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“Old Man Winter, like the elfish creature Jack Frost, is a personification of winter, sometimes also called Father Winter. He may be an alternative older name for Father Christmas and has been identified with the Old English god Woden. In Russian folklore, Old Man Winter is known as Morozko and is also identified with Ded Moroz, the Russian Santa Claus. In English folklore, Jack Frost appears as an elfish creature who personifies crisp, cold, winter weather; a variant of Father Winter (also known as “Old Man Winter”). Some believe this representation originated in Germanic folklore specifically in the Anglo-Saxon and Norse winter customs. Tradition holds Jack Frost responsible for leaving frosty crystal patterns on windows on cold mornings.”

Yikes, yet another Wikipedia lesson on folklore of the holidays and seasons. I bet you never thought you’d be learning so much reading The Experience here at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Fortunately for the third weekend in a row, Old Man Winter has kept clear of central Indiana. During our Indian Summer lesson a couple weeks ago, we learned the generally accepted use of the term is when the weather is sunny and clear, and above 70° F. Last weekend turned out to be mostly sunny and clear. But with temperatures only making it into the mid 50°F both days, I don’t think we can call this Indian Summer anymore.

Having been pretty distracted from household autumn duties the past couple weekends, I did manage to focus for part of a day and, like my buddy Mike last weekend, get my yard cleaned up of all my neighbors’ leaves. Yes, you heard me right! I only have one small deciduous tree in my whole yard that drops its leaves in the fall. Unfortunately, all my neighbors around me have very large trees with mountains of leaves that inevitably end up in my yard. You would think they would want to collect all their leaves themselves!

So with my neighbors leaves disposed of, Sunday turned into another full day of wandering the back roads and small towns of Indiana with a group of like-minded motorcycle enthusiasts from the Indy DESMO Ducati owners club. A group of 11 of us made our way down some favorite twisty roads starting off in Monrovia on SR39 through Martinsville then down to Old SR37 passing through Hindustan and Dolan on our way to Bloomington. Taking SR48 west of Bloomington, we shot south on the freshly paved SR43, hitting towns like Hendricksville and Solsberry on our way to SR54. Heading west on SR54, we passed through Ridgeport, Bloomfield, Linton and Dugger on our way to our final destination in Sullivan.

Oh, I forgot to mention we did have a destination in mind for this two-wheeled adventure. The Indy DESMO group shares very similar passions as the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA) I’ve blogged about many times here at The Experience. Both groups love to ride, and both groups love to eat. Well, our destination for the day was lunch at Joe’s Italian Foods & Pizzeria in Sullivan, Ind. Oni and Nora Leone have owned and operated Joe’s Pizza in Sullivan since February 2000. Oni is also a fellow Ducatista and is the proud owner of a Ducati Monster. Two other members of Oni’s family operate Joe’s Pizza restaurants in Robinson and Newton, Ill.

I’ve got to report to you that I experienced the best pizza I have ever tasted last Sunday at Joe’s Italian Foods & Pizzeria in Sullivan. I also experienced the same difficulty with my riding gear apparently shrinking as I did last weekend during our gastronomic tour around Indianapolis on two wheels with my riding buddy Mike.

Well, I just saw the weather forecast for the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, and it appears Old Man Winter is finally going to make an appearance here in central Indiana with some snow, so I’ll wish you all the very best. I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com

Greg