Even when loving people, I need relief from them. Even when loving the comforts of civilization, like warm showers and soft beds, I need the relief of more primitive living. Even when loving the ease of modern life, I need the relief of challenge. Of going up high. Of going beyond beaten paths…
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1974, me in the red tank top. With hair. I still have those beads.
Push the Envelope
A hot August night outside Beaumont TX may qualify as one of the worst of my life. I’d cruised out of New Orleans earlier that day, on a chopped ’73 Honda 750. For old riders who remember “Easy Rider,” yeah, it had a metal flake flag painted on the tank and side covers. In the pic above, that’s me with the red tank top. I took off on the trip with no notice and fewer plans. Just a backpack with a few clothes, a sleeping bag, a poncho for a ground cloth, and no tent. That last omission proved problematic. On this night, the heat and humidity kept me from getting in the bag, but the mosquitoes and other unknown biting Southern bugs put me back in. So I gave up about 3 am, and…
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image from classicboat.co.uk
A Time to Sail
OK, I may get the nautical terms wrong, or just not use them, but I AM a landlubber with merely three sailing experiences. My first came when good friends and former neighbors, Ray and Carol Ann, invited Sheila and me to join them for a day on the water with their sailboat. The air rushed past my face as we flew into the wind. One side lifted as we turned, reminding me of taking a tight turn on my motorcycle, but somehow even more thrilling. The joy of “driving” it, and handling one of those wild turns as my wife screamed “Slow down!” in fear, even as Ray encouraged me on. Finally…
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Time: 4 AM, July 14, 2018, Temecula CA
Will This EVER End?
Insanity or idiocy or a demented desire to identify and challenge my limits? Just about all family and friends thought the first two would explain my attempt at an Iron Butt ride: 1,000 miles on 2 wheels in 24 hours. I lean toward a strange blend of all three. On the insane and idiot side, I’m 70 with a bum knee. 1,000 miles will take about 13 hours of butt on seat time, with 6 stops for bike fuel with 3 including human fuel, adding maybe 4 hours. 17 hours from departing at 4 AM from home in Temecula hopefully will get me into Dillon MT about 9 PM, after riding 1040 miles. Well, 10 PM with the time change. One long day.
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Stretch Yourself
The pic above represents of one the most rewarding and stupid decisions of my life. Back in high school, I got a lot of A’s, but never one in physical education—you had to be a super jock in regular PE, everyone on sports teams got them. Dad had razzed me a lot, so I bet him $5 I would my senior year. Distance running came fairly easy on a regular PE class level, so I checked out cross country. The best 10 ran varsity, the next 10 junior varsity. I figured…
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Achieving
For the last five years of my teaching career, I had the privilege of teaching Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, a course that had the most practical significance of all I taught over several decades.It had two portions—a semester examining style, or how to use words for the best effect, and another semester on persuasion, or how to analyze or craft political speeches, sales pitches, or asking your folks to borrow the car. Regardless of your political leanings, these ...
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The Bike and the Biker
Pushing the Envelope
A hot August night outside Beaumont TX may qualify as one of the worst of my life. I’d cruised out of New Orleans earlier that day, on a chopped ’73 Honda 750. For old riders who remember “Easy Rider,” yeah, it had a metal flake flag painted on the tank and covers. The fuzzy pic above is from earlier on the same trip, and that’s me in the red tank and bushy red beard. I took off on the trip with no notice and fewer plans. Just a backpack with a few clothes, a sleeping bag, a poncho for a ground cloth, and no tent. That last omission proved problematic. The heat and humidity kept me from getting in the bag, but the mosquitoes and unknown biting Southern bugs put me back in. So I gave up about 3 am, and headed west to El Paso.
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