This is just a short entry to say that I'm not taking any big bike trips this year.  My wife and I are planning to go to Germany and that will take up most of my available vacation time.  But it won't be a completely bike-trip-less year.

In June I'll be riding to the BMW MOA national rally in Redmond, Oregon.  What's the BMW MOA you ask?  That stands for BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.  One of my good riding buddies, Bill Motsenbocker is a member and speaks highly of it and since I bought a BMW last year I certainly qualify!  They'll have all sorts of interesting and entertaining events.  I've never been to anything this big that is bike-related.  It should be fun.  Plus I love riding around eastern Oregon.  There are lots of great twisty roads.  My good friend Tim Pontius and I will ride down and back, taking some extra time to hit those nice roads.

Grand Coddiwomple!

"To travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination"  I believe I saw this defined as an old English word, but even if not, it's a fun word to know.  The BMW MOA has an event they've done the previous three years named this.  The shortest description I can give is that it's a scavenger hunt for people on motorcycles.  There's a theme and a bunch of challenges to accomplish.  Prizes?  None, other than bragging rights and the opportunity to one-up your friends.  It goes from April through October.  You get pictures of you, your bike, and your contestant "flag" next to the challenge item/place/etc and send it in to be judged for points.  I've already started and it's a hoot.  On our way down and back from the national rally Tim and I will be taking pictures all along the way.  Should be a lot of fun and gives us an excuse (like we need one) to go for a ride.

Website is changing!
After many years of looking the same, my website is due for an update.  Those of you that know me know that I'm a Software Engineer and work for a company named Intellitect.  A few of the smart people there created a framework called "Coalesce" and I'm going to use it to recreate my website.  The existing content will be there, but the format of the site will be much improved especially for the mobile audience.  This serves two purposes for me: 1) it gets my site looking and working better, and 2) gives me real-world experience developing in the framework.  How long will it take?  Who knows.  But eventually you'll see something different here.