Thursday, June 4, 2009

Apparently I'm a leather and chaps kinda girl

Well I did something today I haven't done in 10+ years...I hopped on the back of a motorcycle. I haven't spent any real time on a motorcycle since I was a kid, when I used to love to ride on long trips with my dad. Of course, dad rode a Gold Wing and hubby rides a Kawasaki KLR 650. On Dad's GoldWing, I used to take naps on the back during rides. You are so secure back there, with the back rest, sometimes arm rests, and a person in front of you to lean on. On hubby's KLR, you lean back and your butt hits the pavement.

With the kids sick, I hadn't thought I would be able to go with hubby to our first class in the Love and Respect marriage seminar. At the last moment, my dad offered to stay with the kids and I was able to jump on the bike before hubby drove out of the driveway. Such a last minute departure saved me from mentally agonizing over riding again, but it also left me a bit mentally unprepared. I spent the first 10 minutes of the ride frightened and thinking about what would happen if the kids lost both their parents in a motorcycle accident. I thought about my will and wondered if my parents would know where to find it. I thought about Suze Orman and her advice that a Living Trust is only helpful if you actually fund it by changing all your beneficiary information to include the trust...which I haven't done. I thought about my ankles. When I learned that I could go, I quickly donned jeans, a leather jacket, and tennis shoes...but my ankles were bare. I know it is true that falling off the bike would lead to much more damaging injuries than road rash, but it was what would happen when my bare ankles hit the pavement that was fixated in my mind. After about 10 minutes, we stopped going downhill, stopped going over speedbumps, stopped going on dirt roads, and were able to hit the open highway. That's when I started enjoying the ride.

I enjoyed the beautiful ride from that point on. The scents that wafted over us were amazing. The flower scents, the cow scents, the river scent, and the trees. When I drive in a car, I spend most of my time looking forward. On the back of a motorcycle, you really can't see past the big ole helmet in front of you...so you look to the side. I noticed orchards for the first time in yards that I've driven by a million times. I got to watch the kids playing little league baseball. I got to watch the people floating down the river on inner tubes.

We arrived to our class safely (I'll blog about the class in my next post) and I found myself looking forward to the ride back. The sky all the way home was a lovely shade of rosey pink -- like a pretty white zinfindel. Right at the horizon, there was a burst of yellow, making it look like there could have been a fire somewhere behind the tree line.

Oh, I learned something else too...when the wind picks up and you hit a dust storm, the headlight on the bike makes it look like there are little fire sparks coming at you. Fear not, there was no fire. =)

(Sunset picture borrowed from hickerphoto.com)

2 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary to you and Scott. I hope the kiddos are feeling better and the two of you have a wonderful week-end together!

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  2. Amazing one! I hope I can buy it. It’s just that it’s a little expensive as I am from the UK and am just a part-time blogger. You Know about Motorcycle Chaps

    ReplyDelete

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