Ned Opdyke nedopdyke@gmail.com opdykeconstruction.webs.com/
As with all my stories, this one is primarily for me. As I grow older than I ever dreamed I'd be, I've begun to realize that if I don't make an effort to document the important things about me… some of my thoughts… and some of the things that I believe are important about me, that there is a very good chance that after the people that have had the opportunity to get to know me are gone, so will I be.
I am the third generation in my family to be a residential general contractor. I have done nothing else in my life as a source of income. I always wished I could figure out how to make money off my charm and good looks, but alas… my innate sincerity has always kept me from being able to take advantage of people. As with the em-pathetic abilities I got from mother, I call it a blessing and a curse. I have always been very grateful of my parents for instilling a foundation of respect in me. I don't always make it obvious, but I really do care about people.
When I was a child, I decided I wanted to be different from everyone else. Something inside me told me that I was special. Most likely it was (and still is) my ego fighting back my human insecurities and self-doubts. Whatever the reason, it is my wish to be remembered. Mostly the good parts of me, but I also want to be remembered for all the different aspects of my personality. The good, the bad, and the ugly, as they say.
This story is written basically as a first draft, and as such, there will be rambling sentences, bad grammar, way too many commas, quotation marks, parenthesis, and past-present-future tenses all jumbled together, into the same paragraph, and sometimes even in the same sentence. I write as I speak… open mouth, insert foot. Usually I don't know what I'm gonna say, until after I hear myself say it.
My girlfriend, recently gave me a gift… a drink coaster… for my coffee in the morning… my beer in the afternoon… and the milk I usually drink with my dinner in the evenings. I used what it says on it, as the title of this story.
My father loved road trips, and so do I. I have decided to take advantage of my current situation, and do what I love to do. Work has been almost non-existent the last several years for the first time in my life, and I have heard from more than a few people, that the Austin Texas area is still growing, and is not quite as ugly as the way most people think of Texas… at least the way most of the people who have lived in the Santa Cruz area think of Texas.
I love to ride my motorcycle, and 'Honey' loves the way I ride her. After all she is a girl and I am a man.
Copyright: 1/1/09; all writes (and wrongs) reserved
I will leave my home in Aptos (near Santa Cruz), CA tomorrow morning around 4am, and attempt to reach Phoenix, AZ sometime around 9pm. I plan to spend two or three days looking for work there, but primarily my time will be spent with my youngest daughter Eron Paige. I had made the trip three times previously by car in 11 driving hours, but I will be making many more stops along the way this time, going by bike. Honey, a gorgeous chrome and silver 2006 Honda VTX 1300 RLS, is the Cadillac of all motorcycles, but even still… the physical effort and the mental concentration required to ride a motorcycle, is much greater than driving a car. From my previous bike trips, I estimated the approximate 775 mile leg would take me around 15 or 16 hours. Assuming I didn't make any prolonged stops along the way. I usually ride only 1½~2 hours at the most, before getting off to intake and expel fluids, and to stretch my aging muscles and joints.
When I leave Phoenix, the only other goal I have for this trip is to spend a few days in the Austin area, looking for work and visiting my sister's oldest daughter and her family… then returning home safely. I have given myself 14 days, and $2,000 as a starting point to this adventure, but have also made provisions to extend the trip, if the situation warrants more time with more girls. I am a social animal.
I have always been a morning person, and my plan is, to get on the road around sunrise each day, and ride until I get tired or when the sun goes down, whichever comes first. The goals of reaching Austin and returning safely are the only definite plans I have. My only other intension is to enjoy the experience as much as possible. I have road maps to use as guidelines, but besides wanting to avoid riding the same road more than once, I have no particular route established, and will make my choices individually… at each intersection I come to. That is part of the fun… having only a vague idea of that day's destination, but no real idea whatsoever, as to how I'm going to get there, and especially… what I will see and what will happen to me, along the way. I love the unexpected. I have always enjoyed being surprised, and yes… surprising other people.
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