A beautiful day on this Independence Day weekend

[PhilB]

In Ohio and Pennsylvania, anyhow. Bright blue cloudless skies, lovely countryside; not too hot, cold, or humid. Great riding weather.

Went from Cleveland (where I’m working this summer) to Mechanicsburg PA for Velocity Cycles’ back-to-back Long Test Ride comparison – half hour out on the BMW S1000RR, switch bikes and back on the Aprilia RSV4R. Eye-opening (and lots o’ fun).

PA tolls are high, though; spent almost as much on tolls as on gas. Probably will go to a different state next trip.

And the requisite bit of irony: As we the people celebrate our freedom from tyranny with BBQs and family visits and all, our government celebrates our freedom from tyranny with legions of police in both states, extorting money from as many travelers as possible, for the “crimes” of driving normally and keeping up with the flow of traffic. I rode 750 miles today. I saw the *majority* of cars exceeding the speed limit by 10-15 mph. I saw exactly zero accidents of any kind (much less attributable to such terribly irresponsible speeding). I saw more than 50 police cars, writing scads of tickets to people who were not driving dangerously.

Does that fall under “serving”, or “protecting”? I get confused.

PhilB

[RiverRoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by PhilB

In Ohio and Pennsylvania, anyhow. Bright blue cloudless skies, lovely countryside; not too hot, cold, or humid. Great riding weather.

Won't be like that here again 'til October.

[acalliste]

Glad you've got some good weather, Phil. It's been overcast and/or raining here for two solid days, which is worse than usual.

[blurr]

Good your having fun, there is no freedom to celebrate and has not been for some time, especially when you are in states where there are "tolls and check points" but hey, they sheep will bleet. As you mentioned, the police will be pulling people over and ticketing them, many of those people cannot afford a ticket nor can they afford the raised insurance rates and their lives are there for altered all for the greed of thy government.

For me, I will light off some firecrackers in honor of my gpa and dad, nothing more, wasted day, nothing to see here.

[not2slow]

Awesome day here in Ga. also low 80's and low humidity.

[acalliste]

We celebrated by going to the gun show. Got 1000 rds of .223s for $250

[PhilB]

Originally Posted by blurr

Good your having fun, there is no freedom to celebrate and has not been for some time, especially when you are in states where there are "tolls and check points" but hey, they sheep will bleet. As you mentioned, the police will be pulling people over and ticketing them, many of those people cannot afford a ticket nor can they afford the raised insurance rates and their lives are there for altered all for the greed of thy government.

For me, I will light off some firecrackers in honor of my gpa and dad, nothing more, wasted day, nothing to see here.

I don't think this country and what it is supposed to stand for are completely lost yet. There are many great things about this country still, and it remains the most free in the world in many ways, as well as (as a result) the most prosperous large country in the world.

It is going to be a long and difficult struggle to keep the neo-socialists and proto-fascists from running it into the ground, and then to turn it back toward the path to greater liberty rather than ever less. But I haven't given up on that struggle yet.

Originally Posted by acalliste

We celebrated by going to the gun show. Got 1000 rds of .223s for $250

See? There's a freedom to celebrate, one that is not shared by very many people (at least not in countries that aren't experiencing wars on their own soil).

PhilB

[Builtgypsy]

Freedomz!

Driving out here from Charleston, somewhere between Alabama and Louisiana, there was a stretch of road that went on for miles where there were nothing but cops on the side of road with the people they had pulled over. At a bridge crossing the interstate, there were cops parked along it, radars pointed down so they could get the farthest reach of their detectors. On the interstate mind you, and at the end of June, so it wasn't even like they were on the lookout for the holiday drunks. It was surreal; reminded me of that Twilight Zone with the racist guy who's sitting around with his buddies in the bar, saying everything the fault of some ethnicity, then he steps outside and suddenly he's in WWII with the Nazis believing he's Jewish.