Whatcha gonna do when your wife runs her fingers through your hair, looks into your eyes and says, "Please honey... won't you take me for a ride." But instead of running upstairs, she points me to the garage.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe which motorcycle gets to go. No batteries in any of them. So the "easiest" option was kick starting the the Honda XR 250.

Right.

After what seemed like the 100th kick I gave up.

It's not easy being a motorcyclist in Michigan but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

We've been trying to get out at least once every month. Last winter we didn't miss a single month. But this year it's been a little bit harder. We managed to get out in November and December, but January has been a little cold. Plus all the white stuff sure makes it hard to ride vehicles with only two wheels.

So today it was supposed to be a balmy 34° out.

Next victim on the list was the KTM. So I yanked the 950 Adventure out from underneath it's cover. I pulled the battery off of the trickle charger and slapped it into the bike. Tammie was already suited up.

You could almost hear the big bike groan, "You gotta be kidding me. I ain't going nowhere in 27°." But a couple of seconds on the starter and she reluctantly came to life.

I suited up while Tammie paced back and forth like a caged tiger.

The bike was purring almost as loud as Tammie. She plugged in her heated vest and off we went, heading south on M-15. Dark clouds drifted overhead. Temps were only in the upper 20s. The brisk wind was blowing snow across the wet highway. Ahhh, not good. Wet roads + winds + cold = ice.

I opted to get away from the open fields and head down M-13 along the Saginaw River. That was a little bit better. If we could get to the Zilwaukee Bridge, I figured that should qualify for a decent January ride.



I'm not sure what is more dangerous, riding a motorcycle in January or taking pictures underneath the crumbling Z-Bridge. So a couple of quick shots and back aboard the 950.

We blasted back up to Bay City. The 950 just begged to be opened up. Cracking the throttle lightened up the front end as we roared along the river. A quick photo at James Clements Airport and then off to warm up.



We headed to the nearest diner for lunch. Walking into Rudy Js, the waitress demanded, "Are you die hards or aren't you from around here?"

Our helmets, glasses, and camera fogged up like we were in a Swedish sauna. The moisture on the front of the camera made for some "cool" shots of Tammie drinking her coffee/hot chocolate.



After splitting a gut bomb burrito we stumbled back out to the bike for the short jaunt home.



It never did get above 30°.



Here's hoping to a warmer February.