We Do What We Have To Do...

Go figure… I was going to ride westward into Texas first, then wherever after that… Probably into southern New Mexico, perhaps Arizona… possibly even California (but not likely!) Not ‘unusual’ at all for this chronic sufferer from PMS. Truth be told, ‘typical’ would be a more accurate word to use here… I’ve been in dire need of some wind therapy for several weeks, and opportunity seemed to be knocking…

I’ve been doing a winter campaign similar to that for… ummmm, several years (decades?) and it does suit my sensibilities, idiosyncrasies, delicacies, and intolerance of really cold temps. Plus, it also has the enormously therapeutic aspect of easing my one remaining, known, health malady… PMS. Nothing like throwing a leg over the saddle of our girl and meandering off towards some as yet unknown destination to cure what ails me!!!

Alas, I awoke at Troutdude’s hacienda last Tuesday morning, and… Dangitall! That dastardly ol’ responsibility gene twisted my arm… again… hard… My landlady has been ailing lately, and… you know… I felt a need to do… other things besides strictly self-indulgent pursuits. It wasn’t like she had asked or anything, and it wasn’t because there is anything specific or necessary for me to do… It just seems like the right thing to do, so… We headed more or less east instead of west, after Dennis and I had finished our breakfast.

My landlady is off visiting one of her brothers at the moment, so there is no need, or rationale, for us to hurry ‘home’. Nope, we do have a couple of days available before forecasted rain clearly indicates an arrival at some hunker-down location would definitely be advisable… Not an epic ride by any means, but still a venture with lots of unknowns to keep the occasion interesting and challenging. So, here we are… in Cordelle, GA. Funny about that…

We departed Mandeville, LA, reluctantly headed towards ‘home’… When we arrived in Mobile, AL, we made the turn towards Montgomery instead of going on to Pensacola… you know… for perfectly rational reasons… Well, rational to a rider if not to anyone else! Just a tad brisk that day, but a cloudless sky, tolerable traffic, we had the available time, and… now just how does a rider NOT take advantage of something like that? A question well beyond my ability to fathom, I’m afraid…

At a convenient, but quite necessary, Rest Area stop, I called my bud in Montgomery and inquired if a posse meeting might be on for that evening… Yeah, right… like I didn’t already know the answer to that! Actually, my call was more to put him on-notice than to seek information… Well, things worked out quite predictably: I did make the assembly of characters (the usual suspects), I did over-indulge… and I did pay the price during the remainder of the night, with some spill-over effects the following day. Oh well…

Ever heard that expression, “I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was?” I recall when I made the transition to having that adage very much apply to yours truly. Sadly, I must now report that I’ve apparently crossed another threshold into a new phase of life… I ain’t even as good once anymore! Nope, the spirit is still quite willing, but… Alas, has moderation finally come to ensnare this once proud and enthusiastic party animal and diminish his ‘quality of associations’ with all his rowdy friends? I’m finding that getting older sure has some major downsides!

Well, the ‘morning after’ was to also be ‘the next day’, and that had to be faced… I soldiered on. Lots of coffee later, the temp had by then also risen a wee bit and traffic had eased somewhat, so the time to remove ALI’s cover and load her up had arrived. I managed to accomplish all of that, and… (drum roll here) it appears I didn’t miss any of the requisite steps or leave anything behind in the motel! Sometimes I just get lucky, I reckon.

I had to face an important decision within the first ten miles of departure… Where would we head next? Any eastward choice would involve the same route for a brief period, so I did have the luxury of a very narrow time window in which to make the call… If we were to continue straight, we’d end up riding through Tuskegee, then Columbus, GA, and, much later, Macon, GA. The fog still had not completely lifted from my cranial cavity, so… spur-of-the-moment, instantaneous decisions were not to be easily had… I finally just left the selection up to fate.

More than likely, my subliminal thinker was responsible and not just fate alone, but in any case, we made the turn southeastward towards Union Springs and Eufaula… and that set us up to have to face still more decisions… Eufaula was a necessary route choice… a ‘choke point’ because of bridge availability across the Chattahoochee River. If we passed on Columbus, which we did, then the next crossing south would be in Eufaula…

Once over the bridge from that quaint and quite historical town, three options confronted us… Northeast eventually towards Dublin, maybe Vidalia, due east towards Albany and Tifton, or southeastward towards Bainbridge and Tallahassee… I chose northeastward… Mostly because I’d ridden the other two routes many more times and more recently, but also because the option selected just seemed to be ‘beckoning’ us. Ever get those sorts of inclinations or inspirations? Happens to us all the time!

Man, what a great day! Another fabulous outing aboard our girl in nearly ideal conditions, and with a ‘confidence level’ in the stratosphere! Whenever Troutdude works on our girl, well… Anything he does is ‘golden’, in my view, and I take anything he says to the bank! Not a care in the world, ALI seemed really happy and quite content, and Iran hadn’t nuked us yet… Life was really, really grand… even for infidels like this unworthy soul!!!

By making the series of choices we had made… both deliberately and haphazardly… Vidalia had become our ‘stretch’ objective… Dublin our fallback option… but we ended up in Cordelle instead… Did I mention I was not exactly on top of my game that day? Yep, the sun had retreated well behind us by the time we rolled in to town… not to mention I was seriously running out of steam… and… We were approaching a motel I’ve stayed in a few times over the years…

I received what turned out to be an excellent dinner recommendation, and I had a fleeting thought of perhaps turning in a bit earlier than usual… Care to guess how all that worked out? A really great meal followed by a good night’s rest was had, and the following morning found this aging ‘former’ reckless, boot-scooting, honky-tonk hero feeling far better than he had a scant twenty-four hours before!

We’ve enjoyed a wonderful few days on the road doing precisely what we love to do! This won’t be a lengthy outing, regrettably, so I choose to not think about its duration… only its quality. Sort of like a Dem or Repub conceding the other may have a valid point… At some level we know it’s true, but we just can’t bring ourselves to openly admit it… Oh well, we do what we have to do…

One other point: We’ve had only one boo-boo and one close call on this entire outing… so far… ALI has been trouble free, but her rider… well… On the way to Mandeville, a suddenly elevated pooperosity level pierced the veil of awareness and got my attention… in a big way! Alas, we didn’t quite come to a relief opportunity in time, so… That is so inconvenient anytime, but in winter, oh my. Wearing chaps, leather jacket, Gerbings liner, sweatshirt… Such a bother, all the while disrobing, the reason for being in that predicament in the first place becoming increasingly apparent! Danged messy, too!!!!

The close call came in Montgomery… The delay in departure that morning had allowed sufficient time for a repeat of recent experience to play out while still in the room and prior to layering-up for the ride! A fortuitous benefit to an otherwise unpleasant condition… See what I mean? I encounter dark clouds just like everybody else… Only mine seem to usually have a silver lining… Any wonder why I just love my life? Proud to be here!

DDT