Here, Have Some Kittens

It’s been a while, so please accept a picture of some kittens as compensation. More about them later.

I’d been talking about it for a while, and I finally splurged on a pair of Cardo Freecom 4X helmet headsets. I installed them in Melissa’s helmet, as well as my newly repaired GMax helmet I bought last year but couldn’t get parts for. I installed both headsets in both helmets, paired mine up with my stuff, then helped Melissa pair hers with her phone. That way, not only can the two of us talk over the intercom while we’re riding (on the same bike or separate ones), but I can also have my spoken directions for navigation, and she can have her music, which is very important to her. They’ve already come in very handy. More than once, we’ve been on our way home, and Melissa has asked me to take a longer route because she was enjoying the ride so much. Twist my arm! This will also be helpful as I guide her toward riding her own bike. As long as I’m wearing my own helmet, I can talk into hers and give her directions as she learns.

My attempt to use a trailer wiring harness to turn my rear turn signals into brake lights as well utterly failed. There are other things going on in the bike’s wiring that made it not work at all, so I put things back the way I found them. I also ordered and modified a second pair of amber LED turn signal bulbs to use in the back. The red ones worked, but since they’re not going to be brake lights, I wanted a different color to make the turn signals even more visible. The LED bulbs are much brighter than the originals, plus they have that instant on/off effect that incandescent bulbs don’t. Being more visible makes me safer.

A couple of weekends ago, Melissa and I took a bike ride to Eureka Springs to see Thorncrown Chapel, a very unique and well-known church with interesting architecture and almost entirely glass walls. While most churches keep the outside world out, this one invites nature in and feels like part of the surrounding forest.

The architecture is pretty neat, and the main reason I was there rather than any religious aspect. In fact, anytime I walk into a church, and I don’t burst into flames, I call it a win.

One of Melissa’s sons adopted four kittens, who are extremely cute. Their names are ELE (pronounced “Ellie,” short for “Extinction Level Event”), Lara (after Lara Croft due to her adventurous nature), Shiki (short for some anime character I don’t remember), and Gyrostomper (don’t even ask me why, I have no idea). They will be outdoor “barn cats,” not specifically for a barn but to control the rodent population around the house. They get water, food once a day, and some human contact, but for the most part, they’re on their own. We can’t resist pets and scritches when they come meowing and running over to us, though.

Lister has met the kittens. They’re all doing the typical hissing and posturing thing that cats do when they meet for the first few times. But nobody’s attacked each other, either, so maybe they’ll become friends eventually.

Since Melissa is learning to ride for the first time, I installed a set of Tusk crash bars for her. It’s inevitable that she’s going to tip over at some point, so these will protect the fairing from any additional scratches. Yes, additional. She did tip over once after I ordered them but before they arrived, so there are a few small scratches on one side of her brand new bike. There is no additional damage. KLRs are tough, which is a big reason why I supported this choice for her first bike. She didn’t want to ride again until the bars were on, which was reasonable. Her son and I installed them as soon as they arrived, so she’s good to go.

I wasn’t able to ride motorcycles with a bad ankle, so both Melissa and I have been off our respective bikes for a week, immediately after the crash bars were good to go. That didn’t stop us from riding two-up on one of Walmart’s electric shopping carts for the disabled, though.

As soon as I felt ready to ride again, we had a couple of days of rain, causing further delays. Soon, though, we’ll get the KLR back out for her to practice some more. We went for a pleasant date night ride out to Chuy’s, a nearby Tex-Mex restaurant, last night, so I’m definitely up for riding again. Today, after the rain, I took a quick ride into town to shoot some pictures of a gas pump, of all things, for an upcoming ADVRider article about octane ratings. The things I do for my job.