I awoke with the coming day’s ride on my mind… and coffee, too, of course. The temp was in the hi 30s when I checked, and it certainly felt it when I stepped outside… A mom & pop motel, which was fine, but… no in-room coffee!
No worries about Gig having been there and done anything untoward, but there was still that nagging caffeine deficiency issue to overcome. I’d taken the precaution of noticing on the way in where the closet might be, and Denny’s was well within easy walking distance… Don’t you just love it when things work out so conveniently?
I actually decided to give my willpower a bit of a workout by not going there right away… I’m not masochistic by any means, but it is good to exercise discipline and restraint now and then to keep our wants in-check and our minds focused on the really important stuff…
I cranked up the smart box and dabbled with that for a bit… OK, I’d disciplined myself enough, I soon concluded, so off to Denny’s I strode… All the way there debating with myself about just getting some coffee-to-go or whether to sit down and see if I could resist the urge to dine… that choice would, naturally, include huge temptation surrounding me with all the sights and smells, and… you know…
I didn’t actually decide on what to do until a cute waitress grabbed a menu and started towards the dining section… “Just one,” she cheerfully inquired? How could I not follow her? “Booth or table…?” How about the counter…?
I seated myself as she grabbed a coffee pot… Yowzah! Now we’re talking!!! A nice-looking lass was also seated at the counter… minding her own business while nibbling on a stack of blueberry pancakes and an order of bacon… Be still my restless heart! And, stop that drooling, too, I admonished myself!
I gave in… I made a request for (pleaded would be more accurate) a large order of bacon. Nothing else besides that and the coffee, though… Could I pull it off? I did, and I was justifiably proud of myself… But, there was just a bit more to that story… You did know that was coming, right?
I pulled out my smart phone to document the event… and then I had a thought. I asked that nice lady a couple of seats down if she’d mind if I took a picture of her meal, too… she said sure…
image hosting site I then took a snap of my sparse but oh so good repast…
We then returned to dining… I joked about not being Corona PC by eating my bacon with my fingers… She was doing the same with hers… We laughed a bit, then I had another thought…
Have you ever dreamed about or had any secret desire to become a professional model? “Not really,” she responded… Well, I have something you might possibly be interested in anyway… She had that wary look in her eye all women seem to get whenever a strange man offers them something… She wasn’t sure at all if this guy who’s obviously more than twice her age was hitting on her, or just where the heck he might be going with this…
I told her that if she would allow me to pay for her meal… and, since she’d just posed for that picture I had taken a few minutes before… she would then have been compensated and… She was quite OK with that, even though I warned her she would forfeit her amateur status forever more… That didn’t faze her a bit, as she practically thrust her check at me!
Pleasant banter followed, and then she left… while I hung around for another cup of coffee. As she was walking away, I told her it had been nice chatting with a ‘pro’… she smiled and said she had enjoyed it, too… Yep, it had been good for both of us…
I imagine that for the rest of her life, whenever she enters a Denny’s she’ll look around to see if any old guys with white beards might be seated somewhere… Of course, I’ll never think of blueberry pancakes quite the same way again, either…
I pondered on all of that while sipping yet another cup of coffee… Dang, delaying gratification does have consequences! Oh well, we’ll be traveling backroads much of the day, I reasoned, so frequent relief stops shouldn’t be a problem…
It was after 9am by the time ALI was loaded and her rider was ready for KSU. The Gerbings liner would still be needed, but only as an additional layer and not to be plugged in. A crystal-clear sky, a light, gentle breeze, rising temps… Life was just so downright wonderful! A perfect day for reflection while unhurriedly scooterizing!
I thought more about the events of that morning… How I’d almost just skipped the walk to Denny’s and instead chosen to grab a cup at some convenience store down the road… Amazing how offhanded choices made with little or no thought can turn into memorable encounters that linger long afterward…
Then it occurred to me that… that gal I'd just met and I’d had a near perfect thing together… I mean, it had all started out pleasantly, we both got something valuable from the encounter, nobody got angry, hurt, offended, or put-out in any way, and we parted on excellent terms! Maybe I should have turned to ‘pros’ a lot sooner…
DDT
