I think and know that sometimes I forget to have fun as in “brighter”. I has been a new concept I am fairly proud off. For those maybe intrigued as to why, you would have to know the reason we have been on the road and why I write. Seemingly can fun be shallow? Can one experience as many deep thoughts as when not having fun as in “bright”? Bright and brighter seem to have two separate directions. I enjoy the deep thoughts, a reality maybe that is just my own which I share here willingly toward even myself. I need to expel my thoughts before they bottle up within the intricate avenues the mind is made of. It is good for my soul. They are the gears that never stop turning. The brighter ones seem to be better oiled and running with more ease. I don’t think having fun takes as much thinking, it brings me a lightheaded sensation as being above the “bright” being “brighter”. I am so confused sometimes that I have to smile at myself. Go have fun I think, let those gears fly freely and spin without the resistance of much thinking as Life is going by, moment by moment the seconds vanishing to never come back.

We age, we keep adding those numbers to the calendar, months go by, their names change only to be here again so soon. The seasons sometimes get lost with Mother Nature tricking us putting on faces not belonging to the present times, and yet we stand with time being my luxury… rolling down the roads, sensing and thinking, trying always to stay within the parameters of “now”. So many definitions of “fun”! Silly fun… crazy “fun” as I feel my own fun is sometimes a bit more on the serious side, “serious” only meaning within a deeper train of thoughts as thinking, and so often only ending up with interrogations marks which pleasures me. Makes me feel as I am not wasting the motions moving my own gears. What a waste that would be!

Meeting “Ardys” made me think about all this. How can she not be my hero? Everyone’s “Hero”. Ardys is a motorcycle rider, she is 78. She has just passed the 900,000 miles mark, she has finished the grueling “Iron Butt” run “four” times, not the mere 1000 miles in 24 hours, but the real thing, 1000 miles a day for 11 straight days, won two BMW MOA mileage contests with respectively 50,000 and 82,000 miles and has ridden once over 100,000 miles in one year. Somehow the honor of meeting her had never presented itself till a couple days ago when stopping at my neighbors, Paul and Voni, for as, like “Old Faithful” a while back , a new clutch needed by her ride. There was no glamour, she was not floating above anyone else, she was and is however shined on by the “brighter” light. 78… She is one that gives me hope and the fervor including the ability for ourselves to continue on our Journey, no matter what, no matter what obstacles may present themselves. It is not only her physical accomplishments, but also because she is having “fun”. Yes, she is.

She started riding in the late 60’s and a broken car in the mid 70’s, a heavy price sticker to replace it was her introduction to a two wheel Honda CR360. She has not stopped yet, it is a way of Life now putting on her daily 500 miles when she travels, as coming here. She has to be one of a kind I believe and what a thrill it was when she showed up for my dinner last night with Voni, Paul still having to work on her now BMW RT. We did send him back dome dessert, bananas with chocolate chips and marshmallows all melted in the fire, as we ourselves had some pecan wood smoked pork and the always good stand by baked potatoes, baked on the coals. The conversations were interesting, to say the least, and even more than it’s subjects was the substance of it, just as one would tell a story about going to the grocery store, I listened to the stories going to the too many destinations she has been. A normal routine in the Life of a youthful rider.

Spirit also has his fun every day. I don’t know yet if he has it for himself or if he has it to show off. Pits are clowns and their only purpose in Life is to please the one they share their moments with. It was yesterday finally the day for him to have his “big bone”, a nice gift he received just a while back. I don’t think he had ever seen one that big and the truth is that he did not know quite what to make of it in the beginning. He runs around like a crazy dog every morning and every late afternoon, not in between, as he seems to have his internal “clowning clock” all set up for certain times. His eyes never stop focusing into my direction even when running at his high speeds, it always shows in the pictures taken. His spirituality is so outstanding and so is his way of Life as not a day goes by helping me with my quest of living for now, unencumbered from everything that could weigh me down, not an easy task at times. His moments are the brighter ones, they are detached from any dim space that could ever surround us, shadows that I myself keep away from my own moments.

I am thinking at more “fun” when we depart this area soon. There is no schedule, the weather will dictate it all. I am hungry for more adventures, for setting up camps in new surroundings, some old ones we have been to with the certitude that with heightened senses the experience will be as a new one. The colors will be even brighter when we will be on that step above, part of this giant staircase we have never stopped climbing. It just does not stop when shedding away all the past layers which are now only memories, most caught in photographs, images that I often look at as they also project toward me the feelings experienced while within  their space.

I have been very fortunate a couple days ago to receive a new SPOT unit, a help/911/tracking device, the same one loaned to us not too long ago. SPOT is sponsoring us on that level, our share page is already set up and will allow to follow our routes when turned on. I am actually testing it right now as today having to go to Alpine for one of my two Doctor’s remaining appointments. This is the link…  It is a peace of mind to have, an insurance policy.

Twenty nine months of Photography is finally in order on SmugMug… In “Your Favorites”, in “States”, some labeled “first year” and second year”, now also “Texas the third year”. Feel free to browse, you can even use the slide show mode and have fun. Merchandise is also available through SmugMug. If you like to order prints, all sizes are available as I store the originals myself considering the huge bandwidth needed to upload them on the Galleries.

Maybe your reading the Blog is worth $1 a month…

Be well…

Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.