Motorcycle Absurdities at IKEA...an impromptu photo session.

This photo series takes me back to the week leading up to Singles Awareness Day (a.k.a. February 14 for all you cynical, non-committed relationship type folk).

It was one of those weeks that needed a visit to IKEA. The trip served two purposes: (1) I finally landed my first full-time job in ten months and had to do some product research for my new office and (2) I got to hang out with a close friend to iron out some personal aggression with a motorcycle ride and lunch. I don't reserve trips to everyone's favorite Swedish furniture store just to times of emotional distress, but a meatball plate and coordinated home goods can do a lot for a slightly maimed psyche.

After nibbling on that famous cuisine that the confines of the blue and yellow building had made so popular, we began our winding trek through the store's sample rooms, wearing our motorcycle gear and holding on to our helmets. Then an idea struck me in the midst of my clouded mind. I needed to make fun of myself and do something stupid. So I handed my smartphone to my buddy and threw my helmet on.

It was time to go test out some couches.

A Quick Jaunt to Pittsburgh...for meatballs and retail therapy.

Last week, I had a hankering for some Swedish meatballs from IKEA. So, I jumped on the bike and headed next door to Pittsburgh for lunch. Because that's what you do when you have a motorcycle...you ride an absurd amount of miles for food.

On the way there, I did stop at one of the service stations on the turnpike toll roads for a Starbucks and an EZ Pass so I wouldn't have to keep digging for change in my pockets every time I hit one of those toll booth stations. Here are some of the strange findings from my quick day jaunt over to my neighboring state to the east.

I needed this book...like 20 years ago.

Ride Recap: St. Louis, Root Beer, Santa Claus, and IKEA...only in a Christine ride.

After getting my work schedule scrambled around unexpectedly, I found myself with quite a span of free time on my hands. So I get on Facebook and muse about riding somewhere this week, especially because the weather called for clear and in the 70s during the day, a very unusual weather pattern for a November in the Midwest.

My friend Cris suggests (jokingly, of course) that I go visit her in St. Louis, MO, a very doable 450 miles. Thinking it was a good idea combined with the fact that I was bored and wanted to pile some miles on Eleanor before it got way too cold this year, we shot a few messages back and forth and I was on my way west around 9AM on Tuesday morning. The straight shot down I-70 was pretty uneventful and the weather was just pleasant, trickling into the mid-70s by the early afternoon. This journey would mark my return to St. Louis in nearly three and a half years.