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Of Course It Will Rain!

Morning came way too early...we were both exhausted from the previous day's ride...not nearly as tired had we rolled on home Sunday night. I didn't even clean my bike before heading out, just polished the windshield...that's how tired I am this morning.

Coffee....mass quantities of coffee. As I stood in the lobby of the Hampton Inn chugging caffeine...the pot was right there and I didn't want to get too far away from a refill...I noticed a large hardback book on an antique book stand ( the decor is lots of antique looking suitcases, books, etc). The kind you see Bob Ctratchett bent over in a Dickens novel....from the 1920's. I started to absent mindedly flip the pages and reading the entries. One page listed salaries (the highest salary was $88/month), another listed payments to the city (somewhere in New Jersey....you think they could have found antiquities relevant to Heorgia, but I digress), one listed supplies, and another services. It was this one that caught my eye; right there in the ledger was a payment to Harley Davidson Cycle Co., for $167.00. The company was founded in 1901 as Harley Davidson Motor Company, never Cycle. This particular company must of use HD service vehicles. Then I did the math...if the head guy made $88 month and he was paying HD $167....52% of his income....that sounds about right!

Ok, ok...lets ride. Lots of time to just think when I do interstate travel; I thought about how much I dislike the interstate, how much I dislike time constraints on my two wheel travel, and feeling rushed. Stopped for more coffee and popped in my ear buds to listen to music-something I don't do a lot of on the bike...I really prefer the sound of the bike and the wind, but I was bored. But then rock n roll makes me squeeze the throttle too hard......jeeze are we there yet?! Breakfast was the only eventful thing on the docket today; being Memorial Day, veterans ate free at Perkins ( another disadvantage to interstate travel..chain eateries. I love the greasy spoons where a waitress named Doris deftly takes your order while purring coffee and hollering instructions to the cook. The coffee is nuclear and the eggs are perfect in those places). 

We had checked the weather and knew there was a good possibility of rain in Florida, but felt we were leaving Georgia early enough we would miss it....wrong again. Yes we have rain gear, and no, I'm not willing to ride with it on ANTICIPATING rain. It's hot; I feel like a leftover wrapped in Saran Wrap when I have that crap on. WWBD? They didn't make rain suits when my hero Bessie and Mr Grover from the Macon HD were riding back in the day. Mr Grover had a picture hung in the dealership of him standing in front of his bike-about 1950-in front of a gas pump in the snow...he had on mechanics coveralls that he said he stuffed with newspaper for warmth, and oilcloth pulled around his face, covering his chest. Rain suit?! Not me, the diva rides on.

We saw it coming across 27, only 20 miles from home. I pulled into a Mickey D's and we ran for cover under the trees....not sure why we didn't head inside (duh). The baptism actually felt good after all we had been through this weekend. We waited for the dark clouds to move off to the West, then we cautiously headed home on the wet pavement. We covered 1209 miles on this Memorial Day Weekend ; thank you God for safe travel.


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