"Betsy" and I take our first roadtrip

All of this week my husband Paul is taking a week off. Supposedly this week is our summer vacation. Like so many others, due to the high price of fuel, we decided to stay close to home and take in some of the local sights and scenery. Also, we are in the midst of a major house renovation project so we've kept very busy.

One of the major things Paul has insisted on is that I get a motorcycle ride in daily. Today he announced that it was time for me to leave the neighborhood streets and, as the song says, "Get your motor runnin'. Head out on the highway. Lookin' for adventure. And whatever rubber stamps may come your way!" (NOTE: like the way I embellished the lyrics? Not bad, eh? LOL )

We headed up highway 17 to Alfred, Ontario where I knew there was a scrapbooking store that I'd never been to before. YOWZA! Highway riding is a lot of physical work when there are strong headwinds. I don't have a windscreen for my bike yet and at speeds of 90 - 100 kilometers/hour I found it physically demanding keeping my girl, BETSY, standing up straight and moving ahead.

But, I did it and we safely arrived at the very nice little shop called "Scrap en masse".









Of course I didn't come out empty handed either. Look at the GREAT clear stamps I purchased. I don't know how well you can see this photo, but I think the Christmas set with Santa playing checkers with the polarbear is darling! I can hardly wait to ink each of these sets up! Take a look at my loot!:



As I said, the headwinds were very wicked and I admit that I had a hard time but did manage to stay in control. Control, that is, until Paul had to make a sudden stop in front of me. I couldn't stop in time behind him and as I swirved around him on the left, my brake lever smashed into his clutch lever and the tip of MY little finger SMASHED AND SHATTERED his left side mirror. I managed to keep control of Betsy and stop her safely. Fortunately my gloves protected my hand from the shattered glass. I think I may have fractured the tip of my pinky but there were no cuts and I'll be fine...fine, that is, except this took a bit of toll on my lack of confidence issue that I've been dealing with.

With great fear and trepidation, I managed to ride the whole trip home. Paul and I hadn't spoken about the whole incident yet. I felt awful for damaging his bike. You know what he said when I pulled in the driveway behind him? He said, "You did GREAT today. I'm so proud of you and how you maintained control and stopping even after hitting me." (He was stopped at the time of the incident.) He was so supportive! What a guy!!

So here is the damage to his bike (I type this while hangin' my head in shame...)



I'm going to keep on riding, though. But for now, I think I'll take some Tylenol for my pinkie and then ink up my new stamps.

Until next time....

and "BETSY" too!