What will-power!? If I ever did possess even the slightest hint of that elusive commodity, I’ve been completely unable to find even a microscopic particle of it lately! There was that one time I’d come oh-so tantalizingly close, though… only to have the surprise appearance of a beautiful, sensational coconut pie drive that near triumph right off a steep cliff! It’s pretty doggone disappointing, too, even more than a little bit frustrating sometimes to discover that… I’d honestly believed I could handle myself much better than I’d been doing of late…
I’m at that point when, knowing exactly what we want and need to accomplish, we discover, much to our dismay, it simply ain’t gonna happen. It reminds me of being seriously horny, then finding out that cute little honey I’d been earnestly trying to seduce most of the evening while running up a rather substantial bar tab was actually lesbian… (Hope I didn’t just commit a micro-aggression or two there!) We simply don’t always get what we want… in spite of what some folks might seem to believe, or that government can actually produce all of that for us.
Have I mentioned that my pants seem to be getting tighter? Could it be as simple as something in the air or water around here that causes accelerated garment shrinkage…? (The phenomenon of certain anatomical forms of shrinkage has not been a recent discovery, unfortunately, so that’s not part of my present ponderment.) I am coming to strongly suspect it may have something to do with grossly over-eating… repeatedly… Truth be told, I know exactly what’s going on here… sigh…
As far as I knew when I began this piece, we were staying home that night and attempting to reduce modestly the enormous stash of leftovers now filling the fridge… I was hopeful. If I were wrong then the dogs would be in for a major treat soon! It later turned out that I was incorrect by a rather substantial margin on that (it involved pork loins and sides)… I was proven naïve! Yes indeed, the fridge continued to fill up, right along with tummies… both human and puppy… I’ve been forced to move to a different hole on my belt already…
Yeah, I was way off!
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Of course, I did have other options… I could have gone to a fish fry in Tennessee instead. I got these pics to let me know what I’d missed…
So many decisions, my head was really starting to hurt…
But first, Allan had to run over to his father’s house that evening where most of his gear, tools, etc., are now located, so he could replace Ruby’s questionable front tire with a new one. He’s been working feverishly to get ready to depart for the FCR even earlier than previously imagined. I guess we’re both still struggling to learn just how to go about ‘re-imagining’ stuff with much success…
He had actually been on a rather leisurely, entirely sane pace to accomplish all he needed to do right on time… that is until… ‘Hurricane DDT’ made landfall in Hattiesburg and introduced some major alternative schedule change considerations into the lexicon of options. On top of that, yet another hurricane was gaining strength down in the Gulf of Mexico and appeared to be heading this way, and that was causing some obvious additional scheduling angst…
The need to get away even earlier in order to escape the possibly high winds and deluge of rain forecast at the time for this area the coming weekend and including all along the most typical routes from here to FCR early the next week had become painfully obvious. We’d end up either delaying a couple of days or advancing our departure several days, as leaving according to the most recent iteration of the revised original plan in place at the moment was by then out of the question.
Either change offered some desirable aspects, of course, but also… some not so great outcome probabilities. So now Allan was in a ponderment predicament… everything depended upon him… “Come on, man, ‘re-imagine’ harder!” This ardent practitioner of mobile pest control has no such difficulty… well, beyond choosing which jacket to wear…
Naturally, this carefree vagabond was lobbing for serious consideration of an even earlier departure and a rather circuitous longcut that would easily double the miles we’d be riding to get there… Hey, it made perfect sense to this untethered trekker! I truly do try not to rub it in, but I also do confess to it being really, really nice to be able to ride out at-will instead of being compelled to hunker down in place and ride things out… Just having the choice is actually rather nice, as well.
A greatly reduced level of barriers and constraints put in place by life’s ordinary realities leaves one with feelings of freedom worth much sacrifice to obtain… The greatest and most difficult sacrifice, arguably, is the loss of close, constant, intimate companionship… Very few I know would or even could go for that trade-off indefinitely. At least it has proven to be a great bargain indeed, though, for this now veteran of the magnificent solo coddiewomple…
Allan, on the other hand, must still balance his own desires with the requirements of his job, the needs of his family, the huge inconvenience of his house being for sale, and of course the demands of other things I don’t even know about. He could easily see the wisdom and potential advantages of departing earlier, and he had been making a valiant, inspiring effort towards causing that desirable outcome to become reality. Alas, so much to do, so little time… so many distractions...
He had worked into the night several evenings to finalize Ruby’s needed preparations and to reassemble her sooner than had once been thought necessary. Ecads! Unanticipated distractions and demands kept coming at us from ‘left field’ and from ‘out of the woodwork’, though… and it was beginning to appear likely… we just might not be able to get there from here…
So, what will we be doing and when…? I have no idea. I do know an earlier departure would include much more riding and be far more interesting and satisfying. That would also likely reduce my need for a new wardrobe… and it would for sure postpone indefinitely the need to even consider resorting to a toga anytime soon.
Staying put, on the other hand, would allow me to explore the depths of gluttony at previously unknown levels… hey, I do have a couple more holes left on my belt! A few additional days here would also dramatically reduce the levels of stress now weighing heavily upon the broad shoulders of my good friend… Time will tell, I reckon… Will who?
DDT
