Hope you all

[Tbeck]

I hope you all are having a great start to summer and getting in some saddle time.
Between riding and garden work I can say it's been good so far. I finally have the time to build a stone retaining wall for the flower bed, which meant I needed to tackle some drainage issues first, but it's nice to be out doing some manual labor simply because I want to.
As for the riding? A few thousand miles this past month and a half. Lot's of off the beaten path stuff. I'm going to need to expand my riding area again. You get to the point that you can't get lost on any road's for long before you find yourself on a familiar one.
Anyhow if you haven't get on our and ride. It's good for the soul.

[hillsy v2]

It's winter in our hemisphere - but that is actually a nicer time to ride where I am.

Been riding a bit but not long trips. Still good to get out. VSTROM is a sweet bike even on short rides.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Up until the last 36 hours we have been in a mini drought.. high pressure in southeast Texas has nullified any rain shower activity for the last two months or so, but Mother Nature did her thing last two evenings and dropped 3 1/2 inches in a 24 hour span... and this morning I took a walk in the back yard to feed my white wing doves and the ground is dry. My garden loved it as it looks like every plant grew at least 2 inches.

The current heat wave ( we are experiencing late July and early August heat now ) my morning rides have taken a back seat to my garden duties.
The humidity is terrible now and has taken a couple of my golfing buddies to the hospital with heat related issues, one fellow almost lost it.

We still ride on Saturday mornings with rides to different communities seeking out new eateries and state parks to ride through. This last weekend we went on our shortest ride this year 160 miles, the longest this year was 295 miles round trip, anything under 175 miles we consider a short(er) round trip ride.

Tomorrow, we head to Crystal Beach near Galveston Island to dine at Stingarees restaurant, we've made this trip before but never during the summer months as it's a 250 mile ride round trip. During the cooler months when we go there, we take the Gulf coast road and that ends up a tad bit over 300 miles round trip.
Average age of our riding club is right at 60 years, so we have to be mindful of heat related issues during the hotter summer months.

[Tbeck]

Glad you are getting in some saddle time SJ. I'm not going as often as I have in the past, but getting out