Motorcycles and Firearms

This past weekend Jen and I had what she deemed a "Josh Weekend" full of motorcycling and shooting.  Several things prompted this development.  First, I've been trying to match up my schedule with several friends from work who all ride motorcycles.  Saturday everything worked out for us to ride up to Bartlett Reservoir.  Four bikes headed out that morning and rode to the reservoir over some gorgeous desert landscape.  Plenty of twisties and elevation changes kept me happy, while the scenery kept Jen entertained.  The reservoir itself was pretty cool.  For such a large lake on a beautiful day, it was surprisingly quiet and empty.  We'll definitely plan to take some more trips up there in the future.  On the way back, Frank, one of my friends, let me ride his 2008 Harley Street Glide.  It was amazing, and has now become the new desire for my next motorcycle.

Bartlett Reservoir surrounded by "mountains" and cacti

Jen found this perfect photo spot as we rode along, and we just had to pull over to take a picture

At the boat launch with Frank's and my bikes

On Sunday we met some friends to go shooting at a nearby range.  Since Jen's deployment is coming up quickly, she's decided to become comfortable firing a pistol similar to the one with which she'll most likely deploy.  I ran her through the basics of my HK P30 and let her loose on a 25 foot target.  She did very well, and decided that shooting wasn't as scary as she'd previously thought; in fact, it was fun!  Her goal is to get range time in about once a month til her deployment gets closer, then increase that time to once a week.  At that rate, she'll be a trained killer before we know it!

Getting in my turn

She already looks like she knows what she's doing!

Don't let the smile fool you...  she's dangerous.

Since everything we did this weekend was testosterone-infused, she now claims I owe her a weekend of pedicures and shopping sometime in the near future.  We'll see about that.