Saturday November 15, 2008 - A Cold Wet One

[snoof]

Fall weather actually arrived last night via blustery winds but no precipitation. My kind of weather. I felt like riding out to the Highland Lakes and seeing if I could find some of the little whitecaps that the wind can kick up. I like watching that. I’ve also enjoyed scuba diving in those conditions but it would be tricky packing all that equipment and a tank on RK, so I’ll just watch the water today..

The cold weather arrived just in time to test the heated gear that came in yesterday. My dealer had to order it, because I guess a lot of people around here don’t ride in the cold. I needed to use or lose some points and credits and stuff from the HD VISA I use and the dealer program I’m in so I got a jacket liner, pants liner and gloves. I was skeptical of riding around electrified but if it works it’s a lot lighter and less bulky than wearing the layers and layers and layers and still getting cold, especially my hands, like I did last winter (and April on my trek to California).

I was concerned about the wires and how to put the stuff on so I practiced last night. I developed my system so that I could ride from:

Austin to Oak Hill to Bee Cave to Sunset Beach Village to Llano to Paradise Point to Buchanan Dam to Park Road 4 to Marble Falls to Lago Vista to Cedar Park to Home. 217 miles with a small side trip.

I got up at 3:00 a.m. and tossed and turned for a few hours, probably trying to shake off some sort of impending doom, evil spirit, or maybe just a nightmare. That happens too much these days, but I finally slept from 6:00 to 8:00 and awoke feeling great and frisky.

After I put on the heated pants and then my jeans the connector that will attach to the jacket connector trailed out of my jeans looking like a catheter. An unpleasant thought. I put on the rest of the stuff, got on the bike, plugged myself in, but did not turn the gear on and took off.

Beautiful clear morning with gusty, enjoyable winds. Temperature was about 48. I rode about thirty miles getting outside of town where I could keep a good 70 mph pace and chill myself down real good. When I started shivering semi-uncontrollably I turned on the heated gear. Damn! After only a minute or so I felt like I was lying in an electric blanket. Everything warmed up nice and toasty. Even though I wasn’t wearing anything over my face or extra socks, I felt comfortable all over.

I was truly amazed at how well the heated gear worked. After about ten minutes I needed to turn it off. Then I got chilled again. So I turned it on. Very nice. If I’m up to it I may try to leave in the dark tomorrow morning to chase freezing temperatures to our north. See how these babies really work. If they do work as well as they did today I’m a little worried that I’ll get soft. But I’m sure I’ll find other ways to inflict pain and hardship upon myself.

With the artificial warmth and the Harley rumble I got downright mellow. Best I’ve felt all week. I turned off Highway 71 for a little detour to Sunset Beach Village where a policeman tried to deem me unacceptable but I won him over with my Cagney impersonation and the Romeo and Juliet finger puppet show I practice for just these situations. Before it was all over we were fast friends and I agreed to do a Christmas gig at his Kiwanis Club next month. Kudos to Officer Malworth for not incarcerating me.

I pulled into Llano at a perfect 86.2 body temperature (my norm), unplugged myself and walked around the square stretching my legs. I wandered into a really cool rock shop with a friendly and talkative owner. There were rocks and jewelry made from rocks and t-shirts and other cool stuff there. I got a shirt for my wife with two wolves on it. She likes wolves and should like this.

It was also an opportunity to pick up a new yoyo for my dog Skyler. He seems to have a real talent and has practically worn out his Duncan Super-tournament. He’s been hinting that he’d like a more professional model yoyo for Christmas. I told him he’d have to write his letter to Santa and hope that the jolly old elf hasn’t been fucked by the economy like everybody else. He’s such a good dog that I bought both a Speedbeetle and Freehand for him. I’ll give him the Beetle tonight and Santa will give him the Freehand for Christmas. These are much improved Duncans over the Tournaments, Imperials, and Butterflys that I had as a kid. But improved equipment not withstanding Skyler’s already light-years ahead of my best.

I had my first Diet Cokes of the day, some peanuts, and a nice satisfying whizz that tells me the prostate is in good shape and I’ll not need that catheter thank you very much. I straddled RK, plugged in the clothes and off I went toward Tow and near the home of the infamous drunken lake snakes. It was too cold for them though so I continued on to Buchanan Dam because I really needed to pee again. It wasn’t too cold for me though and I didn’t even need to engage the heated gear.

Actually when I got to the Dam I was up for a swim, so I got out of the heated stuff as well as my other clothes and walked down to the beach in my skivvies and swam out a couple of hundred yards. The little fishies were nibbling on me in a playful, but hungry way taking out small chunks of my flesh. Though annoying I wasn’t concerned until something bigger wrapped it’s sharp teeth around my ankle. That signified the end of my swim so I headed back to shore. I had the whole park to myself and got all invigorated when the chilly strong winds lapped at my wet bod. Ahhhhh. November in Texas.

It felt good to be unrushed as I chose to be today. Life’s too fast and too busy. It was nice to lounge around. I let the sun and wind dry me off and then dressed and jumped back on my faithful steed, sans heated clothes. I took the side road – County 301 just because I’d seen it before and wondered where it went. I got to see the old bridge that was now a dam I could walk on. The views of the lake were nice from here and it felt good to walk. 301 continued along some nice country where I spied a very impressive buck. He’d obviously been hearing the gunshots of the hunting season and wasted no time seeking the sanctuary of his woods.

