A ‘Wind Event?’

What a joke! That’s what the weather-heads called it. Calling the ferocious, ridiculously high gusts of rapidly moving air a ‘Wind Event’ is like calling the sinking of the Titanic a ‘Boating Event.’

Mother Nature’s mood that morning could best be summed up with two words: Sucks and Blows. If we put something down while loading Rain Cloud Follows, it blew away. Fiona’s sunglasses disappeared for a while, we finally found them twenty feet away behind a curb. My gloves ended up under a parked car. I’m honestly surprised the motorcycle hadn’t blown over in the night. We both were laughing at the strength of the wind, but it wasn’t a funny laugh, it was more of the nervous, ‘Are-we-really-going-to-try-and-ride-in-this-shit‘ kind.

As soon as we got on the road, the laughing stopped, and the crying began. Rain Cloud Follows bucked like a rodeo bull as the angry masses of air attacked. Immediately, a huge gust of wind grabbed my map holder and tried to launch my map to Oz.

Then, we passed a freshly plowed field. The hurricane force sent dirt and dust flying across the road, coating everything with a fine film of grit, making it impossible to see.

The bike pitched around violently, and I leaned at ridiculous angles just to keep it going straight. Gusts would blow us across the lane and back with alarming regularity. Frustrated, I pulled off the highway.

I turned and shouted to Fiona, “I don’t know about this!”

She shouted back, “We’re already in it, let’s keep going for a while!” Turning around to make sure I heard correctly, I noticed she was actually smiling.

She is the voice of reason in this relationship. She is also 100% crazy.

I got back on the road, and the wind showed no mercy. It pummeled us from the left, and when that got tiring, it switched around and pummeled us from the right. It was extremely brutal riding.

Futilely Shaking My Fist at the Wind

Note the building behind me in the picture. I think the third Little Pig lived there, and even though this house was made of stone, Mother Nature huffed and puffed, and the roof blew clean off.

One interesting byproduct of all this wind is fire. We passed burning buildings and brush fires as we fought our way through the onslaught.

Riding in vicious wind like this is a lot like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. It feels really good when you stop.

Two hundred seventy miles later, it felt really good when we finished battling the wind for the day and arrived at our new friend DarthRider’s house.

Since I started posting ride reports, DarthRider, a.k.a. Dave has consistently extended an invitation for us to come and stay with him and his wife Betty. Way back in the ‘Map-kin Planning‘ days, I realized that Dave’s home was somewhat close to Houston, relatively speaking, and gladly accepted his kind offer.

Don, Dave, Betty and Two Windblown Strangers in Amarillo

Dave, his wife Betty and friend Don extended every courtesy and kindness to us, stories and laughs were swapped, beers were drained, a fantastic steak dinner was consumed and we stayed up late into the cool and mercifully windless night. It will never cease to amaze me that total strangers can forge such an instant bond, all because of a shared love of motorcycles.

That’s why I ride.

The next morning we slept in, recovering from the beating Mother Nature doled out the day before. Though we had plans to meet Keith somewhere and ride to his house in Oklahoma City – the self-designated end of this leg of the ride – there was too much to see around DarthRider’s home town to just leave.

Later that morning, Don returned with his Harley, Dave fired up his Triumph, and we motored out to nearby Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Donson on the Digital Bitch

Dave on his Wheelie Machine

New Friends in Palo Duro State Park

From the canyon, DarthRider led me and Sleeping Beauty to another place that has long been on my list of places to see; Stanley Marsh 3’s Cadillac Ranch! (note: it’s NOT Stanley Marsh the Third, it is Stanley Marsh Three. What else would you expect from a nutter that buries ten Cadillacs halfway in the ground?)

World Famous Cadillac Ranch

Fiona’s inner vandal made a rare appearance, as she picked up a half used can of spray paint and started tagging one of the Caddys, showing everyone how they do it back in the 626!

After this blatant act of graffiti, it was time to say goodbye to Dave. Keith, a.k.a Unleaded from the Great Unsponsored Nova Scotia Expedition was already en route to Elk City, our designated meeting place, and all this sightseeing and wanton destruction of private property had put us behind schedule.

With little choice, Sleeping Beauty and I jumped on the superhighway, a bittersweet straight-line way to end the journey, but, due to the lack of time, completely necessary.

Unleaded in Elk City

Unleaded Proudly Rides Little Baby Ooops

The ride to Casa Unleaded was mostly uneventful, save for one interesting photo op I spied and quickly snapped as a tribute to my missing riding buddy Abi.

An Official Oklahoma City Lighthouse

A few hundred miles of highway later, we arrived at Keith’s house, eagerly anticipating our last meeting of the ride – Little Baby Ooops herself.

Danica – The Newest Expedition Member

Sleeping Beauty Looks Comfortable… A Little TOO Comfortable!!

Gratuitous Cute Baby Pics

Pulling into Keith’s garage for the final time, I had that familiar melancholy feeling. Fiona would fly out (again) and I would go back to work (already) and the first leg of this early season ride would come to a close (too soon). Though it had its share of ups and downs, we still toasted the Best Day Ever, the Best Friends Ever, the Best Ride Ever, and the Best Baby Ever until we were completely out of happy juice.

The Entire 3140 Mile Route

Rain Cloud Follows will rest comfortably in Oklahoma for a while, but that doesn’t mean no riding for us motorcycle addicts. In May, Fiona and I go down, to Australia and a week of riding a rented FJR on the wrong side of the road with my old friend Dan. Then, in early June we’ll head back to Oak City for the second leg of this ride, doing Denver and a return to the Motorcyclist Cafe Barn and Bunkhouse. If we’re lucky (and I have to say it, we are VERY VERY lucky!) by mid summer we’ll end up in a dark bar somewhere in my adopted home of California with another napkin and frosty pint of Guinness in hand making some more ride plans.

Until then, Happy Riding!

Author: frenchy

One Response to “The Road Away From Wrestlemania – The Rest”

1. Johnathan Evans says:

   April 22, 2009 at 11:35 PM

   that is one of the cutest baby pictures I have ever seen…i hope your doing well…

   Johnathan

   Reply