DDT (12)
Member
Posts: 4112
Sometimes ya just gotta go...
Winter Springs, FL - Occasionally...
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« on: August 23, 2022, 01:56:29 PM » |
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How Hot Was It...?... (The Ballad Of Dusty Roads...)
I had to replace the hard drive on my laptop recently, and since then I've been unable to include photos in my stories... I haven't given up entirely yet, but I am becoming quite frustrated! 'If it didn't really happen without pictures', then what follows might be thought to be a work of pure fiction... although I assure it is not. Progress is certainly great for our species; I just wish I could keep up. Oh well...
Following our delightful protein pause in Watauga, SD, we rode on towards Miles City, MT, and our next one-night home. Yes indeed, the mercury probably busted out of the tops of more than a few local thermometers that day! It was for sure plenty hot, as I consciously led us right by that particular attractive looking gas station... in some hamlet along US 12. It would have made for a very nice stop, too, but I figured it was still a bit early for that... I was trying to ‘time’ and 'space' things, so we’d only need one more stop along that stretch...
I was thinking we’d need to stop soon at the next one for sure, though, then press on to Miles City. I was confident our girl had just enough fuel to make it all the way to Miles City, but this dry rider sure could have used a moisture boost and some A/C exposure. A little fuel insurance would not be a dreadful thing either... Only problem, as it turned out, that was the last opportunity for any of that after all before Miles City!
By the time we’d gone on reserve I’d pretty much figured that out... Should we turn around or go on...? I reckoned we’d keep on, but it seemed wise to slow down a bit in order to ‘stretch our gas’ just in case. As I mentioned before, it was doggone hot, and slowing down didn’t improve our comfort level at all!!! The thought of waiting on the side of the road for gas to be brought to us, however, had even less appeal!
It was due to that more than to mere generosity that caused me to feel no impulse in my throttle wrist as those two babes on Harleys passed us. I did smile, however, as I imagined them later regaling their cronies with their heroic tale of how they'd 'smoked' another couple of Hondas that day... 'Real riders' are just so doggone awesome in their own minds, aren't they...? Not so unlike us Honda riders, come to think of it...
As tempting as it was to quicken the pace as the roasting relentlessly continued to increase, I fought through that urge and maintained our disciplined speed... As uncomfortable as that was, just thinking about having to stop alongside the road with no shade anywhere to be seen helped with the restraint chore.
Finally, as we eventually closed the distance with our longed-for gas station/convenience store, hope returned once again. We’d made it, but there still remained those daunting tasks of filling the tank, moving the bike, then dismounting without falling over... and eventually walking (or crawling) inside into that beneficial, life-sustaining A/C just a tantalizingly short distance away... I'd considered going inside first and topping off later, but... old habits are hard to break... even the at times not-so-good ones...
Following the settling into our room, we walked next door to a casino Mitch had already confirmed served a few food items. We each had BBQ wings and a beverage for dinner... Then, back to the room for rest, relaxation, large doses of A/C, and for Mitch to peruse his smartphone to see what might come next.
The Speedway Café thirty miles away in Forsyth, MT, caught his eye, so that became our prospective protein opportunity for the next morning. Mitch also identified a long-cut route we might take, too, in order to avoid the super slab... Yeah, here we go again, I feared... Against my better judgement, I followed my otherwise wonderful leader... with a wee bit of foreboding lingering in the back of my mind...
My doubts soon enough turned out to be prophetic... Mitch made the turn onto that gravel goat trail, then he paused for me to pull alongside... “What do you think,” he inquired...? Nobody including this timid ‘trail rider’ wants to be a wet blanket, so what else could I say...? “Let’s give it a try,” I reluctantly muttered. Mitch smiled that sheepish smile of satisfaction only he can produce, and off we rode...
Half a mile later I determined that I was definitely changing Mitch’s handle to ‘Dusty Roads’! A mile down that unsteady surfaced road, and I made a U-turn... Dusty caught up with us before we made it back to the pavement. Yeah, I do realize that Mitch is by no means the only unpaved road Valk rider with a certain relish for that distasteful to this guy type of thoroughfare... It’s just that he has done it more often when I was along than any other rider... Anyway...
“Only other choice,” he informed me, “except for the Interstate...” Sounds perfect to me, I’d responded as an emphatic statement as much as a plaintive plea! And so it was that we found our way to the Speedway Café... Nothing like the Tumbleweed the day before... nothing particularly special at all that we could see, but the pig parts were rather good... I’d opted for the smoked sausage and bacon that time, while Dusty had dined lavishly on a full order of biscuits ‘n gravy plus a slab of ham.
I envied his ability to eat that sort of thing, then go riding for the remainder of the day! Heck, in spite of all the coffee consumed, if I’d have eaten all that, I’d probably have fallen asleep right there at the table! Geezerhood, I've discovered, does have certain drawbacks...
We departed Forsyth and headed towards Lewistown, MT. Somewhere along the way, Mitch made an unexpected right turn then stopped. I pulled alongside, whereupon he pointed to a sign a couple of hundred yards further on... ‘Pavement Ends’... I informed him he should go for it if he wanted to, but that I’d meet him later at some town down the road someplace...
We did just that... He got to ride an unpaved road to what passes for adventure in his mind... and I got to miss all that crapola I neither needed nor wanted! An hour or two later we rejoined for the ride to Lewistown. We were both quite content... toasty but content...
So, how hot was it...? It was mighty doggone hot!!! The needle on my body energy gauge was barely registering at all, and I was done! Dusty, on the other hand... Ahhh, youthful vigor... I can only vaguely recall that anymore...
DDT
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