A Sinking Feeling this Morning

[bobhamlin]

Left just before dawn for a meeting in DC. It rained hard last night. Weather said that it was foggy along the way and the weather map showed green formations moving over DC. It will be in the high 80s later.

I spent time considering what to wear and stow--enough to take me out of my routine. When you take me out of my routine in the early morning, strange things can happen.

Got to DC fine. My chaps and rain jacket caught all the road spray. At the parking meter (DC has clumps of parking meters scattered around the city dedicated to motorcycles at, compared to car meters, an excellent price), I reached into my right jacket pocket for the key so I could get my laptop out of the right saddlebag. No key. And I distinctly remembered putting it there.

My left jacket pocket didn't have the key either. I undid my chaps and patted my pants pockets. Nope. I was already wondering how I would participate in the meeting without my laptop. I tried to remember if I ever got around to sticking a magnetic keyholder on this bike. I know I had it on one of my Classics.

I took off my jacket and chaps. I carefully touched every pocket and felt around my pants pockets. No key. My wife was working. There's no way she could bring me a spare.

Then I noticed my left saddlebag. The key was dangling there. And I remembered: I was ready to pull out when I thought to take a denim shirt--just in case. For some reason, the key never made it back to my jacket pocket.

I'll have to do some buffing on the clear coat to fix this screw-up.