Geezer with a Grudge: Another Shitty Day in Paradise

Mar 13, 2015

Another Shitty Day in Paradise

Almost 70F again in Minnesota and I had to go into the Cities to meet an electrician about work that may (or may not) be necessary to sell our old home. I wish I could say this damn deal is nickel-and-dime’ing me to death, but it’s more like thousands of dollars that I have no reason to be spending other than having made a mediocre deal. That’s the shitty day part.

The ride home was pretty boring, even if it was my 2nd ride of 2015. Just a little west of Red Wing I noticed a torn up clay road heading northeast. I circled around and headed into it and I don’t know how many miles later ended up at a dead end boat launch. On the way, I slogged through frozen slick clay sections (the source of that famous Red Wing pottery), a couple of flooded road crossings (paved underneath, so it wasn’t much of an adventure), some axle deep mud sections, and amazing scenery. That’s the paradise part.

PS: While I did gain some MN winter weight, there are two layers of insulation under that jacket. It was 32F when I left this morning.

4 comments:

redlegsrides said...: There's nothing like exploring a trail that whispers: "come on and see what's around the next curve...."

http://redlegsrides.blogspot.com; 3/13/15, 10:38 PM
Trobairitz said...: So nice to be on a bike where you can "see where that road goes". I was on the Gladius yesterday so no dirt roading for me.; 3/14/15, 8:58 AM
Troubadour said...: Oh boy! Where does that road go?!? Does it matter if it gets your mind off your troubles for a while?
Glad you were able to get a ride in.; 3/14/15, 9:40 AM
T.W. Day said...: It deadends into a big boater turnaround. That day, the only vehicle at the end of the road was a pickup that was stuck to its axles in mud.; 3/21/15, 5:44 AM

The Geezer Story

I stumbled upon this column name (Geezer with a Grudge) almost 20 years ago, in 1999. The first Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly editor I worked with, in late 1999, complained that the magazine was getting no mail and the editors wanted to know if any readers were still out there. I fired off a sarcastic note, as a joke, intended to provide a little humor and some feedback. He published it as an article and later called me to say he'd received more mail on that letter than he'd received in the past year! I followed that with an offer to write a monthly column attempting to piss off a particular section of the magazine's readership to see if that tactic would generate some mail.

It did, probably more regularly than the magazine wanted at times, and I wrote a monthly column for MMM until the magazine died in 2018.

I plan to post an occasional old Geezer article into the blog, followed by short comments about the current status of my perspective on our activity/sport/vehicle of choice.