Tour de Dixie (Part Twelve)

Tour de Dixie (Part Twelve)

I did ride all the way home the next day… A very good night’s sleep followed by an early wake-up feeling refreshed and ready to hit the road are the reasons. Back tracking now, heading for the ol’ homestead. As usual, I delayed breakfast for the usual reason, but with essentially the usual outcome. I once again dined in a fast food joint, and nothing particularly interesting happened…

This would be a relatively easy ride with no traffic, weather, or ‘post digestion’ issues, mercifully, to deal with. Perfect for cruising and pondering… which, of course, I did… a bunch… I was feeling a strong need to ponder a couple of particular things that had occurred to me on this trip, and to test whether or not there was a firm grasp on their significance, if any…

Do I really ride to eat, or is that just an anecdotal side benefit to the main feature? I’d always assumed that it was the latter, but the consistency with which it kept popping up had me wondering… I mean, just look at my recent and planned future rides…

First, I’ll be heading out in a few days to go indulge myself in an exotic BLT sandwich with fried green tomatoes, to be followed by another ride-by down the road for some southern fried chicken! And, the ride I was just now concluding had been in search of another grilled ham & cheese mega sandwich… And, who can forget that Meers Burger in Oklahoma? Or, the chicky ride to Lorman, MS, less than a month ago? Roast beef ‘n gravy plus veggies and corn bread at my cousin’s place in North Carolina! And the list goes on… and on…

My two rides in the ‘soon to be’ category include a ride through and around Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, culminating in a swing back through Friendswood, TX, for the annual Gathering of the Fools… and BBQ brisket!

By then I’ll only have one state left to visit to complete this season’s Tour de Dixie… Virginia. That ride, naturally, will include a stop at Scooter Dogs for one of those amazing entrees, not to mention I’m hoping to arrive in time to have some pinto beans, too, that Tracy now offers during the winter months… Is it really possible? Am I actually little more than a highly mobile chow-hound after all?

In spite of much evidence to the contrary, I’m still inclined to believe I ride for the sake of the ride. That the food, along with occasional after effects, are just interesting and/or funny stuff coincident to the outing. I reckon this will remain unresolved in my ponder chamber for now, though, leaving any future conclusions yet to be drawn… I think I’m gonna just let all of this stew some more… SEE? There I go again!!!

Well, I’ve always thought, and continue to do so, that ‘food’, before, during, and/or afterward, is just a collateral, ancillary aspect, and not the main part at all… I will continue to ponder on it, however. Which, of course, is another aspect of riding that appears to be a major hook! The ability and easy way riding always leads to much pondering is at least a major component, if not indeed a driver, of my riding.

No, I still think it is the riding itself, and the discovery of things physical, emotional, intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual that actually propel me out onto the roadways of North America aboard my magic carpet that has become ‘our bike’… And, pondering, it’s true, is an integral, indispensable part of such pursuits… Speaking of pondering, though…

There was another interesting, to me at least, item I wanted to play around with in the vast expanse of the otherwise empty space of my contemplator… The thought of returning some place, any place, to recapture and relive former experiences… and to consider why it is that I’ve never been able to actually do that… The pundits all say that one can never ‘go back’, and that’s certainly been my experience… Still… I, we, continue to try…

It is a nice thought to attempt to do such… But, while the location can always be re-found, the ‘magic’ can never be replicated… The same mixture of people, events, activities, moods, synergy, ‘magic’ will never be identical, so all subsequent attempts to repeat are automatically doomed to failure before they even begin… Later attempts can and often do turn out to be fun and very worthwhile, of course, but they can never be just like the first one…

Most of us learn and accept this, but we still somehow manage to hold on to the myth that just maybe… just this once… For me the better way to deal with this is to just look upon future events to be new and potentially awesome memory makers, that just so happen to be occurring in a place I once upon a time had an also wonderful experience.

In other words, I try to manage perceptions and expectations rather than to try and choreograph events in some vain attempt to repeat them… On the surface, this may look like I’m splitting hairs, but I think the distinctions are much more than merely subtle nuances… Oh well, another unresolved issue… grist to be ground in another pondering session… You know, while I’m riding to some new eatery some place…

DDT

P.S. The ride to the ‘Tomato Place’ in Vicksburg, MS, for an exotic BLT has now happened. Yep, and the following day, most of us rode down to ‘The Country Store’ for some southern fried chicky (my second trip there in less than a month!). Not really part of the ‘Tour’ this season, but not exactly apart from it either… more like a wee bit of back-tracking, I suppose.

A great ride that began with a long-cut down to Mandeville, LA, to hook up with others there, then to do a group ride back up to Vicksburg… I mention this because ‘group riding’ has been a most ponderable topic indeed for this mostly solitary rider. My thoughts are too many to delve into here, so I’ll just leave that for another time…

Another rewarding outing with some really special folks. Group riding and group gatherings are things I intend to continue doing, but I’ll be giving a large amount of thought to them, as well… You know, in an effort to better understand them and all the dynamics and intricacies of those curious experiences. Still more to ponder, I reckon… on my way to my next meal…

DDT