The Gandson

365 Group


Yesterday was the day the family decided to take me out for my birthday.

The plan was to meet after work and have dinner. With the job lately getting in my way I have been having to drive my car. Junk to haul and all that. Anyway, I started to the restaurant after work and developed a serious pulling in the front end of my car. So, since I had about an hour to kill, I headed it towards the house and the thought of getting it at least close to home if it quit me.
I made it home and decided that I'd ride over to the dinner and would only be a little late.
As it was cooler today than it had been the past few days I went and let the pups out and put on some more clothes. The pups finally came back and I got started.
It really wasn't all that bad once I got going. A little windy in places but mostly comfortable.
It was a good ride. even in all the after work traffic around town. I made better time than I thought. I got to the restaurant ahead of everyone else. So, since I had been good enough to send messages telling everyone that I would be late, I was just as good in sending messages asking everyone where they were and how long I was going to have to wait on them.
Everyone finally got there, my wife and daughters and especially my 3 year old grandson, and we all went in and got a table. We were at the Golden Corral in Johnson. Normally this place is packed with people. Today it wasn't too bad. The food was even fresh as if they were preparing for a large rush.
As we ate and talked my grandson was being a typical 3 year old boy. This was by far the best part of the whole birthday thing. He was wound up!! Couldn't set still for anything. The look on my oldest daughters face every time he done something was absolutely PRICELESS. He fidgeted, fussed, pointed out on several occasions where the dessert was, ran around all over the place and finally capped off the meal by spilling his mommas water all over the place.
A lot of things came to mind as I sat there and tried to act like he was getting on my nerves and grumpy and all that. The truth of the matter was, it was all I could do to keep from "egging" him on. The the tired old cliche kept crossing my mind "what goes around comes around".
Finally, like all good things it came to an end and we all got up to leave.
Outside the temperature had dropped and it felt like it was about thirty degrees. That put the wind chill on my ride home at "pretty darn cool". But as I got out my snowmobile suit and put it on, I thought, ... it was worth it. The little man made this by far one of the best birthdays I've ever had. I even had a decent ride home.
Getting old isn't such a bad thing.
Hope to catch ya on the road

Going back in time.

I had another Doctor appointment this weekend and it was great weather for a ride down. After several false starts I finally got into the right groove and it was great! I hit hwy 45 running hard and didn't let up until I got to the new curve the Highway department put in US 412 out buy Hindsville. One of the few straight parts of Arkansas roads and they go and put curve and stop sign in it. As some say "your tax dollars at work".
The traffic for late morning on a Friday was terrible. Reminded me of the traffic on game day at the university. It did thin out after I got passed Huntsville.
The trip over the mountain was better than the one last week. Everything is so much greener and looks so much more alive. I found myself just scooting along in no particular hurry. Just enjoying everything.
The Doctor said his usual and drew off another quart of blood and said I'll see ya.
I headed out for moms still in a pretty good mood. The ride out to moms place was just about as uneventful as one could be and was over before I really knew it.
I had planned on getting an early start back but for some reason I over slept badly and it just didn't happen. When I did get on the road I made a gas stop at Claiborn's grocery at Deer and met two young guys on rolling antiques. Mint condition middle 70's Honda's. A 550 Four and a F model 750. It was an oddity. These guys looked like they were more the sport bike type. But in talking with them it was clear that they had a certain feel for these old rides. It was so nice to chat with them that I killed even more time and made my day even later than I had planned. They were from Chicago and were trying to travel as much of the area as they could in a day. I showed them a couple of places on the map and explained the area some. As they rode off I found myself wishing I was able to go with them, remembering back to my early riding days on my old Honda "Four", Apes and baffles drilled out. Taking off and seeing how much country I could cram into a Saturday. Those early Honda's seemed to go the distance without any problem and even the major breakdowns seemed to be minor at the time. They had it all. Big,bulky and a good mid range speed that was all you really needed. (Ahhhh to go back) I really enjoyed meeting those guys and especially seeing those bikes being ridden the way they were made to be ridden.
My ride back up was a real good one. The weather was warmer and it just sorta clicked along. I met a few bikes and even stopped to take a coffee break (actually a pain pill break) on the Boxily Mountain.
As I was setting beside the road a couple of noisy newbies came flying by and waved real big. I packed up and started out and managed to catch up to them in about 10 minutes. I trailed them into Kingston and noticed how cool they were trying to look as they circled the square. Making lots of noise and putting on a good show.
The rest of my trip this week was just an average ride.
Next weekend is one of the charity poker runs we ride. The wife seems all up for it. Hope it's a good one.
Thanks Chris and Tom. Memories are worth a fortune and you guys showed me that I'm rich.