Beautiful Day For a Ride!

Ah, the wind, asphalt and humming motor. This wonderful Saturday I decided to take a little road-trip to the tiny little town of Nipton, California. To date, this is my longest trip on my bike. A total of 130 miles.

It was not without problems, or rather should I say irritations. On the way out, I experienced a headwind of about 20 MPH. My little Rebel struggled at times to keep the speedometer at 55. It wasn't just the wind; the uphill riding had a lot to do with it as well. Coming back, with a tailwind, she easily maintained a speed of 75MPH.

Just outside of Searchlight, Nevada there was a guy on the side of the road with a stalled Kawasaki. Big bike. I pulled off the road and with my limited toolbox, helped him take his seat off and check his electrical system. After about 45 minutes of pondering and poking and going through all the fuses, he found the master fuse. Sure enough it was blown.

So, he puts in a spare and the bike starts right up. But why did it blow? He poked around and found it. For one reason or another, several wires were routed next to the exhaust. The heat melted the insulation and zap. It shorted out the electrical system.

I poked around alongside the road and found a partially unused roll of electrical tape! Imagine that! It's funny the things one can find along the side of a desert road! He wrapped the wire in tape, we shook hands and off we went.
Here is a rather poor picture of Searchlight. Unfortunately I couldn't find the camera for this trip. Next time I definitely will not forget it!

At any rate, this was a very nice ride. I contemplated quite a few things as the asphalt rushed by. One is my seriousness with regard to having fun, relationships and enjoying the here-and-now. While in Nipton, I sat outside enjoying a Gatorade, a smoke, great weather and the view of 20 some motorcycles in the parking lot.

As I sit there, a younger woman, maybe 35 or so, curvy, attractive, comes out of the store and playfully yelled something to some other bike riders. She grabbed her breasts and yelled "woo hoo" a few times. I smiled, enjoying the very real, free, somewhat sexual playfulness she had. Somewhere I have that too. I wonder if my bike will carry me down the path to find it. Maybe???