-3/30/22 TWO WHEELS IN THE WIND

Greetings all. Glad to be back and glad you're here. What an unwelcoming start to a normal Wednesday morning. Weather alert at 4AM, tornado warning in our area. I get dressed and go outside to investigate what fury might Mother Nature be surprising us with. It's raining, thundering, and so many disco lightning flashes that it almost persuaded me to start dancing. (Not really, god help your eyes had you seen me actually doing this, haha). I watch the skies and the wind is kicking it. I kept feeling like I should continue to pay attention to it and not just return inside so I stayed awhile and listened. No train horn (tornado) to be heard. Just lots of wind. And then she gets still. The infamous calm that I've always heard precedes the spinny-thrash-your-roof-nado. Eventually things return to normal. Rain re-starts. Light wind. Peace, love, and a little less worry vibe going down. I return inside to find the power is out. I later find out that ol spinny-thrash-your-roof-nado touched down maybe 2-3 miles from us. Ouch. Too close for Mr. B. Mother nature ... you've been kind of a Wednesday morning bitch, if I may say so. Chill out.

So, kiddies, glad to be here. Glad to still have all my limbs, air in my lungs, and 4 walls and roof wrapped around me. My heart goes out to those affected closer to ground-nado-zero.

Nuff nado talk ... let's talk about something else more ... pleasing. Let's talk ...

MOTORCYCLE RIDING!

Yep, one of my loves. I don't spend enough time rolling around on 2 wheels but hey, that's my own fault. Wifey and I did ride over the weekend. Rode to Harley Davidson for some new gloves and possibly some new chaps. Weather was a little chilly and I thought some cow wrapped around our legs might be in order. Wow, last time I bought chaps it cost me in the neighborhood of $110-$120, but that's been a good while ago. Today's price tag was a staring us down a hearty $320 (for hers alone) and mine, well, they didn't have any left so I didn't bother asking the price. Needless to say, we opted for the gloves and took a rain check on the chaps until a later date. Back on the bike and we rolled. It wasn't a long day of riding (maybe 125+ miles) but definitely enjoyable.

STORY TIME ...

My single day ride (I took it alone in '03) was around 700 miles, one way. I took the scenic route down to almost New Orleans. An 8 hour straight shot ride was now a casual 14 hours in the wind. The last 2 were at 90 mph for a solid 2 hours. My ears rang so loud from the the air whipping around my chin/ears strap that I could barely hear when people spoke to me. People, 90 mph for 2 hours solid is crazy thing to do to oneself. At first it felt fast but after a while I found myself casually glancing around and soaking up the scenery like I had been Driving Miss daisy or something. Nonchalantly soaking in the outside world as if I had time to comfortably gaze away at it. But I'm still throttled back at 90, which now felt like a mere 60 to me.

And my 'casual 60' (lol) eventually came to a slower roll about 30 minutes out from my destination. PoPo, you ask? No. A little bit more of ol Mother Nature. She decided that I was a bit too ... dry. So she opened up her arms, commanded the clouds to give way, and they gave way in an unforgiving way. It freaking rained with a vengeance. Not a 'kick them wipers on on few notches' (speaking for autos only here people, none on bike) or 'maybe if I'll ride faster then perhaps the wind stream from the windshield will send all the rain over my head' but a 'dammit man, wtf' kinda deluge. Too much water on the road to ride faster anyway.I was wearing goggles at the time and they were filling up so much that I pulled them off my eyes and let them ride around my neck. Fish bowling in the dark aint no fun. I did have a windshield on that bike (like I mentioned) but it wasn't doing as much as I had hoped. I leaned forward and tucked myself behind it as much as I could to be able to see where I was going. What I did see was the 2 guys (in a car) that passed me, pointing and laughing. Back at you, jerk wad. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches and today was that day. Nothing I could do. And when I say 'nothing,' what I mean is that I was i the middle of nothing and there were no gas stations, over passes, houses with carports, or anything. Just road. So, ride on, keep it upright, enjoy the soaked clothes like a hardcore, and hope for an overpass.

Eventually, one came, and much emphasis on 'eventually.' I pulled under it and shut the bike off. I climb off, pace around a bit, and then lean against the seat. Rain, Rain, and more Rain. It was raining so hard that a car pulled in behind me to wait it out, if that gives you a better idea as to my dilemma. So I waited. This was an uncomfortable nuisance but the scary part of all of this came when the car decided it had let up enough that they could continue on, which for an auto, it had. One problem ... it hadn't let up enough that one could 'clearly' see out of one's side mirror. What do they do? They pull out into the slow lane to go around me. And the problem with that is ...? Well, it might be that semi who was ALREADY IN THAT LANE! Thank goodness mister 18 wheeler guy was paying attention because he shot over into the fast lane at the last second and barely missed them. Had he hit them, they would have returned the gesture by hitting ... ME! I'm sure the impact would have sent their car right over the top of me. That's how much of a close call it was. Catastrophe avoided and 10-15 minutes later I was able to head out. Still raining but the ark was more or less resting on top of the mountain and not still floating around. (haha) Besides, I was already drenched. Couldn't get any more wet. 30 minutes later and I was at my destination.

