Waiting For The Road To Open

It's been approximately 178 days now since I've gone on a motorcycle ride. Or teed up a golf ball. Or bicycled down a single track trail on the back side of Old Baldy. Or hiked to a secret place that only I and a relatively small band of ragtag fellow travelers know about. Of those 178 days, a majority of them have been cloudy, gray and terribly cold. Yes, it has been a long winter. According to the National Weather Service our area has experienced its snowiest winter ever, and 10th coldest winter on record. My senses have been dulled and my energy level is diminished. That's not good.
Yesterday was nice, though, in the 60s. But I was working so I missed most of it. I miss a lot by working Saturdays, but that's the cost of being in retail. Besides, somebody has to be there to keep America rolling and I don't mind (much) that it's me. As I write this it's about 50 degrees on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But it's cloudy and windy, so it doesn't feel all that nice. And this is the outlook for tonight and tomorrow -

 

 By the time most of you read this the storm will be in full force, or over. That's the good thing...storms never last. But, I want to be prepared so I'm already getting in to full storm prep mode by searching for videos to add to the queue, like highlights from the 1977 Duke Kahanamoko Surfing Championship which was won by Eddie Aikau.  That's probably not something you remember, but I remember watching it on ABC's Wide World of Sports and never missed a broadcast from 1969 through 1979. Not being a surfer myself, I can't explain my loyalty to the DK Classic. Just one of those things we get caught up in, I guess. Sort of like today's obsession by so many people with The Walking Dead. That phenomenon has just recently hit our household. I bailed on it fairly quickly, although when I am otherwise occupied I still occasionally hear zombie sounds coming from the TV in another room. Fortunately we are still fiercely resisting getting hooked on Breaking Bad. But I digress. Getting back to my storm prep - also on the list is the movie Almost Famous, with back-ups of Groundhog Day and possibly one of the original Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers. Books on stand-by include One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I've wanted to read for quite a while but the time has never seemed right up to this point. Or, Advise and Dissent - Memoirs Of An Ex-Senator by Jim Abourezk. I kind of remember reading this one when it was originally published about 25 years ago. I didn't have it in my library, though, and bought it about a month ago after discovering it in the cluttered aisles of a wonderful used book store in Rapid City. Although my days as a political activist are long over, Senator Abourezk is one of only two politicians (George McGovern being the other one) that I ever truly respected for standing firm on their principals as opposed to standing for whatever they think will get them re-elected.

So bring it on Storm! I'm ready for you this time, and can outlast you. It's almost April. There will be more cold days ahead, and even more snow. I understand that. However, I also know that soon brown and gray and white will give way to greens and blues and yellows and all the colors of summer. The roads will be open and clear, and it will be time to RIDE!

 

Roger O'Dea   3/30/2014