DDT (12)
Member
Posts: 4120
Sometimes ya just gotta go...
Winter Springs, FL - Occasionally...
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« on: November 07, 2018, 12:58:18 PM » |
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Yep, it was election day throughout the land, and I made a most delightful choice… I elected to load up our girl and hit the trail! No watching the talking heads on TV all day ‘explaining’ everything to me… Gawd, I weary of that balderdash in about one and a half Nano-seconds!!! Since all the so-called reporters have now enlisted in the propaganda arm of different parties and ideologies, even their claims of ‘objective, unbiased reporting’ have vanished, right along with their value… and my interest.
I’d wanted to already be out yonder… but… weather, commitments (implied, imagined, and actual), plus old-fashioned, ordinary lethargy had kept me recliner-bound. Ruts are so easy to fall into, and they can be difficult to climb out of. Inertia, habit, laziness, the ‘can’t help-its’, all can be insidious conditions that can rob us of much enjoyment in life… We all know better, but… I can’t speak for others, but those nasty little buggers bite me in the delicate derriere far more often than I care to admit!
Rain was the primary bug-a-boo… or the forecast more than anything. We had received a good bit of rain lately, and most days saw at least some… enough to make planning a road trip of any length a formidable chore. I’ve spent more than my share of days holed-up in a motel room ordering pizza delivery and trying to capture my thoughts on this smart box, to know that I don’t need to deliberately set us up for more of that. Still, not going is… well… not a particularly appealing alternative either…
I’d made the ride down to Jerry & Sherry’s ‘cabin’ on the previous Saturday, and the weather had been glorious… once Flask had aided me with a wardrobe adjustment! Sunday and Monday, however, had been mostly unpleasant to partly miserable, though, and I just couldn’t bring myself to head out. I thought there just might be a wee window opening on Tuesday, however, if I were bold and lucky enough, and my timing was perfect… Yeah, I know, that’s the sort of wishful thinking that can get us into serious trouble!
I kept the option in-play, though, and Tuesday morning well before dawn (even with the time change a couple of nights before), I ventured outside to have a look-see… I consulted my handy-dandy weather app on my smart phone, and… Yep, the potential for a successful jail-break was still not totally impossible… I pulled the trigger! I’m not a gambler in the usual sense of the word, but I have been known to ‘roll the dice’ in certain ways on occasion… Not compulsive nor even impulsive, by any means, but certainly not risk-averse either!
It was still dark as we pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the super-slab. Once underway and cruising on wet roads towards Gainesville, the sun displayed the first glimmer of evidence it would again reappear… and, more importantly, actually be seen this day! I thought to myself, “I sure hope I need to use some sunscreen today!”
The first hundred miles were quite nice. Then, the sky became overcast, and feelings of dread began to creep into my consciousness… Nothing threatening yet, but I couldn’t shake the idea that TWC actually does get it right sometimes… would this be one of those…? I’d had in mind several stop points along the way, and I did have some minimum and/or stretch objectives I wanted to achieve… I’d wanted to get as far north as possible that first day in order to improve my odds of making the overall objective of arriving at the Veterans Day Ride the following weekend with a couple of other stops along the way… and, to avoid riding in rain to accomplish any of that!
My land-lady had almost convinced me to just wait and go in the car… She is a wonderful person, and wise in so many ways… However, she simply has no idea at all about the addiction some of us are burdened with, and how sometimes we have to do seemingly imprudent things in order to cope. Big doin’s this weekend, and I wanted to be in on it… Not riding there, though, was a thought I just couldn’t get comfortable with… it will be, after all, a Valk gathering, for Pete’s sake… How could I not be aboard ALI for something like that?!
Traffic was never heavy, which, I suppose, is consistent with the reports of a record turn-out for voting… I’d already voted early. Smoky Bear was on-duty that day, and business was apparently brisk. I restrained my enthusiasm by keeping our forward progress within a tolerable proximity to the posted locomotion limitations, and by never allowing us to be the fastest travelers out there. Also, by riding the Interstate tank to reserve two times in a row, and by having departed so early, we’d made impressive progress on our way.
Each of my minimum then intermediate objectives were met in order, and at each I decided that luck was with us and I was holding-up fairly well, so we’d just keep on… Macon, GA, had been my stretch objective for the day, and as we approached the by-pass, I was able to clearly see that the dark gray streak just above the horizon a short time before, had now climbed impressively! That was also about where my handy weather app had told me we were likely to encounter a squall-line with lots of vivid oranges and reds on the radar map! I rolled the dice one more time…
I’d wishfully thought that just a few more miles and we’d have Macon behind us, and we could find refuge in Forsyth, GA… a town I’ve stayed in many times before… Just before the end of the by-pass where it rejoined I-75, however, my luck seemed to run out… Yep, deluge! But, I could see through it and only a short distance, perhaps even before Forsyth, we’d be out of it! It was one of those situations where there wasn’t a convenient place to pull off and suit-up, and we’d probably get a lot wetter by stopping anyway… We just pushed on and punched through within a couple of miles.
We did pull off and onto the parking lot of a motel I was thinking we’d stay at for the night… However, the radar indicated we were now behind the rain line, and we’d be moving farther away from it if we continued on our present course. The sun was now shinning brightly, I felt pretty good for an aging trekker, owing mostly to the cool but quite pleasant temperature, and to some great equipment for such things… and specifically ALI with her Russell Daylong saddle… It wasn’t even quite noon, either… OK, let’s press on just a bit further…
As is by no means unusual for this navigationally challenged rider, I managed to miss a turn onto a backroad we’ve taken before… and Atlanta would soon be coming up… Not a user-friendly place for riders or any other travelers, and a place I’ve carefully avoided for many years… for the most part. Once in a great while, when it seems to make sense, I’ll venture through or around that cacophony of metal, mortar, meatheads, and mopes and really roll the dice… I did it again!
Well, this particular mid-term election and record turn-out at the polls could have been a contributing cause, I suppose, but I truly don’t know. Whatever the reason, however, it was an unusually easy passage this time! Sure, traffic was thick as flies on a turd, but it moved at a sensible pace, no Smoky Bears were sighted, and no road rage spotted… Amazing! I ain’t gonna look that gift horse in the mouth, so let me just say that as much as I dread being in that area, this was a hugely exceptional time!
I pulled over again well north of Atlanta, topped off the tank, and regrouped… Weather was still nice and even improving, road conditions were quite tolerable… and it was only 2pm! I still felt fine… well, I was starting to feel tired, and there was a motel right next door… but, I chose to push on just a bit more, instead… Once through Chattanooga, it made no sense to stop so close to my destination for the next couple of days, so… Yep, I went ahead and finished the ride!
Ahhhhh, election day… A day of high expectations, huge aspirations, many doubts and much dread, and, of course, frequent disappointments… A day to worry about, and a day for celebration! For us, it was all of those things and then some! Best outcome by far I’ve had on any election day ever!!!
DDT
P.S. Oppps… no pics again… May have to get a recollector muscle overhaul, huh…? Is there a pill or government program for that?
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