11/22/09 pos. stage two...but the jury's still out

365 Group (f)


This weekend was about as good as it was going to get for a while. Daily highs were forecast for the upper forties to maybe mid fifties.

Since it had been 15 months, my Dr. hinted that I needed to get around to some tests that he had told me about ...well, fifteen months ago.Since it was fairly warm and all, I saddled up Miss Tilley and headed toward the sprawling metropolis of Jasper, Arkansas. Hopefully this trip would keep my Doctor at bay for another year or so. The ride started out good and crisp. I mean it was a great start. Bike running great and me on it. I tooled over and jumped on highway 412 and thought what the heck. I opened up. Deciding that a ticket wouldn't be such a bad thing at this particular point in my life, I peaked a hundred and stayed there for a few miles. Feeling the cool air and the vibrations and all that goes with it. I ran up behind a small car loaded with kids and was forced to slow some. It was good while it lasted. I had ran this stretch of road many times over the last thirty years. Sometimes with friends, mostly by myself. It's always a great ride for clearing out the cobwebs of Doctors, Lawyers, livin and dyin, vermin of that lk. There was a bright spot on the horizon. After the Doctor there was a family get together. All the remaining family was getting together. So this should be good. After my run down 412 I peeled off on to 21 and headed towards Kingston and the ride over the mountains to the valley. I pulled the hill out of Kingston and had a good run up.Topping 80mph. That is one of the places I check the condition of my ride. How fast it will top that half mile long hill from a dead stop take off. Today was a good climb.
In all this foolin around I had worked up a chill and decided the after the short ride over to the Valley I would pull over and have a cup of coffee. The ride over to the valley was all too short. I pulled in to the brake check area and poured a cup. Several people blew by and waved shaking their heads as it dawned on them that I was riding in this weather. As I waited around for the coffee to cool I looked around a little. This is a real out of the way place, on the side of the mountain and people use it as a dump when they are in the area. I noticed lots of beer cans, a couple of old TVs and an old refrigerator. Standing there looking around I also noticed a critter.
This guy was sleeping on an old rusty refrigerator door. I first thought he was a recent road kill till he opened one eye and looked at me as if to say "hey! I'm sleepin here".
Firing back up I tooled down the mountain and made and easy ride of the remaining thirty miles to my place at Deer.
I stored my junk at the house then headed off to hear out the Doctor.
There isn't anything like living in the hills. "Upppp one side and then downnnnn the other" with lots of great curves all over.
The pow wow with the Doc went more or less OK, kind of like I had planned for. I headed back up the mountain to see the kinfolks and do a little visiting (eat a lot of great food) with the family.
Maybe with a little luck I'll find a half nekkid Mermaid or something just as cool on the return trip tomorrow.
catch ya on the road