So, Sunday, dawns with rain, cold, and more rain. But this is no ordinary Sunday, this is Christmas Day.
I was determined that I was going to go see my daughter, who I generally call Squirmy here, to protect her identity. She is an awesome kid, and I am proud to be her Dad.
However there has been some bad blood between us, because I said some things, that while true, should not have been said. This happened back in September, and while I have apologized, and so has she, it is still the giant elephant in the room.
But, I had bought her these killer looking 1/3 caret diamond earrings, and I was determined that nothing was going to get in the way of me giving them to her on Christmas day.
But, back to that weather, cold. Ugh. Windy. Two Strikes-UGH, and for the trifeccta, RAIN. Now, we here in Houston have been under drought conditions all year, so rain is not altogether unwelcome, but gosh, Cold/Wind and Rain on the one day that I was determined to get out and drive..... Karma was starting to swing around, and pay me back for not being good....
I checked with Bubba (My son, name's changed to protect....blah-blah-blah), and sure enough, he was working the movie-house job during the day, so, borrowing the car was not a option.
So I said to myself, "man up", "this is part of the gig riding a motorcycle full time".
So, I pulled on the thermal pants, wore two pair of thick work socks, and the under vest (that CAN be plugged in, but wasn't this day), and the coat, with its liner. I put on the baklava, and the thick gloves, and pushed She out of the garage.
She had her normal grin going on, and as I stuck the ear plugs in, and put on the helmet, I tried to start her and let her start warming up a little.
She However, was having none of it. Sure She cranked on the first push of the starter, but, blip-ping the throttle resulted in a stumble, and She died. All the lights on the control pod were lit up to tell me that she wasn't happy.
I pushed her starter button again, and she did not fire up......I stopped after 5 seconds. I asked her what was wrong, the lights continued to flash. I turned the ignition off, and patted her on the tank, and told her that we had to do this, that Squirmy was already on her way, and that we had to deliver the present. I turned the ignition back on, and the lights all blinked at me once again....
This time, when I pushed the started she rumbled to life. You could tell from her idle that she wasn't happy. She doesn't like the cold one bit, never has, which is funny, because her first owner lived in Connecticut, and you know if gets plenty cold there! Carefully, I blipped the throttle, and she stumbled, but caught and stayed running.
I gave her another pat on her tank, and told her that we would be careful, just as the steady drizzle turned into a light shower. The ABS light blinked at me as if to say "are your shitting me?". I closed the face shield, and looking up, said "lord protect us", and shot down the driveway.
This new set of tires that She is wearing, shares She's dislike of the cold weather, and let me know as we were traveling the 30 yards to the first stop sign that traction was not going to be a good thing today. I just patted her again, and, pulling away from the stop sign said "just trust me, and everything will be fine.".
Riding the 1.5 miles to the freeway, I noticed that the rain was becoming stronger, but, I was committed now, Squirmy was on her way, and I had no choice anymore. Attempting to enter the freeway, a fellow traveler in a SUV decided that he did not want to follow a motorcycle down the road, and sped up, dangerously I might add because of the conditions.
I remembered my promise to She, and I backed off, and let him pass me, then merging into the freeway behind Mr SUV, I looked over my shoulder to the left, and accelerated/lane-changed, and went by Mr SUV. I looked over, the driver had the typical look that most drivers that see me in the rain or whatever have. I call it the "You Poor Bastard" look.
But, I have to say that when I shifted into 3rd gear this time, it was as if She had woken up, I felt her surge underneath me. I felt like she was encouraging me to do whatever I needed, so, looking over my left shoulder again, I noticed that the 3 lanes between me and the far left lane were completely free of traffic, and so I lane changed again, shifting and grinning as I heard her start to sing...... I Love that sound.
Now, I am in the left lane, and the surface of the road has a thin layer of water on it because I can feel the wake (or splash) from the front wheel hitting my shoes as we are riding along. Because of the weather, and the conditions, I decided that perhaps my "normal" 80mph was probably not too safe, and so, I set the cruise to 70. Very soon, within 2 miles, the traffic behind me starts to catch up, and bunch up around me. They are mostly SUV's and trucks, but there are quite a few cars in the mix, and they are all darting about, lane changing, tail-gating, and driving badly, which is never a good thing to a guy on a bike.
I hit a large-ish puddle of water, and realized that I need to get away from the pack. With an additional prayer, I flicked the clutch lever, and downshifted to fifth gear.
She was having none of it.
She did a pretty significant wiggle to remind me that the ground was very wet, and we were riding along on changing surfaces, since TXDOT decided to grind the concrete off the surface, and replace it with blacktop, and they did a poor job, because there are all kinds of undulations in the surface. I leaned down into the tank, lowering the center of gravity, and watching the road ahead, and not the crazies around me, I accelerated, through 75, through 80, past 85, hovering around 87. I moved ahead of the traffic that had bunched up around me, and the hair that was standing straight up on the back of my neck laid down a bit. I let her wind along like that for about a mile, and backed off to 77. I set the cruise, and across town we went. Getting into downtown on the freeway, you would think that people had forgot where the merge lanes, the entrance ramps, exit ramps, and other general mayhem that comes with intersections on a freeway, were.
The traffic bunched up, but, instead of slowing down, people seemed to be trying to go faster, as if getting in front of me was somehow going to make their trip quicker.
My pucker-factor was in "waterproof" mode. There was no way to get ahead of the traffic crazies, and no way to back off, and allow them to get ahead of me. That 3 miles seemed like the furthest in the journey. I just kept my head on a swivel, and making sure that everyone around me had a chance to see me.
The last half of the journey, from downtown to far south Houston, the freeway is a mess of blacktop, and I believe the rain actually got harder for the first ten miles after leaving downtown.
However, I got to my exit, with only one significant event, which was that I nearly was hit because a car in the lane next to me decided that he needed to lane change suddenly to avoid a piece of plywood on the freeway, and tried to do it without looking. Fortunately, I was even with his front wheel when I saw it turn towards me, and I was able to squirt ahead before anything bad happened. Looking in my side mirror, I realized after the fact that he did not know I was there, because he nearly wrecked himself pulling back into his lane, and slamming on the brakes. Remember kids, wet roads, and sudden changes in speed and direction can lead to bad things happening. Fortunately, they just have a story to tell to the folks whever they were going, as did I. Thank you God for watching over us both.
I arrived at the Fuqua St IHOP. Yes, the IHOP. I love the pancakes there. and their omlets, and the bacon, oh, and the grits, and we cannot forget the biscuits and gravy...... sigh, now I am hungry again! :D
Squirmy was late, at least, I hoped it was late, and that she wasn't blowing me off because of the bad words from September. There was actually a line to get in, so I put my name on the list, and sent a text to her that I had arrived.
Lunch/breakfast was good. Squirmy liked her present, I think anyway, her face did light up like I remembered it from the past. So, I am going with that. Good conversations, no bad words. We ignored the elephant in the room.
The ride home was the same as the trip there, but, honestly, I just let She take me home. My mind was preoccupied with the conversations from lunch, and the shoulda-coulda-wouldas....
Thanks again, She. You took care of me, and allowed me to take care of you.