Theo and I would ride together on occasional local rides, and he happily dated other women. It seemed that he really didn't date, but went from relationship to relationship. He often showed interest in me, but depending on the situation I told him I either wasn't interested in going out with a guy who already has a girlfriend, or I told him that he just broke up with a girl, he needs to spend a few months single before I'll go out with him. None of the gals he dated rode motorcycles, and he really wanted to do a road trip to Yosemite, so he invited me. I told him I would love to go, as I'd obviously never been there, having grown up in NJ and only been in CA for less than a year. However, I reminded him that I wasn't interested in a relationship, so if we did the trip, we could share a room, but with separate beds. He agreed, so we planned it. He had been there many times, but I had not, so I packed some maps so I could keep track of how we got there and have an idea of where we were. On the way there, we stopped along the side of the road to take a picture of a row of waterfalls in the distance.
Theo arranged for us to stay in a quaint little cabin at a place where he stayed before, and we had separate beds as discussed. We got there Friday night, hiked Saturday and rode back on Sunday. Our hike Saturday was really beautiful. It was the first time I'd been able to get out and hike through a "real" forest with redwoods. While we were on our hike, we heard water, but there was a chain link fence separating us from wherever the sound was coming from.... so we climbed the fence. We hiked towards the sound of water and found a raging river. We sat beside it, and had some snacks and water that we had packed in backpacks.
 | |
| Me and Theo by the river... taken with his camera on a timer... :-) |
On the way back home Sunday, we stopped at a gas station for gas and to hydrate, and I was curious as to how we were going home. Theo would not tell me. He got very adamant about knowing the way, and there was no reason for me to know. I laughed and told him I just wanted to compare it with my maps, which I had unfolded over the seat of the bike. He got pretty angry, stormed off to his motorcycle, and took off. I calmly walked out to the middle of the street and watched him go, so that if he expected me to run after him, he would know that I wasn't. I then calmly walked back to my own bike, checked out the maps to figure out how to get back home, got on my bike, and make my way home. I didn't hear from Theo for about 2 years, when I bumped into him in Hollister. He was very apologetic and wanted to buy me lunch. I asked him why he was sorry because quite honestly, I forgot about the incident and him. When he reminded me, I just laughed. It was no big deal to me, I got myself home and found out who he really was. You see... in my mind, if bikers leave together, they go home together, no matter what happens. He obviously didn't subscribe to that way of thinking.
A few months later I went on a similar road trip with a guy who was originally from Pennsylvania. Only this time, we went to the historic train and film town of Jamestown. He also got pissed off at me and left me at a gas station. He at least turned around and came back to ride home with me. I honestly think in both cases, even though I was very clear about it just being a friendship, that both men were pissed off that they didn't win me over that weekend.
That summer... Summer of 2000, when I only owned my Sportster for a couple of months, I decided to take a road trip to Seattle from my home in San Jose, to visit my friend Rick and his wife Nadine in Snohomish, WA. I asked a couple of my friends to go with me, but it was too far for them... so I decided to go solo. That year 4th of July fell on a Wednesday and the company I worked for gave us Monday and Tuesday off, along with Wednesday. I took Thursday and Friday off to make a full week. I took my time getting ready and packing Saturday morning, so I didn't leave until about 1:00pm. I stopped every hour or two to get gas and rest, and I made it to Redding, CA by about 6:00pm. I had a bite to eat then went into a hotel to get a room for the night. They were sold out, so I tried a couple others. I found out that all hotels in Redding were sold out so I asked if one of them could make a reservation for me somewhere further north. They tried, but soon found out that all hotels were sold out all the way north past Meford, OR. It seems that I wasn't the only one who decided to go on vacation over the long 4th of July week.
I thought about what to do... I could head back home and probably be home by about 11:00pm, or could keep going and hope to find a place to sleep for the night. I figured hotels would be sold out no matter when I left, so decided to keep heading north. As I rode, I went higher in altitude and the sun went down, so it got pretty cold. I left San Jose with shorts and a tank top on under my leathers, and as the evening went on, I stopped and put on long johns that I had packed, as well as thermal shirts and as many layers as I could fit under my leathers... and I was still cold... and tired. I stopped every half hour so that I could drink hot coffee, eat donuts, and be inside a warm building. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake and be at a reasonable temperature. Through it all, I remember being grateful I was on my own... I was really happy to not have to deal with someone else wining about wanting to go back home, or stop more frequently, or any other number of things they could wine about. At one of my stops in Yreka, I ended up talking to a lady working at a mini-mart. She told me in her younger days she had a great career at Hewlett-Packard. She met her now husband and they married. He was in the restaurant business, so she became a waitress to help with the business. Even though they lived in Yreka, his restaurant was in Sacramento and he commuted back and forth. He was killed in Sacramento and she stayed in Yreka working as a waitress, cashier and whatever she needed to do to make money to raise their children. She said she and her children live in a trailer, and they leave the door open all day for the dog to go in and out... she has nothing worth stealing.
Throughout the night, I talked to various people and listened to their stories and told them some of mine. Finally about 3:00am, I stopped at a little general store and gas station in Wolf Creek, OR.
While I was trying to get warm inside, I talked to the cashier who was a man, and his name was Royal. His son was there as well, and he told me his son was 15 today, July 2. He was there helping to clean up the store. I figured Royal must be an okay guy if he has a son... he probably wouldn't do anything that would get him in trouble and lose his son, so I relaxed more and talked with him. He told me they own a Honda Rebel 250 and he and his son take turns riding it. It has a charging problem so they sometimes have to jump start it from a car battery, which they did, at 3:00am when his son took off on it to go home. I told Royal my situation, and that hotel desk clerks wouldn't even let me sleep on the floor of their lobby for just a half hour and I was dead tired. He scratched his chin and slowly said, "Well, if you really don't mind sleeping on the floor, I can offer you the floor of a brand new storage building we just had built. I'm the only one with a key, it's heated, and there's a big window on the front, so people can see in if anything were to happen. You should be safe in there." It's not something I normally would do, but he really seemed like a stand up guy... and I was really not in good condition to get on the bike and keep riding, after already riding for 13 hours, so I took him up on it. I offered him some money or to buy him a cup of coffee but he refused. He said, he isn't really going out of his way or doing anything that requires payment... just unlocking a door for me. So, I took the tail bag off my Sportster and brought it into the building to use as a pillow for my head. I kept my leathers on, because even though the building was heated, the floor was concrete so very cold. I laid down on the concrete floor, put my head on the tail bag, and slept for a couple hours, in between the ring of the bell when car tires would go over the line to let the attendant know someone was outside and needing gas. Oregon is the only other state besides New Jersey that pumps gas for drivers.
 | |
| The storage building I slept in, with my Sportster next to it. |
Well, still so much to write about this road trip... I will have to make it a 2-parter... stay tuned for part 2, my birds are calling me!!
No comments:
Post a Comment