thoughts from the otherside

so "otherside" in this case happens to be the other side of the country, the west coast, seattle, washington, to be specific. i am here visiting my sister for the week of winter break, a glorious respite from school. after so many delays and glitches, i finally made my way onto the (for me, extremely claustrophobic) airplane, and for the sake of the great visit with nance and her family, endured the stale, germ laden air of modern travel. with my face to the window for the majority of both flights, all i could hear all around me was the coughing, sneezing, sniffling and general sickliness of people, almost as if i could visualize the germs being expelled into the air, waiting for the next vulnerable host. well, dammit, that was NOT going to be me.
anyway, it has been a wonderful week, seeing as how the weather has been cooperating with us. it has been sunny mostly everyday, and warm, mostly in the 50's, at times even reaching the higher end. we have walked and talked and spent a good deal of time outside, which is always a good treatment for clearing the mind and soul. i think by the time i have to return to the seattle-tacoma airport to board the flight home, i will have shed any and all bits of stress, irritation and annoyance that i may have brought with me; not that i wanted to, but that those things seem to normally travel with me like so many unnamed parasites. and hopefully i wont be picking up any new unwelcome freeloaders.
so to be considered by some a "true" harley person, and i use the word parenthetically, because i think it is total bullshit, i have printed directions to the local harley davidson dealership, or one of them i should say, because there are many within the local area. for me, the true measure of a "harley person" is the amount of time spent riding, thinking of riding, dreaming of riding, and planning riding, as well as preparing for my bike for riding, and then putting her away for the the next ride. but hey, thats just my way of thinking.