[Beezer]

All hunkered down here looking at the thermometer. Bikes all under roofs kinda stored away for another day.
I spent the summer of '76 in Minneapolis. I couldn't help but notice how differently those people handle their summers compared to the Texas folks where I live.
They were outside. I guess they have to be after spending their winter all holed-up but I mean they got outside. I have never seen so many motorcycles on the roads! They get what, four months of riding weather? Seemed everyone had a bike and they were on it! I'm sure that in the winter they had their snowcycles but that summer I saw a lot more motorcycles than I am accustomed to seeing.

 

[Aufgeblassen]

I know what you mean. When on vacation one summer, we stopped by Whitewater Lake in Wisconsin. It was a total madhouse of boats going every which way. Florida lakes don't look like that, when you can use them year round.

Heck, sometimes when on our lake (Grassy Lake) in Lake Placid, even though there are over 30 canals going into housing development, sometimes I am the only one on the lake!

 

[jwinker]

I couldn't help but notice how differently those people handle their summers compared to the Texas folks where I live.
They were outside. I guess they have to be after spending their winter all holed-up but I mean they got outside. I have never seen so many motorcycles on the roads! They get what, four months of riding weather?

Hey, we get 5 months!

At some point in November, you'll get a snowstorm & the roads get salted. This makes them hopeless to ride on. Not only does it rust your cars & your bike, but it's dangerous as heck to ride on. That's month 11...

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By mid-May, you're typically OK. There are the occasional late-May snowstorms which set you back, but really mid-May is the start of the season. In the Twin Cities, you have to accept this and leave the bike parked until the first big rainstorm to wash away all the salt, sand and grit from the roads.

Sometime around February, you start to think, "so, this is why people live in California and Florida..." But just as you're starting to put your home up for sale, the weather breaks and the season starts. I mean, who wants to move when it's -30* anyway?

May through September are beautiful! Why would I ever leave this place???

Everything is fine until late-October, then the cold sets in. Snowmobile gear is your friend right up until they spray salt on the roads again, or in the case of this winter, until there is 1" of solid ice on the roads with no salt. For me, the bike gets parked along with the small car, the hot-rod & the 4x4 beater-Ranger pickup has to make it through one more winter of hell.

Why do I own 4 fair-weather vehicles and 1 mountain-goat when I live in a place that subjects you to 1/2 the year of this crap???

I'm going to buy a sno-cat.

 

[Aufgeblassen]

May through September are beautiful! Why would I ever leave this place???

Jan. - Dec. are beautiful here. Sure, in summer it is, up to around noon, but that gives you several hours 1st thing in the AM to ride. Then go in the pool in the afternoon.