The end is nigh...

I rode home from work in the dark last night.

That's not really any big deal, as I ride at night all the time. But this is the time of year when the coming of fall, and thus winter, makes itself evident.

Thursday evening, our late night at the dealership, I was heading out the door when I noticed it had gotten almost dark. It was at that dusky stage where the sun has just set but there's still light in the sky. During my 25-mile ride home, it became fully dark, so I actually arrived at my house at night.

And thus draws to a close another summer. I know it's not really gone yet. There are still more hours of daytime than night, the air still shimmers with the warmth of the season (though fortunately not the pavement-melting 100+ temps of mid-summer), and the ice cream stands still have lines at their service windows.

But it's coming. Sure as night follows day, fall and winter will follow summer. Unless... Do you remember the movie Endless Summer? The 1966 film followed a pair of surfers around the world as they pursued perfect surfing conditions no matter the date on the calendar. The basic premise was, if you had enough time and money, you could stay in summer ALL the time.

Few of us have that kind of money, of course. I like to think that, if I did have that kind of money, I'd certainly find the time.

I wouldn't surf, though. I'd ride and ride and ride and ride. In between rides, I'd put my bike on a plane or a ship, and transport it to the next continent on my list. What a journey that would be!

Believe it or not, there are plenty of people doing exactly that. The world is their riding area, and they are making the most of it. Some have retired from a lifetime of work, some have cashed in their 401(k) plans to finance their trip, some are students or recent graduates taking every penny (or Euro or Yen, or whatever) they can scrape together and making the journey of a lifetime. It is possible, though not easy.

Which brings me to Stecoah, North Carolina. I'm quite certain you've never heard of Stecoah, as it barely exists, on or off a map. It's a tiny community set in the shadow of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a place you ride through to get somewhere else.

But not on the weekend of September 7-9, 2012. That weekend, at the Ironhorse Lodge nestled back in a holler, a band of globetrotting motorcyclists will gather for a Horizons Unlimited Travelers Meeting. This bunch of bikers comes from all over the world, with one mission in mind -- to meet fellow travelers (not the 1950s Communist version) who love to meet those of similar interests and exchange information and experiences. That weekend, there will be presentations on trips from North America to India; classes on how to use your GPS to its best capabilities; how to fix that flat tire in the middle of nowhere, and much more.

But mostly, there will be fun. Old friends will reunite, new friends will meet, drinks will be drunk, meals will be shared. Afterwards, the riders will be on their way, either back home to dream and plan or down the road to the next chapter of their adventure.

If you can't actually be on the road living your adventure, you can be planning it, safe and snug in your home. And is there any better place to be -- barring an endless summer, of course -- when cold weather comes?

Game on

So, it's to be Romney-Ryan.

As others have noted, this will at least give voters a clear choice this November. While Romney has been credited by some as making a bold choice, I see this as more a sign of desperation.

This is the kind of selection you make when, even after all the primaries, you still cannot solidify the support of those within your own party who form the base -- in this case, the most conservative elements of the already-conservative Republican party. Taking fire from the right, Romney has once again surrendered and given them what they want. This isn't the bold choice of a leader, this is a weak person trying to get the mean kids to like him. When you're counting on the VP pick to bring charisma to the team, that says something about the top of the ticket.

I suspect this will work for Romney in the short term. The right-wingers and neo-conservatives, eager to grab the levers of power in Washington they held under George W. Bush and sensing they have a candidate they can push around, will now line up behing the double R ticket. But will America? I doubt it.

The folks in the Obama campaign are as happy about this pick as the right wingers. They'd been hoping to wrap Romney in the deeply-flawed Ryan budget plan this fall, and Romney has now done their work for them. What a stroke of luck!

Expect a campaign highlighting the true effects of the Ryan -- er, I mean the Romney -- plan upon the majority of Americans. When voters learn what is really on tap should the Republicans win, the thinking goes, they will be even more inclined to vote Democratic.

Already falling far behind among women and minority voters, it would seem the Romney campaign has now mostly written off any chance of increasing their share of those voting blocks. As an Obama supporter, I'm happy to see them doing that, of course, but I don't think that attitude is best for our country. I'd prefer both campaigns actually try to appeal to the broad majority of our citizens rather than try to put together just enough of various fragments to create a 50.1% whole.

With any luck, this will carry over to Congressional elections, as well. Democrats, who had hoped to pick up a few seats in the House and hold their own in the Senate, now think they may have an unexpected edge in a number of contests. We can only hope.

Game Change, a book written by esteemed journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, documented the decision by John McCain to select Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President. They talked about how the McCain campaign hoped her selection would change the dynamics of the race and, for a time, it did. Eventually, however, the truth about Sarah Palin came out, and she was seen as one of the worst choices ever for a national ticket. We shall see what the selection of Paul Ryan means in the end.

Insert clever title here...

Writer's block is a funny thing, or some I'm told by actual writers.

I don't claim to be much of a writer, though I've worked as a writer and editor. I can write, but I don't have to write. I don't live to write and that, to me, is the difference. I know how to put words together, how to arrange sentences, how to tell a story. But I'm not an artist. Even when I was a professional photographer, I knew I was more of a craftsman than an artist.

I've known a lot of artists through the years, and I'm not sure I'd want to be one. While I sometimes envy the single-minded dedication to their art, I think I prefer a more balanced and less stressful existence than what I witnessed with my friends. But it would be nice to create some art, just once.

It's been a while since I've written a blog entry. Most of the summer, actually. It's not that I haven't had ideas. The way the presidential campaign is going, I'd have to be unconscious not to come up with something. My Washington Nationals are still in first place in the National League East, which is truly amazing and certainly exciting, and my motorcycle travels have given me some interesting topics to explore.

So, I'm back at the keyboard and ready to get back to boring you with my non-artistic ramblings. Don't say I didn't warn you.