Bookmark and Share

Monday, March 1, 2010

Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothing






The email asked who wanted to ride to Mt. Baker Lake on Sunday.

The second email arrived: MeMeMeMe!!!!!!!

So I responded in song also: Do re mi fa so la ti….yes we will be there

Then Larry responded: An entirely civilized time to start a ride (10:30 AM)! We'll be there...

So that is how our Sunday ride adventure began.

My heated gear arrived Thursday and Larry picked it up for me at Mt. Baker H-D. Six weeks of waiting and I was excited to try it out. I had to take the lining out of my heavy duty leather coat to accommodate the new heated liner and that took a few minutes to figure out the night before.

 Buff on
 Neck wrap on (double sided hand made by Kaye)
 Helmet plugged in
 Gloves plugged into the jacket
 Jacket plugged into the controls
 Controls on
 Gloves on
 Jacket on
 Ready

No one in our group likes to be late. At ten minutes before 10:00 AM we were approaching the Alger turn off and Larry said we are going to be a little early and asked if I wanted to take a short ride and return around 10:30? No I told him, let’s just top off the tank, get some water and wait for the group. Ha-ha. Dave M, Dave J. and Dawn were just finishing topping off their tanks as we drove into the Shell station and as we finished filling our tank and pulled around, Dave L. and Jan pulled in.

Maps out, consultations finished about roads and routes and we were off. I have never been to Mt. Baker Lake so this would be a great day for me to see new sights. I’ve never had lunch in Concrete either so this would be another first for me. But before lunch, we stopped in Concrete to see Rob Tygret and his new Eagles In Flight motorcycle repair shop that will open in just three weeks. Rob’s dad and mom gave us a short tour and told us about their future plans for the business--coffee and ice-cream, consignment and custom bike sales--and Rob arrived and showed us the new workshop out back. They have a lot of enthusiasm and we wish them well in their new adventure in life and I am sure we will be stopping in, while going to or from Winthrop, to say hi and savor a hot coffee or cold ice cream depending on the weather. We had lunch at the Red Cedar Inn before heading up the mountain.

What I noticed riding this morning was the difference in the way I sat on the bike. On previous cold or semi-cold days when I layered on everything I could get on and still zip up the coat, I tended to slump down behind Larry and use him as a windbreak to cut out the chill of riding. Today, being surrounded in the warmth of my new liner and gloves (I only had the heat turned up about ¼ of the way), I sat up straighter, and enjoyed sightseeing.

We rode up to, and across, the Upper Baker Dam and parked on the other side to walk back and take pictures. The water level of the lake was down about anywhere from 30-50 feet. Looking off the other side of the dam you looked into a ravine that was at least 300 feet down. From the dam you could see snow covered Mt. Baker towering to a majestic 10,775 ft and Mount Shuksan to 9,127 ft.

The group split in Sedro-Woolley where Dave L. and Jan broke off to head to Scooter's for the store closing party, and the rest of us headed home towards the freeway. It was another day in paradise riding with friends.

After working all week at his day job, Larry drove to Seattle on Friday afternoon to attend an advanced trike safety class. Friday night was 3 hours of classroom work and 5 hours on the course riding on Saturday. He made it through the Friday traffic with the help of his GPS, found his hotel, found the community college where the class was being held, and he decided to eat at the hotel; however, the restaurant was closed and vending machine food would have to hold him over until after class. He arrived back at his hotel at 10:15 PM and the restaurant had closed AGAIN and he was too tired to drive around looking for food so he called it a night. Next morning he found a Denny’s before class and had a good breakfast. After a few hours of driving in circles, stopping and swerving really quickly, and doing other trike training stuff at a South Seattle Community College parking lot, came the long ride home--and Larry was ready to kick back and relax for the rest of the weekend! Then the email arrived about the Sunday ride and I was ready to go; so, of course Larry was too.

I had a new heated liner and gloves and I wanted to try them out. And being the good husband that he is, he gave up his Sunday morning of watching the Olympics, drinking coffee, reading the paper, and gearing up for another week at work.
I don’t think Larry ever thought when we bought our first bike that I would be the one to say let’s go every chance we got; and now that I can ride in warmth, that should really put the fear into him.

Now I started this off with the title of "Mama don’t get dressed up for nothing" which is a Brooks and Dunn song. Think of the tune but replace the lyrics:


She said hey big boy get off that couch
There’s a ride going on and we going too
I got my new jacket liner and gloves to match
I’m ready to ride so let’s get moving
You’re the man of the house, you can’t be tired
‘Cause mama don’t get dressed up for nothing

I’ve been cooped up in the house all week long
Coughing and sneezing, get me outta here
Saddle up hoss it’s your luck day
We’re going out with our friends
To Baker and back

We’re gonna find a little place where the Eagles Fly
We’re gonna stomp our boots down at The Red Cedar Inn
Ride to the dam listening to rock and roll music
Shoot shots of Mt. Baker and Mount Shuksan too
We’re gonna turn up the heat and keep right on riding
Cause mama don’t get dressed up for nothing

No comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails