46.9 miles...112 miles and 217 miles

Yea I know   you got to be thinking what the hell does that mean?  46.9 miles??? 112 miles??? 217 miles???  46.9 miles  was when I finally exhaled.  What you say?  Well let me tell you some very rambled jumbled thoughts.  I work a lot, most peoples 40 hour work week is part time to the hours and days I usually put in.  70 to 100 work weeks is normal for me.  And maybe I am getting a little older, a little grumpier  and just a bit tired because I do not get days off no more.  Maybe  it is my work life and no social life is finally getting to me.    Maybe because I have not had a day off  in 8 months... Oh hold on  I have had 8.5 days off.  And got in trouble for one of them. Yep repermatned like a child that  took a shit in the middle of a church.  I am not sure when all this all work and  no play thing came about but I use to have my Sunday afternoons off.  And almost always Wooly and I would go for a motorcycle ride.   We loved explore strange roads of places we had never been and may never see again.  When we did this no matter how much stress, pressure or shit that was thrown at us it would some how wash off us on our motorcycle rides.  We would find our Zen, our peace,  we would exhale before the madness began again and we would find our selves right back in the middle of all the problems  but more able to deal with it.

Sunday even though we should not have taken time off we did!  We was invited to go for a ride with a person who really did not know much about us.  A city inspector on the job we are on now. A man willing to take a complete stranger to explore  back roads with him and his buds.  It would be him his wife and their best friends.  Knowing that Wooly was at a boiling/breaking point and to be honest not really giving a fuck if I was fired or not we went.   We only had meet this gentleman in a work enviorment ... No wait   that is not right  one day we accidentally meet at the local Harley dealers one day when we went to get Wooly a new wallet.  We had no idea that there was a big to do there but Wooly needed a new wallet and not even  having taken any time to celebrated our anniversary we decided that  we could/would take a long lunch for a gift that was needed.  

Any way we was to meet at a gas station and then meet the best friends at a flower shop.  Wooly and I take off,  we was running a little late at this moment and we almost run out of gas so we had to stop which made us  later.   Being us we hauled some ass down the interstate to make  some time and try to  make the hook up.  We exited off interstate and went the wrong way putting us even later but we finally  made the hooked up.  We chatted and bit and off we went for the hook up with the best friends.  And finally off for a ride on some back roads that we will probably never get to ride again.

Now normally no matter how stressed/mad/upset I might be I find myself exhaling around 10 to 15 miles.  Nope I was way over do to for my peace,  my Zen and I remember well when I finally exhaled.  I remember we had just made a right hand turn was riding past a little lake with a water mill that some one had gotten out of  their car to cross the fence to get their picture of the beautiful piece of land.  That was when I finally exhaled, I looked down at the trip meter just so I could see when it was 46.9 miles  and that deep exhale of stress finally leaving me.

  Now I was not  totally lost in just the ride as my mind was still racing around the job site trying to mentally picture what was happening what should have been happening and what was not happening... It was 112 miles before my grin and mind finally  went to Zen and peace.  Yes I looked at the trip meter to see when this moment happened also.  We was just going into a S sweep with a down bank on the first part and an up wards embank on the second.  I remember hollering " GO FAST" to no one in particular but every one in general as I was ready to race through the sweeps and Zen with the Submarine and the road.  Normally it is very quick after exhaling but no, to much of all the bad and no time to Zen in along time had built the bad up inside me.  The stress the lack of sleep the bull shit of what we do and believe me there have been alot of bull shit for a long time.  I do not know when I usually find my Zen but 112 miles wow that just seems like a long time to smile/grin  way to long to find  Zen.

The ride was only 217 miles long but to me it was not about the ride it was about the Zen.  Finding a total stranger to invite you into their life's now a day is rare I think.  Maybe not so much for people who live and work in the same spot, who run into the same circles but for a complete gypsy stranger to be invited along.  The ride was full of miles and smiles and stories of  all kind of things.  Family, friends, motorcycles, kids,  hopes and dreams.  Heart to heart talks of life with what started as strangers that who would have ever guessed we would meet.  We may have came into this group as strangers but by the time the 217 miles was ridden, the dinner eaten and the hugs given on leaving, we left a new great friend who may not ever know how much their kindness did for a stranger/friend.