Road Stories

7/18/01
Title if the wife (acquired later) named it: “Honey, you’re an idiot.” Continue reading →

7/19/01
(soft pop) “AwwwwwwwwwwwwwSh*ttttOwwwwwwwwwwwwwGhhhhaaaaaYuckkk!” Continue reading →

10/30/01
1934 miles. One-thousand-nine-hundred and thirty-four miles. As I took leave of James at his place I asked him with a grin, “Want to go again?” Continue reading →

2/11/02
…there is not a red-blooded male . . . no real man on the planet . . .that could have done otherwise…
Continue reading →

4/12/02
Basically “The Dragon” is in small pieces scattered all over the garage. Continue reading →

4/23/02
Then my brain really grabbed hold of the question. It chewed on it a moment, analyzed it, informed me that it definitely knew the answer, calculated, referenced, imaged, booked additional “left brain” processing time, shuttled, condensed, expanded, distilled, put the whole thing to music, pondered it some more, then it firmly refused to answer. Continue reading →

4/23/02
Drats…. Continue reading →

5/02/02
Misdemeanor assault is only $140 fine… Continue reading →

5/08/02
On the rare occasions when I am not actually riding, “Well Oiled Machine” and “The Dragon” sat in the garage and growled at each other. When it came time to ride (and that is very often for me) both machines vied for my attention with sometimes blatent plays on my emotions. Whatever the choice, I somehow felt that I had let the other machine down. Continue reading →

5/16/02
Where the hell is a rocket launcher when you really need one? Continue reading →

6/9/02
We have a limited number of days. Let’s ride. Continue reading →

8/27/02
Is the prey . . . really the prey? Continue reading →

9/9/02
What will we make of it?
Her, The Dragon, and me? Continue reading →

9/18/02
Mistake #1—Pulling a gun on a Texan, especially one who is minding his own business.
Mistake #2—Not immediately firing it after pulling a gun on a Texan. Continue reading →

04/11/04
It may have been inevitable-the universe’s way of saying, “Yo! Dude! Yeah you! Tone it down a couple notches will ya?” Continue reading →

July 13, 2009
I smiled at the old man, “Hello Mr. Akin.”

“Yes. I know.” Continue reading →

12/29/2010
I am a rider. I am other things as well…but I am a rider to the core. There is a truth that long days alone on the highways can teach…a truth that we all must learn…rider or not…in order to do more than simply survive. Continue reading →

There is an unwritten rule about handling motorcycles: If you do something silly or stupid, there are inevitably witnesses. The stupider your action, the more witnesses.

I used to think there were exceptions. Continue reading →

Standing in the garage…not knowing why I had gone there, the keys to The Dragon dangling from my hand. I shrugged, mounted the big cruiser, and stuck the key in the ignition. …and the world exploded. Dreaming men are haunted … Continue reading →

The big bike grumbled beneath me. “Hey boss?” She sounded forlorn. “Yeah babe.” “We’re gonna be together forever, right?” *** Running into the night. Reveling in the wind. Hoping to clear my mind. Problems I can’t solve. Plans I need … Continue reading →

Things learned during my commute number 2,345,208, volume 47, part 2, the sequel: When riding in an incredibly intense thunderstorm, and lightning strikes so close by that the big bike stutters in the instant I hear the *snap* and feel … Continue reading →

“If you can’t take the heat, don’t tickle the dragon.”
-unknown Continue reading →

8/5/2011
Yo! Fred! Go see if you can figure out why the chicken crossed the road.
*Vrooom*SPLAT*
Oh! Dude. Gross. WAY wrong answer. Yo! George! Your turn! Continue reading →

…where the heck would I get an old Cessna engine/prop, 24 pounds of black powder, a realistic orangutan suit, a Bull-Taco, and a 1972 Gremlin in THIS economy? Continue reading →

There’s a spot between awake and asleep…between life and death…a place created by the struggle between the conscious and the sub-conscious. A place where the id lives, anything is possible, and the demons are free to play. It’s not always … Continue reading →

10/7/2011
“You know what?” she grabbed me playfully.
“What babe?” I stepped in the house and locked the door. Dropping my bag, I turned and let her lead me to the bedroom.
“Riding makes you horny.”
“Heh…that it does babe.”

