From Here To There And Back Again: DAY 4- 1k words

SUNDAY, MAY 17th - DAY 4:

6:00am - Up, coffee, beer, and friendly, soulfully completing banter. I must have told Jacques, "I love you", about 15 times in our brief friendship already, but I don't think I've told him this… "You and Lovely are the types of people I wish I could be around all the time. You are real. You have the wisdom to understand the important things in life".

The following poem, which I wrote 20 years ago, is now dedicated to both of you:

THE DENNY CREEK DOCTRINE

You need to know where to go

To meet the people you want to know

Life in the city is full of illusions

People in the city are full of…

Shit in the water, don't you care?

You're a fool to live in the city

You need to know where to go

To find the people you want to know

People in the country is simple

People in the country understand

Shit in the water, and you get sick

Of the people in the city

You need to know where to go

To find the people you want to know

I want to sit on the rocks and

Watch the crystalline water

Tumble across my feet

No shit, in the Denny Creek water

Ned at Denny Creek - east of Seattle, WA

10:00am - Lovely had already left for the last day of the season of skiing on Mt. Bachelor by the time J & I got on our bikes… each other's bikes. I do not know why we didn't take pictures. I must've looked hysterical on his little toy. We both agreed it was best if we switched back, after only going about ½ mile thru the neighborhood.

Each person has a personality, and even though J & I do have many similarities… we are also quite different in some ways, and our tastes in motorcycles is one of them. His is perfect for him, and Honey is perfect for me.

I feel the need to say something about J's bike. It really is a well engineered, quality piece of equipment. I would never call Honey 'equipment', but since J's bike isn't alive like Honey, I guess it's ok.

11:15am - We toured the outskirts of Bend, a very beautiful town with lots of money. Lots of rich tourists, some of who have stayed and gained political positions and/ or clout. There is definitely a good chance that my soul-mate/ sugar momma is living right here in town… in the summer… in the winter she'd be living in Palm Springs, or maybe Scottsdale… complaining about me spending too much time on the golf course and not enough time socializing with her and her sexy single girlfriends.

Noon - Mt. Bachelor. We rode into the parking lot, thru about 200 cars… most of which were surrounded by people of all sorts. Young and old. Men and women. Tall and short. Dressed and undressed. The one thing they all had in common, was the smiles on their faces, and the beverages in their hands. We fit right in.

Jacques, all 127 pounds of him… on his toy motorcycle, bundled up in about four layers of clothes… and me, all 227 pounds of me, on a real motorcycle, naked from the waist up.

We parked alongside the parked cars on the right side of the lot, leaving just enough room for a car to get thru. I immediately proceeded to strip the remaining clothes off my body, slip into my swimsuit, and walk over to the throng of revelers that J & L were associated with. Barefoot… beer in one hand, beach towel in the other, I was not going to go unnoticed. Did I mention I'm not shy or demure?

But that wasn't enough for me. In my typical, 'look at me, look at me fashion', I positioned myself on the opposite side of the lot, and screamed out at the group, "Excuse me… may I please have your attention… I would like to take a picture."

'Last Day of Skiing Party' at the base of Mt. Bachelor

Some of them were willing to turn their heads, and I did hear a couple of 'woo hoos', but most of them were too busy with their very important conversations. Melody from Ashland (Oregon), and Mar from Bend, were two of my favorites. Girls girls girls. And boys. Ned was in his element.

Turns out, I found out later, that Lovely didn't think my behavior was appropriate, but what the heck… she whines and complains about anything and everything, so I didn't take it too personally. Luckily… she knows this about me:

'You can tell how much I like you, by how much I tease you.'

Jacques, talking at full throttle

1:00pm - I put some of my clothes on and remounted Honey (not Melody or Mar unfortunately), and we headed back down the mountain in search of new victims.

Honey at the base of Mt. Bachelor

2:30pm - Pilot Butte. A 'little' flat topped mountain with a wonderful panoramic view of the area. In an attempt to express my opinion about this area without going on and on and on and on about it, I'll use one word… awesome.

I finally had a chance to get a little break from Jacques' professing and profounding. There were some kids up there who took him off my hands for a while, so I could hear myself think and enjoy some quiet time.

3:00pm - Jacques took us to The Silver Moon Brewery/ The Tap Room. Bryan the bartender was the only one there when we walked in, but when we left about 45 minutes later, it was packed. Vince, Kerri, and Liam (the child in the backpack) were the tourists, and Mora (on far left) was the local friend, showing them the area… taking them on 'The Bloody Mary Trail' thru downtown.

4:15pm - A mere 144 miles today. Good thing, I needed a day off. Total mileage to date: 1,225. J, L and I crashed without dinner around 7pm.

Side note:

Jacques does circus tricks on his bike. While riding thru downtown Bend, he went from standing up… to sitting behind his back rest… to laying his legs over the tops of his handlebars… to standing on the top of his seat on one leg, while he raised the other leg behind him, horizontal to the ground. The guy is a freaking monkey boy. And besides riding insanely too fast around blind corners, is a pretty darn good rider.