Sunday, February 21, 2016
Friday, February 12, 2016
Step It Up
Step
It Up
It’s a cool day in late September as
I ride up Interstate 35 in Oklahoma for the third time in 24 hours. But now the
bike has fresh fluids and the stripped screws on the derby cover have been
replaced with new ones. Thanks goes out to the club for the help, I’d still be
stuck without their help. It’s only 5 hours after I thought I’d be on the road,
but with the late start, the cobwebs are beginning to subside, another thanks
goes out to the club.
As I get to
the little town of Tonkawa near the border of Kansas, I decide it’s time for a
very late breakfast. I pull into one of the zombie fast food places that I
normally would have avoided if it wasn’t for the delay. I whip the bike into
the vacant spot in front of the entrance and drop in line behind the rest of
the sheep. As I’m waiting in the stiles, I see the small form of a lady looking
out of the glass into the parking lot. The kid behind the counter calls out an
order breaking her gaze. As she turns, I see that she has a big smile. Her face
has a look of years, but you can tell the years have been great, as I look into
her face, all I see are smile lines.
As she walks
by me I get an even closer look, she’s around 5’4 at best. Her salt and pepper
hair is pushed back as if she had been riding with it in a ponytail, then I
notice her clear hazel eyes. She has spirit in her step as she walks,
from looking at her, you can see the beauty she has in her. As she’s
approaching the counter, her eyes turn, looking into mine, without losing a step
she gives me a nod as she passes by.
As I’m
getting my fixings for my sandwich, I see her grabbing some napkins and a
straw. The next thing I realize is that she has walked up to me, she asks if
the bike is mine as she is looking out of the window again. I say “yes
ma’am.” She says with a fondness “Before my husband passed, we rode all
the time.” Before I could say my condolences for the loss of her husband,
she turns and heads back to her table. After I finish prepping my food, I walk
towards the tables, I notice her happily eating her lunch. So I approach her
table asking if she would mind company for lunch, she says “That would be
lovely.”
As I sit, she asks where I’m
traveling to. I tell her that someone I met in Oklahoma City had said
before I leave the state that I should see Alabaster Caverns. She agrees
that since I’m this close, I should definitely make a point to stop. She asks
where I started my ride from. I tell her about getting laid off while
working in Montana and deciding it would be nicer in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Bike week versus stranded in the snow for the rest of the Winter. She agrees
with my decision saying they used to make all of the big rallies. She names off
some of her favorites, Sturgis, BBQ, Daytona, Texas, Laconia, and Myrtle Beach.
Then she asks where my next destination was after Alabaster? I say “No real
destination, I’m riding around the country learning as much of it as possible.
But since I’ve ridden through Oklahoma I had to ride Nebraska completing the
lower 48 states.” She asks how many miles have I ridden so far. I inform
her that so far on this trip I’ve ridden over 30,000 miles. She leans back,
sizing me up and says that I need to step it up. She tells me that for years,
she rode her own bike, but after a time, she realized how much she hated not
being on the back of the bike holding on to the love of her life. Then she gets
a shit-eating grin saying that, since she got back on her husband’s bike alone,
she’s ridden over 700,000 miles.
She starts telling about some of the
amazing things she’s seen from the back of a bike. I sit there in awe of her
life and the love she had for him and the ride. Everything her and her husband
did was so they could ride, each working 60 plus hours a week so the weekend
would be clear for the ride. With every word, she has a glow coming from her, I
could sit listening for days. She looks down at her watch and jumps up saying
“If I keep running on, I’m going to miss my doctor’s appointment.”
As we reach
the parking, lot she gives my bike a walk around shaking her head in approval.
I offer her a ride if she wants, she gives her biggest smile lowering her head.
As she raised her head, she says that if she were 20 years younger and single,
she would miss her doctor’s appointment for a ride with me.
