50 is the new 35

I put some miles on the motorcycle this weekend (maybe 60?). Saturday I drove around in Ramsey, through Nowthen, through St. Francis, and home again. I'm finding it easier to go faster than I did in the beginning. Having mirrors helps a lot. After waiting 3 weeks, my mirrors finally arrived. So now I can see where I have been and I can see the traffic behind me. Today I drove around in Ramsey again, through Elk River intending to take the back roads up to Monticello. Turns out that road is closed so I turned around, went through Elk River again, crossed the bridge into Otsego and went to Monticello on the other side of the river. That was a beautiful trip. I am now able to go 50 mph whereas before over 35 was frightening. I even made it up to 53 once. I stopped at the Target Store in Elk River to pick up a few things intending to put them in my pockets for the ride home. The pockets on my jacket look a lot larger than their capacity. I saw my sister at Target. That was great to catch up unexpectedly like that. One cool thing about motorcycle riding is that the riders wave at each other by extending their left hand below the handle. What other group of motorists do that? Do semi drivers wave at each other? School bus drivers? Honda owners? Dump truck drivers? I think not. I do believe law enforcement might nod as they pass. I'm big into waving. Just ask my sister - I drive her nuts with my waving. We were eating lunch sitting on a rock on the St. Croix river last week when the paddleboat went by. What did I do? Yes, I waved. 8 people on deck waved back. My sister was mortified. She didn't want all those people to watch her eat her sandwich. She reminded me that once, a couple years ago, I waved at a low flying float plane. I didn't remember doing that. She said I waved my canoe paddle at it. Much as I am into waving and as much as I'd like to wave back, I'm too terrified to take my left hand off the handle of the motorcycle yet. By the end of the trip, I was comfortable enough to raise 2 or 3 fingers up off the handlebar. That is as much wave this motorcycle rookie can give.