A good day

[taranis]

Yesterday morning we were sitting in the living room, chatting over coffee about how we wanted to spend the day. Ann and I rarely get a full day to ourselves, so Saturday was a rarity. We thought about laundry, cleaning the kitchen, trimming that hedge in the front yard that's way overgrown, all that fun stuff. Then she get a little twinkle in her eye and said, "Let's go see Kim & Rachel.".

Rachel is our Goddaughter and Kim is her mom. We make it a point to spoil Rachel rotten whenever we get to see her. It's our revenge for when Kim did the same thing to our two grown girls. We take her out for ice cream, let her sit on the bikes, and generally frustrate the hell out of mom and have a great time.

So we gear up and open the garage doors to a beautiful Texas day. It was about 65 with a few clouds and a light breeze. Perfect. In no time, we're off. It take about 2 hours via the freeway to get across DFW to her house, but we decided to take the more scenic route south then east. After we get out of town we settle the bikes into a nice 65 mph cruising speed, put our feet up on the pegs and relax.

After awhile we get into the more rural areas about 40 miles away. The Piney Woods have some absolutely fantastic riding - long, slow sweepers, rolling hills, pines along the road and friendly farmers in their trucks waving as we roll by. Soon, we are meandering all over the area, taking the rights and lefts as we feel like and as they come. Four hours later, we're still about 16 miles from Kim's house. So we stop and let her know we'll be by after lunch.

Stopped at a Fudrucker's, a burger joint I've never been to, but Ann raves about. My love of huge, meaty bacon cheesburgers with jalepeno's is well known, and I tucked into a 2/3 pounder with chipotle BBQ sauce that was simply outstanding. Onion rings and a thick chocolate shake had me stuffed and ready for a nap.

Outside, we saw an older gentleman and a girl pull up on a Goldwing trike, and we struck up a conversation. Turns out he's out with his Granddaughter on her very first motorcycle ride. She is grinning ear to ear and obviously enjoying every minute with Grampa. After lunch we go our separate ways, and give a hearty wave to them as they take off.

Another hour of backroads and we finally end up at Kim's. Unfortunately, Rachel is overnighting at a friend's house, so no ice cream this trip (and I don't think I could've fit it in with that burger if I tried, anyway). Kim and Ann spent some time catching up while I sat out back and enjoyed the warm afternoon.

About an hour later, it was time to go. We headed off toward home, but with nighttime fast approaching, we decided to take the major highways back. 175 North is typically uncrowded, smooth and enjoyable. The Nomad was purring in the cool evening air as we rolled along. At one point, the highway rises up over the terrain and if the timing is right, the panoramic sunsets are something to behold. We timed it perfect and were rewarded with a glorious sunset of reds, pinks, purples and blues spread across our entire field of view. Words don't do it justice.

After awhile longer, we hit I-20W towards home. I don't know why, but I love riding the freeways at night. There's very little traffic, the road is smooth, and the air cool and refreshing. More than once I found myself doing well over the 60 mph limit, and sometimes Ann had to remind me to slow down and let her catch up.

We got home about 7:30, 320 miles later and completely spent, but grinning from ear-to-ear. A glass of wine over dinner, a warm fire, and we both passed out.

The last thing I heard Ann say before we fell asleep was, "Hunny, that was an awesome ride."

Yes, it truely was.