It was going to be a good night. Continue reading →

10/27/2011
Instinct, passion, and perception…discouraged in polite society…are required here. Continue reading →

11/22/2011
“WHAT!?” I replied in the same tone. Cop or no, I wasn’t in the mood for any bullshit tonight.
Continue reading →

Long ride. Intensely lonely. The moon, the darkness, the empty road, and the lonely wail of the valk my only company. Introspection. Time for thoughts. Moods darken and change. The passion rises, and then, unfulfilled, calls forth the darkside of … Continue reading →

12/16/2011
Clean is fine. Clean is good. Clean is what you do so you can see how dirty you can get her. Continue reading →

01/11/2012
An angel. A demon. Perhaps a god.

Maybe all three. Continue reading →

3/19/2012
I know the piper will need to be paid, and I know I’ve run up one *hell* of a bill. Continue reading →

4/21/2012
Most people have no clue how close to the edge they are at any given time or situation. Motorcyclists, true riders, have no such blinders. The shadow of death rides with us, always. Continue reading →

04/26/12
The dance continues until the universe ends…

Which will it be today? Continue reading →

An older shot from New Mexico. Yes, I’m still chasing the same horizon. I’ll let you know when I catch it. “Still Unbroken” CUAgain, Daniel Meyer

An illicit lunch run involving high-speed and tight black leather. Ohh baby. So tight. Careful…let me get it in there… OoooohhhhYeeaahhhh! Gawd I needed that! It’s an indulgence…one I won’t give up. Probably not the one you’d think! Good gear … Continue reading →

Flying down the highway on a eastbound run. Should get to Clarksville, and my warm willing woman just any time. Gorgeous night for a run…balmy Texas weather. Pure magic. Been enjoying myself. Absorbed in the music,the gorgeous night sky, and … Continue reading →

A hail update… Wednesday Evening: Okay…I’ve said it before…hail pretty much sucks. I’ve got welts all over…including a couple that would be classed as contusions. Right arm is pretty much useless at the moment. I took a hailstone to the … Continue reading →

06/19/2012
The penalties are extreme…for those that dare to ride the storms. Continue reading →

Riding hard through a fractured landscape, the heavy raindrops spatter and run off my clear riding glasses. The lines and droplets cut and distort the steel gray view. My helmet visor is up, having long ago become too much of … Continue reading →

In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be. -Hubert H. Humphrey This morning … Continue reading →

I knew it was going to be at best, interesting…when the man pulled out a chair and sat down uninvited at my breakfast table. A friend may do this, unexpectedly encountering me in any number of places. A stranger, simply … Continue reading →

Blasting down the interstate, the big Valkyrie rumbling beneath me, I shudder from the cold as we tear through the night. Punching through freezing temperatures at 80 mph, the cold seeks out every imperfection in my gear and gradually saps … Continue reading →

Ran across an entry in my journal from last summer…guess I had not blogged it. Here ya go! I hit a bat on my Valk last summer…I’ve hit them before, but never this bad. I was moving 80+, he/she must … Continue reading →

When I was a kid, a coyote (the people smuggler kind, not the Canis latrans type), dumped a truckload of illegal migrants on the road by our farm. One-hundred plus degrees, and 500+ miles from the Mexican border (Texas is … Continue reading →

Lady with her cell phone jammed in her ear changed lanes right on top of me on the commute in to work this morning. I was not in her blind spot…she made no effort to clear the lane at all…just … Continue reading →

It’s just pressure…a subtle push on the right handlebar…almost a thought really, but it yields decidedly unsubtle results as I throw the Valkyrie into a hard right turn. Tires squalling, I pilot the big machine between two cars and across … Continue reading →

Little ride Saturday…headed south of Houston for the ‘Gathering of the Fools’ to see a bunch of my friends and for fantastic barbecue. Blustery and cool, but it was a hell of a ride both ways. Surprise rainstorm around 11pm … Continue reading →

Past. Present. Future. Expectations. Desires. Needs. Reality. Nightmares. Where does one leave off and another one begin? …and just how do you tell the difference? *** A clean run…500 miles or so…came to an uneventful end as I stuffed the … Continue reading →