Great weekend ride and conference.

I recently joined our church association disaster relief team. I have responded for years as an individual, not on a team. We had chainsaw training about 5 weeks ago and a couple other courses which qualified me to join the "team". So next thing I know the leadership asks me to head up our team and would have to go to Talladega, AL for team (unit leader) leader training. So of course I'd do so. Our travel plans were tentative depending on the weather. With the rain we've had and even with the handle "stormrider" I wasn't 100% on our mode of transportation. BTW, the main reason behind the handle is my hobby, cleaning up folkes homes and yards after the storm as a volunteer. Seen lots of people's lives turned upside down and lots of miracles as well. Anyway, we had just the week before gotten over 14 inches of rain in a couple days. We had flooding to over 450 homes in areas that had never had such flooding. It rained last week a couple days, and supposed to rain this past weekend. So, when I saw the weather report for sunny skies even though high winds, I convinced my Honey to let's take the bike to Talladega.
The skies were sunny when we left on Friday at 8am and started to warm up by the time we reached Opelika. But the clouds returned. It actually got cooler as the day wore on. But we were bundled up enough to not be uncomfortable. We also made the longest run to date two up without having to take a break at 138 miles. We fueled up at LaFayette and headed on to our destination.
On up Hwy 77 we come to the town of Ashland. Being near lunch time we stopped at a place that was packed out. The sign out by the road wasn't very noticible. A gentleman was leaving with a to go order so we asked if the food was good. He reccomended we go back to the court house square and dine at the Courthouse Square Cafe, that it was cleaner. Kinda made me wonder why he was at this place instead of there. May be why it was to go.
Anyway, it turned out to be a good choice. The Cafe has a lunch buffet for $7. (everything included except salad bar). I tried some of all of it, much to my regret when once we returned to our trip. My dunlop done got plum protruded to the point of having to undo that button that holds my britches (you get the point).. My what fabulous fare.
Whole fried catfish, grilled to perfection catfish fillets, bar-b-que, cheese grits, slaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, who knows what all else. I was in bike ridin heaven. On my Valk with my babe and a plate full of vitals that would satisfy a king. What else is there?
Well, back to the road.
A few miles west of town, 77 starts to climb over the Talladega Mtns and ascend on the other side. As it starts to flatten out on the other side I had gotten a little complacent, maybe a ltiile drowsy after consuming enough groceries for a family of five. The road turned back to what was the original pavement before being re-routed on a new course over the past few miles to straigten it out. Used to be very curvy. Well, as I approached the curve where the road returned back to its previous course, and after being accustomed to the newer, longer, less accentuated curves, I realized almost too late that I would have to lean hard to make the turn at the speed we were proceeding at. I don't think my partner realized it, knowing I've been such a good pilot for her for so many miles, but I felt that rush of adrenaline that I'm sure we have all felt when we make such a move or have a near miss. Sometimes a half second can last a lifetime. Thank God we made it is all I can say.
I'm glad we only had a few more miles to our destination cause I don't think I could have held it any longer. And we were very near civilization, not too many trees to hide behind.
The conference and training sessions were great. I am now qualified as a "blue hat", a designation given to Unit Leaders for disaster response and recovery with the Southern Baptist Convention. We currently have the largest trained disaster response force of volunteers of any other orginization. We respond to disasters in every state and all continents over the world. We have had a feeding unit go to Iran after the earthquakes, teams to the areas hit by the tsunami, etc. If you have ever been affected by a natural or manmade disaster such as 9/11, you have probably seen a bunch of folkes with yellow t-shirts out clearing debris or handing out food. That's the orginization I'm now part of. There are over 80,000 of us on stand-by. As a matter of fact there is a number of these folkes in our county and Geneva county to help with recovery from recent flooding.
Hope to not have to see you in the aftermath of a disaster but if you do see some folkes with yellow t-shirts and yellow ball caps after such an event, how bout giving them the thumbs up or better yet a big ole biker hug. BTW, the team I'm on doesn't wear yellow. I'm on a chainsaw team and we wear kakhi shirts with yellow patches. You'll know us cause we're the guys that cut trees off your house, out of the drive, etc for free.
Why do we do it? Cause God first loved me and I want to share that love with others in time of need.

The ride home on Saturday was awesome. Great weather, good roads, no suprises till we got to Eufaula. North of Eufaula we had a car pass us with some teenage girls as backseat passengers. One had her face, lips, nose, braces mashed against the window with a big grin. I was amused and let her know it. Later down the road as we reached the outskirts of town traffic calm to a halt. The first weekend of April is the Eufaula Tour of Homes and Pilgrimage. Avoid at all cost unless that is your destination. 4-lanes turn to two and traffic comes to a stand still. We took a short cut that was 8 miles out of the way. But we found a Hwy 129 type side road that lead up a ridgeline of a hill for about 2 miles. It then circles back to the south side of town. As we turned back onto the 4 lane I noticed the car with the braced teenie bopper up ahead. About three traffic lights later I was making my approach in the left lane that would take me past them. I had planned on hitting the Stabel to get a big wave again but.... As I got even with the left rear I noticed the left turnsignal come on as well as her move into the left lane. Fortunately I had already anticipated using the Stabel so I let her rip. The bleach must have sucked all her driving skills from her grey matter cause from my vantage point she never saw me. Thankfully she responded appropriately by moving back to her lane however awkard it may have appeared. I also had an escape plan to move into the turn lane if needed but the Stabel did it's job. Cheapest $45 I've ever spent.
The curve unerved me, I wasn't ready for it. The bleached blond didn't faze me, I was prepared.

"Ride often, ride safe, ride like everyone is trying to kill you," may sound like a paranoid way to approach riding but it worked.

Gotta go to work. Just stepped outside, somebody left the fridge door open, 50 degrees and lots of wind. shheeesss. I gotta wear something besides a t-shirt today.