can check it out

About a month ago, Jim asked through email, who was interested in a reunion ride of sorts. He arranged a ride up through the country to Virginia, around the lake, across the dam, and back home. We went on that ride yesterday and it was so much fun! I can’t really explain the feeling of being a part of a large group like that. It was amazing! Jim is part of the Blue Knights (a cop motorcycle group) and he got some of his buddies to ride with us. It was pretty cool because they would ride up and block intersections so we could all stay together

There was another couple there, the lady rode on the back of the bike taking pictures. I’m not at all sure how she got such good pictures of us going about 60MPH, but here are a few that they sent me — of me, Duck and Doodle. We had a blast, but it was a little too long for Doodle. She got tired quickly and kept leaning on Duck which made him tire quickly since he was holding her weight as well. I’m glad we all went, but next time we’ll probably leave Doodle with Grandma.

Because I know you’re just dying to know some of this stuff … ok, seriously, it’s because it’s stuff I might want to remember one day and I know I’ll forget

Doodle’s School: She recently had her fall intersession break (3 weeks out of school). My mother-in-law, Doodle and I went to the beach one extended weekend and then they went back for another trip in the middle of the week. Doodle loves the beach. I, do not. She is still #3 on the waiting list of the school, but I’m afraid it’s not moving much any more. Doodle is doing awesome in Mr. Teacher’s classes (Math and Language Arts). She’s doing pretty good in social Studies but got a D on her report card for Science. This miffs me, but I haven’t spoken to Mrs. Teacher about it. You may recall Doodle got in trouble for chasing a boy around the room. The punishment was she gets a zero on the pass/fail project they were doing. Oh, but she could read in a book and answer questions … in class … yeah, that didn’t happen.

Anniversary Trip: Our 12th anniversary trip is over. We’ve gotten back and settled into life again. We survived it and didn’t fall off the mountains. It was a beautiful trip. We rode our Harleys in the Shenandoah Valley — 2 mountain ranges on either side — and then road on the Skyline for 100+ miles. The Skyline runs into the Blue Ridge Parkway which we finally got to ride on Sunday. Sunday was a long day. We really rode too much but it was great to get home and sleep in my own bed! Total mileage on the trip was 785 miles. That blows my mind

Church: We’ve been visiting other churches when we haven’t been out of town. We haven’t found the one that we think God wants us at … yet. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re being too picky, but I figure God will let us know if that’s the case.

Family: My niece, Tiffany had her baby girl while we were out of town (10/9/08). She weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 1/2 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Sounds a lot like Doodle’s measurements when she was born. Both are healthy and doing well.

Mom and Dad went to visit the old hometown in WV this weekend. They are doing well. Mom’s enjoying her retirement entirely and they haven’t killed each other yet — being home together all the time

Women of Faith: I just bought my tickets to go to Women of Faith on Oct 31. This was a difficult decision for me because I really want to go, but then there’s also taking Doodle trick or treating. Yeah, I know all the good debates about celebrating Halloween. We don’t have a church Fall Festival to go to and she still likes to dress up. Anyway, Duck said he would take her out. I know he will not enjoy it all that much, but I’m thankful he said he’d go. I’m meeting up with a couple of friends at the conference I haven’t seen in awhile — Lisa 1 will be there and I haven’t seen her in a few years at least. Hard to believe the time has flown by!

I’ve been following Patsy Clairmont on Twitter and responding to some of her tweets. I hope to be able to get a picture together with her or at least meet her. I love all the Women of Faith women and I’m really looking forward to going.

Party in Las Vegas: Well, not necessarily that kind of party. I know some of you may think I’ve lost my religion, but my niece is getting married in a few weekends in Las Vegas. My brother and his family have lived out there for, oh I don’t remember how long — maybe 20+ years? My brother was stationed at the Air Force base out there awhile before he retired. Anyway, Duck and I are flying out for the wedding. Doodle is disappointed she won’t be going. We’ve tried to explain it to her that she really wouldn’t have fun, but it’s probably more that we want to have some fun while we’re out there. Totally selfish, I know. Maybe I have lost some religion.

Identity Crisis: Thanks so much to all my friends who came out of the woodwork and were worried about me with my last crazy post. I really am in a better place now. I just need to get my act together and start blogging regularly. The trip to the mountains helped with my perspective. Whenever I lose perspective, I always love going to the mountains. Brings peace to my soul. So, no more excuses. Do or do not — there is no try — Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, that should be tatooed on my forehead, but then I wouldn’t see it all the time.

That’s my ramble for today. Oh, and the Twitter Mini Updates will stop now. I turned them on to be stored on my blog while we were traveling in the mountains. I wanted a kinda of diary of events, although I thought it would store the time with them. Maybe I should’ve put the time in the tweet. Oh well, live and learn.

Catch up with me when you can. I’d love an update!