I did retire. My last day in uniform was yesterday. I am still technically an officer until 11:30 am January 21st, but I don't have a squad or a radio at my disposal any longer. If all goes right, I'll still be able to afford to ride...lol. (funny, not funny?)

 

Congratulations!

 

It'll be different.

 

Good. More time for you to write up these great posts.

 

Congrats on the retirement! I don't know how anyone works in LE anymore! Can't do the job the way they are supposed to! I retired in 98 after 28 years, but I continued with the fire service and left that after 35 years. Enjoy retirement, do what you want when you want to. Don't just set down. Thank you for your service!

 

Congratulations! NOT dealing with other peoples problems is a freeing feeling ( a word?). One downside is you no longer have the convenient excuse " i gotta work" for events you don't want to attend. . But I ride a whole lot more!

 

Three weeks in, and I'm loving my retirement. I haven't had one second thought about it. It'd be nice if I could go for a ride, but it'll happen in due time. Yesterday I got my first tattoo. My Dad, who got me into Harley's and motorcycles in general, had a tattoo of two skulls on his back right shoulder area. He never really showed it off much and I couldn't even find a photo of it, but I decided to do two skulls on my right shoulder in his memory.






Being it was my first tattoo I didn't go crazy, but I have a few ideas of a couple of things to add to it, to make it represent my Dad a bit more. The blue in the eyes has a double meaning. First, Dad's eyes were blue, and my wife had the idea to add the blue. Second: I added the blue between the skulls as a way to create a subtle "Thin Blue Line" in the tattoo, to honor my career as a LEO.

I "fear" this tattoo will evolve into a half sleeve, eventually.

 

Things are supposed to start warming up tomorrow...like 50 degrees warm. There's still too much salt on the roads; but come Wednesday I will be out on the Limited so long as the weather guessers are correct this time. I'll be in Wisconsin tomorrow and Tuesday, ice fishing (first time for me), as it's still a frozen tundra up there. I am so ready to start the 2022 riding season. I may not be able to ride as many miles, due to the increase in gas prices and the decrease in income (retired you know) but I'm still going to enjoy every mile I am able to ride.

 

It looks like it might be a nice weekend here… I will take advantage of it…



Almost 20° warmer than the last time…

 

Well, yesterday was the day! I started my retirement ride days!


I headed over to Savanna, where I found the Mississippi River was still frozen over.


Lock and Dam 13, north of Fulton IL, seemed to be the dividing point of frozen and thawed.


I was looking for bald eagles all day, and Lock and Dam 13 usually has some around, but not so much today.


There is a threesome that has a nest along the access road, and I did see this one heading back to the nest.


There were plenty of geese....too many really.


Well, when in Rome.


I headed up the Rock River from Dixon to Rockford, and back down the other side as well.


The salt was already making a mess of things.


Not a bad first day. It hit 55 degrees, and the sun felt great. Getting the winter gas out, along with the Stabil was the main goal today. Gas was $4.69 a gallon.

It's supposed to be 66 degrees on Saturday......I sure hope they're right.