The ride soon ended in a little lakeside community. I waved at few of the natives and they threw sharp, pointed sticks and rocks at me which I assume is their custom of welcoming visitors. I returned on 301 to 26, crossed the dam, and then turned onto Park Road 4, one of my favorite little cruises. I pulled off to look at the view at the Devil’s Waterhole and could see the woods and hills across the way crawling with people. Apparently a busy day at Inks Lake Park. I’ve heard good things about the park and must plan a camping trip there.

As I continued on Park Road 4 I saw a huge Charter Bus on the side and hordes of college age kiddos hiking all over the place. Good to see these fresh faced future leaders of ours engaged in whatever they were doing. Good that is, until six or eight of them ran out into the road in front of me frantically waving their arms. “Mister, mister please help us!”

I pulled over to see what kind of catastrophe I was about to become a part of.

“Mister, you’ve got to help Caelan. She’s up on the ledge and won’t come down. She said she’s going to kill herself!” screeched some panicky twenty-year old with more pimples than skin on his face. Oh shit, I thought.

It seems that this church group from Tomball had arrived yesterday for some naturalist/archeological/theological learning at the Inks Lake Park. As is wont to happen they got high; bound, and gagged their leaders and took off in the bus for some Hill Country fun. Apparently Caelan took something she shouldn’t have and was having a bad time with it. Twenty- year olds today are so advanced in many ways and so stupid in others.

Being so mellow I didn’t feel imposed upon at all and was more than happy to do what I could. I took the group through some relaxation guided imagery to calm them after first having them dispose of all their alcohol and drugs. Fearing that they may be responsible for their friend’s soon to occur suicide they were very compliant. Once I had them breathing deeply and ooommmmming in synch I was able to get the details of where Caelan was located.

After twenty minutes of hilly hiking I found Caelan. A very attractive young red-haired woman, tall and too thin. She became immediately defensive when she saw me and said she’d jump if I came closer.

I told her to go ahead, it wasn’t that long of a fall and she’d probably only permanently disfigure that pretty face and still have to live with the same problems that are screwing her up now. But I wasn’t going to go down there to haul her to safety because there were too many snakes, scorpions and rats down there. She seemed to reconsider her suicidal ideation.

She allowed me to come up and sit by her. She immediately began crying and telling me her story. “Everybody thinks I’m so well put together. They think I’m pretty …”

“Which you are” I interjected.

“You’re not so bad yourself. I’ve never liked older men until now. Actually I’ve found them disgusting”

“There, there young one” I said, “tell me more”

She went into sordid details of growing up in a cult family. She recalled sexual abuse at the hands of the group’s leader, being cut with knives, seeing animals murdered, and other gruesome and frightening things. She’d run away at fifteen and spent time in LA as a runaway, model and prostitute. A kindly old woman who ran a shelter had helped her turn her life around and she was now studying to become an Anthropologist at the University of Houston. She hoped to use those skills forensically to recover the bodies of all the children that had been murdered by the cult and to bring those sorry excuses for human excrement to justice.

“But” she said, “I’ve blown it. I’ve gone along with these scallywags and blown my trust with the very people that have so supported and helped me.”

“There, there my precious child,” I said, “they will forgive you and welcome you back. You can use your beauty and strong self to convince your friends to lay yourselves before the adults that care for all of you. They will forgive. All will be well. Trust me.”

“I do” she said “but I don’t trust them. What if they banish me?”

“Then you can live with me” came blurting out of my mouth before I thought. Although I know Caelan would be great fun to have around, I don’t think my wife would approve. Once more my mouth wrote a check that my ass couldn’t cover. What to do?


“I will live with you! That is perfect. I’m so happy. Where do we live? I never knew I could love an older man like I do you. I tingle. Kiss me. Kiss me hard. Now. Touch me.”

I had to act very quickly. So I choked her gently. No, not to kill her, just to render her unconscious. I carried her over hill and dale to her friends. I told them that she had a seizure. When she came to she would probably babble incoherently and they should listen to not a word of what she said. Most importantly they were to have their chaperons get her psychological help.

And RK and I got the hell out of there. All I had wanted to do was keep her from killing herself. Still she was a very cute young ‘un and maybe I’m not so bad for my age. Hmmm. Turned 55 last month and this month I seem to have entered dirty old manhood. Feels kind of good actually.

It was getting cold again, but I didn’t feel like putting on the heated gear. I like some of this discomfort. Cold more than hot though. Soon I was in Marble Falls recalling how it used to be such a little town. It’s still got a good Hill Country feel to it though.

On to 1431 a very good motorcycle road which I enjoy so much more now that I know a little more about riding a bike into curves. I got gas In Lago Vista with the miles to go indicator indicating I had 34. After filling up I sat on RK and watched the banners and flags around me whipping in the wind. Weather is a wonderful thing. It is to be paid attention to and respected, but I love it. I love changing weather. Weather. I love it.

Got the old last arse back in the saddle and 27 miles later I was home. A most excellent cold weather ride. I hope I get to chase the freeze tomorrow.

Caelan…. That’s a pretty name.

[FATboy05]

Sounds like another boring day in the life of Snoof :grin: Good move choking Caelan out, and bailing when ya did :wink: