I needed a day to relax and recover from the 1300 mile ride to get here. Today was that day. The rest of the guys decided they would do the same thing. So the blog for today is a little light on content. It was a “zero day” which in my book means zero miles ridden.

Mason did a great job of putting together breakfast and we all pitched in to help clean up. Not sure if it’s common to every group but this band just pitches in and does what needs done without waiting for someone to ask for help or issue orders. I appreciate that level of cooperation.

There is an issue with the house that I wanted to get addressed. The house has 4 small widow air conditioners and wasn’t very cool. The temperatures this week are forecast to increase each day to get back to well over 100 degrees. I sent a message to the property manager asking for help. Since today is Sunday, I didn’t expect an answer until tomorrow. Instead, I got a quick response that she would send someone over to reinstall one of the “spare” units (we noticed 3 sitting on the floor in various spots). While we waited for someone to show up, we found a fan in one of the closets. Plugging that in and turning on all of the ceiling fans helped cool the house. We’ll see how that performs later in the week. Someone from the agency office showed up but was unsuccessful in installing any additional units.

The remainder of the day was spent sitting on the deck and telling the same old stories that we always seem to talk about. Call it “bonding time” if you want but sharing memories with each other feels right.

The idea of taking a ride was discussed. All of the weather apps on our phones warned of rain and potential thunderstorms approaching the area. The weather changes quickly and dramatically in this area. We decided to just sit this one out. Turns out that was a good choice. The rains moved in around 4:00 and with them brought some pretty strong wind gusts plus lots of thunder and lightning. The bikes remained safely in the garage and we remained firmly planted in the house. We saw videos from nearby Deadwood and Sturgis. There was talk of large hail and motorcycles blowing over. It didn’t get that bad where we’re located but it wasn’t far from us.

We each spent some time cleaning bug remnants off of our bikes. When it came time to think about food, Mason once again took care of ordering burgers from Applebee’s. The food was delivered by Ruby, the not-so-cordial Uber Eats driver. I enjoyed sitting down at the table and having a meal together. That’s the way the world should work. If you can sit across the table from someone, only good will and understanding results. Some areas of the world could use some good will and understanding of their neighbors.

The Olympics are going on right now. After dinner we spent some time in front of the TV watching some amazing athletes compete. My comment was that I could do that if I wanted to but I just don’t want to. I’m not really athletic and in my current state of conditioning, I was lucky not to fall off the couch.

I debated about whether to try to write anything today. There are no pictures and we covered exactly zero miles. This day accomplished just what I wanted it to. I had time to reflect on my life and weigh my desire and motivation to continue to take long motorcycle trips. Is it time for Henry to stop rambling? It might be. Time will tell.