Allow, please, a
word of explanation. Old Danny Boy (ODB) dropped this task on me and I’ve been
anxious since the day he mentioned it. That was a long time ago – over a year
ago – when he was planning his Major Motorcycle Pilgrimage Across America
(MMPAA) 2011. That trip was scuttled when I (yes, this is the Mighty Mary Ellen
writing) needed a new engine. ODB had to have the best engine money could buy,
so bye-bye MMPAA 2011.
Anyway, ODB decided
that it was my turn to write the nightly update for the 2012 edition of the
MMPAA. Did he let me practice? No. Did he give me any parameters, instructions,
or advice? Nope. He just said, “Wing it.” He assured me that I would find my
voice and things would work out, or not. “Just like the trip itself,” he said.
So, here I am on Day One, sitting in a low rent rendezvous on
Sunset Strip (really!) in Mountain Home, Idaho.
The “$34 Single”
sign on the Thunderbird Motel caught ODB’s attention at the last second. He
almost wrecked us making a tight turn to get into the driveway. A stooped over
woman from India unlocked the office door, then disappeared behind a curtained
doorway without a word. Soon, an equally stooped over Indian man came out and
took my rider to look at a room. Back to the office they went where they stayed
for what seemed like an awfully long time. Later, ODB grumbled that he’d had
less thorough identity checks from the TSA. I guess you have to be somebody to
stay at the Thunderbird Motel on Sunset Strip in down home Mountain Home,
Idaho.
Our day started at
the crack o’ dawn. He was up early fussing around like he’s prone to do. She got
up to see him off. How sweet! She even took pictures. They had a few love words.
Then she tried to kiss him through the opening of his new Schuberth C3 full face
helmet. Not a good idea – only a slight concussion for her, but still, a bad way
to kiss.
Note to ODB: Next
time you’re kissing her goodbye, take off your stupid helmet!
He’s been conflicted
anyway, leaving her for 31 days to go off riding with me, the FORMER love of his
life. He feels so blessed (his word, not mine) to have a woman who understands
his need to ride and he talks about her all the time. I mean . . . before, it
was just the two of us; ODB and me. When he wanted to ride, off we went. Now
he’s coupled up and that’s made a big difference. He still rides me whenever he
wants to. He just doesn’t want to as much as he used to. Me? I used to have the
man cave to myself. Now, I share the half-the-garage cave with a lime sherbet
Vespa. Big changes in these past few years. But you know what? I think it’s for
the better. The guy is SO HAPPY it’s ridiculous. He doesn’t even mind driving
back and forth from Salem to Eugene for work every day, he’s so happy, just so
he can come home to her.
But, for the next 30
days it’s ODB and the MME. We’re on MMPAA 12, and it should be amazing. Today
was a great start. As we headed northbound on I-5, the sun was coming up on one
side; the moon was setting on the other. Traffic was so light it was like we
were shooting a Harley-Davidson commercial, the kind where the rider doesn’t
have to share the road with another soul.
The usually windy
Columbia Gorge was eerily calm. We noticed the smoke from a tug boat on the
river was rising straight up in the air. The river was dead flat under brilliant
blue sky.
He stopped about
five times to shed layers of clothing as we left home at 48 degrees and arrived
Mountain Home at 88 degrees. He went from full leathers and heated gloves to
shirt and jeans.
So . . . we’re on
the road and our first destination point is Tippy Toe (aka Brownsville), Texas.
Why Brownsville, Texas? So we can ride US Hwy 83 from Mexico to Canada,
duh!
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