I DID IT!!! I FINALLY DID IT!!!

I had a really fabulous day today!!!

I got up around 8am and after feeding animals and doing a few other small things around the house I drove to town and bought the 2 cans of Tremclad gloss black spray paint I had forgotten to get yesterday while in town. Next I stopped at McDonald's to get a tea as I'd forgotten the one I made at home. Driving out of town on my way to Tuggy's, about a 30 minute drive from town, remembered I'd forgotten to give Reba a bucket of water out in her pen and to take meat out of the freezer to thaw for Reba's dinner this evening (I feed her raw meat), so I stopped at home, just a short distance out of my way, and took care of that as well as grabbed the tea I'd left behind earlier (still warm in my travel mug). On the way to Tuggy's I stopped at Bobby's (friend of Tug and a couple other of my friends) to pick up a wheel (got 2 before, now this one as a spare... for my trike).

While at Tuggy's we had to bleed the back brakes on my trike, then I got to ride it!!!! This is my first riding lesson. It was a combination of scary and exciting!!!!!! (which, by the way, are both the same emotion but using different names). It was a bit of a challenge to get the hang of it. I have driven for many years and am a good driver and this is so very different than driving a car/truck! Right hand does the gas/throttle and front brake, left hand does the clutch, left foot is the gear shifter and right foot the back brakes. Just the tiniest movement of the throttle makes so much difference and it's not easy to move it just such a tiny little bit. I stalled several times (which Tug had expected for my first time) and over revved as often, though in a short time I managed to smooth things out and do pretty good. I drove back and forth in the yard, turning around at each end then to add interest, I began doing stops and starts to get used to using the brake and the clutch and the throttle, starting out without stalling or jerking. At first I only used the front brake, then added in the use of the back brake. I really think I did well for my first time and am really looking forward to going back out there and riding again. It will take a bit of time to learn it all and to become confident and most importantly competent... and I know I will manage to do this just fine.

We got on Big Red after awhile and rode to Harley Charlie's place and I bought myself my first helmet. Unfortunately, he didn't have one in stock that fits me as I need a size small (guess I'm not such a fat head after all, haha) so I paid him anyway and he is ordering one in for me. After this we went for a nice ride, not a long ways but it was beautiful. We stopped at a place where he once nearly bought 23 acres, walked along the creek and I got to pick up lots of beautiful and interesting rocks, many of them BC Jade. This area is 'littered' with Jade. I love rocks so was in my glory. The whole place was incredibly beautiful and I want to go back there with my truck one day soon. I'll take buckets to fill with rocks, take a sleeping bag to camp there, a good book to read when I have time, my fishing rod, and of course Reba... can't go do something like that without my beloved dog. Oh ya, we saw lots of Moose poop all around there and Deer tracks. When I go back there I will be sure to take my camera with a fully charged set of batteries and an empty memory card.

Back to Tuggy's: he gave me the little helmet I had worn today just because it fits me, haha, as well as a leather hat to wear when I have 'helmet head' (hair badly messed up from wearing a helmet), and a small socket set so I will have some tools to work with for any thing I want/need to do to my trike later on. "Supplementing your Dad's tools" he said. I'd previously shown him the tools I have here and told him that they mostly were my Dad's. And yes, I got back on my trike and did some more riding around the yard.

In between, here and there, work was done on the box for my trike and on the way it will be mounted. We also went through some of his stuff to find an old windshield that we hoped would fit my trike and it didn't so I will eventually have to find/buy a different one as it makes riding much more pleasant from what I've been told, really breaks the wind and makes a major difference. I had taken some old horse shoes I had here, saved from when I had horses in my life. They are somewhat worn down as they are all used though this is no problem. After removing old nails and cleaning the shoes up a bit, Tuggy spray painted them gloss black, then put some Diamond Dust on them. Wow, do they ever sparkle in the sun!!! Diamond Dust is multi-colored little specks that glitter like, well, Glitter, only is way more costly. It only takes a tiny bit to make a big pretty! These two shoes will go on the back on the box of my trike, and likely 2 more will be done, one for each side of the box. Tug has a "Mustang" name tag off a Mustang car that will also be put on there. I told him I am hoping that riding my "iron horse" will help me to not so badly miss my "skin horse", then when I mentioned putting horse shoes on it I expected he'd want to shoot me for being crazy, yet he surprised me by agreeing with it and coming up with the Diamond Dust idea. He will be painting lots of my trike with the gloss black, putting Diamond Dust in some strategic places, then, as with the horse shoes, putting on 2 coats of clear. I'm looking forward to taking photos of the finished product and posting them here to show you.

I've been thinking that now I'll be riding all summer, in the hot Okanagan sunshine, I will have to take care to protect my face. I have very few wrinkles for a woman my age and I want to keep it that way. Wind and sun can both be hard on skin, so I must be sure to use moisturizers, anti wrinkle creams, and sunscreen. I rarely do any of this, just go with 'natural'.

After we put Mustang and Big Red (the 2 trikes) to bed (safely locked away in the shop), I drove back home. Shortly after I arrived, like within 10 minutes, Dan came by to borrow my printer as his is out of ink. He took me for a drive to town, stopped at McDonald's to get tea & coffee, then drove to the beach for awhile (amazing how many other people were there at around 9:30pm). It was nearly 11pm when he drove me home and left again.

I am so very grateful for so very much. I am truly blessed on so many levels!!!