Freedom Can Be Found On Two Wheels.

     I'm writing this early tonight, because frankly, I don't know if I'm going to make it to the end of The Walking Dead. I was out on Saki this morning, and thinking about what I was going to write tonight. The normal stuff ran through my head. You know, the "what I did this weekend" stuff. Then it hit me. The whole reason I was out riding on Saki this morning, was because I needed to clear my head. The weekend was filled with positive events. I had a good time with friends, my dancer friend contacted me, I spent a day at a bird of prey rescue facility, I helped a friend out with their motorcycle, I had a great conversation with an old friend, and I gifted another old and dear friend. Lot's of positive things to write about, but then there were the negative things, and even though they were fewer in number, their reach was much broader. I'm not going to go into those negative things, because I want to leave them behind me. Once again, the whole reason I was out riding on Saki.

     While I was riding, it hit me, that I should be writing about why I ride. The simple and short answer, is because, it's fun. The long answer is what I'm going to go into. There is the zen attitude, which states that you become one with the motorcycle, and that is true. If you re doing it right, you do become one with the motorcycle. You become one entity that is against everything else on the road. Your view is 360 degrees. You can see everything, and you are aware of all. You are the motorcycle and the motorcycle is you. It's cathartic in nature.

     There is the what I like to call, the Kerouac affect. You see an adventure at every turn, and each road is a journey that you must see to the end. Endless possibility abound. You make a left turn, and it could lead to disaster or salvation, and each is energetic in it's potential. When you get to the end, you have a story to tell, whether it's a short tale about a quick ride, or a long tale about what occurred with every passing tree, car, and curb. You can write a book based on one solo ride.

     I'm sure there are many other affects on why people ride, but the reason I ride, is freedom. The restraints of a steel cage are cast off. The restraints of the pressures of an every day world or thrown aside. There is only me and Saki. I don't listen to music while I ride, I only listen to the song that Saki sings. Saki tells me everything I want to hear. Saki tells me when it is under pressure and needs relief of a higher gear, or gets throaty when I need to throttle up. A lot of people want to put a gender to Saki, but to me, Saki is gender fluid. Saki can be delicate and nimble in the corners, like a lady, but on the straightaways, Saki growls and flexes it's muscles like a man. Then there are the times that I've written about at other occasions, when Saki just disappears from under me, and becomes neither male or female. That is why I always refer to Saki as "it". In my eye, Saki has no true gender, it is what it is, at the moment.

     I rode this morning, and everything went away. I didn't think about the good things that happened, nor the bad things, I simply thought about Saki and me. I had no idea where I was going to go. I simply pulled out of my neighborhood, and went a direction. The next thing I knew, I was riding north on A1A beachside. I remembered an old place that I used to surf when I was younger. We called it Officer's Club. It was an Officer's Club that was across the A1A from Patrick AFB. It burned down years ago, but they left and repaved the parking lot. I knew that it was the one place, that I might have a shot of seeing the water from the parking lot. Everywhere else has a large berm or dune that protects the beach. I pulled into the lot, and I was the only one there. I had the whole lot to myself, so I rode until I found the perfect location. I was able to get a shot of Saki next to a palm tree, with some waves peaking over the small dune. The picture is almost everything I would want. The reason I say almost, is because I want a sunrise behind it, and no that I remember that that place is there, I will get that shot soon.

     In that moment, I was at peace. There was tranquility and freedom. Could I have gotten there in my car? Of course I could, but would I have? More than likely not. Saki took me there. Saki knew what I needed. It was me, Saki, and mother nature, in all her glory, and it was remarkable. I needed a few more shots. First a closer look at Saki in this beauty, then a selfie with Saki, and then the coup de gras, a shot through a gap in the dune of the beach and the surf.

     This was the world in a snapshot. All it's beauty and power confined in one moment. It was freedom, and Saki took me to it. 

     I needed today, I needed today more than I knew it. Saki knew it, and Saki took me there without delay. Saki roared through the straightaways, and danced through the corners. Saki released all that negativity from me, and left it somewhere on the road behind me. So, when someone asks me form now one, why I ride. I'm going to tell them, that I don't ride, I just go along for the journey.

     I'm not going to tell you that you need to get a motorcycle, but you need to get a motorcycle. If you treat it right, and take very good care of it, it will take you where you need to go, even if you don't know where that is. Get out and ride. Peace in and goodnight.