A Downgrade I've Been Looking Forward To For Years

One thing I hated about living in St. Louis was not being able to see the stars very well at all.

When we moved to Gainesville, I was happy to be living in an area that's a six, rather than an eight to nine, on the Bortle Scale. Major constellations are much more obvious, it's possible to see Mars and Venus at the right times, etc.

Bit it's only about 15 miles to an area (out west past Bronson) that's only a three, and only about 25 miles to the Otter Creek area, which is a two.

I've always loved a very, very dark cloudless night. Parts of the Mojave, rural Nevada, rural Utah, etc. are at 1 or 2 on the Bortle Scale and the stars are just magnificent. I can see why ancient man was so obsessed with them.

For years, I've been suggesting to Tamara that we pick a good night during a meteor shower or other notable celestial event and go have a late-night picnic beneath the stars. But there's always some reason why not.

I was afraid to try it with a bicycle, electric bicycle, or 50cc scooter. I just don't know those roads very well, and didn't fancy being out on them without the ability to move fast.

The new motorcycle solves the latter problem, but I do want to get some more night-time riding in before I hit unfamiliar territory in the dark. The bike is past the 400-mile mark now, and probably 370 of those miles are daytime miles. In fact, I may go for a local cruise tonight. Some of the nearby roads are fairly dark even though they're still well inside Gainesville's light pollution cone.

Side note: The lower gas mileage reading (66.26 miles per gallon versus the initial 71.97) after installing the new plug and coil was apparently an outlier. After today's fill-up, it measured 71.13 miles per gallon). All-time average, 69.9 mpg.