Jonathan Smith is a web designer, graphic designer, and photographer in Harrisburg, PA.

Terry’s First Birthday, originally uploaded by dziner.

Happy birthday Terry!

After I leave work at 5PM I need to go the entire way across town to get home. It’s just Second Street the entire way, but you need a strategy to make it across town in a timely fashion. Here’s my strategy.

First, when I get off the Second Street exit of 83 north I stay in the right lane as there will surely be a few people turning right onto Paxton Street.  Now when I cross Paxton Street I glance to the right to make sure people are yielding to my right merging from Paxton Street to the east onto Second Street.

Now you need to avoid the crater-like holes in the middle lane of Second Street near the railroad bridge. Those will do a number on your wheels and your alignment. At this time, peer under the railroad bridge and look for any buses in the right lane that may be pulling into Market Square. If there’s no buses, I stay in the right lane. If there is a bus, it’s back to the middle lane.

If I’m in the right lane at Market Street, there will definitely be people turning right onto Market Street. It happens every time. If I’m in the middle lane I keep an eye on these people turning right onto Market Street as the middle and left lanes will jam up between Market and Walnut Street. Right after Market I’ll hop in the right lane to avoid the cluster that tries to turn left onto Walnut Street to get over onto Front Street. Now is when I pray that someone is not trying to parallel park or some freakin taxi decides to double park ruining my entire strategy.

Time to avoid some more huge potholes near Locust and Pine Streets. All is good staying until North Street. I need to watch traffic here as it usually backs up to this corner from the red light at Forster Street. Stay in the right lane here because the middle land backs up big time and the left lane is mostly turning left to go across the river into Camp Hill.

Now avoid the pot holes crossing Forster Street. From here to Division Street it’s pretty smooth sailing. Just stay in the right lane and you should have no problems. The downtown area is what takes the most skill to maneuver through. Hopefully this Harrisburg commuting strategy will help others get across town in a timely fashion.

I’m four weeks away from my motorcycle trip to the Thumper Thaw. The trip will be about 600 miles on the BMW F650GS. The trip should be a lot of fun since I’ll be riding with two friends. But I have the urge to switch to a different bike. I promise to wait until after this North Carolina trip though.

The BMW F650GS is a great bike. I love it. It’s light, easy to handle, and great on fuel economy. It’s also fun to ride on forestry roads. The reason why I am contemplating changing bikes is that I rarely get to enjoy the forestry roads without a one hour highway ride just to get there. And even then, I know where the roads go so there is no excitement in getting to the end. If I were to do any two-up riding, the F650GS would definitely not be my choice either.

For those reasons I’m considering a BMW R1100S similar to the photo below.

Finally I would own a BMW boxer. The 1100 wold give me plenty of power to do 2-up riding and eat up the highway with no problem. All of my commuting is highway anyways so this should fit nicely. And the shaft drive means no worrying about adjusting the chain. For longer trips, this bike would provide much more comfort than the single-cylinder F650GS. Now if I can only find one for sale. Before I make up my mind I need to take one for an extensive ride. And find a buyer for my current bike.