Everything New Is Old…
I was pondering recent events, and it came to me that there is really nothing new under the sun even though we live in an ever-changing world with ‘new stuff’ happening all around us. Even the rain drops falling outside the window of our motel room were not exactly new. Sure, the drops themselves had just been formed prior to their plummeting to earth, but…
The water itself is part of the global hydrology that has been constant since water first finished forming billions of years ago. Over time it will be part of raindrops, rivers, streams, etc., and eventually flow into oceans where currents will take it to who knows where. It can be locked up in glaciers or polar icecaps for tens of thousands of years or even longer, but eventually it will return to the global rotating flow of water.
When evaporated up into clouds the next time, the wind might carry it over Australia or Alberta, Tennessee or Tanzania, where it will become part of another raindrop and fall to the surface to begin its migration all over again… New raindrops are actually comprised of ‘old’ water… Yes, something ‘New’ was on my mind as I continued my pondering…
I picked up my smart phone and called an old friend to inquire about what might be new. “I’m at Keith & Jane Shirley’s home visiting and waiting out the rain,” Barbie Bartz informed me. She had me on her speaker so the others with her could hear our conversation, and Keith (3Valks) joined right in…
‘We’re not going to waste a day due to rain,” he matter of factly informed me, “so we’re taking a ride in my cage down to the New River Bridge… Why don’t y’all join us?!” That’s new, I thought, as I considered another day of confinement in our room versus a nice ride and all that goes with it with dear friends… Clearly a no-brainer for sure, so I gleefully accepted the kind offer!
We’d been in West Virginia for three days waiting out that DDT-imobilizing natural occurrence. Claustrophobia was beginning to set in, and I expected Valker, my riding partner, might kick me out at any moment… We’d even given up, and not wanting to build an ark, we’d begun considering alternative ways to leave the following day for a necessary trip to Florida.
Due to the demoralizingly discouraging forecast, we’d decided to bite the bullet and just rent a car. We’d even found a local deal there in Charleston, WV, that was acceptable, so we’d made our plans accordingly… However, we made no reservations, since we also figured to just walk up to the counter and transact our business that way. There was relief in finding a mutually acceptable way around our dilemma, so any potential altercation had at least been postponed for a while.
Our rescue ensemble arrived within an hour, and we first went for food. We stopped in some quaint little town at a ‘Shoney’s’ restaurant and enjoyed a rather glutenous breakfast buffet. Our ‘new’ group of old and dear friends had a great time with this ‘new’ experience… New in the sense that exact group had never done that together before…
The rain-defiant crew…
The luckiest guy I know with a good friend…
Following a great meal of… too much of everything… we continued on to the New River Bridge… ‘New’ because that’s its name, but I saw nothing actually new there… Well, there was the excitement of sharing this first-time for us outing with fine folks and belly-laughing much of the time! That was a welcome development after the sadness of a rain-induced ‘hunker-down and wait’ experience.
The others took these random pics and shared them with this writer…
Taken in a park near the famous New River Bridge…
The famous New River Bridge…
With the sightseeing completed, it was then time for hot chocolate… and more great banter, while the ladies wandered around the gift shop portion of the small downtown grill just off the square in a small West Virginia hamlet… Finally, and regrettably, it became time to conclude this outing and head for the barn…
The group first dropped off the two motel-bound riders at their temporary home, then the remainder headed for their quarters… Something seemingly ‘new’ and quite novel happened about then however… It had stopped raining! Not only that, in about a half hour it had begun to clear! OH MY! I took a picture of the ‘new to me’ at least recently blue sky! WOW!!!
Eric and I immediately checked the weather and the ‘revised’ forecast. Whoa, dude! A rain-free window/slot all the way to Florida was now being proclaimed for the following morning… Our ‘plans’ were likewise hastily revised, and a 3:00 am wake-up alarm was set… Unless this had all been a sadistic hoax of some sort, we’d be riding Valks to Florida after all! And so it came to pass, that in the year of our Lord 2024, two languishing Valk riders were granted a miracle… And a ‘New’ lease on their big adventure given…
DDT (12)
