What a curious species we are! A few of us can become so outraged by the unconscionable conduct of someone a thousand miles away, that they feel entirely justified in going out to steal their neighbor’s TV and then burning down his/her store.
In Hong Kong, people are rioting because their fairly new government is imposing ever stricter, more Draconian laws, rules, and regulations on them. Those naive protesters just don’t get it that when government takes a heavy hand and increasingly micro-manages our lives, that it’s really just for the common good and actually makes us happier in the long run. Yeah, right…
Funny how when I’m in a dark mood, my thoughts can jump around wildly, my sarcasm escalates, and my enthusiasm for just about anything retreats into obscurity… Even on a road trip, I can manage to feel… well, not good about things generally nor even about immediate circumstances. A ‘blue’ state-of-mind can color every conscious thought coming to the fore inside my cranial cavity.
I’d been suffering mightily with the social imperative of ‘sheltering-in-place’… A high-minded, platitudinous expression used to spin the reality that some A-hole on another continent had screwed up and set in motion a chain of events that unleashed a dangerous monster upon the entire world… resulting in my having to remain seated in my danged ol’ recliner watching the dribble on TV long enough to be put to sleep…
It’s bad enough that I have to live with the consequences of my own mistakes, but somebody else’s, too? Damn-it-to-Hell, that’s just way over the top, and I don’t like it one bit! Maybe I just need a different perspective on things… Yeah, that’s the ticket! It isn’t really about the substance of things anyway, it’s all about simply employing the proper ‘spin’! Don’t just take my word for it… ask any successful politician, preacher, prophet, or professor. “Poop don’t stink… it merely has a distinctive, less-than-pleasant bouquet…” Yeah, that makes all the difference, right?
Finally the day came when our girl and her discouraged partner departed ‘the shelter’. That should have guaranteed a spirit-lifting, fulfilling turn of events, thus enabling us to live happily ever after, right? Not exactly… See, it was freaking hot! I kept telling myself that it wasn’t actually hot at all: No, the atmosphere was merely thermally enhanced… It didn’t seem to help…
I’d had an errand to run near Montgomery, AL, so up into dear ol’ Bama we rode for our first night’s stay… Yep, it sure was great to be back out yonder again, and a most pleasant sensation did overtake me. That usual, predictable, blissful sense of well-being did occur as expected… that is, right up until the atmospheric thermal enhancing process crossed the threshold dividing the zone of being ‘simply oppressive’ to that of the realm of ‘hinges on the gates of Hades’! Dang!
Heat during the summer months is part of the riding experience that time of year, and there isn’t much to be done about it. I do tend to shorten the length of times in the saddle, leave earlier in the mornings and knock-off earlier in the afternoons, and that does mitigate the unpleasantness some… This time we’d had a later departure time than normal, however, but we still had the same number of miles to be covered… This, I suspect, played a role in the upcoming dark mood that eventually came into play…
Our girl and her childish rider did in time limp into Rickman, TN, our first interim destination. We stayed three nights at the lair of Bigwolf and the ‘wolf-tamer’, Crazy Bitch (Mural). Jerry would be joining us for the ‘post shelter-in-place’ trek then being contemplated, so expectations were high! ALI did need to have her rear tire replaced again, though, and arrangements had been made for Troutdude, Lucky13, and MitchO to perform that nicety for us at Mitch’s place near Crossville, TN.
Big killer assumes the ‘work position’…
Gordon & Mitch changing the tire using Mitch’s machine (that guy has an awesome shop – two bays for bikes, two for cars!).
beta fish fightsMitch and Dennis servicing ALI’s rear end, while Jerry was enviously pursuing all the goodies of Mitch’s inventory, all amongst an impressive assemblage of Valkyries…
tetra vs bettaThe finishing touches…
Well, nothing is ever simple, right? Jerry and I had a delightful scoot over to Mitch’s place, and all three of those master wrenches were ready to proceed with the proceedings. ALI also got an oil & filter change, too, then… Jerry announced something was askew with his carbs… All three of our wrench buddies own a Digi-sync, only… none of them had one at this location, though! Gordon’s was by far the closet one, so off we rode to Clinton, TN… Jerry and I finally arrived back at his place that evening well after dark… but both bikes were now ready!
We decided not to get in a rush, so we took the next day off and leisurely prepared for departure on the following morning… After departure, all went well, too… right up until the sun approached its zenith. From then on, temps continued to rise mercilessly, and my altitude continued to plummet. The thing about extreme heat is that it causes such confusion for this tender rider wannabe… Do I prefer heat or would I rather have wet (as in rain)? Well, if those are the only two choices, I’ll take the heat: However… I really don’t like either one at all!
Oh well, off we rode at long last! We’d departed fairly early that morning, so we did have some cool to enjoy for several hours… but it didn’t last, of course. Nope, and making things worse, as I often do, I was a bit slow in de-layering, so I had the added discomfort of a self-exacerbated unpleasant situation on my hands…
I do hope I eventually learn some lessons along the way… and soon, too! We’re now in north-central Iowa at the moment, and the forecast is for one more really hot day, then things will moderate considerably as we make the turn west from here and head for the Black Hills and then the mountains.
I ain’t nearly as resilient as I once was, and my stamina is but a fraction of what it once used to be… I just can’t bring myself to think about having to give all of this up, so… I trudge on, endure the difficulties, and hope for the best… Youth, alas, is glorious indeed… but it is not for always… This is an old familiar story for sure, but perhaps it is even more: It just could be a story of old… I think I’ll take a nap now…
DDT