And that's my 700 mile rain ride story. I hope the wifey and I never have an experience while together, although it did rain on us on our first ride together. But that one was awesome. We had just started dating and decide to ride to a nearby town (about 80 miles away) for breakfast. When the rains came we pulled into an old shut down gas station and chilled. The sound of the rain hitting the roof was like tin roof ambiance. We sat and talked while the peace and comfort of being dry and the excitement of being in a new relationship took it's course. Truly one of my fondest memories. What a great day.

I've had some good times on 2 wheels. I've had some close calls, too. People changing lanes on me, entering the road in front of me, cutting through a gas station almost right on top of me, and a few times I have to own, going a little too fast and a corner sneaking up on me. I dodged the pine box a few times and hope to always do. But I do enjoy the ride. Back in the day I used to ride with a group of guys/gals but unfortunately time has a way of splitting the pack up. Some sell their bikes, some move away, and some just simply ride less (myself included). If you see me out there rolling in the wind, be kind, keep some distance, please. Every rider wants to roll up in their driveways safe and sound when it's over.

Oh, and as you probably already know, most bikers have nicknames. I've carried mine with me for over twenty five years now ... Hippy. Seems like there's always a 'Hippy' somewhere in the bunch, haha.

One year a friend and I put on a poker run for a police officer battling a brain tumor. "What's a poker run?" some of you might be wondering? Allow me to explain with the help of another's words...

Basically, a poker run is a fund-raising event patterned after the card game of poker and is generally held by motorcyclists, however, any vehicle-based organization can hold a poker run such as instead of sitting down at a table and having the cards dealt by a dealer, the participants travel to several different locations or stops to draw their poker chip or card. Poker run organizers usually develop a unique or scenic route covering 50-75 mile radius with 5 stops along the way. The ride should take approximately 3-4 hours to complete. At each stop (gas stations are a favorite as to re fuel, grab a drink, and stretch the legs), participants draw a single poker chip or card and then travel to the next location, eventually building their complete poker "hand." Participants initially register at a specific location where they purchase one or more blank tally sheets used to record the poker cards they'll draw at each stop. The participants then take their tally sheet(s) to the first stop where a volunteer has a container filled with a bag of chips or cards. Participants stir the chips/cards and draw one card for each tally sheet they purchased. The volunteers observe the chips/card(s) drawn by the participants, annotate the tally sheet(s) with the appropriate information, and the participants proceeds to the next stop with their tally sheet. After drawing their fifth chip/card at the final stop, the participants give their tally sheets to other volunteers who will score the sheets and determine the winning hands. Prizes are normally given to the top two hands and also to the worst hand drawn by participants in the poker run. Winners get the cash or prize and sometimes donate it back for the cause, if they so choose to do so. Either way, bikers join together for fun times and comradery on two wheels to support a good cause. An event might have a live band at the final destination, a silent auction, or similar entertainment for the riders to enjoy.

Our poker run was a good time and it truly helped the family of the officer during the hard times. This was quite some time ago and a very happy update: the officer is doing fine, living life happy. This was a great thing to be a part of and I am so glad the end result is a positive one. Love you, Chris.

Ok, people, what do we got here? We got tornadoes, we got rolling in the rain on a bad note, on a good note, and rolling for a great cause. There are many, many stories one could tell that took place on 2 wheels. I could be here all day. What we got here is just a little piece of my past, my present, and I hope my future. I hope I'm able to keep on riding into the sunset for a very long time. Two wheels in the wind. If you're not already there, you should try it. Great for the soul and the pocketbook.

I've enjoyed this little ride down memory lane, kiddies. Brought back some good memories. I will leave you with one last ride story ...

Do you remember the time when you rolled on up to Amazon and picked up the story of Caesar 's Move? Remember how much it entertained you? Man, that was a great time. (haha) Pick it up, strap that helmet on and throttle back for some good crime scene craziness.

Until next week, continue to feed your need for wind therapy and your brain. You owe it to yourself.

Angelo

Caesar's Move URL address: https://www.amazon.com/Caesars-Move-Angelo-Bain/dp/1737610205