Freedom Is What You Make Of It.

     The title came first tonight, and I'll explain all as we go. It all stems from one very brief moment on Friday evening, but there is an underlying theme throughout the weekend. If you guessed that it revolves around Saki, you would be correct.

     After depositing my check in the bank, I went for a ride. I eventually ended up at my new favorite spot to take pictures of Saki. It just has an open scenic viewed despite the fact that it is an unused cup de sac at the end of a rode between two neighborhoods. I was going to try to recreate this picture with Saki and Melvin. Since I upgraded the exhaust system. I was thwarted though. A large SUV saw me as they were coming out of a neighborhood further back, and followed me to said cut de sac. I didn't know what was going on, I was just pulling in to the place where I set Saki for the picture, and this SUV comes barreling in straight towards me. I slowly started moving, and they still kept coming towards me. I stopped, and they veered off slightly. I tool this opportunity to boogie on out of there. As I tore off, I noticed the two occupants smiling. They only wanted to get a look at Melvin, but I wasn't staying around to find out what they wanted.

      It was taking them some time to get out of there, which gave me a pretty big head start, and then I hit some big luck. The light to where I turn was green. I throttle up to make sure that I got through, and that's when I saw another SUV sitting in the middle of my turn lane at the intersection. This person had pulled out too far, and I was coming in pretty hot. I already knew I was going to have a good lean in order to make the turn. I started out a little wide, so that I would avoid this SUV, but I also decided to buzz by real close. With being fully in my lean, my eyes were at headlight level of this SUV, as I rode by, I reached my left hand out to mimic brushing across the number of this SUV. I was still a few inches from my finger tips, but I wanted them to know, that they were out way too far, and that they shouldn't do that again. In that moment though. it was as if time slowed down. I was in a full lean for the turn with my arm outstretched fingers out reaching for this bumper. I could see the entire thing as if I was above it. That moment there was true freedom to me. Was it dangerous? Of course it was. Was it stupid? I can't argue that one either, but it was freedom and life.

     If you are lucky, you get these moments in your life, where the whole world slows down around you, and you get to feel everything in that moment. You are present in your life. For most of my existence, I struggle with being present in my life. Yes, I know how that sounds, so let me explain. I'm very introverted. If you know me personally then you might find that hard to believe, but it is true. I force my self to participate, but I'm not truly all there. It is in moments like that one above, where I am fully aware of my surroundings and my senses. I am fully in control of myself. Other times, I may be there physically, but in truth, I'm more in my head than anywhere else. That is really the best way I can explain it.

      On Saturday, I went out riding again. It was beautiful on the Space Coast this weekend, and I took full advantage of it. I rode some twists roads, and then I hit a highway to really open up that new exhaust system. I'm not going to say that I hit triple digits on the speedometer, but the new Yoshi pipe let me know that it was really enjoying itself. Oh, before I forget, and I will get back to this a little later, but it was too hot to wear the new Icon Sanctuary jacket. I had to partially squid it on Friday and Saturday. Squid is a biker term used for people that don't wear protective gear. I say partial squid, because I always wear my helmet and gloves. So the real important parts are safe. I did find a slightly desolate road that I may take some pictures of Saki on some day. It's a good long stretch where I can park Saki in the middle of the road and get that shot that trails off into the distance. I think it will be pretty good. You'll see it here when it happens.

     On the way home, I stopped by the tattoo shop to talk to my artist. Mainly to catch up with him, since I haven't seen him in a month of two, and also to talk to him about doing the Princess Leia/Bowie tattoo. You might remember the picture I posted on here when Carrie Fisher died. I can't remember who posted it on twitter, and I don't have any idea who created it. I remember saying that I was going to have to fight with myself about not getting that as a tattoo. Well, I lost, and the other part of me won, and I will be getting it tattooed on my on March 11th. In case you don't remember the picture, here it is.

Great picture right. It says it all. She was a rebel, and she was just an all around impressive woman, and I'm going to be proud to wear that on me. We are doing it as is, on the outside of my right calf. As I'm looking at it, it is about 2 1/2 inches by 4 inches, and I believe that is the actual size that it will be. I can't say for sure right now, but this cold lead to an entire Star Wars leg sleeve. Well, maybe just the lower leg. I don't think I want to go above my knee, but only time will tell on that one. If I do a themed leg, I'm only picking the characters that I connected with most. Leia was one of those, Luke will be in there somewhere as well, and Darth Vader, and of course Chewbacca. I still have a plush doll of him that I got when I was a kid. I think those 4 could fill up the entire lower leg. Ha, I just realized something. That could be a very strange family photo with their pet dog. I can't stop laughing about that.

     This brings us to today. I woke up early, and showered as soon as I got up. I wanted to hit the road early, so that I could try out that Icon Sanctuary jacket. I'd taken the quilted lining out, so I could see just how much protection from the cold it would give me on it's own. When I left the house, it was 61 degrees. That is no where near freezing, but when you are moving, it gets into the 50's. I only wore that jacket and my white textile Icon gloves along with my helmet and my Speed and Strength riding jeans. Those are great by the way. They are kevlar lined so help protect against abrasions in the even of a slide, and they also have CE rated knee pads in them. They also  helped keep my warm. Which brings us back to the jacket. It did it's job. I barely felt any cold air on me, with the exception of my neck and chin. That is the one downside of my Arai helmet. It doesn't have a true chin skirt. It has a chin spoiler that I can drop down, but that only partially works to deflect the wind. It wasn't too bad on the ride over to the beachside. I was going to my favorite spot over there to get a few early morning pictures.

I combined most of the shots I took into this one right here. I think the shot on the bottom left is my favorite. If you look close, you can see the waves in the background. AS for the top left, you can see a bit of the jacket, and as I said before, it worked great. I'm not going to have any worries about riding in colder weather now. I can just zip that quilted lining back in, and I will be snug as a bug in a rug. 

     On the way home this morning, the ride turned into just relaxing enjoyment. It wasn't about seeing how fast I could go, or how the new exhaust sounded, or how much I could lean over in a turn. It became about that freedom again. I took my clutch hand off the bar and just sat up and enjoyed the ride. I looked at there beauty that was around me as I crossed bridges over the rivers, and as I rode along side the Indian River, I just marveled at its beauty. I was back to being present in life. It felt good, and that was because of Saki. I doubt that I could get that feeling in a car or even in a boat drifting down the river itself, but I can get that on the back of a motorcycle. A lot of people call motorcycles "two wheels of freedom" and that phrase really hit home this weekend for me. Freedom is what you make of it, so find you happy place and feel that freedom. This life is too short to just wait for it to happen. Sometimes you just have to get out there and make it happen. Good night and peace in.