Simply Incredible...
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2011
1
18
30
Trip End
Jul 17, 2011
Barstow, California
Saturday, July 16, 2011
So sorry that I've been so delinquent about blogging...Running on 4 to 5 hours of sleep since I left home on June 28, Not enough coffee and cigarettes in the world to keep my mind from simply shutting down at night...and of course, mornings are devoted to gulping down 50 to 60 ounces of coffee and smoking countless cigs to get ready for the day. Enough of the excuses. Just some random thoughts to put down before the aging brain cells affect the accuracy of my memories.
I was asked last night whether the trip was everything I wanted and whether it had gone as well as I had envisioned. The answer is simple. We are a very close bunch of friends, somehow bound together tightly for nearly 40 years through sporadic (sometimes over 30 years between contact) communication. We are on a trip that I knew would strengthen the bonds or blow us apart. There is no in between on a grueling ride lasting two weeks. We are closer now than ever before...Hence, yes Karen, it's been everything I ever could have imagined...and so much more.
Most memorable moments? There are simply so many. The stops and picnic lunches, the bits of Americana, seeing a cross-section of this great country from the seat of national power in DC to the real power of the nation...the people and places along the way. Just sitting around talking...meandering across the country at a frenetic pace (yes, frenetic and meandering don't fit together in the same sentence but it is how we are...8:00 departure means 8:45...30 minute rest stop means an hour...an hour picnic is 2 hours...a 5 mile excursion off the route means 15 miles...geting to sleep early means midngiht and later...and yet, we have made our destination city every evening. Meeting friends along the way...their hospitality...the memories. An unexpected re-meeting with a second grade classmate (a crush) 46 years later and our late night ride in Plano. Sitting on the 'Bones in the cool air of the eastern mountains...through the extreme heat of Texas and the southwest...through the stark beauty of New Mexico, Arizona and the Mojave desert. AND, the Tail of the Dragon. Yeah...the Tail. It was at the tail when we really reverted. Pushing ourselves and our bikes like we used to do in the Margalla hills...racing crazily through the turns and passing slow movers with reckless abandon...tempered only by a bit of caution that comes with age. Seeing the look in Jeff's eyes before spontaneously saying "to hell with the schedule, let's do it again" and taking off back down the tail...and back up. Yeah...memorable moments...So many more that will all coalesce into some sort of coherent document after the trip is complete. For now, however, the most memorable part of the epic journey is simple...the enduring friendships.
Humorous moments? yeah...there were those, too...Ron finding sixth gear 4 days out of DC. Jeff figuring out the cruise conrtol on his rented Harley on the day before the run into LA. Sam remembering that he has a rear brake part way through the Dragon runs. Ron making a slow U-turn too wide and dropping off the shoulder...frantically peddling his feet as he tried to stay upright and get back on the road...finally making it, looking back at me and making a face reminiscent of the old days after a screw-up...and then dropping back of the road...Laura (daughter) leaving melted boot sole on my pipe while using it as a footrest on the way to the Grand Canyon...Andy's ice cream sandwiches...Jeff's Oreo cookies...Jayne's Sonic fetish...and Alex...yeah...just Alex. Karen with a moonpie...Two-fisted junk food junkies...and on and on...
It's been wonderful...simply wonderful. It'll be bittersweet today as we roll into LA. BUT...we WILL ride again! We have so many more memories to make. Thank you all for your friendship...for the memories...for making this a truly epic adventure. Thank you all for being who you are and for being a part of my life.
