Friday, May 27, 2005

Scooter-trash knowledge

Most folks drive to work in cars or pickups (we call them cages). Cage-riders don't feel the world they are traveling through. I own a pickup and my lady drives a smallish SUV, but if I have any choice in the matter at all, I am going to ride the motorcycle. Low environmental impact aside, the motorcycle is fun and allows me to connect with the road in ways that a car just can't.

Once I connected with the road at 35 mph, but that isn't what I am talking about today. I am talking about the emotional connection with nature that is possible only with a scooter. With the motorcycle, you learn defensive driving quickly. Your mind focuses on the next hundred yards of road and you exclude most everything from your mind except that next hundred yards of road. A pothole is uncomfortable in a cage at speed. On a motorcycle, a pothole is potentially fatal.

Other senses kick in and you soon learn to listen to those senses. Some of the things you learn are truly cool. We all learned in high school that hot air rises and cool air sinks, but you don't really understand that until you ride a motorcycle. This morning I was coming to work on the bike. The air was still and the sun was just beginning to peek through the pines. I live in hill country and even though the hills in Louisiana are smallish, they still give enough elevation to feel the air change as you go uphill or down. On one particular stretch of road this morning I was coming down a fairly tall hill to cross a small creek at the bottom.

The still air had settled into its levels and there was perhaps a 20 detgree variation in temperature between the top and bottom of the hill. That small temperature variation made the ride exhilarating, like dropping down into a refrigerator, then climbing out of it. Very nice ride into work this morning.

This afternoon after work, I am going to do laundry and some shopping then pack for the weekend out of town. Blogging will be light to non-existent this weekend, and we'll pick up here again on Monday.

Y'all have a good weekend.

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