Waiting at a long light as we headed home for our ride, I spotted a petite looking person on a motorcycle behind us. The rider was wearing a head-helmet and had a kerchief covering nose and mouth. To pass the time at the long light, Bill and I debated whether it was woman or small man on the motorcycle and whether it was a Harley-Davidson which we both bet it was. When the light finally changed and we headed onto the interstate, we knew it wouldn’t take the rider long to zip by us. As the rider rolled on full throttle, we had confirmation that it was a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy and that it was a small, skinny man astride it. The “skinny man, fat boy” as Bill said.
That rider was one of many we saw both as we rode over and rode home. Getting on the interstate, we saw ahead of us a man on a Harley and a woman on a naked bike. We had no chance of seeing what kind of motorcycles they were as they rolled on the throttle and shot out far ahead down the interstate. They were good confirmation of what a glorious day for riding it was.
We finally had a week where there was no rain predicted for Saturday. The sun was shining, and the temperature was heading into the low 80s, so we had mid-70s for our ride. Today’s ride was marred, however, but lots of weird traffic. Riding down the curvy road, we had to loop around the mailman’s truck. As we entered the cul de sac at the end of the curvy road, I spotted a car ready to come out of its driveway, so I pulled over instead of practicing my turns. Coming out of the cul de sac, we again had to move slowly past the mail truck as the curvy road isn’t very wide.
To avoid another mail truck, we rode back down the block toward my parents’ house. It was along this route I spotted my first of five cabbage white butterflies. When I wasn’t watching out for mail trucks or delivery vans, I enjoyed the gorgeous hydrangeas now in full bloom. I spotted more day lilies and Kniphofia in bloom; the latter is a tall grass plant with bushy orange blooms that look a bit like those Swiffer dusters. I even saw the first crepe myrtles in bloom which surprised me as we’ve had a good long spring with milder temperatures, and I’m used to the smell of the crepe myrtles in the summer heat.
Interestingly, after last week’s post about dogs, Bill actually was chased by a little puffy dog. We were waiting for an SUV to pass so we could turn right into a cul de sac to work on S-turns. I noticed that the vehicle was moving rather slowly like maybe it was looking for a particular address. I had also noticed two small dogs gamboling through yards. When the SUV stopped and the driver got out without really parking the vehicle—it was close to the curb but not pulled into the curb—I realized that he was seeking his dogs who had gotten loose. These two had a clear case of what Bill calls “spunkybuttitis,” and they were enjoying running around and being chased. Well Bill didn’t realize what was happening because if he had, he would have turned left away from the dogs and the cul de sac. As we turned right, I saw one of the dogs take off and give chase to the Rocket. Unfortunately, because of where the dogs’ owner had stopped, I couldn’t turn around in the street and had to also enter the cul de sac. I pulled around and stopped just as Bill came to a stop to watch the dog who ran off as his owner tried to corral him.
During this excitement, I realized I was too fast in my turn, so I told myself to slow down. A beat after I had that thought, I realized I had automatically pulled in my clutch to help me slough off speed. This was a happy realization that I was gaining enough skills to automatically apply them to ride safely. But I didn’t have time to get cocky. Five minutes later, as we practiced our turns in the square lot behind the post office, I misread Bill’s direction and had to come to an awkward stop as I was not set up for a good turn.
In addition to the silly dogs, I saw a white egret intensely hunting in the shallows of the river. We also chased the now adolescent goslings out of the road, and we had two sudden stops to avoid crazy squirrels. There was even a largish box turtle hanging out on the curb. I did see another Tiger Swallowtail, but I didn’t see it until we were driving home. As we drove home, Bill said he started to feel the heat. We have been lucky so far with our extended spring, but the warmer temperatures are coming, so we’ll have to start shifting our rides to earlier in the morning. No problem for me as long as I get to keep riding.
Flutterby Biker 