Another Fall Color Ride is mere days away, and many are at this very moment making preparations, some are even already on their way heading towards Robbinsville, NC. I have some clothes in the washing machine myself as I write this, and I’ve already completed yet another oil & filter change… didn’t wash our girl, though. Nope, wouldn’t want anybody not to recognize her!
It has been on my mind… I started to say ‘for several days’, but that wouldn’t actually be entirely accurate. Truth is, I’ve been thinking about this for years! I missed the first couple of these, as I did InZane and other group get-togethers, because I was in a very different ‘place’ back then. I needed space and solitude to sort some things out, and my heart was just not up to being around other folks much. That has all changed.
Each event has its own unique composition of characters… The venues are also different, but that is more of a ‘detail’ than it is anything truly significant. The group chemistry is also different, obviously, and that is the draw for me to make so many different gatherings nowadays. I still enjoy my solitude and solo adventuring immensely, of course, but I no longer need to avoid the social aspects of membership in our Valk community… and what a community it is!
If you’re reading this, chances are you already know full well what I mean about what many of us have come to think of as a ‘family’. We’re about as different and diverse in every way imaginable as a group can be, save for our one common feature… the interest and/or affection we all have for that special motorcycle.
How can it be that we who are so different in so many ways, virtually every way really, all come together, show genuine respect, treat each other with such deference and kindness, and find so much common ground upon which we can forge such strong and enduring friendships? I don’t have a concrete answer for what that ‘magic’ might be, but I cannot deny its existence… nor its power! If this ability or ours could be bottled and sent to Washington, our nation could not help but be improved!!!
(An aside note here: Nick just called me to his garage so he could show me his ‘vision’ for all he has planned. He wants to construct a gazebo in the backyard for more normal co-ed activities like cookouts and such, and the stuff for that is waiting just outside the garage. He also plans to build a shed out back to house his riding lawnmower, spreader, and assorted other ‘toys’ to make room for his ultimate dream… to convert his garage into a ‘redneck party space’. A place sheltered from the elements where beer can be consumed, stories shared, lies told, women discussed, and generally lurid behavior celebrated. I congratulated him on his forward thinking and grand scheme… I’m looking forward to enjoying the fruits of his efforts to bring all of that to reality!)
Well, I figure (trying to avoid any actual planning) to depart Nick’s house of harmony in the morning and head generally westward… I’ll be staying in a motel for the next as of now unknown number of nights, and I must confess to having a sense of foreboding regarding in-room coffee. Now, coffee for me has become important first thing in the mornings, but I fear Gig may have upset all my thinking about that… Wish me well as I sail forth into uncharted waters!
Awaiting that all important first cup one morning...
DDT