As we say our goodbyes she steps in giving me a giant hug, thanking me for the conversation, and walks to her car. As I sit on my bike watching her drive away, I realize how lucky I was to have had problems with the oil change. Spending these brief moments with her is one of the most amazing things in my life.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Crater Lake
Knowing that it had snowed on the mountain the
day before, so I slept in till 8:00am. Got my free continental breakfast before
putting my backpack on my 08 Ultra Classic. As I’m packing the bike for the
next piece of my journey I notice the cold biting at my face. It’s only late
march but I would have thought Oregon would be warmer. With me being from the
east coast I would have thought it would have been warmer on the west coast. So
I climb into my winter riding gear for the day. There’s something I learned on
the road, when there’s a gas station fill up because you never know where the
road will turn. After topping off then I head out of Medford, Oregon the spot
of my latest stay. As soon as I leave the gas station I see the sign for route 62
Crater Lake Highway. Shortly after rolling out of the last neighborhood, I pass
over the Rogue River. Then shortly after passing Rogue Elk Park I see the
clouds reflecting off Lost Creek Lake as I take a long sweeping right
hander. 
This is the welcome
start of a small elevation change with a few sweeping curves as I pass back
over the Rogue River. Within a few miles I can feel the excitement build as I
reach the forest. As I start heading up the mountain roads they start to get
really bad with gravel, mud, and a combination of the two. While watching the roads I try to take in the
beauty of the ride. When I get to the cutoff for the lake the roads change
again. This section starts off with loose gravel going into the remainder of
shadow snow. It’s causing a lot of fast to slow going, as I get up closer and
closer to the mountain’s crest the snow has turned to long sections of straight
snow. The last couple of miles have had very little areas without snow. The key
to riding in the snow on a bike is the same as in car it just has a bigger
pucker factor. As you see a section of snow pick a line that you can ride thru
it without changing direction. Pick a line you can also run without really
having to change speeds. If you have to change do it with slow steady motion
nothing quick. Going up is easier than
down in my opinion, downhill you have gravity increasing your speed against
your will. As I come around the last corner the snow is gone all the way
through to the parking lot. It’s about 11:00am now there is a couple of cars in
the parking lot, I think they’re all employees. I put it on the stand and take
a look around, I’m guessing it might have reached 30 degrees out up here. 
As I walk towards the
lake I look back to notice this side of the building has 15’ of snow drifted around
it. I head over towards the edge and snow is deep, maybe 18”. I move back to
the road looking for an area that’s been packed down, finding one further down.
I make my way to the edge, I raise my eyes from the snow to the lake, it takes
my breath away, my eyes are drawn to the brilliant blue water. Darker than any
water I’ve ever seen, hell, I’ve only seen a blue that color once or twice in
my life. I look to the right, back towards the way I came down the road at the
edge of the blue is another extreme. As I look up, the snow is sparkling with
reflections of light. Then as your eyes catch the trees rising out of the snow
all green and white with snow. I look to the left and find an island rising out
of the brilliant blue water. It’s all white with pine trees loosely scattered
around the island. As you follow the water away from you to the other side. The
mountains jump straight out of the blue and are taupe color with a spattering
of white snow throughout. The feeling I have is unsurpassed greater than anything
I’ve ever felt. It feels as if the beauty is cutting into my soul, or it’s just
the cold.
As I look from right to left taking
in every inch of this magnificent scenery, when a father and daughter walk up and
break the spell. I had forgotten to take a single picture until they asked me to take theirs, in
turn I had them take mine. They are spending some quality time together riding
up the coast seeing all it has to offer. I tear myself away from the lake to
head towards the visitor center. To my surprise they’re open and I see they
have potatoes soup on the menu. After pulling off the boots, coat, and pants, I
sit enjoying the soup while I warm for the ride back. When I leave I head to
the north entrance of the lake heading towards Route 138 to find it closed. They
haven’t plowed it since the snow the other night. I’ll have to leave that for
another journey, so I turn heading back the way I came. The first day is full of questions
This is just a test, because I've never even read a blog before. Much less posted one, so here goes nothing. Yes I do at the least know pay off this is a link.
Let me know if you think there is some part of riding that I should cover? Maybe even an area of the country I should cover? Do I need an editor?
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